Taboula/Couscous Salad
One word: HEAVENN
Ingredients:
- A pack of couscous (a bit less than 500 grams)
- 2 Cloves of garlic
- 1 TBS of olive oil
- 3.5 Cups of Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Salad’
22
Aug
2010
Aug
2010
25
May
2010
May
2010
Rocca, Apple Walnut Salad
After A full day at work, all I wanted was a light crunchy salad followed by fulfilling sandwich. So I made the following :)
Ingredients:
-
Rocca
-
Thin apple slices
-
Walnuts
-
lemon
-
olive oil
-
salt
-
black pepper
-
Balsamic vinegar
-
mustard seeds.
Directions: drop everything together in one bowl and mix ;)
Bon Appetit!
Basma.
08
May
2010
May
2010
Crab Pasta Salad
I went to Marks & Spencer last week and I bought canned white crab meat and kept it in my room for inspiration. I know its weird but I like to keep things where I would see them everyday :).
Direction and Recipe:
- So, I made my usual salad dressing, and added the preserved crab water for extra flavor and set it aside. you can always substitute crab with tuna but never use tuna water in the dressing.
- boiled whole wheat organic pasta with salt and olive oil. Some say its a waste of oil but I like how it clings to the pasta when its drained.
- cut onions, spring onions, tomatoes, lots of rocca.
and that’s it!, mix everything together and serve it immediately.
Tip: Pour cold water on the pasta while its drained to stop the cooking process.
Bon Appetit!
Basma.
04
Apr
2010
Apr
2010
Weekend menu
I had it all planned out..
lemon chicken salad, sushi, roasted garlic spread, pink sauce pasta, hot chocolate and dessert…
I went to Geant, it took me forever to find a parking spot, went inside.. it was sooooooo crowded. couldn’t find anything I wanted.
what would you do if you were in my shoes?
an hour later, I lost my patience and grabbed a fresh chicken breast and an ostrich egg and went home :). spent all night carving the egg, then making a massive egg dish.. and today, I made the chicken lemon salad for lunch.
I was able to hollow the egg without breaking it, and the salad was a success. but I still want to make the multiple dish day. perhaps weekdays, early mornings when people are either asleep or working.
let me leave you with the pictures:
Chicken lemon salad.
Ingredients:
-
chicken dressed with olive oil, salt, black pepper, crushed chili peppers.
-
cabbage
-
lettuce
-
pomegranates
direction:
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Butterfly the chicken breast: take the chicken breast and cut it in half horizontally but don’t cut it till the end. leave about 2 cm. open it (like a book) and place it between two sheets of plastic wrap and hammer the hell out of it until its thinly spread but not separated :).. I’m still trying to perfect it. can’t make it thin enough without breaking so I settle with about .5 cm of thickness
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dress it with the above ingredients and grill (2-3 minutes each side or depending on how thin it is)
-
that’s it :), arrange it the way you want to pour the dressing on top
Vanilla Ice cream with crushed lady fingers layered in..Garnished with paprika :)
Hot Chocolate – with Marshmallows rolled in paprika
Paprika – my favorite spice. you will be deceived by its appearance… it looks like cayenne pepper, but its sweet and has the most wonderful aroma. its amazing with chocolate, great it salads… try it with popcorn and it will be your next best friend :)
Bon Appetit!
Basma.
22
Mar
2010
Mar
2010
Rice Salad
Alot have happened those 2 weeks. all I can say is that 24 hours a day isn’t enough but we try to make the most of it and I sure am doing my best.
back to cooking,
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and she mentioned my rice salad. it’s been a while since I made it so I thought it would be a good time to introduce it here :)
I usually make it with wild rice or black rice, but I tried the mixed rice pack this time. tasted a bit different, more starchy but great never the less. It disappeared 5 minutes after I made it!
Recipe:
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Onion (optional)
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Tomato
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Parsley
-
This salad dressing
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Garlic and Ginger
Directions:
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take a cup of rice, rinse it with water and cook it with boiling water and a bit of salt.
-
let it rice cool a bit then mix it with the dressing
-
add in the garlic and ginger
-
then add parsley, tomato and onion.
You can add as much dressing as you want, what ever veggies you would like to add and enjoy it’s freshness.
can’t be any easier. not really a salad. its a well dressed rice dish.
I hope you like it as much as I do :)
Bon Appetit!
Basma
17
Mar
2010
Mar
2010
Refreshing Salad Dressing.
It goes with everything, crunchy leafy greens, beans, pasta.. seriously everything :)
Recipe:
2 parts of olive oil
1 part lemon juice
salt to taste
tarragon mustard (its my favorite, but if its not available, try dijon)
put it all in one jar, close it and shake it well untill its all blended together. sometimes if I don’t know what to eat at night and I’m looking for something fulfilling and refreshing, I’d take rocket leaves.. LOTS of them with red beans and mix it with this dressing.. yum!
