Noodle Salad and Peanut dressing

Guess what... I completely forgot about my last post. I did not remember that I took a decision to become a fitter person and that I decided to publicly record my journey... What a fantastic start to me being healthy!

I don't think there is a need to state the obvious, and yet I have to do what I think is absolutely unnecessary... Although, in my head right now I am quite sure that I don't want to beat myself up for not following through. Honestly, it's easy to wallow in self pity and even easier is to put myself down and berate me for not keeping promises I made to myself. It is quite easy. So yes... things did not go as planned. But for all the things that went wrong, here are a few things I did accomplish in the last 3 and a half months.

• I walked 3 kms in the SBI pinkathon and finished the walk in about 30 minutes
• I wrote and submitted my practical log book and assignments for my MA Psychology course from IGNOU
• I went on an amazing holiday with my husband and stayed in a place that was on my "to do once in a life time" list 
• I fired my cook and have now started cooking all our meals at home

Not bad I think! 

So about the cooking at home part... I have to make easy lunches and dinner. I don't do elaborate very well. Even when I am cooking for a big group of people, I will make 4 to 5 dishes but they all have to be simple. I do not like complicated. No wonder I don't cook Indian food as much. I always felt it was boring. But in the last few weeks I have come to realise that I do like to cook Indian food as much as I love to eat it. It's just that I hate the elaborate prep work that goes into it. So, I have help now, she cuts all the veggies especially the leafy stuff and makes cooking a breeze for me. I have been doing a lot of lentils and rice and even pesarattus. And I am loving the food that I make these days. So for lunch today I made my husband's favourite, 'ambali'. Will put down the recipe some time later. For dinner I made a noodle salad. I am sorry for the crappy picture... I did not think I was going to post it on the blog. Although this did go onto my Instagram account. 

So for today's dinner, It was as simple as it could get... Now I live in Hyderabad... And here is when I miss living in Pune... I miss all the fresh produce I was able to source for this kind of cooking. And initially I hated it, but now I simply make substitutions and make do with what I have. So! I had roasted capsicum leftover from yesterday and I wanted to use it up today. Also I had carrots and cucumbers that I hadn't used in some time now. I decided to make a easy peasy salad... A go to dinner option at home. Prassi loves salad dinners and so do I... especially in this scorching summer heat. Most evenings I don't even feel like eating. But cold salads are enticing and make me hungry. 

For the salad:

• three small carrots julienne
• two english cucumbers julienne
• a handful of alfa alfa sprouts
• red and green bell peppers roasted on a naked flame, cleaned and cut up in strips
• half a pack of cooked udon noodles

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp honey
• a heaping tbsp of peanut butter
• handful of roasted peauts
• 3 cloves of garlic

So mix the veggies and the noodles in a bowl. For the dressing i just bunged all the ingredients in a blender and added a little bit of warm water from the noodles and blended till it was all mixed up... it need not be smooth. Always remember to taste though, it is easier to make the changes in the dressing before we add it to the salad. You can add jalapenos or any other pickled chilly. I tossed the dressing with the noodle mixture and added more coarsely ground roasted peanuts and lots and lots of coriander. I did not have spring onions though... That would have made a nice addition. Also toasted sesame seeds. You can even add some thinly sliced apples or pomegranate or orange segments. Its completely up to your taste buds. But I have to say... it was great on its own... N we have enough left overs for my husband's lunch. So yay! I don't have to cook early in the morning tomorrow.