3 Rice, 3 Berry, 3 Herb Salad

Summer Days call for chilled salads, Summer Days are Berry Days, and Summer Days are Fresh Herb Days as well. We had a 3x Birthday party in the family today and I wanted to make sure I had a plant-based dish to take along. I wanted to try Chef AJ's Quinoa Salad with Currants and Pistachios - but our niece is allergic to nuts and I wasn't sure if she'd ever been tested for Quinoa. But now, my mind was hooked on to memory of that salad :) !!! I decided to make a variation of it. Here's what I came up with. 

3 Rice & 3 Berry Salad

Prep Time: Overall 30 min, or so in 2 stages.

Ingredients: 

1. 1/2 cup White Basmati Rice
2. 1/2 cup Brown Basmati Rice
3. 2-3 tbsp Long grain Wild Rice
4. 2-3 tbsp Raisins
5. 1 cup fresh Red Raspberries
6. 1 cup fresh Blackberries
7. 1 cup fresh Strawberries
8. 2 tbsp Agave Syrup, or Honey
9. 1/8 cup Soy milk
10. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Basil, 
11. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Mint 
12. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Oregano

Directions: 

Boil rice, all 3 kinds together, in ample amounts of water until tender. Add the raisins to the boiling water for the last 2 minutes (this helps plump them up!). Drain and spread thinly on a cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (chill completely). Meanwhile wash and drain berries and slice strawberries and set aside. Put Agave syrup (or honey) in a small microwave safe bowl with the non-dairy milk and heat for 10 seconds to dissolve it in the milk. Once rice is chilled, move to a mixing bowl, add agave/milk mixture and toss well. Add chopped herbs and berries and give a final toss. Do a quick taste check - the rice should be just slightly sweet - add more 'agave in milk' if needed.

Cover and chill until ready to serve. The longer it sits, the better the flavors combine - the berry flavors and juices penetrate the rice, the herbs release their essential oils and flavor the rice and the berries! This is a salad where the wonderful aromas invite you to dig in.

My Assessment:  Loved it. What's not to like! The family liked it too :)

Gimme More ... Chickpea Salad!

This recipe is definitely a Coder favorite. Our favorite Indian restaurant in Columbus used to have something along these lines as part of their Sunday Buffet. This is a recipe my mom and I devised - it is simple, nutritious, has no added fat and is perfect for a summer afternoon.  Tony asks for this salad on a fairly routine basis and we always keep a few cans of chickpeas on hand for this super-healthy super-quick snack - definitely a gimme more recipe!! 

Gimme more ... Chickpea Salad

Prep Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

1. 2 14-oz cans of Chickpeas, drained, rinsed
2. 1 large Cucumber
3. 1 medium Red Onion
4. 1 large Tomato
5. 12-16 fresh mint leaves
6. 2 tbsp MDH Chunky Chaat Masala, to taste (optional)*
7. 1-2 tsp Amchoor powder (dried young mango powder) or Lemon/Lime juice
8. Salt & Pepper, to taste

Directions:

Thinly slice onion, cucumber and tomato and set aside. I use a 'mandolin'-type slicer and it works great. In a deep pot, bring 3-4 cups of tap water to a boil. As the water is heating up, prepare another bowl with ice water (more ice, less water). Once the water is at a rolling boil, add rinsed canned chickpeas, boil for 2 min and then blanch immediately by draining and transferring to the ice water. Let the chickpeas cool and meanwhile mince the mint leaves as well. Add spices and mint to the sliced veggies and toss everything together. Drain and add chickpeas and give another good toss. Do a quick taste test, add more condiments, as needed and enjoy!! 

This is a great summer salad for picnics, barbeques and even July 4th outings!! It never lasts in our house, no matter how much I make. Scale recipe up as needed. :)

* if you don't have Chaat masala, use a sprinkling of roasted cumin powder, salt, pepper, paprika and lime juice for a similar flavor. If you have dried pomegranate seed powder .. that makes an excellent addition too.

Mung Bean Sprout Chaat

Growing up in India, our diet was primarily vegetarian, with the occasional indulgence in meat. Our diet however, was never lacking in protein. Everyone that eats a plant-based vegetarian diet gets asked that question "... but where do you get your protein?" - the answer is quite simple: Vegetables, Leafy Greens, Grains, Lentils, Beans ... all have wonderful amounts of protein. And we don't need to eat 600% of the RDA of protein like most people on a Standard Western Omnivorous diet. 

