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Ashwini’s Cold Cucumber Soup and Spicy Bean Salad
Today was a long day . K and I were just running around to complete our weekly chores and helping a friend set up their new barbecue grill . The weather was sweltering hot and I staggered home with a splitting headache. I was adamant about not eating out. Dear K, made a good cuppa masala chai and I set to do the magic in my kitchen with a recipe from Ashwini of Food for Thought. Her blog has always been a sight to visit. Crisp writing and clean , simple pictures. I decided to kill two birds in one shot by sending this to MBP and also Your recipe rocks. I made a couple of changes to our liking and the result was a blast!
Thank you Ashwini for sharing such wonderful recipes. My food was really good to look at and fantastic to eat!
This month’s MBP is hosted by Raaga of The Singing Chef , originally conceived by Coffee of The Spice Cafe
Your Recipe Rocks is a weekly event started by Madhuram of Eggless Cooking
Coming to the recipes , Its getting harder to choose as everyone has so many interesting recipes that we want to try. I chose Ashwini’s blog this week and made her cold cucumber soup and Spicy Bean Salad, perfect for a sweltering hot day!

Cold Cucumber Soup with Spicy Bean Salad
Ingredients for the soup :
1 large cucumber, peeled
1 green onion (scallion), chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 green chilli, chopped (or omit)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
3-4 mint leaves
salt and chili powder to taste
Method:
1 Chop the cucumber , scallion, chili .Add salt and keep aside for about 20min.
2. Blend all the ingredients with some yogurt and chill in the refrigerator for atleast 2 hours and serve
(Chilling does make a lot of difference).
To garnish :
I made a red sweet pepper confetti for a splash of color

Chilled Cold Cucumber Soup
Ingredients for the salad :
1 cup kashmiri rajma
a handful of corn kernels
2 sweet red pepper, seeded and diced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
Dressing -
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp chaat masala
a pinch of red chili powder
salt to taste
Garnish with cilantro
Method:
I soaked the beans overnight to make rajma actually but was too tired to do so, I am glad I was , otherwise I couldn’t have tasted this lovely salad! I cooked them until tender .
2. Cooked the corn too, and added 2 sweet peppers, chat masala, some red onion , salt and chili powder , lemon juice . I omitted the olive oil completely. It was a fulfilling meal!

Spicy Bean Salad

Comments
too good pics… it looks so refreshing an tempting…
Swati Raman
May 19th, 2008
love the idea of a rajma salad.
arundathi
May 19th, 2008
What a healthy light lunch!:))
Asha
May 19th, 2008
Looks fantastic
nice & cool one
vanamala
May 19th, 2008
simple and healthy soup..refreshing too…thanks for sharing.
ranji
May 19th, 2008
looks yummy…combo looks good…
priyanka
May 19th, 2008
Loved the combo Dee! should’ve surely been refreshing in summer!:)
Mansi
May 19th, 2008
Refreshing light meal for hot summer day!
Cham
May 19th, 2008
Dee, I am relieved I didnt miss this post!! So glad you liked the dishes. Its been a long time since I made the soup and your post plus the sweltering heat has pushed me in the right direction. Thanks for your lovely words too.
Ashwini
May 19th, 2008
Lovely pics…the salad looks very appetizing. Soup must have been delicious!
Namratha
May 19th, 2008
WOW!… I love the dish of the soup… Nice presentation. Amazing recipe.
sukanya
May 19th, 2008
Wow Dee, amazing cucumber soup and salad. I’m going to try the soup very shortly. The crockery looks good too.
Madhuram
May 19th, 2008
Great selection and a very refreshing way to take on summer. Thank you very much for the warm comments that you left on my blog. I would like to say likewise to all your heart warming comments.
RedChillies
May 19th, 2008
I really love the combo and ur pics are great looking…very refreshing indeed…
sangeeth
May 19th, 2008
It was unbelievably hot today. We barely survived.
Suganya
May 20th, 2008
This looks perfect for summer!Great dish.
Homecooked
May 20th, 2008
Guess that would be “the perfect match”.Both are looking delicious.Me too love to eat at home rather than going out on of my “headache” days…
Maheswari
May 20th, 2008
Its hot for u..Lucky U!.. we have a Tornado warning here and we were almost ready to take shelter in our basement.. (we stay at a 3rd floor apt!)..
the soup and the salad look refreshing Dee, and a special mention about the soup dish/bowl… its so cute..:)
Siri
Siri
May 20th, 2008