Category: Salad Recipes

Follow the links for simple, healthy and very tasty home-made salad recipes.   Or have a look at the Recipe Index for lots of other brilliant easy recipes!

I love salads all year around.   They are an excellent way of show-casing seasonal vegetables and are generally very easy to make.  You can also get really creative with your flavour combinations.

Salads and Slaws

Fried Aubergine with Soy and Honey

Fried Aubergine recipe
Fried Aubergine with Soy and Honey

Fried Aubergine with Soy and Honey

This recipe for Fried Aubergine with Soy and Honey is quick, easy and is a great way to convert any aubergine haters.   Aubergines naturally absorb flavours when cooked and are a great base for strong flavours, such as the umami taste of soy and the heat of chilli.   In this recipe, honey adds a touch of sweetness to balance the saltiness and heat of the other ingredients.  It is really important to ensure that aubergine is well cooked so that it becomes soft – no one likes a chewy aubergine!

I serve this Fried Aubergine hot as a side dish with curries and stir-fries.   However, it is also great at room temperature as a salad.   I will often take it to work with me as part of my eat-at-the-desk lunch – together with some cold rice or noodles and find the combination of flavours frankly addictive!   It is also good as part of a cold buffet.

There are a number of similar recipes for Fried Aubergine including one from BBC Ready Steady Cook and another from the fantastic Amuse Your Bouche blog.  Mine uses less honey in proportion to the aubergine as I just want a hint of sweetness and is heavier on the chilli as I like a lot of heat!

Fried Aubergine with Soy and Honey

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Fried Aubergine with Soy, Honey and Chilli

Fried Aubergine with Soy and Honey

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 10
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 6
  • Category: Vegetables
  • Method: Frying
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Description

Soft, fried aubergine is enhanced by the umami of soy sauce and the heat of dried chilli and sweetened with a touch of honey in this fifteen minute recipe.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 large aubergines
  • 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

Instructions

  1. Chop the aubergines into cubes of approximately 1 cm.
  2. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan.
  3. Add the aubergine cubes, crushed garlic, honey, soy sauce and chilli flakes to the pan.
  4. Fry for about 10 minutes.  By this point, the aubergine should be soft, dark brown and glossy and all the liquid will have been absorbed.
  5. This dish can be eaten hot or at room temperature.

Notes

This recipe is vegetarian but , if agave syrup is substituted for the honey, can be vegan.

Love this recipe?  You may also like

Roasted Pepper Salad

Broad Bean Salad

 

Broad Bean Salad

Broad Bean Salad

This Broad Bean Salad combines the fresh-tasting beans with tangy feta cheese.  Spring onions provide additional flavour and radishes provide an extra crunchy texture.   A lemon and olive oil dressing brings the tastes of the ingredients together.

You can make this salad ahead of time, in fact I think it improves if it is left for a while as the dressing brings the flavours of the other ingredients together.  This makes it great for cold buffets, picnics or take-to-work lunches.

If you cannot get hold of fresh broad beans, and they are not that common in supermarkets, you can use frozen broad beans.   I think broad beans, along with peas, are one of the vegetables which keep their flavour and texture best when frozen.

Other easy salads

I love salads and eat them all the year around – not just in summer. If you like this Broad Bean Salad recipe, you might also like some of my other salad recipes.

Broad Bean Salad recipe

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Broad bean salad

Broad Bean Salad

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews
  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 5
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: for 6 people 1x
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: English
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Description

This tasty salad can be made in advance and is a great addition to cold buffets and picnics.  It combines broad beans with tangy feta and crunch radishes with a zesty lemon dressing.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 600 g fresh podded broad beans or frozen broad beans
  • 150 g feta cheese
  • 3 large radishes
  • 4 spring onions
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Cook the broad beans either by putting into a pan of boiling water and simmering for five minutes or by steaming for five minutes.
  2. Drain the beans and cover with cold water to stop the cooking process and to cool them down so they can easily be handled.
  3. Remove the outer skins from the beans.  There is a technique to this which involves splitting the outer skin with your thumb nail and then squeezing gently so that the inner part of the bean pops out of the skin.
  4. Place the skinned beans in a bowl.  Chop the feta cheese into small chunks, slice the spring onions and radishes and add them all to the bowl with the beans.
  5. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper to the bowl and stir to combine.  Be sparing with the salt as the feta cheese will be quite salty.

Notes

This salad can be made ahead of time which makes it great for buffets and picnics

If you can’t get fresh broad beans you can use frozen broad beans which give an excellent result

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Red Cabbage Coleslaw is a really simple and easy recipe which can be put together in a few minutes.  Coleslaw is a salad made with raw vegetables, usually including cabbage, mixed with mayonnaise.

I make all kinds of coleslaw but I particularly like this recipe which uses red cabbage, carrot, radish and apple as you get a bowl full of bright bold colours. The combination of colours means that the coleslaw looks very attractive. It is great as part of a cold buffet or at a lunch party.   It also seems to appeal to children as it looks pretty – and the mayonnaise turns pink – and the apple adds a bit of natural sweetness.  I have found it a good way to get them to eat a wider range of vegetables.    Although the mayonnaise may not be that healthy there is not too much of it in this recipe and it really does bring together the taste of the different vegetables. I tend to use shop-bought, reduced fat mayonnaise for this recipe.

It is really beneficial from a healthy-eating point of view to eat food that is raw. It is high in fibre and vitamins and minerals are retained. Different colours typically denote the presence of different vitamins and minerals in food. Therefore, a really easy way to eat more healthily is to eat foods with a range of natural colours (“eating the rainbow”).

Red Slaw
Other easy salads

I love salads and eat them all the year around – not just in summer. If you like this Red Cabbage Coleslaw recipe, you might also like some of my other salad recipes.

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

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Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews
  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 30
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: for 6 people 1x
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: English
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Description

This colourful Red Cabbage Coleslaw, made with red onion, red cabbage, carrot, radish and apple, looks pretty and is a great way to eat lots of healthy vegetables.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 red onion
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Half a red cabbage
  • 5 large carrots
  • 5 radishes
  • 1 apple
  • 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

Instructions

  1. Slice your red onion thinly.   Place the slices in a ceramic dish together with the juice of half a lemon.   Leave for at least half an hour.   The lemon juice will make the raw onion taste milder but still retain its fresh crunchiness!
  2. Prepare the other vegetables.  Thinly slice the red cabbage.  Grate the carrots.  Cut the radishes into thin disks.
  3. Put the prepared vegetables, together with the marinated onion, into a large bowl.
  4. Cut the apple into small pieces, omitting the core, and add it to the bowl of vegetables.
  5. Add the mayonnaise to the bowl and stir to lightly cover the other ingredients.

Loved this recipe? Checkout the Recipe Index.