Mango Black Bean Salsa or Salad - refreshing nutrition

This is one of my favorite salads. It is refreshing in any season and is packed with all kinds of nutrition. It can be a meal in itself served over a bed of lettuce, or make a great filling for wraps and sandwiches. Want to be a bit naughty? Scoop it up with some tortilla chips and you have a fancy appetizer. Or serve it with some grilled tofu.

The mango is the star here and provides a heady sweet flavor. Use any ripe mangoes available. If you can get your hands on a ripe Alphonso or 'hapus', go for it. The recipe is as follows -

Ingredients -

2 cans black beans
1 can sweet corn kernels
1 small red onion chopped
1 bunch scallions chopped
1 ripe mango chopped
1 green pepper or capsicum chopped
1 red or yellow pepper chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro or coriander

Dressing -

1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or pepper sauce like Tabasco
1 garlic clove grated or crushed
1 tsp sugar or honey
salt to taste

Method -

1) Rinse the black beans from the can to remove all canning liquid. You can also soak dry beans and pressure cook them. You will need about 3 cups cooked beans.
2) Rinse the corn or defrost it if you are using frozen corn.
3) Chop all vegetables and add to a bowl.
4) Mix the dressing in a small bowl and pour over the veggies and beans.
5) Refrigerate overnight or at least for 4-5 hours until flavors intensify.
6) Serve chilled

This is a great vegan dish that has no added fat. It is so colorful and high in flavor that you will never think you are eating anything 'healthy'. The beans and different veggies provide a wide variety of nutrients. This is an exotic alternative to your store brought salsa that is ready with very little effort.

Citrus corn and peas salad - Spring's here!

I know, I know! It's only January and Spring seems far away. But it can't be far behind. And this is a salad or side dish that is sure to perk you up even if there is a raging blizzard outside. It will taste best using fresh English peas and fresh corn on the cob, but you can get away with using frozen stuff too. The star ingredient here is probably the dressing, which is made with fresh squeezed orange juice. Curry powder adds a hint of spice and exotic flavor. This salad is fat free so you can indulge in it upto your heart's content.

The recipe is as follows -

Ingredients -

2 cups green peas

2 cups corn kernels

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 orange juiced

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup orange segments or pulp

salt to taste

Method -

1) If you are using fresh peas or corn, you will need to blanch them first. Boil a pot of water and dunk the peas/corn in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2) Prepare the dressing - Squeeze the orange along with the pulp, mix in lemon/lime juice. Add the salt, pepper and curry powder and crushed garlic. Whisk this and add to the corn and peas.

3) Depending on how juicy your orange is, you may add more orange juice if needed. This salad gets tastier with time.

4) Refrigerate at least overnight for the flavors to develop. Serve as a side dish, or use as filling for sandwiches or wraps.

This is a healthy treat you can indulge in. The citrus dressing takes the ordinary corn and peas to a whole new level. If you love the orange element here, be sure to try my Orange couscous salad.

Corn Chaulai Bhaji or Sweet Corn with Amaranth greens

Chaulai (marathi) or amaranth greens are readily available now in Pune. The tedious part is cleaning and plucking the leaves but its a necessary chore. Once you have that done, the next steps are relatively easy. The traditional way of making this subji in our household is a sautee with finely chopped onions. These leaves have a distinct strong flavor and the onion adds some sweetness and mellows it out a bit. It is also common in Maharashtrian cooking to add jaggery or brown sugar to take away the bitterness.

Greens cook down a lot and two big bunches generally become a small bowl. Palak corn or spinach with corn is another of our favourites and I thought about using corn here too. This not only helps bulk it up quantity wise and fibre wise, but the natural sweetness of the corn takes away some of the bitterness without adding too much sugar. The method used is pretty simple and even simple seasonings such as some cumin/coriander powder and fresh garlic will go great with this. The recipe is as follows -

Ingredients -

2 large bunches Amaranth greens or Chaulai

2 medium onions chopped

2-3 large cloves of garlic chopped

1 cup fresh or frozen sweet corn

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 pinch hing or asfoetida

1 tsp mustard seeds and/or cumin seeds

1 Tbsp light oil

salt to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp any curry powder or garam masala of choice

1-2 Tbsp tomato sauce or tomato paste

Method -
1) Pluck the leaves along with fine stems, discard thicker part of stems from the greens. Chop and soak in huge tub of water.

2) Pull out greens and place in colander. Discard the water along with the mud that will have settled down. Repeat this process until the greens are clean and no dirt settles down or water does not look murky.

