SALADS | Saute Fry N Bake

No oil healthy salad

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes to boil soya beans

Serving : 4 members

Description

No oil healthy dressing salad . I am on a DIET …. Every time I say this , I cheat myself to the core . A foodie like me just can’t stick on to healthy food habits . Two days back my best buddy gazeena sulu kunahamed had posted a picture of herself and Sindhu Krishna ( my other best buddy , we are a trio of three hard to pull apart best friends from school ) this picture was a recent picture taken on Sindhu’s visit to sulu’s place . Both of them looked OMG glamorously gorgeous and THIN . I just shook myself up and made up my mind to shed off some weight which has resulted me to try my hands on healthy dishes that taste good too . Healthy + good taste are two words that are far apart from one another . So , I am on a wild goose chase in search for real healthy tasty food . Mindful eating is clearly the buzz word for now . But that doesn’t mean having to grudgingly pile on austere , flavor- less food on your plate . this salad was a lip smacking healthy , nutritious and a delicious one That has ‘ eat me now ‘ written all over it . I licked the entire bowl myself that was hearty and filling . The creaminess of the almonds along with a nutty punch and the sweetness of dates made for a lovely combination enhancing the simplicity of the dish . This salad is uncomplicated and is ready in less than twenty minutes . This dish did make me realize that making healthy choices that count to swap a few ingredient combination results in refreshing and nutritious way to tickle your taste buds .

Ingredients for dressing

Ingredients	Quantity
Almonds	3
Pitted Dates	3
White sesame seeds	1 teaspoon
Boiled soya beans	1 teaspoon ( I use 1 tablespoon soya milk instead at times )
Ginger	a very small tiny bit ( 1/2 of 1/4 teaspoon grated )
Garlic	1 small flake
Salt	to taste
Water	just enough to grind ( when using milk avoid water )

Method for dressing

Grind all the ingredients together to a smooth paste and set aside .

Other Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Carrot	1 chopped
Red , green and yellow capsicum	1/4 of each chopped
Green Apple or red apple	1/4 chopped
Tomato	1/4 chopped
Chinese cabbage	1 leaf chopped

Method

Mix all the ingredients together . Add the ground dressing and toss well .Keep in the refrigerator and serve chill .

Green chicken salad

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 minutes

Serving : 4 members

Description

Green chicken salad . The idea for this salad was taken from Donna hays television show in TLC . Every time I get to watch her program , I am amazed by her simple cooking steps resulting in awesome dishes . Some people are born genius . A very healthy option salad which tastes good to . Gave it a try and was delicious . Non – vegetarian salads are very rarely served at Indian homes . First reason being most homes are vegetarians , second reason , we Indians have a mind set of having savoury food piping hot what so ever it may be . But do give this dish a try because its healthy , tastes good and easy to prepare .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Chicken cubes -( boiled with ginger garlic paste -1/4 teaspoon and salt to taste )	1 cup
Boiled green peas	1 cup
Coriander leaves	1/2 bunch with the stem
Green chillies	2 or more to taste
Thahini paste	1 tablespoon ( can substitute with 1 tablespoon of white sesame seeds + 1 tablespoon olive oil )
Olive oil	1 teaspoon
Lime	to taste
Sugar	1/4 teaspoon
Salt	to taste

Method

Grind coriander leaves , green chillies , thahini paste , lime juice , sugar , olive oil and salt to taste , along with little water to a smooth paste . Taste and adjust .
Mix boiled chicken and boiled green peas with this green sauce making sure all are combined well .
Leave closed in room temperature . Serve as it is .

