Cucumber Salad with pomegranates and toasted sesame...

Hello... I know i have been pretty slow and irregular with my posts these days. Apologies. This year i have taken on a new project of home schooling my twins along with another little dear. So my thoughts and my entire self seems to be occupied with organising and putting together things at my 'Little School'. (BTW that is the real name of my home school ). So do wish me luck... as i need loads of them.

Well i don't know if i can even write a recipe for this simple cucumber salad... as it is really nothing but assembling few things together. Now i am an out and out salad person and need to have it everyday. So variation and combinations are something i experiment to the ones that i regularly make. This is definitely not from my creative juices but from one of the magazines that i was browsing through while my boys were getting a haircut.



This salad requires very basic and few ingredients from your kitchen. A cool, colourful and crunchy salad with the flavours of mint . With the toasted sesame and sunflower seeds and pomegranate , it gives a certain smoky nuttiness and sweetness making it completely satisfying.

You will need :

3 Cucumbers peeled and diced

1 green chilli finely chopped

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 cup fresh mint leaves

1/4th cup Coriander leaves chopped fine

salt to taste

juice of one lime

2 tsp white and black sesame seeds

2 tsp sunflower seeds

2 tbsp olive oil to drizzle.

1. Roast the sesame seeds .

2. Toss the cucumber, chilli and pomegranate together. Add the mint leaves and coriander leaves.

3. Season with salt, lime juice, roasted sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. (I skipped the sunflower seeds as i didn't have them).

4. Drizzle olive oil and serve chill.

Burnt Corn Salad..

Sometimes simple ingredients is all you need to put together a delightful recipe. During one of my evening walks along the beach i was drawn to the smell of burnt corn which made me forget about everything else ..

With summer approaching beach is full of these vendors roasting fresh and milky corn which is generally rubbed with lemon juice and a nice mix of salt and chilly powder..Yum!. The smell of burnt corn was lingering in my head that i went straight to the market and bought a nice lot of corn and decided to make a salad for dinner.

Salad is definitely a very important and favourite part of my meal. I need variety and it has to be super simple that i can toss it in a jiffy...

I go by the colours of the vegetable largely and textures too. This salad was inspired by the vendors on the beach.. I wanted similar taste but with some extra crunchiness of crisp vegetables .

So I took

2 Corns

2 Tomatoes
1 red onion

1/2 or 1 small capsicum

fresh bunch of coriander - 1/2 cup

ground cumin - 1 tsp
ground coriander - 1 tsp
salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
4 - 5 drops Tabasco

1/4 tsp lime juice

1. Finely cut the red onion

2. Grill the corn on gas stove or better in a coal grill ...till it is mildly burnt .

3. Cut the tomato in half horizontally and squeeze gently to remove seeds ; chop finely

4. Remove membrane and seeds from capsicum and chop finely.

5. Place the ground coriander and cumin an a small pan, stir over medium heat for one minute to enhance fragrance and flavour; cool.

6. Add all the ingredients to the corn in a salad bowl and gently combine . Refrigerate it and serve chill . It also tastes good at room temperature.

Well it certainly has Indian taste and flavour . I would have loved to add a bit of raw mango for the sourness..but i guess i will have to wait till may for it. Still it became a substantial dinner for me last night along with a bowl of pumpkin soup.