• About Me
  • Work with me
  • Press
  • Browse Recipes
  • Gallery

Saffron Trail

healthy vegetarian cooking

  • Home
  • Breakfast
  • Salads
  • Nutrition
  • Food & Travel
  • My Cookbook
  • Home
  • Breakfast
  • Salads
  • Nutrition
  • Food & Travel
  • My Cookbook
beginner, Fast Day recipes, Healthy, Nutrition, Salads

Fast Day Recipe – Cucumber Radish Pressed Salad

January 4, 2016

Share
Tweet
Pin6
+1
6 Shares

Recipe for Cucumber and Radish Pressed Salad – 87 calories (Macrobiotic Recipe / Fast Day Recipe / 5-2 Recipe / Healthy Salad Recipe) / How to make a macrobiotic salad

If you are not into the 5-2 diet / way of life, the title was not your cue to shut down this window 🙂 Nooo, I’m not letting you go that easily! I’m sure the word ‘PRESSED’ piqued your curiosity, right?

In Pressed salads or Macrobiotics salads, the thinly sliced vegetables are salted / seasoned, and pressed down for a while. The salt cures or partly cooks the vegetables, preserving the active live enzymes, making them more digestible. This is great for vegetables like radish and cucumber, which people feel are difficult to eat raw, especially those with a weak digestive system. The cured vegetables take on a unique texture, somewhere between raw and cooked, making them a delight to eat.

The slight fermentation that occurs when the vegetables are allowed to rest brings adds to the health quotient as well as improves the flavour. The moisture left over on the vegetables after the excess liquid is discarded, keeps the salad juicy and very little dressing is required as compared to regular salads.

Thinly sliced green leafy vegetables, carrots, celery, onions, apple, pear, cabbage can all be used in various combinations to make a pressed salad.

The word ‘macrobiotics’ was first used in the context of food and health by Christoph Hufeland, a German physician, in his book The Art of Prolonging Human Life (1797). This concept and way of eating became quite popular in Japan, thanks to late 19th century doctor Sagen Ishizuka, and later his student George Ohsawa, who strongly advocated the health benefits of traditional Japanese cuisine that had many macrobiotic elements to it.

The essence of a macrobiotic diet is relying on brown rice, beans, fresh organic vegetables, while meat, dairy, frozen and processed food are to be avoided. Non-fatty fish and shellfish are allowed in moderation.

So here’s a sample macrobiotic salad for you. Feel free to try our your own combinations using this technique.

Print Recipe
Fast Day Recipe - Cucumber Radish Pressed Salad Yum
All about Macrobiotic or Pressed Salads and how to make a Cucumber and Radish Pressed Salad (87 calories). Perfect for fast days of the 5-2 Diet.
Fast Day Recipe - Cucumber Radish Pressed Salad
Cuisine asian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings
number
Ingredients
  • 100 grams radish Peeled and thinly sliced
  • 100 grams cucumber Peeled, deseeded and thinly sliced
  • 30 grams Chopped salad greens
  • 1/2 Lemon
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/8 tsp Red chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper Ground
  • 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds
  • 3 - 4 Curry leaves (optional)
Cuisine asian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings
number
Ingredients
  • 100 grams radish Peeled and thinly sliced
  • 100 grams cucumber Peeled, deseeded and thinly sliced
  • 30 grams Chopped salad greens
  • 1/2 Lemon
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/8 tsp Red chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper Ground
  • 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds
  • 3 - 4 Curry leaves (optional)
Fast Day Recipe - Cucumber Radish Pressed Salad
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, mix the sliced radish, cucumber and chopped salad greens.
  2. Add salt, red chilli powder, ground black pepper and massage this well into the vegetable using your hands.
  3. Place this in a large bowl, and keep a heavy plate on top of this, such that the plate directly presses on the salad. Keep a heavy weight such as a mortar-pestle or a filled water bottle on top of this. Keep aside for a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 2 hours. Ensure that you leave this on the countertop and not in the fridge.
  4. After 30 minutes, drain all excess water, toss in juice of half a lemon and remove to a serving plate.
  5. Heat a small pan or a tempering ladle. Once hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds along with curry leaves. Once the seeds crackle, transfer it over the salad.
Recipe Notes

If this is not for a fast day, use 1 tsp coconut oil or mustard oil for tempering the spices and curry leaves. You can also drizzle some raw extra virgin olive oil over the salad.

