Crunchy Keralan salad
This is a fantastic and really unusual salad that was inspired by a friend of mine called Das who runs the most terrific Indian restaurants in London, called Rasa. Although I have called it 'Keralan', it isn't really a true salad from there as you'd never find cress in Kerala! In Rasa, Das uses a lot of fresh coconut – which really is one of the most incredible flavours for making dishes like curries, or mixed into rice, breads, desserts and salads. You can now buy coconuts from most supermarkets, but if you can't find one, feel free to make this salad without it – it will still be pretty good but it won't have that special edge to it. Only make this when the mangoes are silky smooth and not at all stringy. You should be able to cut through them like butter.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
What these numbers assume — 8 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut | 1/2 cup shredded (40g) | 283 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Lime | juice of 1 lime (44ml) | 11 |
| Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Ginger | 1 tsp grated fresh (2g) | 2 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 1 coconut
- 2 red peppers
- 4 punnets cress
- 1 bunch spring onions
- 2 ripe mangoes, peeled
- 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, peeled
- zest and juice of 3-4 limes
- 7-8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper