Roasted Beet Salad

Roasted Beet Salad

Does your child eat well?

You have tried many things to get the child to eat varied his diet, bribed him, cajoled him. Still no success?  

Have you tried using colours to attract a child to eat? This is true especially in the case of babies and toddlers.

Let me narrate a true incident.

My younger daughter was 7-8 months old she loved to rock. I used to generally sit with her on my lap and she used to look outside the window and rock all the while, of course  she needed support.

I had finished my meal and hubby dear had come back from the market with cherries. He had, as per our practice let them soaking in salted water, gave me some in a plate.

Hearing him kiddo turned round to smile at him and she saw the plate of cherries, red luscious berries!! She almost jumped out of my hands to get them. 

That is the power of colour!!

To add colour to your child’s plate read here.

This week I will try and include colour in our plate.

Roasted Beet Salad

Adapted from: Here

 Ingredients:

• 8 medium-size beets, tops removed and scrubbed
• ½ cup balsamic reduction
• ½   cup good olive oil
• 2 teaspoons mustard
•  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 oranges, separated in segments (I used baby oranges)
• Few cashew nuts
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds 
• dhania/ coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
• Wrap each beet in aluminium foil and roast them in a tray for about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Basically this will depend on the size of the beets. You have to roast them till a sharp knife inserted in the middle indicates that they are tender.
• Cool a little and unwrap and set aside till they cool down to allow you to handle them.
• Meanwhile whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and set aside.  
• Peel the beets and cut them to bite sized pieces/ wedges according to your choice in a large bowl.
• Add half of the vinaigrette (warm beets absorb more vinaigrette). Check the seasonings.
• Mix the oranges.
• Arrange on the serving platter and then add the cashew nuts, and the sesame seeds.
•  Drizzle with additional vinaigrette, salt and pepper if desired garnish with dhania/ coriander leaves.
• Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Roasted Beet Salad

Linking to Varadha’s and Srivalli's Kid's Delight.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#49

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Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad

Making a salad is a simple job but lazy me hardly makes salads.

Salads are appreciated at my place so I should make them.

For the most noisy birthday, yes it’s my younger ones birthday I am talking about, noisy because she keeps on going on and on that it’s her birthday and she wants this and that. Keeps on changing her mind about this that becomes that in an instant, and makes me mad!

Anyway we made this pasta and thinking not all my friends like pasta and the sauces that go with it I made this salad.

To say that the Pesto Rosso and this salad was a hit will not be an understatement. The least expected dishes became the empty ones much to my embarrassment.

Pasta Salad

Recipe Source: Foodnetwork

Ingredients:

• Salt
• 4 cups shell shaped pasta 
•  ½ cup cauliflower, cut into small florets
• ¼ cup carrots, juliennes
• ¼ cup mushroom, sliced fine 
• ½   cup mayonnaise
• ½   cup buttermilk
• 1 tblspn garlic, chopped
• 1 tblspn parsley
• 1 lime Juice 
• 1 tsp pepper, freshly ground
• 1 cup processed cheese, shredded
• 1 small head romaine lettuce, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 tblspn spring onion greens, chopped

 Method: 

• In a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.
• Meanwhile in a thick bottomed   kadhai/wok add the mushrooms and the cauliflower cover and cook on low flame for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Whisk the mayonnaise, buttermilk, garlic, parsley, half of the lime juice,   salt, and pepper to taste. Reserve about 3-4 tblspn aside.
• Toss all the   ingredients in a large bowl pasta with the rest of the dressing.
• Drizzle some of the remaining dressing on top and sprinkle with the spring onion.
• Cover and refrigerate the salad and dressing separately up to 6 hours.
• Before serving serve slightly chilled.

Recipe courtesy Food Network Magazine



Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/7-layer-pasta-salad-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#49

Hi! First time here? Well then you are Most Welcome! I hope you keep coming back for more here. If you are my regular visitor then Thanks, for you encourage me to experiment more!! I would like you to please click on my link below and like my Facebook Page. I will be happy if you can follow me on on Twitter too!

 

Asian Slaw with Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

Asian Slaw with Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

Yesterday I told you I had a difficult choice to make for 1 cuisine and make 3 dishes.  And I had to go back to the old childhood way of choosing my cuisine… do inni mine mini mo!!

Yesterday I  listed out one yummy Thai Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce this I served with this delicious salad.

