As Spring begins to approach us, we look towards new growth, new life and optimistic things coming our way for the whole world inshaAllah. This salad I just made actually made me feel happy and energized, perhaps because of the bright and varied colors ad their super healthy ingredients I couldn’t hold back from sharing immediately. And, if you buy the shredded carrots this salad literally takes about 5 minutes to make! How perfect is this going to. be during Ramadan when you need a healthy, quick salad for Iftar…
INGREDIENTS
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced (you can soak these in water for about 20-30 minutes to soften their intensity if you have the time and/or inclination to do this)
To your salad bowl, add the carrot and onion. In a separate cup or bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pour the liquids over the veggies then place the avocado slices on top. Mix gently so as not to mush up the avocados. Garnish with parsley and serve.
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https://billydoemeats.com/?sca_ref=612140.OUBMoNQMp3As we begin to enter the New Year soon, wouldn’t it be nice to actually maintain a goal of eating healthier by cooking more at home, making food from scratch and making a habit out of knowing exactly what’s in your food? Not to mention the inevitable draw this has for other family members in the home and the resulting bonding time with your children when you’re cooking around them and/or inviting them to help you…
Well, when it’s said like that it’s got to be something you’ll want to eat, right?
Start off by sautéing the chicken. It’s an easy process but one in which if you know and master one simple trick, you’ll never have dry boneless chicken again: just memorize the fact that the pan has to be covered at some points. That’s how the meat retains its moisture.
In this recipe, I’m only using one boneless breast, but I cooked two so that I could whip up more of this salad the next day since the dressing is so good and there’s plenty leftover from the recipe I’m going to give you.
How to get moist on the inside and nicely browned meat on the outside:
I use just a bit of olive oil in the pan, not more than 2 tablespoons, and let one side cook thoroughly. The rule of thumb is to leave it alone and let it brown for about five minutes, but the real test of knowing is that when you try to push it over to the other side if it gives easily and turns without a fight, it’s ready; if not- leave it alone until it is.
Then, you do the same thing on the other side and once that browning has happened again, you’ll now cover the pan and turn the heat down to low. Leave there for a few minutes then turn the heat off and let the meatrest. That means, leave it in the pan a few minutes more before even thinking about cutting into it. This is where the moisture retention truly happens.
Now, and only at this point, are you ready to cut into it- or should I say instead that the meat is ready for you.
Now I’ve got all my essentials laid out to finish the dish. The scene below is for the video the was taped to show you how to make this dish. That’s not ready yet, but once it is we’ll post it back here. For the Ranch Dressing, my essential ingredient is Mountain High Yoghurt. It’s halal-certified so that means there isn’t any funny stuff inside of it- no gelatins or emulsifiers to give us any doubt about its origin. Just the real, good stuff. So, that’s why I’m using it. We’re also using it in this particular recipe because we’re encouraging everyone to find recipes and ways that that last portion of yogurt inside the tub can be finished up. You know, whenever you’re making recipes you use big chunks of the yogurt but what do you do with that last 1/3 or smaller portion of the yogurt? If you’ve got ideas, tell us in the comments section below or use the hashtag #finishthetub and tag @mountainhighyoghurt and @myhalalkitchen on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so we can see and possibly share your ideas, too!The salad is super easy to pull together once the chicken is cooked. In fact, you can even cook the chicken the night before and put the remaining ingredients in containers for work the next day where you can easily throw it all together for lunch at your desk- although that’s not encouraged, but just to demonstrate that it really is that simple. Just heat the chicken thoroughly prior to eating- unless you’re okay with it being cold.
To make the dressing you simply combine a few ingredients: yogurt (I like the whole milk yogurt and this recipe has been tested using that), buttermilk, heavy whipping cream, salt and black pepper. To lighten it up you could use milk instead of whipping cream but again we tested this recipe over and over again for taste and texture and this was the best ratio and texture of all the varieties of creams used. To go vegan would be an entirely different story, so let’s leave that variation for another day…
The other few ingredients are Romaine lettuce (I suppose you could use iceberg, too, if you like), good croutons, and Parmesan cheese.
Your colleagues will be drooling over your lunch, which is fine because this recipe makes enough for you to share, and share you should… How are YOU going to #finishthetub?
