Sunday, April 12, 2015

Cook in India : Methi salad

Having been in India for 4 years, I "finally" realized that I could use "cheap" and "local" veggies to make some awesome dishes!



What You Need:
<For Salad>
1)  Methi! --- Methi leaves can be found in most of the veggie shops in Bangalore, and they are so cheap! All you have to do is to clean them very thoroughly(!) before you make them into a western-style salad.
2) Green peas --- Any kind is fine. I like the regular kind for the salad.
3) Lotus Roots --- You can now buy them in most of the veggie stores around Bangalore (however, you can skip them  if you can't find them or replace them with white radishes)
<For Dressing>
1) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2) Vinegar (American white vinegar or white wine vinegar)
3) Yoghurt (Indian curd is good)
4) Dijon mustard
5) American mayo (if you'd like and as needed only)
6) Japanese miso (if you have it)
6) Salt & pepper

Clean and Wash and Prepare (absolutely necessary in India!):
1. Methi
Get a bunch of methi leaves, and cut 1/3 of the bottom off (basically the root plus dirty parts). Pick the leaves off from the stems. Soak the leaves in "fruits and veggies detergent" for a while and rinse and wash them thoroughly about 10 times in running water. Then soak them in filtered water for about 10 mins. Wash and rinse several times with filtered water.
2. Lotus Roots
Peel, slice thinly, soak in vinegar water for 10 mins, rinse, and boil them for 10 mins. Drain once and put them back into into cold water for a while and drain again.
3. Green peas
Shell and boil them in salted water for 2 mins or so until they float to the surface. Drain and put aside in water.

Make dressing: 
Mix good extra virgin olive oil, white vinegar, yoghurt, Dijon mustard in a 2:1:1:1 ratio.
Only if you like mayo, and if American mayo is available, toss in some (maybe in 1 ratio). The same applies to Japanese miso.
Season to taste. Whisk together.

Mix!:
Mix lotus roots and green peas first in the dressing, and add some toasted almond slivers if available.
Finally add leaves and lightly toss everything together.  Sprinkle on roasted sesame seeds as you like :)