MoFo Day 31/3: Radish and Carrot Salad

On one  visit to Turkey we were staying in a hotel in Ankara where there were bowls of olives and glasses of carrot sticks in lemon juice in the hotel bar. That was the first time I discovered that I love olives and that raw carrots were not only edible but positively enjoyable. I found a recipe for this salad here and after a minor adjustment, here is my final MoFo post as a tribute to that experience.

Havuklu Turp Salatasi (Radish and Carrot Salad) 

1 carrot, peeled and grated 
4-5 radish, sliced and cut into half moons

Dressing:
2 Tbsp vegetable stock
2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
sumac
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped 

Combine grated carrot and sliced radish. Mix together vegetable stock and lemon juice with salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing over the carrot and radish and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with sumac and top with chopped parsley. Top it with some herbed olives for the complete experience.

                                             

MoFo Day 31/2: Shepherd's Salad

My second salad for today is a very simple but tasty salad of tomato and cucumber which I first came across in Istanbul. I subbed the olive oil in the recipe with some vegetable stock for the dressing. It works surprisingly well. The vegetarian version of this salad contains feta cheese but marinated tofu is a tasty sub.

Çoban Salatasi (Shepherd's Salad)

60 g tofu, diced
Half a cucumber
10-12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 small green or orange bell pepper, diced
3 spring onions

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped

Dressing:
2 Tbsp vegetable stock
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Marinade the diced tofu in dressing for at least 30 minutes. Combine the diced cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions and pepper, mix in the marinated tofu, stir in the dressing and top with chopped herbs.

 

MoFo Day 31/1: Beetroot and Apple Couscous

I'm finishing up MoFo with a trio of posts of salad recipes. The first is a recipe I learned from my cousin Janet whose husband is Turkish. The raw beetroot in this salad gives it a jewel-like quality, the cooking apple and red wine vinegar make a nice sharp contrast to the sweetness of the beets and the bland taste of the couscous. Janet uses cooked beetroot in this recipe. I misread the recipe the first time I made it and used raw beets and it tasted so good I've used raw beetroot ever since. 

Beetroot and Apple Couscous

1 medium red beetroot, peeled and grated
1 medium cooking apple, peeled and grated
50 g couscous

Dressing:
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp vegetable stock
2 Tbsp soya yoghurt
salt and pepper to taste

Cover couscous with boiling water and set aside for about 5 minutes. Stir in the grated beetroot and apple. Combine dressing ingredients whisk well and stir into the couscous mixture.

                                      

MoFo Day 30: Red Lentil Kofte

I haven't been eating enough raw veg over the last week or so. I really don't much care for salad - it always seems too boring and there is something much more comforting about hot food.  I really need to find a way of eating more raw food though so I decided to focus on finding one new salad recipe each of the next few days. 

I'm starting out with lentil koftes. Always served in a lettuce leaf, these would form the centre of a good salad dish. I found a number of recipes for this dish - one in my Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookery cook, another at Almost Turkish blog and yet another at Hayriye's Turkish Food and Recipes Mine is a hybrid mix of all 3 recipes, subbing the olive oil with vegetable stock and

Red Lentil Kofte

1/2 cup red lentils, well rinsed
1 onion finely chopped
1/4 cup bulgar wheat
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 Tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Little Gem or small Romaine lettuce

Cover well rinsed lentils in water, bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes, until lentils are soft but still holding their shape, adding more water as necessary. Remove from the heat season with a little salt, stir in bulgar wheat, cover and leave for at least 10 minutes.

In another pan saute the onion in a little vegetable stock for 2-3 minutes. Add tomato paste, cumin and paprika and cook for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the the lentil mixture. Add lemon juice, parsley, mint and chopped spring onions. and combine well. When the mixture is quite cold, serve wrapped in lettuce leaves.

