Watermelon Salad with Lemon dressing

 Watermelon with its bright pink colour flesh will be seen around summer in India. As the fruit has high water content and is a thirst quencher in the hot temperature.

 It is also said that taking watermelon reduces high blood pressure. For this month's Sshhhh secretly cooking challenge , I was paired with Veena Krishnakumar.The ingredients which veena krishnakumar gave were watermelon and Mint.

Requirements :

 1 bowl of scooped Watermelon

 Quarter cup of Pomegranate

1 large onion

Mint sprig

For Dressing

1 lemon

1 tbs Sesame oil

½ tsp Pepper powder

Salt to taste

½ tsp chopped mint leaves

Method :

Chop half onion finely and remaining into slices.

Squeeze juice out of Lemon.

In a bowl , add the watermelon balls , pomegranate and chopped onion , toss well.

In the serving bowl , arrange the sliced onion around the edges. Place the mixed salad in the centre .

Chill in the refrigerator till serving.

In a shaker bottle add the lemon juice , salt , pepper powder , sesame oil , Chopped Mint leaves and shake well.

Pour the salad dressing just before serving.

Place the mint sprig on top and serve.

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Watermelon salad with Lemon dressing is ready to serve.

The Café spice Cookbook - Cookbook Review - South Indian Cabbage Slaw

This book consists of 84 quick and easy Indian recipes for everyday meals.I received this book from Tuttle publication for review.

The author of the book was Hari Nayak- Indian educated and working in USA. He is on a mission to spread the enjoyment of Indian cuisine to everyone he meets.

About the author :

Hari Nayak  is a graduate of the culinary institute of America. He was the culinary director for the Café Spice brand and also runs his own restaurant consultancy firm, Gourmet Gurus.

His inspiration towards cooking started  in his young age by seeing the cooking of his grandmother. She grinds all her masalas freshly.

The author also has influence from other cultures and cuisine, which he experienced while travelling the globe.

About the book :

This book consists of  Hari’s all-natural and incredibly tasty indian dishes. The picture of bengal fish curry on the front page was fantastic with brilliant styling.

In the first few pages , the author talks about the café spice story.

The next few pages for simple techniques in indian cooking like deep frying , roasting , steaming etc.

Next the author introduces indian ingredients commonly used and their importance.

The dishes where categorized under nine chapters.

Basics – masala

Chutneys and Accompainments

Starters and salads

Soups and Dals

Vegetables and Cheese

Fish and Seafoods

Poultry and Meat

Breads , Rice And Grains

Desserts and Drinks

Each recipes were well explained  with a eye catching pictures. I want to make all the recipes from the book. The author also included shopping guide at the end of the book  for those living in the America , where they can get Indian ingredients.

Recipe I made from book :

South Indian Cabbage  Slaw ( Kosu Pachadi )

This was a simple indian coleslaw recipe with the easily available ingredients with the fresh flavor from the tempering and the creaminess from the yogurt , sweetness from the freshly grated coconut.

Silk Road Vegetarian – Cookbook Review - Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

I Received this cookbook for reviewing from Tuttle publication. This book silk road vegetarian written by  Dahlia Abraham Klein. The book consists of vegan , vegetarian and gluten free recipes.

All the recipes in the book are from silk road. I am hearing for the first time about this silk road. This was the trade route from china to India and mediterrian. I had read about silk trade from china and India , may be the  route of the travel may be called so.

In this book the author has covered vegetarian recipes from the countries  in the silk road. All the recipes are traditional village recipes. The author had a chance of trying on various cuisines and had lived in various parts of the world from her childhood because of her father’s business.

The book starts with the spice pantry in which the various spices and its uses were explained.

Then comes the basic preparation section in which she explained about Tofu , legumes , grains and rice varities. She also explained about their cooking method and the variation  in each part of silk road.

The whole book is divided into eight chapters

Bases and condiments

Appetizers

Soups

Salads

Main Dishes

Rice Dishes

Side Dishes

Desserts

Each recipe under the above sections were perfectly assembled with preparation and cooking time along with the serving.

Each recipe have been well explained and I can’t believe this was the authors first cookbook. The pictures with the recipes were so  eye catching which makes us to try those recipes.

It was hard for me to choose a recipe from the huge collection , I choose to post here was a salad recipe ..

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

METHOD :

      The salad was so delicious with the lemon , olive oil and  sugar dressing. The flavor from the dill makes the salad unique.




There are so many delicious recipes like these in the book . I recommend this book for those who want to try vegetarian recipes.

Disclaimer : This is not a paid review and all the views above are my own.

Pomegranate Salad – Nar Salati

  This was a salad made with the pomegranate and potato cubes. Azerbaijans use pomegranate in their dishes for its tanginess. They use a thick syrup made from pomegranate called Narsharab in their fish dishes.

Requirements :

1 medium pomegranate

3 medium potatoes

chopped coriander leaves

3 tbs Yogurt

salt to taste

Black pepper powder

Method :

 Remove the seeds from the pomegranate.

Boil the potatoes , peel skin and cut into cubes.

In a bowl , mix the potato cubes , yogurt , salt and pepper.

Then add the pomegranate seeds , I sprinkled just before serving.

 Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves.

Chill and serve the salad with bread or as salad.