Melon, cucumber, and apple salad

Bangalore is hot, and it is difficult for me to be in the kitchen over a stove, even though I cook very early in the morning. You will start seeing some dishes and salads that are both cooling and take almost no time to make.

Fruit salads are common across South America, India, and Asia, and vendors with pushcarts hawk their produce on the streets. These healthy snacks both hydrate and refresh you in hot weather. As you travel across the countries in the region, these salads change to incorporate local fruit, spices, and herbs. It is always an excellent stop to enjoy these snacks, learn recipes, and learn about the local produce.

This salad is a more generic version for everyday consumption. Please bend the rules and add fruits of your choice, experimenting with flavours and textures. In this salad, the sweetness comes from the melons, oranges, and sweet-tart apples, balanced by notes from the red pepper and cucumbers. The heat from the chillies is a lovely counterpoint to the sweetness, making this salad addictive. This salad is gorgeous on a hot day, fresh, light and refreshing, perfect for when you do not want to spend time in the kitchen and desire just a tiny bite.

This is one of the first cookbooks I purchased over 27 years ago. I got it to learn how to cook because it has a wide variety of global cuisines that pop with spice. All the vegetarian recipes are easy to make and have always turned out delicious, though, on a few occasions, I have had to turn down the heat a notch or two. Jennifer is a well-published cookbook author, with 11 books, and Jump Up and Kiss Me a brand of natural spicy foods is amazing. This is a cookbook I need to pull out more often.

For more recipes from this very spicy book, click here.

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

Juice of 2 limes

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 Navel oranges

3 small cucumbers, cut into thin circles

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into small dice

2-3 green chillies, serrano or other variety, finely minced

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into fine dice

1/4 cup mint leaves

1 melon, peeled, deseeded and cut into crescents

Large grain sea salt, to taste

3 cups watercress, arugula or baby spinach

Bring the water to a boil with the salt. Turn off the heat and add the onions. Steep for 2 minutes and drain. Mix in with the lime juice and garlic and allow to sit for 20 minutes.

Cut the tops and bottoms of the oranges. Cut the skin off the oranges with a knife, exposing the flesh. Carefully remove the flesh in segments and add to a bowl with your fingers.

Mix well with the cucumbers, apple, green chillies, red bell pepper, mint, and melon. Add the onion mix and toss well again. It is best to keep the ingredients separately so they do not give out juices and mix them up just before serving.

To serve, layer the greens in a bowl. Top with the salad and sprinkle with some large-grain sea salt. Serve immediately.