96. strawberry green bean salad

June 19, 2012mayurisjikoni
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BM#78 Week 4 Day 2

   What is a salad? A salad is a cold dish of raw or cooked vegetables mixed with meat, fish, fruits and served with a dressing. The dressing can vary from a simple drizzle of lemon juice over the salad to more flavourful ones. Dressings can be creamy or light watery type. I remember when I was growing up salad meant a mixture of tomato, carrot, lettuce, cucumber and not else. Sometimes radish were added. A sprinkle of salt and a bit of pepper and salad was served in this manner for every meal. 
    
     Its when I was browsing through Tarla Dalal cook books and a Hamlyn published cookbook that I realised that salads can be so exciting. During the weekend I had to help mum in the kitchen(we were a huge family) and I took on the task of making the salad. I would add some fruit or a few chopped coriander, chilli or add ginger to the salad and loved the praises. Slowly, I began to make them more exciting by adding more fruits and nuts. I remember making my mum extra nuts to add to the salad. Obviously my grandmother would frown at the idea of using expensive nuts in salads. They were reserved to be used for Indian sweet dishes and on occasions in the rice.

    Now I make salads by adding any veggie, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains that I can get hold of. I saw this salad picture in a Sainsbury magazine and decided that I had to try it. The recipe called for only spinach and strawberries with a lemon dressing. I decided to make it more wholesome and attractive by adding mixed salad leaves, french beans, nuts along with a poppy seed dressing.

   This salad dish is to die for. I could make a meal out of it and it still would not be enough. What I love about this salad is that the colour combination makes it absolutely irresistible. I know poppy seeds are banned in some countries so instead, I guess you could use some nuts or roasted sesame seeds. Try with black sesame seeds. At the moment the french beans are so tender, that its the right time to try out this salad. Okay hold your horses, am getting to the recipe.

 

 

STRAWBERRY GREEN BEAN SALAD
For 2

For the Salad:1 cup strawberries either cut into half or thick slices
1 heaped cup of baby spinach leaves
1 cup lettuce leaves or salad greens
½ cup french beans cut into 1″ pieces
10 to 12 almonds roasted and cut into pieces

Poppy Seed and Orange Dressing:
2 tbsps olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp coarse pepper powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp grated orange peel

  1. Boil about a cup of water.When its boiling, add the french bean pieces to it. Let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes and drain them out into a sieve. Wash them under cold running water. Put the beans in a bowl.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  3. To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
  4. Drizzle the dressing over the salad just before serving or serve the dressing on the side.
Tips:
  • If you don’t have a small whisk for the dressing, then use a small jar. Put all the ingredients into it. Close the lid tightly and give it a good shake.
  • If you don’t get baby spinach, use tender small palak leaves.
  • When you grate the orange peel, make sure you don’t grate the white part of the orange. Otherwise the salad will taste bitter.
  • Add lemon zest and juice instead of orange juice and zest for a fresh taste. 
  • Store the remaining dressing in the fridge to use as a dressing on a different salad.
You may want to check out the following:
grapefruit avocado salad
watermelon cucumber salad

Sending this recipe to the following events:

BMLogo

Check out what other Blogging Marathoners have cooked for Blogging Marathon#78 here

 
 

13 Comments

  • Nayna Kanabar

    July 6, 2014 at 3:00 pm

    A very innovative salad and I love the dressing.

  • Full Scoops

    December 3, 2014 at 6:04 pm

    A delicious and healthy salad!

  • Chef Mireille

    December 11, 2014 at 6:36 pm

    great combination

  • Tanya Desigan

    December 14, 2014 at 4:39 am

  • Jyoti Babel

    July 26, 2017 at 5:06 pm

    Absolutely love this salad. A burst of flavours and colours

  • Srividhya Gopalakrishnan

    July 27, 2017 at 2:47 am

    Great mix of veggies and fruits. That's one healthy plate.

  • vaishali sabnani

    July 27, 2017 at 3:14 am

    Super combo and absolutely delicious and colourful .

  • Rafeeda AR

    July 27, 2017 at 5:39 am

    Totally love the burst of flavors in that plate… beautiful picture update too…

  • Sapana Behl

    July 31, 2017 at 11:04 am

    That is a lovely and colorful strawberry salad.

  • Jayashree

    August 8, 2017 at 4:31 pm

    That is one colorful salad. Nice combo of ingredients.

  • I Camp in my Kitchen

    August 24, 2017 at 8:03 am

    a bright and beautiful salad there! love that dressing!

  • Archana

    February 18, 2021 at 12:45 pm

    OMG! I cannot get my eyes off the pictures!!!! I do not want to read the ingredients or even the check if I need to buy anything will happily like the screen. Awesome!
    I did go back and check the dressing because your dressings are awesome and I have all the ingredients. 😀

    1. mayurisjikoni

      February 18, 2021 at 8:39 pm

      Thank you so much Archana. Please do try the salad.

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