The girls made the salad and the vinaigrette was very sour so I used sugar  but still we could not finish all the vinaigrette and since we were supposed to go out of station I discarded the balance with a very heavy heart.

Asian Slaw with Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

Recipe Source: Here

Total Time: 30 minutes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Ingredients:

Asian Slaw with Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

• 3 cups cabbage, shredded 
• 2 cups carrots, shredded
• ½ cup green onion, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
•  Salt
• 1 tsp kali mirch /pepper

Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp fresh lime juice (to taste)
• 3 tblspn chilli -garlic sauce
• 1 ½   tsp honey
• 1 tsp ginger minced 
• 1 tsp garlic minced 
• 1 tblspn basil, chopped
• 1 tblspn mint leaves, chopped
• 1 tblspn dhania/ coriander leaves, chopped
• 1/4 tsp kali mirch/ pepper corns powdered  
• 1 1/2 tsps til/ sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/2 tsp ground dhania/ coriander powder
• Salt
• 1 tblspn sesame oil (I did not use)
• 1/2 cup peanut oil (I used rice bran oil)

Method:

• Whisk the ingredients for the vinaigrette except oils in a large bowl.
• Slowly drizzle the oil while whisking.
• Adjust seasoning with more salt and lime juice if needed (I needed sugar).
• Now toss the vegetables in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper.
• Pour in the Thai vinaigrette to taste and toss to mix.
• Serve chilled.

Asian Slaw with Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#48

Hi! First time here? Well then you are Most Welcome! I hope you keep coming back for more here. If you are my regular visitor then Thanks, for you encourage me to experiment more!! I would like you to please click on my link below and like my Facebook Page. I will be happy if you can follow me on on Twitter too!

 

Guasacaca - Venezuelan Avocado Salsa

Guasacaca - Venezuelan Avocado Salsa

In Venezuela the cuisine you will find influences especially from Italy, Spain and France. If that is not enough you will find indigenous as well as African influence.

Being a large and diverse country, each region in Venezuela has its own distinctive regional cooking.

On the coast enjoy fish, shellfish, crayfish, and fish soups as well as fish stews.  Coconut is also part of some dishes. In the Andean region the food is quite different. Here the "arepa" is not made of cornmeal but wheat. Cured meats and sausages are a delicacy and are sold in many villages.

 In the Amazon region besides yucca, corn, beans and bananas you can also enjoy turtles, tapirs, monkeys birds and deep fried ants. Squeamish you could also live on Casabe, bread made out of yucca.

When in the market, for my weekly Sunday marketing I started looking at avocados hubby was all too happy! He was expecting a shake. When I came home I immediately started attending to it (normally it’s lying around, he gets irritated and attends to it) was he thrilled!!!

Then he saw me mixing it up for a salad he just walked away….poor man!!!

At lunch (he came late) he had heard me admonishing the girls “keep some for Papa” he got curious and Apeksha served him a miniscule portion just to harass him, “taste it Papa. You may not like it” was what she told him!!

He came back not just for seconds but for fourths also. The entire bowl was over in one sitting. But the best part was FIL too liked it!!

There are some substitutions here; I replaced seeded jalapeno peppers with chillies and hot pepper sauce with chilli sauce, white wine vinegar with red wine vinegar.

Guasacaca - Venezuelan Avocado Salsa

Guasacaca - Venezuelan Avocado Salsa

Recipe Source:Food.com

Yield: 6 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups onions, finely chopped 
• ¾ cup red capsicum, finely chopped  
• 3 tblspn green chillies, finely chopped
• 3 tblspn extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tblspn red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp US mustard
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¼   tsp black pepper, fresh ground
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 ½ cups avocado, chopped and peeled 
• 1 ½ cups tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tblspn dhania/ coriander leaves, chopped 
• ¼ tsp red chilli sauce

Method:

• Mix the onions, red capsicum, green chillies, olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, garlic in a large bowl.
• Toss mixture gently.
• Cover and refrigerate 3 hours.
• Stir in avocado and tomatoes and red chilli sauce just before serving.

 

Guasacaca - Venezuelan Avocado Salsa

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An InLinkz Link-up

Hi! First time here? Well then you are Most Welcome! I hope you keep coming back for more here. If you are my regular visitor then Thanks, for you encourage me to experiment more!! I would like you to please click on my link below and like my Facebook Page. I will be happy if you can follow me on on Twitter too!

