10 easy-peasy salad recipes

The lockdown needn’t curb your appetite. Whet your appetite with delicious, but easy to prepare salads. This article gives you twenty such easy and quick vegetarian salad recipes to relax and tickle your taste buds all the while.

Including fresh salads in your daily diet increases the level of antioxidants in your blood such as vitamin C and E, folic acid, lycopene, and alpha- and beta carotene. Just adding a salad to your daily diet can give you umpteen health benefits. Salads are crunchy with myriad textures, colours and flavours.

Ingesting a high fibre diet lowers cholesterol and eases constipation. Nutrient-rich plant foods contribute to overall health. They reduce the risk of cancer by protecting the body from free radicals. The following is a list of twenty easy to make vegetarian salad ideas with recipes:

1. Classic Indian Sliced Salad Recipe:
This salad includes slices of cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots and onions dressed in pepper and lemon. This particular salad is a favourite of many restaurants and can be relished with any meal. Any Indian meal is lacking without this fresh salad made with these simple ingredients that are easily available in the neighbourhood.
Ingredients:
1 sliced cucumber
Few sliced carrots
Few sliced tomatoes
One sliced onion
Lemon juice for flavour
Crushed peppercorns
Salt, to taste

Instructions:
Wash and wipe all the vegetables clean. Skin the cucumber and carrots. Slice the cucumber, carrots, tomatoes and onion.

On a serving plate arrange the slices of carrots on the edge followed by a circle of cucumbers. This is followed by sliced carrots and a circle of tomato slices. Finally, arrange the onion slices. Sprinkle salt and crushed pepper for taste and squeeze a lemon over the vegetables for flavour.

The salad is now ready to serve for an impromptu weeknight dinner. It can also be relished as a midday snack.

2. Beetroot Gajar Mooli Salad Recipe – Radish and Beetroot Salad
This is a simple salad made from the root vegetables- beetroots, carrots and radish and dressed with lemon juice, green chillies and roasted peanuts. Beetroots being rich in folic acid are also packed with folic acid, manganese, potassium and fibre. Beetroots prevent anaemia by maintaining optimum levels of haemoglobin in the blood. Carrots rich in antioxidants, improve eyesight and aid in digestive health. Radish, a low-calorie vegetable detoxifies the liver and having a low glycemic index does not increase blood sugar levels.
Ingredients
2  grated Radishes
2 grated Beetroots
2 grated Carrots,
3 tablespoons Roasted Peanuts
2 finely chopped Green Chillies
2 teaspoons Lemon juice
Salt, to taste

Instructions:
Grate radishes, carrots and beetroots.
Toss the ingredients into a mixing bowl and add a seasoning of lemon juice, green chillies, roasted peanuts, and salt.

3. Carrot, radish and peanut salad with lemon recipe
This is a thirst-quenching and revitalizing recipe that can be had alongside your main course. Freshly grated carrots and radishes are dressed with roasted peanuts, coriander and green chillies. Tangy lemon juice is then drizzled onto it.

Ingredients
2 grated carrots
2 grated radishes
1 chopped green chilli
3 tablespoons of pounded roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
1 teaspoon of dry ginger powder
Juice of 1 lemon
1 sprig of chopped coriander leaves

Instructions:
Grate the carrots and radishes.
Throw in grated carrots, and radishes into a mixing bowl. Toss in roasted peanuts, cumin powder, ginger powder, coriander leaves and drizzle some lemon juice into it.
Combine the ingredients and serve.

4. Barley Salad
This is a wholesome and motley coloured vegetable salad made with fresh herbs and veggies. Varicoloured with yellow and red bell peppers, this salad will keep you asking for more.