Beetroot Leaf (leaves) Salad

This is a delicious and fresh way to use beetroot leaves. Ever since we started growing beetroots, I have been able to have harvests of fresh leaves throughout the growing season. I used to use these in stir fries and curries. And then I ate this delicious salad at my friend K. J.'s house and I was hooked. I think if you have fresh, tender leaves, this is the most delicious way of enjoying them.

The dressing here is  heated oil which is seasoned, but if you don't have the seasoning ingredients, then just heat up the oil and pour it over.  Just the salt, sugar and lemon juice can be used as dressing. The peanuts add a crunchiness as well as some creamy texture. I love it as a salad ingredient. You can add whole roasted peanuts too instead of powdering them.

Here is a video on the salad preparation

Ingredients

10-15 beetroot leaves

2 tsp oil

1/8 tsp mustard seeds

1/8 tsp cumin seeds

pinch of asafoetida/hing

2 tbsp roasted peanut powder (or use whole roasted peanuts)

lemon juice, to taste

1/4 tsp sugar, to taste

salt to taste

Method

Wash the leaves thoroughly and chop them into bite sized pieces. Grind the peanuts into a coarse powder. You can also leave them whole. In a small pan, heat the oil and add the mustard and cumin seeds. Once they crackle, add the hing and turn off the heat. Pour the oil over the leaves. Add the salt, sugar, lemon juice and peanut powder and toss well together. 

A delicious salad is ready to eat. 

Tips

Place wilted leaves in ice cold water for a 10 mins to perk them up to their original crispiness. If you want to add some spice, you can also add a finely cut chili into the oil after adding the hing. Let it cook for a minute before pouring the oil over the leaves. 

A Simple Mixed Salad

It has been a long while since I last updated my blog. Well, as they say life happens and I have barely been able to come up for a breather, least of all update my blog for a while. So, I must say that this is possibly my return to blogging post. With the advent of the new year, it feels that I must get back to things that I have fun doing.

As you may have noticed, as soon as January starts, there are advertisements for gym memberships and almost every magazine that I have glanced at has had something related to healthy eating. Getting into the same spirit, I thought it  best to start off with a very simple but delicious salad recipe.

This has to be one of the easiest salads that you can make. It is a combination of vegetables, leafy vegetables and fruits. Because of the flavor combinations of these components, you don't need additional dressings for the salad. You can always dress it with balsamic vinaigrette, or sesame ginger dressing or even a creamy dressing, but it will taste great with just salt and paper too. It is a great summer recipe, since a plethora of vegetables and fruits are available in this season. You can modify the recipe based on what fruits and vegetables you find as well. It is a perfect light meal or snack.

Ingredients
1 cup grapes, sliced in halves
1 cup raspberries
3 cups organic mixed greens, chopped
1/2 cup of mixed sweet bell peppers (yellow, red or orange), sliced
1 orange, sliced and diced into bite sized pieces
1/4 cabbage, sliced
salt to taste
pepper to taste
readymade salad dressing (Optional)

Method
Toss the veggies together along with the cut grapes and orange pieces. Sprinkle salt and pepper and mix well.  Add the raspberries, the last after the heavy all the ingredients are tossed well and then gently mix them into the salad.

Serve cold.

Tips
Raspberries are fragile, so it is best to keep them last and adding them just before you intend to serve the salad. If you use a dressing (I would recommend a light dressing like ginger sesame or balsamic vinaigrette or italian dressing), then too toss the raspberries gently with a little dressing, just by themselves and add them to the salad.

Arugula with Pear, Cranberry and Celery - A Delicious Salad

The first time I had arugula salad was in a restaurant. Till then I hadn't really eaten this green on it's own. I had always encountered it in a mix of different leaves. I found that the leaves had a very interesting and spicy flavor. I had always heard various chefs on the television shows describe it as peppery and that description always flummoxed me. How could a leaf taste like pepper? Well, I finally ate an arugula leaf unadulterated by dressings or other veggies and found that it did have a spiciness to it and  "peppery" was a pretty good description.

I made this salad with a very simple vinaigrette, a drizzle of olive olive and vinegar. As a result, the spiciness of the arugula and red onion, the sweetness of the pear and tartness of the dried cranberries is highlighted.  These ingredients play very well with each. You can also dress the salad with some Parmesan cheese shavings.

Ingredients
1 pack arugula leaves (about 3-4 handfuls are enough to serve 2-3 people)
1 pear, sliced
1/4 cup dry and sweetened cranberries
1 stalk of celery, diced
1/4 red onion, sliced into thin and long slices, with the layers separated
1 tsp vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Method
Whisk the oil and vinegar together and add a little salt and pepper to this dressing. Toss arugula, pears, celery, onion slices and cranberries together. Pour a little dressing and toss together to coat the salad. Add just enough dressing so that the salad is well coated. Serve as a first course or you can even have it as a light meal with a side of bread.

Tips
Though the arugula comes pre-washed, I always rinse out my greens before using in a salad. Then I put them through a spinner to drain the water out. If you don't have salad spinner, then take a thin cotton cloth, place the greens in the cloth, and gather all the edges so that you get a nice package and then holding these ends together, move your arm in a circular manner and shake the water out of the greens. This will get absorbed in the cotton cloth. 

Coleslaw - The Healthy Version

So, the other day I was looking at the cabbage in my fridge and wondering what I could do with it. I was tired of making the same old stir fry and wanted to try something different. Suddenly a thought struck. “Why not make coleslaw?!” I really enjoy coleslaws. But, I haven’t really made coleslaw too often because of the large amount of sugar and mayonnaise that is needed to make the dressing. So, this time I thought, maybe if I figured out  a way to make a healthier version of the recipe, I would make it more often and eat it without any guilt. The healthier version turned out great and my family really couldn't tell the difference till I pointed it out. This is definitely going to be my go to coleslaw recipe.

Ingredients
1/4 large cabbage shredded
1 carrot shredded
1/4 red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vinegar
2 tsp sugar
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Method
Mix together the yogurt, milk, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Using a whisk, mix it well so that all the ingredients are well blended. This is the dressing.
In a bowl, mix together the cabbage, carrot and onion. Add the amount of dressing that you want over the vegetables and toss well. Let the salad chill for at least an hour before serving. It is the perfect side with a sandwhich.

Tips
There should be enough dressing to coat the vegatables but not so much that it drowns the vegetables. If you want, you can add a little mayonnaise to the recipe as well, or if you want to go with the original, substitute the yogurt with mayonnaise.

Tabouleh/Tabouli - A Parsley and Bulgur Wheat Salad.

Tabouleh is a wonderful salad. It is mainly made of bulgur wheat and parsley. This is the only dish I have come across where parsley plays the role of a main ingredient. Now, the very first time I heard the description, I thought that the parsley would over power the rest of the ingredients and it maybe on the more astringent side. Unfortunately I let my preconcieved notions get the better of me and I didn't order the dish. I actually came across it when I ordered a "Mediterranean Platter" at a local Mediterranean/Greek restaurant. Of course, I tasted all the different components on the platter like the falafel, dolmas, hummus and a wonderful green salad. And I loved the salad!! So, I asked our server what it was and to my surprise she said it was tabouleh. Ever since then it has become a regular feature on my plate whenever we visit the restaurant.

Now, in the variations of taboleh/tabouli that I have eaten, I have noticed that the bulgur wheat proportion is significantly less compared to that of the parsley. Some versions have tomatoes that have been added and some had small pieces of cucumber or onions or a combination thereof. The dressing always seems to be simple and lemon based and the parsley is the dominant ingredient. However, when I made it, I decided to increase the quantity of the bulgur wheat so that I could serve this as a complete meal and wouldn't need to cook too many additional dishes. So, you can scale back on the proportion of the bulgur wheat if you want to keep it on the light side or add more if you want to make a hearty meal out of it.

