SUPER SALADS......................6 and thats it for now!!

When we came to Indonesia , initially everything was new(obviously) and the only people we knew were hubby dears office staff. And they introduced us to the Indonesian cuisine ........starting with Gado-Gado(mixed vegetable salad with peanut sauce) and I still don't fancy it much. But what blew me over was the Rujak(mixed tropical fruit salad with sweet n spicy peanut sauce). And I ate it almost everyday (its not really expensive).Sometimes I find some foods very good if only for that one ingredient which does not fit well to my palate. This is why we actually love some foods and dislike some. Like the Thai Raw Papaya Salad.....its yummy if only it didn't have the dried shrimps or fish oil in it !! And the Malaysian Raw Mango Salad which has dried fish bits in it. For me it just isn't right (lots of people love it though).Even the Caesars Salad is great minus the anchovies in the dressing.

So taking ideas from the three South East Asian Salads I came up with my own version. I call it the Culture Mix  Salad, so named because it has some parts from all the three different salads to suit the Indian palate.


Culture Mix Salad Recipe :


1 whole raw mango (peeled n julienned)
1 small carrot (julienned)
5-6 baby french beans ( julienned)
1/2 cup bengkoang (peeled n julienned........again!!) ** jicama in English & mishrikand in Hindi
3 thinly sliced shallots or 1/2 red onion
2 tbsp grated jaggery or brown sugar
2 tbsp peanuts
1/2 lemon (for rind and juice) 
2-3 fresh red or green chillies
salt to taste
a pestle and mortar if possible!! 


1. Dry roast the peanuts without burning it and take off the skin ,cool and put in the mortar or blender and make a coarse powder.
2. Add the chillies (remove the seeds first) jaggery and salt to make a rough paste. Add the lemon juice and rind.
3. Mix all the fruit and vegetables in a bowl and top with the peanut dressing. Mix really well or put it in the mortar and pound it slightly( better results).
4. Garnish with a few sprigs of coriander leaves and peanuts.

P.S : This salad serves 2 . 
       Bengkoang-Bahasa Indonesia  , it has high water content and a good source of    carbohydrate as dietary fiber its other names are as below
         Jicama -English         Mishrikand -Hindi
        Shankalu -Bengali
        Kandha- Telugu