One of my uncles (Bade Dad), was very conscientious and made sure all of us kids ate a healthy diet. He was a wonderful cook and was often found in the kitchen futzing around with various recipes. One of the things he often did was soaked lentils or beans so that my aunt and mom knew what to cook for the next meal. He often also had them make mung bean sprouts. We typically ate this dish for a snack or even for breakfast. It has no added fat and is full of nutrition - protein, minerals, vitamins and even Iodine from the red onion ... all that fun stuff!!

Prep Time: 2 days for sprouting the beans; 10 min of actual dish prep time.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup Mung Beans
2. 1 medium Cucumber, Seedless, diced
3. 1 medium Red Onion, diced
4. 2-3 tbsp minced, mixed, fresh herbs
5. 1 lemon/lime (juice of).
6. 1-2 tsp Chunky Chaat Masala, to taste (optional).
7. Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

The first step of this recipe requires some patience. Rinse mung beans and transfer to a large bowl. Soak overnight in ample amounts of water:

Time = 0 hours

The next morning, the beans should look nice and plump:

Time = 12 hours

Fill the bowl with tap water and rinse the beans again. The plump beans should rise to the top and any that did not absorb water will sink to the bottom (discard those).

Line the bottom of a colander with a folded paper towel or cheese cloth. transfer the beans and allow the excess water to drain out the bottom:

Soak another large piece folder paper towel, or cheese cloth with tap water and cover the beans completely. Place the colander in the same bowl, and cover the whole set up with saran-wrap or aluminum foil. This will prevent the beans from drying out. Leave the bowl on the kitchen counter. 

Time = 24 hours

After another 12 hours, remove the top cover, run a gentle stream of tap water over the beans. By this time most beans should have a small seedling (2-3 mm). Once the water drains out, replace the wet cover and saran wrap. 

Time = 36 hours

After another 12 hours, repeat the steps above. Most beans at this stage should have a 8-10 mm sprout. 

Time = 48 hours

On the second day, the sprouts should be close to 15mm long and that is when we typically stopped growing them further. After sitting for 2 days at room temperature, despite repeated washes in between, there is a chance for fungus etc. so I didn't want to risk it anymore. A lot of oriental dishes have sprouts that are far longer. I soaked the beans at this stage in a fresh bowl with a lot of tap water, and picked up the floating sprouts and transferred them to a fresh colander. Once well drained, I kept them overnight in the fridge. 

This evening, I transferred the sprouts to a pressure cooker and steamed them for less than 2 minutes. Bring 1/2 cup water to boil, add the sprouts and close the lid. Start the timer and as soon as 2 minutes is up, whether or not full pressure has been achieved, take the cooker off the stove and release the steam and drain immediately (mine were a little over-done today!). 

Meanwhile, dice onions and cucumbers:

And then in a large bowl, toss everything together. For fresh herbs, I used basil, cilantro, mint, oregano, thyme and spearmint, all chopped finely. I used Chunky Chaat Masala in my recipe, but if you don't have it, this is equally as enjoyable with just salt, pepper, and lemon/lime juice. 

Another way is prepare this dish is to wilt the onions in a skillet, with just a little bit of water, and then add the sprouts, and spices. Toss everything together for a couple of minutes, remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl and toss in fresh diced cucumber (and even tomatoes). Enjoy!!!

My Assessment: This is comfort food for me ... miss you Bade dad! 

Farmer's Market Smoothie

Our Amish neighbors from just down the road (The Yoders) opened a farmer's market about a mile from our house a couple of weeks ago. I've been wanting to stop by ever since it opened but they close at 5pm on weekdays :( and when we stopped by last Saturday afternoon, he had already packed up shop as they close at 4pm on Saturdays. Being Amish, Norman doesn't open shop on Sunday. I was determined to stop there this weekend. For those of you who live in countries and cities where farmer's markets are common and food doesn't come from a supermarket, you can't even begin to imagine how excited I was to have this one open less than a mile from the house. Li'l Nikhil and I showed up at Norman's barn shack in the BP Parking lot bright and early this morning. It is early days in the growing season yet so he didn't have a huge variety but what he did have ... looked lovely!! Among other things like fresh tomatoes, zucchini and spring onions, I picked up a large basket of fresh strawberries ... 

... and some ready to eat ripe and fragrant peaches ... 

