Summer Fruits Salad

This year the summer sun has been shining bright and strong on New Jersey. Combined with regular downpours and the proximity to the sea, our summer experience has become one akin to sitting in a sauna. I am not sure about you but heat makes me lose my appetite.

The effort required to cook up a good meal; standing next to the stove getting cooked myself and struggling with sweat and discomfort; makes me look for easier ways to appease my hunger. One way to go is to switch to a liquid diet of fresh fruit juices and many many litres of water. Or, there is fruit.

With the advancement of refrigeration and transportation networks, this is true for India and America, fruits like apples, pears and oranges are available perennially. These two combined with seasonal fruits like mangos make for a great fresh fruit salad. And if the fruits are cold, even better!

The best part is the fruits provide the dressing too, so no more salt and sugar rich vinaigrettes or the creamy and heart unfriendly caesar’s or thousand island dressings. Not for me, no sir!
So here’s what I do for a salad for two.

Total preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients for the Summer Salad: 

All the fruits in your fridge! Seriously. But the tried and tested ones are as follows:

• Apple, 1 for a normal sized fruit or two if they are small gala apples or the kind.
• Pear, 1, same rules apply.
• Kiwi, 1
• Oranges, I use clementines, two for the salad and one for dressing.
• Cucumber, as much as you like. I do half of a long slicing cucumber.
• Mango, in season, 1. Peeled and chopped.
• Carrots, diced.
• Plums, in season, 1 or 2, sliced.
• Peaches, in season, 1 or 2, sliced.
• Juice from one lime.

Method:

First pick all the fruit you want and have. Then wash and pat them dry. Chop each fruit – apples, pears, kiwis, mangoes- into even sized cubes, about an inch wide. For fruits like mango and kiwi make sure you remove the skin completely.

If you are unsure about how to chop a Mango – see this how to article.

Peel carrots and proceed to slice them crosswise into even sized discs. Halve the cucumber lengthwise, then slice it.

Peel the oranges and separate all the segments and removed any clinging pith.

Once you have chopped and sliced all the fresh ingredients, throw them into a big bowl.

The simplest salad dressing ever!

For the dressing mix in just a dash of salt and pepper into the lime juice in a small bowl. If you enjoy herbs like mint or basil, add about one teaspoon full. Squeeze some orange juice onto the salad and mix well.

That’s it, the Summer Fruits Salad is ready to eat!

This salad is perfect for a detox and fasts during festivals like Navratras.

Other clean and Navratra friendly recipes:

Makhane ki Kheer

Sweet Potato Chaat

Aloo Chaat

Banana Ice Cream 

Sandesh 

15 Recipes for Healthy Eating 

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