3) Heat oil and make a traditional tadka - for the uninitiated - Heat the oil in a wok. As it smokes, add the mustard and/or cumin seeds. You can use either or both. Add the pinch of hing, then turmeric and cayenne. Immediately add the onion to avoid burning of the spices.

4) Saute onion until slightly softened. Add the greens gradually and keep stirring. The greens will cook down quickly.

5) Cover with a lid and keep sauteing until the greens darken in color and are cooked.

6) Add corn, curry poweder or garam masala, tomato sauce or paste and stir it all together.

7) Cover again and let it all cook together.

8) Add salt and pinch of sugar at the very end. The greens will have completely reduced by now and you will get a better idea of how much salt is really needed.

9) Serve hot with Roti or tortillas or pita bread, or as a side dish with a main grilled protein.

Amaranth is packed with nutrition like all greens, and this is a highly nutritious meal you can indulge in.

Vegetarian Pad Thai - tangy spicy thai fix

Pad Thai was the first Thai dish that I ever tried. While my memory is vague about it's exact taste, I do remember it was spicy and pretty novel, unlike anything I had ever tried. It spurred us on to a lot of quick meals that we called pad Thai inspired where we just tossed some spaghetti or angel hair in a bit of oil and garlic and pepper and then added some crushed peanuts to it. I think I have achieved a bit more finesse with this recipe over the years.

Every restaurant has its own flavor as far as pad Thai goes. Some make it more tangy with a hint of sweet, while some places make it really sweet. I like an equal balance between the tangy element, the sweetness and the spice or pepper. Pad Thai is street food in Thailand, and they say its sold almost everywhere by the roadside - sort of like vada pav in Maharashtra.

It is very easy to make this at home, without the egg and fish sauce laden stuff that you would get in a restaurant. I once saw a Bobby Flay throwdown episode where a lady showed how its actually made in Thailand. The trick is to have only a little bit, like a serving size in the wok at a time. There is a huge pot of premade sauce and they just ladle the sauce in for each serving as they make it. Well, I certainly do not see myself tossing individual servings in a wok, but I implemented the excellent idea of having the sauce made in a different saucepan and ladling it into your wok gradually. You will need the flat rice noodle which is readily available in the grocery store.

There is no limit to the veggies you can use here - the more the merrier! Typical favourites are onions, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, broccoli, broccoli(get it?), bean sprouts, bell peppers, zucchini etc. Tofu is of course most welcome. Basil and Lime give a fresh taste. But the tang here comes from the tamarind. You can easily get tamarind paste in any Indian grocery store. You can of course also use dry tamarind. Using basil really elevates this to another level.

I used the veggies that I had on hand, but you have carte blanche here. I could only take photos the next day, so this is just leftovers.

Ingredients -

200g rice stix or flat rice noodle

one onion sliced

3-4 scallions chopped

3-4 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp grated ginger root

1 packet mushroom sliced

1 zucchini sliced

1/2 cup bean sprouts

1 cup julienned carrot or carrot matchsticks

1 cup steamed broccoli florets

3-4 baby corn sliced

1 pack tofu

1 cup tightly packed basil leaves

Lime wedges

cilantro for garnish

peanut powder for garnish

For the Sauce -

1-2 Tbsp tamarind paste or

tamarind extract from fresh tamarind

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/8 cup rice vinegar

2 Tbsp peanut butter

1-2 Tbsp sugar or brown sugar or honey

1 tsp dried chili flakes

1 tsp white pepper

salt to taste

dash of sesame oil

Method -

1) Boil the rice noodles according to package instructions and wash with cold water and drain. These cook pretty fast so keep an eye on them. Gauge the quantity by the number of people you have.

2) Wash, clean and chop the vegetables as given. You can chop or slice them per your preference.

3) Was and drain the tofu. Squeeze out as much water as you can. Chop in thick long slices the way you cut the vegetables. Sprinkle some pepper on it and set aside.

4) Mix all the sauce things in a sauce pan. If you are using dry tamarind, you will need to soak it before hand, and then squeeze the juice out. You can also nuke it for a minute in some water and then squeeze the pulp. Another method I use now is that I take the ball of tamarind and a cup of water in a pot until it softens and it all becomes tamarind juice, and then i just spoon the tamarind rind out of it.

5) Start with the tamarind you got above, and add all the other sauce ingredients. You may have to vary this depending on the quantity of your noodles.

6) Boil the sauce until everything is a smooth mixture and reduces a bit.