Tabbouleh

In our trip around the world let’s visit Jordon today. Wondering what I am talking about? Then we at Blogging Marathon are dishing up the world in the next thirty days, aptly named “Around the world in 30 days!’ Join us and enjoy this trip…. Today in Jordan!

I am tired of all the street food (that is my daughter’s chosen theme for me) my family has been gorging on I will like a nice salad.  So this Tobbouleh fits in my scheme of food.

Kimchi

One of the oldest Indo-Chinese restaurants in Panaji, called Goinchin serves a salad with their food as an accompaniment. And it was awesome so delicious that we asked for a second helping of it.

That is when I asked the Captain what it is called and how it is made. I was told it is called Kimchee and its just cabbage that they have used with vinegar and red chilli powder.

Today I made it.

Cauliflower Salad

My friend Vidys’s mother made this delicious salad to go with her famous Prawns Khichidi.

Prawn Khichidi is something that we all relished and consumed and this was an ideal side dish.

Yes I do eat and relish Non-Veg. food I just do not cook it. Like my friend Sheetal knows fish is my dessert. No amount of cajoling on her part can make me eat it first with my rice or chapatti.  So she calls me all kinds of feline names but just for the awesome fish she brings for me I just let it slide by. Ha-ha!!

Coming to the salad here is what you will need.

Palak Salad 2

I was to post a soup recipe today but there is a small hitch I have not made it as yet. I cannot decide if I want to make Lung Fung Soup or Hot and Sour as I want a Chinese soup.

Given a choice Hubby will say Sweet Corn, Elder one something exotic which though a challenge is not what I want to make and younger one Tomato Soup. So I am feeling like Atlas right now.

So folks bear with me and try this salad. It’s again, oh no as kids said, palak/spinach   and potatoes but a Tarla Dalal one! Put an end to the girls’ protests too! J

Well I put up with the garlic too just because it was Tarla Dalal recipe! Made a few changes which I have marked. also I have omitted the milk powder as I don't like the smell of it you can use it if you want about 2 tblspn. 

Tossed Salad with Sweet Lime

Stuck with some chopped cabbage that I needed to finish off and with something new that daughter demanded I came up with this simple but very tasty salad.

I have never before used sweet lime in my salad but after this once I will never stop using it in my salads.

Masoor Salad

I love massor its always in my fall back plan when there are no veggies in at home, because you can soak it up at the last possible moment but still you get a delicious Tonak out of it. So I had the other day.  At the last possible moment I decided that the quantity of masoor that I have soaked is too much and I let it remain in the sieve. Too late to put it in the fridge I went to work.

Celebrating My 250 th Post with Corn & Sprouts Salad!!

This is my 250^th post!

 I never thought I will make it to this milestone! Thanks all of you, as without your encouragement this was never possible!  

Ganesh or Chathurti is celebrated in a big way in Goa. People come from far and near to their ancestral homes and celebrate the festival. Schools & collages are closed down for one week (how I wish I was in school)!!  Since we do not have these festivities we have been visiting friends and having a gala time feasting on Nevro, Chaklis, Shev, Churma, Khatkhate and the ultimate Mangane. 

Nevro are karanji or karchikai or ghujia, Churma is a sweet and pungent dish made out of Maida very tasty, Khatkhate is a medley of vegetables in a coconut gravy and Mangane is a sweet kheer (vegan) made out of chana daal. Slurp!!   

Now that I have you all drooling about the dishes I have been hogging on let me tell you about a simple healthy & fast salad I made today!! ;)

You will need  

1 cup fresh sweet corn kernels

2 tblspn sprouted moong

1 tomato

½ capsicum

1 tsp lemon juice (optional)

½ tsp pepper, freshly ground

Salt

Method:

1.     Boil the corn in the cooker 2 whistles. If you are using corn directly then remove them with a sharp knife and then boil the corn. Cool.

2.     Mix all the ingredients and serve chilled.

Sending this to event Fast Food Not Fat Food started by Priya of Now Serving & I have the privilege of hosting! 

And event Life is Green

& Monsoon Medley 

Archana

Carrot Salad

This is a simple salad that we all make easy & delicious. I love to carry this to work as it goes well with both chapatti and rice.

Ingredients:

2 carrots, grated

1 green chilli, chopped fine

½ cup milk

1 tblspn curd

Salt

Coriander

Method:

1.     Mix all the ingredients in the container that you will be carrying to work.

2.     The curd will set by the time its 1 O’ clock time for lunch.

3.     Enjoy!!

 I generally make it like this as my family does not like sour curds. You can make it directly in curds if you like.

