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
May 19th, 2008 at 1:33 am
too good pics… it looks so refreshing an tempting…
May 19th, 2008 at 3:04 am
love the idea of a rajma salad.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:31 am
What a healthy light lunch!:))
May 19th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Looks fantastic
nice & cool one
May 19th, 2008 at 9:20 am
simple and healthy soup..refreshing too…thanks for sharing.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:24 am
looks yummy…combo looks good…
May 19th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Loved the combo Dee! should’ve surely been refreshing in summer!:)
May 19th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Refreshing light meal for hot summer day!
May 19th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
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.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Lovely pics…the salad looks very appetizing. Soup must have been delicious!
May 19th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
WOW!… I love the dish of the soup… Nice presentation. Amazing recipe.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Wow Dee, amazing cucumber soup and salad. I’m going to try the soup very shortly. The crockery looks good too.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
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.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I really love the combo and ur pics are great looking…very refreshing indeed…
May 20th, 2008 at 1:34 am
It was unbelievably hot today. We barely survived.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:34 am
This looks perfect for summer!Great dish.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:38 am
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…
May 20th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
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
August 6th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Healthy salad, seeing this, I would like to invite you to the ONE DISH MEAL - Salad event that I am hosting. The details for the event is in my website. I would love for you to send a recipe across that fits in the rules. Thank you