Cottage Cheese Salad

I should really call this Ram Uncle’s Cottage Cheese salad, as this is his signature recipe. Rather one of his signature recipes. Ram Uncle is a dear family friend and mentor, and did I mention, an amazing cook? He is also very careful about sharing his recipes, and other than this one, I haven’t really been able to get too many recipes out of him. I think he may have shared this one with me somewhat as a parting gift (in an emotional moment:)…the family just moved from Dallas back to India. Though I’ve tried this dish a couple of times, I’m not sure I have the “Ram Uncle touch” yet:). It is one of Nikhil’s favorite dishes so I have made it several times and I’d like to share this creative, easy and quite a yummy side dish, which is also very healthy, of course, which pretty much sums up his cooking! Thank you, Uncle for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:

1 tub Cottage cheese (12oz tub)

1/2 medium red onion, chopped finely

1/4 red bell pepper, chopped finely

1/4 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup red cabbage grated

1 tbsp urad dal (split black gram lentils)

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tbsp yellow split pigeon peas (chana dal)

1 tsp olive oil (I think this is one of the “secret ingredients” of his. Canola or peanut oil doesn’t give the same taste as olive oil does.)

2-3 chopped green chilies (I use the Thai pepper kind)

Method:

1. Add the chopped onions, green chilies, grated carrot, chopped bell pepper to the cottage cheese and mix well in a serving container/bowl.

2. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan. Add the mustard seeds. After they crackle, add the urad dal and chana dal and saute till they turn golden brown.

3. Add the fried lentils to the cottage cheese/vegetable mixture and mix well.

The salad tastes great by itself, but if you want to try it with South Indian food, I think it goes really well with Sambar, rice and Potato Fry. Can also be substituted as a “raita” or a yoghurt based dressing in North Indian cuisine.