Salad

Tofu Kimchi Salad and 10 years of blogging

March 6, 2021 By Asha Shivakumar

Kimchi Salad. Crispy marinated spicy tofu, crunchy napa cabbage, sweet carrots, fresh cucumbers with peanuts, all tossed in a spicy dressing. A salad you will love and make often. HEALTHY and Tasty!

It has happened so quickly, seemingly days apart. Events, life changing ones. TEN YEARS!! Of blogging and Life. And what a delicious journey it has been!

The growth

We have a new member in our family, our love, Waffles.

My then seventh grader who jump started the blog, is in third year of college.

You’ve read why I call my little boy, ‘baby bear”. From running around a five year old skinny little boy to seeing him get his licence, my readers have seen it all.

Hubby has published a book, writing another one…but, the biggest change in him: he has been living and promoting a sustainable lifestyle.

If gray hair is also known as wisdom highlights, I am wiser for sure. 😉 A cookbook and a blog that turned into a business, not too shabby eh?!

Gained some meaningful relationships.

Went through very dark moments with events that made me broody about mortality and humans and life.

Part of me really feels that the love of food, the love of family and the support from readers has kept me going through these 10 years….

Spicy Crispy Corn Chaat/Salad

September 7, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Corn Salad is one of our favorite summer light lunch! This easy Crispy Corn Chaat Salad features sweet fresh corn off the cob, crisp cucumbers, shaved sweet carrots, onions, crunchy peanuts with a delicious cucumber cilantro chutney that acts as a dressing.

Spicy Crispy Corn Chaat Salad is such a delicious summer salad staple; it’s easy to make and tastes incredibly good without many ingredients or fuss of deep frying the corn to get it crispy( thanks to the air fryer)!

Summer is the best time of year to serve up fresh salads and vegetables from the garden or local CSA. While I don’t have much of a green thumb, I have friends who do, and I get the corn, cucumbers and even carrots from their garden. Or your csa will be an amazing place to get the freshet of vegetables….

How to grow mung bean sprouts

April 16, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Mung bean sprouts filled with nutrients and are a common ingredient in Indian homes. It’s great raw, steamed or pureed, they provide a crisp, healthy addition to any meal. Growing mung bean sprouts is easy and when done right, they are perfect in less time.

Mung Bean is a legume that is commonly used in the Asian countries. Mung Beans go by many names in different parts of India. Pasiparuppu in tamil, mung sabut in hindi, pesalu in telugu , hesarukalu in kannada, cherupayar in Malyalam. Green gram is high in protein fiber, vitamins and nutrients. Sprouting any legume increases it’s nutrition value and it’s easy on the tummy and easily digestible.

Two ways to sprout mung beans

The first method is to put in a jar or box and put a tight lid on and keep in a cool place. The second method and my favorite method is to sprout it in a cotton cloth, hanging it in a warm dry place in the kitchen.

Tips on how to sprout mung beans

Get the best high quality fresh green gram. Older stock of mung beans will not sprout well.

2. Organic mung beans, take longer time to soak and as well to sprout.

3. Hybrid variety soaks faster and sprouts faster

4. If you want your sprouts in few days, plan ahead. It take 36 hours to grow sprouts.

5. Wash and rinse the green gram with clean water 3-4 times to avoid the risk of contamination.

6. Use slightly lukewarm water to soak the green gram.

Method on how to grow mung bean sprouts

There are two methods of making sprout.

Method 1

Once you’ve washed and soaked the mung 8 hours, drain it well. You can use any clean thin cloth you have to sprout. Add the drained mung beans in the middle of the cloth and pull the sides together and tie it. Hang this on a hook in a slight warm dry place. Every 6 hours sprinkle some water on the cloth. Do NOT soak it. The cloth should be slightly damp. The sprouts will be ready in 36 hours.

Method 2

After soaking it for eight hours, drain it well. Add it to a jar or any container, cover with a tight lid. The sprouting will take again about 24-36 hours.

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20 TASTY Quick Healthy Recipes Ideas

January 1, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Here are my top 20 tasty quick healthy recipes to get you back on track for the new year, or to give you some ideas to change up your menu to keep eating healthy, interesting, and exciting.

Here we are in 2020, and many of your New Year’s resolutions may surround health or fitness. To have a sustainable healthy lifestyle, you cannot cut one group of food completely. In fact, doing that might just make you crave that particular section more. Unless you are allergic to certain foods, I would not recommend cutting out anything. I personally believe in eating everything as long as you’re conscious. If you like desserts, try making healthier desserts with coconut sugar or maple syrup and have just a small portion of it to satisfy your sweet cravings. Eating is important! Fueling your body with good food is good for your body and mind….

Chinese “Chickpea” Salad

May 20, 2019 By Asha Shivakumar

Healthy, plant based, gluten free Chinese Chickpea Salad will change your salad game forever. The crunch from the chickpeas, the sweetness from the oranges and the sweet and spicy dressing, umami of flavors.

When your little boy says, this is a “life changing salad”, you know you are on to something.

