Get Ahead reader Zelda Pande is a Mumbai-based professional. Here she shares with us her favourite summer recipe, that helps beat the heat:

Dahi rice

When it is sweltering out of doors and the heat dries up your appetite, the only thing I can eat is something cold. Watermelon juice, panna (green mango juice), litchis. Or yoghurt-based drinks like lassi -- mmmm!

Your main meal can also be packed with yoghurt. Try my special dahi rice:

Ingredients

2 cups rice, cooked and cooled
2 cups plain yoghurt
1 1/2 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 asafoetida (hing)
10 curry leaves
2 red chillies
Salt
1 small raw mango (finely chopped) to garnish

Method

In a large saucepan, mix the yoghurt and the rice. Cook on a low flame for about 25 minutes, till the rice has completely absorbed the yoghurt.

Next, in a small frying pan, heat the oil. Once it is hot enough, add the mustard seeds and hing in quick succession, allowing the mustard seeds to pop for a few seconds. Then add the curry leaves, followed by red chillies a few seconds later. If you like your food a little spicy, break open one of the chillies while adding them to the frying pan.

Stir-fry all the ingredients for a few seconds, then add them to the yoghurt-rice mixture.

Chill in the fridge for two hours. The rice will have absorbed much of the yoghurt, and the mixture may be a little dry. Add � cup more beaten of yoghurt to the rice, and mix well. Sprinkle the rice with the chopped raw mango, and serve.

Tomato salad with pine nuts and cheese

Get Ahead reader Nandita Iyer, a medical doctor by qualification and a freelance writer by occupation, sent in the following recipe for an innovative tomato salad:

~ Ingredients

4 medium tomatoes, halved and each half cut into thirds
2 triangles of cream cheese, crumbled off into small pieces 
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp lightly roasted pine nuts
Freshly cracked black pepper
Salt to taste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)

~ Method

In a salad bowl, mix all the ingredients except the pine nuts nuts, tossing well.

Chill for an hour or so, then garnish with roasted pine nuts and serve.

You can also spoon this salad between two slices of bread for a light, cold sandwich.

Share your favourite summer recipes with other Get Ahead readers. Send them to getahead@rediff.co.in, along with your name, age, contact details, a picture of the dish (if possible) and a little bit about yourself.