DIY Winter Special Salads to Complete Your Party Menu

You call up your friends, blast all the throwback and hottest party songs, serve some smooth cocktail and the mood is set. There is a long night ahead, and a heavy party menu that is all about cheese rolls and kebabs. So, how about giving a healthy start to your dinner with these stunning salads that are so easy to make, you can probably assemble them while dancing on the table (*kidding, obviously).

 

1) Beetroot Tartare Salad

By Chef Tarun Sibal, Director, One Fine Meal

 

INGREDIENTS

Walnut and Mooli Curd

• 1/2 cup hung curd 
• 5 ml fresh lemon juice
• Grated radish 1 table spoon
• Walnut crushed - 4
• Salt to taste
• Mix all the ingredients together
  For the Beetroot Tartare:
• 2 large red beets
• 3 teaspoons walnut oil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon madras curry powder
• 1 table spoon vinegrette dressing

METHOD

For the beets

1. Blanch the beets in water, vinegar, salt, sugar and chilli
2. Dice it into small cubes
3. Temper with madras curry powder and walnut oil

For avocado and cashew

4. Blend ripe avocado and hydrated cashews into a phase, add salt pepper, lemon
5. Serve the tarter with the help of a mould. Add pea shoots, pine nuts and vinegrette, cracked black pepper .
6. Add crisp Naan bread, on the side with avocado purée and walnut curd.
7. 

2) Grilled Chicken Poke’ Sriracha Aioli

By Chef Sidharth Sharma, Corporate Chef, Saints N Sinners Gurgaon

 

For base

• Soba noodles       ½ cup
• boiled and cooled

For Grilled Chicken

• Boneless breast of Chicken-   1 No cleaned
• Chopped garlic     2 cloves
• Salt   to taste
• Virgin Olive oil      1 tspn
• Chili flakes  ½ tspn
• Crushed black pepper   ½ tspn

For dressing-Sriracha aioli

• Sriracha sauce     1 tblspn
• Extra virgin olive oil        1 tblspn
• Chopped garlic     2-3 cloves
• Lemon juice ½ lemon
• Toppings
• Beetroot (roasted/raw)    ½ No.
• Avocado slices     4-5
• Carrots peeled and sliced       ½ No.
• Red cabbage, cut into squares         ¼ cup
• Spring onion greens       1 No.
• Bell peppers (optional)   ½ No.
• Edamame beans  2-3 pods

Assembly

• Clean and marinate the chicken breast and keep aside for at least half an hour.
• In the mean time prepare the dressing by mixing the ingredient. Use a whisk to blend the dressing evenly.
• Drizzle the boiled and cooled soba noodles with some dressing and arrange it on to a clean plate or a shallow bowl.
• Grill and slice the chicken breast and arrange it over the soba noodles.
• Individually douse each of the toppings in the dressing and arrange them around the soba and grilled chicken.
• Drizzle some dressing on to the plated poke’.
• You can add or remove the topping as per your choice.
• Additionally you can sprinkle a mix of healthy sunflower, flax seeds etc to add crunch to the poke’
• 

3) Pear Salad With Lemon

By Chef Kasi Viswanathan, F&B Director, Radisson Blu Atria, Bengaluru

 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups mixed baby greens
• 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons dried cranberries
• 1 pear, thinly sliced

 

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 zest of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons sugar

METHOD OF PREPARATION

• To make the vinaigrette, whisk together olive oil, Meyer lemon juice and zest and sugar in a small bowl; set aside. 
• To assemble the salad, place baby greens in a large bowl; top with the goat cheese, walnuts and dried cranberries. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine.
• Serve immediately topped with sliced pear
• 

4) Winter Salad Bowl
By Chef Manoj Rawat, Hilton Garden Inn, Gurgaon Baani Square

Serves 4

 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1” pieces
• 400g baby carrots
• ½tsp ground cumin
• 1tbsp Oilve Oil
• 4 large handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 red onion sliced
• Arils from ½ pomegranate
• 100g feta cheese crumbled
• Small bunch fresh coriander
• 20 gms Pumpkin Seeds
• 20gms Sunflower Seeds

DRESSING

• 2tbsp Olive Oil
• Juice ½ lemon
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

METHOD

1. Place the 1 cubed sweet potato and carrots in a bowl then drizzle on the olive oil, salt, peppers and cumin. Stir well to cover then bake in an oven set at 190c/fan 170c/Gas mark 5 for 45-50 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the salad dressing then season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Dress the spinach and onion with the dressing then portion onto plates, top with the sweet potato and carrots then scatter over the pomegranate seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds and feta cheese. Finally scatter over some fresh coriander to serve.
3. 

Cooking up these starters requires almost no cooking at all. Just chop, toss and assemble and head back to the partyyyyy.