Red alert! Droolworthy recipes in the colour of love

Treat your significant other to an assortment of recipes celebrating the colour of love.

It is that time of the year again when love is in the air. And so is the colour red.

Besides the colour coded dress and jewellery, the balloons and roses,  this year, we give you the choice of cooking some simple yet delicious red food for your loved one.

Nachos with Strawberry Dip

Ingredients

• One packet nachos bought from the market
• 2 cup unsweetened yoghurt
• 2 cup strawberries
• Half a cup of sugar

Method

• Add the strawberries in a blender and puree it
• Add the sugar and berry puree to the yogurt
• Transfer into small bowls or shot glasses and let it chill
• Before serving add nachos pieces to the bowls or to the shot glass and serve

Liked this recipe? Click here for more food recipes!

Send your Valentine a postcard

Click here for more Valentine's Day stories

Please click NEXT to continue reading

Fish and Radish

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 teaspoons of lime zest
• Juice of one lemon
• 2 tsp soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• A little sugar
• A little grated ginger
• A cup of minced fish of your choice
• 1 chilli
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 thinly sliced radishes

Method

• Combine the lemon juice with the lime zest, and the sugar.
• Boil it till it becomes sticky.
• Mix this into the soya sauce.
• Add the ginger to it and blend well.
• Add the fish to a little olive oil in a pan and saute with the chilli.
• Take small bowls and put the sauteed fish into each.
• Add the lemon-ginger mixture over each.
• Add the radish slices form top and serve.

Red Salad with Cheese

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 small sized beetroot
• Half a red cabbage thinly sliced
• 1 red onion thinly sliced
• A cup of green peas
• A cup of crumbled cheese
• A bunch of thyme
• 2 to 3 bay leaves
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• Half a cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of mustard
• The juice of one lemon
• A little vinegar

Method

• Remove the skin from the beetroot and cut them into thin slices.
• Place in a baking dish and add the herbs and salt.
• Brush with olive oil and bake till soft.
• Blanch the peas, the red cabbage together till soft.
• Stir fry the red onion slices in olive oil.
• Combine the mustard, lemon juice and the vinegar in a bowl.
• Add a little olive oil, salt and pepper and mix it in well.
• Combine all the vegetables with the lemon juice mixture. Let it sit for a while.
• Before serving, garnish with the crumbled cheese.
• You may add a few cherries or cherry tomatoes on the top for added colour.

Pomegranate Tart

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 2 cups pomegranate puree
• 2 to 3 apples chopped into cubes and peeled
• A pinch of cardamom, cinnamon and clove spice mixture
• 1 cup sugar
• Salt to taste
• 5 to 6 small cubes of butter
• 1/3 cup of cream

Method

• Add the flour and four to five cubes of butter and blend it well.
• Add two to three teaspoons of sugar and a pinch of salt and blend again.
• Add the cream and whisk it into the flour mixture.
• Put the dough on a table and flatten it out.
• Wrap it and let it chill for an hour.
• Boil the pomegranate puree.
• Put the apple cubes in an oven proof dish and sprinkle the cinnamon spice mixture over it.
• Bake the fruit till tender.
• Put it into the pomegranate puree and stir till it becomes sticky.
• Take a baking dish and rub butter evenly over its surface.
• Sprinkle sugar over it and place the dough such that some sticks out of the dish.
• Put the apples inside and press them in.
• Cover it with the dough sticking out. This forms the crust.
• Bake till the crust is brown.
• Carefully remove and serve with strawberry dessert topping or the left over pomegranate syrup.

Grapefruit Toast

Ingredients

• One grapefruit
• One avocado
• A handful of pistachios and cashew nuts
• Brown bread slices
• Olive oil
• Two to three tsp of salt

Method

• Chop the pistachios and the cashew nuts.
• Scoop out the avocado flesh and mash it well with a spoon.
• Toast the bread slices.
• Spread the avocado mash over it.
• Top it with the grapefruit flesh to give it the red colour.
• Garnish with the nuts and serve warm.

Ruby Lemonade

Ingredients

• Watermelon juice
• The juice of 3 to 4 lemons
• Soda
• Sugar and salt to taste
• Crushed ice

Method

• Mix the lemon juice to the watermelon juice and shake it well so that a slight froth forms on top.
• Add the sugar and salt to taste and shake again in a shaker with crushed ice.
• Take flute glasses and pour the juice mixture into each till they are half full.
• Pour the soda over it.
• Serve chilled.

Pomegranate Cocktail

Ingredients

• Half a cup of sugar
• Juice of two pomegranates
• 2 glasses of red wine or champagne

Method

• Add the sugar to water and bring it to a boil.
• Let it boil for a few minutes.
• Pour it into a bowl and let it chill in the refrigerator.
• Add the pomegranate juice and the wine / champagne in a cocktail mixer and shake it well.
• Fill the red beverage in champagne flutes and top it with the sugar syrup.
• Garnish with a few pearls of pomegranate.

Baked Kidney Bean

Ingredients

• A cup of red kidney beans
• A few spoons of salt
• 2 to 3 onions
• 1 to 2 cloves garlic
• Half a cup of brown sugar
• A small bottle of tomato sauce
• A little butter
• A cup of boiled and shredded chicken

Method

• Soak the red kidney beans overnight so that they turn soft.
• Next day boil it with a pinch of salt in a pressure cooker till they are tender.
• Saute it with the onions in olive oil and keep aside.
• In a bowl mix the salt, brown sugar, tomato sauce, garlic and a little mustard sauce.
• Add the bean and onion mixture to it.
• Put the mixture on low flame and let it simmer for a while.
• Add the shredded chicken to it and stir it around.
• Take an oven proof dish and grease it with butter.
• Pour the mixture to it and add cheese over it.
• Let it bake for half an hour.
• Serve hot with garlic bread.

Tomato Stuffed Bread

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 tomatoes chopped
• A bunch of coriander
• 2 to 3 cloves of garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil
• A loaf of brown bread

Method

• Combine tomatoes with the chopped coriander and the garlic in bowl.
• Add the salt and pepper to taste.
• Let it marinate for half an hour.
• Take the slices of bread and cut into triangles.
• Brush them with olive oil.
• Add the tomato mixture on one triangle and cover it with another.
• Grill it till the outside is golden brown.
• Serve them in a platter with ketchup on the side.

Berry ice cream

Ingredients

• 2 cups vanilla ice cream
• 2 cups strawberry ice cream
• A handful of raspberries or cherries (canned will also do)
• Strawberry dessert topping

Method

• Mix the vanilla and the strawberry ice cream till it becomes soft.
• Empty the strawberry dessert topping into the ice cream mixture.
• Cut the cherries into tiny pieces and add to the ice cream mixture.
• Put the mixture into a bowl and freeze it in the refrigerator.
• To serve, scoop it out into bowls and either serve with cherries and nuts or with whipped cream and strawberry desert topping on top.

Jello Cake

Ingredients

• One strawberry or cherry flavoured jello pack
• 2 fruit cakes
• A tub of strawberry ice cream
• Whipped cream

Method

• Make the jello as per the instruction in the pack
• Refrigerate it so that it solidifies.
• Take the fruit cake and crumble it.
• Take out the solid jello and layer it with the fruit cake in a bowl.
• Top it with strawberry ice cream and refrigerate it.
• Serve with whipped cream.