This simple green salad is made with finely chopped lettuce leaves, Persian cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cabbage and carrot, seasoned with a simple homemade olive oil dressing.
Ingredients:
- Lettuce leaves (4-5)
- Persian Cucumbers (2)
- Cherry Tomatoes (12-15)
- Cabbage (3 heaped tbsp)
- Carrot (1 small)
- Coriander leaves (1 tbsp chopped)
For dressing:
- Olive Oil (1 tbsp)
- Lemon Juice (1 tbsp)
- Sugar (1/2 tsp)
- Pink Himalayan salt (to taste)
- Sea Salt (to taste)
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- Dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, marjoram etc.) (a pinch)
Method:
- Chop all the vegetables finely and mix well in a bowl.
- Mix all the ingredients for dressing. Add the dressing to the vegetables just before serving the salad.
Tastes (Rasa):
Sweet (carrot, sugar, olive oil), sour (lemon, tomatoes), salty (sea salt, Himalayan salt), bitter (coriander and lettuce leaves, dried herbs), pungent (black pepper), astringent (cabbage, cucumber, lettuce and coriander leaves).
Doshic Influence:
The vegetables used in this recipe are a combination of sweet, sour, astringent and bitter tastes. The spices are a good combination of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent tastes, making it easy to digest as well as flavorful and aromatic. Addition of olive oil offsets the dry qualities of raw vegetables. Addition of black pepper and lemon offsets the cold quality that is inherent in raw salads. Raw vegetables are slightly difficult to digest and people with a weak agni/digestive fire should refrain from consuming too much of salads. Salads are vata aggravating in excess due to their dry, cold qualities, but the addition of oil and slightly warm ingredients like pepper and lemon in this recipe helps balance out these qualities. Summer is the best season for enjoying salads, so indulge away now, especially if you are a pitta type with a strong digestive fire.
Effects on the Mind (Gunas):
This green salad with the homemade olive oil dressing can be considered sattvic if made using fresh ingredients, and made mild, without any strong pungent, sour or salty after taste. Avoiding store-bought preservative laden dressings on salads helps retain the inherent sattva of the fresh vegetables, without polluting it with preservatives, coloring additives and other toxic ingredients.