Tag: Salad

Mexican Pasta Salad

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Its spring season here and farmers market is full of fresh vegetables. Best way to get most out of these beautiful veggies is enjoying them raw. After all, we spend money to get most of the nutrients.

Barbecue, Picnics, potlucks and outings on my mind. We tried this perfect Mexican Pasta Salad which is refreshing and full of flavors and is perfect for these occasions as a side. It is so easy to make and can be prepared in advance.header

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Recipe type: Side

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

For Salad:

  • Lettuce blend
  • 1 cup Mini Penne pasta
  • 1/3 cup cooked black Beans
  • 3/4 Red bell pepper
  • 3 tablespoon chopped Spring onion
  • 1 Mango
  • 1 Ripe Avocado
  • Chopped coriander/cilantro leaves
  • Black/Calamenta olives
  • Pickled jalapeno
  • Crumbled feta cheese

For Dressing:

  • 3 tablespoon yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • chili powder as per taste
  • pinch of smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Red Chili sauce
  • 1/2 Lemon juice
  • Salt as per taste

Method:

  1. In a large pot take 5-6 cups of water and heat till it starts boiling. Add little salt and oil. Add uncooked pasta and cook until Al Dente.
  2. Pressure cook black beans. Add salt while cooking. Keep aside.
  3. Chop Bell pepper, Mango and avocado into 1 cm cubes. Using hands break lettuce into small pieces.
  4. Mix all ingredients for Dressing and beat for a minute.
  5. In a large bowl take pasta, beans, peppers, chopped coriander. Add salad dressing and  gently mix using both hands. Top with Avocado, Mangoes, Olives, pickled, jalapeno and feta cheese.
  6. Serve fresh or store in refrigerator if you are making this in advance. footer

-Enjoy

Mandar

Fruity Grilled Cottage Cheese Salad

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We had paneer (cottage cheese) in the fridge and somehow wanted to use it in the dinner. Cottage cheese has high content of casein protein (a longer-lasting protein) while being relatively low in fat. Usually first thing which pops into mind when we think about Paneer is gravy’s, paratha, tikka, appetizer and all, but we wanted to eat something healthy. As we had this beautiful produce (romaine lettuce, strawberries, oranges :-)) in the fridge that we got for coming week, we thought why not make a delicious healthy and easy salad. Ingredients of this salad are so special that they sing for themselves.

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Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

  • 200gm cottage cheese
  • 4 table spoon hung curd/plain yogurt
  • Garlic salt/plain Salt
  • coriander leaves/cilantro
  • 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
  • Spring Mix or Spinach same quantity as lettuce
  • 6 strawberries
  • 2 small oranges/mandarins
  • 1 Large Carrot shredded
  • 4-5 cherry tomatoes
  • Resins
  • Walnuts

For Grilled Paneer:

  1. Take 2 table spoons of thick yogurt in a bowl and add a little garlic salt and mix well.
  2. Cut Paneer into 2 cm size cubes and marinate paneer cubes with the yogurt mixture. You can skip marinating Paneer In that case directly grill them and season with garlic salt.
  3. Keep marinated Paneer in the fridge for 15 min. In the meantime start prepping for salad.
  4. In a non-stick pan take some oil. Keep it on medium heat and add marinated Paneer cubes.
  5. Grill till Paneer is golden brown on both sides.
  6. Add fresh chopped coriander and mix well. Transfer grilled Paneer to a bowl.

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For Salad:

  1. Cut cherry tomatoes and orange segments into half and slice strawberries.

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  1. Now let’s make simple salad dressing. In a small bowl take two tablespoon full thick yogurt. Add crushed black pepper and some dried mixed herbs and garlic salt. Mix well and keep aside.
  2. Now in a large mixing bowl take cut lettuce, Spring mix/Spinach and shredded carrot. Add salad dressing and mix delicately with your hands.
  3. Add Oranges, tomatoes, walnuts, strawberries and resins on top.
  4. Finally add grilled paneer on tom.

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