Broccoli , Apple and Chickpea salad with hung curd dressing

Ingredients :

1. Broccoli florets - 1/2 cup blanched 
2. Apple - 1/2 cup diced
3. chickpea - 1/4 cup cooked and drained
4. curd - 1/2 cup 
5. salt - to taste
6. pepper - to taste

Method:
Place the curd in a strainer for 1 hour ,the whey will separate and you will get a thick cheese like curd mix.
Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well.
add the blanched broccoli,apple and chickpeas to a bowl and add the hung curd and mix well.
serve as a side salad for grilled meats or seafood.

Thai Mango Salad

Ingredients:

1. Raw Mango - 2 medium sized (mangoes that are not too sour and  turning ripe but still firm taste best)
2. Shallots - 2
3. Green chilly - 1
4. Red bell pepper or Carrots -  2 tbsp Julienned  
5. Basil - 4 leaves torn
6. Roasted peanuts or cashews - handful
7. sugar OR Honey- 1/2 tsp (**I did not use as the mango was sweet and sour)
8. Fish sauce OR Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
9. garlic - 1 clove chopped fine
10. birdseye chili or green chilly - 1 chopped fine
11. Salt - to taste
12. roasted Black and white Sesame seeds - 1 tsp for garnish

Method :

Peel the mango and cut int into long matchstick sized pieces . If you have a zigzag peeler you can use that (Do not grate the mango on a grater ,it becomes soggy)
cut all the ingredients - carrots/bell peppers , green chilies & shallots  into thin julienne
mix together the fish/soy sauce ,sugar/honey , chopped green chillie,garlic and mix well. You can add it to a small bottle and shake to mix well.
taste for salt ,sweet and spice. adjust by adding more as needed.
toss together the salad ingredients . Add the dressing and mix in the nuts .
Sprinkle with sesame seeds .
Serve immediately.
You can prepare and keep all the ingredients ready and mix in the dressing when you are ready to serve .

Pomegranate , Garbanzo beans & Roasted butternut squash Salad with Olive Oil and Balsmaic vinegar dressing

Balsamic vinegar is a thick, sweet smelling vinegar made from the pure and unfermented juice of grapes, called the "must." Although different varieties of grapes can be used to create balsamic vinegar, the Trebbiano grape, native to Modena, Italy, is the most common.The process of making balsamic vinegar begins by boiling the grape juice until it becomes a thick syrup. It is then transferred to the wooden barrels to start the aging process. Bacteria is added, which oxidizes the juice and turns it into vinegar. This can take from 6 months to several years. The balsamic vinegars sold in the average grocery store are probably only aged for a few months in stainless steel tanks.

Some balsamic vinegars have been aged for over 100 years in casks which are made of different woods like chestnut, acacia, cherry, oak, mulberry, ash, and, in the past, juniper. True balsamic vinegar is rich, glossy, deep brown in color and has a complex flavor that balances the natural sweet and sour elements of the cooked grape juice with hints of wood from the casks.It is this aging process that makes true balsamic vinegar from Modena in Northern Italy so expensive.True aceto balsamic vinegar comes in 3.4 ounce bottles and sells from $50.00 to $500.00 per bottle. It must be aged a minimum of 10 year. The better balsamic vinegars are aged 25 to 50 years ,these are not to be poured, but used by the drop. Dark in color and syrupy in consistency, they have a flavor that is a balance of sweet and sour.

Commercial grade Balsamic vinegars are available in grocery stores and serve well in cooking and salad dressings.They are not aged as the authentic vinegars and are made to mimic the color and aroma with the addition of colouring, caramel and sometimes thickeners like guar gum or cornflour.

Ingredients: for the dressing

1. Balsamic vinegar - 5 tbsp
2. Olive Oil - 10 tbsp
3. Garlic - 2 cloves crushed and finely chopped
4. Sugar - 1 tsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. freshly crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp
7. Italian seasoning - 1/4 tsp (dried blend of Marjoram, Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Sage, Oregano, and Basil)

For the Salad:

1. Fresh Romaine - 3 cups washed ,dried and torn into bite sized pieces
2. Roasted butternut squash - 1/2 cup diced
3. Pomegranate seeds - 1/2 cup
4. Red onion - few pieces thinly sliced
5. Grape tomatoes - 5 halved
6. Dried cranberry - 2 tbsp
7. Fresh steamed Garbanzo beans - 1/2 cup
8. Carrot strips - 1/4 cup

Method:
Add all the ingredients for the dressing into a small bottle with a tight fitting lid. CLose the lid and shake well to combine. This dressing can be refrigerated for a week to use later.
Combine all ingredients for the salad when ready to serve and drizzle with the dressing.

