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Kimchi salad

Kimchi salad is a very popular chinese and Korean salad. Kimchi salad is served at most Chinese restaurants.

Recipe of kimchi salad

1/2 medium cabbage (patta gobi/ band gobhi)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp vinegar

2 tbsp tomato sauce/ ketchup

2 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp black pepper powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp chopped ginger

1 tsp chopped garlic

2 dry red chillies

1. Deseed and soak red chillies in water for 10-12 minutes.

2. Chop cabbage into 1 1/2 inch pieces.

3. Put 4 cups of water in a pan and add 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp sugar. Bring it to boil. Add cabbage. Turn off the heat immediately.

4. Strain the cabbage and refresh in cold water.

5. Drain the red chillies. Using little water, grind red chillies, ginger and garlic together to a coarse paste.

6. To this paste, add tomato ketchup, soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper and vinegar.

7. Mix this paste with cabbage gently. Serve kimchi salad at room temperature.

Mixed Vegetable Soup

Mixed vegetable soup is a low calorie, super nutritious soup. Even if you don’t add butter, it tastes equally good. It’s packed with the goodness of healthy vegetables and tastes too good. Mixed vegetable soup is a wholesome and satisfying soup.

Recipe of mixed vegetable soup

2 carrots

1 onion

1 potato

1/2 cup cabbage

1 tomato

3/4 cup milk

5 cups of water

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper powder or to taste

1 tsp butter (optional)

1. Roughly chop all the vegetables.

2. Place chopped vegetables along with 5 cups water in a pressure cooker. Cook to 2 whistles. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Cool and puree in a blender. Strain the soup.

4. Reheat the soup in a pan and add milk to it. Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.

5. Add salt, pepper and butter to the soup and mix. Serve mixed vegetable soup hot.

Potato, apple and celery salad

This cool salad of potato, apple and celery is very refreshing during these days. It tastes best when chilled.

Recipe of potato, apple and celery salad

7-8 baby potatoes - peeled

2 red apples

2-3 celery (shalari, ajmud) stalks

1 tbsp oil

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Salt to taste

Black pepper (coarsely crushed) - to taste

1. Place 4 cups of water in a pan with 1 1/2 tsp salt and baby potatoes. Bring it to a boil. Lower heat and cook covered till potatoes turn fork tender. Strain.

2. Core apples and cut into 1/2 inch cubes without peeling. Chop the celery stems.

3. Place potatoes, apples and celery stems in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 tbsp oil and lemon juice.

4. Add salt and pepper and mix well. Cover and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

5. Just before serving, add the mayonnaise and 1/2 tbsp oil. Gently mix and serve chilled.

Note- Cut apples just before mixing and immediately add lemon juice and oil to prevent discoloration of apples.

Healthy Bytes (Nutrition Info.)- All of us have heard that ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ but few of us realize its meaning. Consuming apple reduces your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and asthma. It’s also helpful in keeping Alzheimer at bay.

Rasam

Rasam is known by many names like Saru, Charu, Sar in different parts of Southern India but rasam is the most common name. There are also many varieties of rasam like toor dal rasam, tomato rasam, Mysore rasam etc. Rasam is just like a spicy soup which you can also eat with rice. It’s quite a comforter in cold weather. I have used freshly roasted spices to make rasam powder but you can also use readymade rasam powder available in the market but to be honest, taste won’t be the same.

Recipe of rasam

4 tomatoes- finely diced

3 tbsp toor dal (arhar dal/ split red gram)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

A pinch of hing (asafoetida)

Salt to taste

Few curry leaves

4-5 cloves garlic (optional) - crushed

1 tsp ghee (clarified butter)

Rasam powder

2 tsp coriander seeds

3 dry, whole red chillies

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp oil

1. Prepare the rasam powder by heating 1 tsp oil and frying the ingredients of rasam powder on a very low heat till it turns aromatic. Fry for about 3-4 minutes. Blend them in a blender to a fine powder.

2. Boil toor dal till soft. Mash it.

3. Boil 3 cups of water and add tomato. Add salt, turmeric powder; curry leaves and garlic to it. Boil it for 10 minutes.

4. Add mashed dal, rasam powder and hing. Simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and add ghee. Serve hot rasam garnished with coriander leaves.

Green peas soup

This green peas soup or matar ka soup is an easy, breezy soup. It’s very easy to make and quite a comforter on a cold, wintry day. As days are getting cold, this soup is a welcome change from summer salads.

Recipe of (matar) green peas soup

2 cups shelled green peas (matar) - fresh or frozen

6 cups water

Salt to taste

1/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp black pepper powder

A pinch of sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

A blob of butter

1. Boil the green peas or matar with 6 cups of water, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Cook till peas turn tender. Let it cool down a bit.

