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Salad days
Nothing is more exciting than trying your hand at different salad dressings, spicy or light  Salads
are wonderful things. But most of us in this land are content with ‘fresh’,
more often than not, refrigerated green salad — a boring plateful of
cucumber, tomato, radish and onions with some green chillies and lemon
thrown in as an afterthought. If you are in luck or a favoured patron,
the eatery might throw in a few wilted leaves of cabbage and a few
batons of carrot. Lettuce (forget crunchy iceberg and the like) is
stuff dreams are made of.
In wedding season, shaadi
ka khana adds to items (and costs!) by increasing the number of
salads. Waldorf in desi incarnation, alu ki chaat and
beans and sprouts play their solo numbers in a most lacklustre manner.
Concerns about hygiene
keep all sensible folk from the colourful display. We have always
wondered why people don’t experiment with salads at home and explore
the universe beyond cucumber- tomato. Nothing is more exciting than
trying your hand at different dressings, spicy or light and showing
off your Kashmiri walnut wood salad bowl or the gleaming stainless
designer stuff. Pachadis and kachumbars are fine in
their place but pardon our impudence that’s not the stuff salad days
are made of. Do try the dieter’s delight and the summer special we
have rustled up for you this time. Red cabbage will remind you of
tantalising Korean kim chi and broccoli and tomato are rich in
time-tested micro-nutrients. Don’t wait for the Independence Day to
unfurl this tiranga.
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Tiranga
salad
 Ingredients
Head of red
cabbage (small) one
Head of broccoli
(medium-sized) one
Tomato
(medium-sized) one
Dressing
Salad oil 1 tbsp
Lime juice 1 tsp
Black peppercorns
(freshly and coarsely ground) 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Wash and wipe
dry the vegetables. Quarter the tomato taking care that the
pieces are not separated. Blanch the cabbage and broccoli in
boiling water for a minute and refresh immediately in chilled
water. Break broccoli into bite-sized florets and shred the
cabbage. Arrange cabbage and broccoli on a platter and top with
the tomato. Prepare the dressing by blending all the ingredients
and pour on top of the tri-coloured salad. Make a light meal
supplementing the salad with a small bowl of dahi and a
dry toast or a couple of (no more!) cream cracker biscuits.
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