Summer Couscous Salad

I have been making a lot of salads lately. Here’s a delightful and refreshing one I made recently to add to my collection of salad recipes. The lime juice adds a nice zing and a hint of freshness to the couscous.

Ingredients:
(for 2 large servings)
3 cups cooked couscous
1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped into cubes
1 cup of cooked black beans (I used half a can of beans after draining and rinsing)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into small pieces
2-3 scallions, chopped
4-5 chives, minced

For the dressing:
2 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of 3 limes
1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp roasted cumin powder
Salt & Pepper

Method:
Cook the couscous according to the instructions on the packet. I used Near East’s Toasted Pine Nut flavored couscous. Fluff it up with a fork after cooking and let it cool.

Throw the couscous along with the rest of the salad ingredients into a large bowl.
Add all the ingredients for the dressing into a small bowl and mix well. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Sprinkle with chives before serving.

Chickpea Salad

This salad, my twist on the desi chana chaat, is something that I make very often. The salad is easy to prepare and the whole thing comes together in a cinch- especially if all the ingredients are prepped in advance.

Here’s what I used for approximately 2 servings.
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 celery sticks, chopped
½ cucumber, cut into cubes
2 scallions, finely chopped
6-7 baby carrots, cut into small pieces
½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
¾ cup grapes, halved
½ mango (ripe), cut into small cubes

For the dressing:
Juice of a lemon
1-2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp chaat masala
Salt
Pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well, chill and serve.

Cottage Cheese Salad

Every now and then, H makes an excellent salad using cottage cheese. The salad is not only healthy and tasty, but also quite filling- unlike most salads I’ve eaten. Adding cottage cheese to what is otherwise an ordinary salad turns it into a tasty and substantial meal. There is no dressing used here except for a good squirt of a juicy lime. The cheese helps bring the salad together. This is a very versatile salad and lends itself to many variations, so feel free to use whatever vegetables you have available.

Here’s what went into my salad-
Ingredients:
(Serves 2-3)
Green bell pepper, thinly sliced
Red bell pepper, thinly sliced
Onion, thinly sliced
Cucumber, diced
Cherry tomatoes, halved
3-4 green chillies, minced
3 cups salad mix
1 ½ cups Cottage cheese (I used low-fat)
½ cup cooked Rosematta rice (optional- I only used this because I had some leftover from the previous day)
Juice of 1-2 limes (about 4 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp honey
Salt
Pepper

Method:
Place the chopped vegetables and the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the cottage cheese only when ready to serve and fold into the rest of the salad. Serve cold.

Couscous Salad

It was almost dinner time and I had not made a thing. We were starving but did not want to eat the leftovers from the day before, again! That’s being saved in the freezer for another day.

Rummaging through my kitchen cupboards, I came across a packet of couscous that I’d bought a while ago, obviously after seeing something that had interested me on one of the blogs. I never got around to making whatever it was, and finally just decided to use it in a salad. I used whatever vegetables I had on hand. I do not have any measurements for this one as I just eyeballed the ingredients, as I do for most salads, and just kept going till it tasted right.

Here’s what I used-
Ingredients:
Couscous
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Cucumber, peeled & diced
Radishes, sliced thinly
Chives, snipped

For the dressing:
Red wine vinegar
Honey
Olive oil
Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Salt & Pepper

For topping the salad:
Toasted walnuts
Parmesan cheese, grated

Method:
Cook the couscous according to the instructions on the package. As a rule, a 1/3 cup of dry couscous will give you one cup of cooked couscous. Cool slightly and fluff with a fork.

Add the chopped vegetables and mix everything.

Whisk together the vinegar, honey, lemon juice and olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the couscous and mix well. Top with toasted walnuts and grated cheese.

Serve warm or cold. It tastes better after being refrigerated for an hour or so.
However, we could not wait another minute to eat it.

Couscous Salad

It was almost dinner time and I had not made a thing. We were starving but did not want to eat the leftovers from the day before, again! That’s being saved in the freezer for another day.

Rummaging through my kitchen cupboards, I came across a packet of couscous that I’d bought a while ago, obviously after seeing something that had interested me on one of the blogs. I never got around to making whatever it was, and finally just decided to use it in a salad. I used whatever vegetables I had on hand. I do not have any measurements for this one as I just eyeballed the ingredients, as I do for most salads, and just kept going till it tasted right.

Here’s what I used-
Ingredients:
Couscous
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Cucumber, peeled & diced
Radishes, sliced thinly
Chives, snipped

For the dressing:
Red wine vinegar
Honey
Olive oil
Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Salt & Pepper

For topping the salad:
Toasted walnuts
Parmesan cheese, grated

Method:
Cook the couscous according to the instructions on the package. As a rule, a 1/3 cup of dry couscous will give you one cup of cooked couscous. Cool slightly and fluff with a fork.

