YOGURT TOMATO PESTO DRESSED VEGGIE SALAD

 


Time is a callous fellow. It cares for none. Does not bother whether one wants it to just halt for a while or just pace down a wee bit. It waits for none. It is also a deceitful character. You may feel you have it under your control but it stealthily manages to slips away. And by the time you  realise this, it has swiftly moved on!
 
It loves its exalted status and demands respect; has every reason to do so since it is the master of all it surveys. It is tireless, invincible, enigmatic and also happens to be a great healer. It has its constant pace which it is determined to continue with and never seems to tire. It does not have a rewind mode. No one knows how long this grand old guy has been around and for long he will go on. So many secrets of past, present and future lie concealed in its bosom.
 
 
I share a love hate relationship with time. There are moments when I blame it for all that goes wrong. There are moments when I love it like none other, thanking it for making my life such a beautiful experience. But most of the time I love it and it loves me back. It has given me awesome moments to experience and savour all flavours of life besides bringing some wonderful people across in my life.
 
I wish I could blame this guy for the delay in uploading this post. It has been nearly a fortnight since I uploaded a new post. Well, I can’t entirely blame time crunch since it has partly been poor time management on my part. The weather is pleasant here, thanks to the monsoon, but it has to some extent induced into me a sense of inertia. I just want to sit by the window and soak up the beauty of monsoon. Don’t feel like lifting a finger or even venturing anywhere near by my laptop. And that reminds me I am long due for a holiday.
 
 
I have been hearing complaints from my daughter that I have not been cooking ‘good’ stuff these days. No escape there! So I pulled myself out of the lethargy and decided to start with a salad. The bright colours of the salad not just helped pep up my enthusiasm but also got me back into action. Hoping my next post won’t be so delayedfingers crossed!
 
The amount of veggies is totally an individual choice. I just threw in all vegetables that I could lay my hands on. Next time I would love to add baby potatoes and asparagus. Same goes for the pesto dressing. The amount of ingredients is a blend of flavours the way I like them. Feel free to increase or decrease or even eliminate what you wish to. I added yogurt since I don’t like too much parmesan in the pesto. The yoghurt added a nice creamy texture to the pestoalso the reason for the milder green coloured pesto.
 
 
I used,
 
For salad:
5-6 florets cauliflower
5-6 florets broccoli
1 small carrot (peeled and cut diagonally)
7-8 beans (stringed)
1 small red capsicum (sliced)
1 small yellow capsicum (sliced)
8-10 baby corns
 
For dressing;
1 cup basil leaves
A handful of walnuts (¼ cup approx, +/-)
2 cloves garlic
2 green chillies
1½ tbsp parmesan
1 tbsp yogurt
4-5 sun dried tomato slices (available at Fab India)
3-4 tbsp olive oil (+/- the amount to achieve desired consistency)
Salt to taste
 
 
For the salad, keep a bowl of ice cold water ready.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tsp salt. Boil each vegetable individually since each has a different cooking point.
Cook just enough so that each veggie retains some crunch. Immediately plunge into the cold water.
Remove from the cold water and drain. Place the veggies on a towel to remove excess water.
 
For the dressing, put all the ingredients together in a food processor or a grinder. Blend well and adjust the seasoning and flavours.
 
Pour the dressing over the veggies and serve.

Note: Next time I intend to soak the tomatoes in hot water for a while since it was a bit hard to blitz them in their dried state.
 
Serves – 2
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52 thoughts on “YOGURT TOMATO PESTO DRESSED VEGGIE SALAD

  1. love the colorful blend of veggies and the pesto is super creamy..in love with your serving bowl n karandi!

  2. love the yogurt addition… very cool idea. It definitely helps in eliminating the fat from pesto. Gorgeous photos.

  3. Beautiful post. This salad and the dressing – both beautiful looking and sounding. Seems like you made a good use of time with this one 🙂 Thanks for sharing such a nice post.

  4. OK, I have to confess. !! I really feel like stealing your props straight out of the PC screen.. I have got that instincts of a Porp stealer, just by looking at these amazing things. the spoons both the smaller and bigger one are just worth having these creepy thoughts in. no ?

    Love the post, and the recipe.. perfect summer salad this is ! 🙂

  5. Oh, I love that your salad is packed with so many yummy veggies. My hubby usually comes home to a messy kitchen with a fancy dessert on the counter, but something left undone for dinner :/ He doesn’t complain too much, thankfully!

  6. Its all about time for me too. I have been slacking, just basic meals and sometimes the kitchen is closed permanently for a few days. Work on one side, other personal issues and stress of life too. I have slowed down, if I have time to blog, I do, if not I just want to sit in front of tv and wish I had the bowl of salad with a generous dollop of the dressing.

    Wonderful ingredients esp the basil leaves. I am sure which type you used and I am thinking of the Thai variety which grows in my garden.

  7. Here is quite hot and I also feel this lethargy you describe! But we have families to feed and this salad is the perfect healthy meal for a demanding consumer!

  8. I agree with your mix feeling for time. Glad the positive is more on the focus here.

    I love your veggie salad and this yogurt tomato pesto dressing. I’m crazy with pesto with the basil from my garden. I make it on a regular basis. Can’t wait to try this version.

  9. Perfect salad and I totally adore the baby corn. Nice pesto dressing, but I love the colors in your salad so much that I think I’d make a simple vinaigrette.

  10. Oh this looks like the perfect summer dish that is so vibrant and full of flavors with the pesto!! Love it and your pics are gorgeous 🙂

  11. Everyone gets little lazy in summer, its the effect of heat that keep us away from cooking. These veggies with yummy basil pesto look great for lazy days.

  12. Oh I can’t wait to try this pesto dressing on many of my salads this summer. Though I love all the veggies you used in yours. Your photos, as always, are so stunning! And I love/hate time, too!

  13. Beautiful photos of beautiful vegetables! I like the addition of green chillies in the pesto :).
    I can totally understand why you would want to just lounge around, its the monsoon. Rain always makes me want to do nothing but time really is quite callous.

    Nazneen

  14. Love hate with time. I want to hold on sometime and allow it to fly the other time. I can feel ya!
    That btw is a lovely dish and I love pesto on anything!

  15. The pesto dressing is something I have never tried. The vegetables look so beautiful.

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