A balanced diet must consist of all the essential nutrients in adequate quantities. However, it can be challenging to incorporate all these nutrients into a single meal. Maintaining healthy eating habits provides us with the necessary energy for our daily activities and safeguards us against various chronic ailments like heart disease and diabetes.
Fortunately, a salad bowl packed with nutrient-dense ingredients can provide a solution, as it can include seasonal produce, grains, eggs, and even meat. While easy to prepare, this light and wholesome dish is enriched with all the important vitamins and minerals from fruits, veggies, greens, nuts, and seeds.
Moreover, you can choose the ingredients that go into your wholesome bowl of salad based on your preference, diet, and availability of seasonal produce. You can include mangoes, watermelons, lettuce, and other summer fruits that are currently in season this summer. Lettuce, cucumbers, celery, and other veggies add a crunch to your salad, while nuts, seeds, and dairy products like cheese, yoghurt, etc. add a creamy taste, and fruits incorporate tang and sweetness.
You can also season the salads with your favourite herbs and spices like pepper, oregano, mint, and thyme to enhance their taste. All-in-all, salad is a balanced combination of tastes, textures, and nutrition.
So, if you are looking for some healthy and yummy salads, here are two recipes shared by Chef Amiel Guerin, Founder and Executive Chef, Amiel Gourmet, Bengaluru:
A.G. Diet Salad
Serves: 1
Total Time: 45 min.
Ingredients
- 125 g of white quinoa
- 100 g finger millet
- 25 g of roasted pumpkin
- 20 g of mixed nuts
- 13 g of mixed seeds
- 19 g of orange
- 25 g of pomegranate
For the lemon honey dressing
- 70 g of lemon juice
- 140 g of sunflower oil
- 70 g of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 g of fresh thyme
- 1 g shallots
- 8 g of Dijon mustard
- 10 g of honey
Method
For dressing
- Blend lemon juice, chopped shallots, fresh thyme, and honey together.
- Mix extra virgin olive oil and sunflower oil together and then blend them into the lemon mixture to make an emulsion.
- Add salt, pepper, and mustard and blend further to season and stabilise the dressing.
- Finally, add pistachio powder if required and give it a gentle mix.
For salad
- Mix boiled quinoa and finger millet with orange segments, pomegranate seeds, and roasted pumpkin.
- Add the required amount of lemon-honey dressing to the salad and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Plate the salad and garnish it with a mixture of roasted nuts and seeds. Some more orange segments and pomegranate seeds can be added to the top of the salad to increase its visual appeal.
Tomato And Mozzarella Salad
Serves: 1
Total Time: 20 min.
Ingredients
- 200 g Monterosa tomato
- 55 g of mozzarella di bufala
- 5 g of pesto
- 10 g gastrique tomato
- 7 g of extra virgin olive oil
- 15 g of organic lettuce
- 5 g balsamic dressing
- 2 g of basil
- 20 g of microgreens and watercress
For tomato coulis
- 500 g tomato
- 15 g of red wine vinegar
- 90 g extra virgin olive oil
- 5 g of basil
Method
For tomato coulis
- Blanch, skin, and de-seed the tomatoes.
- Blend with all other ingredients mentioned under "for tomato coulis."
For salad
- Slice the tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella cheese.
- Dress with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Make a salad with lettuce and gastrique tomatoes. Dress with balsamic dressing.
- Alternate and arrange the tomatoes and mozzarella on a big dollop of tomato coulis.
- Place a handful or one portion of salad on the side.
- Garnish with gastrique tomatoes, basil, pesto, watercress, and microgreens. Serve.