Kidney beans, corn & chickpea salad

A salad or a starter packed with protein and healthy option for a light snack. It's crunchy, sour, spicy & a tiny hint of sweetness from the corn. It surely won't disappoint you!

Kidney beans, corn & chickpea salad

Ingredients

1. 5 tbsp rajma (Kidney beans)
2. 5 tbsp chole (Chickpeas)
3. 5 tbsp corn (cooked)
4. 1 large onion
5. 1 large capsicum
6. 2 tbsp lime juice
7. 3 green chillies
8. 3 tbsp coriander
9. salt as per taste

Method

1. add 1 tsp salt & soak the rajma & chole overnight, pressure cook for 2 whistles only. remove and keep aside to cool.
2. In a large mixing bowl add the cooked rajma, chola & cooked corn kernels. Add very finely chopped onions, capsicum, lime juice, chilli paste made from 3 chillies, salt as per taste and coriander.
3. prepare the starter in the afternoon if you want to serve it for dinner for all the flavors to combine with the beans and vegetables.

Quick Salad

Ingredients

1 small bunch of lettuce leaves

10-12 spinach leaves

½ cup corn (I used ready-to--use frozen corn)(thaw before use)

6 mushrooms (stem removed)

½ carrot

1 small piece of Gouda Cheese (optional)

4 sprigs of dill (very finely chopped)

1 small cup croutons (to make at home use 2 slices of bread)

ranch dressing as required

Method

Remove the stem of the mushrooms, chop them 4 parts, In a small wok cook them for 2 minutes until they are cooked. Use the water of mushroom as dressing.

roughly tear the lettuce & spinach by hand, place them in a salad bowl. Add corn, carrot, gouda cheese, mushrooms with water. Add the finely chopped dill & ranch dressing. Toss the salad. Chill for ½ hour before serving, 

Add the croutons 5minutes before serving as they will become soggy if you add them before

please note- adding the Gouda cheese is completely optional, it can be replaced by 1 cube of cheddar cheese.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients (1)

1 cup pasta (cooked as per instructions on pack)

1 small onion, sliced

1 cucumber, chopped

1/2 capsisum, chopped

10 leaves of lettuce, finely chopped

1 cup corn kernels, thaw if you take frozen corn otherwise cook the kernels

for the vinagratte (2)

3 tsp olive oil, 1 stem chopped parsley leaves, 1 clove of grated garlic, chilli flakes salt & oregano as per taste, juice of half a lime

Method

Take a salad bowl and add all the ingredients from (1)

how to make the vinagratte?

add olive oil, lime juice, chilli flakes, salt & oregano and whisk for 1minute. add garlic, parsley mix again

toss the salad while adding the vinagratte.Serve chilled
some tips:
While cooking the pasta add olive oil so that the pasta doesnt stick to one another. Also add some salt.

Grilled chicken salad

For those looking for a healthy & light dinner option can definately give this grilled chicken salad a try!

Having a healthy dinner is in vogue now a y dinner is in vogue these days, a lot of people are becoming calorie cautious and opt for eating a bowl full of salad for dinner. For those looking for a healthy & light dinner option can definitely give this grilled chicken salads a try.

Grilled Chicken salad

Ingredients

1.    4 pcs chicken breast

2.    2 tsp olive oil for marinating & 2 tsp to cook chicken

3.    10 lettuce leaves, roughly chopped

4.    small piece of Gouda cheese (optional)

5.    ¼ capsicum chopped

6.    1 small cucumber chopped

7.    8-10 roasted & salted almonds

8.    3-4 cherry tomatoes into half

9.    salt & pepper

10. Juice of half a lime

11. 2 cloves of garlic -grated

12. 2 stems of parsley thoroughly chopped for marinating the chicken

13.  for vinaigrette- 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp olive oil, fresh parsley 2 stems, 1 grated clove of garlic+ salt and chilli flakes

Method

1.    Marinate the chicken breast with salt & pepper, parsley, lime juice, 2 tsp olive oil, garlic. Leave aside for 1 hr.

