A World in a Word

The word “salad” probably triggers thoughts of lettuce for most people, right next to the adjective “boring.”

But I’ll let you in on one of salad’s simple secrets: Salad is one of the most versatile dishes you can make. The possible combinations of ingredients are so numerous that you could serve two or three salads at one meal and not repeat a major ingredient! (Try it!)

With dozens of vegetables, dozens of fruits, many kinds of nuts, beans, grains, cheese, and even meats to choose from, the options are limited only by your imagination and what’s available. Add the range of choices in dressings and seasonings and you can see that there’s a whole world of flavor combination’s waiting to be explored.

And with the vitamins and minerals of organic foods, unprocessed oils, and quality vinegar or lemon juice, salads pack a major nutritional punch.

What Is a Salad, Anyway?

To my mind, the main feature of a salad is its being served cold. It doesn’t have to be raw; it doesn’t have to be dressed; but it should be cold. It should also have things that need to be chewed (otherwise it’s soup). That’s about it.

So if you’ve been stuck in the lettuce and tomato rut (with maybe the occasional cucumber thrown in), consider the wide range of foods that can pull you out called “salad.”

I mean, think about some of the more unusual salads you may have heard of or tried: Waldorf Salad (apples and raisins), chef’s salad (cold cuts added), potato salad (not a leaf of lettuce in sight!), Mexican salad (corn and peppers), gazpacho (tomato-based chopped salad), spinach salad (with bacon and walnuts), and more…some yet to be named or even invented!

Where Salads Reign

What if instead of the standard meat-potato-vegetable dinner, you served a meal with a small portion of cooked food and two or three cold salads? Revolutionary, I know. Maybe even un-American. But one of the things that makes the Standard American Diet so S.A.D. is its reliance on cooked (and even overcooked) foods.

Our national standards require many more servings of vegetables than most of us get. The first step to eating more vegetables and fruits may be to stop thinking “cooked” and start thinking “salads.” Raw vegetables are good on so many levels, not the least of which is: It’s hard to get fat on vegetables…but it’s easy to get healthier!

So get out those recipe cards and shopping lists and make “salad” one of your favorite meal-planning concepts. Salad’s simple secrets will reward your body well.

The fruity bowl is not merely a dessert, but may also be eaten as an appetizer. The fruits may either be covered in a sweet syrup or may be lathered with the own juices of the fruits. Not all restaurants have a fruit salad, fruit platter, etc. as desserts, so if you are craving for fruits, the best way is t learn how to make a fruit salad yourself.

Making a fruit salad is not really difficult. You just have to make sure that you have all the necessary ingredients prepared. If you have fruit trees planted in your backyard, it will be truly easy for you to make the salad. You may also check out the nearest grocery store for fruits that may be hard to find in the backyard.

Most fruit salads have the following fruits as ingredients: grapes, apples, peaches, pineapples, and the likes. Berries such as strawberries and blueberries may also be added. Some people also utilize chopped mint and a little amount of sour cream, and of course, a little bit of honey for sweetness. More often than not, two cups filled with assorted fresh fruits are enough to make a fruit salad that can serve 3-4 people. Be reminded that all you have to do once you have the ingredients is to mix them well, and voila, you’ll have your very own fruit bowl.

Making the salad is actually similar to the way you prepare your fruity platter – the only difference is that you have to create a dressing for the salad. Dressings, of course, differ from one continent to another. In Europe, for instance, mayonnaise is used as the main ingredient for the dressing, while condensed milk is used as the main dressing ingredient for fruit salads in Asia. Those salads, no matter what kind of dressing, have one common taste: they are definitely meant to be sweet.

Both a fruity bowl and a fruity platter can promote healthy eating for as long as you make use of the right fruit and the right ingredients. It is best to select the fruits’ pureed syrup as one of your ingredients than to use canned syrup if being healthy is on the top of your list. Aside from berries, tangerines, cantaloupes, watermelons, and the likes are the recommended fruits to add into your fruity desserts for maximum health benefits as those fruits are richer in vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and have lower calorie content compared to other fruits.

* Potatoes: Cut the potatoes into half inch potato slices before cooking them. Exhaust it and clean it in a strainer. Chop the sliced potatoes into pieces and put in to a salad basin.

* Salad dressing: The normal dressing for potato is mayonnaise. This increases the flavor of the potato. We can also add some amount of other condiments to increase the flavor. Plain mustard is the most popular one to add, to increase the taste. It’s preferred to go for lighter salad which can well mix with oil and vinegar dressing. Use refrigerator as a base to your dressing.

* Vegetables: The most common vegetable used in this salad is onion. Sweet onions are preferred as they are not burly as usual onion. Other vegetables used here are cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and radishes.

* Eggs and cheese: salads are sometimes called as boiled eggs. For standard sized salad of six potatoes we mix four eggs and two eggs are placed at the top of the bowl.

* Fruits: Some salads contain apple, pineapple and pear.

