All Indian Salad dressing

A meal salad for me is usually a fussy creation, especially if you are making the dressing by yourself. However the garden is now filled with all varieties of beautiful multicolored greens - mostly mesclun and romaine. Our first year trying out lettuce growing and I quite like the results! The highlight of this whole effort was the salad dressing that I created. It captures a lot of the base flavors for an essential curry. To add some meal-like substance I mixed cauliflower, nuts and fish to the salad and we ended up with quite a hearty meal.

All Indian Salad dressing

Cauliflower and fish salad with an all indian salad dressing

Prep Time: 7-8 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients

For the dressing

5 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 tablespoons grated ginger

4 pods of garlic

1 cup chopped scallions

1-2 minced green chilies

1/2 teaspoon powdered cumin

1/2 teaspoon powdered coriander

4 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon honey

4 tablespoons thick lowfat yogurt (like greek)

1 teaspoon salt

For the salad

1/2 pound fresh white fish fillets (such as mahi-mahi)

1 cup of cauliflower flowerettes

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

1-2 tablespoon oil

1/2 cup mixed nuts (I used walnuts and cashews)

2 cups of mixed fresh chopped greens

Method of Preparation

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and add the ginger, garlic and scallion and cook for 3-4 minutes.

2. Remove and place these in a blender bowl. Add in the remaining oil, green chilies, cumin, coriander, cilantro, honey and yogurt and the salt.

3. Blend till smooth, set aside in the refridgerator.

4. Mix the fish with half the coriander, turmeric, and salt.

5. Mix the cauliflower with the remaining coriander, turmeric and salt.

6. Heat the oil in a large flat skillet place both the cauliflower and the fish in separate sections and cook till the fish is flakey (about 4 minutes on each side). The cauliflower needs to be stirred lightly and cooked till lightly brown and soft.

7. Place the cauliflower in a large mixing bowl. Add in the nuts and the greens and mix lightly.

8. Mix in the salad dressing generously.

9. Flake the fish and stir in.

10. The salad can either be served at once or kept in the refridgerator and served when needed (it can stay for 1 hour).