Chickpea salad with baby spinach and hint of mint...summer special

Hello Friends...
It is summer time in Britain....and it is lovely with some showers and clouds...
Summers and Salads...they go together.....
We ( my hubby and I) decided to have salads as dinner for this entire week...Different kinds and varieties...so yes, this inspired me to cook up some ideas and serve him as supper/dinner.
Started with a very simple salad with load of greens and chickpea...sprouted. Turned out very nice with the simple dressing of lime juice and olive oil...'Heaven'....my hubby said while whisking the dressing imitating Jamie Oliver :). There is something with Jamie and olive oil...well we will talk about that some other day....now is the simple veg chickpea salad with baby spinach.

Chickpea Salad with plums and hint of mint

Ingredients:
Chickpea sprouted for a two days or more more than a cup.
Fresh baby spinach a handful
2 big chunky carrots grated
1 cucumber grated
3 red plums chopped
7-8 cherry tomatoes sliced in 4 pieces
1 celery stick sliced
1 inch of fresh ginger grated
Half of a baby cucumber chopped
One big red onion sliced thinly
Handful of mint leaves chopped
Handful of coriander leaves
Handful of Greek basil

For the dressing

2-3tbsp of Olive Oil
Juice of 2 limes
1tbsp of sea salt
Fresh grind pepper

Honey to drizzle
Salt to adjust.


Process

In a big salad bowl, mix all the veggies except the spinach leaves.
Add salt to it and give it a good mix. The dressing should be properly whisked. Adjust the taste and add more lime juice or olive oil if required. Pour it in the salad bowl and give it a good mix and toss...you can do that with clean hands too..:)...

On table

On a plate, make a bed with handful of baby spinach leaves.
On the top, serve the salad anD spread a little. Spoon in the extra juice at the bottom of the bowl over the salad. Drizzle honey on top.

The ginger adds a lot of flavour to the salad and so does the mint. Just wonderful. The sweetness from the plums and the crunchiness of the carrots are amazing.
Many do not like celery in veg salads, you can avoid in that case.


One can add other vegetables too...like radish, baby courgettes, tomatoes, boiled baby potatoes and many others...

So enjoy salads and summers with us...in Haldarskitchen...
Happy Cooking!!!

Winter Vegetable Soup

Soups are my favourite... I do a lot of experimenting in soup and every time it turns out be success... this winter Veg soup is based on a tomato soup where in I have reduced the content of the tomato soup powder to half as I wanted it to be little thin and light. A lot of variations can be done here, shredded chicken can be added, a lot more fresh vegetable can be added, base flavour can be changed to leek and celery or sweet corn etc.

Ingredients:

Tomato soup powder- 1/2 sachet

Garlic- 2. cut in chunk sizes

Carrot- 1, peeled and sliced

Button/Chestnut Mushroom- few, washed and chopped in bit size

Onions- 2 tbsp, chopped finely

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Salt n Pepper- as per taste

Butter- 2 tbsp

Cumin Powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves- for garnishing

Water - 2 cups

Serves 2

Recipe:

Put butter in a deep bottom pan and sauté the garlic. Put in the cumin seeds, add the onions and fry them till pink, add the other vegetables and fry them for few minutes. Put cumin powder and some salt, pepper, mix well and pour in the water and bring to boil. Cover the pan. This will help in quick cooking the carrots. Add the soup powder and keep stirring continuously. Let it simmer for some time. Check for the consistency of the soup and adjust the seasoning. Avoid the lumps by stirring it. Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve piping hot.

Its yummy.

Happy Cooking!!!