Simple Salad Recipe

Simple Salad Recipe
Salads have unlimited variety and any seasonal vegetable can go in it. Successful salad making just involves a few simple tricks. Here is an example of what you can make with vegetables right now. Feel free to modify and experiment!
For 1 big bowl of salad (3-4 portions if a side dish, 1-2 portions if a main dish):
• 1 head of Salad (which ever kind you like most)
• 100 gr of fresh spinach leaves or rucola salad
• 2-3 medium carrots
• 1 medium parsnip
• 1 Tbsp of cooking oil
• 3 Tbsp of sunflower seeds
• 150gr of smoked tofu
• some fresh parsley
• some fresh or dried oregano
• salt & pepper
• 1 half of lemon or 2 table spoons of lemon or lime juice
• around 4 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil or pumpkin seed oil

1. Take the salad head apart into separate leaves and rinse carefully to remove all dirt.
Put it in the salad dryer (if you have one) or squeeze the leaves to remove as much water as you can. Salad leaves are really good at keeping water, but we want it to keep salad dressing instead. So take your time and do not be gentle. The more water you’ll remove – the better tasting salad you’ll get in the end! Do the same with spinach or rucola.
2. Cut or tear salad leaves, spinach/rucola by hand into smaller pieces and place in the salad bowl.
3. Rinse and cut carrots and parsnip to the size and shape of your liking. My favorite way to cut them is to first cut them horizontally into 2-3 smaller pieces, then to cut each piece in half vertically and then cutting each piece again vertically into 3-4 pieces. The result – pieces somewhat similar to french fries.
4. Fry carrot and parsnip pieces in a frying pan with a bit of cooking oil, salt, pepper and fresh or dried oregano. Fry until it gets softer and golden or a bit brown. Then add to the salad bowl.
5. Cut smoked tofu in cubes and add to the salad.
6. Fry sunflower seeds shortly while stirring in a dry frying pan or with a bit of cooking oil. Only needs a minute or a few, until it starts to smell nice. Then add it to the salad.
7. Cut fresh parsley leaves and stems into small pieces and add it to the salad bowl.
8. For a dressing squeeze a half of the lemon (or add lemon juice), add olive or pumpkin seed oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl. The ratio of lemon juice vs. oil should always be 1:2 for the perfect mix. Remembering this, you can easily increase the amount of the dressing when making bigger amounts of salads.
9. Stir the dressing until mixed and add it to the salad.
10. Mix the salad until it’s evenly covered with the dressing. If water was removed well, dressing is easily sticking to the leaves and salad taste delicious! Enjoy and experiment to find your favorite salad recipe.