Bon Appetit!
Basma
15
Mar
2010
Mar
2010
Light lunch
>>>followed by a heavy snack but don’t tell my nutritionist :p
Today’s dish is so easy and healthy. grilled meat with sauted veggies and a lightly dressed salad.
Ingredients:
- thin steaks
- onions
- carrots, cut in long thing slices.
- salt and pepper
- Worcestershire sauce
- broth
- roasted bell peppers
Directions:
- lightly wash the steaks and drop them in white vinegar for about 30 seconds. remove them and sprinkle them with salt and peppers.
- in a hot non stick skillet, grill the steaks, 1-2 minutes on each side, depending on its thickness.
- remove the steaks and in the same skillet, drop the onions and carrots. once they whither, add the roasted bell peppers.
- add couple of drops of worcestershire sauce and return the steaks. toss everthing up together and lift them from the heat.
its very light and satisfying. my salad was made of lettuce and rocket. the dressing has balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and lemon.
afterwards, I tried to experiment with cookies, and kind of binged out. ;p.. they were very soft and fresh I just couldn’t resist!
did you notice how much I’m using carrots these days? no idea why.
Bon Appetit,
Basma.
14
Mar
2010
Mar
2010
Cellophane Noodle Salad
what happened yesterday?
I had a sleep over (yes at age 24 heh). Woke up at 9 am in the morning before everyone else and made french toast for my nieces. it’s easy to make and they love french toast.
I didn’t have my camera with me :), so here’s how its done in case you don’t know how: 2 eggs, 1 TBS of yogurt, little bit of salt, and sugar. beat everything together and just soak the toast one piece at a time. melt some butter in a frying pan and just place the toast until they’re slightly browned. when they’re done. sprinkle some caster sugar on top of each toast and serve them with maple syrup.
Today’s dish:
I can’tbelieve it reached 37 degree Celsius today! it was extremely hot and it took me forever to reach home.
to cool off, I wanted to cook something very light and summery so i decided to make this salad.
cellophane noodles or glass noodles are made of mung bean, cornstarch and water, but it doesn’t mean that they’re light in calories :), its just different! it can be added to soups, or eaten cold as a salad. very easy to prepare and very versatile.
Ingredients:
-
Cellophane noodles.
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Spring onions
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Shredded carrots
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Shredded cucumbers
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Broccoli
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Any type of protein (optional. I just shredded the meat from today’s lunch -ribs- but shrimp goes really well with it)
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Green chili, cut really to small pieces
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Light soy sauce
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Lemon juice
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Garlic
Directions:
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Soak the noodles in cold water for about 20 minutes.
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in a small bowl, combine soy sauce, lemon, garlic, spring onion and green chili together. adjust ingredients to taste. I used 1 small chili, 1 lemon, 3 garlic cloves, 2 spring onions and then poured say sauce… I think it was maybe half a cup or less)
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mix in the carrots and cucumers and let them soak.
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steam the broccoli until they’re cooked but still have some crunch. if you’re using frozen broccoli, just use the microwave to defrost them and cut them to smaller pieces and add them to the salad.
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for the noodles, you can soak them in hot water for 30 seconds to a minutes to make it softer. or saute` them with the veggies. but for this recipe, soaking them in hot water works.
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remove the noodles from the hot water immediately then start cutting them if they’re all tangled up together or leave them as is. I like mine cut to 15 cm pieces.
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mix everything together and mix in the shredded meat or boiled shrimps.
Sometimes, stripping down recipes to their very basic ingredients makes them even more delicious :)
Bon Appetit!
Basma.
07
Mar
2010
Mar
2010
Healthy Lunch – Grilled sirloin steak salad/wrap
After looking at what I’ve been cooking lately, I realized that I need to incorporate more healthy stuff :), so this is the start.
Today’s dish can be a cold salad or a great sandwich that you can just pack and eat on the go. all you need is a great thick steak (I prefer sirloins), and veggies o you’re good to go.
Ingredients:
- Sirloin steak or any think peice of meat
- lettuce
- shredded carrots or canned (I used canned here, wanted to know how it would taste and it turned out delicous!)
- garlic
- yoghurt
- lemon
- soy sauce
- salt and pepper
- red pepper chips (crushed red pepper)
- spring onions
- olive oil
Directions:
- soak the meat in white vinegar for a bit (it sort of cleans it out and acts like a meat tenderizer)
- take it out of the vinegar and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
- grill the steaks (3 minutes on each side if you want a slight pink color in the middle when its cut) and cut them into thin slices.
- tear out some lettuce leaves, cut the spring onions and mix them with the carrots
- for the dressing: mix yoghurt, olive oil, soy sauce, lemon, garlic, and crushed pepper together and adjust ingredients as you prefer.
- mix everything together and either serve it as a salad, a lettuce wrap or wrapped with tortilla.
Bon Appetit!
Basma.
