Summer Salad! What is the Best?

Summer is here as most Minnesotans celebrate the joyful weather. After the bitter winter season, everyone is going out to places such as the Farmers market, county fairs, and lakes. People are preparing their boats for marine recreation, some preparing for biking, camping, and much more. Minnesota is known as the land of ten thousand lakes and also for its air quality is one of the tops. Most families also do camping in the state's parks, especially in Summertime.

As the weather heats up, Salad dishes are a suitable treat for everybody while being a healthy option as well. From many different options to showcase, I chose this salad that brought back many memories. This recipe is not overly complicated and is among one of the favorites who enjoy Indian-like flavors, fragrances and spices. That is called Samosa Salad. 20 years ago during my residence in downtown Rangoon, after being recently married, the crowded Samosa Salad shop in front of the government's Communication office on Pansodan Street was a restaurant we frequently visited.

It is an honor to share this recipe and also to say thank you to my best friend. She has always treated us with this salad frequently every time we visited her. It was always enjoyable to prepare this snack to our own preferences as well. For this dish, there are no fixed measurements for each ingredient and certain ingredients can be excluded if desired. I hope you enjoy this delicious, well balanced vegetarian delight.

                              Samosa Salad

Ingredients (5 Serving)

For Samosa

4 cups   Potato boiled and chopped
4 cups   Frozen Green Peas
1 cup    Small Chopped onion
1 tbsp   Fine chopped Mint leaves
1 tsp     Curry powder or Masala
1/2 tsp  Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp  Turmeric Powder
1/4 tsp  Paprika
1 tsp     Salt
10 pcs   Spring roll wrapper (frozen)

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl except Spring roll wrapper.
2. Fold the square shape spring roll wrapper into Handkerchief fold and stuff with mixed seasoned potato into the triangle shaped pouch. (May find the youtube instruction " How to fold a samosa", credit to Divya Pramil)
3. Fold completely into a triangle shape and Deep fry until golden brown.

For Thick Gravy

2 Qt       Water
1 cup      Besan Powder
1 can      Coconut milk
1 tbsp     Turmeric Powder
2 counts   Bay leaves
1/2 cup    Fine Chopped Onion
1 tbsp      Oil
1 tbsp      Sugar
Salt to      taste

1. Using a 4 qt pot, fill the pot with 2 qt. of water and heat it on the stove top with medium-high heat until start boiling.
2. In the mixing bowl, add 1 cup Besan powder and 1 tbsp turmeric powder with 1 cup of water then mix it thoroughly with either whisk or fork.
3. When the water starts to boil add the (no.2) mixture into the pot stirring occasionally. Turn down the heat to medium and let simmer.
4. On the stove top, add 1 tbsp of oil into the skillet and heat up the pan. When the oil is heated, add the chopped onion and stir till onion pieces are translucent and caramelized. Set aside and give time to cool.
5. Add caramelized onion, 1 can of coconut milk and bay leaves into the pot with boiling  Besan mix. Let the soup mix simmer with low heat for 20 more minutes. Then add 1 tbsp sugar and salt to your own taste.

For salad

2 cups    Fine shredded Cabbage
1/2 cup  Fine chopped mint leaves
1 cup     Shredded iceberg lettuce
2 cup     Small chopped cubed potato
2 cup     Boiled garbanzo bean or Chickpeas
1 cup     Small diced Red onion
2 tbsp    Masala Powder
5 tbsp    Fresh Tamarind Juice
( 2 tbsp Thin sliced green Chili - Optional)

                             

1. In one serving plate, add 1 or 2 tbsp of shredded cabbage, 1 tsp. of chopped mint leaves, 2 tbsp of iceberg lettuce.

2. Add 1 tbsp. of cubed potato and 1 tbsp of garbanzo bean on top of that vegetables.

3. Add two pieces of samosa into the plate and cut with scissors as our own preferences.

4. Pour the Besan soup gravy into the plate for about 1/2 cups or 1 cup.

5. It is now ready to enjoy with roasted chili powder and tamarind juice to make an adjustment for your own taste.
(Note: Salad ingredients are not fixed measurement )

Everybody may have a different idea of adding ingredients into the salad. Instead of samosa, we may add different measurement of different ingredient for this type of salad.

We may also use the frozen Samosa from grocery store's frozen section instead of making the scratch made samosa. Taste is not much different from homemade samosa for this salad. We could also save the time by skipping the

prep. for Samosa.

Rice Noodle of Western Burma ( Rakhine Noodle Salad)

This rice noodle salad is spicy noodle treat of Rakhine Coastal area (Western Province of Burma).
The western province of Burma is situated on the Bay of Bengal and sharing the border with Bangladesh.
The noodle dish is super spicy with fish broth since its place was a popular city on the coastal area with seafood trading. Fish broth flavored with black pepper and Galangal is the bold identity of this typical dish.

 Every evening after school, our father asked " Hungry?? What do you wanna eat ??". We got to eat at least one cone of ice cream for each of us. From all those memorable after school treats, this noodle dish is a most frequent tasty treat too. As the school days start in Monsoon, we had a chance to eat this treat on rainy days.  This spicy noodle is also a delightful dish on rainy days.

 This super spicy noodle was sold by the shop at Inya Lake since we were young. At that time in 1980, there were only two shops selling snack food on the lakeside of Inya. They were known as deep fried squash snack shop and Kyaut Phyu Rakhine noodle shop.
Nowadays,  a big name popular restaurant serves this noodle and other different variety of seafood also.

