Mixed Salad with Rice

The heat is on in Frankfurt. I ought to be ashamed of myself for not being able to withstand 25 degrees Celsius since I’m from Singapore. My excuse is that the tiny island is well equipped with air-conditioning. You could shop on Orchard Road without ever seeing the sun for goodness sake!

Here’s what we’ll be expecting this week in Frankfurt. Temperatures are up and although I don’t take the heat as well as Daniel, I love clear skies and plenty of sunshine. You won’t find me tanning myself though.

When I asked Daniel what he fancied for dinner on a hot day, he suggested mixed salad with rice. It reminded him of what he would get when they get their occasional heatwave in the UK.

Here’s a list of ingredients we used in our mixed salad which by the way is perfect for any hot day.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Iceberg salad (lettuce)
1 yellow pepper, chopped
3 small carrots, grated
5 radish, thinly sliced
Half a cucumber, sliced
1 avocado, chopped into cubes
1 tin of tuna mixed with kidney beans and corn
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Gouda cheese, cut into cubes (or any cheese you prefer)

Instructions

Mix the ingredients all in a huge bowl. Add salad dressing only after you’ve dished up. This is so you can keep the remaining salad without it becoming all soggy overnight.

To make it a more substantial meal, we heated up some Uncle Ben’s Basmati Rice with Curry. You could serve it with a bread roll or long grain rice. Or, just help yourself to more salad if you want to omit carbs.

 

The different ingredients used gave the salad an excellent texture. While the avocado was softer (more of a creamy texture), the pepper added crunch to the salad overall. And since it was so light, it does help cool is down on a hot day. Always a bonus to NOT stand in front of a cooking stove too!

What do you like to have on a hot day? Feel free to suggest a recipe or two in the comments section below!

Soba Salad with Honey Soy Sauce

With temperatures looking like they will soar slightly over the next couple of weeks, I'm really eager to share with you a tried and tested Soba Salad with Honey Soy Sauce recipe.

Refreshing Soba Salad, perfect on a hot summer's day.

Soba is one of my favourite Japanese noodles. It's made out of buckwheat and you'll just need to boil the noodles according to the instructions on the packaging. If you live in Frankfurt, soba is readily available at all Asian supermarkets.

This recipe was adapted from Just One Cookbook (my favourite online Japanese cooking resource).

Firstly, here's the list of ingredients for the sauce (For original recipe, please see here.)
1 Tbsp. canola or grapeseed oil
3 Tbsp. sesame oil
½ tsp. mixed chilli & pepper
3 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. soy sauce

Other Ingrediants
3-4 bundles of soba noodles (serves 4)
1 spring onion
2 medium carrots, grated

Instructions
1. Mix the oil, mixed chilli and pepper and sesame oil in a small sauce pan. Heat it on medium heat for 10 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the honey well with the soy sauce.

3. When the oil mixture is done, carefully mix it with the honey and soy sauce. Whisk well to ensure that the honey is dissolved.

4. Cook the soba noodles according to the instructions on the packaging (no need to add salt!). Once it's cooked, run it under cold water and set aside to drain.

5. In a big bowl, mix the soba, spring onions, carrots and honey soy sauce. Toss the mixture well and serve either cold or at room temperature.

Although I had this for lunch on a day with a maximum of only 14 degrees Celsius, I can imagine how refreshing the noodles would be on a hot summer's day. I love it so much that I'm serving it for dinner as a main dish with a couple of pan-fried salmon fillets.

Mango Salsa

It has been really hot, humid and sunny in Frankfurt for the past couple of weeks. Temperatures are rising well above 30 degrees Celsius and according to the weather app I have on my phone, we can expect 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday! Many say I should be used to the heat since I’m from Singapore. Unfortunately I rely a lot on air-conditioning. It is possible to not drop a sweat in Singapore. We don’t have air-conditioning in our apartment but again, who does in Europe? It’s usually cold anyway apart from a few weeks in the summer, and that’s if we get a summer. And I don’t think it’s necessary for us to get a fan for a couple of weeks. Thank goodness our apartment doesn’t trap that much heat.

If you’ve read my Aglio Olio post, you would know that I am trying to think of recipes for this blistering hot summer. I’ve been having lots of fruits to cool myself down and I was so excited to know that Yuan Fa Asian Supermarket at Konstablewache sells honey mangoes from Pakistan. I love mangoes and they are one of my favourite fruits. It’s pointless trying to get mangoes from German supermarkets because they just don’t taste as sweet.

I’m a mango fanatic. I finished an entire box of them by myself and got another box over the weekend. Daniel doesn’t have much of them because they’re really sweet (honey mangoes…duhzzz) and for some reason reminds him of durians! As a hardcore mango and durian eater, I assure you these mangoes taste just exactly like mangoes.

They were extremely juicy. Let you in on a secret – I was slicing and sneakily eating the mangoes in the kitchen. Couldn’t resist the urge to feast on my favourite fruit!

With my second box of mangoes, I decided not to be selfish and share them with Daniel. I had to think of how to make the mangoes taste less sweet so that he’ll have some of then.  I don’t know how but I thought I would use either lemons or lime to make the fruit less sweet. Hell knows what I was thinking but I decided to make Mango Salsa based on an indian salad I made years ago.

Ingredients (serves 4  as a side dish)

• 3 small mangoes, peeled and diced (they must be very ripe and sweet)
• half a cucumber peeled and diced
• 2 tbsp of jalapeno chillies diced
• half a red onion diced
• juice from 2 limes
• a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• a handful of fresh mint, chopped
• salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients together and season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Isn’t this just a piece of cake? It’s so easy! This fruity salsa has a tinge of spiciness to it and is sure to add excitement to whatever you’re serving it with. It reminds me so much of Thai cuisine which sometimes has a mixture of sweet and spicy tastes to it. Mango salsa is the perfect summer appetizer or snack and I do recommend you to try it if you haven’t.

So, what is your favourite summer dish that you enjoy in this boiling heat? Do feel free to share in the comments below!

I’m just going to sit out in the balcony and have my Mango Salsa now. Excited!!!!