CousCous Salad

CousCous are small steamed balls of semolina and is staple food of the North African cuisine.

It is highly versatile dish and can be had as a main course or added as a side. CousCous can be served with roasted veggies, chick peas or even with meat or fish.

CousCous is most commonly used in Salads. Here is a healthy and super delicious recipe of CousCous Salad. I have roasted the veggies and tossed them with cooked CousCous along with olives, feta, carrot and greens. Finally I added Italian Salad dressing to make it a pleasure.

Ingredients:
Couscous - 1 cup
Pumpkin
Red Bell-peppers - 1
Olives
Carrot
Feta cheese
Red Cabbage
Greens  - Baby spinach, Rocket Salad, Radish leaves
Salad dressing (I used Italian Salad Dressing)
Nuts - roasted cashew nuts or walnuts
Pepper
Salt
Olive oil

Procedure:
1. Chop the pumpkin into cubes and the Red Bell-peppers into long slices. Place them in a bowl, sprinkle 1 tsp Olive oil, and add pepper and salt and mix well.
2. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Line the baking paper on the tray and arrange the pumpkin and bell peppers on the tray and bake them for 20 mins till cooked
3. Cook the Couscous as per package instructions. Add salt while soaking in the water.
4. In the meantime, grate the carrot and finely chop the red cabbage and keep aside
5. Take a big bowl, add the cooked Couscous, then add the baked pumpkin and bell peppers.
6. Add the grated carrot, red cabbage, the green salad leaves and olives. Next sprinkle some salt if needed.
7. Finally crumble and sprinkle the Feta. Add in the nuts.
8. Finally add the Salad Dressing and mix well

The Couscous Salad is ready.
Enjoy it as a side or main coarse.

Notes:
1. Prepare it with different veggies every time to give a nice variation. I have tried using roasted cauliflower, boiled broccoli, cooked sweet corn and they are all awesome.
2. Try with different types of salad dressing. You can also add Aoili or Mayonnaise for a variation.

Panchmel Dal\ PanchRatan Dal

Panchmel Dal as the name suggests is prepared with five types of dals and seasoned with garlic, red chilies and garam masala.
The combination of five types of dal makes it super healthy and super tasty.

One day instead of your normal dal, you can try this recipe as a variation.

Ingredients:
Green Moong Dal - 2 tbsp
Arhar / Tur Dal - 2 tbsp
Masur Dal - 2 tbsp
Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
Chana Dal - 2 tbsp (I skipped this one as it was missing in my pantry)
Ginger - Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Garlic petals - 7-8
Onions - 1 (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
Jeera \ Cumin seeds - half tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - half tsp
Chilli powder - half tsp
Coriander powder - half tsp
Red chilies - 2
Hing
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Salt
Water
Cilantro (for garnishing)

Procedure:
1. Mix the dals togather and wash them niecly. Soak them in hot water for around 30 mins
2. Cook the dals in the pressure cooker and keep it aside.
3. Take a kadhai, add Ghee.
4. Once hot, add Jeera seeds. Once they splutter, add chopped garlic petals, red chilies and hing.
5. Add the chopped onions. Once they are golden brown, add the chopped tomatoes.
6. Add the chili powder,turmeric powder, coriander powder and garam masala and mix well.
7. Finally add the boiled dals and salt as needed and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Garnish with Cilantro

The delicious Panchmel Dal is ready
Serve it hot with steamed rice or Jeera Rice.

 

Pad Thai Stir Fry Noodles

For a long time, I wanted to try a recipe with some variation of noodles. The previous day, We had ordered Thai food in office and they had served this delicious Pad Thai Noodles.

I got my pick on the noodles. Thought of trying the Pad Thai noodles this weekend. Looked up many sites on the net and came up with my recipe. The try was super hit. The noodles tasted awesome.

Here goes my version of the Pad Thai Stir Fry Noodles.

Ingredients:
Pad Thai Noddles
1 Onion - chopped
Broccoli
French Beans
Cauli Flower florets
Carrots - cut into long strips
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Garlic - 4-5 petals
Water
Salt
Ground Pepper

For Garnishing:
Peanut powder
Lemon wedges

For Sauce:
Soy Sauce - 1tbsp
Fish Sauce - 2 tbsp (I skipped this)
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Brown sugar - 1 tsp

Procedure:
1. Cook the pad thai noodles as per package instructions.I have soaked pad thai noodles in hot salted water for 10 minutes with lid on.
2. In the meantime, prepare the sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredients.
3. Next add olive oil to the wok and stir fry all the veggies. I have used Broccoli, French Beans, Cauli flower and carrots. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to the veggies.
4. Take the veggies aside and in the same wok, add some more Olive oil if needed. Add the chopped garlic and then the boiled pad thai noodles and then finally add the sauce. Add salt if needed.
5. Mix them well and keep aside.

Serving:
1. While serving, take a bowl, add the stir fried noodles.
2. Next top them with the stir fried veggies.
3. Sprinkle peanut powder
4. Squeeze lemon juice

The delicious Pad Thai Noodles is ready.