Barley Beet Summer Salad

This is my another successful experiment on barley. As I told you in the previous recipe, when we use whole grains, we need to use the right ingredients to flavor the dish, else it will taste bland. This time I tried to flavor it while soaking the barley...I should say it tasted way better.

This salad was yummm....I kept on eating all through the evening. I hope you will also try and like it....

Ingredients:

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1/2 cup pearl Barley

2 medium Beet roots

3 tbsp Mint chopped

1/2 small Red Onion sliced thin

1 Tomato sliced or cubed

1 green Chili Chopped

1 Lemon rind grated and juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 cup Water

1/4 tsp Knorr Vegetable/Chicken Seasoning (If you can't find or don't have one, you can add salt instead)

Method:

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1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Wash the beetroot, wipe it clean with paper towel and individually wrap it in aluminium foil, place the beetroot in a baking sheet and roast it for about 1 hr and let it come to room temperature before opening the foil.

3.1. Wash the barley, add knorr vegetable/ chicken seasoning and 1 1/2 cup water and bring it to a boil. Off the flame and let it soak for about an hour or two until the water is all soaked up by the barley.

4. Remove the foil from the roasted beetroot and peel the skin and slice or cut into desired shape (like strips, or cubes or chop it).

5. Place all the ingredients, tomato, onion, barley, beetroot, mint, salt, pepper, lemon rind, lemon juice and olive oil and mix all well and keep it for about 30 mins until all the juices have been absorbed by the beets and barley.

6. You can serve this as a light dinner (as I did) or as a warm/cold salad.

Note: If you want to serve it warm, prepare the dish and serve it immediately after the beets are chopped.

If you want to serve it cold, after mixing all the ingredients keep it in the fridge for about 30 mins.

Re-posting this recipe to send to the event "Salad Spread" hosted by Taste Junction

Buckwheat Porridge

The name 'buckwheat' or 'beech wheat' comes from its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat.

I always thought buckwheat is nothing but wheat, but when I saw this in the grocery store, I wanted to learn more about it and since it's packed with fiber and protein, wanted to use as a main ingredient in my recipes. So here I go another recipe invention here. Very simple and easy to make...Since this is my first recipe, I didn't want to complicate much but make simple recipe and feel the real taste of the grain. This grain is no wonder very flavorful by itself.

Medicinal Uses:

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Buckwheat contains a glucoside named rutin, a medicinal chemical that strengthens capillary walls, reducing hemorrhaging in people with high blood pressure and increasing microcirculation in people with chronic venous insufficiency. Dried buckwheat leaves for tea were manufactured in Europe under the brand name "Fagorutin."

Buckwheat contains D-chiro-inositol, a component of the secondary messenger pathway for insulin signal transduction found to be deficient in Type II diabetes and Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). It is being studied for use in treating Type II diabetes. Research on D-chiro-inositol and PCOS has shown promising results.

A buckwheat protein has been found to bind cholesterol tightly. It is being studied for reducing plasma cholesterol in people withhyperlipidemia.

Ingredients:

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1 cup Buckwheat

2 cups Water

2 Carrots peeled and grated

1/4 inch ginger thinly sliced

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/4 cup Cilantro chopped

Method:

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1. Wash the buckwheat in water twice and add two cups of water and bring to a boil in a heavy bottom sauce pan.

2. Simmer the flame to medium, add salt and pepper, cover 3/4 th cover and cook until the wheat is cooked for about 10 to 15 mins.

3. You can add more water or reduce the water as you need, off the flame and add grated carrot, ginger, and cilantro and stir well.

4. The prepared porridge is hot enough to cook the vegetables add and will help to release the aroma of the fresh herb (cilantro).

5. Cover and let it stand for 5 mins.

6. Serve it hot like a soup, but it's more like a porridge. To make it more flavorful you can add some butter over the top just before serving.

Mango Mint Sour Cream Dipping sauce

I made Chicken Kababs for the dinner party we were having at our house, but didn't know what to make as a dipping sauce. I thought the chicken kabab might be little spicy for those who do not eat much spicy food, so thought of making some dipping sauce which will suppress the heat front he kababs. 

Always looking and thinking to make something new, drives my mind crazy. It was almost time for our friends to arrive...I opened the fridge and saw mint, sour cream and mango, suddenly this idea clicked to my mind, because we usually add lime juice when we are making mint chutney, so I thought why not add raw mango instead of lemon juice and sour cream instead of yogurt.

So here I go making this last moment wonderful and flavorful dipping sauce.

Ingredients:

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1/2 Raw Mango (peeled and chopped)

1 cup fresh Mint leaves washed

1/2 Cilantro washed

1/4 Sour Cream

1 Green Chili

1/8 tsp Red Chili powder

1/8 tsp Cumin powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

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1. In a blender add mint, cilantro, mango and green chili and grind it into fine paste adding little water if needed.

2. Transfer the ground mint mixture into a serving bowl, add sour cream, salt and pepper, chili power, cumin powder and mix well.

3. I serve this wonderful dipping sauce which tasted way better than the normal mint chutney with Chicken Kabas. You can also serve this with roti or naan.