The Beginning of Summer Salad in Thai-Italian flavors

Grilled Chicken N Pasta Salad with White pea sprouts, Cherry tomatoes, Green Papaya, Lemon grass, Green mango, Cashew nut and three herbs in Lime vinaigrette- Thai-Italian Salad

It is spring now n and I’m back home to see the summer approaching, in the last 2 months the earth has traveled around 250 million kilometers through deep space, coming close to the sun n warming up the soil, melting the ice in the northern hemisphere, bringing the season of transition-the spring. And the mango trees reflect that story, I see the mango trees have blossomed, producing tiny little green dots which will turn into delicious mangoes in the coming 4 months and I smell summer. Here in Kolkata spring is short lived, it didn’t get much cold this year, spring is soon melting into summer and it’s time for the new produce-mangoes are only one of them. 

I am a person who loves salads, so this week I translated this salad in my plate as it was hanging in my mind, it has bold flavors of Thailand mixing with Italian Pasta, making a brand new palate of flavors in my mouth. The salad brings together the flavors of grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, basil, flat-leaf parsley, coriander leaves, lemon grass, red chili, garlic, lime, red onion, cashew nuts, sprouted white peas- so many ingredients together and it is a healthy plate filled with amazing bites.

The good thing about eating salads is the freshness and the different little taste explosions on the tongue at every single bite which is so much fun…unity in diversity! Did I say that right? Ha-ha. One important thing before making salads is washing some of the leafy greens well under running water, washing away the dirt, because we are eating it raw it is good to take extra care of washing the vegetables.

Fresh lime provides the citrus notes in this salad, so in the vinaigrette I used lime with extra virgin olive oil, if you have lemon use that, you can also replace the olive oil with flavorless oil like soybean oil. The green mango is sour and it gives us that sour fresh bite with that amazing mango flavor, you know what goes really well with green mango, pink rock salt! As for the cashew nuts they add that subtle sweetness in the bites, if you want to add peanuts or almonds-go for it.

The grilled chicken has simple flavors in it, I marinated the chicken breast with garlic, ginger, red chili, yogurt with turmeric n cumin powder and that’s all, one hour is good enough for the marinating, then simple grill them in the oven.

The green papaya adds a very subtle touch to the salad, it is finely shredded, then lightly pounded in the mortar n pestle with the garlic n red chili just to slightly bruise it, it reminds me of the Thai green papaya salad, I would say if you have fish sauce in your pantry, try adding a little bit of that in the salad, though I didn’t do it but you can always.

The salad has three herbs in it-the coriander leaves, the basil and the flat-leaf parsley, and they bring a whole new fresh dimension to this salad, I have used more basil and coriander than parsley.

So now I will take you to the recipe so you can make it.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Grilled Chicken:

Chicken breast- 1 about 250 gm, boneless and cut into strips about 4 inches long, 1 ½ inch thick

Yogurt- 2 tbsp

Turmeric- ½ tsp

Cumin powder- ½ tsp

Ginger- ½ inch, grated

Garlic- 1 medium clove, grated

Red Chili- 1, cut into thin slices

Salt

Oil-1 tbsp

Butter- for basting

Sugar- a pinch

For the Salad:

Grilled chicken- from above

Red onion – 1, sliced

Cherry tomato- 100 gm, halved

Pasta fusili/ penne/ macaroni/gomiti rigati- 50 gm

Basil- 2 tbsp, chopped or torn by hands

Coriander leaves- 3 tbsp, finely chopped

Flat-leaf parsley- 1 tbsp, chopped

Lemon grass- 2 stalks, inner core cut into 1 inch pieces

White pea sprouts- 50 gm

Red chili- 2, thinly sliced

Green mango- 1 small or ½ medium, peeled and thinly sliced

Green papaya- 1/8 of a medium papaya, thinly shredded

Cashew nuts- 4 tbsp, lightly toasted

Vinaigrette:

Lime juice- 2 tbsp

Extra virgin olive oil- 4 tbsp

Red chili-1/2 chili

Garlic- 2 cloves

Black pepper- to taste

Salt

Pink rock salt 

1. Begin by marinating the chicken strips with grated garlic, grated ginger, sliced red chili mixed with yogurt and cumin and turmeric powder, salt n a pinch of sugar and give it at least 30 min to an hour. Then put your oven on the highest temperature and place the pieces on the grill and give them about 12-15 minutes, baste them with butter once in between, as soon as the chicken gets a slight charred color get them out, otherwise they will go dry.

