The term salad or hors d oeuvre is one term that comes with the thought of greens, fruits and creams like mayonnaise, yoghurt or milk. And in that way, it is considered boring by some, occasional by some and food for the rich by many in Nigeria. But a salad can be as cheap and simple as you make it. You can go ahead and salad your salad every day because it is healthy, tasty and relatively cheap to prepare.
Hors d oeuvre or salad may be served as an accompaniment to hot and cold foods and can be taken alone as dishes. Salad may also be simple or mixed. it is considered simple when just one ingredient is used and mixed when more than one ingredient is used.
Accompaniments may include dressings like vinaigrette, mayonnaise and olive oil. And cold sauces like green sauce, remoulade sauce and lots more. Okay, enough of the lectures already. Let's jump to the part where we eat.
Three awesome and nutritious salad to try with family at home
I. Potato and chicken salad. As the name goes, you just need Irish potatoes and shredded cooked chicken. That's not all my dear. I advise that before cooking your chicken, make it is well spiced and herbed. this way you wouldn't need to add pepper to the salad again. Again to dice your boiled potatoes to even sizes, almost even because I know you are not chef Takama knife of Japan.
Let's get the ingredients in the right proportion.
Ingredients portions- 5 10.
Ingredients | portions- 5 | 10 |
Irish potatoes, cooked | 250g | 500g. |
skinned shredded chicken (cooked) | 1/2 cup | 1 cup |
Chopped onion (optional) | 15 g | |
Pinch of salt | 15g or 1 handful | 35g or almost a cup. |
Mayonnaise or natural yogurt | 130ml | 300ml |
freshly chopped lettuce or parsley |
Preparation
1. Cut the potatoes into dice the size of a seasoning cube. Pour into a bowl that is big enough to contain all the ingredients
2. Add the shredded chicken and onions to the same bowl.
3. Add the mayonnaise and the pinch of salt. Carefully mix all the ingredients, trying not to break or mash the potatoes.
4. Sprinkle with the well-chopped lettuce, parsley or both.
Serve alongside jollof rice, spaghetti or noodles.
Variation: you can as well add shredded carrots to this salad to elevate the taste and add to the richness.
2. Fish salad: This is another salad that gives your taste bud the wow feeling. And you can serve as an accompaniment with almost any main dish. Fish salad is healthy, rich, easy to make and tasty.
Ingredients portions- 5 10.
Ingredients | portions- 5 | 10 |
Whitefish, cooked, skinned and boned | 250g | 500g |
cucumber (optional) | 70g | 130g |
Hard-boiled egg | 1 | 3 |
lettuce, cleaned and shredded | a handful | |
pinch of salt | ||
vinaigrette (see recipe below) | 1 tbsp | 3tbsp |
powdered black pepper | a pinch | |
Parsley, optional |
Preparation
1. Flake the fish with a fork and dice the egg and cucumber into seasoning cube sizes. Pour everything into a bowl.
2. Add the shredded lettuce to other ingredients in the bowl. add the pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Add the vinaigrette, mix, taste and correct the seasoning if necessary.
4. sprinkle with the parsley and serve.
Variation: for the white fish, you can choose between cod, haddock, croaker, panla and lemon sole.
For the vinaigrette, add 1 tbsp of vinegar, french or English mustard, a pinch of salt and pepper together in a bowl. Carefully whisk in 5 tbsp of olive oil into the vinegar mixture to incorporate or make an emulsion. As simple as that.
3. Tomato and cucumber salad: this is one salad that takes almost no time to prepare. I specifically like that this salad, whenever I eat this, I do have this mindset that my body is praying for me.
here is your tomato and cucumber salad recipe;
Ingredients | portions- 5 | 10. |
Tomatoes | 2 medium sizes | 5 medium sizes. |
Cucumber | Half | 1 medium size. |
vinaigrette | 1 tbsp | 3 tbsp |
Any fresh herb like parsley, chopped. |
Preparation.
1. Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers into thin round slices.
2. Lay the ingredient side by side, alternating between tomatoes and cucumbers.
3. Sprinkle with the vinaigrette and parsley.
Variation: you can quickly blanch the tomatoes to remove the skin, which can be hard to digest.
The general rule of thumb in making a salad.
- Know the texture and flavour of various fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, spices and herbs. This way you will know what goes together and what should stand alone.
- Be creative with your preparation and artistic with your dressing. This helps you to save time and makes it desirable.
- Even though most salad is served cold, you get the best flavour when it's almost room temperature. It still depends on how you like it.
- Cleanliness is everything. knowing fully well that most of the ingredient used in a salad is fresh, you will do well to wash them properly.
- Also, clean your cutlery and utensils like knives and chopping board to avoid cross-contamination.
Feel free to try all these recipes at home and tell me what you feel. You can chat us up on
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AND REMEMBER
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