This Cracked Wheat (Dalia) Salad is light, refreshing, healthy and fun! It's wonderfully simple to make and has an abundance of fresh goodness.
Why Cracked Wheat?
The star of this recipe is cracked wheat/dalia in this salad. Though this humble grain is very versatile, it's most commonly used for making porridge, sweet and savoury. You can incorporate it in everyday cooking in so many ways. Add it to your bakes - bread, muffins, cookies; use it for making pilafs, upma, dosa, halwa, burger patties, you can even add it in soups instead of pasta and of course salads.
Wholegrain foods, such as cracked wheat, contribute towards maintaining a healthy body weight. It's an excellent source of fibre as it contains wheat bran and wheat germ. It's also full of magnesium, which is essential for those enzymes which contribute to insulin secretion and for releasing glucose into the bloodstream. Hence its daily consumption can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
How to make the Cracked Wheat (Dalia) Salad
Cracked Wheat Prep
- Start with soaking the cracked wheat in water for a few minutes instead of cooking it. After soaking the texture is quite nutty and has a bite to it. If you like a softer texture, simply cook it in plenty of water and drain it. Just be careful that it doesn't turn mushy. Soft or al dente, the cracked wheat should be fluffy to be used in a salad and not a sticky glug!
Vegetable Prep
- Roasted tomatoes and garlic add such a zing to this simple salad. Just toss them with some olive oil, salt & pepper and roast them in your oven at 200C for about 20/ 30 minutes. If you don't have cherry tomatoes handy, just use a couple of quartered regular tomatoes instead. In this recipe, we are not looking to oven drying the tomatoes, just a quick high heat roast to char them and make them lose a bit of their liquid. The end result is a soft, very flavorful, caramelized tomato.
- Roasting garlic makes it soft and mellow, with almost a sweet buttery texture. You can roast a few whole heads of garlic and keep them refrigerated. This will fill your kitchen with this unbelievably insanely delicious aroma!
- Cut the avocados and drizzle some lemon juice on top to prevent them from premature browning.
- In a large bowl, combine all the vegetables with cracked wheat and sprouts.
Salad Dressing
- Put all the dressing ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake till well emulsified.
- Pour over the salad and mix gently. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Let the salad rest in the refrigerator for an hour or so, for the flavours to meld.
I hope you'll give this Cracked Wheat (Dalia) Salad a try. Packed with nutrient-rich ingredients, this delicious salad is the epitome of clean and happy eating!
More easy & healthy salad recipes:
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Cracked Wheat (Dalia) Salad
Ingredients
- 300 gms cracked wheat (dalia)
- 15 roasted cherry tomatoes
- 8 cloves roasted garlic
- 2 cucumber, sliced
- 75 gms sprouted lentils lightly colored
- 1 Red bell pepper sliced thinly
- 1 yellow bell pepper sliced thinly
- 1 Avocado sliced
Dressing
- 3 lemon juice from 3 lemons
- 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
- 4 tbsp Extra virgin Olive oil
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pour lightly salted boiling hot water on cracked wheat, enough to cover it. Let it soak, covered, for about 15- 20 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain well again. Let cool.
- In a large bowl, combine all the vegetables with cracked wheat and sprouts.
- For the dressing : Put all the dressing ingredients in a screw top jar and shake till well emulsified.
- Pour over the salad and mix gently. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Let the salad rest in the refrigerator for an hour or so, for the flavors to meld.
- Serve chilled.
Hema says
What a gorgeous looking bowl!
natashaminocha says
Thank you Hema!:)
UK says
Loved the recipe. The snaps are awesome..
Thanks for sharing.. 🙂
UK
http://www.fashionablefoods.net
natashaminocha says
Hi UK! Thank you so much. :))
Cheers
Archana Kapoor says
Awesome Natasha... gonna try it... 🙂
natashaminocha says
Awwww…thank you Archana!Please do, I’d love to know how it turned out for you! 🙂
Archana Kapoor says
Pucca, will do 🙂
natashaminocha says
Super!! Can't wait to hear from you Archana! 🙂
Subhodeep Mukhopadhyay says
Wow! The colors are awesome. And the presentation is really nice. 🙂
Subhodeep
natashaminocha says
Thank you Subhodeep for your generous words! I hope you’ll try making it 🙂
Cheers
Shyla M says
this salad looks amaaaazing, on my list to try!
Natasha Minocha says
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! xx