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Avocado and Chickpea Salad recipe from the Spice Goddess

Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

Avocado and Chickpea salad

As promised in our recent interview post, we’re sharing with you a recipe from Bal’s Quick & Healthy Indian cookbook by the Spice Goddess, Bal Arneson. With just over one hundred recipes in the book, it was hard to settle on just one, but we were drawn to the Avocado and Chickpea Salad.

This salad is a very interesting alternative to guacamole. The chickpeas, spanish paprika really work well with the avocado. If you are a fan of guacamole, you’ll love this recipe!

Summary

Preparation Time: 20min
Total Time: 30 min
Servings: 4 portions
Meal type: Salad
Cost: $5.25

Ingredients

avocado and chickpea salad ingredients

Dressing

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom; we used whole cardamom and removed the seeds from the pods to crush
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp Spanish paprika
1/8 tsp salt

Salad

4 avocados, cubed (save the avocado shells if you plan to serve in it); $4
14 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed; $1
1/4 cup green onion , finely chopped; $0.25

Instructions

1. To make the dressing, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, ginger, cardamom, cumin, paprika, and salt in a small bowl and mix well.
We actually ended up doubling the amount of cumin, paprika, and cardamom because we found it was quite light and wanted to have a bit more of a kick. We suggest following the original recipe and tweaking it to suit your own taste buds!

2. Combine the avocados, chickpeas, and green onion in a large bowl and toss gently. Just before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and toss to thoroughly coat the ingredients.

avocado and chickpea salad ingredients

3. Serve in an avocado shell.

Results

The YouCook team loved this dish! The recipe was straightforward, simple and we put it together in under half an hour from start to finish. It was fresh and had great texture from both the avocado and chick peas, while the spices were a welcome addition.

We found that adding some chili flakes and salt really enhanced the flavours. We will definitely try this with tomato and onion next time since this salad really reminded us of guacamole. We were inspired by the pictures in Bal’s cookbook to serve this salad inside the avocado shell as well. Not only did it look nice, it was a perfect serving size and meant less dishes to be washed.

Indian Guacamole

Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

Bal Arneson / Chef / Cookbook / Indian — View Comments
17
Mar 11

Meeting the Spice Goddess – Bal Arneson

Rating: 5.0/5 (3 votes cast)

Bal Arneson, Spice Goddess

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bal Arneson, host of the show, Spice Goddess, currently airing on Food Network Canada show and CookingChannel TV. She was in Toronto to promote her new cookbook Bal’s Quick & Healthy Indian, in which she promotes healthy Indian food that can be prepared in under 25 minutes.

An hour passed by quickly with Bal’s stories of growing up in a Punjab village, starting from scratch in Canada, her entrepreneurship spirit to get herself through school, her perseverance to get her first book published, her experience as an Iron Chef judge and more. We’re excited to share our conversation with you.

What do you want to share through your cookbook?

I wanted to share recipes that were similar to what I ate in my village. We didn’t eat rich foods because cream and butter were saved for only very special occasions…like the birth of a boy! We stuck with natural spices and vegetables. People had also told me that their other Indian cookbooks had long recipes that took forever to cook. In India, cooking was so quick because we had to do so many chores, we didn’t have the privilege to be cooking for hours and hours.

Which recipe would you recommend we try? Do you have a favourite recipe?

They’re all good! The chickpea and avocado salad. Such a beautiful, healthy, amazing, quick lunch. Start with that. I recently made the spiced honey chicken on garlic asparagus – that’s great too.

Spice Goddess Spices

How did your upbringing in India influence your cooking?

I was 4 or 5 years old and remember my mom cooking by the bbq pit. We had no phones, no fridges, no TV’s, and I remember my mom getting up early at 4:30 and milking the cows and bison. We would bring the milk back to the kitchen and churn it.

She would take coriander or cardamom, cloves and put it in a tray out in the sun because we didn’t have an oven and they would get toasted beautifully under the sun. It was our job to put it in a huge mortar and we would crush it for hours, with our faces covered because the peppercorns were so strong. We would do this for hours and it was very sensory-orienting and meditating. Lo and behold, I realized this was gonna be my job for the rest of my life.

How did that lead to your success in Canada?