The pressed vegetables have a tangy flavour with a slight crunch from the curing. The seeds add little bites of crunch and impart their nutty flavours to the salad.

If you haven't tried a pressed salad before, I urge you to try it out. You'll end up making these on a fairly regular basis!

This salad makes a perfect Fast Day Salad recipe without any added oil.

Share
Tweet
Pin6
+1
6 Shares
by Nandita Iyer 
8 Comments

About Nandita Iyer

View all posts by Nandita Iyer

Related Posts

  • Best Foodie Gifts For The Health Freak
  • How to make yogurt in winters?
  • 3 ways to eat Overnight Oats which are anything but boring
  • vegetable fruit juicesFilling Nutritional Gaps
previous post: Weekly Menu Plan: A Week’s Worth of Salads
next post: Roast Winter Vegetables with Lentils

Comments

  1. Sowmya Swaminathan says: January 5, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    im going to try it for sure!

    Reply
  2. nandita says: January 7, 2016 at 4:39 am

    Thank you, Sowmya! Do let me know how you like it

    Reply
  3. Ashwini says: January 7, 2016 at 8:51 am

    Hi

    Reply
  4. Ashwini says: January 7, 2016 at 8:51 am

    How can you achieve thinly sliced radish?I doubt a knife can do this job!

    Reply
  5. Ashwini says: January 7, 2016 at 9:16 am

    Also regarding your post on cooking brown rice,which brand of brown rice do you use?my experiments with cooking 24 letter matra brown rice gives me variable results.I use hot water to soak the rice for a minimum of 1 hour and use 3-4 times the measurement of water and despite cooking it for close to 40 minitues sometimes the rice feels not done properly!will try your method soon:-)

    Reply
  6. nandita says: January 8, 2016 at 7:02 am

    Ashwini: If you cannot slice as thin with a knife, use a peeler and peel into thin long ribbons. Also brown rice I mostly use Daawat as it cooks well 🙂 And follow the method in my youtube video. hope this helps/

    Reply
  7. Ashwini says: January 8, 2016 at 3:17 pm

    Thanks Nandita.

    Reply
  8. varsha says: January 29, 2016 at 5:32 am

    what is chopped salad green?

    Reply

Leave Your Comments Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Subscribe to My Channel

Archives

Categories

Top Recipes

Top Recipes

Featured Recipes

  • Salad Recipes
  • Millet Recipes
  • Summer Recipes
  • Airfryer Recipes
  • Eggless Baking Recipes
  • Vegetable Recipes
  • Tamil Brahmin Recipes
  • Kerala Recipes

