Daily Archives: July 28, 2014

Tandoori chicken salad

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : Nil – If tandoori chicken is already ready in hand

Serving : 5 members

Description

Tandoori chicken salad . Salad was rocket science to me until I realized that its just a combination of raw vegetables with a dressing and few crispy garnishes to pike it up . This salad was the first salad that I came up with when I first started to cook but with out the tandoori chicken and the crushed pepper paped . From then till date , I religiously make this salad with a few twists every time a salad is required on the table as its fuss free , so simple to make , high in taste and all the ingredients are cupboard friendly at home . This salad is a great healthy eating option as there is no oil used . The nutritional boost of this salad will make it your go to food to beat the diet flunk . I made this salad when my friend meera aboo thamby had come over for lunch along with her family . Her hubby aboo ( Annan ) just loved this salad that he made sure to pack the left overs before they left . I made four salads and still this salad managed to stand out among them all . The best part being it was the easiest salad to pull of and even beginners can raise a lot of eye brows around .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Tandoori chicken flesh shredded	1 cup
Carrot	1/2 cup cut into strips
Onions	sliced thinly 1/2 cup
Cabbage	shredded 1/4 cup
Cucumber	1 chopped
Tomato	1 big chopped
Green chillies	4 chopped finely
Coriander leaves	chopped 2 teaspoons
Lime juice	1/2 lime
Salt	to taste
Vinegar	1 1/2 tablespoon
Pepper paped	2 tossed over flame or microwaved for 30 - 40 seconds and crushed .

Method

Mix tandoori chicken pieces , carrots , cabbage , onions , tomato ,cucumber , green chillies and coriander leaves together .
Add salt , lime juice and vinegar and toss well . Taste and adjust .
The salad must be a bit tangy . Place in the fridge until required to serve . Garnish with crushed pepper paped and serve .

Note

Vegetarians can substitute with tandoori panner and do the same .
Make sure you add the crushed pepper paped just before serving so that the paped stays crisp .

Cheesy potato canape

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 25 minutes

Serving : 5 – 6 members

Description

Cheesy potato canape . A Peruvian style cheese dip recipe that is served with tapioca finger chips . I came across this recipe in the telly on food safari program in fox traveller hosted by maeve o ‘ meara . One day was just flipping through a cook book and came across a recipe with the same cheesy dip used with potatoes and served as a canape by chef ritu Dalmia . Was wonder struck with her great idea of using this cheesy dip with potato rounds . Stored this idea in mind . In a few weeks time had my friend meera aboo thamby and her family come over for lunch at my place . Her hubby is a health freak and has a lot of salads , soups and proteins . Rice is a big no , no . ( you know about these NRI ‘S ….. Oops no offence to any one ) so I had to cater to her hubby’s needs as well . Planned to make four salads and the first one on my mind was the potato canape recipe that was stored in my mind . I followed ritu dalmias recipe and ended up resulting in a very runny sauce instead of a creamy one . Had to use more feta and salted biscuits than demanded in the recipe . Compared this recipe with the food safaris and found out that I had to use evaporated milk but ritu Dalmia had mentioned just milk and that to one cup . I guess that’s what made my sauce runny . So I have substituted milk with cream here . The entire world revolves around with borrowed , tweaked , followed and inspired recipes with their own twist.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Oil	1 tablespoon
Yellow bell pepper/ yellow capsicum	1 chopped
Onion	1 chopped
Garlic	2 flakes
Green chilies	2 chopped
Feta cheese	100 grams
Cream	2 tablespoon
Salted biscuits	6 to 8 ,( I used Monaco biscuits )
Salt and pepper	to taste
Potatoes	4 boiled , peeled and sliced into 1/2 centimeter thick slices
Cappers	1 tablespoon
Celery leaves	few

Method

Heat oil in a frying pan . Saute yellow bell pepper , onion , garlic and green chillies until soft .
Cool completely . Put this mixture in a blender along with feta cheese , cream , biscuits , salt and pepper .
Blend to get a thick creamy sauce . Season the potato slices with very little salt .
Lay the potatoes in a single layer on a flat platter and top them with the cheese sauce .
Garnish with capers and celery leaves . Serve at room temperature .

