Can A Salad Replace A Full Dinner?

Hearty salads and bowls are becoming more and more popular: balanced dishes that combine vegetables and greens, cereals and other ingredients , it is easy to replace a combo of a side dish and a hot dish , besides, they are well suited for any meal, whether it is breakfast, lunch , or dinner. How to make a salad bowl at home that will replace an entire lunch ? What to add to a dish for satiety and bright taste? Let's find out.

Can a salad be a main dish ?

Let's figure out what a salad is . Perhaps someone will have an association with a small, cold and mayonnaise dish . In today's world, this is not the case, and restaurants are changing the perception of guests about salad . The dish can be a complete lunch . This is a huge plate filled with everything the body needs: lots of vegetables and greens, high-quality proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

The concept of " salad " now has no limitations: it can be warm, cold, fruity, for breakfast, lunch , dinner, as a starter or more hearty as a main course , or in general to replace several dishes (hot and a side dish, for example ).

A salad plate is a space for experiments. In addition, it has been proven that a large number of ingredients with different taste, texture and color (and not only the composition of products ) is much more useful than a single product. The brain thinks that it has eaten a lot, and rejoices at such a variety, although in fact you did not overeat, did not go beyond the calorie limit and made a maximally balanced meal .

How to assemble a salad to get a hearty meal

First of all, it is important to take into account a sufficient number of calories, because if you limit yourself to 200-300 kcal per meal, most likely, after half an hour or an hour you will want to eat again. Salad and the presence of vegetables - the more, the better (ideally, this should be the case with every meal, because vegetables help digestion) - gives a feeling of satiety, and a lot has already been said about their benefits.

Equally important is the satisfaction of taste, without guilt or physical difficulty. This is a mandatory condition that promotes high-quality saturation of the body and a stable psycho-emotional state.

Satiety is a non-linear concept. Unsurprisingly, greens (especially lettuce ) are responsible for a quick feeling of satiety - they are chewed longer and thanks to this, satiety occurs earlier. But, of course, carbohydrates are responsible for long-term satiety - for this you need to add any carbohydrate base to the salad : rice (ideally a mix of brown and white), quinoa, bulgur, baked vegetables, etc.

How to make an unusual salad

So that the salad is not boring, you need to add some bright notes to the dish - for example, puree of baked vegetables. It will act as an additional sauce and help bind the salad into a whole dish . You can also add such bright accents as fresh or fermented berries - they will enrich not only the taste, but also add benefits to the salad . It is good to use crunchy textures, for example, nuts or vegetable chips, crunch always makes a dish more interesting and tasty.

Don't underestimate refueling. This is another mystery and room for experimentation. Different dressings can significantly change the taste of the same salad . The most common dressing for salads is good quality vegetable oil, the main thing is that it is cold-pressed - sunflower, olive, avocado, sesame, etc. If you limit your fat and calorie intake, you can minimize the amount of oil (but think carefully and study this issue before giving up such a healthy product as vegetable oil).

An acid, such as lemon juice, apple or wine vinegar, is needed to balance the oil. And to make a stable emulsion from oil and liquid, you need an emulsifier, the most common of which is mustard. Then you can add your favorite flavors, for example, honey and nuts.

Another option of healthy dressing is yogurt-based. It is better to use Greek, it is the brightest, you can add other flavors to it. It is better to add vegetable oil to such a dressing, it combines the ingredients .

The main rule is to maintain a balance of sour, sweet, salty and spicy. Following this rule, you can combine your favorite products . For example, make different variations of vinaigrette dressing: basically - 3 parts of vegetable oil and one part of taste. You can add herbs and nuts to the vinaigrette, and maple syrup instead of honey for sweetness, it has an interesting taste. Dressings based on it go well, for example, with baked vegetables.

How to successfully combine ingredients

There is a rule that almost never fails: vegetables and fruits of the same color range suit each other - for example, beetroot, plum, blueberry, or pumpkin, carrot, orange, or celery and apple. This can be a starting point for making a salad , and then, of course, you need to experiment. There are almost no restrictions.