On my way home, which is barely a mile, I could smell the lovely flavor of the peaches in the car (yes, I was salivating at the thought of eating them!) ... and I started dreaming of what recipe I could use both the peaches and the strawberries for, because I couldn't just eat one ;-) ... now every fruit based (breakfast or dessert) I know of drowns fruit in sugar and in my opinion that ruins it completely. You lose the multitude of flavors that are in the fruit itself and I didn't want to ruin these lovely babies :) I also didn't want to eat them just as is cause that's just boring ;-) So I decided to make .. a Farmer's Market Smoothie!!

Prep Time: less than 5 min.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup strawberries, rinsed and halved.
2. 1 medium ripe peach, washed and sliced, with skin
3. 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
4. 2-4 large leaves of Spearmint and a sprig for garnishing.
5. 1/4 cup almond milk, or regular milk if you prefer.

Directions:

I used a stick blender and make my smoothie in the large 3-cup measuring cup that came with the blender, but its just as easy to make this in a regular jar blender. Add everything to the blender puree until smooth. This recipe made a single (2-cup) serving. 

My Assessment: A+++ for breakfast!! I really enjoyed it.  

Some Additional Comments: 

• Next time, I'm going to include some green veggies in my smoothie as well. Kale and Spinach come to mind first as I've heard so much about green smoothies lately. So I'm going to be trying a few new variations soon. 
• Since I used frozen blueberries and refrigerated milk, I didn't add any ice to my smoothie, but ice can be used just as easily. I also didn't want to dilute the flavors with water/ice. 
• I used spearmint leaves because that is what I had growing in my herb garden. If you have regular mint that should work just as well. 
• I also didn't add any sugar or syrup to this smoothie for the same reasons as listed above (ruins the flavors) and because I am not a huge fan of super-sweet drinks in general. Feel free to use some sugar or honey, if you prefer. 
• And finally, I made this smoothie today with peaches and strawberries and blueberries because that is what I had on hand. Feel free to blend away whatever fruits you have on hand to make this Farmer's Market Smoothie for a refreshing antioxidant boost :) 

Herb & Spice Fact of the Day

Spearmint or Garden mint has long been used by humans in drinks and garnishes and chutneys because of its characteristic menthol aroma. It uses underground runners to propagate so is best cultivated in a container instead of in the ground because it has a tendency to easily grow wild. My first experience with 'mint gone wild' was a long long time ago at a cabin in the Himalayas. We were there on a family camping trip and there was a fresh water spring in the back yard with the freshest, most refreshing water. My aunt who was with us discovered that a few hundred years upstream there was a huge patch of 'mint gone wild'. As the babbling brook ran through the mint leaves, the mint imparted its freshness to the water. Here's a picture from that camping trip - with my aunt on the left :) !! It was a long time ago but every time I eat a mint flavored drink, I remember Badi-Ma and that trip to Har-ki-doon!! 

Spearmint is packed with numerous health benefiting vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrients. Unlike some of the other stronger mint varieties, spearmint has a low levels of menthol which make it rather pleasant on the palate when it is added to drinks. Other essential oils include areα-pinene, β-pinene, carvone, cineole, linalool, limonene, myrcene and caryophyllene. These are supposed to help relieve fatigue and stress. The herb parts of spearmint are also very good in minerals like potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, and magnesium. Iron is required for enzymes in cellular metabolism and synthesis of hemoglobin. Potassium in an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. 

Spearmint is also rich in many antioxidant vitamins including vitamin A (provides 4054 IU or 135% of RDA), beta carotene, vitamin C, folates (26% of RDA), vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), riboflavin and thiamin. Along with the nutritional uses, spearmint has also found its place in traditional as well in modern medicine. It has been used as a remedy for minor ailments such as headaches, nervous strain, fatigue and stress, as well as for the respiratory problems; helping with asthma and bronchitis. It has been useful for digestive problems including nausea, flatulence and hiccups as it relaxes the stomach muscles. Menthol is an analgesic, local anaesthetic and has been used in toothpaste and mouth refresheners. On the skin, when used as cream or lotion, mint extracts and menthol may help relieve the itching of pruritis, dermatitis and hives. Its also used in massage oils as it with headaches, stress, fatigue, and nervous conditions and to relieve itching. So bring on those mojitos and the mint iced teas ... there's a lot of good stuff in this cool herb!