Watermelon feta salad

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : nil

Serving : 4 members

Description

Watermelon feta salad . A Greek origin dish which I first got to know through nigella lawsons show on the telly . Fell in love with the idea of using the water melon in a salad . Following her recipe I just spiked it up a bit with our desi ingredients and wolla it was heavenly with the freshness of the ingredients , crunchiness of the cucumber , saltiness of the feta and enhanced lemony zing . This salad is a perfect iced appetizer . Water melon was one fruit as a kid that I just got to mournfully flip through pages and had to wonder how it would taste as it was no where to be found in Coimbatore and surrounding areas . The vibrant red with black seeds sparkling in between with the white lining along with the green skin was a fantasy to me . At last one holiday I finally got to taste water melon that was sourced from Bombay in my grand mothers( dads mom ) place in Coimbatore . As we were a huge gang of people there , each one of us got one piece each . Loved the taste and wateriness of the fruit but the taste didn’t register in my mind and was a for gotten episode . Finally water melon was sold a lot in Coimbatore and at school in Ooty , we were served a triangular piece each during lunch on summer days . Got married of to tirunelveli and not a sign of any fresh fruits available in the local market except for apples , oranges and bananas . My parents used to send over fruits of the season through lorry service over to in – laws place . Gone are those days , now Nellai has platform fruit stalls , fruit shops and huge department stores filled with imported fruits and veggies . Good things come to those who are patient . Right !!! We Nellai people are enjoying the exciting transformation for the lost time.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
watermelon cubes deseeded	250 grams
Cucumber cubes	50 grams
light soy sauce	1 teaspoon
spring onions	1 stalk
black olives	6 to 7
feta cheese	50 grams
Black salt	a pinch
Coriander leaves (chopped)	1 teaspoon
Mint leaves	few
tomato	1 chopped
pumpkin seeds	2 teaspoons , ( or use any nuts of your choice )
chaat masala	1/4 teaspoon
olive oil	2 teaspoon
oregano leaves	2 pinch
lemon zest	a pincn
lemon juice	1 teaspoon
sugar	1 teaspoon

Method

Peel and cut water melon into cubes or chunks if you like. Add the cucumber and Season with soy sauce and black salt.
Slice the spring onions thin. Chop the olives. Crumble the feta cheese.Cut the tomato .
Toast the pumpkin seeds, sprinkle the chaat masala with sugar. Prepare a dressing by whisking together the olive oil, oregano, lemon juice and zest in a mixing bowl .
Add olives, the spring onions, tomato , feta, with the dressing. Season to taste.
Place the cubed watermelon and cucumber on the plate with the dressing . garnish with coriander leaves and mint leaves .
Place in the refrigerator until needed to be served and serve chill .

Millet rice balls with avocado aioli dressing

Preparation Time : 35 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serving : 4 to 6 members

Description

Millet rice balls with avocado aioli dressing . It’s been quite some time since I made salad at home . Last afternoon decided to skip my regular lunch . instead make a decent salad that should be healthy and fulfilling . I was in a mood to use ingredients from my refrigerator kind of thing , as it was fully loaded with vegetables ,fruits and herbs after my return from kodaikanal . Picked what ever I felt was right enough to be used and ripe along with some other ingredients . I remembered going through a recipe ( not sure where ) , where they had used quinoa balls in a salad . So I borrowed that idea and started of with millet rice balls . The first time I was experimenting with millet grains . Made a dressing with ripe avocado and mayonnaise . Tasted bland and buttery so just added a piece of sun dried tomato and its oil . Tasted and it just did pure Magic . I didn’t want to use regular salad vegetables so opted for the remaining avocado and spiked it with all the green herbs that I had . Proceeded and put the salad together . The salad was creamy , crunchy , tart , fragrantly herby with colour bursting all over . This haute make over with marvelous pairing of contrasting flavours are for keeps and sure to be a hit on any table . finally my quest of skipping lunch and having a salad alone was done in style .

Ingredients for the millet rice balls

Ingredients	Quantity
Millet rice ( husk removed )	120 gm
Brown bread	4 slices
Red , yellow and green pepper	1/4 each chopped
Olive oil	2 tablespoons
Chilli flakes	to taste
Dill	1/4 teaspoon
Pine nuts	1/4 cup
Lime juice	1/2 lime
feta cheese	100 grams
Salt and pepper	to taste

Ingredients for avocado aioli dressing

Ingredients	Quantity
Ripe Avocado	1/2
Mayonnaise	4 tablespoon
Sun dried tomato	1 piece with 1 teaspoon oil
Salt	to taste

Salad ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Ripe Avocado	1/2 cut to stripes
Leeks	1 stem alone sliced few
Fresh whole basil leaves	15
Mint leaves	8
Spring onion	1 with greens chopped

Method for millet rice balls

Pressure cook washed millet rice with 3 times more of water to the ratio of 1 share millet : 3 shares of water for 3 whistles and set aside to cool .
Blitz the bread slices to a coarse powder . Heat oil and saute pine nuts and chopped coloured peppers to soft and nuts to lightly golden .
Mix the cooked millet rice , pine-nuts pepper mixture , bread slice coarse powder , feta crumbled , lime juice , salt , pepper , chilli flakes and dill together .
Mix well and shape into even size balls . Place on a greased microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 2 minutes . Remove and set aside

Method for avocado aioli dressing

To make the avocado aioli for the salad , Blend the avocados with the mayonnaise , salt , sun dried tomato and oil to a smooth paste .
Taste and adjust and set aside .

Method for salad

For salad , Mix avocado strips with leeks , fresh basil leaves and chopped spring onion .
Toss half of the avocado aioli with the salad .

How to proceed and plate

To serve , spread the salad on the base , top with millet rice balls and serve the remaining avocado aioli beside .
Serve at room temperature .