Colorful "No cheese" Pasta Salad

How can anyone say no to something which looks awesomely delicious and so colorful. I can't. I love food thats colourful....maybe coz I am a fine artist.....color really attracts me even in food. So this was something we had for a dinner last week...along with a bowl of warming low fat tomato basil soup and some garlic bread. Here I am just sharing the recipe for the pasta salad.... will share the soup recipe later.

Ingredients :

Multi grain rotini pasta - 2 cups
Green bell pepper - 1
Red bell pepper - 1
Red onion - 1
Fresh Basil - 3 sprigs
Garlic - 4 cloves
Red chilli flakes - 2tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Olives sliced - 1/2 cup (optional)
salt to taste
lemon juice - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp

Method :

In a big pot keep water to boil. Add salt and little olive oil to it and keep it boiling.

Now, In a skillet take some oil and heat it well.Add the red chilli flakes and garlic and suate for few minutes. Add the veggies and stir fry on high flame. See that the veggies get cooked yet remain crisp. As these veggies can even be eaten raw u dont actually need to cook them but stir fry them well so that the flavour of the oil, garlic and chilli coats them well. Off the heat and add the basil leaves roughly torn by hand.

Simulataneously, Add the Pasta to the boiling water and cook till al dente. Drain the pasta and without rinsing transfer the hot pasta into a salad bowl. Add the cooked veggies into the pasta along with some salt , pepper and chopped olives. Mix well. Add some lemon juice on top if needed. My hubby loves lemon in everything so I added some lemon juice and some lemon rind to this... tasted awesome. Do try this Pasta Salad and let me know how it worked for u.

I opted to roast the veggies on stove top, but U can even pop them in the oven and 350 degress for 10 to 15 minutes and add this to the pasta...:)

Enjoy this wholesome goodness..:)

Matar Salad

This is a tasty, refreshing and amazing Salad. Simple to make and healthy to eat :) Me n "R" both like to have lotsa veggies in our diet. I am practically crazy about raw veggies... I can enjoy a salad anytime of the day.... provided someone makes it for me.:P Did i mention I am very very lazy? ;).



Well this recipe was invented a fine day when I was out of salad (remember the big bag of salad u get in costco?). So i decided I will make a salad with some beans...checked the pantry and see my luck I was out of all beans too... no garbanzo cans, red beans or even black beans..:( I looked into the freezer and saw some green peas and voila... a recipe was born :)

Ingredients :

Frozen peas - 1 cup
Carrot - 1/3 cup (finely chopped or grated)
Onion - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1/2 cup (optional I didnt have it)
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Fresh coriander - 1/3 cup (finely chopped)

Method :

1) In a microwave bowl take the frozen peas and microwave for 5 to 6 minutes. 2) Let it cook well but not too mushy. 3) add the chopped carrots, onions, tomato and mix well. 4) Add salt, black pepper and the fresh coriander and mix well. 5) U can add some chopped lettuce if u like..:)

Enjoy this fresh Salad :)

Kala Chana Chaat

Lelo...Lelo....Chana chaat lelo...:) Yummm! I love Chaats. They are tangy, spicy, sweet and so so yumm....and I thank god Radha is one too. I often make this for evening snacks.

The recipe is really simple and easy to make... does need some preparations like soaking the kala Chana over night...:)

Ingredients :

Kala Chana - 1 cup (Soaked overnight and cooked in the pressure cooker for 4 whistles)
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 large (finely chopped)
Potato - 1 big (boiled and diced)
Salt to taste
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Tamarind chutney - 1/4 cup (optional... but if u have it its better)
Pepper - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Fresh Coriander leaves - few sprigs (finely chopped)
Green chillies - 1 (finely chopped)
Sev - 1/2 cup (for garnishing)

Method :

1) Take the cooked Kala chana in a bowl. 2) Add the chopped Tomatoes, Green chillies, onions and potato in the bowl along with the chana and mix well. Add the salt, red chilli, pepper and mix well again. 3) Mix in the lemon juice , tamarind chutney and fresh coriander leaves. Garnish with some sev and serve.