2. Blend the mixture in a blender to a smooth consistency.

3. Pour in a saucepan and reheat on a medium heat. Add milk, black pepper and butter. Mix well.

4. Cook for 2 minutes more. Turn off the heat. Pour peas soup in the soup bowls and serve hot.

Tomato soup

This is a very simple and fast recipe for the delicious, ever popular tomato soup. There is nothing like home made fresh tomato soup. It can beat the canned soup anytime. It is very healthy and can be given to the babies and also to sick people.

Recipe of tomato soup

6 tomatoes- chopped

1 small onion- chopped

1 tsp sugar

4 cups water

Salt to taste

1 tsp butter

1/4 tsp Black pepper powder

1. Melt butter in a pressure cooker. Add onion and sauté till it turns light brown.

2. Add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add 4 cups of water and close the lid of the cooker. Cook to 2 whistles. Cook further on low heat for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool down.

3. Blend this mixture in a blender to a smooth puree. Strain through a sieve or a soup strainer.

4. Reheat soup in a saucepan and add salt, sugar and black pepper powder. Serve hot. You can also garnish tomato soup with cream and bread croutons.

Palak soup

Spinach soup or palak soup is one of the healthiest soups. It is also an excellent soup for babies. I usually serve it with soup buns.

Recipe of palak soup

2 cups spinach leaves (palak) - washed and chopped finely

1 medium onion- sliced

4 cups water

1/2 cup skimmed milk

1 tbsp butter

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

Cream to garnish (optional)

1. Melt butter in a saucepan and add onion. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add palak leaves, salt and pepper. Sauté for 2-3 minutes more.

2. Add water and cook for another 4 minutes till spinach leaves turn tender. Cool and puree the mixture. Strain in a soup strainer. Reheat in the saucepan.

3. Add milk and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Turn off heat; transfer the spinach soup in the soup bowl. Garnish with cream and Serve hot.

potato salad

My husband always looks out for some potato dish in the dinner. So on those lazy days when I am not in the mood to cook elaborate meals, I prepare potato salad to satisfy his craving for aloo. In fact I learnt this recipe from hubby dear himself. It’s a healthy salad as I have used lemon juice instead of mayonnaise as suggested in other recipes. No doubt mayo makes the salad richer and creamier but it also adds to the waist line so for all of you health buffs, this is a healthier version of potato salad.

Recipe of potato salad

3 medium potatoes- boiled, peeled and cubed

1 large onion- chopped

1 large tomato- chopped

1 green chilly- chopped

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Black salt to taste

1/4 tsp black pepper powder

1. Mix all the above ingredients and toss. Serve hot or cold.

You can also use 4-5 freshly ground black pepper corns in place of black pepper powder and can replace black salt with ordinary white salt to prepare this aloo salad.

aloo salad

Above picture shows one of the simplest potato salads. I have not added tomatoes and onion. I have added chaat masala  and fresh coriander leaves (cilantro). Rest of the recipe of aloo salad remains same.

Sprouts salad

Mung sprouts

1 cup sprouted moong dal (green gram/mung dal)
1 cup sprouted moth dal (black eyed beans)
1 potato- boiled, peeled and cubed
1 tomato- chopped
1 onion- chopped
1 cucumber- chopped
2-3 green chilies- chopped
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 lemon
½ tsp black pepper powder

1. Place sprouted dals with enough water in a pressure cooker. Let 2 whistles come. When pressure drops, open the lid of cooker and take out sprouts. Make sure you put just enough water in the cooker so that all water gets absorbed.

2. Add all the above ingredients and mix. Serve sprouts salad hot or cold.

You can also add chopped vegetables like radish, carrot to the sprouts salad to make it more nutritious.

Healthy Bytes- sprouts provide a healthy and cheap alternative to meat proteins. Sprouts are rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. During the process of sprouting, proteins and vitamins increase manifold whereas calories and carbohydrates decrease.

Moth sprouts

Potato chickpea salad

 
This aloo chana salad is a very healthy salad as no oil or high calorie dressing is used in this recipe.
Chana is also known as chickpeas in english, garbanzo beans in spanish and kichererbse in Germany. Chana or chole belong to legume family and are healthful. You can also use black chickpeas (kala chana) for this salad.

Recipe of Aloo chana salad

 1 cup kabuli chana (chickpeas/ garbanzo beans)
 2 small potatoes- peeled and cubed
 2 small onions- chopped
 2 small tomatoes- chopped
 2 tsp lemon juice
 1 tsp chaat masala
 salt to taste
 2 green chillies- chopped

1. Soak chana overnight. Drain and and boil with potatoes, salt and water in a pressure cooker.

2. Strain the remaining liquid. You can use this liquid for some other dish.

3. Add the remaining ingredients to chana and toss.

4. Serve hot or refrigerate and serve cold.

Healthy Bytes- chane or chickpeas contain high amounts of protein. Half cup of chickpeas contain 140 calories, 5 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, slightly more than 1 gram of fat, Iron and Potassium. Canned chickpeas can be full of sodium so it’s better to rinse them before consuming.

Potato black chickpeas salad