Tag: salad

The crazy simple delicious 3 bean salad recipe.

We’ve been eating a lot of beans thanks to the slow carb diet. Basically, we can still eat carbs, mainly to keep us from getting hungry but those carbs must be of “slow carb” type, which really means it has low glycemic index (low GI).

Low GI foods release glucose into your bloodstream more slowly and steadily, preventing that dreaded sugar high —> sugar crash phenemenon that one experiences after eating refined junk food.

So ingredients like beans and mushrooms are generally low GI and are permitted in our diet.

This 3-bean salad is easy to whip up and so, so, so delicious. It changed my perception of beans entirely! Yes, I was beginning to get really sick of beans until I made this dish :)

# – Crazy simple 3 bean salad.

For the salad:

  • 3 cans of different beans (I used kidney beans, fava beans & chickpeas)
  • 1 green pepper/capsicum, seeded and chopped
  • 2 small red onion, sliced thinly

    • For the dressing:

  • 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup of granulated sugar (I used oligofructose, a natural sweetener for health reason)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

    • # – First, put all ingredients of the dressing in a bowl and whisk till completely combined. Allow it to stand.

    # – Now, throw in the chopped green pepper into a mixing bowl.

    # – Followed by the sliced red onions.

    # – Open the cans of beans and pour it into a strainer. Then rinse them through till the water runs clear.

    # – Pour the beans into the mixing bowl.

    # – Give the dressing a final whisk and pour it all over the salad.

    # – With a spatula, mix it up well making sure the beans are well coated with dressing.

    # – Chill the bean salad for at least an hour before eating.

    # – Serve as a side dish. DELICIOUS!

    # – The salad tasted even more amazing the day after. The beans were chilled through & completely soaked up the dressing.

    Quick with no cooking involved. Absolutely delicious and surprisingly healthy. I’ve made this 3 times so far using different beans.

    Try it out!

    Refreshing mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad.

    Every Friday, I have to think up something light for dinner as it’s badminton night for the BF. He doesn’t like playing the game with a stomach full of food. At first, I thought, hey…this is easy.

    But as weeks go by I realised it’s actually not easy to whip up something that is both delicious and light. How can anything light be delicious, right? There are exceptions though, for instance this recipe (tooting own horn).

    # – Mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad.

    The ingredients:

    • 200 grams of mozzarella, cut into bite size
    • A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
    • A handful of Italian parsley, chopped up
    • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
    • 1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

    # – The stellar cast.

    # – First, cut the mozzarella into bite sizes.

    # – Throw in the halved cherry tomatoes.

    # – Chop up the Italian parsley.

    # – Throw the parsley in as well.

    # – Drizzle olive oil all over…

    # – A sprinkling of ground black pepper…

    # – Lastly, some coarse sea salt to finish it off.

    # – Mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad, DONE!

    No cooking involved. Just cut some stuff up, pour some stuff in, sprinkle some stuff over and it’s done. Taste like a million bucks and most importantly, it’s light.

    Perfect to prep the stomach up for KFC after, hehehe. (kidding)

    Chilled potato salad, just the way I like it.

    We love potatoes in our household. Unless we’re having rice, we’re surely having potatoes. Sometimes, I even serve potatoes with rice, hehe.

    There’s just something really satisfying about eating potatoes. It makes me happy. It makes my toes curl. It makes me sing happy songs.

    And potatoes are so versatile, you can turn them into so many different types of dishes, it’s quite mind boggling really. My most favourite potato dish is layered potatoes, but the truth is, I’m also a not-so-secret potato salad fiend.

    I have few requirements when it comes to potato salads. They are:

    1. The potatoes should be cooked through but not overcooked.
    2. The salad should be well-seasoned.
    3. The salad should have onions.
    4. The salad must have a mixture of mashed and chunky potatoes.
    5. The salad MUST be chilled.

    There are few dishes that should strictly be eaten chilled and potato salad is one of these dishes. Sorry, I am autocratic when it comes to the temperature of my potato salad….

    So now lets make some potato salad, just the way I like it!

    Ingredients:

    • 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
    • 1 red onion, finely chopped
    • 1 stalk of spring onion, finely chopped
    • 3 tablespoon of mayonnaise
    • 2 eggs
    • salt and black pepper to taste

    # – First, peel and chop up the potatoes.

    # – Then finely chop up both spring onion and red onion. Yeah, baby I love my onions!

    # – Put the chopped potatoes to boil in slightly salted water. I’d say about 15-20 minutes, but do check with a fork…when you can poke it all the way through, it’s done!

    # – In the meantime, put the 2 eggs into a pot of water. Turn on the flame and let the eggs cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the flame and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then remove eggs from water and let them cool down.

    # – After the potatoes are done, drain them.

    # – Throw the drained potatoes into a mixing bowl together with the finely chopped red onion and spring onion. Ideally this should be done while the potatoes are still quite hot because the heat will cook the onions a little bit, making them taste less harsh.

    # – Next, stir them around till it looks like the potatoes are coated with the onions.

    # – Then with a potato masher, mash lightly till you get some mash with chunky bits.

    # – Now throw in 3 big dollops of mayonnaise. Stir to mix.

    # – Some salt to taste. Don’t be too heavy handed with salt….taste as you go!

    # – And some black pepper.

    # – You eggs should have cooled down by now. Peel the eggs and cut into bite-size.

    # – Throw them into the potatoes. Mix gently without bruising the eggs too much. The reason why I put in the eggs so late is because I don’t like the idea of stirring my eggs too long…I want the yolks more intact ;)

    # – Transfer them into a container that can fit into your fridge.
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    # – Have a taste. You know you want to…

    # – Wrap the container with clingwrap and stick it into the fridge for at least 2 hours.

    # – Serve with your favourite main dish. I made the salad for our dinner of pan fried dory with lemon oil sauce.

    And there….chilled potato salad, just the way I like it. The cold, creamy potatoes with perfectly boiled eggs, punctuated by crunchy onions….my kind of comfort food. Get some potatoes in the system, now!