This colorful rainbow salad is packed with nutritious veggies, and is a perfect way to celebrate Pride Month or bring color to your kitchen!
Today is the first day of pride month. So, to properly honor everyone who celebrates with me, I wanted to talk a little bit about why pride month is so important to me. I’ll also show you how to make a flavorful and colorful rainbow salad!
Celebrating LGBTQ+ Rights
To start off, I want to first thank the people who fought for where we are right now. While we still have a ways to go, amazing progress has been made.
Harvey Milk set a precedent by being the first openly gay man to be elected into office in California. It’s monumental moments like these that started so many important conversations and have allowed so many of us to live in our own truth.
Little Manuel never could have imagined this would be the reality for the LGBTQ+ community. As a teenager, I couldn’t even accept or express my sexuality. Now kids talk about it without feeling the barriers that many of us did before. I’m proud to be who I am, and proud to be where we are with our rights.
Why I Love This Rainbow Salad
So, if you’re celebrating this month with me, make the celebrations extra delicious with this rainbow salad! I like to call this a Pride Rainbow Salad. It makes me proud of my sexuality, my Peruvian origins, and my ability to combine nutritious and colorful foods together to bring you a dish full of flavor.
Color Breakdown of Rainbow Salad Ingredients
- Red food = red cherry tomatoes
- Orange food = shredded carrots and corn
- Yellow food = yellow bell pepper
- Green foods = cucumbers, cilantro, and celery
- Blue/purple food = shredded purple cabbage
And while those are the main colors of the rainbow, we know that our color wheel isn’t complete without more diversity! So, I also added black olives, brown pumpkin seeds, and white queso fresco.
What is Aji Amarillo Paste?
I tapped into my Peruvian ingredient library to bring to you an exciting Aji Amarillo Vinaigrette. This uses aji Amarillo paste, a yellow chili pepper paste, to give a bit of a kick to the rest of the dish.
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup red cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1½ cups unsweetened canned corn drained
- 1 large cucumber green, sliced
- 1 cup celery sliced
- 1 cup purple cabbage shredded
- 8 black Olives pitted
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- 6 ounces chunks of queso fresco
- ½ cup chopped Cilantro
Salad dressing (Aji Amarillo Vinaigrette):
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Aji Amarillo paste
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add your ingredients to your bowl, each in a strip for a rainbow design.
- Mix together your salad dressing ingredients until mixed well.
- Add the Aji Amarillo Vinaigrette to your salad. When ready to eat, toss together to fully incorporate the dressing onto the ingredients.
Video
To make this salad even more filling, pair it with meat for some extra protein. This is a great recipe to keep on hand. If you don’t have one of the ingredients, easily swap it out for another veggie you love.
If you make this salad tag me on Instagram @manuel.villacorta and I’ll share the pride love!
