spiced lukewarm green salad
A Middle-Eastern-spiced salad that is perfectly fulfilling on its own but would work well with a piece of lamb, chicken or white fish too.
ingredients
serves 2 – 3 persons
- 350 g small potatoes
- 3 small red onions
- 0,5 t cumin seeds
- 0,5 t coriander seeds, slightly crushed in a mortar
- 6 spring onions, sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 500 g green beans
- 500 green asparagus
- 1 t turmeric
- 1,5 t ground ginger
- 1 t ground cumin
- 1 t ground coriander
- a dash of chili powder
- juice of half a lemon
- Greek yoghurt to taste
- good quality olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, coarse salt
+ 1 large pot with a fitting steaming basket
+ pestle and mortar
method
Heat a large pot of water and preheat the oven at 180°C.
Potatoes: wash the small potatoes (don’t peel them) and cut them in half lengthwise. Peel the red onions and slice them through the middle in six parts each. Leave the garlic in its skin and slightly crush it with the flat side of your knife. Combine potatoes, onion, garlic, cumin seeds and coriander seeds in an ovenproof dish and royally season with salt, pepper and olive oil. Combine with your hands and put in the oven for about 30 minutes (until tender).
Asparagus, beans: Meanwhile peel the asparagus, trim off the woody ends and clean the green beans. Once the water is cooking (and salted), put in the beans and add the asparagus in the steaming basket on top. Cook until al dente – about 8 minutes. Briefly put the beans and asparagus in cold water to stop the cooking process and keep the color a bright green.
Spices: Once the potatoes are cooked, remove the skins from the garlic and add the garlic flesh to a mortar together with the spices (turmeric, ginger, coriander, cumin and chili), the juice of half a lemon, at least 3 table spoons of good quality olive oil and a good pinch of coarse salt. Crush, blend and add more olive oil until you have a very smooth (semi liquid) paste.
Serve: Cut the asparagus in half and combine in a large bowl with the green beans, potatoes with red onions, three sliced spring onions, the spice paste and season well with salt and pepper. On the plates, finish with some dollops of stirred Greek yoghurt and some sliced spring onions.