Fiery Rice Salad

This is a Mary Berry salad that I watched on BBC Food.  It actually calls for Red Rice.  I replaced it with a wild rice that my sis in law Cindy sent to me.  Wild Rice is not actually a rice.  It is a water-grass seed that is abundant in the cold water of Minnesota and Canada.  It is a high source of protein.  It has a very nutty taste and bite.  Whereas the Camargue Red Rice that is the original ingredient in the recipe is a short grain rice grown in the coast of France. This also has an earthy, nutty flavour.  I am not sure which Indian product can be an ideal replacement for either the red rice or the wild rice.  But there must be options which I will definitely explore.

Adapted from Mary Berry's Recipe

Wild Rice - 1 cup
Carrots - 2 large - coarsely grated
Spring Onion - 2 nos - finely diced
Coriander leaves - finely chopped - generous amount
Salt to taste

Dressing

Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Lime juice - of half a lime
Honey - 1 tsp
Chilies green - 1 ( to taste) finely chopped
Olive oil / Refined Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt and Pepper - to taste

Cooking of Wild Rice
Take four measures of water to one measure of rice. In a thick bottomed vessel
Bring to boil and then simmer for about 20 - 25 mins
Check the rice.  It should be tender but not mushy.  The grain should have a bite.
Drain any excess water

Now to the drained rice, add the carrot, and half the coriander.
Put all the ingredients of the dressing in a jar and mix well.
Add to the rice.  Check for salt.
And garnish with more coriander.

The salad is a meal in itself.  And its different !  

Black Bean and Mango Salsa

C made this for us when we were visiting them.  The combination of black beans and mango with a lime juice dressing and Italian seasoning mix was great.  One could have a large serving of this and make a meal of it.  And if you want something crisp to go with it, then have it along with tortilla chips or to add an Indian touch maybe some roasted papad.

This recipe was on the package of the Italian seasoning mix .  And I find that recipes that are on the packages are probably tried and tested and work very well.

Ingredients:

Black beans - cooked - 1 1/2 cup
Corn - boiled - 1 cup
Mango - diced - 1 cup
Peppers - 1/2 cup - if you want colour use red pepper
Red onions - 1/3 cup
Italian seasoning mix - to taste - or use any kind of seasoning that you wish
Lime juice - to taste
Salt - to taste

Mix all ingredients - except the salt - till well blended.
Refrigerate for about an hour.
Now add salt to taste.
Serve with tortilla chips.

Enjoy !

Coleslaw

This is essentially a salad that uses raw shredded cabbage.  Sometimes you are forced to buy a big sized cabbage.  And you use what you need for the curry.  Often a little leftover cabbage piece just sits at the back of your vegetable tray in the refrigerator and gets binned when discovered days later.  Before you come to that, chop into shreds and make a coleslaw.  If you do not want to eat it as a salad, just pop it between two buttered slices of bread and you will have a tasty sandwich.

Preparation:

Main ingredient - cabbage.  If you have the red one, use it .  Adds a lot of colour
Other veggies that you can use - carrots, salad greens, spring onions, radish, beetroot, fennel bulb.  You can decide.
I have cabbage, carrot, spring onions and some salad greens.  All should be cut in long strands/shreds

Other ingredients for the dressing - use according to amount of vegetables
Mayonnaise ( other alternatives - 50:50 mayo and yogurt, or yogurt alone )
Lime juice
Salt / sea salt
Pepper
Olive oil - a generous drizzle
Ground mustard

Mix dressing and vegetables.  Serve plain, in sandwiches, as an accompaniment to meats.
Enjoy !

Pasta - A light meal

This could pass of as a salad. But we made a meal of it.  Using some leftover veggies that were in the refrigerator.  And one of those - add anything and it could still taste right - kind of a dish.  No tomato base or a heavy sauce.  So no guilt with the extra helping.

Donna Hays says that you should use 100 gms of pasta per person ( tip provided by L - and we thought she was wrong - but found out that she was indeed right! )

Ingredients:
Pasta - 200 gms
Spinach - 1 bunch
Carrot - 1 large
Beetroot - 1 medium
Cabbage - 50 gms
Cheese Cubes - 3  - use at least another couple more
Italian Seasoning - 1/2 -1 tsp
(this one had dehydrated onion, garlic, bell peppers and herbs)
Chilie flakes - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - to taste
Salt - as desired
Olive oil - 4-5 tbsp

Boil the beet - and juliene
Blanch the spinach and shred.

Cook the pasta al dente

Julienne the carrots.
And also make strips of cabbage.

Cut the cheese into small bits

Heat a pan.
Add the olive oil.
Throw in the shredded cabbage - sauté 

This helps in caramelisation and you do get a overpowering smell of cabbage but ignore it - it tastes great

And after a few mins the carrot juliennes - continue to sau·té  till the carrot is cooked but still has a crunch

Add the seasoning - or the ingredients separately - do not forget the garlic, chilie flakes and ground pepper

Take a large bowl.

Put the cooked pasta

And the vegetables - ( the beet, spinach, carrot, cabbage) and the cheese

Salt to taste

Lightly warm the dish if you like.  Drizzle a little more olive oil - adds to the taste

Serve 

Carrot-Tomato Salad

I love this salad.  VK makes this for me ever so often.  I can eat a huge bowl of it anytime.  You can go berserk with the garnishing, but I generally use only raisins so that I do not feel guilty about the huge amounts that I devour.

Carrots - 4 - use fresh, juicy carrots for best results - grated
Tomatoes - 2 large - finely diced
Green chilies - 2 nos - finely diced - you can use any other spice if you do not like to bite into these
Raisins - soak and add 
Oil for seasoning - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Lime juice - 1-2 tsp
Salt to taste

Toss grated carrot, diced tomatoes, super fine diced green chilies with salt
Add soaked raisins

Seasoning
Heat the oil, add mustard seeds, allow to splutter and add to the grated carrot mixture

Add lime juice
Garnish with coriander leaves

And if you wish with more nuts
Simple and tasty.  Eat as much as you wish.

Carrot Pickle - the instant variety

I found this on Just Homemade - and R had used some very colourful fresh carrots and the photographs were lovely and it seemed so easy.  For a change we had just seasoned curd rice for dinner and this seemed the right thing to make with it.  I used just one chili and maybe it could have just passed off as a tasty salad.  Call it what you will, but it is simple to make and tastes great.

Ingredients:
Carrots / Gajar - 1 medium - for best results use tender baby carrots - in that case use 2-3 nos
Green chilies - 2 nos - slit lengthwise
Mustard powder - 1 tsp - (I used a mixture of mustard and fenugreek seeds) - it is recommended that you use the yellow mustard
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric - pinch

Julienne the carrot
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Toss
Serve

As simple as that.
If it lasts beyond one meal. Put in bottle and refrigerate.  Said to last for 3-4 days.

Cucumber Kosumalli

I got this recipe from Saffron Trail -

Tip from blogger - taste a piece to ensure cucumber is not bitter

Ingedients:

Moong dal / split green gram - 1/4 cup

Cucmber = 2 large - cut small pieces *
Lime juice -1 nos
Green chilie - 1 large - very finely chopped
Salt - to taste
 for seasoning
Oil - 1 tsp for seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
asafoetida (hing) - pinch
for garnish
Coriander leaves - finely chopped
Fresh coconut - grated - 2 tbsp

Wash, soak dal in water for atleast and hour.  Drain of all water. Keep

In a bowl, mix cucumber, lime juice, salt, coriander leaves and green chili .  Toss
Add the soaked and drained moong dal

Season-
Take oil, heat, add hing, mustard and once it splutters add to cucumber.
Garnish with coconut .

*You can substitute the cucumber with grated carrot.

A Salad for the New Year

For the Salad:

All vegetables/fruits to be cut fine

Yellow Pepper /capsicum - 1

Red Pepper/Capsicum - 1

Celery

Apple - 1

Carrot - 1 large

Boiled corn

( Add anything else you would like - lettuce, purple cabbage, pomegranate seeds, coriander leaves)

For the dressing:

Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Lime - 1 large - squeeze out juice

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Mix ingredients for the dressing well and make sure the sugar is dissolved. 

All ingredients here are approximate. Do vary according to quantity of vegetables cut and taste.

Cut vegetables and keep in the refrigerator.

Add the salad dressing just before serving.

* Recipe from Manni

Also recommended for all those who blog - especially a recipe blog - a movie - Julie and Julia.

And thoughts on Celery by Ogden Nash

Celery, raw
Develops the jaw,
But celery, stewed,
Is more quietly chewed.

Tomato Saaru

A nice simple, easy, tasty recipe. I got this from Aayi's Recipes. I modified it a little to make my job easier. The recipe called for two large tomatoes to be blanched,peeled and puréed. That is perhaps the healthier way to make saaru, but I was a little lazy and used tomato purée instead.

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 2 large ( tomatoes to be blanched, peeled,puréed)
or use 50 gms of tomato purée as I did.
Jaggery - 5 gms
Green chillies - 4
For seasoning
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Asafoetida - pinch
Salt - to taste

Take the tomato purée and add water to get a rasam/charu/saaru consistency
Add the jaggery, salt, slit green chillies and bring to boil
Simmer awhile
Season - take oil, add the cumin, allow to brown
Add the mustard, and asafoetida powder
Allow the mustard to splutter, add curry leaves
Put in the saaru
Garnish with coriander leaves

Have as soup or with hot, soft rice. Was yummy. Do not omit the jaggery, it adds to the taste and yet does not make the saaru very sweet

Also make a healthy salad to make it a real healthy meal.

Mung ( green gram) sprouts
Carrot - finely chopped or grated
Tomato - finely diced
Cucumber - finely diced
Salt and pepper ( optional) to taste
Dash of lime
Mix and serve

Carrot-Tomato-Peanut Salad

Ingredients -
Carrots - 3 medium ( grated)
Tomato - 2 large - diced finely
Groundnut/Peanuts - 30 gms ( 2 tbsp)
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Roast peanuts well and grind to coarse powder.
In a bowl mix the grated carrot, diced tomato and the peanut powder.
Add the lime juice. Mix
Add the salt, pepper powder.
Season with mustard and curry leaves.
Chill and serve.