It is a worldwide known fact that eating raw vegetables gives you more nutrition than the cooked ones. As we have made a habit of eating Salads on a daily basis; you can notice a health wise glowing change in our family. After trying the first Salad with Parsley dressing, I thought of testing my abilities at cooking, by adding more vegetables to it. When I went to shopping for the groceries, I bought many vegetables & fruits like Broccoli, Olives, Pineapple etc., along with Olive Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, and Mustard Sauce for different dressings. Of course my list of purchase was a very lengthy one. You can add or substitute any number of vegetables or fruits in the salad; same applies for the dressings too.
I usually try my own dressings & prefer not to repeat the same. So when you go for shopping, you better have the list of items to buy ready in hand. Even if you cannot find one or two items in your regular store, you can always get it from online. You can find regular local grown fruits and vegetables with the road side vendors. To get the imported ones you need to go for Supermarkets or do online shopping. Where ever you get, no matter how attractive it looks, I can assure you, they come loaded with lots of dust and pesticides. Some of the fruits are even waxed to maintain its texture. You want to do the testing…just lightly scrape the shining apple with a sharp edged spoon or knife, do not cut. You can see little white particles on the skin of the apple which is nothing but wax. So you buy fruits, vegetables at high price and get harmful chemicals free. Now it is up to the lady’s job to detoxify these fruits and vegetables. If it is cauliflower or Broccoli, then a big task of cleansing them lies ahead. You can also use hot water and turmeric for soaking which kills most of the minute germs in them. When you cook the vegetables half the nutrients are gone with the steam. So better use raw vegetables by thoroughly cleaning them. Coming to the cleansing of Broccoli in particular; it is quite a game play. To add fun, you can call in your child or husband to join in this process. Just separate the florets & stem; soak it & saute it. These sauteed Broccoli goes very well with the oil based Salads.
Ingredients:
Broccoli – 5 to 6 florets with stem
Salt – 1 tsp
Water – 1 cup
Olive Oil – 1 tsp
Preparation time: 5 to 7 minutes
Soaking time: 10 minutes
How to Clean & Saute the Broccoli:
1. Separate the Broccoli stem & florets with the help of knife as shown in the image.
2. Take a bowl, add water, 1/2 tsp of salt & soak the Broccoli florets with stem for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the Broccoli from water & dry it on a clean cloth before you saute them.
4. Heat Olive Oil in a pan, add Broccoli & 1/2 tsp of salt to it. Now you saute them until the Broccoli florets & stem changes to golden in colour.
5. Remove from flame & transfer them to a bowl. Allow it to cool. These Broccoli florets can be used in oil based salads.