Roasted Corn and Pepper Salad

Ingredients:

1. Sweet corn - 2 ears
2. Bell peppers or Sweet peppers - around 2 cups when chopped
3. Spring Onion - 3
4. Salt - to taste
5. Lime Juice - 1 squeeze
6. Black pepper crushed - to sprinkle
7. Butter - 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:
Grill the corn, peppers and onion in skillet , I brushed them with melted butter and grilled on an cast iron skillet until lightly charred.
Cut the corn kernals off the cob and chop the peppers and spring onion.
Mix them together , add a squeeze of lime , sprinkle of salt and pepper and enjoy.
You can have it as a salad or serve as a side for grilled fish or meat.

Kovakka Unakka Chemeen Thoran

Ingredients:

1. Tindoora/Kovakka/Ivy Gourd - 1.5 lbs cut into medium sized pieces
2. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
3. Shallots - 5 sliced
4. Green chillies - 5
5. Garlic - 2 cloves
6. Toasted Whole Dry shrimp - 5 tbsp
7. Tomato - 1 chopped
8. Curry leaves - 2 springs
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Grind the coconut,green chillies,garlic and turmeric powder to a coarse paste ( 3 or 4 pulses in the food processor).
Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.
When it splutters add the shrimp,shallots,tindoora and chopped tomatoes and salt to taste and stir fry for few minutes.
Sprinkle a bit of water and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in the coconut mixture and curry leaves and mix well.
Cover and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until the tindoora is cooked well.

Kiwi Cranberry Sprouts salad

Ingredients:

1. Green gram sprouts - 1/2 cup
2. Ripe kiwi fruit - 1 peeled and diced
3. Dried cranberries - 2 tbsp
4. Green chillies - 1 chopped
5. Onion - 1/2 chopped
6. Tomatoes - 1 chopped
7. Carrots - 1 chopped
8. Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
9. salt - to taste.

Method :
Mix all the ingredients together and keep aside for 20 minutes.

Onion Tomato and Curd Salad (Biriyani Salad)

This is a salad that is usually served with Biriyani in the Malabar region. Thinly sliced onion is mixed with sour curd , green chillies and salt. Sometimes tomatoes are also added.


Ingredients:

1. Red onion - 1 sliced thin
2. Green chillies - 2 cut into rings
3. Tomato - 1 sliced thin
4. Curd - 1 cup
5. Salt - to taste.

Method:
Mix all the ingredients and keep aside for 30 minutes for flavors to blend.

Desi Salad /Tomato Onion Salad

Before coming to the US , anytime anyone mentioned the word salad - what came to mind was this mixture of tomatoes,onions and green chillies flavoured by nothing more than salt and maybe a splash of vinegar. It still remains one of my favourites, specially if I have vine ripened homegrown tomatoes.

Home grown tomatoes are so full of flavour that you should not mask their flavour by cooking them or mixing them with too many other ingredients.This is one salad that you can have with fried fish, fried chicken or any meat ,Biriyani , chappathi or even rice.

What comes to mind when I think of this salad is the family trip we had taken to a hill station near Munnar called maattupetti - this was waaay back when I was in school, more than 20 years ago.We stayed at a hotel that did not have a restaurant .We used to have lunch and dinner at the employees mess.There was this elderly cook who allowed us inside his kitchen to watch as he cooked.One night for dinner he had made this salad with tomatoes that grew in their backyard ,they were not even perfectly ripe and was still speckled with green ....I still have a vivid memory of that day.It tasted heavenly and thus started My love affair with the homegrown tomato . They are sweet,sour,juicy and tastes like summer.Try some and I am sure you will be hooked.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 2 sliced(preferably vine ripened fresh tomatoes)
Red onion - 1 sliced very thin
Green chillies - 2 cut into rings
Salt - to taste
Vinegar - 1/2 tsp (optional)
sugar - 1 pinch(optional)

Method:
If you cant get good quality tomatoes - adding a pinch of sugar and a splash of vinegar will brighten things up a bit.
Just mix all the ingredients and let it sit for 15 minutes to let the flavours blend.

Sprout Salad

Ingredients :
Sprouted Green gram - 1/2 cup
Tomato -1 chopped
carrot - 1 chopped
Onion - 1 chopped
red bell pepper - 1/2 chopped
Cilantro - 1 tsp chopped
green chillies - 1 chopped
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and let the flavours blend for 15 minutes.

Tomato Cucumber Salad

Home grown tomato and cucumber slices sprinkled with salt , pepper and vinegar.