                      

MoFo Day 11: Minted Haricot and Chickpea Salad

I thought I'd try another salad, this one using a combination of dried and fresh beans. The original recipe called for fresh broad beans but the only fresh beans I could find were chickpeas. Edamame would also be good in this salad. This is another lemon infused salad but this time the lemon is combined with fresh mint which gives a real freshness. This salad was ok but I much preferred the spicy combination of yesterday's lentil salad. 

Minted Haricot and Chickpea Salad

125 g fresh chickpeas
125 g cooked haricot beans
50 g tomato. skinned and chopped
4 spring onions, finely chopped 
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp vegetable stock
Juice of half a lemon 
2 Tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

Steam chickpeas until tender. Combine in a bowl with haricot beans, tomato and spring onions. In a separate jug or bowl mix together the crushed garlic, vegetable stock and lemon juice. Pour over the beans, add fresh mint, mix well and put into the refrigerator until cold. Serve on fresh green salad leaves, garnished with fresh mint leaves.

                        

MoFo Day 10: Spicy Lentil Salad

One of the requirements on Eat To Live is that you eat a minimum of one portion (a cup) of beans or pulses per day. I usually have a bean soup and salad for lunch and then need to find a way of eating some more beans for dinner.Today's recipe is a spicy lemony lentil salad adapted from Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookery. I will definitely be making this one again. The combination of lemon and cumin is particularly scrumptious.

Spicy Lentil Salad

250 g brown lentils
1 small onion 
2 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf 
1 tsp grated lemon peel 
4 spring onions, finely chopped
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp vegetable stock
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground coriander cumin

salt and pepper to taste 

Put the lentils into a saucepan with water to cover. Add one whole onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 bay leaf and grated lemon peel. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer until lentils are tender (around 25 minutes.) Take off the heat, remove and discard the onion, garlic and bay leaf.    Drain the lentils and put them in a bowl, stir in the spring onions. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour them over the lentils. Put the lentils into the refrigerator to cool and marinate for a couple of hours before serving. 

                                          

MoFo Day3: Tapas

 Still on my virtual tour to Spain and today I'm making tapas. I have 2 recipes today.

 I found fresh broad beans at the supermarket and decided to use them in a Minted Broad Bean (Fava Bean) salad. I found the recipe on the Vegetarian Times website. It brings together garlic, lemon and mint - a fabulous combination of flavours. I halved the recipe and made just one change to make it Eat To Live-friendly by replacing the olive oil in the dressing with vegetable stock. This worked surprisingly well as an adaptation. I really liked this recipe and will definitely  make it again. It would be great with edamame in place of the broad beans. I've never cooked or eaten broad beans before. I decided to remove the skins after cooking, because they seemed a bit tough and I've seen them being removed on Masterchef. It was a bit fiddly and another good reason to use edamame in the future!

Minted Fava Bean Salad

Juice of half a lemon
1/8 cup vegetable stock
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 cup of fresh or frozen shelled broad beans (fava beans) 
2 cups lettuce, torn into small pieces
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, cut into thin strips

Mix together lemon juice, olive oil and garlic, season with freshly ground black pepper and set aside. Cook the shelled broad beans for 3 minutes in boiling water. Drain, rinse under cold water and remove the skins (optional). Mix the broad beans and mint together and put onto a bed of lettuce. Toss with the lemon dressing.



My second recipe is Alubias con Salsa Vinagreta or white beans with a vinaigrette dressing. I found this recipe on a website for Spanish recipes after Googling for tapas recipes. Once again I replaced the olive oil in the dressing with some vegetable stock. This is a great recipe and will transform my salads from now on. One of the things I have really struggled with on Eat to Live is all of the raw vegetables I am supposed to eat. Adding some of these beans with their tangy dressing would liven up any salad.

Alubias con Salsa Vinagreta

1 can of cannellini or other white beans (1 cup of cooked beans)
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup vegetable stock
6 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Combine the drained and rinsed beans together with the pepper, onion and garlic. Mix together the vegetable stock and wine vinegar and pour over the bean mix. Season to taste if necessary.