Watermelon Salsa (Watermelon fruit chaat)

Summer time is watermelon time- a perfect fruit to include in your diet on a hot summers day. There are so many ways to eat it and one of my favorite is to make a quick and yummy salad-the watermelon salsa!

Fresh Watermelon Salsa: 

Fresh Watermelon and Mango Salsa

Ingredients: 
Watermelon:1/2 cubed 
Onion: 1 small (finely chopped) 
Tomato: 1 small (finely chopped) 
Coriander leaves: 3-4tbsp (finely chopped) 
Lime juice: 2 tsp 
Green chilies: 1 (finely chopped) 
Salt: to taste 

Method: 
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Chill before serving. 

You can add some chaat masala for an Indian twist. 

Pomegranate and Dill Raita

Dill known as 'sabsige soppu' in Kannada and 'savaa' in Hindi, is a delicacy especially in Karnataka. It's added to 'dal', upma, rice rotti's and adds a distinct flavor.
The raita is a quick and simple accompaniment to a meal.

Ingredients:(Serves-4)
Yogurt(non-fat)-1 1/2 cup
Pomegranate seeds- 1/2 cup
Dill leaves- 2 tbsp (chopped)
Salt-to taste
Red chilli powder- a pinch
Roasted cumin- a pinch(powdered)
Chaat masala- a pinch (optional)

Method:
1)Mix the dill leaves, pomegranate seeds, yogurt and salt together.
2)Chill for about an hour before serving.
3)Sprinkle the red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder and chaat masala just before serving.

Moong dal Kosumbari(Cucumber and mung dal salad)

Cucumber and mung dal kosumbari

"Kosumbari" is the term for salad in the Kannada language(called 'koshimbir' in Marathi). Kosumbari/koshimbir is one of the easiest salads and it always reminds me of the traditional foods made during festivals and weddings. A kosumbari is different from the rest of the salads as it incorporates soaked split yellow mung beans and a tempering which adds a nice flavor and aroma.
Ingredients for the kosumbari/koshimbir:

• Cucumber: 1 cup (finely chopped)
• Mung dal: 1/4th cup (washed and soaked for at least an hour)
• Green chillies: 1 slit lengthwise (optional)
• Coconut: 2-3 tsp (freshly grated/frozen)
• Cilantro/coriander leaves: 2 tsp (finely chopped for garnish)
• Lime juice: 1-2 tsp
• Salt: to taste

For the tempering (optional):

• Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Cumin: 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal (split black matpe beans): 1 tsp
• Curry leaves: 2-3 nos.
• Oil: 1tsp

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan, add the mustard seeds,cumin seeds and the urad dal.
3. When the mustard starts to sputter,add the curry leaves.
4. Pour the tempering over the cucumber and mung dal kosumbari/ koshimbir(salad) and mix well.

You could also try adding some grated carrots and grated raw mango to the cucumber and mung dal kosumbari/ koshimbir to give it some colour and make it tangy.

Question: What dish reminds you of a festive spread?

A spaghetti dish-with Spaghetti Squash!!

Spaghetti

So what's so great about me putting up a photo of a plate of spaghetti??
Look more closely-that's not your regular spaghetti-it's a SQUASH!!!!! A couple of weeks back when I was chatting with my brother, he had mentioned that he had recently tried spaghetti squash and that got me intrigued and I quickly put it on my shopping list. I found it quite easily,but I wasn't too sure if it was the right one as it looked no different from the rest of the squash where it was kept( I guess I was expecting something which at least vaguely resembled spaghetti),but the label on it very clearly said "Spaghetti Squash" and also had cooking instructions (thank you very much).

The instructions said that I could either bake it or microwave it-I microwaved it on high for about 7-8 minutes(after piercing the rind) and let it cool for sometime before cutting it open-and voila, there was the spaghetti just staring at me-beautiful!!!
I hadn't even thought of what to do with it. I could make spaghetti(after all it was named after it) or I could use it as noodles. Since this was the first time,I settled with a simple spaghetti dish with sauteed vegetables. The result was a nice crunchy dish( and it was all vegetables!!) which was very filling. Next time I'm going to be a little more adventurous and try out something new-maybe a salad, or maybe a stir-fry dish,or use it as noodles. Any suggestions??

