Monday, August 6, 2007

Summer Salad with Oranges Grilled in Barbeque Sauce

"Earth Food", the theme selected by Meeta for her monthly mingle event was quite thought provoking. Honestly, it was a bit of a challenge to come up with a recipe that would fit the bill. I thought about a couple of different possible options like preparing a meal in which every ingredient was from my home kitchen garden, something that was grown without using pesticides, so that it would make an Earth friendly food! Then I thought of putting together a simple recipe that could be cooked on a charcoal grill, thus saving electricity used for heating coils. I also considered cooking something with vegetables grown under the soil. Such a meal would exemplify the significant amount of effort required to keep our Earth uncontaminated, to continue growing vegetables and roots underground. Inspite of thinking about this whole array of options, I wasn’t too happy with my alternatives for this August mingle.

That’s when Pratik came to my rescue (Yes, and this time I am not mentioning his name to get excused of playing some prank on him, as I had described earlier). He had put together a mind- blowing salad eons ago. I liked it so much at the time that I had clicked some pictures of this beautiful salad. I am glad I took those pictures because I believe this recipe fits the Earth Food theme for this month’s mingle. This original and delicious salad was made out of some left over greens, a couple of oranges, some tomatoes, mushrooms and cucumbers and a vegetable patty, all of which would have had to be trashed had they not been used to make this salad! I should also mention two other incidents that made me put in my two cents worth and contribute towards efforts already underway to save this beautiful Earth of ours. I feel that this mingle and these two incidents connect and compliment each other very intimately.

A few days ago, I came across this post from Dilip, the CEO of the “Feed a Hungry Child” organization, based in India. I was very touched and pleased to know the noble cause that the organization is working towards. Although the group is currently based and focused in India, it aims to broaden its reach and feed hungry children all around this globe! After going through their website and understanding the saintly endeavors they are in the process of planning, I decided I didn’t want to be a mere reader! Pratik and I officially joined the organization and are planning on actively taking up several activities in the future to raise money for the organization from the United States. You can read more about the organization here. I will also be posting some planned activities for this cause on my blog sometime soon. We are very delighted to have joined this group as their associates in the United States. We invite you all to join in and donate some smiles!

The second incident that reinforced my change in attitude towards our eating habits was Jai and Bee’s post, which showed a picture of a starving child in Sudan being stalked by a vulture. As the post discussed, it really made me think twice before I threw away even the skin of a carrot or a broccoli stem. This could indeed be a feast for some of the starving children on this Earth. After having read this post, I also felt content at not having thrown away watermelon rinds a few days ago and instead having created this burger recipe out of it.

These two incidents made me go back and think of this meal that Pratik had put together for a dinner. It has changed my life for good. The greens and the fruits that were on their way to the trash-can, happily made it into our stomach to offer us a light and nutritious dinner! And that’s what I want to encourage everyone to do. Don’t trash your left-overs. And the next time you are about to do it, think about the fact that someone in the world does not even get the amount you are just about to throw away. I am sure then that there will always be some way of converting those leftovers into a complete meal.

Meeta deserves special thanks for hosting this wonderful theme and making us all think about making our Earth beautiful again!

Here is the recipe for this salad:

Ingredients:
4 handfuls of lettuce or mixed greens
1/2 large sized tomato
1 handful of mushrooms
1/4 cucumber
2 oranges
1 vegetable patty
2 tbs barbeque sauce
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper as per taste

Method:
1. Marinate the orange slices in the barbeque sauce for 10 minutes.
2. Cut the tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumber and oranges as you prefer.
3. Grill the marinated oranges for about 3 minutes on each side.
4. Grill the vegetable patty until crisp and golden brown. Cut the patty in strips or cubes.
5. Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl with some salt and pepper.

Serving:
Serve the salad on individual plates with any whole grain or french baguette and a chilled drink.

26 comments:

bee said...

good luck with your new endeavours poonam and pratik.

Roopa said...

Good luck and great job!

Saju said...

whata lovely salad, looks so refreshing!

J said...

Good luck!! Salad looks great!

Viji said...

Good luck poonam. The salad is refreshing. Viji

Katie Zeller said...

Lovely salad and thoughtful post!
Most of us could do more...
Recycling is very bid here - and now is something we do without thinking. That and the compost bowl on the kitchen counter. I have only our compost to blame for my lush gardens this year :-) If we don't eat it, it fertilizes our food for the next season!

SeeC said...

Appreciate and admire your effort for a good deed.

BTW Salad looks fresh and inviting.

FH said...

Their donation paypal system is not registered as a Charity yet,so people cannot forward the donation thru' that! I had the icon for a while in the sidebar,then took it out.Hopefully,that will be taken care of soon!Good luck to you and hubby!:)
Cool summer salad.My kids love the BBQ sauce in anything!Great entry.

Suma Gandlur said...

That's so thoughtful. Good luck. A healthy salad.

Sharmi said...

gook luck to you and ur hubby.
Grilled oranges sounds yummy.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if I have come here before...You have a very nice blog. Loved your Italian and Mexican dishes, I will definitely try them out.
Good luck to you :)

Anonymous said...

well i always feel lazy to read ur posts....but i felt if image is bit bigger......it would be good.
most of ur recipes are new to me....so vl wait for some familiar ones ;)

Unknown said...

I loved your post. It was very inspiring. It made me realize how much waste there is in my cooking sometimes.
Your salad looks wonderful. Great for a hot day!

Cynthia said...

Isn't if gratifying when something gives us reason to pause and think and make us want to try harder to eat and live better... good luck to you Poonam.

Raaga said...

there are incidents that make us sit up and take notice of things. It is the little things that make the difference in the end. We shouldn't wait for the big thing.

Nice recipe.

Suganya said...

This is so cool.....Good luck

TBC said...

Love the salad, looks so good!

sunita said...

That was such a thought-provoking post...glad you and Pratik are doing something rather than being a back-bencher...all the very best in your new venture...
...my first time here, and I think I'm loving it :)
btw, did I mention that the salad looks great :)

Poonam said...

Hi Bee, Roopa, Saju, Joythsna, Viji, Katiez, SeeC, Suma, Sharmi, Shilpa, Erin, Cynthia, Raaga, Sukanya, TBC, Sunita. Thanks to you all for stopping and taking a moment to read about the charity program and ofcourse Pratik's recipe!

Asha: They are working on getting their online payment system up.

Chef Jeena said...

Hi there nice summer recipe :)

Pooja V said...

Hi,

Gr8 efforts towards a gr8 cause. Loved the post, recipe, your thoughtfulness. keep up the good work.

Kelly-Jane said...

Mmm, your salad looks so fresh and light, yum!

Swaruchy said...

Ur salad is very tempting :-)

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Gorgeous salad Poonam. I can't believe I missed this one. I've updated the MM post to include your entry. Please forgive the slip !!

Nupur said...

Very good point Poonam. It is truly tragic to waste food that can be creatively converted in delicious meals.

Poonam said...

Jeena, Pooja, Kelly, Sri and Nupur, thanks for checking in!

Meeta: Thanks for adding my entry!