Mosaic salad

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : nil

Serving : 6 members

Description

Mosaic salad . A salad that I was inspired by a picture that I came across in the world wide net of a salad cube made with water melon , cheese and kiwi . The vibrant colour and textural contrast that were arranged in a very different manner stole my heart as it was all about eating with your eyes , presentation and attention to detail . Not wanting to repeat the same , just took the idea of coloured cubed vegetables and fruits and made a salad of my own .Arranged the veggies , fruit and feta cheese used in the salad in a mosaic pattern all around the salad plate . Wanted to arrange the entire salad like wise but pressed for time , had to stop with a mosaic border and place the salad bowl in the middle . I Made this salad while I had invited my hubbies first cousins home for lunch . The younger lot didn’t even bother to touch the salad though it was colourful and eye catching right from chopping of ingredients to the final product on the plate but his cousin sister fathima and amma liked it a lot . Well it’s quite a task to satisfy every one at one shot . I love the simple , amazing act of feeding people and watching their reactions when they eat . It’s all about the myriad opportunities , fascinating people and experiences that come my way resulting in being admin and running sauté , fry n bake .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Tomatoes	2 cut into squares
Water melon de seeded	cut into squares 1 cup
Red , green and yellow bell peppers ( capsicum )	cut into squares 1 cup
Purple cabbage	cut into squares 1 cup
Feta cheese or paneer	1/2 cup cut into squares ( I used feta cheese )
Dried herbs	basil , tarragon , chives a pinch each
Crushed whole coriander seeds	1 teaspoon
Olive oil	2 teaspoons
Vinegar	2 teaspoons
Salt + pepper + sugar + chilli flakes	to taste

Method

Cut all the vegetables , water melon and feta cheese or paneer into equal sized squares . Pat dry the water melon cubes in tissue paper so that it does not ooze out water .
Whisk olive oil , vinegar , crushed coriander seeds , dried herbs , salt , sugar , pepper and chilli flakes together . Taste and adjust .
Pour over the cut vegetables , feta cheese and water melon squares . Toss well .
Place in the refrigerator and serve chilled arranged in a mosaic pattern by placing the coloured vegetables , water melon and feta cheese alternately to get a vibrant colourful salad plate .

Lemon Honey glazed salad

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : nil

Serving : 4 to 6 members

Description

Lemon honey glazed salad. A very simple salad which is very healthy lightly flavored and very tasty. Salads are always a great healthy eating options but to make them tasty as well is a challenge . These sort of recipes everyone can make even beginners to children. This salad is sure a treat for health fanatics. I ,myself have started working on salads very recently . I have succeeded to a certain level that 30 percent of my experiments in salad end up tasting good. This salad is so colorful and appealing to the eyes. I was so very excited about the results when i tasted it finally.

Ingredients for Glazed Salad

Ingredients	Quantity
Onion	1 chopped
Tomato	1 chopped
Capsicum	1/2 chopped
Red pepper ( capsicum )	1/2 chopped
Yellow pepper ( capsicum )	1/2 chopped
Baby corn	2 sliced thinly
Pomegranate kernels	1/4 cup
Carrot	1 medium size cut into small bite size cubes
Coriander leaves	1 tablespoon chopped

Ingredients for dressing

Ingredients	Quantity
Olive oil	1 tablespoon
Honey	2 tablespoon
Lime juice	1 1/2 tablespoon
Salt	to taste
Pepper	to taste

Method

Mix the dressing ingredients together well . Mix all the salad ingredients together .
Mix the dressing into the salad ingredients . toss well , making sure the dressing has coated the salad ingredients all over .
Keep in the refrigerator and serve cold .

Cauliflower salad

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 to 15 minutes

Serving : 4 members

Description

Cauliflower salad.A very healthy salad which tastes really good. Very rarely does healthy food taste good. This dish is my own invention made out of whatever ingredients were available at home.At times you do get fed up cooking the regular food that you cook everyday and at a point feel monotonous about every thing around you. That’s when i start to experiment with new dishes in my kitchen and vent out the monotonous in me . Cauliflower is one among my favourite vegetables. (I know many people hate it). I remember the stepped slops of the hills filled with cauliflower fields which were so visible from the girls dom in our boarding school in ooty. I loved gazing at the fields through those huge glass windows in our Dom. I guess those cauliflower fields belonged to my class mate Thiyagu Venkatesh. (not sure if that’s right).