Your tangy, tasty evening snack is ready. Yum Yum yum !...:) Enjoy this awesome chaat n do remember me when u do ;)

Herb Potato

Nowadays I have become very fond of these red potatoes.... I used to use golden or russet potatoes but now I like these red potatoes for my dailiy cooking. I got to know few facts about these red potatoes and I would be glad to share it with u all...:)

How do u select a good quality red Potato? : Good-quality red potatoes will be firm, smooth skinned and have a bright red color to it. They should have few eyes, and those few eyes should be shallow. I also found a nutrition chart for a Red potato. 1 medium sized potato has around 120 calories. It is fat free , Very low in Sodium, Cholestrol-free, Source of Fibre and High in Vitamin C.

This recipe is something I make whenever I have some fresh herb at home and I need to finish it off. I make a large quantity of these as both me and my husband love it. So here goes the recipe...

Ingredients :

Red Potato - 6 medium

Fresh herbs - whatever u have.... how much ever u have (I used thyme, rosemary, sage and majoram)

Dried basil - 2 tsp (optional)

salt to taste

Fresh mint / corinader - 2 tbsp

Pepper - 2 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Olive oil - 2 tsp

Method :

Par boil the red potatoes. See that u dont make them muchy. They should be cooked yet a bit crisp. let the potatoes cool.

Clean and finely chop all the fresh herb.

Prepare the dressing. In a big bowl add the lemon juice, salt, olive oil, black pepper and mix well. Add the chopped herbs to this and mix well. Keep aside.

Chop the potatoes in quarters and put them In an big serving bowl.

Add the dressing to it and toss well so that all the potatoes r coated with the dressing...:) . garnish with chopped mint or coriander. Serve cold...:)

Enjoy as a side salad....:)

Garbanzo salad / Sundal

This reminds me of Navarathri days in India. As a kid I used to go and see all the gollus(aarangement of dolls)...sing songs and come back with a packet of these lovely little darlings. Yummmm! How I used to love this as a kid, well I love it even now...:D This is like a salad...and is called as Sundal in Tamil....:)

Okie now we come to the recipe

Ingredients :

Garbanzo Beans /Kabuli chana - 1 Big Can
(if ur using dried ones...soak it overnight and then steam it in the cooker a bit)

Grated coconut - 3/4 cup

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 2 twigs

Asafoetida - 2 pinch

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 2 slit lenghtwise

For garnish - Coriander leaves and grated Coconut



Method : Empty the can of garbanzo in a microwave safe bowl and wash the beans well in running water. Now Steam the beans in a microwave for 2 mins on high.

(I used the can hence this step.. if ur using dried beans and soaking it, Just steam it in a cooker and ur all set to make the sundal)

In a deep bottom pan take some oil and put mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add green chillies and curry leaves. Add asafoetida and leave it on for few minutes. Add the coconut and stir fry for 5 minutes, until the coconut roasts a bit and gives out a nice aroma. Now add the Garbanzo beans and mix well. See that u do this gently u dont want to mash the Garbanzos...:) Add salt and mix well. Let the Garbanzo roast for sometime. Garnish with some more coconut and coriander leaves.


Serve hot with a bowl. Can be enjoyed as an evening snack!

Back with a Healthy Bang! - Apple Pecan Salad

Hello friends.......

yeah yeah I know... Its been a long long time. I was completely tied up in so many things that I didnt have any time to blog or say a simple Hi to all my lovely blogger friends. To firstly I would like to enquire about all my pretty friends out there. Hope u all r doing good. My regards to all of u.

Coming to me, I had been to india and came back on friday 28th Nov. Enjoyed my trip. Had loads of fun and roamed and shopped a lot. Enjoyed eating the chatpata road side food. Yummm! India has not changed a bit when it comes to food. They say people in india have become very conscious about their health and about status and this and that blah blah.... but u can still see the roadside stalls surrounded with so many foodies..some stopping by in their posh cars....ahem ahem....thats the power of tasty food. Isn't it guys?

Coming to the Plagarism of my site, things r cool now. I dunno how but that site has been stopped and I am happy and bless the person who made it happen. So after all the munching and jumping around in India, I decided that I go on strict diet when I come back. So here I am with a healthy Salad recipe which I enjoyed making as well eating.