2. Peel the papaya, then with a sharp Chinese chopper or a big knife give vertical firm strokes on the flesh holding the papaya in your hand or to be safe keep it on a platform and do it, make sure the knife goes a little inside with every stroke and give strokes as closely as possible, you are stroking along the length of the papaya, then rotate the knife at 90 degrees and shave off lightly from the stroked surface of the papaya n you will see fine shreds coming out.

3. Put a frying pan on medium heat, add the cashew nuts and toast them until they get lightly browned which will take about 5 min.

4. Put the water to boil, when it comes to boil add enough salt to make it quite salty, then add the pasta and cook it until it is done, Al Dante if you like it or until they are just soft, drain n set aside.

5. In a big wooden/metal mortar n pestle crush the garlic clove and the red chili together, when they are well bruised add the lemon grass and pound it until it becomes flattened n released its flavor. After that add the shredded papaya and pound them lightly with one hand and turning the mixture over from the bottom with a spoon on another hand, pound until some of the papaya is bruised, then add the lime juice, thin mango slices and bruise again, then add the salt, black pepper, pink rock salt and the oil and give it a good mix.

6. In a big bowl add the sprouted white peas, then the red onion slices, the cherry tomatoes, the herbs, the pasta, the grilled chicken pieces and then add the whole mixture from the mortar onto them and mix well with your hands, season with salt if needed and add an extra pinch of pink rock salt, lastly add the roasted cashew nuts on top and another sprinkling of black pepper. It is now ready for the plates.

Great you made it; plunge a fork and go for the biggest possible bite without choking….now tell me isn’t it something so refreshing and something brand new. I felt the same and as it is so healthy and great balance of protein, carb n fat,  you should include salads like this more often in your diet, share it with people who love salad and who loves trying brand new food. Till then I will say bon appétit.

The Bite of a Bruschetta!

Imagine a scene, you are making Bruschetta, arranging the tomato cubes onto the bread, drizzle the olive oil, friends have surrounded you, waiting in anticipation, some waiting with hunger, some with doubt-how can a simple tomato on bread be good! As your hands finish the seasoning you have begun to doubt yourself-what if they completely dislike it! Such an embarrassment! And then you announce it is ready! As everyone takes the initial bites, then  they take another, another…somewhere around the room you hear the word “mmm…mmmm” , but mostly there is not much sound , you are confused thinking maybe they don’t hate it. And then you get the real surprise…everybody just loves it, they just love it, no wonder  they go “mmm…” and gulp it without wasting much time, it totally pulls you into it. That is my dear reader is the magic of bruschetta!

When I made this Italian dish for the first time, it hit me so pleasantly that I fell in love with it just that moment, and not just me, my sister, my mother; my dad, my friends were soon to follow. While I was reading about it, I didn't have a doubt that it will be a nice dish, why? Because I know and believe in the power of tomatoes, garlic, rock salt and olive oil. What I did not know was that it will be much more than nice! It was super nice.

                                                                              By now you know that bruschetta is Italian in its origin, pronounced brusketta, it also comes in the category of antipasto, which refers to food served before the heavy meal, appetizer. Thankfully it has nothing to do with someone who hates pasta as some of us might think looking at “antipasto”.  Sometimes the Italians will simply char the country bread over charcoal, rub them with an open clove of garlic, drizzle their peppery olive oil and some rock salt and that is simply bruschetta, so all you need is good bread and some good olive oil. The one I am gonna tell you about is the tomato and coriander/cilantro bruschetta, which is my version,  though fresh basil is such a loving friend with tomato, so when you have fresh basil near your hands go for it, and there will be no stopping for you to fall in love with that.