AS FEATURED IN

AS FEATURED IN
  • The days are getting hotter and the only thoughts that give me comfort are late evenings in the pool and eating plates of chilled fruits, both not at the same time, of course 😁
.
Also, I've been going through my old Ayurveda books which I've read over the last 15 years, out of pure fascination for this science and way of life. Did you know that  bitter gourd is excellent for your  summer diet for reducing the aggravated pitta. What's even better that it is a summer season vegetable. Talk about how nature helps us take care of ourselves. I've got this bitter gourd and mango Ayurvedic curry on my blog from 2005 or so and I want to reshoot a photo of that one to share with you this season :)
.
For more such stay cool in summer tips, follow @saffrontrail #saffrontrail
  • slow Saturday morning
  • If eggs for breakfast are not your happy thing (previous post on feed), then flowers surely are. This was Saturday's #sosflowerbox and how glorious do these yellow carnations and yellow lilies look! This weekly flower box is the best investment towards my happiness!
  • Just polished off this breakfast a few minutes ago. Homemade sourdough with a good helping of buckwheat flour and seed mix in it, sauteed spinach topped with my current fav way to eat eggs- a 3-4 minute steamed egg, topped with basil microgreens from @livingfood.co
.
Steamed Egg my way --
.
This is faster than boiling the egg, no peeling involved and way easier than poaching an egg. Carefully break an egg into a lightly greased (small) cup. Bring some water to boil in a saucepan with a lid keeping some sort of stand (small cooker ring works) inside so the water does not enter the egg. Place the egg cup inside the saucepan when water is boiling. Cover and keep a timer for 3 minutes. Check if the white and yolk is set to your liking. Mine is when the white is set and yolk is very slightly jammy and not fully runny. Takes 3.5 minutes in my set up. Try this method of steamed eggs and let me know how you like it. You can also use a bigger saucepan for multiple egg cups. The idli stand would also work very well for this.
.
For more such breakfast ideas, follow @saffrontrail
  • #saffrontrailXsourdough
.
If you remember from my stories, I had made a beet raisin sourdough some 3 weeks ago. Being the first time, I wasn't sure how much beetroot powder to add. The result was a very light pink - brown bread. This time, I added 30 grams of beet powder + 50 grams whole wheat flour + 170 grams all purpose flour to 50 grams Levain and the colour turned out more beautiful. There wasn't any residual beet flavour in the bread so I can up it by 10 grams next time.
  • GIVEAWAY: Here's what you have to do.
🥬Think of this as a MasterChef Australia mystery box challenge. What will you cook from the vegetables and fruits I have bought? Use two or more of the items and come up with a dish and tell me about it in the comments below. .
🥬Follow @starbazaarindia on Instagram.
.
Two of the most creative answers will win a gift voucher of Rs.1000 each to shop at Star Bazaar
.
Giveaway closes at 6PM 20 Feb 2019. Open to people in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad only because the stores are in these locations. In these cities, you can also shop from Star Bazaar online on starquik.com - you can tag your friends in these cities to take part if you cannot!
.
It was the first time I came across this tuber called Pidikarunai (right bottom corner)- kind of a cross between arbi and tapioca. Made a stir fry using this with lots of garlic and sesame seeds and it turned out delicious.
.
#ad
  • Provenance is a big deal when it comes to food, i.e knowing where the food was grown and how it is has been treated until it reaches the supermarket shelves. The people at @starbazaarindia were happy and proud to share the details behind sourcing of fresh produce.
🥬80% of the vegetables arrive here direct from farmers in the Hoskote, Chikballapur and Malur areas, within 16-18 hours of harvesting.
🥬Some of the seasonal fruits however are sourced from places like Anatapur (melons), Mahabaleshwar (strawberries), Tasgaon (grapes). Fruits like bananas reach the stores’ warehouse directly from the farmers and they allowed to ripen in a room, with strictly no artificial ripening agents used. Same process is followed with the mangoes in the mango season.
🥬It is always a good thing when you have this kind of assurance from a supermarket.
.
Stay tuned for a giveaway I'll be announcing tomorrow morning (IST) in partnership with @starbazaarindia 🌺🍃🌺🍃
.
Follow @saffrontrail and turn on notifications so you don't miss it 🌺 #ad
  • A few days ago, I was at the opening of the revamped @starbazaarindia at Koramangala. For those of you who have been following me on social media for a while, you'll know that I'm always eager to find new places to shop fresh produce. The Star Bazaar near my place is one of my favourite supermarkets for the seasonal produce that is literally showcased in heaps just like you would see in your local markets.
.
This is just a small section of the produce in which there are over a dozen greens piled up. I share with you some of my favourite dishes as I take you through this section. Although I did miss one - Kothimbir Vadi made using tons of fresh coriander. What  is your favourite green leafy vegetable and the dish you love to make with it?
.
I have a giveaway coming up this week sponsored by Star Bazaar so stay tuned :)
.
Pardon the background buzz and noise, opening day and the place was full of excited shoppers eager to get back to their fav neighbourhood supermarket. #ad

Follow Me @saffrontrail

Copyright © 2019 · Saffron Trail by Nandita Iyer · Privacy & Disclosure Policy · Hosted & Managed by Host My Blog

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OK