Waxy potatoes are best potatoes to use in salad recipe. We can also use small potatoes with red like skin. Fingerlings give colorful impression with skin like potatoes.

Even though wide variety of salads available, no salad gives taste like German salad. Most of northern and Southern Germany, Australian and southern European, countries use salads without vinegar and other oil products. Even though the base recipe remains unchanged in these regions, the number and variety of added ingredients can change significantly.

Even though salad is a commonly known dish, many people don’t know that potato salad is becoming extensively accepted in the Asian community, especially in Korea. However, the Korean version of the salad is a bit different. In the Korean version, we add beef, which we normally don’t perceive in a side dish, as well as cucumbers and fruits, like pears and pineapple. It is a very simple recipe that takes hardly any cooking.

To get best potato salad recipe of high quality, proper potatoes must be used. If we don’t use proper potatoes the salad we prepare may produce different flavor which you may not like. Also when you are trying to cook large amount of baked potatoes, get potatoes of similar size, this ensures all slices cooked evenly.

Preparation is the important step to create the best potato salad recipe. Preparation of best salad requires best preparation techniques, good harvested potatoes and other vegetables and ingredients.

Salad is a crowd puller. By following above mentioned steps in this article, you won’t make any mistakes and I think you can prepare salads of great taste. Enjoy making it!

And now for some good news! The good news is that egg salad is easy to make. Here are the tips for you:

Tip 1: Do Not Undercook The Eggs.

Here is a problem that I see often when people cook eggs. Many people, when they cook eggs, either undercook or overcook them. If you undercook them, you cannot even make the salad, because the yolk will still be runny.

Make sure to make good hardboiled eggs, they will make your salad taste great!

Tip 2: Control The Amount Of Mayonnaise That You Use.

I once had a salad, which could be better described as mayonnaise with some eggs in it. Do not overdo it on mayonnaise – this will make your salad soupy and not very tasty.

If you love mayonnaise, do add more, but if you want just a bit, use just a bit, don’t overdo it. About a tablespoon of mayonnaise for every four eggs is about right. And you can always add more mayonnaise, but you cannot take it away. Here is what you can do – add a bit, mix with the eggs and other ingredients and then try it. If it is good, leave it as is. If the salad needs more mayonnaise, then add more, mix and try again. It is much easier to add more mayonnaise than to take it away.

Tip 3: Add Something Crunchy.

While the egg salad is all about the eggs, it is also great to have something crunchy in the salad as well. What do you like to add for crunch? Celery, onions, cucumbers all add the necessary crunch that will make your salad taste fresh and will really add another layer of flavor to it.

Just chop whichever vegetables you are adding, and mix them with the eggs before you add the mayonnaise. Make sure to cut vegetables into smaller pieces – since the eggs are in small pieces, you do not want to have large vegetable pieces to dominate your salad.

Tip 4: Serve Your Salad On Good Bread.

What do you do once you make the salad? You will want to make the egg salad sandwich of course! Make sure to make the sandwich with good bread, such as French bread, or a nice fresh bun – it will help you appreciate the flavor of the salad even more.

The following salads are easy to prepare, try it out!

Egg Salad

Ingredients:
1 small lettuce
2 tomatoes
1 small carrot
1 chili
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
salt and sugar
½ cucumbers
¼ yam bean
1 egg
1 lime
milk
vinegar

Method:
1. Scrape and wash carrot, wash egg and boil them together in a little water.
2. Clean and pound chili. Mix chili with 2 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 teaspoonful of sugar.
3. Mix mayonnaise with lime juice, salt and sugar and thin it down with a little milk.
4. Add chili mixture to the mayonnaise, add extra salt if necessary.
5. Serve dressing in a bowl or sauce boat.
6. Wash all the vegetables carefully and disinfect them.
7. Slice cucumber into neat, thin slices, cut tomatoes into wedges, grate yam bean, and slice boiled egg and carrot.
8. Dry lettuce in a clean tea towel.
9. Arrange salad neatly in a flat dish so that all the vegetables can be seen and the colors are well blended.

Stuffed Bean Curd Salad

Ingredients:
2 pieces fried bean curd
¼ yam bean
½ cucumber
4 or 5 lettuce leaves

Method:
1. Clean all the vegetables and drain them in a colander.
2. Shred the yam bean and cucumber finely.
3. Pour boiling water over the bean curd, leave it for a minute and then squeeze out all the water.
4. Cut each piece of bean curd into 2 triangles and slit the cut edge.
5. Stuff the bean curd with the shredded vegetables.
6. Tear lettuce leaves and lay them on a flat dish, arrange left over shredded vegetables on the lettuce and arrange the stuffed bean curd on top.
7. Garnish with a chili flower.

Chili Dressing

Ingredients:
2 red chilies
1 pip garlic
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon tomato sauce

Method:
1. Pound chili, garlic and salt.
2. Mix pounded ingredients with all the other ingredients.
3. Serve the dressing separately with stuffed bean curd salad or any other salad.