A cool fresh salad is perfect for a sweltering summer day.Who wants to cook when it is so hot..Me and my hubby love eating an abundance of salad all year round.We started loving the salad only after hearing precious advice from our family doctor...Agarwal....Thanks for his valuable guidance...Really this habit of eating salad has proved very very helpful to us...I am always looking for a different recipe to try as eating same kind is boring...One of our favorite salad is the Lebanese salad though...It makes a delicious lunch or a light dinner meal.
Request you all to include variety of salads in your everyday meal as it is highly nutritive and very important.Try to make it delious by adding variety of raw veggies and simple homemade dressings with your amazing innovative cap...I follow the same procedure which makes it unavoidable in our dinner! Also salad helps in replacing vegetables during dinner time...so also lessens our efforts and time of cooking as salads can be made easily and quickly.
How to Make Lebanese Salad Recipe...
The Lebanese cuisine is rich with a variety of salad recipes that are unique from other Mediterranean cuisines, and learning how to make the Lebanese salad recipe is not that difficult and requires very little effort.
The Lebanese salad recipe is a great appetizer and a complete vegetarian’s meal. It consists mainly of natural vegetables such as; Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and bell pepper and a few other ingredients. It is a good refreshing appetizer and a substitute to other types of Lebanese salads that require more time to prepare. This recipe takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.
Lebanese people widely makes use of...Bulgur in their recipes.
Right after seeing this event,I was amazed to see something new...As I failed to obtain good recipe on net I forced my husband to take me to local library. There I searched lot many cookery books ...while majority of the Middle East food falls in the non-veg category, I was lucky to find a book that included some good vegetarian dishes. “Cooking the Lebanese Way” written by Suad Amari focuses on the Lebanese cuisine.Same book was introduced to me by my friend...Thanks dear its really worth reading this book.
The author lovely describes lebanese cuisine...he starts off with an alluring description of the land and history of Lebanon. My Geography knowledge got a lift when I learned that Lebanon is the smallest country in the Middle East; it is about 30 miles wide and 135 miles long. Lebanon produces almost all of its food. The farmers cut flat fields out of the steep hillsides and mountain slopes. The Lebanese population contains a blend of Muslims and Christians. All festivals from Eid to Easter are celebrated in the company of friends, family, and food. Lebanese do most of their shopping in street markets called souks in Arabic. Different types of goods are grouped and sold in souks. There are different streets for spice sellers, perfume sellers, meat sellers, and vegetable and fruit sellers.
The writer then explains the different cooking utensils used in Lebanon. Colander, sieve, and slotted spoon are some common cooking utensils. After this, the author takes us straight to a Lebanese table, emphasizing that it is always crowded. A table is crowded with friends and family and also with a vast array of dishes. Dishes of all shapes, sizes, flavors, and aromas greet the guests. The writer then presents recipes grouped under lunch or dinner. After leafing through the book, I short-listed what I wanted to make for the event. I had heard about Bulgur from the first time in this book.so also it explains how very widely it is used in salad..so I asked all my friends going for grocery shopping to fetch me some “Bulgur”. Absolutely no one had heard about this grain before and I had a jolly good time pronouncing it for everyone. No one could locate bulgur in any of the shops and my enquiries to the shop helpers yielded blank expressions. My joy new no bounds when my husband located bulgur in medditerrian section of Meijer ...thanks to him.Because of him only I was able to prepare this salad and participate in this event...so also got lot of information of "Lebanese Cuisine" from this very good book.
Bulgur is one of the most popular foods in Lebanon. Here’s the recipe for a refreshing salad that is part of Lebanese.After Reading this book I recognized that this bulgur is unavoidable for these people...
This goes straight to simply. food as the entry for the "Flavours of the Lebanon" ..Thanks sara for hosting this wonderful theme!
LEBANESE SALAD
2 cups bulgar
1/2 cucumber finely chopped
1/2 tomato or 2 roma tomatoes finely diced
1/2 red onion finely minced
1/2 grated carrot
1/2 cup shredded lettuce
little cabbage as per your likes and dislikes.
1emon juice as per your taste
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves finely minced
1 tbsps chopped fresh mint (optional)
few olives sliced(optional)
crumbled cheese as per your taste
salt and grounded pepper again as per your taste.
Parsley and scallions are optional if available readily at home and if you like then you can add as per your taste.
Procedure:
1.Place bulgur in a colander and rinse under cold running water. I did not have a colander, so I simply washed the bulgur in a utensil. Press bulgur between your hands and remove excess water. Return bulgur to colander and let it drain over a bowl for one hour. Discard the drained water.Now place in a container in which you are going to prepare your salad.Cut the cabbage in half. Cut away the hard core and slice the cabbage crosswise into 1/2-inch strips, then crosswise into 3/4-inch pieces.Quantity is as per your liking. Place the cabbage in a mixing bowl.
2 Add the tomatoes, cucumber,parsley and scallions, and toss with a fork to combine.
3 Also add grated carrot,lettuce,onions,olives as per your choice and mix everything together thoroughly.
4.In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, garlic and salt until the salt dissolves. Mix in the oil.
4Season the dressing to taste with pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss for 1 minute to coat it well, then let sit 10 minutes for flavors to meld. Serve immediately.
Serves 3-4 people.
I moved to USA the country where everybody around me was using bottled salad dressing with names like Ranch, Thousand Islands, French..the readymade food; that was bewildering to me; I did not understand why someone would buy a bottle of these rich concoctions when it was so easy to whip up a salad dressing at home.
I never adopted this custom and stuck with my Lebanese dressing of fresh lemon juice, fresh mashed garlic and lots of olive oil.
What do you use? Do you make your own?
Here is mine. Time used is less than what it would take me to find a bottle in the supermarket, throw it in the cart, wait in line at the checkout stand and pay for it. It takes 56 seconds (or less) to make. It is used on everything, cold and warm salads alike.
Lebanese Salad dressing:
consists mainly of Olive oil, fresh lemon juice and mashed garlic.
Ingredients:
1 clove of garlic, chopped and mashed with salt
1/2 large lemon, squeezed
1/3 cup of olive oil
salt, to taste
sprinkle of dried mint (optional)
METHOD:
Peel and dice the clove of garlic, 10 seconds
Mash the clove of garlic with a pinch of salt in a mortar, 25 seconds
Transfer to a small bowl; squeeze half of a lemon over the garlic, 6 seconds
Add the olive oil and whip the mixture, 11 seconds
Add a dash of dried mint if desired, 4 seconds
TOTAL: 56 seconds
Cook's Notes:
Serve this dish within 30 minutes after preparation since some vegetables such as tomatoes start to lose their vitamins after being chopped.
The Lebanese salad need not be restricted to the above vegetables and the unique taste is devoted to garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Please don't hesitate to ask any question and do let others know what you think about this Lebanese Salad recipe in the comments below
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