Although “indulging in copious amounts of junk food” is not one of the four Purim mitzvahs, in many homes it has become synonymous with the holiday. Probably 90% of the food gifts that are exchanged involve cookies, cake, candy, soda and other not-good-for-you foods.

The combination of the sugar intake and the heavy evening Purim feast can leave us feeling tired and lethargic—and the week is just beginning! I think this definitely calls for a pick-me-up energizing winter salad.


If you can’t get all the ingredients, feel free to substitute. It’s a very forgiving salad, and the dressing is the hero—it’s thick and creamy without any mayonnaise.


So, where does it get its thickness? From an onion. That’s right—an onion. A small raw onion is blended with the other dressing ingredients, and the end product has a beautiful color, smell and texture. If you’re anything like me, you’ll go from thinking, “Wow, that’s weird,” to “Oh, how interesting,” to “Oh my, that’s fantastically awesome” in the span of about 60 seconds, or however long it takes to blend your ingredients.


Salad Ingredients:

  • 2 bags spring mix salad
  • 1 orange pepper, diced
  • 10 mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 Asian pear, diced
  • ½ cup pomegranate seeds
  • ½ cup candied pecans, chopped

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 1 small raw onion
  • ⅓ cup vinegar
  • ¼ cup sugar or honey
  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • 2 tbsp. mustard
  • ½ tsp. salt

Directions:

  1. Mix salad ingredients together.
  2. Using a blender, food processor, or even a good immersion blender, blend dressing ingredients.
  3. Dress immediately before serving.

Note: This dressing is very potent. I recommend starting with just a little, and adding more to taste. Refrigerate the rest of the dressing—it lasts for more than a week in my experience, and can be used on other salad combinations as well.