Healthy Lettuce Salad| Lettuce Vegetable Salad

The Lettuce Vegetable Salad I am going to share with you today is not just delicious but super easy to prepare as well. It’s quite healthy too.

I rarely use lettuce at home, buying it only occasionally to put in a sandwich or burger. However, some time ago, when Riya of My Beauty Dreamz told me of the Healthy Lettuce Salad she often prepares, I loved the sound of it and knew I had to try it out too. As if they had read my mind, Spudnik Farms sent me a bunch of gorgeously fresh iceberg lettuce in my veggie subscription box recently. It was just the perfect foil for me to try out Riya’s salad. I did, with some variations of my own to her recipe, and it turned out beautifully. I added in a whole lot of things to make it more filling, and it was just right for a light lunch. It became an instant hit with everyone at home, and I have made it several times over already. 🙂

Let me share with you all the way I made this delightful, loaded Lettuce Vegetable Salad.

Delicious Lettuce Vegetable Salad

What goes into my Lettuce Vegetable Salad

Apart from the lettuce, the main ingredient of this salad, I also added in other veggies like sweet corn kernels, onion, capsicum and cucumber. I also put in some almonds for extra nutrition and for the crunch factor, and some coriander for freshness.

There’s a mild spiciness to the salad, from freshly cracked black pepper and ginger. The dressing is simple – just lemon juice and honey.

All of the above combine to create a wonderfully crisp, flavourful and refreshing salad.

Here is how I went about it.

Ingredients (serves 1-2):

1. A big handful of lettuce

2. 1/4 cup sweet corn kernels

3. About 10 almonds

4. 1/2 of a medium-sized cucumber

5. 1/2 of a medium-sized capsicum

6. 1/2 of a medium-sized onion

7. A 1-inch piece of ginger

8. Salt to taste

9. Freshly crushed black pepper to taste

10. 3/4 tablespoon honey or to taste

11. 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander

12. Juice of 1/2 lemon or to taste

Method:

Top left and right: Steps 1 and 2, Below top left: Step 3, Bottom left and right: Step 4

1. Dry roast the almonds in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium flame for 3-4 minutes or till they get crisp. Take care to ensure that they do not burn. When done, transfer the roasted almonds to a plate and allow them to cool down completely.

2. Steam the sweet corn kernels till cooked through. Let them cool down completely too.

3. Chop the lettuce finely. Place in a large mixing bowl.

4. Chop the capsicum, onion and cucumber finely. Add these to the mixing bowl.

Top left and right: Steps 5 and 6, Below top right: Step 7, Bottom right and left: Steps 8 and 9

5. Peel the ginger and chop very finely. Add to the mixing bowl, along with salt and crushed black pepper to taste.

6. Add the steamed and cooled sweet corn kernels to the mixing bowl too.

7. Add in the lemon juice and honey.

8. Chop the almonds into slivers. Add to the mixing bowl.

9. Add in finely chopped coriander too.

10. Mix up everything together, well. Your Lettuce Salad is ready. Serve immediately.

The Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge

I’m sharing this recipe in association with the Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge.

The Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge is run by a group of passionate food bloggers who share recipes based on a pre-determined theme, every month. The group members are divided into pairs, and each pair exchanges two ingredients secretly, unknown to the rest of the group. These ingredients are then used by each pair to create a dish that fits into the group’s theme of the month. The other members then try to guess the two secret ingredients each pair has used.

This month, the theme over at Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge is ‘Healthy Recipes’. I was paired with Poonam of Annapurna for this month’s challenge, and she gave me the ingredients ‘lemon juice’ and ‘lettuce’. They fit right into this Healthy Lettuce Salad that I wanted to make!

Likewise, I gave Poonam the ingredients ‘ragi‘ and ‘black pepper’, and she used them to make this delectable Ragi Vegetable Soup. Check it out!

Tips & Tricks

1. You can use any variety of lettuce you prefer. Just make sure that it is very fresh and not wilted.

2. Freshly crushed black pepper does wonders for this salad. However, if you don’t have it, you can use black pepper powder instead. You may also add in some finely chopped green chillies for extra heat – I prefer the salad without green chillies, though.

3. Adjust the amount of salt, honey, black pepper and lemon juice as per personal taste preferences.

4. Make sure you roast the almonds well and that they crisp nicely. However, they should not get burnt.

5. Use very fresh ginger, without too much fibre, for best results.

6. I have used frozen sweet corn here, and have steamed the kernels in a vegetable steamer. You can cook them in boiling water or in a pressure cooker too.

7. For best results, all cooked ingredients should come to room temperature before you begin assembling the salad.

8. This Lettuce Salad is best served immediately after assembling. Leaving it to sit for some time will make it watery, soggy and tasteless.

9. I have used commonly available green capsicum here. You may use coloured capsicum instead (like red, orange or yellow) for a pop of colour. Remove the seeds and core before chopping the capsicum finely.

10. The ‘seedless’ variety of cucumber (also called ‘English cucumber’ or ‘European cucumber’) goes best in this salad.

11. This is a completely vegetarian and gluten-free recipe, but not vegan because of the use of honey. If you wish to make it vegan (plant-used), you could use a vegan sweetener like maple syrup in place of the honey or skip it altogether.

Did you like this recipe? Do tell me, in your comments!