One of the most difficult part of cooking is deciding the menu. Every day, the big question is what do I cook? Like most of the days, yesterday I was asking myself the same question over and over again, and could not decide on anything. I did not want to cook chicken or fish, as we had already eaten it twice this week. We had decided that we would have salad for dinner. All I need was a non-veg side dish or something to add on to the salad. Then I remembered a pack of ham that I had bought last month to prepare mini ham quiche, for the last marathon and never got around to make it. So ham it was for our dinner. I sautéed some ham cubes with some green chilies and garlic, and added it to salad. It was not bad at all! I might make this again very soon for dinner. This is my entry to Sarah’s Monthly Mingle: Think Pink, started by Meeta.

Total Time: 15 minutes
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
Salad

• 4 Leaves of Romaine Lettuce chopped or tear into big pieces
• 3 Round Radish sliced
• 1 Beetroot sliced
• 1 Cucumber cut into semi-circles
• ¼ Big Red Onion sliced
• ½ cup Cooked Chickpeas or canned Chickpeas

Vinaigrette

• 1 tsp. Lime Juice
• 1 tsp. Extra Virgin Oil
• 1/8 tsp. Black Pepper Powder
• Pinch of salt

Sautéing Ham

• 1 – 1 ½ tsp. Oil
• 3 Green Chilies Chopped
• 1 ½ tsp. crushed Garlic
• 8 oz. cubed Ham

Preparation:

• Peel radish, beetroot and cucumber. Wash and chop the vegetables as you desire.
• Prepare the vinaigrette by mixing all the ingredients listed under vinaigrette.
• Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss it.
• Heat oil in a pan and sauté green chilies for about a minute.
• Add garlic and sauté for a few seconds.
• Add ham and cook for 2-3 minutes until the cubes are lightly roasted.
• Top the salad with ham and serve.

This month that year:The recipes I posted this month in 2009 and in 2010

Now over to my fellow marathoners,
30 Minutes Meals: Gayathri Anand
Baked Goods: Monika,
For On Going Events: Gayathri Kumar
Kids Friendly: PJ, Savitha, Smitha, Srivalli, Veena Aravind
Rice Varieties: Champa, Divya, Padma