Skip to main content

Shelling Season


Do you get excited when shelling beans are in season. Dried beans and legumes of all kinds are a staple for me, but there is something extra special about fresh borlotti beans that make an appearance for a few weeks each year.

So when I got some shelling beans, I decided to make this simple salad rather than drown them in curry the way my cook wished to. It's just boiled beans, steamed corn, chopped black olives, chopped scallions and a few mint leaves. I mixed all of these in a bowl, then made a simple vinaigrette.

In a mixing bowl, add a tbsp of your best olive oil and a tbsp of white wine vinegar. Add enough salt and freshly crushed pepper to season your salad, then whisk everything until blended. Pour this over the salad, mix and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours for the flavors to mingle.

Comments

CurryLeaf said…
Yum Delicious.Perfect salad.Filling and Have heard of the borlotti beans,but is there anyother local/hindi name ?I would like to see if it is available here.
R the shells in pink colour? I think so Do let me know
Ann said…
I don't think I've seen that pink bean either. Good girl - healthy meal - happy doctor. Now stop already and post another fudgy brownie recipe, I'll have my people (man)handle the doctor....
Srivalli said…
Lovely picture Simmi..
Malar Gandhi said…
Perfect salad, very fulfilling meal.
Simran, I'm a doctor too, and I'll tell you a secret. The biggest contributing factor to health is happiness. So, go ahead, and have what you really want. It's not as if you're going to have cake 3 times a day 7 days a week anyway! That said, this salad looks delicious too.
Padhu Sankar said…
Healthy and filling!
Poonam said…
looks yumm simran!! :))

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru