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Salads aren't my most favourite food, if I am to be honest. Seeing a recipe for salad on anyone's blog doesn't usually float my boat. So I don't expect this simple recipe to turn the Internet's head and send millions of unique visitors my way. But it really was a refreshing salad when I ate it yesterday, and I thought it worthwhile to make a post of it. The best part was that the apples were from my own little container tree, which has done rather well this year. i think I got about 20 apples from it, all told. It's only got two branches!
I had picked a couple of apples to see if they were edible or whether I would have to make an apple crisp or cake, because last month when I tried one, it was much too sour to make pleasant eating. (I made a cake with the apples then). They are meant to be eating apples, you see. But this time they were perfect, beautifully juicy and sweet with the right amount of tartness. Really lovely. Why I fancied a salad using the apples, I have no idea. I don't usually want a salad for dinner. But I had also picked some mint too, and I wanted to use that. So here it is. I can assure you that the salad is refreshing and I really enjoyed it. It is not any more exciting than that, unfortunately.
No wait, that's not quite true. There was SOME excitement while I was slicing the vegetables - I used a mandoline to make wafer-thin slices, and it was so viciously sharp and efficient at its job that I found I had sliced a bit off the side of my forefinger before I knew it. I cursed a bit and ran cold water over my finger, then went back to the mandoline. And it happened AGAIN, this time to my thumb. It was painful, but at least I can claim that I put myself into my salad. You don't have to do the same, though. I'm sure the salad would taste just as nice without the blood, sweat (metaphorically speaking) and tears.
Recipe for: Apple, cucumber and carrot salad
Ingredients:
2 medium eating apples
1 small cucumber
1 medium carrot
2 tbsp walnuts
handful of Chinese cabbage or lettuce, shredded very fine
For the dressing:
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp very finely chopped mint
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp apple balsamic vinegar
Salt to taste
1. Slice the cucumber, apples and carrot very thinly (I used a mandoline).
2. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing. Adjust the taste to your requirement.
3. Mix the salad vegetables together, then add the dressing a little at a time - you may not require all of it, so go easy. Sprinkle the walnuts on top and eat immediately.
This is such a simple recipe that I'm slightly embarrassed that I'm making it an actual post. However, consider this a record of the ingredients for this chutney. Bear in mind that the ingredients are not set in stone. The coriander and mint are necessary, but the spinach can be omitted, you can use peanuts or walnuts instead of the almonds, add or omit the sunflower seeds or substitute some other seeds... you get the idea.
This chutney can be used as is, as a condiment to go with samosas and other Indian snacks, as a sandwich spread, as a dip mixed into yogurt. It could even be good with pasta, if you consider it as a sort of fat-free Indian "pesto". I haven't tried that, but there's no reason to think it won't be nice. It's versatiie, zingy and easy to make. Last but not the least. this is a healthy chutney -
not in the sense of "I've halved the sugar so I'm calling this healthy" or "I've added spinach to the vegetable pakodas that I deep fried, so I'm calling it healthy" - but actually good for you. That's all.
Oh - one more thing. I had this chutney with khatta dhokla yesterday (made from a packet mix, so sue me). And today, I dolloped a couple of spoonfuls over my bowlful of oven-roasted veggies (Charlotte potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, red onion) and enjoyed every last bite of my light supper. See what I'm saying about this green chutney being versatile?
Recipe for: Green chutney
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped coriander
1 cup chopped mint
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1-2 green chillies, chopped (or to taste)
10-12 almonds, skinned
2 tbsp mixed seeds (I used sunflower and melon)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp sugar
Juice of half a lemon (or to taste)
Salt to taste
Water as required
Method:
1. Grind together all the ingredients (except the salt and lemon juice) to a smooth paste.
2. Mix in the lemon juice and salt to taste. The consistency should be softly runny, not very thick.
3. That's it. It's ready to use.
So, what’s your take on spinach? Do you like it? You do? Oh good. And green beans? Oh, you like that too? Well, how very curious, they’re both things that I like too! What are the odds???
So, what do you think about spinach and green beans cooked with rice? You think it’s a divine idea too? I AM gratified to hear that, because – wait for it – that’s EXACTLY what I made a little while ago. I mean, really, it’s too good to be true, isn’t it? There you are, dreaming about a flavoured rice that involves spinach and green beans, and here I am, actually making your dream into reality.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” You are thinking that too, aren’t you? I knew it. Nothing amazing there, given that our thoughts have agreed so awesomely perfectly for the previous couple of paragraphs. There can’t be anything to amaze you after that.
No, wait, I tell a lie. There IS possibly something that you might find amazing, even after all this… and that, dear you, is my gut feeling that if I’d written the dialogues for Hamlet, instead of ol’ Will Shakespeare, I might very possibly – not 100% certain here, to be fair, but very possibly – have written those exact same words that we were thinking of together in the previous paragraph.
Now tell me, is that amazing or is that amazing?
What’s that? Oh, you want the recipe. Well ok, here it is.
Hey, you forgot to tell me if that was amazing or if that was amazing…! Hello...? Are you there?
Recipe for: Spinach and green bean rice
Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice, soaked for 15-30 minutes
1 cup spinach, chopped
3-4 green chillies or to taste
3 cloves of garlic
1" piece ginger
1 cup green beans, chopped fine
2 onions, sliced thinly
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cups water
1 tbsp oil
Juice of one lime (optional)
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Grind the spinach, garlic, green chillies and ginger to a fine paste and set aside till required.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and sizzle the cumin seeds, then add the onions and green beans, and fry them till the onions begin to turn soft.
3. Stir in the spinach paste
and fry it for 4-5 minutes, till the raw smell goes away.
4. Now drain away the soaking water from the rice, and add the rice to the pan.
Add salt to taste and the two cups water and mix well.
5. Bring the water to a boil, then turn the heat right down. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. If you like, you can place a towel over the pan before placing the lid on it, so that the condensation is soaked up by the towel. Let the rice cook for around 17 minutes, covered, until all the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve it hot, sprinkled with lime juice if you like, accompanied by any raita and potato crisps or papad.
RECIPE: SPINACH AND GREEN BEAN RICE
Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice, soaked for 15-30 minutes
1 cup spinach, chopped
3-4 green chillies or to taste
3 cloves of garlic
1" piece ginger
1 cup green beans, chopped fine
2 onions, sliced thinly
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cups water
1 tbsp oil
Juice of one lime (optional)
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Grind the spinach, garlic, green chillies and ginger to a fine paste and set aside till required.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and sizzle the cumin seeds, then add the onions and green beans, and fry them till the onions begin to turn soft.
3. Stir in the spinach paste and fry it for 4-5 minutes, till the raw smell goes away.
4. Now drain away the soaking water from the rice, and add the rice to the pan. Add salt to taste and the two cups water and mix well.
5. Bring the water to a boil, then turn the heat right down. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. If you like, you can place a towel over the pan before placing the lid on it, so that the condensation is soaked up by the towel. Let the rice cook for around 17 minutes, covered, until all the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve it hot, sprinkled with lime juice if you like, accompanied by any raita and potato crisps or papad.
Yep, I've jumped onto the "rice salad" bandwagon, despite my doubts about what a salad actually is. :) Or perhaps I should call this a no-cook "raw" pulao. A salad by any other name - probably tastes exactly the same... right? I actually wasn't entirely certain if this would be to my taste, but as it turned out, it's delicious - IF you like raw onions. I do, and I think the salad tasted even better for sitting overnight in the fridge, when I had it the next day for lunch. At room temperature, I should add. I don't like to eat anything that's refrigerator-cold... not even sandwiches. It has to be room temperature, at the very least.
PS. I saw this recipe on someone's blog, but for the life of me I can't remember whose it was. If you recognise this recipe, dear blogger, please give me a heads-up and I will add a link to your original recipe together with an acknowledgement.
