Health-ified Mushroom Po’ Boy Salad

It’s a beautiful thing when Po’ Boys become healthy enough to eat for every meal.

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Health-ified Po' Boy Salad

Imagine all the flavors of New Orleans packed into your mouth, but in a healthy way. BOOM.

Course Healthy Junk, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 3 -4

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

• 4 cups baby kale (sub lettuce of choice)
• 1 green tomato, sliced (sub heirloom or regular tomato)
• 1/2 cup sweet onion, sliced thin
• 1/3 cup dill pickles, sliced thin

Healthy Coleslaw Ingredients:

• 3 cups cole slaw mix (aka. shredded carrots, green and purple cabbage)
• 1 tablespoon vegan mayo (sub greek yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cajun-Cornflake Crusted Mushrooms

• 8-10 oyster or shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (sub all purpose flour)
• 4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• 4 teaspoons cajun spice
• 3/4-1 cup water
• 4 cups cornflakes, crushed
• 1-2 cups olive, canola, or grapeseed oil

Healthy Thousand Island Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup vegan mayo (sub greek yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ketchup
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup (sub agave nectar or coconut nectar)

Optional Add Ons:

• French bread, sliced
• lemon wedges

Instructions

1. Start by throwing together your healthy coleslaw. Put all ingredients in a medium sized bowl, and massage around with your hands until everything is evenly covered and the cabbage has softened slightly. This should only take a couple of minutes. After it is fully mixed and slightly soft, move to the refrigerator.
2. Next mix together your thousand island ingredients in a small bowl, and once they are smooth and well combined set aside in the refrigerator.
3. Now you want to get to workin' on those cajun-cornflake crusted mushrooms! In a medium sized bowl mix together your flour, nutritional yeast, cajun spice and water. To figure out how much water to add you want the mixture to be sticky, but not wet. (If you use whole wheat flour you may need to use more water than if you use all purpose.) Just do your best to guess, it won't make or break the recipe.
4. In a second bowl add your crushed corn flakes, and set to the side.
5. On your stove heat a pan with oil over medium-high heat. Then take your mushrooms, coat each side in "batter" using your hands (about 1 tablespoon to each side of the mushroom). You will need to mold the batter around the shroom. Once it's battered, roll it in the cornflakes - again you can use your hands to press the cornflakes into the sides of the batter and mold it.
6. Once that is done, drop the mushroom into the oil and flip after 3-5 seconds (you want it golden brown, not black). Once each side is nice and golden drop your crusted mushroom onto a paper towel to let excess oil drip off. Do this for all of your mushrooms.
7. After your mushrooms are ready, it's time to assemble! Layer your bowls with lettuce, about 1 cup of coleslaw, tomatoes, onions, pickles, 2-3 mushrooms, and drizzle with thousand island! Serve with optional french bread and lemon wedges!
8. EAT UP

Po’ Boy. It’s a sandwich based on the crispiness of the contents and the softness of the bread. They are delicious, and everywhere in New Orleans. But just eating bread and fried meat generally doesn’t keep the doctor away. So I thought, what if I tried to make this healthy somehow. Then I thought… SALADS! Salads are healthy! (Usually.) So why don’t we make this sandwich “gluten-free” style by serving it on a bed of lettuce (and other yummy goodies), and offer the bread as a delicious side to mop up all those extra bits at the bottom of the bowl. BOOM. This recipe was born.

So what have we done here to make this healthy? Well first off there are SO MANY MORE VEGGIES in this salad than a regular Po’Boy. We ditched the fried meat, and instead fried up mushrooms. And if you are one of those gluten-free kiddos, this recipe can totally work for you, because the crust is made of cornflakes, and you can easily substitute gluten-free flour and make some magic. This way Po’ Boy flavors are no longer out of the picture for anyone! What else makes it health-ier? Well we used vegenaise instead of mayo, maple syrup instead of refined sugar, and added some kale for good measure. It’s still a Po’ Boy. You will still satisfy that craving, but you can do it in a way that your body enjoys too! 

The method I use for cajun-cornflake crusting the mushrooms is my favorite way to eat fried food (if I’m gonna give in and eat it.) Because it’s both flavorful and crunchy, and lets the inside stay soft and delicious. I have used this to make tofu nuggets (which are bomb). However, this version with the mushrooms might just take the cake. For real, the mushrooms get so soft inside, but the crispiness outside is like magic in the salad. 

Adding a little lemon juice to your thousand island, and even some lemon wedges to the salad itself can help with digestion and speeding up your metabolism. Plus it adds a nice bright-tangy flavor to the heavy fried flavor, and the french bread. You will love having this dressing in and around your salad and your life. Plus it’s SO EASY. You probably already have all of the ingredients in your kitchen. No joke. Check it.

So you got salad, and coleslaw, and more veggies, and fried veggies, and healthy thousand island and french bread. The world is good. Po’ Boys done got health-ified. Thank me later.