Apple & Chickpeas Salad

Apple and Chickpeas Salad is a delicious and nutritious salad. It's made with lettuce, apple, chickpeas, purple cabbage, coloured baby carrots, Thai red chilli, chives, cherry tomatoes and tossed with a flavourful dressing using mayo, curd, mustard sauce and maple syrup. 

Salad is one of the healthiest and easiest choice of food when it comes to lunch, parties or dinner. Salad can be made either simple or exotic based on the ingredients and dressing. Personally, I love salad and can survive with that ;) Since my salad is loaded with veggies and a fruit, it can be served as a meal. A bowl of this salad and a glass of fresh juice was my meal when I prepared this nutritious salad. The creamy dressing with the mild sweetness from maple syrup is the highlight of the salad which made my family to fall for this salad including my little kiddo who hates salad. What else do I need than this as a mother :)

Have a look on few interesting salad recipes which I have shared on my page.. 

Chickpeas & Avocado salad

Apple & tomato salad using chickpeas dressing

Cucumber & Pinenuts salad 

Radish & Carrot salad 

Sprouts & Zucchini Salad 

Sending this salad recipe to a blogger event Shhh secretly cooking challenge which is happening every month among few fellow bloggers. Summer salad is the theme for this month and it was suggested by Kalyani Sri. And also, she is my partner for this month challenge :) 

Kalyani Sri is a wonderful blogger who owns a page in the name of Sizzling Tastebuds. Her page has loads of delicious recipes in all categories like Diabetic foods, party recipes, eggless baking, Protein rich recipes, sugar free recipes and many more.. Especially I liked her Vegan chilli chocolate mousse , Sugar free apple raisin muffins and Kidney bean - Sesame seed dip. For more recipes, head to her page. 

Coming to the secret ingredients, I was given Apple and chives by her and I suggested barley & Lemon juice for her. Using those ingredients, she prepared a healthy and an interesting salad "Warm Barley summer salad with kiwi and roasted peppers". 

This Apple and chickpeas salad can be served warm or cold. Variations can be done to this recipe by including more veggies and fruits like pears, grapes etc. The addition of maple syrup to the dressing gives a mild and delicious taste to the salad. Chives can also be substituted with spring onions if it is not available. 

Here comes the recipe of this refreshing salad... 

Ingredients :

1 Apple, chopped into small cubes

1 Cup Chickpeas, cooked 

1/2 Cup Purple Cabbage, shredded 

1/2 Cup Coloured Carrots, cut into small pieces or shredded

2 Tbsp Chives, finely chopped 

1 Thai red chillies, finely chopped

5 Cherry Tomatoes, cut into halves

6 - 7 Lettuce leaves

For dressing :

1/4 Cup Mayo 

3 Tbsp Yogurt 

1/2 Tsp Mustard sauce 

1 Tsp Maple syrup 

Method :

Beat Mayo and yogurt in a bowl and add mustard sauce followed by maple syrup.

Mix well and keep aside. 

Place the lettuce evenly on the plate and keep aside. 

Now add all the veggies along with chickpeas and apple to a bowl and add the prepared salad dressing.

Gently mix well and place it on the lettuce layered plate. 

Serve warm or cold. 

Tuna & Potato Cutlet

Weather is so crazy and unpredictable here. The sudden change of weather from sunny afternoon to rainy  evening increased my craving of having something hot and spicy. Luckily, the boiled potatoes in my fridge which I preserved for curry, saved my time in preparing these delicious cutlets. Along with the potatoes, I have included canned Tuna, onion, red chilli flakes and garlic powder in this recipe. 

Tuna & Potato cutlet pairs perfectly with any variety of sauce but personally, I served these tasty cutlets with sriracha sauce since I was craving for some spicy dish. In addition to the sauce, mint chutney and coriander chutney also pairs perfectly. The refrigeration and freezer part mentioned in the recipe are mandatory which in turn helps to hold the shape of cutlet without breaking while cooking. If the mixture is too soft, add little bread crumbs before making patties. I have shallow fried the cutlets in this recipe but the same can also be deep fried in oil. If you are planning to deep fry the cutlets, then prepare a separate batter using maida and water. Then dip the shaped patties in the batter and coat it with the bread crumbs. Always freeze the cutlets for sometime before frying. 

Variations can be made to these cutlets by adding sweet corn, green peas, coriander leaves, spinach, cheese etc. 

Here comes the recipe for Tuna & Potato Cutlet...

