Prachi's Suggestions on Summer Salads

HI EVERYBODY,
ENJOY THE HEAT WITH SALAD IN YOUR DIET.
ALSO REDUCE SOME WEIGHT. SUMMER IS THE BEST TIME TO REDUCE.
PRACHI.

Florida Salad

INGREDIENTS

½ cup diced apple or pear

½ cup paneer cubes

½ cup diced capsicum

½ cup diced cucumber

1 cup cooked macaroni

A few lettuce leaves

4 slices of bread toasted & cubed

Mix all the above ingredients. Blend in the dressing & mix well.

Dressing:

1 cup hung curd

3-4 tbsps. Mayonnaise

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp ped. Sugar

½ tsp. chilly flakes

Blend all the ingredients of the dressing & coat the vegs. Well serve chilled.



Asian Herb Salad

Ingredients:

½ small bunch mint, parsley and coriander

2 garlic cloves chopped

1” piece fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

5-6 tablespoons sunflower oil

¾ basmati rice

2 courgettes

1 bunch spring onion

* Put the herbs, garlic & ginger in a food processor with soya sauce, lime juice & honey. Blitz until all the ingredients are nicely chopped. Slowly drizzle in enough sunflower oil to give you a lovely, glossy emulsion, set aside
* Cook the rice, drain and cool. Stir in the diced courgettes, spring onions & the dressing. Mix well, serve cold, pine nuts ( optional )







Greek Salad

Ingredients:

Baby onicns 150 grams peeled & crushed

2 medium sized tomatoes

2 handful black olives

2 cucumber

Spring onion leaves

1 handful green olives

Dried oregano

Fresh leaves of oregano

200 grams feta cheese

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 tablespoon wine

Salt

6-8 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup boiled corn


Peel the onions & cruch coarsely. Sprinkle the dried oregano. Stir in the vinegar a little olive oil & set aside. Cut the tomatoes into chunks. Slice the cucumber thickly. Chop the leaves of sprin onion. Mix all these vegetable along with the onions. Add wine, the remaining olive oil, salt & the feta cheese.


Summer Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup orange segments, 1 cup cucumber cut into strips, ½ cup seedless grapes, ½ cup carrot sticks; ½ cup shredded Chinese cabbage, lettuce

Dressing:

¼ cup orange juice, 2-3 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp mustard paste, 2 tsp honey, 1tsp grated ginger, white pepper, salt.

Mix all the ingredients with the dressing & toss well. Serve on a bed of lettuce.







Oriental Salad

Ingredients:

2 cucumber, 1 bunch lettuce, ½ cup parsley chopped , ½ cup noodles fried, 2 capsicums, 2tsps. Chopped garlic, bean sprouts 200 gms, baby corn 200 gms, paneer sliced.

Shred all the vegetables and keep aside

Dressing:

½ cup olive oil, 4 tbsps. Soya sauce, 4 tbsps. Vinegar, 3 tbsps. Powder sugar, 2 tbsps. Sesame paste, salt, pepper, ½ cup peanuts.

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing pour on the vegetable and stir well serve chill.

Ghughra ni Kor

19 year old Tanvi is visiting her newly wed Maasi in Amherst, Massachusetts. She talks about how she's bored of eating pizza and craves for gajar ka halwa. Maasi feeds her yummy Indian food for the week, forcing her to help in the kitchen and lecturing her about how she should learn to cook. Tanvi is asked to roll out the last two rotli's, and Maasi almost gives up...

And then it's time for Holi. Maasi has to visit a friend and bring some food for the potluck. She decided to use chinese wanton wrappers as a substitute for ghughra covers (which turn out perfect, by the way), and prepares the stuffing. She forces tanvi to help with the ghughra, thinking may be she can just stuff them...but tanvi chooses to prepare the "kor" instead...and that's when Maasi is spellbound. Tanvi prepares absolutely fine kor (despite the dry edges of the wonton wrappers)..but she's still not happy. She thinks her grandmom - Shashi dadi would be unhappy with the result. Maasi knows that her own grandmom - Ba..would not have approved of the "kor" either. She remembers Ba checking every girl's "kor" during a big family feast, and nod in disapproval if she wasn't happy...But Tanvi had done an awsome job...and Maasi knew that all is not lost....

The legacy of cooking in Gandhi family is passed on from one generation to the other...like any other Indian family..They all have their specialities...exquisite sweets of Charumasi..all time hit ghughra of Shashi mami..the ultra thin khandvi of Beena foi..and the Surti delights of Asha masi and Smita mami..The daughters of the family married into other families adapt to their tastes..Snehal cooks spicier food, and Gita makes sure there's some farsan on the plate every meal...Prachi learned Avial from her Saasu and Pallika learned Sindhi Kadhi...The daughter-in-laws brought their own special touches to the cuisine...Shashi mami introduced khasta kachori and Heena bhabhi brought paneer paratha...

Nobody does it all like the food obsessed Gandhi family does it..And now it's time for the next generation...to carry it on...Of course, the times have changed..The way Ba taught the girls to cook is not how the girls (and boys) of this generation would learn. They learn everything from the internet, and having things written down helps..

So I urge all you wonderful wonderful cooks in the family to take some time out, and write down your favorite recipes..They don't have to be fancy..even simple, everyday shaaks, kachumbars, basic farsans...upvas recipes...everything....it would be nice to have mostly Gujarati recipes, since anyone can get pizza-pasta recipes from the internet .. it's the basic home cooking recipes that are hard to find... of course, if you have some special continental dish that won your husband's heart or something like that..that's most welcome...

Also, please include personal stories..."I made this when 'He' came to see me for the first time"..or "The first time I made this at my in-laws place, and it turned out to be a disaster"..Tell us the full story...Food brings our family together..so everyone will love to hear those stories...

Please keep mailing the recipes on Gandhi family, and I'll compile them on a blog:

http://gandhifamilyrecipebook.blogspot.com

I really urge you to send in as many recipes as you can ... The next generation will appreciate all those little gems in the midst of pizzas, and burgers, and tacos, and nachos......And I also request all the guys who read gandhi family mails regularly to encourage their moms, sisters, wife...to write down the recipe and help them put it up on the mailing list...

May all future generations know how to do "Ghughra ni kor" upto Ba's quality standards......