Recipe: Thai Apple Salad

This recipe is super easy and super yum. It works for apple people who like to keep their foods simple and for those coconutty people who like to spice things up a bit. It is also vegetarian friendly (and vegan friendly, too, I think). I got the idea from a Thai restaurant in Ann Arbor. When I ordered apple salad I was expecting a few apple slices on a bed of lettuce. I didn't think the whole salad would be made out of apples. But, as usual, my assumptions were wrong and it ended up being really good. I tried re-making it and it was a success. The Thai restaurant's version had chicken in it, but I think it's actually better without meat. Their version also looked a little fancier because they shredded the apples to look more like broccoli slaw than apples.

What you will need:

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2-3 green apples

1 cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened)

1/2 of a medium to large sized red onion (chopped)

1 cup cashews (chopped)

Tsp  lime juice (or possibly more, I didn't measure)

What to do:

1. Get rid of the apple cores and chop up apples into itty bitty pieces. If you want to be fancy, you can use a grater to create a slaw instead. Throw in bowl.

3. Add chopped cashews and onion. You may want to add the onion little by little in case 1/2 an onion is too much. It just depends on how many apples you use and what you like.

4. Add shredded coconut. If you want to bring out the coconut flavor more, then you can toast the shredded coconut in a frying pan on medium heat until they brown before mixing in with the rest of the salad. You don't need to add any oil or anything to the pan, coconut has it's own natural oil.

5. Squeeze some lime juice (or lemon) over the salad to prevent apples from browning and to add flavor.

6. All done!