KOCHI: Here’s the story of the other side of dressing up, that of a salad. Salad has its birth in the Greek and Roman culture and became a popular dish of the Americans later. By the 20th century, westernisation had influenced every aspect of our life and we didn’t fail to grasp the importance of their main dish - salad. Salad has enamoured us and it has been already charted as one of our favourites.
The best part is that it is a complete dish in every sense with no ill-effects. The more you have, the more it enhances your health.
Salad is not just a mixture of raw vegetables. The dressing is an important element of salad that makes it look interesting and tempts us to consume it. Dressing the salad is an art and Asha Tom, owner of ‘Delicacies’ catering unit, was the first woman in Kozhikode to popularise the various forms of this art. It was she who introduced the system of serving salads at functions and get-togethers. Her lip-smacking salads are presented in a distinct method. Nowadays, people are more concerned about their health and salads are the perfect pick.
The dish makes your stomach full and prevents you from going after unhealthy food. Be it a dry sunny day or warm weather, salads are an all-time favourite. Asha has been successfully running the catering service ‘Delicacies’ for the past 13 years.
Her signature dishes include vegetable salads and desserts. In fact, she was the woman who introduced salads in the Malabar menu. Her variety of salads, along with their attractive presentation, kindle our taste buds.
Her secret lies in her unfathomable creative skills of presenting them along with the variety of add-ons other than vegetables.
“For a function, I always take immense care to include salads for every type and age group. I have separate recipes for vegetarian and non-vegetarian people and for kids,” says Asha.
Nowadays people are more conscious about health and weight. Salads are high in nutrition and low in calorie. Just the way we want a dish to be.
“I refer to a lot of books and invent my own recipes. Each time I try a new kind of salad. Regarding dressing, it’s my own instinctual ideas. Knife and a scrapper are the only tools required for the art of dressing up a salad,” she explains.
The main ingredients of her salads are vegetables, pasta, mayonnaise, kuboos, bread crumbs, soup sticks, French fries and so on.
“People usually prefer non-veg salads. Pasta salads are the favourites of kids. People consume salads as appetizer, main dish, side salads, where salads are used as side dish, and dessert salads in which fruits constitute the main ingredient. There are no rules while preparing salads. They can be made according to one’s own likes and dislikes. They are the ultimate choice for weight watchers,” she says.