Apple Pecan Salad. If u dont like pecan u can substitute it with Walnuts or toasted almonds.:)

Ingredients :

Spring mix salad leaves - 1 pack

Chinese cabbage - 1 cup (optional) you can even use regular cabbage.

Red apple - 1

Toasted pecans - 1/2 cup

Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Olive oil - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Toasted sesame - 1 tsp (optional)

Pepper - a pinch

Method :

In a big salad bowl put in the salad spring mix. You can even add romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce and other salad leaves to this individualy . I prefer to buy this shredded mix pack.

Add the toasted and halved pecans to this and mix well. Chop the apples into small cubes. Toss the apples too into the bowl Toss well, wrap with a cling wrap and refridgerate.

In a seperate small bowl add the the lemon juice, olive oil, toasted sesame, salt and pepper and mix well. Ur dressing is ready. When ur ready to serve, pour this dressing over ur salad and mix gently. Your salad is ready to be eaten. Sweet and tangy, healthy salad.

Enjoy as a side to your lunch.

Crunchy Vegetable Salad

This is a salad we enjoyed eating. Me and R both love salads. Lots and lots of salads. My hubby R loves anything thats tangy and gives the natural flavour of the vegetables. And he simply adores this salad. Yeah, he was a bit down when he saw the white salad dressing though....hehe. We normally go for salads with store bought dressing.. this was my first time trying and making a proper dressing at home, other than the lemon and salt indian style dressing ofcourse. The first thing he said after seeing the dressing was..... Ohh y this dressing... its high in Calories.. hehehe yeah he is more calorie conscious than me..... hehehe. He is very choosy when it comes to the dressing. He like the tangy low fat dressing, than the creamy ranch or any mayonaise or cream based salad dressing.But, ofcourse I did manage to get a wow from him when he tasted it and... his second serving was with " more dressing please" hehehehe. So thats our colourful salad story. Now, let me move to the recipe of this colourful salad.





First thing we like about this salad is that its very crunchy and its very very colourful.Hope u enjoy it too..:)

You need :

Red Cabbage - 1 cup finely chopped (julianed - julian all vegetables)
Iceberg Lettuce leaves - 1 cup finely chopped
Roman lettuce - 1 cup finely chopped
Carrot - 1/2 cup julianed
White onions - 1/2 cup sliced
Napa cabbage - 1 cup finely chopped (optional)
Pineapple - 1/3 cup finely chopped (optional)
Fresh Parsley - 1/2 cup




Dressing:

Low fat sour cream - 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 1/2tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Pineapple juice - 1tbsp (optional) or sugar - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Salt to taste



Method :

Slice and chop all the vegetables and put them all together in a big bowl. Wrap the vegetables with a cling foil and keep in the refrigerator. Covering with the foil keep the vegetables crisp.

Now, mix all the ingredients of the dressing in a bowl and mix well.Add pineapple juice if ur using pineapple slices orelse u may just add sugar. But again tis is optional. U may skip the sugar or juice if u dont like ur salad dressing sweet. Keep the dressing in the refrigerator to and chill.

When ready to serve, mix this dressing to ur chopped vegetables and serve immidiately. Enjoy ur salad cold and crisp. Enjoy!

* Variation - You may use Mayonaise instead of sour cream.




Serve cold with ur supper or maybe a hot cup of soup. Enjoy!

Ramanavami Speciality - Kosu malli

Shri Rama Chandra ki jai...

Some facts about this day....from the net...:)

Ram Navami is a Hindu holiday. It falls on the ninth day of the Hindu lunar year (or Chaitra Masa Suklapaksha Navami), and is a celebration of the birthday of the Hindu god Rama and on Ramnavmi Shree Bhagwan Swaminarayan was born too in the town of Chhapayia, Uttar Pradesh.

Lord Ram is the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who takes birth on earth when Adharma over rules Dharma. He protects all his devotees by vanquishing the roots of Adharma. Lord Ram was born on earth to destroy the demon named Ravan.
Hindus normally perform Kalyanotsavam (marriage celebration) with small murtis of Rama and Sita in their houses, and at the end of the day the deity is taken to a procession on the streets. This day also marks the end of the nine-day utsavam called Chaitra Navaratri (Maharashtra) or Vasanthothsavam (Andhra Pradesh) (festival of Spring), which starts with Gudi Padwa (Maharashtra) or Ugadi (South India). According to recent astrological studies, his year of birth is consider to be January 10, 5114 B.C

Festivals really draw my attention, not due to their mythological importance but due to their....goodies and sweet attractions.So many different sweet varities and prasadams and food varities to eat... hmmm...come one.... who doesnt like festivals now..??

