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Salad Days

Go easy on your digestive system this summer with these healthy stir-ups

Durri Bhalla Published 21.05.23, 09:25 AM

The Telegraph

It’s a perfect time for fresher meals. So, May being the National Salad Month, I have put together the world’s most famous salads and their dressings.

SALAD CAPRESE

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Salad Caprese originated from Italy’s Isle of Capri in the 1950s. Traditionally served as an antipasto, it is also known as the Insalato Tricolore as it features the three colours of the Italian flag.

INGREDIENTS

Mozzarella: Thinly sliced

Tomatoes: Sliced round

Sweet basil leaves: To sprinkle

Salt: A little sprinkle

Olive oil: A drizzle

METHOD

Arrange the mozzarella and tomatoes on a dish and sprinkle the basil leaves.

Sprinkle the salt and drizzle the olive oil. That’s it.

COBB SALAD

The story goes that Cobb Salad was named after Robert Howard Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood, where his chef invented it in 1937.

Tip: For authenticity, your greens should be iceberg and romaine lettuce, watercress and endive.

INGREDIENTS

Salads leaves chopped not fine, but in slightly bigger pieces

Tomatoes deseeded and cut into thin slices

Crispy bacon cut into pieces

Hard-boiled eggs

Avocado chopped into chunks

Chives chopped fine

Roquefort cheese or any other of your choice

Red wine vinaigrette

#Dressing

Red wine vinaigrette. Vinaigrette is a common dressing around the world. It is made by adding oil to vinegar or lemon juice. Traditionally, the recipe calls for 1 part vinegar and 3 parts oil mixed together into an emulsion. Here, I have used olive oil and red wine vinegar, but you can use any type of vinegar like white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and so on.

METHOD

Toss all the ingredients except the boiled eggs.

Pour red wine vinaigrette and mix well.

Decorate with halved boiled eggs.

OLIVIER SALAD

Olivier salad is a Russian salad with variable ingredients, but it is typically made with chopped vegetables, meat and mayonnaise. The key ingredients include diced potatoes, vegetables, eggs, chicken or ham. This salad is one of the most important appetizers at the New Year’s salad buffet in Russia. It was created in the 1860s by Lucien Olivier, a chef in the popular Moscow restaurant called L’Hermitage.

INGREDIENTS

Boiled diced potatoes

Boiled diced carrots

Blanched diced French beans (preferably all the same size)

Blanched peas

Grilled or roasted chicken, or sausages diced the same size as the potatoes

Boiled eggs cut in halves for decoration.

(I like to add some diced pineapple too. But that’s optional).

Crisp lettuce leaves to serve the salad on top of it.

#Dressing

Mayonnaise

Use as per requirement. Thin it down with a little cream. Add salt and pepper and a pinch of castor sugar.

METHOD

Put all the ingredients in a big bowl. Mix the mayonnaise.

On a serving plate arrange lettuce leaves. Put the salad on top.

Decorate with diced pineapples. Arrange eggs around the salad and serve chilled.

CEASAR SALAD

This salad was invented by Caesar Cardin, an Italian immigrant chef who worked both in Mexico and the US. His daughter claims that he invented this salad during the Fourth of July celebrations in 1924 at his eponymous restaurant.

INGREDIENTS

Romaine or iceberg lettuce leaves. They should be crisp and cut into slightly big pieces. (To make the iceberg lettuce crisp, put in cold water with ice cubes for some time and then remove and pat dry before use.)

Croutons (I dice bread into small cubes, sprinkle a little olive oil and then bake in the oven till brown and crisp)

Parmesan cheese ¼ cup grated

Sliced chicken grilled

Olives

Cherry tomatoes (optional)

Garlic: 5 cloves, minced

Dijon mustard: 2tsp

Worcestershire sauce: 1tsp

Salt: To taste

Pepper: To taste

Cream: To thin down the mayonnaise

#Dressing

Mayonnaise

Use as per requirement.

METHOD

Mix all the above ingredients well.

Vegetarians can omit the chicken.

If the mayonnaise for the dressing is too thick, thin it down with a little cream.

TABBOULEH

Edible herbs known as Qualb formed an essential part of the Arab diet in the Middle Ages. Dishes like Tabbouleh are a testament to their continued popularity in Middle Eastern cuisine even today. It originated from the mountains of Syria and Lebanon. The wheat variety salamouni cultivated in the Bequaa Valley region of Lebanon was considered (in the mid-19th century) as particularly well suited for making Tabbouleh. In Lebanon, the Lebanese National Tabbouleh Day is a yearly festival and, since 2001, it is celebrated on the first Saturday of the month of July.

INGREDIENTS

Bulgar (easily available in stores): 1 cup (soak in water for 30 minutes.)