Ingredients
1 cup bulgur wheat
2 cups water
2 cups of parsley, chopped finely
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1/2 cucumber, peeled and finely diced (optional)
2 green onion stems including the onion portion, finely diced (optional)
salt to taste
1 large lemon or 2 small lemons, juiced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
black pepper, to taste

Method
Heat  the water till it is at a rolling boil and pour over the bulgur wheat. Make sure the the wheat is submerged and then cover and keep aside for about 15-20 minutes. The wheat should be cooked through and fluffy. If there is excess water, drain it and keep aside. Make sure that the onions, green onions and cucumber are finely diced and all about the same size pieces. Discard the stems of parsely and finely chop the leaves. Mix all the vegetables and the cooked bulgur wheat together. Season this with some salt and mix well. Then in a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and oil to form an emulsion. Add black pepper and additional salt as needed to this. Pour some of the dressing over the mixed salad and toss all the ingredients together. Taste and add more dressing as needed. It is important to taste,  and not pour all the dressing into the salad so that you don't end up adding too much and over-dressing it. It is best to make it at least an hour before serving and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour so that the ingredients will get time to mix well. If serving fresh, you may need additional dressing on hand.

Tips
Bulgur wheat is pre-cooked wheat, hence it is not necessary to cook it for a long time. You may
even have instructions on the packet to soak it in cold water for about 1-2 hours. Drain and let the excess moisture from the wheat drain away, else the dressing will become diluted and not coat the ingredients well. You can cut back the bulgur wheat to half to quantity to make it a lighter salad.
You can use tender stems of parsley, but discard anything that is mature and fibrous.

Rainbow Chickpea Salad

This is a beautiful salad, tasty and filling too. In fact, you can eat this salad with a piece of some bread and it will be a complete meal. I saw a wonderful chickpea salad recipe one afternoon on a Rachel Ray "30 Minutes Meal" episode. I realized that I had most of the ingredients and could make it with a few substitutions. So, I tried it the very same day and I must say I absolutely loved it. This recipe can be tailored to your tastes by swapping the ingredients with other vegetables and beans. Once you try this salad, you will want to experiment with other bean salads too. It is so colorful that I thought the "rainbow" adjetive might suit it. It is pleasing to the eyes and the taste buds. And since it's so colorful, it maybe an easy way to get your kids to eat their vegetables and proteins.

Ingredients
2 cups chickpeas/garbanzo beans/kabuli chana (cooked - see tips for directions)
1 cup red onion diced into small pieces
1 cup bell peppers (red, yellow and orange), diced into small pieces
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed into a paste
2 tbps red wine vinegar (you can use any kind you have on hand)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Method
Whisk together the vinegar, oil and some salt and pepper. Mix together all the diced vegetables and the chickpeas. Pour over the vinegar-oil dressing and toss the ingredients together, so that the vegetables and beans get well coated with the dressing. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

This makes a great mid afternoon snack as well.   

 
Tips
If you have pre-cooked canned garbanzo beans, rinse them our and use that. However, if you are starting off with dry beans, then soak them overnight. Next morning, you will see that they will swell up and become rehydrated, so that you can easily eat it. Then, either boil it in water for about 20-30 minutes till they are cooked through and softened or pressure cook them. Don't overcook them. They should not be so soft that they become mushy. They should still be firm.
As I have said in previous posts, the pressure cooker is a wonderful device. It reduces the cooking time to the fraction of the original cooking times and as you cook the ingredients for a shorter time, you retain more nutrition.

Apple, Gorgonzola Salad

This is one of my favorite salads. The slightly sour taste of the cheese and cranberries blends wonderfully with the sweet and sour taste of the vinaigrette and apples. It's got a lot of interesting flavors. It is quick to make and extremely delicious. I make it often when entertaining and it's an easy to scale up recipe.

