WAR WITH RAW ~ ASH GOURD SALAD FOR ENFF

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

 Hi All,

Are you thinking I have gone RAW? ;-), But when I think of Nutritious food, only raw food comes in my mind. Its natural and its directly prepared by God. Am I right?

Today I am introducing you our king of raw food, King of Vegetables; ASH GOURD. Don't get confused with Aishwarya Rai Bachhan. I am talking about Natural beautiful vegetable.

Enough of jokes now.

I never knew the benefits about this veggie, I always saw this was used during poojas at home especially on house warming day. And I really thought that only Brahmins(or who comes for doing puja)  should eat it. That is how it was, after puja they used to take it home.

Only after I joined SSY course, I realized the importance of its benefits. From then, it has become a part of my menu in some or the other way. I wait to use this in my preparation

I make juice with it, I make salad with it, I add it in sambhar, I make ash gourd fry.... The list goes on.

But,

Taking it in the morning in the form of  juice  by adding the equal quantity of water to it is the best for many healthy reasons. Season it with very little salt and pepper(optional). (This and beetroot juice are too potent to be taken alone and need to be diluted with equal quantity of water)

I have a 2 page notes on its benefits which I took it during my course.

I tried to find out the benefits of this from net, because its the evidence to prove my love for this veggie.

http://smartwaytohealth.blogspot.in/2013/08/ash-gourd.html

http://www.vegrecipes4u.com/health-benefits-of-ash-gourd-winter-melon.html

Coming to today's recipe,

Its simple, easy and healthy and NUTRITIOUS. So what are you waiting for?

Ingredients:

Ash gourd - 1 cup, cleaned, peeled, de seeded

Cucumber - 1 small, cleaned and peeled

Fresh yogurt or curds - 1 cup

Salt to taste

Pepper powder - 1 tsp or chopped 

For temepering:

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

a dash of hing

Curry leaves few

Urad dal - 1 tsp(optional)

Red dry chilly - 1 cut into small pieces

Method:

• Take one cup ash gourd. Either grate it or churn it in a mixer just for half a minute. I prefer the latter one.
• Keep it aside.
• Cut the cucumber in to small cubes.
• Take yogurt in a serving bowl. Add salt and pepper to it. Mix well. Add the ash gourd and cucumber. Mix well and refrigerate for some time(if you have)
• Till that,
• heat oil in a small pan.
• Add the mustard seeds and allow to splutter.
• Add urad dal and allow to change the color.
• Add curry leaves, hind and red dry chilly.
• Remove from the heat and allow it to cool.
• Add it to the ready salad.
• Serve cold with chapati or rice.

• The other day I had it with khara pongal :-)

WILL COME WITH DIFFERENT NUTRITIOUS FOOD IN THE NEXT POST FOR THIS EVENT. (THIS TIME NOT RAW FOR SURE)

Linking it to Eat Nutritious, Feel fabulous 

Keep Smiling,

POTATO AND KIDNEY BEANS SALAD WITH HUNG CURD

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Its party time again Ladies :-), How I wish if it was really happening!!!

Potluck party is a great idea for people to come together with their dishes and share with others and enjoy and have a great time too.

Last time I brought the pickle which was the basic food for any Indian food party. For this party I have brought a Salad.  Salad comes next to pickle.

I tasted this potato and kidney beans salad in PIZZA HUT first time in UAE and everytime I got the chance to taste it. I liked it so much but never tried at home. No specific reasons, somehow I could not.

So I thought let me make this for the potluck party. Most of the recipes use Mayonnaise but I have used Hung curd and the taste was superb.

Coming to the recipe,

I prepared only for 2 persons, you can increase the quantity to make it for more people.

Ingredients:

Potato -2 big

Kidney beans - 1/2 cup

Hung curd - 1 cup

Salt to taste

Fresh Cream - 1 tbsp(Optional)

Green Chilly -  1 tsp finally chopped

 Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Soak the kidney beans overnight.

1. To make hung curd:
2. Take the yogurt or curd in a muslin cloth.
3. Tie it tightly and hung it with a vessel down so that the water from the curd should not spread on the floor or platform(where ever you are hanging it) Remove it after few hours(may be 3 to 4 hours), keep it in the fridge till serving time or it will become sour.

