Vicky Goes Veg … green, fresh and exciting

Deeba @ PAB

10 years ago

‘Going green has never been so deliciously exciting. Bon Apetit…’
Farhan Akhtar

Roasted Red Bell Pepper & Broccoli Salad from Vicky Goes Veg. Everything about the book is colourful, fresh, exciting, full of flavour and vegetarian of course! It’s an exciting new book by Chef Vicky Ratnani and holds a LOT of promise. Vegetarianism is no longer considered ‘second food. Slowly but surely vegetarian centric cookbooks are appearing on bookshelves, grabbing eyeballs as they do so!We were hosted by Harper Collins & Nachiketa at the lush and beautiful ‘The Palms‘, Gurgaon for the book launch. Vicky Ratnani has infectious energy, is animated and absolutely passionate about food. I was fortunate to meet him in Jan last year at a tea & food pairing session, and it certainly was a pleasure to meet him again.

He held fort by the poolside under the blazing setting sun, which shouldn’t have been quite so blazing in Mid March … but was! Sporting that he is, he didn’t blink an eyelid, no complaints nothing. He was there well before the guests began to arrive and after a short delay {thanks to the TV crew}, he fired up!

Sauteing, chatting, sharing tips and trivia and a load of his passion, he held the attention of the select audience. As he stirred up magic, we were served the same from the kitchen alongside. The flavours blew us away! Who wants to eat non vegetarian food if vegetarian food can be so exciting. Not me!! The Braised Plantain with Thai spices was out of the world good, as was the Eggplant & Bok choy in sambal.

I love the energy throughout the book. It entices you to ‘try’ something different. I also love that Vicky has stuck to the concept of sourcing local produce, something that makes the locavore in me do a merry dance. The photographs that liberally colour the pages are a journey of the food chain in India including the merchants and the local bazaars.

Vicky is often seen arm in arm with the guys who matter … yes, those who grow, deliver and sell local produce. It’s refreshing to see so much space dedicated to the local sabziwala i.e. vegetable vendors. The recipes in the book are unique, hail from across the world but come with an Indian twist, all green and fresh!

The good thing is that Vicky encourages you to think out of the box, constantly innovate and evolve. He offers his book as a stepping stone for new ideas in vegetarian cooking, and tells you to be fearless. If you don’t have this, use that. There’s plenty of trivia tucked within that makes the book even more interesting. One downside is that the number of portions or ‘servings’ aren’t specified.
So I set off to make the Roasted Red Bell Pepper & Broccoli Salad. Of course, my heart followed his advice and my recipe meandered off as I was short on time. I didn’t blend the dressing, only whisked it. Substituted apricots for walnuts, simplified the dressing a bit. I also made Stromboli from the book which disappeared too quick!

If you’d like to win a copy of the book, VICKY GOES VEG, please leave a comment below telling me which your favourite vegetarian dish from across the globe is. Please be sure to leave a valid email address so I can contact you. This giveaway is open to residents of India, or anyone with an Indian mailing address. {Giveaway sponsored by Harper Collins}

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Recipe: Roasted Red Bell Pepper & Broccoli Salad

Summary: Summary Info Goes Here

Prep Time: 15 minutes
 Total Time: 40 minutes
 Ingredients:

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Salad
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1 red bell pepper, roasted
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1 yellow bell pepper, roasted
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1 big head of broccoli, cut into florets

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1 broccoli stem, peeled, thinly sliced
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Salt to season
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A pinch of cracked black pepper
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A few sprigs of thyme
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2tbsp olive oil
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1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
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Dressing
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2 cloves of garlic, cut into chips
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2tbsp olive oil
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1/2 a white onion, sliced
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1 tbsp red wine vinegar
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Salt to taste
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Pepper to taste
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1 spring onion, cut into 3cm long batons

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4-5 dried apricots
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Method:

Season the bell peppers, broccoli florets and stems with salt, pepper, thyme and olive oil {I blanched the broccoli for 2 minutes first and then plunged it into ice cold water}

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Cut the bell peppers into strips
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Fry the garlic in olive oil, and allow to cool and crisp. Reserve the garlic flavoured oil for the dressing.

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Dressing
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Sauté the white onion in the garlic oil. Deglaze with red wine vinegar. Transfer into a bowl to blend it to a dressing.

Season with salt and pepper. Add the coriander leaves including their juicy stems. Whizz to blend to a smooth, sour, creamy, garlicky dressing.

Mix the spring onion batons and apricots along with the broccoli and peppers. Spoon the dressing over the veggies. Garnish with the fried garlic chips.

Yum! Toss all the veggies along with the dressing. Chill before serving.

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