Salads for summer

One does many things to beat the heat and unfortunately most of the time out impulse drives us to do that is detrimental to health. It is ...

One does many things to beat the heat and unfortunately most of the time out impulse drives us to do that is detrimental to health. “It is important to eat fresh food. That is the only way you can do justice to your taste buds and your health,” says Kavita Nihalani who swears by health food. Co-author of a book Queen of Cuisine and an expert cook herself, she adds, “I have always been interested in cooking and continual experimentation has made me a good one.” Nihalani strongly recommends salads as the food for summer. “A little imagination can do wonders since you can make salads with virtually anything available,” she adds.

According to Nihalani, salads are rich in proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, this is because one uses vegetables, fruits and cereals. Sometimes one can use eggs too. Vegetables could be seasonal ones like cucumber, beetroot, spring onions, cabbage, carrots, lettuce and potatoes. Fruits could be a part of the vegetable salad or one could make a fruit salad separately. But Kavita says that one must add lime juice to keep it fresh.

It is important to remember that one never adds water to salads because it lessens their freshness. Fruits like banana, strawberry, raspberry form a good mixture with vegetables. A fruit salad with apples, oranges, bananas, pineapple and anything in season would make a delicious dessert.

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No salad is complete without a dressing or sauce. Salad dressings include toppings of cream, curds, fruit pulp, honey, lime juice and vinegar. Says Kavita, “I experimented with a peanut-jaggery sauce. And since we are vegetarians, I prefer not to add egg to the mayonnaise sauce. I make it with curds, lime and mustard oil. One can also use plain oil and add mustard seeds to it. These also act as preservatives and are better than the artificial ones.”

“Salad is the best food for summer because it is light, cooling and nutritive,” says she adding that parents must persuade children to try salads because one must cultivate the habit of healthy eating from childhood. Salads are usually non-fattening and there is not much fear of putting on weight no matter how much you consume. “In fact one must prepare a bowl of salad and consume it at intervals. Salads are filling only until one has eaten them. There is a tendency to get hungry very soon. And of course a lot of imagination goes into making it endearing to those who dismiss it as grass-food’,” says she.

Salads are best served chilled. They can be had as part of a main course or they can be a meal in themselves. Salads with khakhra and juices also make an interesting and delicious meal.

And as Kavita believes, “A way to the heart is through the stomach. Good eating also keeps the heart healthy. As a wife and mother, my family’s health is of utmost importance.” Good eating is not too much of a price to pay.