Carrot & Cucumber Salad

Salads became one of my favorite eats from the time I started living in hostel.  Young ones and teenagers realise the importance of home cooked food only when they start living alone or in a hostel. It is impossible for the hostel cooks to please everyones taste buds since each one has their own liking and preferences when it comes to food. It was the same scenario in the hostel I stayed in. Many of them were from Northeast parts of India like Nagaland and Manipur,  few were from Andra Pradesh, who had come away from their hometowns to pursue their theological studies and equip themselves to get involved in Christian Ministries.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed living with them and experienced different cultures and their food habits which was totally different from us the South Indians.  Most Nagas and Manipuris liked boiled vegetables and spicy chutney or salad along with rice, unlike us, where we use lot of spices in Dhal, Rasam and almost every dish that we prepare.  I remember some days when we did not feel like eating the routine food, the boys and girls wood pool in some money to buy salad veggies.  One of the boys would make some refreshing salad for all of us.  This was like a life saver many a times.  Some days the girls would save all the boiled eggs that we got for lunch (2 eggs each on a particular day) and prepare some spicy egg salad for supper!  This is how the love for salads began in me and even to this day, it is a sure quick fix when I am left to face those boring meals.  This is my first salad post on this blog and I look forward to posting some refreshing and quick salad recipes for all the salad lovers. 

 

Carrot & Cucumber Salad

Preparation time : 15 minutes

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

2 Carrot

1 While radish

1 Cucumber

2 Green chilies

1 teaspoon lime juice

3 tablespoon groundnuts/peanuts

Salt to taste

Method:

•       Peel  & wash  the carrots, radish and cucumber and grate them.  You may like to      chop cucumber finely since, it becomes watery while grating. 
•       Slit green chilies and remove the seeds and chop them finely.  Do not remove the   seeds if you like it hot and spicy. 
•       Roast the groundnuts/peanuts with a teaspoon of oil till it turns from pink to brown and crush them in to coarse powder in a mixer or pound them using a stone/wooden roller.
•       Mix all the ingredients well in a serving bowl and season it with salt and lemon juice. 
•       Refreshing and crunchy salad is ready to serve

PS: You can also add one chopped onion and tomato for different variation which adds some tanginess.

Eat healthy and stay healthy!! =)