Representational Image
Evening is the time when you look super hungry but one can't end up eating same food every day so make sure you are adding some fun to your food with new options.
1. Cranberry Quinoa, Pinenuts and rocket leaves salad: Packed full of nutritious, protein-rich quinoa with just enough sweetness from cranberries to give it a perfect flavor combination, this salad is a great healthy option for those evening hunger pangs.
Preparation: Quinoa, dried cranberries, spring onion, rocket / frisée lettuce, pine nuts, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, black pepper.
Method: Boil 80 grams of quinoa with salt for 12 to 15 minutes. Once it is soft, remove from fire and drain out the water. Cut 30 grams each of spring onions and dried cranberries. Now, take a mixing bowl and mix 2 ml of red wine vinegar, 15 ml of olive oil, black pepper and salt to taste. Clean, wash and sanitize 50 grams of lettuce.
Mix the boiled quinoa, onions, cranberries and pine nuts with vinegar dressing. Place in the centre of a plate with the help of a mould. Put some pine nuts, seasoned rocket leaves with a dash of olive oil and salt, either on the side or on top of the quinoa mix. Make sure the lettuce is seasoned just before putting on side or top to make sure the leaves are fresh. Salt is hydroscopic in nature and will ooze out all the moisture from the lettuce if seasoning is done at early stage.
2. Hummus: One of the best known Middle Eastern foods, hummus makes a nutritious and filling evening snack or appetizer. The smooth and creamy chickpea-based dip is high in protein, fibre, iron and has more than ten micro-nutrients.
Preparation: Chickpeas, tahina, garlic, salt, lemon, parsley leaves, Lebanese olive oil, paprika powder.
Method: Soak 140 grams of chickpeas overnight with ice cubes. The next day, wash them properly and then boil. Before the pieces are totally cooked, take some out for garnish. Put the rest of the chickpeas in a strainer, add ice on top and keep till completely cooled.
Put them in a blender with 4 grams of garlic and blend for some time, then add 90 grams of tahina with 7 grams of salt, 5 grams of lemon salt and ice cubes. Blend till the texture is velvety. Keep in the chiller for some time. Place in a serving dish and garnish with paprika, parsley leaves, olive oil and chickpeas in the middle. Relish with warm pita bread.
3. Salad Nicoise Au Pondicherry
Preparation: 500 grams baby potatoes, Kosher salt to taste, 2 tablespoons dry white wine, 100 g haricots verts or thin green beans, trimmed, 4 large eggs, 60ml white wine vinegar, 30g shallot, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, Freshly ground pepper, 180ml extra-virgin olive oil, 8 cherry tomatoes or small cocktail tomatoes, halved or quartered, 100g romaine lettuce, 100g iceberg lettuce, 500g tuna fillet (fresh Pondicherry catch 2kg whole fish), 1 tin Anchovies, 50g kalamata olives.
Method: Fillet the Tuna fish and marinate with salt, pepper, olive oil, lime juice, thyme. Arrange in baking tray and bake it at 180C for 10 minutes. Remove the fish fillet and cool it down. Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan; cover with cold water and season with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until fork-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and transfer to a medium bowl; drizzle with the wine and let cool. Reserve the saucepan.
Meanwhile, bring a separate saucepan of salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with salted ice water. Add the haricot verts to the boiling water; cook until crisp-tender and bright green, 2 to 4 minutes.
Drain and immediately plunge into the ice water to cool; drain and pat dry.
Place the eggs in the reserved saucepan and cover with cold water by about 1 inch. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then cover, remove from the heat and let stand, 10 to 12 minutes.
Drain and then run under cold water to cool. Peel under cold running water.
Make the dressing: Whisk the vinegar, shallot, mustard, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream until emulsified. Toss the tomatoes in a small bowl with salt and pepper to taste. Add about 1/4 cup dressing to the potatoes and toss. Slice the hard-cooked eggs.
Divide the lettuce among 4 plates. Arrange the potatoes, hard-cooked eggs and tuna on top. Pour any juices from the tomatoes into the dressing, and then add the tomatoes to the plates. Drizzle with the dressing and top with the olives.
(With IANS Inputs)