It’s no secret that we love chickpea, it’s a great protien for vegetarians. It’s so versatile, taking on the flavors of the dressing or sauce they are paired with. I love my healthy food, but it has to taste good and not feel like I am on some diet. This salad makes an appearance every week. We love our Asian flavors and salads… hence the creation of this amazingly flavorful Asian/ Chinese Chickpea Salad.

This simple, plant-based salad is fresh, hearty, has great crunch and the best flavor!…

Sweet and spicy Curried Mango chicken salad

July 10, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

This is fun and tasty spin on chicken salad. This spicy curried mango chicken salad has diced grilled chicken, cashews and a creamy curry sauce. It’s addictive and makes for a nice wrap or like lettuce wraps. Perfect for Picnics or light lunch.

Summer comes and mangoes are everywhere. Although we don’t get that many varieties sweet ones,as we get in India, we are lucky to get some sweet ones here.

When mango arrives, everyone’s enjoying them to the core. Smoothies, Popsicles, kulfi, ice-cream, salads, sauces, you name it, people make it. I am not the biggest fan of mango as is, I know I know, weird, but true. In salad form, I could eat the whole bowl….

Chickpea-Cherry Tomatoes-Basil Pasta Salad in a Peanut-Curry Dressing

August 30, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Hello there my friends!! Long time, no see.

Boy, is it hard to get to a routine after a fun 2 months of no cooking, no photography, and just lazing around.

Hope your summer went well. Any interesting things you did during summer, would love to hear.

It’s quite appropriate to say that we traveled the whole globe in the last 2 months. It was one heck of a fun summer, travels, family, lots of food and more food.

I have a post coming up soon on my travels, with pictures of monuments, food, and all the colors. Well, before I could jump into that post, life happened. School and routine began, and what to pack for school lunch is now always on my mind. This is one of my go to lunches for the boys and makes for a colorful and healthy meal. Pack the sauce separately and add any veggies you like. It’s a base and tastes absolutely good even when it’s only slightly warm.

Healthy and a perfectly balanced dish, with an amazing sauce. Hope you get to try it out!

Have a wonderful week! All the best for all the kids who start school this week.

Hugs,

Ash

5.0 from 2 reviews

Chickpea-Cherry Tomatoes-Basil Pasta Salad with Peanut Curry Dressing

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

30 mins

Author: Ash

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 cups dry pasta(any pasta with some
8 oz of canned chickpea or cooked chickpea 1 cup
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
basil - 15-20 leaves

For the dressing

Toasted Peanuts - 2 tbsp
Almonds 2 tbsp
sesame seeds -1 tbsp
Lime juice from ½ lime
⅓ tsp red chili flakes
sriracha- 1tsp
1 tsp honey
4 garlic
1 tsp Apple cider vinegar
¼ tsp curry powder
Olive oil -1 tsp
cumin seeds- ½ tsp
roasted fennel seeds -1/3 tsp(optional)
1 stalk green onion/scallion
Water to thin the dressing

Instructions

Cook the pasta till al dante and run it through cold water to take away any starch. Set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, you can make the dressing.
Grind everything required for the dressing to a smooth paste. Add a tablespoon or so of the hot water to thin it down. It should be of pourable consistency.
Take a pan, add a tsp of oil and ⅓ tsp fennel and add the cooked chickpeas. If you are using the canned, drain it very well and then use.
Toss them well and add the cherry tomatoes and toss for 30 seconds to a minute. Take it off the heat.
Add the pasta and veggies in a bowl and top it with basil.
Add the dressing 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy

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Garlicky Mung/Moong Bean-Dill-Pomegranate Spicy Warm Salad

January 21, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

After a couple of years of pretty severe drought in the Bay, the wet weather for the past few weeks is a welcome change. I definitely am happy to hear the pitter-patter of the rain and rumble of the leaves. The deep brown soil turning brown and the dry brown grass on the mountains turning green are some very pretty sights.

Waking up to dark gray clouds, the sounds of rain, the trembling trees all makes us want to snuggle a bit more. Turning and struggling to wake up, going down for a hot cup of coffee and to a silent almost ‘pin drop silence’ except for the rain was an ideal start to my perfect day.

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Burmese Tea Leaf salad

March 10, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Around this time, a few years ago, was when I started enjoying green tea. An introduction to an actual green tea salad came way later, with a lot of resistance. I am not a salad lover, let alone a fermented green tea salad… That’s a stretch.

If you visit San Francisco and you have some time to wait in line to grab a bite, do not miss Burma Superstar. The food is delicious, and the fermented green tea salad is outstanding. What I don’t enjoy is the wait (which is crazy), and it’s even worse when you go there hungry. So, you know, I had to find a way to make one my favorite salad at home. I was inspired by the excellent salad I ate there, and just had to make my own version.

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HARISSA-MANGO PANEER AND PEARL BARLEY-DILL SALAD

January 17, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

This month was my whole grain month. As I measured out the barley to cook that morning, I did not realize that I had to be creative about how I made use of it for the next three days.

Little did I know that after you have a decent portion of this grain, you won’t be hungry for hours. But isn’t that a good thing? Oh well, maybe. For me, it was ok. So, long story short, I cooked 4 cups of barley which turned out to be around 8 cups of cooked barley. The kids were very apprehensive at the sound of the grain but it turned out they enjoyed it especially when I paired it with something they love….