I detest radish! It’s bitter, pungent and according to me serves no purpose in the culinary world. The Japanese use a lot of radish in their cuisine, and I always wondered what they do to it to make that pungent and mouth twisting bitter taste, disappear ?! Even after tasting that kind of radish, I could still not lift a piece of raw radish from a salad! Until – this lady made me taste her concoction.
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Chilled Cucumber Boat Salad
The Daughter made another demand — I’m so pleased she has got into cooking! The chef in me feels fulfilled and the mom and me feel happy! 😛
I make this salad very often at home. It needs to be served really really chilled, so it is a good idea to make it a wee bit in advance.
It’s a messy salad though! Be prepared for a white moustache and a few drips down your chin! But it’s worth the dishevelled look you will sport while eating it.
Look for crisp cucumbers with a clean green interior. I always cut off the side of the cucumber and taste it before using it. Sometimes cucumbers can be very very bitter, and even one bitter cucumber in a salad of 20 cucumbers can spoil the entire dish. Taste it and throw it away if its bitter. (You can always chuck it in the compost pile of course!)
The yoghurt should be thick, so hang it for an hour or so if you want. There is zero neatness in this salad, so there really isn’t any right or wrong way to fill it. Slice the spring onions really thin and small. Garlic can be upped as per your taste. To my mind, too much garlic takes away the sweetness of the yoghurt and the original taste of the cucumber.
I add a little of chilli flakes, but you can always add some herbs too – parsley, thyme, oregano. Don’t use very strong herbs. Again – it takes away the original flavours.
The boats can get very wobbly, as the base is rounded. You can slice off a small part of the cucumber from the bottom to make a little steadier base. But – mostly, it will wobble and fall a little to the side, but if the yoghurt is not too drippy things should not slide out and drip into the plate.
I’m attaching a quick video for you.
I hope you enjoy this salad. Do write in.
As always – Cheers! and Happy Times!
Apologies about the link —- this is the corrected version.
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I am super super excited about this recipe. It’s complicated (a little bit!) but it looked so brilliant. I saw a version of this on a cooking channel and I got up from my chair, headed to my bar, collected the vodka, (yup! It has Vodka!!) and all the ingredients and started making it, changing a little bit of the recipe here and there.
After 15 minutes into cooking, the fragrance wafting from the kitchen to the rest of the house drew many of the family members and a few neighbours into our kitchen. I tell you I am on my knees, worshipping this sauce.
It’s a thick sauce. Really thick. It’s not to be had on its own (but you might finish a lot of it while tasting it – I warn you!). You will have to mix it with some stock water, hell even mixing it in the water used to cook pasta lends it an amazing flavour.
Use it as a pizza base, as a base for Bruschetta, in a salad! Just make it, creative ideas will flow in.
I don’t want you to read all these descriptions and explanations. What I want you to do is get hold of all the ingredients and start making it. Let the family members walk in with appreciative sniffs and exclamations. Keep them waiting, and then hit them with a pasta made from this recipe. Lie back and bask in the glory!
PS: There is one very important thing that you have to follow, that’s – the instructions. There will be times while making the recipe you might think I am joking or that I have lost my mind. Have faith. I am very serious when I say what I say, and I am very sane and going to wait for your comments after you have made this recipe. You can advocate my sanity.
Without more blah blah – here is the recipe for Italian Tomato Sauce.
PS _AGAIN__and here is the link to the video —–
A shout out to my school friends who always have my back — hey there girls 🙂
Thanks to Brinda – for helping me with this video.
Dilute with pasta water or stock and add to pasta.
Liberally coat a salad.
Layer your pizza.
Use in baked dishes.
Use for base of crostini or bruschetta.
Peaches and Pineapples with Tajin
Another Mexican dish? I’m telling you – the last trip to San Diego, I really revved on Mexican Food. It was so very different from the typical Enchilada, Burrito, Nachos!
San Diego stands on the edge of Mexico. My son was told in his orientation, to be very careful while on the local train. One stop further and he would be in Mexico, and if he did not have his visa and college papers, he would land into big trouble. That’s how close Mexico is! Now you can imagine, the Mexican food influence in San Diego!
The Mexican Street Food, was so yum! Very close to Indian food in some ways, yet a different taste bud was touched with each dish. This particular Fruit Salad was and is my favourite. The only hitch is you have to get hold of the Tajin mix, available easily online and in supermarkets all over USA.
Tajin
Mexican fruit salad was served to us in a broad glass. They stuffed in strips of Pineapple, Apple, Mango, (and when I made it in India, I used Alphonso — OOOH! the taste!!) Melon, and a dried spicy mango, easily available in Trader Joe. The bottom of the glass had a huge dollop of this Tajin mix, and it copiously laden on the fruits too. I wanted to shove my face into the glass and lick up all the Tajin, once the fruits were over. My son had a friend join us for lunch that day. Poor chap must have thought his friend’s mom is completely addled!
watermelon wit tajin
Eat it on a hot day – refreshing, on a rainy day – soothing, on a blustery windy day – warming. This dish just makes you upbeat! The sour, tangy, mildly spicy (it looks very spicy, but is not), will make you want to sing and dance – the happy tune emanating from your palate. It hits all the right spots in your taste buds, and sends a zing up your body, almost like an adrenalin rush.
Use it with whatever fruit catches your fancy. Strawberries, Kiwi, Apples, Oranges, Pineapple, Peaches, Dried Fruits etc.
Pineapple with Tajin
It takes only minutes to make – the major task being cutting the fruits. We had it with drinks, and it went very well with Whisky and Beer.
Peaches with Tajin
Let me know if you went as crazy over this dish as I did.