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Cauliflower	2 cups of flower lets
pineapple	1 1/2 cups chopped to bite size chunks ( I used tinned pineapple 4 1/2 slices )
Egg whites omelet	1 , made with 2 egg whites seasoned with salt and pepper to taste , cut into thin long stripes
Light mayonnaise	4 tablespoons
Salt	to taste
Chilli flakes	1 teaspoon
Dried oregano	1/4 teaspoon
Dried basil	1/4 teaspoon
Olive oil	1/4 teaspoon( optional )

Method

Preheat an oven to 180 degree celsius . Immerse the cauliflower flower lets in boiling salted water for 5 minutes .
Drain and wash the cauliflower . Line a baking tray with foil paper and place the cauliflower equally apart from each other and sprinkle very little salt over the cauliflower and bake for 6 to 8 minutes . ( can saute the cauliflower in 1/4 teaspoon olive oil in a pan as well instead of using an oven ) .
Mix mayonnaise with all the other ingredients except for pineapple , cauliflower and egg white stripes .taste and adjust .
Add the cauliflower , pineapple and egg whites and toss well to coat the mayonnaise mix all around the cauliflower and pineapple .
Serve at room temperature or chilled .

Peanut salad

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 minutes

Serving : 4 to 6 members

Description

Peanut Salad . At home (moms place and hubby’s place)we never have a salad except for onion raitha (thayir chutney)served with biriyani and raw mango mixture. I try my best and add salads to the menu at home but i fail always as the salad kept in the table stays as it is. The mind set of everyone at home of having food pipeing hot is the issue here . But i am not going to give up as I confidently feel i can make a change . As i did with making my hubby try other cuisines.Initially he used to eat only South Indian cuisine.Even North Indian cuisine was a big no no.Boiled peanuts always brings a lot of good old memories to me. Our saree shop in Coimbatore was located in Oppanakara street , a very crowded place in the heart of the city.Everynight by 10.30 to 11 was the closing time of our shop.Dad used to be busy with his accounts , mom helping him out . myself and my brother playing around waiting for our parents to come soon.the entire crowded road used to be quite and empty . There was a particular man who used to sell boiled hot peanuts in the night . The entire road used to have an aroma filled with boiled peanuts . Myself and my brother were given a packet of the boiled peanuts every night as a brunch in the shop before our late night dinner at home .

Ingredients


boiled peanuts	2 cups
onion	1 big chopped finely
tomato	1 big chopped
green chillies	1 chopped
lime	a squeeze
salt	to taste
dates	6 pitted and sliced

Method

Mix all ingredients together . Taste and adjust .
Set aside to marinate for an hour . Serve at room temperature as a salad , side dish or a snack any time of the day .
I usually end up serving this left over salad to all while watching the television .

Note

Follow the same recipe substituting boiled chick peas instead of boiled peanuts .

Chicken Supreme Salad

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 minutes

Serving : 4 to 6 members

Description

A very colourful salad with always available ingredients at home . Vegetarians can omit chicken and follow the same recipe .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Chicken breast	250 gm ( boiled with salt and pepper to taste and cut into strips )
carrot	1 cup cubes boiled
potato	1 cup cubes boiled
green peas	1/2 cup boiled
canned pineapple	4 sliced cut into chunks
apple	1 peeled and chopped
seedless green grapes	1/2 cup
sliced black olives	2 table spoons
salt	to taste
pepper	to taste
sugar	to taste
chilli flakes	to taste
mayonnaise	1/3 cup
fresh cream	1/2 cup
lettuce	1 bunch
tomato slices	to garnish

Method

Cool the boiled vegetables and chicken stripes.
Mix with fruits , black olives , salt , pepper , chilli flakes and sugar and refrigarate.
Before serving mix mayonnaise and fresh cream together .
Toss in the vegetable and fruit mixture . Taste and adjust .
Serve decorated with lettuce and tomato slices .