Seventeen years ago when I left my first husband I was disowned by my family, I had no money and I had no English. As a single mom, I started cleaning people’s homes to make money and at night I was taking ESL classes so I could learn to communicate with people. I remember going to people’s houses and offering to make them some food! And they were like ‘No, just stick to cleaning’.

I started taking classes at UBC and because the cafeteria was so far from our classroom, expensive and you had to wait in lineups, I brought my own food. People would say “Oh, what are you eating?” and I would be like “I’m eating my chick peas!” and so they asked if I could make some for them. I started offering it to them and, you know, after a while I started selling them for $2 or $3. I started coming to school with a backpack and a big icebag full of containers with people’s names on it. One thing led to another and soon they were asking me to teach them how to cook dishes and to cater their mom’s birthdays.

What was your biggest challenge getting to where you are now?

Growing up in a village where you have no identity and then being here with this freedom, I didn’t find English or men were a challenge. My only challenge was to find my own identity. Coming to Canada and going through a divorce, I was like “what do I do now?”. I needed to make big decisions without any father figure or brother figure. It was to overcome the thousands of years of teaching I grew up with where women were the property of men and meant to serve them. My audience is still 80% women so my vision and desire is to show them how to cook amazing meals and then get out of the kitchen as well as empower women by sharing my story.

What do you tell women who want to succeed in the culinary world?

You’ve got to have a plan A that’s gonna pay your bills. Teaching was my plan A that paid my bills. Have a plan A that is in your control and plan B, which is out of your control; this can be your passion. If you have your food and shelter covered, you’ll have time to discover your passion. Whatever fears you have, stop, embrace them, and face them.

But absolutely, follow your dreams.

What tips do you have for beginner home cooks?

Just start with two spices: Turmeric powder and garam masala. That’s all we had and we would make the most amazing meals ever. Add whatever flavours you like in the masala mix… cumin, coriander, bay leaves… Turmeric has tremendous health benefits and adds a nice colour. Garam masala is based on coriander and cumin, but whatever you could afford or whatever spices you prefer to have could be added. Kind of like spaghetti sauce, everybody makes it a little different. The key is to heat up the spices to release the wonderful flavours. Start with a little garlic, ginger, and oil, and then add the spices. You don’t need any fat because of the spices, which are great for medicinal purposes. After that, follow your own palate.

Is it possible for beginner cooks to stick to your 25 minute cooking philosophy?

Absolutely, it’s possible. Nobody should be in the kitchen for more than 25 minutes. You should cook and then get out of there so you have more time to do meditation, or yoga, or dancing with your friends. The great thing about Indian spices is that you don’t need to marinate for too long. If it’s done right, freshly toasted and ground, you don’t need to marinate for hours and hours, just mix it in.

Do you have a favourite tool in the kitchen?

If I can cook with a clay pot, a dug up pit with cowdung patties – any tool is a blessing! You don’t need to buy fancy knives or fancy pots. You just need your hands.

How was your experience as a judge on Iron Chef America?

Jose Garces was the Iron Chef and Michael Solomonov was the challenger. The secret ingredient was passion fruit. Before the judging, they tell you that you can’t say all good things. I’m eating it though and keep thinking ‘This is really good!’ and at one point, I said to Michael, ‘This food is so good, I want to take you home with me.’ Then I thought ‘What did I just say?’ because my daughter was in the audience! I have been a judge twice and it’s so fun, I would do it again.

If you could have the luxury to go spend a year abroad learning another cuisine what would it be?

Everyone raves about French cooking so if there’s any cuisine I had to choose, that’s what it would be. I’m actually headed to France this week!

It was such a pleasure to meet with Bal Arneson! She is a strong, independent woman who showed us perseverance and passion in both her professional and personal life. With Quick and Healthy, she continues to change people’s perception of Indian food as being unhealthy and showcase the beautiful aromas of fresh spices to create quick and delicious meals.

After the interview, she had a cooking demo of honey chicken and asparagus for a crowd of women at First Canadian Place. We agreed that people come into our lives for a reason, season or lifetime and it was truly a priceless experience for YouCook to meet the Spice Goddess.

Stay tuned as YouCook tries out some recipes from Bal’s new book in our test kitchen.