Recipe for: Curried brown rice salad
Ingredients:
1/3 cup brown basmati rice
2 tbsp red onion, minced
2 tbsp green bell pepper, minced
1/3 cup chickpeas, cooked (fresh or canned)
3 tbsp coriander, chopped fine
1 tsp sultanas/raisins
1 tsp sliced almonds, toasted, for garnish
For the dressing:
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp orange blossom honey
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp commercial curry powder (I used Schwartz medium-hot)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Soak the brown rice for a few hours if possible; put the soaked rice in a pan with a well fitting lid and add 2/3 cup water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer, cover the pan and let the rice cook till all the water has been absorbed (about 15 minutes). Let the cooked rice sit undisturbed for 15 minutes.
Once it has cooled, fluff gently with a fork. Reserve.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the salad ingredients bar the toasted almonds.
Then add the rice and mix gently to combine.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the ingredients for the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the salad and mix again, adding salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the dressing ingredients.
Fluff with a fork so as not to make the rice mushy.
Sprinkle the toasted almonds over. Serve at room temperature, or chilled.
RECIPE: CURRIED BROWN RICE SALAD
Ingredients:
1/3 cup brown rice
2 tbsp red onion, minced
2 tbsp green bell pepper, minced
1/3 cup chickpeas
3 tbsp coriander, chopped fine
1 tsp sultana/raisins
1 tsp sliced almonds, toasted
For the dressing:
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp orange blossom honey
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp commercial curry powder (I used Schwartz medium-hot)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Soak the brown rice for a few hours if possible; put the soaked rice in a pan with a well fitting lid and add 2/3 cup water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer, cover the pan and let the rice cook till all the water has been absorbed (about 15 minutes). Let the cooked rice sit undisturbed for 15 minutes. Once it has cooled, fluff gently with a fork. Reserve.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the salad ingredients bar the toasted almonds. Then add the rice and mix gently to combine.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the ingredients for the dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix again, adding salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the dressing ingredients. Fluff with a fork so as not to make the rice mushy. Serve at room temperature.
I wonder if there comes a point when it's no longer a thrill to be able to go into your garden and pick your own vegetables, herbs or fruit fresh, to use in your own kitchen (or even to see used in someone else’s kitchen, come to that) for your own family's consumption. I haven't come to that stage and I don't see myself ever doing so, if only because I don’t grow as many edible things as I’d like to because of space constraints and my own limitations as a gardener.
Given that, every little thing that I use from my garden is a source of huge pleasure – the ripe blueberries that I pick off in ones and twos and eat rightaway (not enough of them to do anything else!); the chillies that I’ve picked and used; the herbs (3 types of mint, sage, thyme, chives, parsley, coriander and 3 types of basil), the spinach beet leaves… all of these seem to taste better for having grown in my containers.
This year, for the first time, I tried growing some dwarf yellow French beans – I have six plants that give me a handful of golden-yellow tender beans every week. Usually I’m happy to boil them, and eat them straightaway without further ado – they’re that good (and I like fresh French beans that much). But this time I wanted to use them in a recipe, and given that I’d got a bunch of mint (it really is growing like crazy this year) from my garden, the last of the coriander and some fresh green chillies, I thought to combine them all in one recipe – along with fresh green peas as well.
So that is what this is – a very green(fingered) pulao recipe.
Recipe for: Minty golden bean pulao
Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice, washed and soaked for 20 minutes
1/2 cup golden (or green) French beans, sliced on the diagonal
1/2 cup fresh green peas
1 cup loosely packed mint leaves
1/2 cup loosely packed coriander leaves
2 tbsp lime/lemon juice
5 baby plum tomatoes (or 1 small tomato), chopped
2 medium onions, sliced thin
5 purple shallots, sliced thin
4 fresh green chillies (or to taste)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander powder
1" piece ginger, sliced
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil
2 cups water
Method:
1. Grind the mint, coriander, green chillies and ginger to a smooth paste along with the lemon juice. Reserve.
2. In a pan (preferably one which has a tight-fitting lid), heat the oil. Fry the cumin seeds and coriander powder for 30 seconds,
then add the sliced shallots and onions and stir-fry on high heat till the onions start to turn soft.
Stir in the tomatoes and let them cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the green peas and the sliced beans and mix them into the onions, stir-frying for 2-3 minutes.
