Piquant Pineapple Salsa

The post title may say "salsa" but I'm having this for lunch as a salad. Very simple recipe with pineapple, cucumber, onion. The veggies are dressed in red wine vinegar, liquid jaggery, chilli flakes, basil, and garlic.

Som Tam Salad (Well, sort of)

Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam) is the most popular salad in Thailand. As in all things Thai, fish sauce is a must. But I excluded it because a)I don't do fish, and b) I don't have any fish sauce available! Instead, I made a dressing of honey and orange juice. For a more authentic Som Tam recipe, refer here.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 of a large raw papaya
• 1 carrot
• 1 cucumber
• Handful of spinach leaves
• The juice of one orange
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Drizzle of honey
• Handful of crushed peanuts
• Flesh of a coconut, fresh, not dried or dessicated
• Black pepper, freshly ground

To make:

• Shred or grate the peeled papaya, carrot, coconut and cucumber into long thin slivers. See here on how to shred a papaya.
• Chop up or tear a few spinach leaves.
• Mix the orange juice, olive oil, honey and black pepper to make a dressing.
• Mix all the salad ingredients.
• Add the dressing right before you are going to eat the salad.
• Garnish with the crushed peanuts.

Something Sweet...That's also good for you!

Here's my version of a raw energy bar.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of seeds (I used pumpkin and watermelon)
2. 8-10 dates
3. A little orange zest
4. Dash of honey

To make:

1. Divide the cup of seeds into three batches. I wanted varied texture in my bar and not everything ground up into a fine paste. So, what I did was put in each batch in a blender at a different time. So that all the seeds are not evenly ground up.
2. Throw in the first batch of seeds (1/3 of the cup) into a blender and dry-ground them till its a powder.
3. Into this powder, throw in the second batch along with the dates, orange zest, and honey. Blitz once again.
4. Finally toss in the last batch of seeds. I wanted these to remain as whole as possible.
5. Add a little honey or more dates, as required, till you are happy with the consistency of the final mixture. I refrained from adding water because I didn't want a soggy bar.
6. Lay out the mixture in a plate.
7. Leave it to dry in the sun for a couple of days (or a dehydrator). This step is only if you are planning on keeping the bars for a few days. If you just want to eat it immediately, dig in!
8. Chop into pieces or roll it up into a ball, as desired.