Salad Bowl

Tofu Kimchi Salad and 10 years of blogging

March 6, 2021 By Asha Shivakumar

Kimchi Salad. Crispy marinated spicy tofu, crunchy napa cabbage, sweet carrots, fresh cucumbers with peanuts, all tossed in a spicy dressing. A salad you will love and make often. HEALTHY and Tasty!

It has happened so quickly, seemingly days apart. Events, life changing ones. TEN YEARS!! Of blogging and Life. And what a delicious journey it has been!

The growth

We have a new member in our family, our love, Waffles.

My then seventh grader who jump started the blog, is in third year of college.

You’ve read why I call my little boy, ‘baby bear”. From running around a five year old skinny little boy to seeing him get his licence, my readers have seen it all.

Hubby has published a book, writing another one…but, the biggest change in him: he has been living and promoting a sustainable lifestyle.

If gray hair is also known as wisdom highlights, I am wiser for sure. 😉 A cookbook and a blog that turned into a business, not too shabby eh?!

Gained some meaningful relationships.

Went through very dark moments with events that made me broody about mortality and humans and life.

Part of me really feels that the love of food, the love of family and the support from readers has kept me going through these 10 years….

Spicy Crispy Corn Chaat/Salad

September 7, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Corn Salad is one of our favorite summer light lunch! This easy Crispy Corn Chaat Salad features sweet fresh corn off the cob, crisp cucumbers, shaved sweet carrots, onions, crunchy peanuts with a delicious cucumber cilantro chutney that acts as a dressing.

Spicy Crispy Corn Chaat Salad is such a delicious summer salad staple; it’s easy to make and tastes incredibly good without many ingredients or fuss of deep frying the corn to get it crispy( thanks to the air fryer)!

Summer is the best time of year to serve up fresh salads and vegetables from the garden or local CSA. While I don’t have much of a green thumb, I have friends who do, and I get the corn, cucumbers and even carrots from their garden. Or your csa will be an amazing place to get the freshet of vegetables….

Chinese “Chickpea” Salad

May 20, 2019 By Asha Shivakumar

Healthy, plant based, gluten free Chinese Chickpea Salad will change your salad game forever. The crunch from the chickpeas, the sweetness from the oranges and the sweet and spicy dressing, umami of flavors.

When your little boy says, this is a “life changing salad”, you know you are on to something.

It’s no secret that we love chickpea, it’s a great protien for vegetarians. It’s so versatile, taking on the flavors of the dressing or sauce they are paired with. I love my healthy food, but it has to taste good and not feel like I am on some diet. This salad makes an appearance every week. We love our Asian flavors and salads… hence the creation of this amazingly flavorful Asian/ Chinese Chickpea Salad.

This simple, plant-based salad is fresh, hearty, has great crunch and the best flavor!…

Sweet and spicy Curried Mango chicken salad

July 10, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

This is fun and tasty spin on chicken salad. This spicy curried mango chicken salad has diced grilled chicken, cashews and a creamy curry sauce. It’s addictive and makes for a nice wrap or like lettuce wraps. Perfect for Picnics or light lunch.

Summer comes and mangoes are everywhere. Although we don’t get that many varieties sweet ones,as we get in India, we are lucky to get some sweet ones here.

When mango arrives, everyone’s enjoying them to the core. Smoothies, Popsicles, kulfi, ice-cream, salads, sauces, you name it, people make it. I am not the biggest fan of mango as is, I know I know, weird, but true. In salad form, I could eat the whole bowl….

Spicy Chickpea rolls/Muthiya salad topped pear and goat cheese with pear dressing

August 16, 2017 By Asha Shivakumar

This Indian inspired salad has spicy chickpea rolls/muthiya, soft sweet pears, the salty goat cheese, and fresh greens.

We are in mid August, and there’s autumnal winds blowing every now and then. While the kids are getting ready to head back to school in a few weeks, I busily plan on squeezing in a few more days of fun with the boys.

The past few months have just flown by and and I’ve wondered every now and then, how did it fly by so quickly?

Time flies….

Lentil-Radish Salad with Chili-Lime Dressing (Guest Post)

March 17, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Lentil-Radish Salad with Chili-Lime Dressing |foodfashionparty|Guest post by @boxofspice

With the rain and winds, the Bay Area is filled with pollen too. The only way I can communicate now, without messing my vocal chords completely, is to whisper. For some reason the husky and sexy voice(as someone called it) doesn’t seem to suit me and I’ve had a few people feel bad, laugh and make fun of me all at the same time :). It’s one of the worst sore throats I have ever had, and I refuse to go to the doctor. Trying to have green tea with honey, fresh turmeric and everything to soothe my poor little throat. I am so very thankful and grateful to Rakhee from boxofspice to fill my space today with one of her impressive salads.

As Rakhee puts it, we’ve known each other for the longest. I fell in love with her gorgeous photography and this post in particular Chaat Salad, and now we are great friends and I am in love with her personality too. She’s all ears when I want to and makes me feel like a million bucks (what more can anyone ask). Her artistic eye for dreamy and moody photography requires a standing ovation and her salads all belong in a magazine. Without further ado… Here’s Rakhee. Take it away my dear…..

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Garlicky Mung/Moong Bean-Dill-Pomegranate Spicy Warm Salad

January 21, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

After a couple of years of pretty severe drought in the Bay, the wet weather for the past few weeks is a welcome change. I definitely am happy to hear the pitter-patter of the rain and rumble of the leaves. The deep brown soil turning brown and the dry brown grass on the mountains turning green are some very pretty sights.

Waking up to dark gray clouds, the sounds of rain, the trembling trees all makes us want to snuggle a bit more. Turning and struggling to wake up, going down for a hot cup of coffee and to a silent almost ‘pin drop silence’ except for the rain was an ideal start to my perfect day.

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Burmese Tea Leaf salad

March 10, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Around this time, a few years ago, was when I started enjoying green tea. An introduction to an actual green tea salad came way later, with a lot of resistance. I am not a salad lover, let alone a fermented green tea salad… That’s a stretch.

If you visit San Francisco and you have some time to wait in line to grab a bite, do not miss Burma Superstar. The food is delicious, and the fermented green tea salad is outstanding. What I don’t enjoy is the wait (which is crazy), and it’s even worse when you go there hungry. So, you know, I had to find a way to make one my favorite salad at home. I was inspired by the excellent salad I ate there, and just had to make my own version.

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HARISSA-MANGO PANEER AND PEARL BARLEY-DILL SALAD

January 17, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

This month was my whole grain month. As I measured out the barley to cook that morning, I did not realize that I had to be creative about how I made use of it for the next three days.

Little did I know that after you have a decent portion of this grain, you won’t be hungry for hours. But isn’t that a good thing? Oh well, maybe. For me, it was ok. So, long story short, I cooked 4 cups of barley which turned out to be around 8 cups of cooked barley. The kids were very apprehensive at the sound of the grain but it turned out they enjoyed it especially when I paired it with something they love….

MIXED CHAAT/Salad

January 12, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Taste a good chaat, and you will soon know why it is not forgotten. Chaat is a jumble of flavors and textures. It’s sweet, spicy, tangy, crunchy, and quite wild in flavors. Ask an Indian about chaat, and you will see their face light up. It just does that. Chaat is traditionally eaten in between meals in India. It is just not like back home. There is something amiss in the authenticity of chaat we get here. I guess it’s because it has to be catered to people of different cultures.

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