Cold Kani Salad

Today is Ash Wednesday.
For Catholics, it is the first day of the Lenten Season which lasts for 40 days until Palm Sunday, before Holy Week. This year, the Holy Week will be from March 29 until April 4, Easter Sunday. The 40 days of Lent is a time for penance, fasting, charity and prayer. This holy season, we remember the suffering of Jesus Christ who died on the cross and saved us from our sins.  And most devout Catholics practice fasting and abstinence during this period, especially during Fridays.

As Lent begins today, adults are expected to fast -- skip meals, or abstain from eating meat starting today as a form of sacrifice, much like Jesus who sacrificed Himself for us. In our household, the kids and the senior citizens of the house are exempted from this practice. It is really a voluntary act. And I guess it will only be me who can abstain from eating meat.

So for coming few weeks of Lent, I can finally share the meatless dishes I have unintentionally "collected" over the months, just waiting to be posted here.  For starters, here's a very refreshing, cold Japanese kani salad:

COLD KANI SALAD

Head of iceberg lettuce
Kani - Japanese imitation crab sticks
Japanese mayonnaise
Corn kernels, canned (or ripe mango)

Refrigerate all the ingredients for a few hours. Bring out when ready to prepare.

To prepare:
Break and wash lettuce leaves. Then shred, or chop thinly, and place in a salad bowl or deep dish. Set aside.
Drain canned corn kernels. Set aside.

Unwrap and shred the kani, following its grains as you shred by hand.

To plate:
Bring out the salad bowl with the chopped lettuce and scatter the shredded kani on top.
Squeeze and pipe out the mayonnaise over the layered kani and lettuce.
Top with a few tablespoons of corn kernels.

Toss lightly.
Serve and consume immediately.

All the ingredients are readily available in most supermarkets.

So simple and delicious. You can have this salad anytime, any day. I for one can have this for lunch and dinner. Hubby loves this too!

For a sweeter version, you can use fresh mango cubes instead of corn. You can also add thinly sliced / grated cucumber, and crispy fragrant nori strips (seaweed) for topping!

Enjoy!

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