Crunchy, tasty and healthy — this is the combination of salads that is trending these days. Giving dressings a different twist in a bowl filled with wholesome veggies and protein, salads today are no longer boring. With too many options to choose from, salads have surely grown from being mere appetisers to proper meals today. CE gets in touch with cafes in the city that are leaving health freaks spoilt for choice. They fill us in about the yummy dressings, their specials and what they add to make healthy also sound tasty.
Ofen Bakery
Chef Ranjan Kuttan of Ofen bakery says their salads are more protein-focused, but they make fat-based ones too, if customers ask for them. “We enhance the taste of our salads with our varied kinds of dressings. Some like it crunchy and depending on what they want, we add vinegar or olive oil and unique marinades. Currently, we offer six types of salad dressings — vinegar, mayonnaise, citrus, mustard, hung curd and Lebanese in which we use hummus,” he says. Some of their bestsellers are chicken mushroom salad, charred broccoli salad, sprouted bean salad and caesar salad. The mayo-based favourite is the Hawaiian chicken salad, while their fruit-based one is the watermelon feta cheese salad.
Soups and Salads
Chef Shashidhar Reddy begins by explaining that when it comes to salads, health is the primary goal, followed by taste. “Our concept towards salads is healthy. We do not add aromatic powder or food colour. We use a broccoli and spinach mixture to get that desired texture in the salad. To enhance the taste, we use continental herbs such as thyme, basil and other enriched natural herbs. We do not use a fryer either, we bake our salads and then toss the vegetables in the pan. It is marinated without using flour.”
Baguette Salads
This healthy eatery that has its branches across the city, has chef K Koushik Reddy from their Madhapur outlet explain to us about the many salads which are served in bowls. “Our salads have 12 different dressings and 12 separate ingredients too. French lemonade, honey, classic, lemon and pepper, olive and lemon, greek, and honey mustard are some of the popular favourites.” Cafe Graffiti The owner of the popular restaurant lists some of the kinds of salads they serve — chicken toast salad, chicken fresh salad, fresh garden salad and pesto salad. About the magic ingredients of their lip-smacking salads, he reveals, “They’re simple: some exotic veggies, black pepper and white pepper take the salad to the next level.”