Kosumalli ( or can we call it Raw green gram Salad?)


Sri Rama Chandra ki jai ! Prabhu Sri RamaChadra ki jai ! Sri Ramanavami is here and whats the special favourite for this festival, that I am cooking in my Kitchen?My hubby has lots of sentiments attached to Rama Navami. He remembers and misses his nainamma (granny) for all the variety food she used to make on this day. The way she used to decorate the ram idol for the pooja.And the way she used to enjoy scolding everyone to get ready for the pooja. All those lovely memories of home,india and childhood.He misses all that. Beieng here in US, you dont even get the feel of the festival. So i thought i will make him all the items related to Ram navami and surprise him.


To tell u the truth I had no idea what items are made for Ram navami as we rarely used to make things back in mumbai. It used to just be another holiday for us, enjoy and see TV to the hearts content.Hmmm how much marriage changes someone.... Hmm so i searched the web and found out what kosumalli is...but cudnt get a perfect recipe so created my own.I discovered that i had eaten this thing in so many south indian iyer weddings...but never really knew the name... "kosumalli" , "Koshumburi" ( I still hope this is what it is called...:P)





For kosumalli you need :


Split moong daal : 1 cup
Raw mango - finely chopped : 1/2 cup
Green chilli - Finely chopped : 1 tsp
Fresh coriander leaves - About 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Freshly grated coconut (frozen is fine too) - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tsp (optional)





Method :

Soak the moong daal in luke warm water for around 2-3 hours. Once the moong dal is soaked well... drain all the water and dry the daal on a cloth for around 20 mins, or until all the water is drained and the daal seems dry to touch.



In a big bowl mix all the ingredients along with the moong daal and mix well. Your kosumalli is ready...:) It is so easy and yet so tasty.... Enjoy.. I loved it so much that iam gonna make it often ..os what if its not Ram navami??....:P






Kosu malii freshy made for Rama Navami...Enjoy!

Crunchy easy salad

Easy simple and tasty. Thats what I call this salad. It just needs some basic things that we have at home hence can be made anytime and in no time at all.For making this Salad.


You need :

Frozen sweet corn kernels - 2 cups
Onions - 1 finely chopped
Carrot - 1 chopped in small cubes
Capsicum/green bell pepper - 1 cup (finely chopped)
Roasted salted peanuts - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2
Fresh coriander
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 4-5 tsp
Olive oil - 3 tsp (optional)

Method :
In a pan put some oil and roast the corn kernels and the capsicum till they are cooked well.
One in a big bowl take the roasted corn kernels - capsicum and add the peanuts and onions to it and mix well.
In a smaller bowl take the olive oil and add the other ingredients, (except the coriander leaves) to it and mix well. This is the dressing.When ready to serve add the dressing to the corn, mix well and serve in seperate bowls garnishing with coriander leaves.Your salad is ready.




Serve chilled and enjoy! Lovely evening snack or a side to your daily lunch.

Moong, Peach and Mango Salad

Healthy and tasty is what i can say for this. Very easy to make and packed with nutrition.
to make this salad

You will need :

Moong Dhal (green Gram) Soaked overnight - 1 cup
Onions - 1 small
Tomatos - 2 chopped
Peach - 2
Raw or half ripe Mango - 1 cup
Green chillies finely chopped - 2-3
Fresh coriander chopped finely - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Lemon juice
Chaat powder


Method: Soak the Green gram overnight. Cook it in a microwave safe bowl for 8-10 minutes on high. Alternatively you can cook it in a pressure cook it half done. Dont cook the moong too much orelse it will become mashed.
Now let the moong cool down well. Mix all the chopped veggies and fruits and mix well.Add the chaat powder, salt and lemon juice. garnish with fresh coriander and serve chilled.Your amazing nutrition packed snack is ready...:)


Serve it chilled as an evening snack. Enjoy!!...