2.    Grill the chicken on a grilling pan. Add the remaining olive oil while grilling the chicken. Grill until perfectly cooked

3.      Mix the lettuce, cucumber, capsicum, tomatoes, Gouda cheese, almonds. Add the vinaigrette.

4.      Cut the chicken making 4 pieces of each chicken breast.

5.      Plate up by arranging the bed of salad in the centre, topping the grilled chicken over the salad.

6.      The above quantity will serve 2 adults.

7.    Use cheddar cheese (regular cheese cubes) if you don’t have gouda cheese.

8.      Time consumed: ½ hr to cook and plate up, 1 hr to marinate the chicken

Sprouts Chaat

A proud moment for my food blog. One of my recipe appeared in Saakal Times "Young Buzz" a children's daily circulated in schools in Maharashtra & Goa reaching 30,000 kids. Here's the recipe of "Sprouts Chaat". Thank you all for your encouragement & support always!

Chaat is one of the popular street food loved by people of all ages! you will find many vendors all across India serving yummy chats but I have not come across anybody serving "sprouted green moong chaat" Sprouted Moong are considered very healthy as it is rich in proteins.If sprouted moong are available, preparing this recipe won't take much time.I am sure many of you, just like me store tamarind chutney in their deep fridges so that they can enjoy any of their chaats at home within no time.Kids are surely going to love making sprouts and it will be a "fun activity" for them to see the green moong emerge into sprouts.

Ingredients
1 cup sprouts (green moong)
1 medium size onion
1 small tomato
tamarind chutney as needed
salt as per taste
red chilli powder as per taste
2 tsp chopped coriander 
4-5 tsp zero number shev
chaat masala as required
Method
Soak moong over night (or 8 hrs) in boiling hot water.In the morning rinse the water, you will notice the moong dal has is plump with light green colour. clean the moong dal  with fresh l water. now take a soft cloth and tie this moong dal into the cloth.
some tips: don't tie the cloth very tightly otherwise sprouts may not emerge.Use a casserole to store the moong dal tied in a cloth. keep this casserole in a microwave since the temperatures inside the microwave is warmer (esp during winters & rainy season)
After the sprouts emerge, add these into a mixing bowl, and add chopped onion, tomato, tamarind chutney, red chilli powder, chaat masala & salt as per taste, also add shev  and toss lightly.
Serve immediately otherwise the shev will turn soggy.

Chicken ceaser Salad

My twin is an excellent cook, this is one her "signature recipe".CS is my all time favourire salad, and I’ve been hooked ever since I had it for the first time.I eat it v often, its a perfect way for me to start a meal. To many, including myself, this is the King of salads
Sharing Mini's Chicken ceaser Salad recipe. 

For the Salad:

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 medium garlic clove, crushed

1 pinch salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

3 tsp extra virgin olive oil

few iceberg lettuce leaves

1/3 cup cheese cubes or grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup Shredded chicken pieces
few green olives

For the Croutons:

2 large garlic cloves

Pinch of salt

3 tsp virgin olive oil

2 cups French baguette (cut up into 1/2 inch cubes) (white bread works too)

Method

Preparing the croutons - Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crush the garlic cloves with the side of a knife or with a garlic press. Slice up the baguette and cut them into 1/2 inch cubes.

Meanwhile, mix the Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, garlic, oil, salt & pepper in a bowl.Whisk until smooth.

to serve:

Tear the lettuce into 1-2 inch pieces and add them to a large bowl (wooden if you have one). Add half the dressing, toss, add remaining dressing, cheese, shredded chicken,olives and croutons and toss again. 

Serve chilled!

Pasta and cucumber salad

Giving the traditional cucumber salad a twist. Goes well with our daily meals, pulao or rice.

Ingredients

1.      2 medium size cucumbers

2.      1 small bowl macaroni (or pasta of your choice)

3.      2 tsp mustard seed powder

4.      Curd as required (better to use readymade curd which is thick)

5.      Coriander for garnishing

Method

1.      Chop cucumber; prepare pasta as per instruction and keep aside to cool.

2.      Grind the mustard seed powder with ½ tsp curd until it becomes light & fluffy and colour should change to white.

3.      Add curd to chopped cucumber, followed by pasta & add the mustard dressing.

4.      Add salt to taste, garnish with coriander, Serve Chill
Let it marinate for 1 hour before serving. Goes well with chappati, rice, pulao.