As the temperature outside rises day by day, are you craving a fulfilling salad? Then Chef Jerson Fernandes, Director of Culinary and Culinary Alchemist - Accor India region, has an exciting recipe for you. Inspired by Mother Earth, the freshness of handpicked home-grown organic vegetables from the chef's garden, the goodness of millets and the versatility of walnuts and organic jaggery, Garde of Eden recipe combines unique flavour and texture profiles. The crunchiness from the caramelised walnuts marries the fresh flavours and textures of the organic farm fresh veggies very well, making it a wholesome meal by itself. The idea is to beautifully represent nature's freshness and vibrant colours on a plate in the form of its freshest ingredients and natural textures. Try this exquisite salad recipe for a lunch or dinner meal.
Garden of Eden Recipe
It is a melange of home-grown farm fresh veggies, caramelised walnuts, fresh fruits, and foxtail millet-quinoa quenelles beautifully presented in orbit representing mother earth.
Prep time: 15 minutes [+6 hours soaking time]
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yields: 6 portions
Ingredients
For foxtail millet-quinoa quenelle
- Foxtail millet and quinoa- 250 gms each
- Olive oil - 75ml
- Vegetable stock -300gms
- Orange juice 150gms
- Chopped garlic -2tblspn
- Lemon juice 1lemon squeeze
- Chopped onions -3 tblspn
- Chopped parsley -2 tblspn
- Chopped celery -1 tspn
- Crushed black pepper to taste
- Salt to taste
For Walnut praline
- Walnuts 12 nos
- Sugar 200 gms
- For Vinaigrette dressing
- Vinegar -100ml
- Lemon juice -100ml
- Salt to taste
- Crushed black pepper to taste
For the grilled Veggies
- Baby potatoes cut into half 6 nos
- Microgreens 200gms
- Cherry tomatoes 8nos
- Olive oil -8tblspn
- Green zucchini 1no
- Yellow zucchini -1no
- Carrots 1no
- Mango cubes -100gms
- Red radish- 1no
- Mango puree 100gms
- Mayonnaise 200gms
Delicious and healthy Garden of Eden Salad, Image By: Chef Jerson Fernandes
Method
- Rinse the foxtail millets under cold water a few times. Soak the millets in a litre of water overnight or for a minimum of 6 to 8 hours. Simmer for 20 min until almost cooked. Drain the millet and reserve the liquid.
- Heat olive oil in a pan. Roast foxtail millet and soaked quinoa. Add chopped garlic, onions, and celery and sauté well. Add vegetable stock, orange juice, salt, and pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, till the liquid evaporates and the quinoa is thoroughly cooked with each grain separate from the other. Allow to cool.
- At room temperature, squeeze lemon juice, add chopped parsley, crushed walnut praline, and mix well. Keep aside to chill.
- Make praline by caramelising sugar and coating 6nos walnuts in it. Once chilled, crush and add to the millet-quinoa mixture as mentioned in step 3. Coat 6nos walnuts with the caramel and allow it to cool at room temperature by placing it on a rack upside down for the excess caramel to fall off and get a hair-like strand over it.
- Make Vinaigrette dressing by mixing vinegar, salt, pepper and lime juice together. Fill it in pipettes and keep it aside to go with the salad.
- Wash and slice carrots, green and yellow zucchini lengthwise with skin using a sharp peeler for grilled vegetables. Grill on an olive oil-greased pan seasoned with salt and pepper. Once cold, roll and keep aside. Similarly, toss cherry tomatoes and grilled baby potatoes in olive oil. Season them with salt and pepper. Set them aside.
- Now give the red radish a thorough wash, slice it with skin on, and marinate with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Keep aside.
- For the base sauce, mix mango puree with mayonnaise and keep it aside.
- Cube mango into micro cubes and keep aside.
- Using a turn table, start plating by piping the mayo on the plate in a coil-shaped pattern. Place the washed and paper-dried microgreens on one side. Over it, place the quinoa-millet mixture by shaping it into quenelles. Randomly place the rolled grilled vegetables, baby potatoes and cherry tomatoes around the quinoa oats quenelles. insert the vinaigrette dressing pipettes on the quinoa-millet quenelles.
- Randomly place the caramel-glazed walnuts around the quenelles on the microgreens. Place the sliced red radish over the quenelles and drizzle the cubed micro mango dice around the salad.
- Garnish by placing a round sesame-coated Lavash over the salad. Drizzle the dressing from the pipettes over the salad.
- Mix all the elements well and enjoy the salad.
Pro Tip:
- Prior to serving, let the salad chill for 10-15 minutes to get the best flavours and textures of all the elements.