7) Meanwhile, heat vegetable/peanut/canola etc. oil in a wok or saute pan. Add the tofu and let it brown on one side. Season the other side and toss over. Do not toss too much or you might end up with a scramble. The tofu will reduce in size as it lets out water. Season with a bit of salt once the tofu browns.

8) Start adding vegetables now. Add mushrooms and saute until reduced. Add peppers, zucchini, sprouts, baby corn etc. Saute 2 mins between each new vegetable. We want them tender crisp so do not saute too much. Add julienned carrots and broccoli at the end so that they retain color.

9) Ladle a little sauce into the veggies and add the noodles. Add half torn basil.

10) Toss gently to mix. Now add the sauce slowly until the noodles get enough sauce to your taste. Save some for adding later. Cover and steam for 2 minutes.

11) Taste and add more seasonings as needed or add more sauce. It will take you some time to develop your own taste combination of the sweet, spicy and sour elements. You will automatically adjust the sauce accordingly.

12) Add the rest of the basil, torn roughly. Serve hot with a sprinkle of peanut powder for crunch and a lime edge.

This is a very easy recipe that is a must try. There is no more need to go to a Thai restaurant for your pad Thai fix. There are a lot of spices and fresh flavors in this dish, and its a kid and crowd pleaser.

So are you off to get those rice noodles yet?

Lower Fat Cream of Broccoli soup - too good to be true

Can anything be too good to be true? Really? This soup is. Not only does it make you all warm and fuzzy, but also takes care of your heart so that you can use it to spread more love through the universe. That has got to be the corniest line I ever wrote! But jokes apart, I think I have unexpectedly stumbled upon a great way to make a satisfying low fat cream of broccoli. Since I no longer enjoy the panera broccoli cheddar having discovered its made with chicken broth, this is a great homemade alternative without all those calories.

Broccoli, as we all know, is a super food and is wonderful for your health. Please visit whfoods.com for a detailed appreciation of this humble vegetable. Broccoli is relatively new to the Indian grocery scene and is still under the 'exotic' label. Exotic, as we, all know, also means expensive. It is generally about 4-5 times the price of your regular cabbage and okra. So I was happy when I got it for a much lower rate in the Sunday market. I had been craving a thick creamy soup for a while now, so I had an idea where this broccoli would end up.

I looked up several recipes on the web. The vegan recipes went with soy milk and cashews or some other nut. Vegetarians added cream, cheddar cheese, half and half and what not. I found a few recipes promoting the humble potato as a way to add creaminess without adding fat, and that really made sense to me. I wanted to make this recipe as easy as possible, mostly made out of easy to find, hence economical ingredients. I just added a cup of whole milk at the end and that gave the requisite creaminess, mixed in with some corn starch. I served it garnished with some grated carrot and grated cheddar, and the result was a very thick and creamy filling soup.

I botched up the photos of the actual soup, but am still adding one here to give you a general idea.

The detailed recipe is as follows -

Ingredients --

500g broccoli

2 small potatoes

1 small onion/half cup

4-5 garlic cloves

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

carrot for garnish

cheddar cheese for garnish

Method -

1) Seperate the broccoli into florets and finely chop the stems. The stems will add bulk and are also full of nutrition so you do not want to waste them.

2) Heat some oil in a stock pot. Fry the onion and chopped garlic. Add chopped potatoes and fry for some time until the potatoes soften a bit and are partially cooked. You may add a little water here to avoid sticking.

3) Add all the broccoli and about one litre of water and put a lid on the pot. Some of the water will be absorbed. Switch off the heat when the potatoes are cooked. The broccoli will definitely cook by this time.

4) At this point, you can use an immersion blender to blend everything roughly in the pot. If not, let this cool down and puree it in a blender or food processor in batches. Add everything back to the pot.

5) The blended potato will lend a creamy aspect to the whole soup and it should be quite thick at this point.

6) Season with salt and pepper.

7) Mix in 1 Tbsp cornstarch with a cup of milk at room temperature such that there are no lumps. Add this to the soup pot.

8) Keep stirring slowly so that the soup does not stick. The cornstarch will add some thickness and milk will add a creamy aspect.

9) Serve this piping hot. Ladle in bowls and add some grated carrot on top for garnish. Add about a Tbsp of grated cheddar and mix it in as you eat.

10) You can make this cheddar intensive by adding 2 cups of cheddar to the pot, or lots more cheddar to the bowl, but that will not make this 'low fat'.

This is a nourishing low fat soup that is a complete meal, served with some whoke grain crusty bread. I hope you try this simple recipe that gives exotic results.