Spice up the salad bowl

Surprise, surprise! A recent survey has put the healthy salad as the most favoured global choice of food. What we thought of as a dull palate cleanser or a pre-meal munch is being fast decimated by a reinvented look and a longer list in restaurant menus. Chefs are trying every innovation that their wandering minds smoke up — using pulses, grains, roasted vegetables, toasted seeds, mixing juices, grills and pan-fried slivers. Even of fresh fruits. New additions like cranberries, edamame beans, granola chunks and black barley not only lend a kick but glamourise the humble health foods. 

As chef Ajay Chopra says, “Salad has been the most amorphous of all foods. The word salad is derived from the word sal, meaning salt, which was often an ingredient in the dressing. Salads were generally defined as mixed greens with dressing which were enjoyed by ancient Romans and Greeks. As time progressed, salads became more complicated and varied according to place and time.” Dinner salads, as we know them today, came with the Renaissance. Composed salads, assembled with layers of ingredients, were enjoyed in the 18th century. They were then called salmagundi. Today, they are called the chef’s salad. 

Salad, according to Chopra, is an easy recipe but the tricky part is the flavour of the dish. As a chef, you have to know the flavour of every green. You have to know how the texture, taste and aroma of an oil, or combination of oils, is going to interact with the greens. You have to know how the flavour and acidity of vinegar is going to interact with other ingredients in the dressing, as well as the greens. “Also, you should know what added flavours will benefit the dressing’s ability to accentuate the greens and balance out flavours. All this can only be achieved with experience,” adds Chopra. 

love your greens

leaves are no longer restricted to spinach and romaine lettuce. The multi-textured and coloured kale leaves (known as karam saag and belonging to the cabbage family) are the new favourite. Says chef Saby, Director of Kitchens for Ai, the Japanese restaurant, “The leaves keep well in the refrigerator for a couple of days, unlike most salads made with more delicate greens. Since they store well, they are a great pack-for-lunch option. On the other hand, kale salads come packed with nutrients and fibres. One cup of kale offers over two times the vitamin A you need in a day. You can complement it with cheese, paneer, pasta, strawberry, red pepper and many more.”

While kale will be trending, cauliflower will appear in everything this season. Previously disregarded for its lack of flavour, it is this exact characteristic that is making it popular this time. Florets will be crumbled and cooked like rice or couscous, mashed into a paste instead of potato and cut into chunks and served as a steak. 

Chef Chopra says, “Root vegetables like celery, parsnips (the pale carrot) and kohlrabi will come grated, fried, mashed or pureed. The much-maligned Brussels sprouts will be plated up after being finally recognised as a superfood. Fermented vegetables such as Korean kimchi will become popular. And there are hundreds of varieties of kimchi made from napa cabbage, radish, scallion or cucumber as a main ingredient. Apart from this seaweed, which has been used in soups and stews for its savoury umami quality, will move from sushi into salad territory.”

The second-most popular item on the Indian palate is the tossed salmon salad, featuring char-grilled salmon tossed with blistered green beans, tomatoes, a dill shallot and yogurt dressing. And given our Himalayan trouts, you can toss them in after they are herb-rubbed or char-broiled. Dressing is breaking out of the creamy French, Thousand Island and cheesy mould and into lighter, more flavourful and nuanced formulations. They are becoming lighter, more ethnic-oriented and oil-based. 

Protein-rich diet

The bouquet is increasingly becoming wider to accommodate non-vegetarians. Says chef Arun Sundararaj of The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, “Seafood, courtesy our long coastline, is being poached or baked and then tossed in. The dressing for these salads is a little overpowering with vinegar or lemon to balance the taste. Seafood can also be incorporated in salads as pates, terrines or even in combination with other meats. Few examples are prawn cocktail, king crab salad, Thai style fish salad, squids and pepper salad, tuna pate or seafood terrines.”Although grilled and crispy chicken are still popular, other trendy combination proteins are nuts and quinoa. Sweet-savoury combinations have also gained a big following with fruits, berries and nuts. “As people move more into the ‘think healthy’ era, salads have become more important for the diehard carnivore,” adds Sundararaj.

Kids’ platters

Salads are a great way to get kids to eat their vegetables but they don’t always find them appealing. Chef Sundararaj suggests sales pitches like naming them after favourite cartoon characters such as Popeye’s salad, Sponge Bob Ranch salad, Disneyland’s Cock-a-Doodle-do salad and Spiderman’s spun sugar salad. Chef Chopra goes for colour, like matching beetroot with watermelon. “Use ingredients that kids are familiar with, like cheese, croutons and iceberg lettuce. Cut vegetables in cool shapes, use fun toppings, colourful dressings, olive oil and lemon vinaigrette to win over your picky eaters.” He further advises parents to introduce their children to basic kitchen skills and involve them hands-on in an interactive experience. Roll up your sleeves together and get ready to peel, tear, squeeze, segment, pinch, chop and play.