Bal Arneson Demo

Rating: 5.0/5 (3 votes cast)

Chef / George Szasz — View Comments
8
Jul 10

Interview with George Szasz of Stage Wine Bar

Rating: 4.3/5 (3 votes cast)

George Szasz

Are you the type of person that’s always tempted to steal bites of food from your dining mates because you get bored of your own dish? If so, you need to check out Stage Wine Bar. Located in Victoria’s Fernwood neighbourhood, sharing plates with your companions is the best way to go. I had the pleasure of meeting George Szasz, owner and chef de cuisine of Stage Wine Bar.

Life Before Stage

I was in Vancouver first and then moved to Smithers, BC. We had a restaurant, but the economy wasn’t that great. I didn’t want to move back to Vancouver and Victoria was close enough, so we bought a place called Chez Daniel in Oak Bay and turned it into Paprika Bistro. We opened Paprika in 1999 and ran it for 10 years. Having a fine dining restaurant was getting tough though, very challenging and there were lots of expectations. There were lots of parties and group dinners on top of the expectations that come with fine dining. It was a great run, but we were looking for something simpler… a simpler model restaurant that we could organize without being there 24/7. In a way, opening Stage was a fresh start with new ideas and a focus that we could run with, without evolving into something people expected or wanted.
Stage Brick Wall

A Family History

Our family had a deli in Granville for 35 years so I grew up with that. For me to do this, it’s nothing. We had a konditorei in the back, so I learned all about baking and cake-making. I worked on the floor, behind the deli, and then managing the books. This was school for me.

I grew up as a third-generation sausage-maker. My grandfather and father worked in Szeged, Hungary and it’s cool because I have the old recipe ratios and history that I’m working to transcribe right now. It’s fun trying to bring it up to current day standards. This will be from the depths of early last century… I’m bringing stuff back from the dead!

We held back on salami for a while because of the listeria thing, but there’s no reason you can’t do it if you have the skill and sanitation for it. We make our own bresaola, terrines, pâtés, parfaits, porchetta…we also make our own bread and desserts.

George Szasz, the Teacher

We run master classes, so we”ll bring in 200 lb piggies from Sloping Hill Farms and butcher them right here in the kitchen. Everything is used, from the head to the tail. We talk about all the primals and how we’re going to use it… Porchetta from the head or other headcheeses, schnitzel from the loin… everything on the animal is used. These guys in the class learn so much, it’s amazing. Honestly, I feel really good about the cuisine and the effort that these guys put in. My excitement is in teaching and doing what’s necessary to make these people strong and tremendous cooks in the end.

About Home Cooking

Cooking at home is hard, especially for people who live alone. Even I find it difficult to cook at home. I just don’t have all the tools that I have at Stage and I don’t know where anything is at home, but here, I do!

My most important kitchen tool is my carbon steel fillet knife that I have had for years. I bought it for 5 bucks and I use it for everything.

Go Ahead, Even Chefs Do It

My guilty food pleasure would have to be scraping the fond (little stuck on bits of meat) off the roasting pan. Sounds gross, but is so good.

The Dining and Food Concept at Stage

The main focus is on eating smaller because this is how WE like to dine. We don’t like the big plates of protein and sides of veggies and starch. Those days are done. I can’t eat like that anymore. Why serve something when you aren’t really feeling it? Since we’re doing smaller plates, once a plate is ready, it’s on the table. We don’t wait and then push everything out together. That’s not how we play it. So if there’s two of us, when a plate comes out, we both should enjoy it… and when another plate comes out, we both enjoy it. The whole idea is to share. It’s part of dining here and truly a social experience.

Stage Triptych

Stage cuisine is, without sounding cheesy, global. It’s a version of cuisine that people can recognize and find on the street. There are bits and pieces from all over the world and this is contemporary food that people can relate to. For example, the langos can be found everywhere in Hungary. We do that, but take it to a different level. We make it a little bit North American, but people can get the gist of what we’re doing. We’re so fortunate to be able to procure many amazing things locally… walnuts and hazelnuts are grown on the island, we get our pigs from Sloping Hill Farm and our ducks from Cowichan Bay Farm and, just recently, from Brome Lake Ducks.

What to Try at Stage

We are renowned for our duck confit. I’ve been doing that since the days of Paprika. Any of our duck products really…smoked, roasted breast, preserved legs, rillettes, terrines….Duck is really amazing to work with and Cowichan Bay Farms has some of the best product in the country.