Then add the ground mint-coriander paste
and let it fry till the raw smell goes (about 3 minutes).
4. Add the soaked rice (without the water), stirring it into the vegetable mixture, keeping the heat med-high. Be careful not to let it "catch" and burn.
5. Once the rice begins to turn opaque, add 2 cups water and salt to taste.
Bring this to a bubbling boil, then turn the heat right down and cover the pan with the lid. Let it cook on the lowest heat for 20 minutes, then turn the heat off and let the pulao sit undisturbed for another 15 minutes.
After that, uncover the pan, fluff up the rice with a fork and serve with raita and/or something crunchy on the side.
Another broccoli entry from me for ARF/5-a-day Tuesday #6, usually hosted by Sweetnicks, but this week being hosted by Stephanie, the Happy Sorceress.
Since finding out that peanuts are a good source of anti-oxidants, well, I just HAD to use them along with my veggies for this event. I've had this broccoli recipe for a while, printed off from one of the food groups that I've subscribed to, and I've tweaked it only slightly. A lot of the recipes are too complicated or call for ingredients not available in the UK - fair enough, the groups are mostly US-based, so it's to be expected. But this recipe seemed interesting and simple, and even better, perfect for the Tuesday event.
It is vaguely reminiscent of Thai cuisine, although I suppose peanut butter isnt the most authentic of Thai ingredients. And come to think of it - couscous isnt really a hallmark of Thai cooking either.... Okay, so perhaps it ISNT reminiscent of Thai cuisine. Let's just say it's a pretty darn good recipe, and leave it at that!
Recipe for: Broccoli in peanut sauce
Ingredients:
1/4 c peanut butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp hot water
Juice from half a lime (about 2 tbsp)
1 generous tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 whole dried red chillies (or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, if you dont like chillies)
1 1/2 tbsp oil
2 cups fresh broccoli, in florets
1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks (or use red bell pepper)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
A handful of roasted peanuts, for garnish
Method:
1. Put the broccoli in a big bowl of very hot water for 4 minutes. Remove, refresh under cold running water and set aside in a colander to drain.
2. Combine peanut butter, sugar, water, lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and pepper in a blender or spice grinder, until the chillies are well blended. Set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the onions, carrots/bell pepper and garlic, and
stir-fry for 4 minutes, or until tender crisp.
4. Add the broccoli and stir. Remove from the heat after 1 minute.
5. Place the vegetables in a bowl and pour the peanut sauce over it.
Mix well and serve warm over couscous (I flavoured mine with lemongrass and fresh coriander) or with noodles.
It was just too hot today for any indoors cooking, with the temperature touching 30 degrees C. Pete sweltered happily at the barbeque, and our friends chomped down on pork and beef and sardines (!), but I simply couldnt face any hot food. There were mock-sausages for me, but on my best days, quorn is not my favourite form of protein - and on a day this hot and still, even the thought of it put me off. A meal of ice cubes seemed more appropriate.
No much nutrition in ice cubes, though, so I decided to make myself a salad. Not one of those gourmet salads with exotic ingredients, but a run-of-the-mill garden salad with the lettuce and red cabbage cold from the fridge, crunchy and crisp. Some shredded carrot, sliced tomatoes, cucumber as well. And since there was a nice red apple in the fruit bowl, I sliced up that too.
Olive oil didnt seem right for this salad, so I used a tablespoon of light salad dressing, added a generous sprinkling of freshly ground pepper, a dash of salt and a good squeeze of lemon juice and mixed it all up.
And that, along with a tall glass of fresh, tart-sweet lemon juice over lots of ice cubes, was my meal. Absolutely gorgeous and exactly what the weather called for.
Recipe for: Crisp salad with apples
Ingredients:
Two generous handfuls of iceberg lettuce, roughly torn up
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup shredded (or matchstick-cut) carrot
1 red apple (I used Red Delicious), sliced into medium wedges
1/2 cup cucumber, sliced into medium wedges
2 firm tomatoes, sliced into medium wedges
1 tbsp light creamy salad dressing
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1-2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
Put the salad vegetables into a big bowl. Add the dressing and seasonings and mix well. Serve cold.
