Thursday, February 4, 2010

Fruit Chaat Salad

My pantry always has a stock of dry roasted unsalted peanuts that I buy from local groceries. I find it most convenient to have this on hand, it definitely speeds up the process when I am making either this cilantro chutney or this khichdi. And I always thought that dry roasted peanuts would contain only peanuts, so imagine my surprise...err shock when I glanced at the label on the container, just as I was removing some peanuts to munch on, and found that my dry roasted peanuts contains among other things.... mono sodium glutamate or MSG, gack !

A controversial ingredient, MSG is used in Chinese and Indo chinese food. In all the times that I have made Indo Chinese food I have studiously avoided using MSG because I have heard bad things about it. So imagine my shock to find out that these innocent looking peanuts , that have been lying in my pantry for a while now contains this dreaded ingredient. Usually I am pretty good about reading labels when I shop for groceries, so I am still trying to figure out how this item got into my cart without my noticing this ingredient.  Talk about leaving a bad taste in my mouth.....:-(   This reinforces what I mentioned in this post about reading labels at all times...

Moving on here is a fruit salad that always leaves a very very good taste in my mouth :-) Unlike the usual fruit salads made with custard, this one is not rich and definitely does not have much sugar, except the sugar naturally contained in fruits that is .....If sweets are not your thing and something spicy is what you are looking for, then this fruit salad  with slightly sweet, slightly tart and slightly spicy flavors will definitely pique your interest .



Fruit chaat salad 2

Click here for a printable view of this recipe



Ingredients and Method to make fruit chaat salad
1 apple cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pear cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups of pineapple cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup dried raisins
1 1/4 cup red seedless grapes washed and drained
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (equivalent to juice of 1 lemon)
1/2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste) (optional but recomended)
1/8 tsp salt (or to taste)
2 tsp chaat masala powder (available in most Indian groceries)
1 tsp sugar (optional)


In a large bowl mix together all the fruits.

Add lemon juice, salt, sugar, chili powder and chaat masala and toss well.

Chill for a few hours and serve chilled.

Serves approximately 2 to 3

The copyright of this content belongs to Veginspirations.com
Notes
Any combination of seasonal fruits can be used to make this salad

I used the sugar and chili powder just to enhance the sweetness of the fruits and bring out a better contrast with the heat of the chili powder, if you are avoiding using chili powder then you can probably skip the sugar too

This salad is off to the Show me your Salad event being hosted by Divya

32 comments :

FH said...

Gorgeous photo, need a fork now and some hot sunny days ASAP! :))

kitchen queen said...

lovely and chilled fruit chaat salad very refreshing.

Veggie Hut said...

this looks so delicious!!

Rachana said...

I can finish off this bowl of fruit salad right away :)
Its yummy!!!!

Unknown said...

i would love to skip my dinner if you pass that yummy looking bowl of fruits to me..looks delicious..

Clipped.in - Explore Indian blogs said...

Thanks for sharing the healthy dish...

Finla said...

Looks so so yumm.

chef and her kitchen said...

I love this..I add a mix of seasonal fruits..no restriction to any fruit...I ad honey n pepper instead of sugar and red chili powder,remaining all same..

Pam said...

This looks really delicious - I love the seasonings used.

Preeti Kashyap said...

I make my fruit salad with chaat masala too! Yummy na? I agree abt the peanuts and msg. That is why I don't get them from the stores. Nice click!

indosungod said...

Seriously, roasted nuts you would think had only that. I usually buy peanuts in their shells to avoid the salt. This can be another reason why I should stick to that.

Gorgeous looking fruit salad.

Nancy said...

I love your recipe:) In Mexico we also eat spicy fruit salads, and they are great. I love your addition of chaat masala!

Trendsetters said...

we used to eat this a lot in the north...thank for bringing back those nice thoughts..

Sowjanya@Ruchikacooks said...

Lovely salad Usha very healthy and yummy. Are you not sending it to the salad event that is going on? You should.

Peanuts have MSG? Gosh, how many things can we make from scratch?

www.ruchikacooks.com

Sumathi said...

Lovely salad.. ya the seasonigs would definelty bring out the fruit taste..

Dershana said...

that is indeed a tempting bowl!

Priya Suresh said...

Such a delicious and tempting fruit chaat salad...lovely bowl.

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Chatty fruit salad, guess there would have been a lotsa demand at your place for this... looks very comforting!!!

Unknown said...

i simply love this salad. I make it all the time. the picture makes my mouth water.....yummyy

Anupama said...

Adding chat masala is a nice twist. Will try this soon

Shri said...

Love the addition of chaat masala in the salad!

Renuka Bedre - Rao said...

lovely pic!! simple , healthy n delicious!
Renuka
http://cookingyummy.blogspot.com/

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

yummy snack. great for mid day indulgence.

Gita Jaishankar said...

Very refreshing salad Usha...a ideal evening snack for me :)

Anonymous said...

I like the spice in this fruit salad, very unique!

Nandinis food said...

Simple but yummy fruit chaat! What I need to do is to get a fork on a sunny day and enjoy the salad!

Sujatha said...

very appetizing photo! Thats indeed surprising to know the store bought peanuts would have MSG! I will have to check mine too!

Devasena Hariharan said...

first i was confused reading chilli powder, i assumed it to be fruit salad, missed out the chat part

Myvegfare said...

Absolutely stunning click, can't wait for a fork, grab it with my hands!!, it's yummmmmm, I have combined sugar & chat masala, interesting...

Cynthia said...

I like the idea of using the chaat masala for fruit salads.

Simplyfood said...

Looks very fresh and delicious.

Laavanya said...

It's been so longsince I had fruit chaat - looks great.

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