Sending this to the  event The Healthy Lunch Box Ideas

Event Life is Green

 

Archana

Healthy Salad

When Pia announced her event of Innovative salads with Strawberries, Pineapple and apples I was sure I will not be participating here at all.


What salad will I put together? the only salad I could think off was fruit salad. And  I have strict instructions from my daughters not to mix fruits with ice-cream or custard and spoil both. Please give them separate.

Baigan Bharta

Baigan Bharta (in Curds)

I have always thought Baigan/Brinjal/eggplant/baidnikai/vanga Bharta is the most common recipe found in the length and breadth of the country. I am sure each region will have a different way of making the same Baigan using local tastes and then individual tastes into a totally different bharta.

  The most common one being the one is the one which is made of fried garlic, onions and tomatoes.   

My MIL once made a lovely Baigan Bharta, I doubt I will ever be able to make it like that. She had roasted the Baigan added onion, a little tamarind pulp and thick juice of coconut. I plan to make it like this tomorrow.

Baigan Bharta (Goan way)

The Goan way, the one that I have eaten was adding coconut, onion to the roasted baigan. Tastes yummy.

Amma used to make it with onions, curds, cream and a little roasted groundnut powder. I remember eating it with chapatti and then with rice. After my stint in hostel, where I learnt to eat jowar rotis, I found that bharta tasted must better.

I tried making it initially the way Amma made it but Hubby dear does not like roasted groundnut powder, cream.  To add to my misery, I used to make it in the morning and we used to eat it in the evening, the onion used to smell bad and he used to unceremoniously dump it.  

Only now I realised that this bharta taste best when mixed and eaten immediately and omitted roasted ground-nuts completely. Hubby dear does not know that I still add a little cream. He just eats it!!

Are there any of your favourite ways to make this dish? Please let me know I would love to try it.

Bhopla che Bharit or Pumpkin Salad or Raita

Pumpkin Salad

Many times my MIL made "Bhopla che Baharit" which is red pumpkin mashed salad. There are no fixed proportions that make this simple yet tasty salad.  You can boil the peeled pumpkin in the cooker with your rice and daal.

Today I added grated carrots since I like the colour of these carrots known locally as Delhi gajar.

Ingredients:

1 Cup boiled pumpkin

½ cup curds

A little cream (optional)

Oil

 Mustard

Jeera/cumin seeds/jeerigi  seeds

 Hing/asafoetida

1 green chilli (adjust as per taste)

Curry leaves

Coriander

Method:

1.       Mash the boiled pumpkin.

2.       Beat the curds and cream mix, add salt with the pumpkin.

3.       Heat oil and crackle mustard, Jeera/cumin seeds/jeerigi  seeds, hing/asafoetida, curry leaves and green chillies.

4.       Serve chilled.
I am sending this to Taste of Pearl City's event Any One Can Cook

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Cucumber Paneer Salad

      

      When Pia announced her event of Innovative Salads I was really in a fix. Most salads that I make are the in the lines of Koshambri or Koshimbir always a side dish to be eaten either with chapatis or rice this had to be the main dish.

How does one innovate salad? And that too with cucumber?

So I started Googling for ideas I saw a few salads but rejected them , as  they  needed exotic  vegetables that meant it had to be planned and ordered with the Bhajiwala definitely not the best of situation ( what if we do not like the taste of the vegetable I ordered)!

So I went to my best friend and worst critic, my Better Half( who has   great suggestions  and I generally do not heed)    who suggested I make a plain salad that  I had made some time ago when we wanted to eat salad only and nothing else.  

 Ingredients:

1 red capsicum

1 cucumber

¼ kg paneer

4-5 olives

A handful of green peas

1 tsp lime juice

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

 Sugar

2 tsp Pepper powder

Method:

1.       Mix the lime juice, oil, salt, sugar and pepper till the sugar dissolves.

2.       Cut the paneer into pieces.

3.       Pour the lime juice mixture on the paneer and toss well. Marinate for   10-15 minutes.

4.       Cut the deseeded capsicum in to pieces.

5.       Peel and make pieces of the cucumber.

6.       Toss all the ingredients just before serving.

Will taste great chilled but since I generally avoid cucumber and that to chilled I did not.

I am sending this salad to Pia's Innovative Salads,

This salad is going to participate in the 'Only' Salads event hosted by me,which is started by Pari of Foodelicious.