Add the chopped vegetables and mix everything.

Whisk together the vinegar, honey, lemon juice and olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the couscous and mix well. Top with toasted walnuts and grated cheese.

Serve warm or cold. It tastes better after being refrigerated for an hour or so.
However, we could not wait another minute to eat it.

Bean Salad

I was never much of a salad person back home. I don’t ever remember having a salad in or as part of a meal unless it was in the form of some kind of a raita. During my initial years here, I was pretty rigid food-wise, and our meals comprised largely of rice along with curd/yogurt in some form or the other which was due, in part, to the fact that it was my all time favorite meal. Also, I was only just learning (rather unwillingly) to cook and that seemed the simplest thing to prepare. My eating habits have since changed over time, and I am a bit more flexible and open to new tastes now than I was when I first got here. There’s a lot more variety in the meals I make these days. However, curd-rice with pickles (the Indian kind) continues to remain my ultimate comfort food to this day.

If I’m making a salad, I prefer going for something that is hearty and filling. I put together this bean salad for dinner the other day, which we had along with some cold soup.

Ingredients:
1 can of Roman beans
½ cup frozen corn, thawed
½ cucumber, peeled & diced
1-2 scallions, chopped (white and green parts)

For the dressing:
1 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of a lemon
½ tsp lemon zest
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp honey
Salt & Pepper

Method:
Place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over it. Toss to combine. Chill and serve.

This goes to Lisa for the June edition of No Croutons Required. The theme this month is soups or salads featuring legumes.

Bean Salad

I was never much of a salad person back home. I don’t ever remember having a salad in or as part of a meal unless it was in the form of some kind of a raita. During my initial years here, I was pretty rigid food-wise, and our meals comprised largely of rice along with curd/yogurt in some form or the other which was due, in part, to the fact that it was my all time favorite meal. Also, I was only just learning (rather unwillingly) to cook and that seemed the simplest thing to prepare. My eating habits have since changed over time, and I am a bit more flexible and open to new tastes now than I was when I first got here. There’s a lot more variety in the meals I make these days. However, curd-rice with pickles (the Indian kind) continues to remain my ultimate comfort food to this day.

If I’m making a salad, I prefer going for something that is hearty and filling. I put together this bean salad for dinner the other day, which we had along with some cold soup.

Ingredients:
1 can of Roman beans
½ cup frozen corn, thawed
½ cucumber, peeled & diced
1-2 scallions, chopped (white and green parts)

For the dressing:
1 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of a lemon
½ tsp lemon zest
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp honey
Salt & Pepper

Method:
Place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over it. Toss to combine. Chill and serve.

This goes to Lisa for the June edition of No Croutons Required. The theme this month is soups or salads featuring legumes.

Parmesan Crisps with Mango Salsa

There are way too many good food blogs out there and I just can’t keep up anymore! I follow some of them pretty regularly as they appeal to me for various reasons. Cynthia’s lovely blog, Tastes Like Home, is one of the blogs I like to frequent. Her writing, her recipes and her photos always make me go back for more. Her blog truly is a visual delight and her warm personality comes through in every post that she writes. I had never actually cooked from her blog, so when Zlamushka announced the Tried and Tasted event earlier this month and decided to kick things off by showcasing Cynthia’s blog, I was only too happy to participate. I dug deep into her archives and found just the thing I was looking for- a dead simple recipe that called for only 2 ingredients- cheese and pepper.

Here is the original post.

This is how I did it.

Ingredients:
(For about 12 crisps)
10 Tbsp Parmesan cheese (obtained by grating about half a 5 oz. wedge of cheese)
¼ – ½ tsp pepper

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grate a small wedge of parmesan cheese using a box grater into a bowl. Add pepper. Mix.

Place about a tablespoon of the grated cheese onto a silicone or parchment lined baking sheet (I used a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil) and lightly pat down with the back of a spoon. Repeat with the remaining cheese, spacing the spoonfuls about a 1/2 inch apart.

Bake for 3-5 minutes or until golden and crisp. Carefully peel crisps from foil.

Cool. Serve with mango salsa.

The crisps can be used as an appetizer with a dip, on top of salads or even in a soup instead of croutons.

Notes:
I also tried making Parmesan cups. I had seen Giada make these on one of her shows a few months back.
I spooned the cheese onto the baking sheet and pressed down gently to flatten out the mound. I baked it for a minute or two till the cheese melted and started to bubble. This was quickly removed from the oven and transferred (this has to be done very fast or else the cheese starts to harden and molding it becomes impossible) to a mini muffin pan and molded into the shape of a cup by gently pressing down with fingertips, also using a small spoon for help. This was then cooled until it hardened. I made a few cups like this.

