Salad Platter, North Indian
Salad from North India
Mamta Gupta
When you go for a meal to an Indian home or to a restaurant in India, you will find that salad is often served as a platter, each ingredient separate, so people can help themselves to what the want. Sometimes, very intricate patterns are made with different ingredients and a simple arrangement at others. A little sprinkling of salt, pepper and lemon juice are the only dressing used, but even this is left to individual choice. As children, our mother used to let us 'do' the salad and we loved making intricate patterns on a platter, sometimes cutting animals and birds our of carrots/Mooli radish.
All you have to do is clean and slice various ingredients and plate them nicely. You can have as many or as few salad vegetables you like. Quantities of these ingredients are only approximate and can vary according to availability, your choice and number of people you are making it for.
Ingredients
1 white radish or Mooli, peeled and thinly sliced or cut into batons
2-3 medium sized (you don’t want huge slices), firm tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced in circles or batons
A few green chillies, whole, washed
1-2 red onions, peeled thinly sliced
1-2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
A few lettuce leaves for the base
1 tbsp. finely chopped coriander leaves (optional)
1 lime, cut into wedges or slices, enough slices to have 1 per person
Salt to taste, added by each person, as they wish
Black pepper to taste, added by each person, as they wish.
Instructions
Prepare all vegetables as described and arrange in a platter as you wish. Look at various pictures for ideas and send some of your pictures with new ideas to me via the contact link above.
Arrange lemon slices/wedges around the platter. Keep covered with a cling film and chilled until required.
Just before serving, sprinkle salt and pepper and squeeze a little fresh lemon on top. The wedges on the platter can be used by people if they want it to be more lemony.
Also see Also see Salad Selection.