1. Boil the potatoes and the soaked beans till soft.
2. Peel the potatoes and mash it.
3. Drain the water from the kidney beans.
4. Take the hung curd, salt, chopped chilly, sugar and fresh cream in a bowl.
5. Mix it well. Add the mashed potato and beans. 
6. Mix well  keep it in the fridge for some time before serving.
7. Serve it chilled.

You can serve it on the bread slice or plain paratha slices to serve as a starter or for kids. I know kids will love it because my both the kids were happy to eat this..

Sending this  to three events:
Jagruti's  two events:

Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng...

and 

Event Announcement -My Bowl of Salad !

AND 

Pavani of Cook's Hideout

Kid's Delight Event Announcement - 5 Ingredient Fix

which is started by Valli with the name Kid's Delight announcement post

Keep Smiling,

BITTER GOURD CHIPS AND CURDS

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Bitter Gourd!!! Do not close the page.. Read it full and you will be tempted to try this out. A very tasty side dish. 

Past few days, my daughter wants to have it often and bitter gourd is in my fridge always.

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd - 2 big

Corn flour  - 1 tsp

Rice flour - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste(less as we use salt to clean the bitter gourd)

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Ajwain - 1/2 tsp

Oil to fry

To clean the bitter gourd
Salt 1 tbsp or to cover the bitter gourd
A pinch of turmeric powder

For CURDS
Yogurt - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Pepper powder - a pinch





Method:

Wash the bitter gourd.

Peel the skin and cut into two parts.

Remove the seeds.

Mix the salt and haldi and apply it well to both the sides.

Keep it for an hour or two.

Squeeze and wash the pieces twice.

Cut into thin slices and allow to dry.

Heat the oil.

You can either shallow fry or deep fry. But I felt the deep fried chips took less oil than the shallow fried ones.

Keep it for some time till they get crispy.

Just before serving 

Prepare the curds with given ingredients.

Add the crispy chips and serve it.

These fried bitter gourd chips can be kept for 2 days.

Before it is served on the table, it gets over as my hubby and my daughter fights to have it first and finish.


Keep Smiling,

Coleslaw to keep you cool

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

One of my favorite salad. Whenever we used to go to Pizza out lets, this one was a must for me. And it is regular in my house.

Fresh cabbage - 1 medium, washed and shredded

Carrot - 1 big, washed and cut into small cubes or grated

Boiled potato - 1 medium cubed, it is optional, but I prefer to add as it blends well with mayonnaise and cabbage.

 Mayonnaise - 1/4 cup ( I have taken more qty as I love it!, you can reduce the qty)

Yogurt - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

White pepper powder - 1 tsp

Mix all the above ingredients in a salad bowl and serve with : 

French fries

Fried chicken

Pizza

Chapati

Bread

Plain boiled pasta with herbs

Sandwich

What else???

Eat just like that!!!

Very refreshing salad.

Sending this to  Sudeshna's

• Carnival of Salads
   

                                       

Keep Smiling,

Salad parade!!!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Salads!!! I love the colors of salad! I feel salad is like India!!! Many raw vegetables mixed in a bowl still brings the best taste, Unity in diversity!!! same like many states, cultures, languages and people make turn India in to a great place to live in!!(forget about dirty politics and few bad things!, They are just like bitter cucumber or spoiled green leaf in a salad!!) Am I writing something wrong!! 

I have already posted these salads before also (Click here for the older post). But the introduction for that was different and it was for another event. And I have added one more salad to this parade.

Hope you all will enjoy the beautiful salad parade.

(The best recipes for raw food diet!)

Simple Raw Vegetable Salad :

Take vegetables of your choice(which you can eat raw)

Cucumber, Carrot, Onion, Tomato, Onion, Chilli, Ginger, Lettuce leaves. Cut in to desired size and shapes. We love to cut in to long peices as it is easy for my kids to hold in the hand.

Salt to taste

Lime Juice as per taste

Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Green and black olives - 1/2 cup
(Not in this photo)
Olive Oil - 1 tsp
Oregano or mixed herb - 1 tbsp crushed

Mix all in a Salad bowl and enjoy the crispy taste.

Tomato and Onion Salad,

Tomato - 2 big Chopped 

Onion - 1 Medium chopped lengthwise

Fresh Coconut - 4 to 6 tbsp

Dalia powder(dry chana or puthani) - 1 tbsp Crushed

Salt to taste

Fresh Coriander - little

Mix all in a bowl and eat it with crispy Papad.

Veg and Curds Salad

Cucumber - 1 big chopped

Tomato - 1 big chopped

Curds(Fresh) - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Green Chilly - 1 small chopped(optional)

Fresh Coriander - little

Mix all in a bowl and eat chilled.

Beat and bean salad

Sprouted moong - 1 cup, wash two times to remove the smell

(Green moong, moth, chana, which ever you like to eat raw and sprouted)

Beet root - 1 medium, washed, peeled and grated

Cucumber - 1 big, washed and cut into very small, thin and long pieces.

Salt to taste

Fresh coriander - handful

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve.

Radish Salad

This is a very common salad in my house, as my mom loves  to it with jowar rotti. 

Radish - 1 big, washed and cut into small cubes

Radish leaves(fresh) - 1 bowl, washed and chopped finely

Onion - 1 medium, washed, peeled and cut into cubes

Oil - 1 tbsp

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Niger seeds powder - 2 tsp(Click here for the recipe), (Optional, but gives an unique taste to the salad)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve. Goes well with Jowar rotti.

These all salads are marching into Sudeshna's 

• Carnival of Salads

                                       

AND 

PJ's The 'no cook' event!

Keep Smiling,

Beetroot Salad

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Beet root is very good for health. It is having many health benefits. When I was browsing about the beet root, I came through this web site, which gives detailed benefits (http://www.ayushveda.com/womens-magazine/benefits-of-beet-root/).

My elder daughter loves to eat it with every meal. So I keep on trying to make different recipes with this.

My daughter loves to eat only with salt also.

Here is the recipe, which when I make it vanishes from the plate just like that.

Beet root -2 boiled

Oil -1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing- a pinch

Curry leaves - few

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp(Optional)

Salt to taste

Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp

or

Lime juice - 1/2 tsp

Remove the skin on boiled beet root. Cut in to desired shapes. Thin round pieces will be good, as it is easy to spread other ingredients. Spread the pieces in a plate.

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds. When they are done, add urad dal. still it till it becomes slightly golden color. Now add all other ingredients. Put evenly on the beetroot plate.

Serve as a salad with your main meals. Or you can serve as a starter.
Sending it to

Priya's Healing Foods - Beetroot Event Guest Hosting
(Linking it to  Siri's Healing foods main page)

Keep smiling,

Karela fry salad(Bitter gourd salad)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Bitter gourd or karela or (ಹಾಗಲ ಕಾಯಿ) is a vegetable, I can eat any time, with anything.

I love to experiment with bitter gourd, as I like it. I have tried making chutneys, pickles, stir fries, simple gravies. I will try to post the recipes in the future.

Now, here is the salad, which I love to eat any time with anything or just like that.

Bitter gourd - 2 to 3

Onion - 1 medium

Tomato - 1 big

Lime juice - 2 to 3 tbsp

Chilly powder - 1 tbsp or as per taste

Salt to taste

Sugar 1/2 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp

Fresh coriander or Parsley(or both) - 1 handful chopped

(General tip to wash the bitter gourd to remove its bitterness

Wash the bitter gourd. Without peeling the skin, cut in to half length wise. Remove the seeds and apply salt both sides and keep for half an hour. Clean with water 2 times. The bitter gourd is ready to cook.)

(If you do not have time to keep it with salt, you can just peel the skin and wash it with saltwater.)

Cut the bitter gourd in to thin slices. Heat oil in kadai, add the cut slices and fry till brown. Keep on stirring other wise it will get burn. Before serving mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Add the fried bitter gourd at the end, mix it well and serve as a side dish.

Keep smiling,