Water: ¼ cup, warm

Parsley: 2 bunches very finely chopped (it should be totally dry before chopping)

Spring onions: 3 stalks, finely chopped

Mint leaves: 15, chopped fine

Onion: 1, chopped fine

Tomatoes: 2 big, chopped finely

#Dressing

Lemon juice: ¼ cup or to taste

Pomegranate molasses/juice: 2tbsp

Olive oil: ¼ cup

Salt: 1tsp

Pepper: ½tsp

Sumac: ½tsp

Mix the above ingredients well.

METHOD

In a bowl put all the ingredients with the bulgar.

Pour the dressing on the salad. Serve with lettuce leaves.

Check for seasoning.

I like to put a little salad on the lettuce leaf, fold it and have it.

SALAD NICOISE (nee-swaz)

This salad originated in the French city of Nice. It has been popular worldwide since the early 20th century.

INGREDIENTS

Iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce torn into pieces

Tuna (canned, preferably chunks): 250g

Potatoes (optional): boiled

Eggs: Boiled, halved

Cherry tomatoes: Halved

French beans: Blanched

Black olives

Cucumber

#Dressing

Olive oil: 6tbsp

Vinegar: 1½tbsp

Dijon mustard: 2tsp

Honey: 1½tsp

Sugar (optional): ½tsp powdered

Salt: To taste

Pepper: to taste

Cream: 2tbsp

Garlic: 2 cloves, minced

Herbs (parsley, mint and basil): Finely chopped

Mix all the above ingredients together and whisk well.

METHOD

Toss the above ingredients except for the eggs.

Pour the salad dressing and mix well.

Arrange the eggs on top and serve.

COUSCOUS SALAD

Couscous salad is a traditional North African dish, extremely popular in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Couscous is the official Moroccan national dish and Tunisia’s unofficial national dish. It is an extremely healthy salad in which you can add lots of vegetables like broccoli, red, green, yellow bell peppers, olives, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, etc. Vegetable combinations are totally your choice and, of course, the availability of some of them. There are actually no hard and fast rules for the combinatons except for some must-haves.

INGREDIENTS

One part couscous soaked in 1 part boiling water. Add 1tbsp olive oil. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then fluff with a fork.

Cucumber: ½, diced small

Beans (optional): ½ cup cooked (any or a mix of red kidney beans, chickpeas, etc.)

Spring onions: ½ cup

Bell peppers (red, yellow and green): ½ cup

Parsley and Coriander leaves: ½ cup finely chopped mix

Broccoli: ½ cup, small florets blanched

Olive oil: To taste

Lemon juice: 2tbsp, or to taste

Cherry tomatoes halved: 6-7

Feta cheese: Broken into pieces for sprinkling on top

Salt: To taste

Pepper: To taste

METHOD

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Serve alongside a main course or as an appetizer.

WALDORF SALAD

Waldorf salad originated in the 1800s in Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York and is still being served, which is proof that it has stood the test of time. It was created by the hotel’s maitre Doscar Turkey. Famous guests right from the Pope to President Obama have stayed in the hotel and had this iconic salad. Every US president since Herbert Hoover has stayed in the Waldorf’s towers.

INGREDIENTS

Celery: 1 cup diced (two ribs of celery chopped in half. Then cut the thinner end of the celery straight across and dice into small pieces. Cut the wider end lengthwise into four pieces and then dice them.)

Grapes (red/green): 1 cup, cut into halves

Apples: 2 with core removed and chopped into bite-sized pieces

Parsley: 2tbsp

Salt: ½tsp

Walnuts: 1 cup, toasted in a pan and chopped roughly. Cool before using.

#Dressing

Mayonnaise: 3tbsp

Greek yoghurt: 3tbsp

Honey: 1tsp

Lemon juice: 1tbsp

METHOD

In a large bowl add apples, celery, grapes, walnuts, parsley and salt.

Then pour the dressing.

Gently mix everything together.

Serve on a bed of lettuce leaves.

#For a non-vegetarian version

In a small bowl, combine ½tsp each of garlic powder, dried thyme, dried basil and dried oregano along with a little salt and pepper.

In a baking dish place 2 chicken breasts. Drizzle a little olive oil and rub it in the chicken with your hands. Then sprinkle the herbs on both sides and rub well.

Then bake the chicken for 20 to 25 minutes. Let the chicken cool completely. Then slice and dice the chicken into bite-size pieces.

Mix with the salad. Chicken Waldorf salad is ready.

Note. Always taste the dressings before putting in the salad. Do not douse your salad with too much dressing. Use according to the quantity of the salad.

Durri Bhalla is a cookery expert and author of Indian Bohra Cuisine and Inner Truth To Good Health And Weight Loss. You can find her at @DurriBhallaKitchen on Instagram, Durri’s Kitchen on Facebook and Durri Bhalla on YouTube.

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