Carrot and coriander tikki.
Many of us may not know that the bright orange or red colour vegetable as we all know was only purple in the 17th century. The modern-day orange carrot wasn’t cultivated until Dutch cultivators in the late 16th century took mutant strains of the purple carrot and gradually developed them into the sweet, crunchy, orange variety we have today.
Before this, almost all the carrots were purple with few mutated versions occasionally popping up including yellow and white carrots.
These were rarely cultivated and lacked the purple pigment. It is thought that the modern-day orange carrot was developed by crossing the mutated yellow and white rooted carrots as well as varieties of wild carrots, which are quite distinct from cultivated varieties to get the orange coloured carrot as we all know it today.
Orange carrots get their bright colour from beta-carotene. Beta-carotene metabolises in the human gut from bile salts into vitamin A which is essential for a good eye sight.
When you are preparing your carrots for eating, whether you plan on cooking them or eating them raw, there is something important to keep in mind -- don’t peel the skin. In carrots, like many vegetables, most of the nutritional value is just below the skin, so instead of peeling, just scrub the skin clean and use in your recipes.
Carrot and coriander tikki
Serves 2
Ingredients
Carrot 300g
Potato, boiled 300g
Coriander fresh, chopped 3tbsp
Garlic, chop 1 tbsp
Ginger, chop 1 tbsp
Green chilli 2-3 no
Olive oil to fry
Coriander powder 1 tbsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Chat masala 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Gram flour 2–3 tbsp
Method
Fine chop the carrots and keep aside.
Boil the potato and allow to cool, add chopped carrots to the boiled potato.
Heat 1tbsp oil in a heavy bottom pan and sauté ginger, garlic, green chilli, coriander powder and cook to remove the raw garlic flavour.
Add this tempering to the potato mixture and add garam masala and adjust the seasoning.
Sprinkle some gram flour and mix well top combine the seasoning.
Divide the dough into equal portions and shape them into tikki or cutlet shape.
Shallow fry them over medium heat to give them nice golden brown colour and crispy crust.
Once cooked, keep them on kitchen towel to remove excess oil.
Sprinkle chat masala and serve hot garnished with fresh salad and mint chutney.
Lettuce
Lettuce has been cultivated across the world for centuries and is eaten for its refreshing taste and its rich source of potassium and vitamins. There are mainly four types of lettuce with hundreds of varieties which results from cross breeding. Head type, leaf type, stem type and cos or romaine type. Depending on the variety and time of year, lettuce generally lives 65–130 days from planting to harvesting and required a cool climate to grow. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also used in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps, some varieties of stem type can also be grilled and eaten.
Using lettuce in your food not only adds to its nutritional value but also enhances the visual appeal of the dish. Despite its beneficial properties lettuce is also responsible for several outbreaks related to ecoli and salmonella, so it is always advisable to wash ingredients and wash the lettuce several times to avoids such food borne illness related to lettuce.
You can store lettuce for a longer period when wrapped in moist kitchen towel in a salad box in your refrigerator. Some common varieties which are easily available are romaine lettuce, fricassee lettuce, lollo rosso, rocket, mache, iceberg lettuce, bibb lettuce, chicory lettuce ...
Shrimp and lettuce salad
Serves 2
Ingredients
Shrimp (11-15 no) tail on 200g
Fricassee lettuce 150g
Lollo Rosso lettuce 150g
Romaine lettuce 150g
Carrot, shredded 1no
Celery, shredded 1 stalk
Dressing
Olive oil 3tbsp
Balsamic vinegar 1tbsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Yellow mustard 1tsp
Method
Wash and keep the lettuce in ice cold water for 10 minutes to make them crunchy.
Devein and clean the shrimp and boil in salted water.
Refresh them in ice cold water to stop them from over cooking.
In a mixing bowl combine all the ingredients for making the dressing and mix well.
Add the lettuce and shrimp to the mixing bowl and toss to combine the dressing.
Portion the prepared salad in the salad bowl.
Drizzle the remaining dressing on top, serve cold.
* Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel. Send your feedback to:
[email protected]