Kathy Hester is a food blogger and the author of some really great cookbooks that I’m happy to know about and have on my bookshelf because they demonstrate wonderful ways to substitute meat when you want to or you have to, for one reason or another. We met briefly at the Eat Write Retreat in Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago and later kept in touch when I interviewed her here about her book, The Vegan Slow Cooker. Now she’s published more cookbooks and I’m just getting caught up with her book, The Great Vegan Bean Book where I found lots of recipes I’ve wanted to try and share here on my own site.
One of my favorites that I finally got around to trying was this Indian Yogurt Salad.
Below I’ll show you how I make the recipe with several tweaks of my own for the ingredients I didn’t have on hand.
You’ll need some simple ingredients, all fresh and healthy. Most of the work comes from chopping, but that’s the therapeutic part, right?
I love that Kathy includes black salt in this recipe, as it’s not a common ingredient in American cooking cooking but it’s very popular in South Asian recipes.
Fortunately you can find it rather inexpensively at most Indian markets. This recipe calls for 1.5 to 2.5 teaspoons black salt (a.ka. kala namak).
Start out with cooked chickpeas then add the black salt. Kathy calls for three cups of chickpeas and I use two. You can use canned or fresh, but they should definitely be cooked. Additionally, add 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin, and one clove of garlic, minced. You can also add .5 to 1.5 teaspoons chili powder, if you have it.
Get about two cups of yogurt ready to go. Kathy uses one cup of soy yogurt and I use whole milk yogurt in my version.
Prep the fresh produce by chopping them up nicely. The recipe calls for 1 large cucumber, 1/2 small onion, minced and one large cooked potato. I didn’t have potatoes so I used tomatoes instead.
It’ll measure out to be about two cups cucumbers and one cup diced tomatoes.
Now this is what you should have all organized (a.k.a. mise en place, as the French chefs say). Also, I didn’t have cilantro on hand so I used parsley. I think cilantro is much better for this dish, but don’t let it stop you from making it if you don’t have the cilantro.
Into a larger bowl, pour the yogurt over the chickpeas and add all the freshly chopped veggies and herbs. Leave no yogurt behind here.
Once it’s all mixed together, it’s such a beautiful blend of flavors that can be eaten alone with a slice of rustic bread, or on top of a delicious dish of rice with a side of chicken, beef or lamb. Or not…
I decided to enjoy mine with a delicious piece of Persian bread that I was fortunate enough to find at a local supermarket.
I hope you’ll purchase a copy of Kathy’s book (you can do so here) and so you can get her exact vegan version of this delicious and healthy dish that can be made as a big as a meal or as small as a side dish. Thanks so much for sharing, Kathy!
If you’re anything like me, you don’t mind onions in your salads or even sandwiches, in fact you actually like them very much. Problem is, they can be awfully pungent. I make lots of salads with red onions (there’s even a Sicilian orange and red onion salad that’s one of my absolute favorites), however, when I serve them I notice that unless I soak them ahead of time, guests will almost always skirt them to the side of their plate either in fear of the inevitable burst of onion juice in their mouths or they’ve taken one bite and said to themselves, “I’ll pass on that”.
So, the best thing to do is cut them thinly and soak in water for about 20-30 minutes. Some say do it for less than that, and if you’re in a rush I’m sure five minutes earlier won’t be a problem, but what soaking in water does is to basically make them a little more mild on the tongue (hence the fact that these in the photos are not cut so thinly). You don’t have to go through this if you’re actually cooking the onions, just for those raw meals you may want to go down a whole lot easier.
You can also just do this if you want to prevent from crying when cutting onions (which only happens to me when I’m not wearing my contacts- guess they protect my eyes from the vapors), although I don’t do this much because it’s a pain to dry them if you’re going to cook them next, otherwise they’ll turn most dishes soggy.
Well, that was a veer off topic…
Oh, and yes- it’s the same for yellow and white onions. Just in case you were going to ask.
Do you have any tricks for reducing the pungency of onions in raw dishes?
For the Ranch Dressing, my essential ingredient is 
The salad is super easy to pull together once the 
To make the dressing you simply combine a few ingredients: 
The other few ingredients are Romaine lettuce (I suppose you could use iceberg, too, if you like), good croutons, and 
Your colleagues will be drooling over your lunch, which is fine because this recipe makes enough for you to share, and share you should…