The main ingredient for this dish is toasted fried flaky fish and green chili sauce. As this typical food is from west coastal area Bay of Bengal, the main ingredient is fish (Yellow Eel is also known as Conga Eel).
That fish chunks should be simmering in galangal herb and peppery water for long hours to get a result of tasty flavorful soup.

 This dish is served in different style at its local origin. But my recipe might be a similar taste of what we used to eat from Inya Lakeside. I tried my best to get the same taste as that noodle from Inya food court's (Official name of Noodle: Rakhine Mont Ti ).

Ingredients (5 Serving)

(For Soup)

2 lb.       Fish ( Tilapia or Yellow Eel)
3 tbsp    Sliced Galangal ( or ) Pounded Fresh Galangal
1 tsp.     Shrimp paste ( For soup)
5 cloves  Garlic
3 tsp.     Black Pepper
0.5 tsp.  Turmeric powder
(Salt to your own taste )

(For Salad)

2 lb.          Rice Noodle (Boiled according to the package direction)
1.5 cup      Russet potatoes (Boiled and cubed) 1  cup  Chopped Cilantro
0.5 cup      Tamarind Juice (fresh)
4 Tbsp       Fish Sauce
5 tsp          Shrimp paste curry sauce
5 tbsp        Shallot and Garlic Flavored oil
1.5 cup      Dried Roasted fish flakes

Instructions

(Making Soup  and Poached fish)

1. In the 4 qt. dutch oven or pot, add the fish chunks together with galangal, pepper, garlic turmeric and shrimp paste. Add the water about 3 qt. into the pot and let it boil with medium-high heat.

2. When the soup starts boiling, turn down the heat to medium and simmer for 30 more minutes. Then turn it off and let it cool down.

3. After Turning off the heat, strain out the fish chunk out of the soup pot and take out the flesh off the bone from the fish chunks. If you are using tilapia fish fillet, no need to worry about the bone. But for the soup and flavor, yellow Eel chunks  (Conga Eel) are a suitable option for that dish.

(Making Roasted dried Fish flakes)

1. In the skillet, add  2 tbsp. shallot and garlic flavored oil together with 1 tbsp. Olive oil heat through with medium heat and add all the boneless fish meat and stir it thoroughly.

2. We need to be patient to make this procedure since it takes time to get the perfectly roasted fish flakes. (Using a nonstick pan with medium-low heat  to get a better result.)

3. Season with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper to the fish flakes to get tasty fish flakes.

(Making Green Chili Sauce)

1. In the small pan, add 0.5 cups of green chili and toast it with medium-high heat for about  3 minutes. Then in the chopper, add 3 cloves of garlic and toasted green chili together to make fine chili paste.

2. Set it in the small serving bowl for the optional spicy taste.

(Shrimp Paste Curry Sauce)

1.  In the pan on the stove top with medium-high heat, add 1 cup of oil and heat up.
2.  1/2 tbsp of chili powder and 1/2 tbsp of paprika powder together with 2 tablespoons of water mix it in a small bowl then gently pour it into the heated oil. Turn down the heat to medium not to get burnt.
3.  Mix 2 tbsp shrimp paste with 2 tbsp fish sauce thoroughly in a small bowl and set it aside.
4.  Stir and cook the chili mixture in the pan for 3 minutes then add the shrimp paste mixture into the pan.
5.  Make sure using the spatula to stir the chili oil and shrimp paste. Cook for at least 5 minutes with medium-high heat.
6.  When it starts getting fragrant and liquid is reduced, turn off the heat and set it ready in the bowl.

(Shallot and Garlic  Oil)

1.  Prepare 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallot and 3 tbsp sliced garlic.
2.  Heat the skillet or fry pan with medium-high heat.
3.  Pour 1.5 cups of oil in the pan to heat through for 3-4 minutes. (may test with one      piece of shallot whether it start frying out or not)
4.  Add all the sliced shallot and garlic into a pan together with 1 tsp. full of turmeric powder.
5.  Stirring the shallot and garlic is most important and critical not to get burnt.
6.  If needed, turn down the heat to medium form medium-high.
7. When the shallot and garlic look golden brown color, turn off the heat and strain up all oil and shallot, garlic mix. Put it in a separate bowl and let it cool down. Then mix it back altogether when the oil is cooled down completely. That way shallot and garlic will be crispy.

(Preparing One Serving Plate)

1. In a big bowl, add one hand full (6 oz. ) boiled rice noodle with 2 tbsp. chopped boiled potato.

2. As the dressing (1 Tbsp. Shrimp paste curry, 1 Tbsp. Shallot and garlic oil, 1 Tbsp. Fresh tamarind Juice extract, 1 tsp. Roasted Besan powder and 1 tsp. of fish sauce are the dressing portion for one serving salad plate. We could mix those ingredients in a different small bowl.

(Note: We may still choose to pour these dressing to the noodle straight away by mixing  all ingredient together to make a salad.)

3. After all the ingredients are fixed in the bowl, add 2 tbsp roasted fish flakes, 1/2 tbsp chopped cilantro and green chili sauce. Then mix it all thoroughly and transfer it into the individual serving plate. Serve with clear soup for this noodle salad.

(Noodle Soup Version)

1. In the serving bowl, add (6 oz. ) boiled rice noodle, 1 tsp. shrimp paste curry sauce together with 1 Tbsp. of fish flakes.

2. Pour the clear fish broth about 1.5 cups to the noodle bowl garnishing with 1 tsp.  chopped cilantro. Add green chili sauce for better flavor with the spicy option.

(Note: It is optional by adding  1/2 tsp.  shallot oil and 1/2 tsp. tamarind juice to the noodle soup to have rich and sour flavor.)