Russian Salad

I was in Mumbai last week and my friend Vinita had invited me for lunch at her home. She made yummy cuisine with south Indian flavour to the food. I simply loved the way she served variety of food to me. I learnt a lot over that lunch like garnishing the plate, using different bell pepper for different food recipes. I also learnt a couple of recipe to cook and try out myself. Welt this Russian Salad in one among them.

It simple, quick and delicious. You can play around with your favourite veggie or fruit and prepare this salad at home to give a different taste to your regular salad. It takes less than 20 minutes to make it.

Making time: 10 minutes

Serves: for 4 people

What goes in it:

Red bell pepper, chopped- ½ medium sized

Onion, chopped- 1 small sized

Carrot, chopped- 1 small sized

Coriander leaves, chopped- ½ cup

Salt- as per your taste

Red chilli powder- ¼ tbl spn

Sugar- ½ tbl spn

Mayonnaise- 1.5 cup (I used Heinz eggless Mayonnaise, I almost used half of it)

How did I make it:

Cut red bell pepper or red capsicum, carrot and onion into small pieces. You can also add peas and pineapple. I did not use peas as my sister is not very fond of peas and pineapple was not available at home. Vinita had also added cottage cheese or paneer to it. You can experiment with different veggie combinations as per your likes or dislikes.

Now take a bowl. Put diced vegetables to it. Add salt, red chilli powder and sugar to it. Pour mayonnaise to it. Mix them all well.

[Foodies’ Note: Put very little salt as mayonnaise has salt in it. So just sprinkle salt for taste.]

Add coriander leaves to it and mix it well.

Refrigerate the salad for about 1 hour. Take it out 10-15 minutes before serving.

Cucumber Salad with peanuts

The other day I was at my uncle’s place. On the table laid a cooking book- The Samsung Book of Microwave Cooking by Rohini Singh. I was just browsing through the book were this recipe in salad section caught my eyes. I found it interesting and had to try it soon, salads being my favourite. After making it, it surprised me as it not only added flavours to my regular salad but it is very simple to make which took less than 15 minutes.

Bored of eating regular green salad, try this recipe for sure. Such an interesting blend of flavours !!!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Making time: 7 minutes

Serves: 4

What goes in it:

Cucumber, diced- 2 medium sized

Lemon juice- of ½ lemon or as per your taste

Peanuts- 2 tbl spn

Sesame seeds (Til) - 1 tbl spn

Oil- 1 tbl spn

Mustard seeds- ¼ tbl spn

Asafoetida (Hing)- ¼ tbl spn

Green chillies, finely chopped- ¼  tbl spn

Coriander leaves, chopped- ½ cup

How did I make it:

Peel the skin of cucumber. Cut cucumber into cubes.

Add lemon juice to it and set aside the bowl.

Take a small pan and roast peanuts till they turn little brown. Put roasted peanuts in cucumber bowl.

In the same pan, roast sesame seeds till they turn light brown. Be careful as the seeds will pop outside. Add this sesame seeds the bowl.

Now out little oil in the same pan. Heat it and sauté mustard seeds. Let them pop properly and add hing and chopped chillies to it. Take it off the stove and add to the bowl. Put salt to the mixture and mix them all well.

Roasting peanuts and sesame seeds wil take about 2 minutes each. And tempering will also take about 2 minutes. 

Garnish with coriander leaves.

In about 10 minutes, the cucumber salad is ready to be served.