Monday, March 5, 2012

Fresh Pea Salad




Salads and I are poles apart. As far as I remember I have always said no to that simple plate of sliced tomatoes, onions and cucumber seasoned with salt, pepper and a dash of lemon juice, that mom used prepare every day. Since I was least interested, my knowledge about these was restricted to a very few kinds. The few kinds included the ones with the creamy dressing, like the Russian Salad, Waldorf Salad etc. But of course, I never tried making any of them at home.

For this month, The Gourmet Seven decided that we whip up some exotic salads, from 101cookbooks. It was a great experience going through the website and exploring the recipes. Salads as we know are prepared with lots of vegetables, sometimes fruits and also meat with a dressing. The dressing could be anything from a simple lemon juice, salt and pepper to a creamy mayonnaise or hung curd. They are very low in calories, high in fiber, and having a whole bowl can make for a light lunch or dinner. Keeping all this in mind, l will definitely make an attempt to have these at least once in 2 to 3 days.

I picked up this Fresh Pea Salad, for two reasons, one I was intrigued by the mint and date dressing of this salad and second, my lil one loves green peas. I am happy that my younger one likes vegetables, unlike my elder one. Fresh green peas are tossed in a minty date dressing, with the crunch of toasted melon seeds in every bite. It was totally yummy and all of us enjoyed it as a healthy snack rather than a salad. And as expected my daughter loved it.



Source: Adapted from 101Cookbooks
Serves – 2
What you’ll need
  1. Fresh Green Peas – 1 Cup
  2. Dates – 2
  3. Fresh Mint Leaves – 1 handful (tightly packed)
  4. Green chilly – 1 or more (adjust according to taste)
  5. Lemon Juice – from ½ a lemon
  6. Lemon Rind – few scrapings
  7. Melon Seeds – A handful

Method
  1. Blanch the green peas until almost done. Don’t cook until too soft. Retain some crunch.
  2. Heat a Kadai and dry roast the melon seeds until they start popping. Transfer into a plate and keep aside.
  3. Grind together, mint leaves, green chilly, dates, lemon juice and lemon rind until smooth.
  4. Toss the green peas, 2 to 3 spoons of Mint – date dressing and the melon seeds with a touch of salt.
  5. Mix well, add more dressing and adjust salt according to your taste.


Mix with the dressing just before serving.

34 comments:

Swathi said...

Delicious green salad

veena said...

wow!!!I would have never thought of that combo .......Looks awesome truly gourmet style:)

Unknown said...

I started to eat salads only after going for work. Love the version you showed here and find it healthy. Bookmarking it to do.

Vimitha Durai said...

Healthy and nice salad recipe

chef and her kitchen said...

very nice n different salad...looks yummm

Anzz said...

What a lovely combo. Looks delicious..!Thanx for sharing..

Rashida Shaikh said...

It is a good treat for pea’s lover. :-)

Anusha said...

i m a true pea fanatic kaveri. I eat them like there s no tomorrow. It s a feast to me in that sense. I loved the idea of dates dressing. I would never have thought of making a salad this way. Again a gourmet recipe in every sense

Unknown said...

Greeny yummy salad...

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Faseela said...

yummy n healthy salad kaveri....innovative too ...

PrathibhaSreejith said...

Thats a great green healthy salad Kaveri. Never imagined making Green PEas salad, would love to give it a try soon :-)

hotpotcooking said...

Looks yum and greeny. I am lazy to get the fresh one to remove the shells :(

Kanan said...

very healthy salad. I am going to try soon. pic look amazing.

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

Very interesting and yummy recipe

Raksha said...

interesting and surely i will try

Hema said...

Wow, looks really good, and the dressing with dates and mint is very interesting, bookmarked this..

Sensible Vegetarian said...

Never tried salad with green peas. Looks so yummy and inviting.
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Padhu Sankar said...

Nice combo .Looks colorful

Sarah Naveen said...

Healthy and delicious!

Vidhya said...

Kaveri this sounds and looks so refreshing and tempting I am sure this is one wonderful salad.

Achu's Amma's Kitchen said...

very healthy and awesome...super combo like dates and peas...new salad....

Suja Manoj said...

Lovely and healthy combo..delicious salad.

Julie said...

Lovely n healthy salad,perfect for summers!!
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Sangeetha M said...

Perfect and refreshing salad, looks colorful n tempting...loved the dressing part! Well done Kaveri!
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Rasi said...

This is very different kaveri.. the color green reflects the healthiness but like u said i am intrigued by the date & mint dressing... Ampoles apart from salad too but bookmarking this :)

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Vardhini said...

Colorful and healthy salad Kaveri. Nice click.

Lifewithspices said...

wow simply yumm

Aruna Manikandan said...

Healthy and delicious salad :)

Ganga Sreekanth said...

Looks really Yum!

Radhika said...

The melon seeds must have added the crunch to this beautiful green salad. well made.

Vineetha Sush said...

Nice salad..adding melon seeds sounds interesting...sounds yummy. :)

Archana said...

Look s so yummy. I want some now.

Amina Creations said...

salad looks awesome... delicious...

Amina
http://aminacreations.blogspot.in/

Raks said...

Sounds unique and healthy salad! Delicious too!

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