Ingredients
For the salad
1/4 cup blue cheese/gorgonzola, crumbled into small pieces
4 cups mixed greens, chopped
1 cucumber, diced into small pieces
1 apple, diced
1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup walnut, chopped (optional)

For the vinaigrette
1 tbsp strawberry jam
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
salt to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
Whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette till an emulsion is formed and the oil and other ingredients are mixed together.
Toss together the greens, apples, cucumber, cranberries and walnuts. Drizzle the vinaigrette on the mixture to taste. Then add the blue cheese and lightly toss together.

Tips
You can subsitute the mixed greens with green or red leaf lettuce. Mixed greens are a mixture of different greens and herbs. There are different leaves like lettuce, endive, radicchio and arugula. These greens have different flavors including spicy and bitter flavors. Using mixed greens enhances the overall taste of a salad.

Strawberry and Walnut Salad

This is a great recipe to whip up for a quick dinner. Its light and a perfect starter to a meal. Pair it with some soup and you have a ready to eat meal in less than 20-30 minutes. Its also a great way to get your daily servings of vegetables and fruits and tasty too!

Ingredients
2-3 celery stalks - thinly diced
4-5 strawberries - sliced
2 cup of assorted lettuce leaves - diced
1 cucumber - sliced
1/3 cup walnuts
1/2 orange - diced

For the dressing
juice of 1/2 orange
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing till the olive oil is well blended into the rest of the ingredients.
In a bowl, toss all the salad ingredients together with the dressing. Add salt and pepper if required. You can grate some parmesan cheese over the salad, if you want.

Tips
Fresh orange juice enhances the salad dressing taste. However, if you do not have oranges, you can substitute with store bought orange juice. You can experiment and change the vegetables mixture in the salad.

Grilled Artichoke

This is a beautiful vegetable. It resembles a flower and belongs to the sunflower family. I used to pass this vegetable by, every time I visited the grocery store. But the only way I had used it was via its canned form-the canned artichoke hearts. I finally saw this on the menu of a restaurant that is famous for its cheesecakes and decided to try it. Ever since that day, I have picked it up in the grocery section instead of passing it by. It's an extremely healthy vegetable, high in Vitamin C. Though many methods list a tedious way to cook it, the following method is a no fuss way to cook it, so that it can be enjoyed often.

Ingredients
1 Artichoke
2 tbsp white vinegar
salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
1 large pot of water (enough to submerge the artichoke completely)
Dressing of your choice to serve with the artichoke

Method
Take the pot of water and add the vinegar to it. Start to heat this mixture. To prepare the artichoke, cut off about 1 inch of the top of the artichoke. Remove the stem and peel it. Add the artichoke and stem to the water prior to boiling. Artichoke will tend to float but we want it to be completely submerged in water, so that it cooks properly. To achieve this, cover the artichoke with a small strainer or sieve and place a small weight (heavy plate/small vessel, etc.) on the strainer. Let the water come to boil and let it boil for about 20-30 minutes. To check if it is completely cooked, insert a knife into the base where the stem was attached. If it goes in without any resistance, then it is completely cooked. Remove the artichoke and the stem.

Artichoke, being from the sunflower family, has a center thistle surrounded by the green leaves. This resembles small needles and is not edible. It must be removed. To do this, cut the artichoke into two halves lengthwise (not along circumference). You will see the thistle at the base just above the artichoke heart. Use a spoon to scoop this out. Make sure that you remove all the needles. Now, use a brush and cover the artichoke and stem with a layer of oil and sprinkle salt. Grill the halves or you can broil it. Remove it when it has a nice grilled/charred look.

How to Eat this
Serve the grilled artichoke with your favorite dressing. Italian and ranch go well with artichoke. Peel off each leaf, dip in the dressing, and scrape off the pulp from the leaf using your bottom teeth. The bigger outer leaves are very fibrous and may not have a lot of pulp. As you work your way towards the center, the leaves become more tender and the amount of pulp increases. The bulk of the artichoke is the heart and the stem, which are citrusy and delicious.

