HEALTHY AND DELICIOUS: Potato and Chickpea Salad. Photo by the author
Salad is an integral part of our diet which is often ignored or eliminated while we plan our everyday meals. Salad is derived from the word ‘sal’ which means salt and holds the same status as that of salt in our food.
Adding a salad to your routine will definitely payoff with its health benefits and is one of the healthiest habits to adopt immediately. Not only the salads are healthy but they are cool, crunchy, colorful and fun to eat. You can add fresh fruits as well in your salad bowl to customise it to your taste buds.
I usually come up with different salad while planning or cooking my meal so that I never feel bored of eating the same greens every time. I combine a variety of beans, vegetables, fruits, green leaves, herbs and dressings to make it more interesting and appealing.
There is plenty of health benefits associated with salad eating— the following are the important four of them:
Salad a rich source of fibre
Salads are a rich source of dietary fibre, which helps regulate cholesterol and prevents constipation. Consuming salad makes you feel full and actually consume less food and thus helps you to reduce weight as well.
No nutrients lost due to cooking
The nutrients of fruits and vegetables are completely transferred when you consume them as salad, which is very beneficial for our overall well-being. Consuming fruits
and vegetables also ensures that our body is safeguarded because of the antioxidants they provide us.
Good fat
Salad dressings containing mono saturated fats like olive oil, avocado and nuts provide us with good fat which is essential for our body.
Eat more, lose weight
When your target is to lose weight, dieticians recommend one common food – the “great green salad” with lemon juice as dressing. Salad actually fills up your stomach and gives you the satisfaction of having a complete meal and at the same times does not burdens your body with tons of calories as compared to other foods.
Potato and Chickpea Tossed Salad
Ingredients
Serves 2
Chickpea, boiled 1 cup
Potato 2 no
Onion 1 no
Tomato 1 no
Green chilli 1 no
Coriander leaves Few sprigs
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Salt To taste
Chat masala ½ tsp
Yoghurt 4 tbsp
For tamarind chutney
Tamarind
Seedless tamarind ½ cup
Water 2 cup
Cumin seeds ½ tsp
Ginger powder ½ tsp
Red chilli powder ¼ tsp
Jiggery 80 gm
Cooking oil 1 tsp
Black salt To taste
For mint chutney
Mint leaves 50gm
Coriander leaves 50gm
Shallot 2 no
Ginger ½ inch cube
Tomato 1 no
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Chat masala ¼ tsp
Black salt To taste
Cumin powder 1/3 tsp
Dry mango powder ¼ tsp
Yoghurt 2 tbsp
Method
For the mint chutney, wash coriander and mint leaves thoroughly.
Combine chopped shallot, ginger, tomato, lemon juice, chat masala, lemon juice, black salt and dry mango powder and few ice cubes and blend to a smooth paste.
Add whipped yoghurt to the paste to adjust the sauce consistency and keep refrigerated.
For the tamarind chutney soak the tamarind in Luke warm water for 2- 3 hours.
Squeeze the tamarind pulp to extract the tamarind juice and strain in a bowl.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, add ginger powder, red chilli powder and tamarind pulp.
Stir continuously and simmer for 4-5 minutes, add the dissolved jiggery in water and adjust the seasoning and cook for another 5 minutes.
Once the mixture thickens remove from flame and allow to cool down.
For the salad, rinse and drain the boiled chickpea in a bowl.
Boil the potato until soft and tender, drain the hot water and allow to cool down.
Cut the potato in big dices and deep fry to make them crispy from outside.
In a bowl combine potato dices, chickpeas, chopped onion, tomato, green chilli, coriander leaves, lemon juice, chat masala, salt and toss gently.
Place the prepared salad in a salad bowl and drizzle with the mint chutney, tamarind chutney and whipped yoghurt and serve cold.
Note: you can prepare the tamarind chutney before hand and store in air tight container in refrigerator for later use as a condiment for salads, starters, samosa or crisp fried fritters.
The method of salad preparation sounds a bit lengthy but once you prepare the two sauces- mint and tamarind the salad can be prepared very easily and quickly without much effort.