I had prepared a chickpea salad yesterday which we had in these cute little Parmesan cups.

For the mango salsa:
1 mango, peeled and finely diced
½ small onion, finely chopped
Cilantro, chopped
Scallions (I only used the green part)
1 tsp Sambal oelek
Lemon juice
Salt to taste

In a bowl, combine everything. Serve chilled with parmesan crisps or spoon into cups.

The above picture would be a good fit for Click: Cheese. Thank you for the idea, Purplesque!

I’ve also served the salsa in phyllo cups. Just as good! Here’s a picture…

Parmesan Crisps with Mango Salsa

There are way too many good food blogs out there and I just can’t keep up anymore! I follow some of them pretty regularly as they appeal to me for various reasons. Cynthia’s lovely blog, Tastes Like Home, is one of the blogs I like to frequent. Her writing, her recipes and her photos always make me go back for more. Her blog truly is a visual delight and her warm personality comes through in every post that she writes. I had never actually cooked from her blog, so when Zlamushka announced the Tried and Tasted event earlier this month and decided to kick things off by showcasing Cynthia’s blog, I was only too happy to participate. I dug deep into her archives and found just the thing I was looking for- a dead simple recipe that called for only 2 ingredients- cheese and pepper.

Here is the original post.

This is how I did it.

Ingredients:
(For about 12 crisps)
10 Tbsp Parmesan cheese (obtained by grating about half a 5 oz. wedge of cheese)
¼ – ½ tsp pepper

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grate a small wedge of parmesan cheese using a box grater into a bowl. Add pepper. Mix.

Place about a tablespoon of the grated cheese onto a silicone or parchment lined baking sheet (I used a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil) and lightly pat down with the back of a spoon. Repeat with the remaining cheese, spacing the spoonfuls about a 1/2 inch apart.

Bake for 3-5 minutes or until golden and crisp. Carefully peel crisps from foil.

Cool. Serve with mango salsa.

The crisps can be used as an appetizer with a dip, on top of salads or even in a soup instead of croutons.

Notes:
I also tried making Parmesan cups. I had seen Giada make these on one of her shows a few months back.
I spooned the cheese onto the baking sheet and pressed down gently to flatten out the mound. I baked it for a minute or two till the cheese melted and started to bubble. This was quickly removed from the oven and transferred (this has to be done very fast or else the cheese starts to harden and molding it becomes impossible) to a mini muffin pan and molded into the shape of a cup by gently pressing down with fingertips, also using a small spoon for help. This was then cooled until it hardened. I made a few cups like this.

I had prepared a chickpea salad yesterday which we had in these cute little Parmesan cups.

For the mango salsa:
1 mango, peeled and finely diced
½ small onion, finely chopped
Cilantro, chopped
Scallions (I only used the green part)
I tsp Sambal oelek
Lemon juice
Salt to taste

In a bowl, combine everything. Serve chilled with parmesan crisps or spoon into cups.

Pinto Bean Salad

I wanted to make a salad that was simple yet substantial, something we could have for dinner without feeling ravenous a few hours later. I had to use up an expensive avocado that was purchased a few days ago along with some basil and cherry tomatoes. I did a quick Food Blog search for avocado and tomatoes, and Kalyn’s blog was the first one that popped up. I have been following her blog for a while now. After checking out the recipe, I realized that I even had all the ingredients on hand, including the pinto beans!

Here is the original recipe.

This is what I did…
Ingredients:
(Serves 2)
1 15oz can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed well
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp honey
1 avocado, cubed
3 tsp freshlemon juice
¼ onion, finely chopped
½ small cucumber, diced
10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved
3-4 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Method:
In a large bowl whisk together the honey and balsamic vinegar and let the drained beans marinate in it for 10-15 minutes.

Add the chopped onions, cucumber, tomatoes and basil to the marinating beans. Drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

Gently toss the avocado cubes with the lemon juice in another bowl and then add to the rest of the ingredients in the bowl. Toss gently to combine. Serve.

We had this with some garlic bread. It was a very simple and filling meal.

Do head over to Kalyn’s Kitchen to check out her amazing collection of healthy and delicious meals when you can.

Some other salads on this blog:
Romaine Lettuce and Radicchio Salad
Potato and Egg Salad
Corn Salad
Simple Pasta Salad



Pinto Bean Salad goes to Raaga, The Singing Chef, who is hosting the Soups and Salads edition of the Monthly Blog Patrol.

This also goes to Madhuram @ Eggless Cooking.com for her ongoing series- Your Recipe Rocks.

This is also my entry for Snackshots # 4: Salad being hosted by Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet.