Cooking with Kids: Genius Salad

Shubhashree Sangameswaran illustrates a recipe that you can cook with your little one — creating together only makes the fruit of labour that much sweeter! Find Shub's previous columns here.

I call it the Genius Salad for many reasons: It tastes like chaat – tangy and spicy, with a bit of crunch; it's a great way to get a ton of veggies into a single meal and clean out the fridge in one go. And with a generous serving of protein and complex carbs, it also makes for a wholesome snack! Find

RECIPE: GENIUS SALAD
Serves 4 (or 2 very hungry people)

Ingredients
2 cups of legumes, soaked and cooked
(You can use chickpeas/kabuli chana, kala chana, or moong sprouts. Rajma or boiled fresh peanuts and sweet corn work as well.)
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup capsicum
1/2 cup cucumber
1/2 cup carrot (grated)
1/2 cup green mangoes
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp  chia seeds
1 tbsp aloo bhujia or sev
A handful of mixed nuts - almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachio
Chopped mint or coriander, a generous handful
Salt, to taste
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp amchur powder  (dry mango) to taste. Skip the amchur if you're using green mango.
A big squeeze of lime

Method 
Toss everything together in a large bowl and serve. If you're making this ahead and serving later, make sure you add the nuts, seeds and sev at the very end, to retain their crunch.

Serving alternatives
You could serve a spoonful of the salad on to papdi, to make a fun party snack. 
Also, if a big bowl of this isn't filling enough, add 1/2 a cup puffed rice, or toasted poha to make it a complete meal.

Shubhashree Sangameswaran is an illustrator who loves to cook, eat, dream about and draw food. Sometimes all at the same time. You can follow her work here.
 Banner image credit: Ambitious Kitchen

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