LOOKING for a light and healthy salad that’s at the same time delicious and flavorful? I stumbled upon one today, July 5, 2014, when I attended the A Vegan Affair with Chef Marie Gonzalez interactive cooking class at The Maya Kitchen. I dropped by The Maya Kitchen the other day to see a good friend, Ige Ramos, editor of Rustans Supermarket’s Sansrival Magazine (for which I will also be writing), and Tita Rorie Subida, head of The Maya Kitchen, invited me to come over today and attend the class. As author of Anvil Publishing Inc.’s Pinoy Vegetarian Cookbook, she says, the cooking class was right up my alley, and since I am in the process of gathering recipes for the second edition of my vegetarian cookbook, I said yes.
So, I was there with my husband Raff early this morning, and Chef Marie Gonzalez demonstrated how to prepare four vegan recipes – Yellow Split Pea Soup, Marinated Baked Tofu with Roasted Vegetables and Brown Rice, Rainbow Salad with Basil-Lemon Vinaigrette, and Chocolate Cake with Two Sauces – before grouping members of the class and sending them off to the cooking stations to replicate what she had just prepared.
Here’s the recipe of the interesting salad for readers of this blog, www.flavorsoflife.com.ph, to replicate in your own kitchens. This recipe requires no cooking, just a lot of whisking and a little assembly work, so everyone can do it.
The basil-lemon vinaigrette:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. coco sugar or muscovado sugar, or more to taste
1 tbsp. mustard
2 tbsps. finely chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1. Combine garlic, lemon juice, sugar and mustard in a small bowl.
2. Whisk until well combined.
3. Finely chop fresh basil leaves. Gather washed and pat-dried basil leaves together, then slice into thin strips before chopping further.
4. Add chopped basil to the dressing. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Slowly drizzle in extra virgin olive oil while whisking.
6. Whisk until emulsified. Taste and adjust with sugar, salt and pepper accordingly. To season accurately, dip a piece of lettuce leaf in the dressing and taste.
Makes 3/4 cup.
The salad:
4-6 cups salad greens (Romaine lettuce, Lollo Rosso lettuce, spinach, watercress and/or arugula)
red bell pepper, seeded and julienned
yellow bell pepper, seeded and julienned
carrots, peeled and julienned
singkamas (jicama), peeled and julienned
alfalfa sprouts or tom yao sprouts
cucumber, seeded, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced into half moons
1. Chop salad greens into bite-sized pieces.
2. Make a bed of salad greens in a bowl. Top with red bell pepper.
3. Add yellow bell pepper.
4. Add carrots and singkamas.
5. Top with a mound of alfalfa sprouts.
6. Garnish with cucumber. Serve with basil-lemon vinaigrette on the side.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