Tips
The artichoke will start oxidizing and will turn brown as soon as you cut it. It's necessary to get it into the acidic water as soon as possible. The color of the artichoke will tend to change a little after it is boiled. It will turn brownish green. You can eat the artichoke after boiling as well without grilling.

Yellow Lentil and Raw Mango Salad/ Kairi Chi Dal

Its summer and that translates to mango season. The hot and bright sun reminds me of long gone summer vacation days and other events. One that stands out most is a ladies together that my grandmother used to have every summer (also called haldi-kunku in Maharashtra). All the ladies used to be dressed in their finery, my grandmom used to put on her best sari with her best jewelry and the atmosphere used to be very festive. I would run to her house after school dressed in my best clothes and help her setup the place. The food used to be delicious, the gossip engrossing and it was the only time when she made certain delicacies. The two I remember the most are mango panha which is raw mango juice and delicious “kairi chi dal” which can be best described as raw mango and yellow lentil salad. I was thinking about those “get togethers” a lot for the past couple of weeks and decided to try my grandmother’s recipe for the lentil salad. Quick consultation with mom and I realized that it was a simple recipe. Next was a visit to the store to pick up a few green raw mangoes and I was on my way. Unfortunately the raw mangoes I bought were not very sour, so I had to add some lemon juice but my first bite transported me back to those carefree days of childhood and the special time spent with my grandmom. This will surely be a treasured recipe.

Ingredients
1 raw mango – cubed (deseeded)
1 cup split yellow lentil/chana dal (soaked overnight)
¼ cup fresh coconut pieces
2-3 green chillies (to taste)
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oil
4 red chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 tbsp cilantro finely chopped
1-2 tbsp water (optional for grinding)

Method
Grind together the mango, chillies, chana dal, salt and sugar to a coarse consistency. It shouldn’t be too fine. Add a little water 1 tsp at a time if needed to assist the grinding process. Heat the oil, and add the curry leaves and red chillies to it. Pour this over the ground mixture. Mix well and top with chopped cilantro. Serve cold.

Tips
This tastes great with Panha/Mango juice which I will try out soon. If you have frozen grated coconut, do not add to blender. Mix this in after the dal and mango has been ground together. You can substitute the fresh coconut with desiccated coconut as well. The dal must be soaked for 4-5 hours at the least. To soak the dal, cover it with enough water so that all the dal is submerged and there is about ½ to 1 inch depth of water above the dal.

Sending this to Suma's Side Dishes event

Refreshing and cool Jicama salad

When I was in Grad school, I used to take the bus from the campus back home. While waiting at the bus stop, I used to frequently enjoy a "fruit plate". There was a road side stall and the vendor used to cut up different fruits and vegetables like mango, melons, pineapple, cucumber and an interesting tasting white color melon like fruit/vegetable. The fruit that intrigued me the most was this white color fruit. It was later while watching a cooking show that I realised that the white color fruit was Jicama. Now this has a crunchy texture and reminds me of a potato, but it is not like a potato. It doesn't have a specific taste and may taste a bit starchy. It seems to have a good water content, not sure if this is the case but it seems like a cross between a melon and a potato. I decided to use it in a salad which reminded me of the good old grad school days.



Ingredients
For the Salad
1 small Jicama, peeled and chopped into thin strips about 1 inch long
half head of an Iceberg lettuce, roughly chooped into similar strips
half a red onion chopped length wise into half moon shaped slices.

For the dressing
1 tsp Olive oil (optional)
Juice of 1 lemon
Lemon zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp cilantro leaves finely chopped
salt to taste
pepper to taste
a little cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
1/4 tsp cumin powder



Method
Mix the salad ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl mix all the ingredients listed under dressing and mix it thoroughly. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss it together.
Let it sit for half and hour in the refrigerator so that the flavors are absorbed by the vegetables.
Enjoy with some soup or as a side dish.

Tips
Olive oil creates an emulsion and helps the salad to stick to the salad.