Cauliflower, Green Beans, Peppers and Quinoa Salad

I haven't had quinoa in a while and seeing my depleting stock of vegetables, I made a big pot of quinoa with green beans, cauliflower and red and green peppers, flavored with sumac, sage, and black pepper. I did pop the beans and the cauliflower in boiling water for a minute or two. I did taste the beans raw and they tasted awful and the vegetable vendor explicitly said they can't be had raw. 

Cauliflower, Green Beans, Peppers and Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups of chopped green beans
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1 green pepper/chilli
• 1 red pepper
• 2 leaves of sage
• 12-15 black pepper corns
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sumac powder

To make:

• Chop up your vegetables.
• Cook your quinoa in 2-2.5 cups of water for 15 minutes, along with the sage leaves and sumac powder.
• In a pot of boiling water, cook your beans and cauliflower for 2 minutes. Drain into a pot of ice cold water to stop the cooking.
• Add the vegetables to the qninoa and mix well.
• Season with freshly ground black pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The Kidney Bean Salad

Kidney beans are a good source of cholestrol-lowering fiber, they're cheap, and are available all year round. You do have to wash them well, and then soak in water for at least 8-12 hours. But then the upside is that you dont need to cook them! They look soft to the touch after an overnight soak, but start to cook them and they will actually harden and take a hell of a time to be completely cooked. Why bother cooking at all?! They're perfectly edible raw.

The Kidney Bean Salad

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of kidney beans, presoaked overnight
• 1 cup carrots
• 2 cups green cabbage
• 2 cups green peppers
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 leaves of sage
• Handful of mint leaves
• Salt, per taste

To make:

Drain the kidney beans.

Chop your veggies fairly small.

Mix in with the kidney beans.

Add the salt, curry powder, lime juice, sage and mint leaves, along with the oil.

Let it marinate for an hour or so before eating.

Sunday Shopping at the Farmers' Market and Nature's Basket

Between you and me, I just needed to smoke in peace and as that as my main excuse, I headed out to Bandra for my bi-weekly trip to the Farmers' Market and Nature's Basket. This week the new additions were fresh figs, bananas, and papayas - apart from the usual stuff. I also snagged some green tomatoes, inspired by Kevin's green tomato and jalepeno chutney recipe. Beet leaves are so hard to find elsewhere, but here, the beets are so sexy with their leaves intact. I'm going to use up all those leaves in a recipe using just the leaves and my red rice.

I also had a healthy breakfast at the market with some Guju dhokla and fresh organic carrot juice. At Rs. 50 for seven pieces of dhokla, its not the cheapest. But, by word, it tastes great and has a tangy mustardy taste.

At Nature's Basket, I always find myself in the salad dressing isle and scrutinizing the various dressings available. I'm always disappointed. Today was no different. Not just because of the price, mind you. There is just so much crap in store bought salad dressings - corn syrup being a universal culprit. No thank you. I'll survive with my humble lime dressings.

But I did get my hands on some hoisin sauce, sumac powder, and garlic powder. I'd seen Nigella Lawson looking positively orgasmic as she played around with some sumac, and I just had to have it - screw the price tag! The garlic powder, on the other hand, was a bargain, and it smells divine. I can so see myself toasting a piece of bread with olive oil and garlic powder for breakfast sometime soon.

And for the first time, I saw arugula on the produce isle, so I quickly snagged some of that. And for Rs. 12 a pop, I just couldnt resist buying some fresh rosemary and sage. No idea where I'll use them, but we'll figure that out when the time comes.

Finally, I got myself some silken tofu. I mindlessly added it to my basket, and balked at the hefty Rs 180 price tag - I get a cheaper, and not so good, version for Rs. 60 from Reliance. It had better be good.

And finally, found some aam papdi -which is just mango candy. I used to have a big box of chocolates or candies with me at work for the last two years. Might as well substitute the habit with something a little healthier.