CLICK and AFAM

This month’s fruit is Papaya and when Nags announced this I was wondering what I could make with Papaya because I enjoy the fruit as is and have never bothered making something out of it. I bought a large raw papaya that same weekend thinking that a raw one would give me sufficient time to come up with something. It has been sitting on my table since then, and in a wink has ripened too!! I realized it was high time I made something before it went bad on me. Mom had mentioned a tropical salad long ago and that required papaya, but I wasn’t too sure if a ripe one would do good. I went ahead and made it anyways and it was great.

Exotic Super Salad

You will need:

½ cup Papaya cubed
½ Cucumber cubed
½ cup Pineapple cubed
½ cup Orange segments
2 tsp Mint chutney (recipe here)
2 tsp Olive oil
½ tsp Black pepper powder
½ tsp Salt
½ cup Green gram sprouted (Whole Moong dal) – optional

In a medium bowl place the cubed fruit and cucumber. In another bowl, blend the olive oil, minty chutney, salt and pepper. Pour this over the cubed fruit and toss. Garnish with a fresh sprig of mint. Serve immediately.

I left out the green gram sprouts because I don’t like the taste of the raw sprouts.

I am not a salad person at all but was not too hestitant in making this one because it has fruit in it. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how well the fruits and the cucumber came together. The mint chuntey made it refreshing and tasty. I think this is one salad I will make again.

This is headed to Nags at For the Cook in Me who is hosting AFAM – Papaya this month.

CLICK -- Liquid Comfort

It is the heart of winter now and other than soups nothing else could be more comforting. But I’ve made a lot of soups this winter and want to stop making them for a while. So I chose to click our favourite liquid comfort in the blazing summer heat. I know summer’s a good many months away, but no harm in gulping down some now as well. Our drink is Minty Ginger Ale with lots of ice, a dash of lime and mint leaves.

I added a mint leaf to each ice cube mold and let it freeze, not only did it make the ice cubes look good with the mint leaves in it, but it also adds to the minty flavour of the drink as it melts.

This picture is my entry to this month's CLICK - "Liquid Comfort" over at Jugalbandi.