                                                            Did I tell you that I have a story of this bruschetta making incident? Here it goes. One evening while I was at my friend’s home, we were animating or planning to animate something while she said she was hungry, so was I. And then another friend of hers drops by and co-incidentally she is also hungry! So there we are, 3 hungry young souls, one thinking “oh what she has in her home?” another thinking “gosh what do we eat now! I have almost nothing in my home” another thinking “mmm…what I am gonna cook now for them?” as it turns out my friend really didn't have anything substantial in her home to diminish our hunger, so I said well “lets buy some bread and I will make bruschetta!”  So we go out to buy bread, on the way my friend’s friend suggests we go to her home and cook there. So we end up in her kitchen. Now I have never been in her home before, and she lived with her parents and grandparents. So there I was cooking for a bunch of people I don’t know! Ah the pressure of expectations was on me heavily. Just to make it worse my friend has glorified the charm of bruschetta to her friend repeatedly to such an extent that her friend begun to say at a point of time that “oh I think this bruschetta is going to be disappointing! When someone praises it so much, building the expectations so high, mostly it fails to impress that much”

It didn't! I didn't! Bruschetta didn't. it gave them such a pleasant surprise and everyone was so happy after eating it, all I was hearing was laughter and praises after praises. Everybody was asking how did I make it? They were already coming up with little suggestions of their own which was so inspiring. Even the grandparents, whom I feared will not like it ended up loving it. Imagine my feelings reader! It was getting late in the night and I had to get back home, suddenly one of the grandparents suggests to me that since you have to travel for an hour to go home and if it is inconvenient  for you, I will ask you to stay here. I didn't stay because I had to go-while I was going out I hear the real story! My friends were surprisingly discussing among themselves which goes something like this “oh! So many of my male friends have come in my home, some repeatedly, they never asked anyone to stay! And he comes home for the 1^st time and they are asking him to stay! How come, what happened to them?”

                                                Imagine my feelings again dear reader! All I was thinking how cooking can touch someone, how it can it make someone so happy, and thanks to my bruschetta for that lovely evening. It has entered into my list of simple golden cooking list forever. Now without wasting any more time I will give you the recipe straightaway, however you have to promise me that you will make it! Wont you? Bon appétit.

 The Recipe:  you will need

5 slices of brown bread/1 ciabatta loaf cut in 12 thin slices/ 1 baguette sliced thinly

4 red ripe plum tomatoes

5 small garlic cloves/3 medium garlic cloves, peeled, halved along the breadth, rubbed in a little salt.

2 tbsp of chopped or roughly torn coriander/cilantro leaves.

5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp of pink rock salt (we need some pinches)

Freshly milled black pepper

                    Begin by preparing the tomatoes before toasting the bread, so boil some water and pour the boiling water over the tomatoes in a bowl so that they are submerged in it. Leave them for 1 minute, drain the water and then pour cold water over them, now slip off their skin, you will see they will come off easily. You can put little cross mark cuts on the top and the bottom of the tomatoes before pouring the water, in that way you can begin pulling the skin off from the cuts. Now chop them into small chunks, put them in a bowl, sprinkle freshly milled black pepper, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, chopped coriander leaves, pinch of rock salt on them, mix them.

In a hot oven, I put it at 180 degrees Celsius; toast them until they become golden and crisp. If you have a ridged griddle, pre-heat it over a high heat for 10 minutes, when it is very hot, place the slices of bread on the diagonal and give them about 1 minute on each side until the same texture is achieved and they have charred strips across each side. You can toast them under a conventional grill. Now take a sharp knife, quickly make about 3 little slashes across each one (I skip this step if I am using slices of brown bread), rub the garlic on the hot crisp bread surface, you will see how the garlic vanishes as you rub it over the crispy surface of the bread. This is why it is important to get the toast the bread to crispy or you won’t be able to rub the garlic. Now drizzle 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil over each bread slice, sprinkle little rock salt over them, rub them lightly with your finger.

Now top the bread with the tomatoes, season quickly with freshly milled black pepper, some chopped coriander leaves, a pinch of rock salt over the tomatoes, few more drops of olive oil over the tomatoes and serve straight away. And you will just feel the magic as you bite into one.