96. strawberry green bean salad

absolute luxury

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.

 

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