Tropical Fruit Salad

As a child I rarely ate fruits. Sweet or sour...I did not have any attractions towards them. My mother's constant bickering went into vein but I still kept my mouth shut whenever there was fruits on the table or my mother gave each one of us a bowl of mixed fruits as a snack in the evening. But things change. 

Like it or not I had to munch down a couple of fruits each day on careful observation of my husband. My house help was instructed to buy fruits on a weekly basis and then cut them in the morning and the evening while my husband made sure that I ate them by calling me and reminding me to eat them at least four times a day. Sheer torture it was if you ask how I felt.No...that was not the time when I had the idea of making fruit salad...but if you are someone who has this hate relationship with fruits you can definitely check out the recipe. Your tongue will pucker up with the honey and lime dressing but that is the reason I had the coconut cream to cut through the strong sweet and sourness of the recipe. Almonds is there to give a light crunch and the mint is to soothe the eyes!!! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoy it almost every week.

Tropical Fruit Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 ripe mangoes – peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1 apple - cut into small pieces 

6 kiwis – peeled and chopped 

8 fresh strawberries – chopped

1 banana – peeled and chopped

1 pomegranate – we only need the pearls  

2 cups of cubes watermelon cubes (preferably without seeds)

Some grapes

1 ripe papaya – peeled and cut into small bite size pieces 

1 pear – peeled and cut into small bite side pieces

½ cup of thick coconut cream

¼ cup of honey

Juice and zest of 2 limes

A handful of slivered toasted almonds

Some mint leaves to garnish

Method:

In a big bowl mix all the fruits.

In a separate bowl or a small jar mix the honey, lime zest and lime juice. Shake well until everything is well combined.

Pour the dressing over the fruits. Add the slivered almonds. Give them one or two gentle stir so that they are all well coated with the honey lime dressing.

Serve the fruits in small cups or glasses topped with the coconut cream and some mint leaves.

Note: To get the coconut cream, leave a can of coconut milk inside the fridge overnight. Next morning when you will open the can you will see the cream has clotted on the top. You simply need to carefully scoop it from there.

In case you are making your own coconut milk, then try using the young coconuts. The first batch of coconut milk extracted from them will be the coconut cream.