The
chill is beginning to set in Bangalore and as days get cooler, I find myself
hating any task that involves leaving the comforts of a blanket. The problem is
that, in Bangalore, indoors become pretty chilly while the outdoors stay
bearable and yet its not cold enough for any form of heating (atleast not for
the husband). So, my clothes get more mismatched than those of a scarecrow, PJs,
with hoodie and a kashmri shawl, socks and fur slip ons and my plans to get a
headstart on the new year’s resolution a few months in advance, derail.
Eating
healthy during the fall/winter is challenging, you crave
some deep fried snack with hot chai or a warm brownie on a cold night but, should be eating a cold cucumber salad.
I saw a picture of roasted beets on some blog
a few days back, and one evening when I craved a snack and had neither a brownie
nor a cold cucumber, I heated my oven and savored this amazingly simple salad.
3
small sized beetroots
2
medium sized red/white onions
1
large red bell pepper
About
30-40 gms of haloumi cheese
5-6
large mint leaves
Olive
oil
Salt
Pepper
Preheat
the oven to about 2000C. Set it on roast setting (uniform heat on
all sides)
Wash
and dry the beets, bell pepper and mint leaves
Lightly
coat the beetroots with olive oil and tightly cover with aluminium foil. Each
beetroot must be individually covered.
Place
the onion (unpeeled), beetroot and bell pepper on the wire rack inside the oven
Let
the veggies roast for about 15 mins or so. The bell pepper will need turning
around 2-3 times and the beets and onions once.
Check
the done-ness by sliding a thin knife through the beets and onion, there should
be no resistance. The skin of the bell pepper would have shriveled and there
would be a few ‘burnt’ patches on the surface.
Remove
the veggies from oven and allow them to cool
Next
peel them one by one and chop the heads off.
Cut
the peppers in strips, beetroot in rough cubes or thick slices and the onions
as long slicess
Chop
the haloumi in to cubes
In a
salad bowl mix in all veggies and cheese, add mint ,
drizzle some olive oil and finish off with salt and pepper
Serve
at room temperature