Question: How would you like to try out Spaghetti squash?

Peas Raitha

Peas Raitha/Salad

My son loved this as it had all his favourite ingredients: peas,yogurt,honey!! I had some more plain Greek Yogurt from Oikos and thought I'd make this salad.Again,just like the cumin+yogurt dip,you can make it either sweet(add honey) or have it like the regular raitha with salt.
Ingredients:

• Yogurt: 1 cup
• Peas: 1 cup steamed
  
• Zeera/Cumin seeds: 2 teaspoon (roast and pound when cool)
  
• Honey:2 teaspoon OR salt: to taste
  
• Mint leaves/Cilantro: 1teaspoon(chopped fine)

Method:

1. First,let the peas cool down to room temperature.
2. Then mix all the ingredients together.
3. Let it chill in the fridge for atleast half-an-hour.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantro/mint leaves and serve.

Chickpea Salad

Yesterday, Gina in her blog 'The Candid R.D', had a great post called "Snack Attack" ,where she lists out the good snacks (and the not so good ones).She had also asked if we had a favorite snack, to which I mentioned that chickpea salad was one of my fave. That,actually reminded me that I had not made it in a very long time-so,thanks to Gina,today's snack just had to be "Chickpea Salad". This can be eaten as a side salad or as a snack by itself. There's one more version which my mom used to make for breakfast(since it didn't have fresh onions),so this post has two recipes (but only one pic)with chickpeas.

Chickpea salad

Chickpea salad: (Serves 2)
Ingredients:

• Cooked chickpeas: 2 cups
• Onions:1/2 medium (finely chopped)
• Green chillies: 1/2 or 1 (slit or finely chopped)
• Cilantro: 2 tablespoons (finely chopped)
• Tomatoes: 1 small (finely diced)
• Lime juice: 1 teaspoon
• Salt: to taste

Method:

1. Toss all the ingredients together and serve with baked tortilla chips(optional).

Chickpea (breakfast version): Serves 2
Ingredients:

• Chickpeas: 2 cups(cooked)
• Green chillies: 1/2 or 1 (slit or chopped))
• Freshly grated coconut: 1-2 teaspoon (optional)
• Coriander leaves: 2 tablespoon(finely chopped)
• Mustard seeds: 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad dal (black matpe bean dehusked and split): 1 teaspoon
• Curry leaves: 2-3 nos.
• Zeera/Cumin seeds: 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil: 1 teaspoon

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan,add the mustard,cumin and urad dal. When the mustard starts to sputter,add the curry leaves and then the green chillies.
2. Add the cooked chickpeas,salt and mix well.
3. Serve hot,garnished with coconut gratings(optional) and chopped cilantro.

I'm going to ask you the same question that Gina asked(maybe it'll remind you of your long forgotten snack)
Question: What is your favorite snack item?

Banana Raitha

Banana Raitha

Banana Raitha used to be a hot fave when I was a kid.Made along with a festive lunch [I always wondered why they wouldn't make a festive spread daily ;-)],with all the other yummy stuff that the festival calls for,I would have a hard time deciding what to eat first! Whenever mom made Banana Raitha on regular days,I would polish it off with hot 'phulkas' without touching the other curry's! This year on 'Ugadi' I made banana raitha and again for lunch on Easter. It's a subtle mingling of all tastes (sweet,salty,sour and a touch of spicy) and can be eaten as such or with phulkas.
Ingredients:

• Yogurt/curd-1 cup(preferably homemade)
• Low fat milk-1 cup
• Bananas- 2 very ripe
• Sugar-6 teaspoons
• Salt-1/2 teaspoon(or to taste)
• Mustard seeds-1/2 teaspoon
• Zeera/Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
• Dry red chillies-1-2(broken)
• Curry leaves-2-3nos.
• Oil-1 teaspoon

Method:

1. Blend half cup yogurt/curd and half cup milk along with one banana,sugar and salt.
2. Pour into a bowl.Add the rest of the yogurt and milk and mix well.
3. Chop the other banana and add to the raitha.
4. Heat the oil,add the mustard and cumin seeds.When the mustard splutters,add the broken dry red chillies and then the curry leaves.
5. Pour this over the banana raitha and mix.
6. Serve the banana raitha chilled with hot phulkas (or eat as a snack).