Make your next salad a multi-layered, many-textured experience with the Crispy Crunch Salad from Mei Mei‘s award-winning chef-owner Irene Li. The accomplished chef (maybe you saw her TEDx Talk?) uses locally-grown Little Leaf Farms greens as the base (that’s the crispy), adds garlic-toasted panko (there’s the crunch), and a bit of chili crisp (there’s some extra crisp). She tops the whole thing with a fried egg (or poached, if you prefer) and a zippy, ginger-y dressing for a next level salad to add to the rotation.
Crispy Crunch Salad from Mei Mei’s Irene Li
Details
Servings: 2
Ingredients
for the salad
- 1 four-ounce box of Little Leaf Farms Greens
- 2 eggs, poached or fried
- 1 cup panko
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 tablespoon chili crisp - store bought (Lao Gan Ma for a classic flavor profile, Fly By Jing for an earthy note) or make your own (LA Times)
- 1/2 cup peeled, roughly chopped carrot
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 3/4 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 3/4 cup neutral oil such as canola or avocado
Directions
for the dressing
- In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients until smooth. Season with salt to taste.
- Toast the panko: in a saute pan over medium, saute crushed garlic in canola oil for 3 minutes, then remove garlic. Increase heat to high, add panko and toast, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes until golden brown.
- Poach or fry eggs and set aside. For a true “Mei Mei style” oozy egg, steam at 70C for 30 minutes, then fry in a pan.
- To assemble, gently mix Little Leaf Farms greens with 1-2 tablespoon dressing. Top with egg, chili crisp, and toasted panko.
