What comes to our mind when we think of a healthy bowl of food?
I don’t know about everyone out there, but a wide majority would agree with me if I say ‘Salads’ .
And how are our salads made?
again a wide majority would agree if I say ‘tossed’
Looks like there are many more ways to make a healthy salad, like what I discovered from Chef Megha’s creations last weekend at Park Hyatt Chennai’s The Dining room. Not only were there 5 different salads, but 5 healthy and extremely filling drinks too. And they named this week long spread ‘5 by 5’
The 5 different ways to make salads are roasting, grilling, smashing, blanching and ofcourse, tossing.
These salads were created after too many trials to get them to the perfection, with the seasonally available fruits and veggies, also a generous amount of various nuts and micro-greens. Best thing about it is, no dressings on the salads, but a generous amount of purees and sauces made out of fruits and veggies. To let the hogger know what is in there, these salads are not piled up in bowls, but rather spread and gorgeously plated on big-heavy-round plates. Lets take a look at them
Tossed: quinoa, avocado, cherry tomatoes, parsley, mint, pumpkin seeds, sunflower cress
Roasted: baby beets, fennel, apple, celery, walnut, orange, arugula, goat cheese
Blanched: asparagus, mango, snow peas, shaved carrot, scallions, toasted hazelnut
Smashed: edamame, broccoli, garlic lemon ricotta, pumpernickel toast
Grilled: eggplant, chickpeas, dates, honey, chilli, feta, pomegranate, pine nut and fresh herbs
All the 5 were good.. my favorite though was the Roasted, ‘cos of the goat cheese, walnut and beets, thats one helluva testosterone pumping combo I say.. and next up would be the Blanched, ‘cos it had mangoes
Am I talking only about veggies? then what about meat and all those protein goodness?
worry not, even though the salads are entirely made of veggies and fruits, we get the option to choose our topping of healthy meats.
Seared Japanese Tuna
Smoked Salmon
roasted chicken breast
my pick from the above will be my ever favorite “smoked salmon”. How I wish, I could eat smoked salmon everyday.. sigh..
What do we wash them down with? Chef has answered that with a lineup of 5 interesting mix of drinks. which are
Watermelon Smoothie : watermelon, yoghurt, honey
Spark : Almond milk, avocado, vanilla bean, banana Energiser : Apple, kiwi, lime, spinach, celery, honey
Bello : Banana, spinach, coconut, cashew, coconut cream
Skin Tonic : Romaine lettuce, cilantro, lime, pineapple
I don’t have a favourite amongst these as they were all yummy healthy treats. If pushed so hard I will go for the Skin Tonic, for its pineapple sweetness.
This spread is on from 21st April till 28th April, for lunch and dinner at The Dining Room and for dinner at Flying Elephant.
Where? This is at Park Hyatt Chennai. (Ask Google for directions)
One plate of salad, a topping and one glass of those awesomeness is enough to satiate one’s hunger and would cost 1250 at its highest.
FoodGrapher 
Excellent review.
Thank u