India is warm during summer. It is sweaty and sultry. In some cities it is dry and with hot winds flying. Yet I love summer. Summer means holidays. It means remembering those sixty days with cousins at our grandparents’ home. It is the time of the year to reminisce about being pampered by aunts and neighbours each out doing the other to make delectable snacks for all the kids. And summer is the time of the year when carts and fruit vendor shelves fill up with mangoes. It is as though there is sunshine everywhere. From April to August, one by one, each type of mango appears heralding with it the history of its birth town.
Last summer I worked out this recipe inspired by one I read on the internet. One evening we were meeting up for a ladies potluck and I wanted to make a salad and carry it along with some quesadillas.
My food word for this recipe would be flavourful.
When you go shopping look for:
Mango
Onion
Tomato
Capsicum
Coriander leaves
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
The recipe would be:
I took one large mango, green capsicum, one onion, one large tomato and a bunch of coriander leaves. Please ensure that the mango is tight and fleshy. Deseed the tomato and cut the crunch part into cubes. The mango and the capsicum also should be cut into cubes. Slice the onions. Finely chop the coriander. Keep the chopped salad aside till before serving.
For the dressing, take two tbsp Balsamic vinegar in a jar. Add one (not full, in fact less than level) tsp sugar, a dash of salt and one tsp pepper. Mix the components till the sugar dissolves. Now add two tbsp spoons of extra virgin olive oil. Shake well.
Just five mins before serving, dress the salad. A variation I suggest to enjoy the salad in non summer months would be to replace the mango with a couple of luscious peaches.
