Mansi Gupta spoke about her penchant for painting, jewelry designing and writing poetry on the first day we met. We were yet to pick a book that day for our book club. She also said that she was learning finance for non finance to be able to work in her family business. Bam! By now she had me smitten. Passionate towards all that is artistic and yet jumped in to hold realistic reigns.
And then came a lunch invitation to her home by the sea and palm trees where her unusual portrayal of Shiva and Shakti hung on the walls. Dressed in ivory sans make-up adjusting to all our time schedules, she served us a beautifully hand crafted meal, presented as deliciously as it was cooked. The Mexican quinoa salad stole hearts. Lucky for us, she has permitted me to share the recipe which she has learnt from somewhere. I improvised on it a bit.
My food word for this recipe would be natural.
When you go out shopping look for;
Quinoa
Onion
Red pepper
Yellow pepper
Coriander leaves
Spring onions
Black beans in a tin
Tomato
Lemon
Green chillies
Soya chips
Salt
The recipe would be;
Take two cups of quinoa and boil it. This will serve a large group of about ten. Boil with four cups of water like you would boil rice. Drain out the water and leave it till it becomes a bit springy. Chop into smallish bits one red and one yellow bell pepper. Do the same to one large red onion. Boil a cup of corn and finely chop a fist bundle of coriander leaves. Wash well six odd stalks of spring onion and chop like you do for Chinese food using the green and the white of them. Also chop 2 medium sized tomatoes. Finally take a tin of black beans and strain well. Now mix it all together. Add salt, lemon juice and finely chopped green chillies to season.
I recommend that you make it maybe 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with roughly crushed roasted soya chips.
It is nourishing. It is colourful. It is aesthetic. Of course, it is delicious!
