aloo ka raita spice box style

Here's a side dish from The Spice Box Vegetarian Indian Cookbook by Manju Shivraj Singh, which despite being published over three decades ago and being currently out of print, still gets great reviews on Amazon.  This particular recipe offers a spicier twist on potato salad.

Potato and Yogurt Salad (Aloo Ka Raita)

2 cups yogurt
3 potatoes, boiled, peeled, chopped
1 teaspoon powdered cumin
salt to taste
1 fresh green chili, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
a few mint leaves, chopped

Beat the yogurt with a fork.  Add all the ingredients except the mint.  Refrigerate and serve, garnished with mint leaves.  

As the book's back cover notes, the front cover shows an Indian spice box, or masala dibba.  The box is essentially a can with seven smaller cans inside, generally made of stainless steel, aluminum, or plastic.  The six small outer tins on the cover of The Spice Box are filled with tumeric, chilies, coriander, cumin, mustard seeds and fenugreek, with a garam masala blend in the center.  Having such a spice box at the ready makes Indian cooking (and dining) much easier and enjoyable.

sunset cook taste savor

Sunset Magazine spotlights living in the American West, and this collection of recipes is a vivid celebration of the many wonderful, natural ingredients that region has to offer.  Boosted by the plentiful bounty of California and the Pacific Northwest, among the sixteen featured base ingredients are artichokes, berries, avocados, citrus, tomatoes, apples, cheeses, New Mexico chiles, mushrooms, coffee, dried fruit and nuts. Sample recipes include Mango Chicken Boats with Macadamia Nuts (endive leaves form the tiny boats), White Wine Coq au Vin, Zinfandel Risotto with Roasted Beets and Walnuts, Warm Dates with Soft Blue Cheese and Prosciutto, Mushroom Pate, Orange and Basil Mussels, Heirloom Tomato Soup, Spicy Watermelon Salad, Fig Gingerbread, Tangerine Olive Oil Cake and Blackberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream.  And many more, grouped by the featured ingredient and accompanied by some enticing photos.

This quick and fairly simple recipe is Sunset's Raw-Spiced Applesauce, which as the book recommends can be made for breakfast, as a snack, or even a light dessert -- or served alongside Cook Taste Savor's White Cheddar Sage Popovers:

4 unpeeled Red Delicious apples (about 1 and 1/4 lbs.), cored and cut into small chunks
1/2 tsp orange zest
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Pinch kosher salt
1/4 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans

Combine all ingredients except yogurt and pecans in a food processor and whirl until smooth (bits of peel will be visible), 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl if necessary.  Divide among 4 bowls and top each with a dollop of yogurt and pecans.

American Heart Association's Low-Salt Cookbook

Low-salt eating may seem like a culinary prison people get sentenced to by their doctors in order to stabilize an unhealthy diet, but there really isn't any reason why you can't be more proactively salt-conscious without sacrificing variety and taste.  The American Heart Association has several editions of its Low-Salt Cookbook series, but the one from 2006/2007 (3rd Edition) features a particularly diverse selection of recipes.  There are nutritional and psychological tips to help transition into better eating patterns, along with healthier, natural salt/seasoning substitutes and flavor enhancers.

Recipes include Potato Skin Nachos and Red Bell Pepper Crostini, Melon-Berry Kebabs and Horseradish and Dill Sour Cream Dip among the Appetizers and Snacks; Gazpacho, Minestrone, Corn and Green Chile are among the Soups (there are also recipes for making your own lower sodium Beef, Chicken and Vegetable stock base broths); Salads and Salad Dressings include Spicy Shrimp Salad, Asian Brown Rice and Vegetable Salad, Summer Pasta Salad, Southwestern Black-Eyed Pea Salad, Red Potato Salad, Ranch Dressing with Fresh Herbs and Cider Vinaigrette; and then there are plenty of seafood (like Pecan Crusted Catfish with Zesty Tartar Sauce), poultry (e.g., Blackberry and Balsamic Chicken), beef (e.g., Sirloin with Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce) and vegetarian (Crustless Garden Quiche, Eggplant Lasagna, Fettuccine Alfredo) offerings.

The cookbook also has chapters for Breads and Breakfast Dishes and a nice assortment of desserts, such as Denver Chocolate Pudding Cake, Caramel Flan, Deep-Dish Cherry Pie and Strawberry Banana Sorbet.  And because condiments tend to be high in sodium or if low in sodium they tend to be lacking in zing, there are recipes for homemade ketchup, chili sauce, barbecue sauce, tartar sauce, mustard and mayonnaise that -- as the book suggests -- may make you "wonder why you ever bought the bottled kind."