We’re working on packaging up our products… sausages, duck confits… and selling them as Stage Productions. Our products are already in some delis and some hotels buy the product occasionally. I sort of want to get into this because, although I love what I do, I won’t be doing this forever. This is the sort of vein I’d like to get into… the production side. It’s sort of like my career is coming full-circle! I started in a deli scenario: production and manufacturing. Then I went into running a restaurant. Now I’m coming back into the production side of it. I really enjoy it so it’s a big focus now.
Stage Productions

We have marinated olives, preserved lemons, sausages, terrines. Our preserved lemons are in Market on Yates, Slater’s, Charelli’s, it goes up and down the island, out to seafood shops in Tofino. We haven’t even touched Vancouver, but definitely would like to.

Cheese, Cheese, Cheese

Our cheese program is exceptional. It’s not easy to procure cheese because there are quotas, suppliers and middlemen. Europe won’t release so much cheese and you have to place your order. Sometimes you get it three months later and forgot what you ordered!

We were in Europe with the girls and driving through the Pyrénées and going through farmers markets… these people are SO committed to cheese. It’s a time-honoured tradition and some people made huge sacrifices to make their product in Europe. Why compete against thirty-seven generations of people making cheese? There’s no way. There are some pretty good cheese made in North America, but for the most part, it’s nowhere near.

It’s like having a beautiful bottle of port and you know there were three or four generations involved in making that bottle. So when you’re sitting there, you’re thinking “What was it like back then?”. It’s like drinking history… Not only the product itself, but understanding what was going on in the world at that time.

Victoria Versus Vancouver

Vancouver has an intereresting base of incredible restaurants, but Victoria only has a handful that I would say. It’s a different attitude and slower pace here. The competitive edge has nothing on Vancouver, where it’s very cut-throat and competitive all the time with people jumping ship. They also have big name players and want that new something that’s going on, whether it’s New York, L.A., San Francisco… but here? No.

When we were at Paprika Bistro, we tied in closely with B&B’s and they would shoot us business. These are the people that aren’t afraid to try things and go away from downtown. The tourists off the cruise ships stay mainly up and down Government St. In Victoria, reputation really helps. If you’re in the industry for a number of years, word of mouth gets around and Victorians like restaurants players that have been around for a long time.

The Truth about the Restaurant Business

Opening a restaurant should be fueled by passion, not by monetary increase. You just can’t do it and make a killing. Corporate restaurants have a formula and have huge buying power, but for a smaller restaurant, you don’t have as much purchasing power. You have to be a little more savvy in knowing where to go. It’s challenging and difficult even without opening up the doors to people. We try and show people that to get that pork dish sitting in front of you, it does take time. Getting the best pork, respecting the animal, working with it and teaching the students how to use it properly takes time. Being a chef is not an easy career, but you get gratification from the people who leave with smiles and memories of amazing meals.

My interview with George was really interesting, he has a lot of enthusiasm for his history, family, food, and doing good for the environment. Hearing him talk about all the things growing in his garden makes me want to start one on my own! He believes that if everyone had even a small table-size plot to grow a bit of their own, the world would be a much better place.

George and Linda Szasz

You will likely see George’s wife, Linda, behind the bar and keeping things in order. She handles many of the things that come along with running a restaurant, but leaves the cooking to George!

Next time you get a chance to visit Stage, check out their bar countertop…

Stage Bar

… It’s reclaimed flooring from a closed-down Victoria bowling alley!

Rating: 4.3/5 (3 votes cast)

Restaurant / Seafood / Vikram Vij — View Comments
7
May 10

Vij’s::Prawns in Coconut Masala

Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

I live in Toronto and while I’ve never been to Vij’s in Vancouver, I had heard a lot about it from my friends in Vancouver. It is consistently ranked as the top restaurant in Vancouver. So I decided that since I couldn’t easily go there myself, I could do the next best thing – bring Vij’s into my home by cooking his recipe. I chose the Prawns in Coconut Masala recipe because I love prawns, and the simplicity of the recipe. Here’s some words of advice from Vij via the Vancouver Sun: “This can be served as an appetizer or as part of a meal with naan or rice. You can substitute canola oil for ghee, but you’ll lose some of the flavour. The recipe follows a French style of cooking, where the prawns are cooked with the sauce.” I used canola oil instead of ghee because I didn’t have time, but I will definitely try ghee next time as the flavour was a bit subtle.