Ingredients :

1 Canned Tuna  

2 Medium sized Potatoes, cooked

1 Onion, finely chopped 

1 Tsp Red chilli flakes 

1 Tsp Garlic powder 

Salt to taste 

Bread crumbs ( I have used store bought bread crumbs which already contains dried herbs and cheese ).

Oil for shallow frying 

Method :

Mash or grate the boiled potatoes and keep aside. 

Drain the liquid from the Tuna can and transfer the tuna to a bowl.

Now add mashed / grated potatoes along with onion, red chilli flakes, garlic powder and the required quantity of salt.

Mix all the ingredients and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. 

Now divide the mixture into equal number of ball, gently flatten them and make thick patties. 

Repeat the process for the remaining mixture and keep aside. 

Add bread crumbs in a separate plate and keep aside. 

Now take one flattened cutlet, place it on the bread crumbs and cover it evenly. 

Once all the patties are done, keep it in the freezer for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup oil in a non stick pan and set ready to shallow fry the cutlets. 

Place the prepared cutlet in a pan and cook both the sides. 

Once done, remove and drain the excess oil using kitchen towel.

Serve hot. 

Serving Options :

Serve hot with Green chutney or any sauce. 

Chutney Options :

Mint Curd Chutney 

Coriander Chutney 

Mint Tomato Chutney 

Click HERE for more chutney recipes!

Egg & Tomato Stir Fry / Egg Recipes

Egg & Tomato stir fry is one of the easiest dish which can be prepared in 10 minutes. All you need for this “Egg & Tomato stir fry” recipe is Egg, tomato, garlic or garlic powder and chives. The same recipe can be prepared without garlic and chives but I have included those to give some extra flavour to the dish. This recipe is adapted from Chinese cooking and made few changes according to our taste bud. The selection of tomato is very important for this recipe. It should not be too ripe and sour. And while cooking tomato, make sure to not over cook it.

Me and my friend Sujitha Ruban who blogs at Sujithaeasycooking decided to re-start our theme cooking after 4 years. In 2016, we started posting series of soup recipes but couldn't continue later because of few personal commitments.

Sharing few soup recipes which we posted long back...

Chow chow soup / Chayote soup 
Sausage Coconut milk Soup 
Vetrillai Kozhi Soup / Betel leaves chicken soup 
Chicken and Mushroom soup 
Mushroom soup 
Veggies and Dal soup 
Tangy lemongrass noodles soup 
Carrot and beetroot soup 

And few soup recipes from Sujitha Easy cooking..

Vegetable Soup 
Roasted Zucchini Sweetcorn soup 
Prawn Zucchini creamy soup 
Drumstick Soup 
Tomato Soup 

And again now to bring back the energy on blogging and to motivate ourself, we started with an Egg theme as it will be an easy ingredient to buy during this lockdown period. I am truly excited to join my hands with my friend Suji after a long back and I hope this continues..

And coming to the recipe, this Egg & Tomato stir fry goes perfect with a steamed rice or fried rice. The addition of sesame oil gives a lovely Chinese cuisine flavour and aroma. The addition of sugar is just to balance the flavour of the dish. This is such an easy to prepare dish and also, many variations can be made according to our taste bud. Here comes the recipe for this delicious tangy stir fry...

Ingredients :

3 Eggs
1/3 Tsp Sesame oil
1 Tbsp White pepper powder
2 Tbsp Oil
1 Tsp Finely chopped Garlic pods or 1/2 Tsp Garlic powder 
1 Tomato, Sliced
1/2 Tsp Sugar
3/4 Tbsp Water
2 Tbsp Finely chopped Chives

Method :

Break eggs in a bowl and beat well using fork.

Add the required quantity of salt followed by sesame oil and white pepper.

Heat up a wok or pan and add 1 tbsp of oil.

Now add the eggs and scramble them.

Once done, remove from the flame and keep aside.

Now add the remaining oil to the same pan and add the finely chopped garlic if you are using the fresh ones.

Fry it for half a minute and add the sliced tomato. ( if you are using garlic powder, add at this stage )

Stir fry them quickly and add sugar followed by water.

Cover and let it cook for a minute. ( Do not over cook the tomato )

Now add the scrambled eggs to the tomato mixture and toss well.

Garnish with finely chopped chives and remove from the flame.

Serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve with Rice or Fried rice.

Few egg recipes which I had posted earlier...

Egg Drop Ginger Soup 

Egg Appe Salna 

Egg Appe Masala Bhat 

Egg omelette Pulao