Attempt #16: Mango, Cucumber and Chile Salsa

Another Spanish-themed recipe following my Mexican-style corn. J

And interestingly, this is my first time making a salsa that is not tomato-based. Another reason why I like making salsa…it doesn’t require much culinary skills as you just simply need to toss the ingredients into a bowl and mix them together! Ha! J

 

The result:

Lesson learnt: Get a big bowl so that it makes the tossing and mixing more even and easier. Else you will spend more time trying to keep your ingredients from slipping out from the bowl. Another thing is that the quality and taste of your fruits/vegetables/ingredients will determine the ‘yummy’ level of the salsa.

Recipe:

1 ripe mango
½ a cucumber
4 sprigs of fresh mint
2 scallions
1 fresh red chile
Extra virgin oliver oil
2 limes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:
·         Remove the skin from the mango using a speed peeler
·         Slice the fruit away from the pit and roughly chop
·         Put into a bowl
·         Peel and chop the cucumber to the same size as the mango and add to the bowl
·         Pick the mint leaves and finely chop with the scallions
·         Halve, seed and finely chop the chile
·         Stir the mint, scallions and chile into the mango and cucumber mixture and add enough extra virgin oil to cover everything lightly
·         Add the juice from the limes and season with salt and pepper before serving

Attempt #15: Mexican-style Corn

Hola! to Mexican-style corn.

Corn, to me is simply a magic ingredient. It does wonders for soups, stews, BBQ and who doesn’t love a hot-buttered corn on cob? And now I found a new recipe for corn on cob. A little bit of chile and loads of grated parmesan cheese on the traditional hot-buttered corn just makes it sexier.

The Result:

 

Overall, can’t go wrong with corn on cob.

Usually, I would steamed my corn but as the recipe calls for boiling them, I did just that. However, I find that I get too worked up trying to ensure that the corn is not left in the boiling water for too long as then the nutrients and sweetness will be absorbed into the boiling water but yet I needed the corn to be soft enough.

In the end, the corn was not tender enough and also not as sweet as it would have been if I were to steam them. Lesson learnt: Steam them!

Recipe (serve 4):

Boil 4 heads of corn on the cob in salted, boiling water for 8-10 minutes with a lid on the pan. When tender, drain in a colander.

Grate ¾ cup of Parmesan cheese (or more if you like them to be more cheesy! J) over the surface of a large serving platter or over individual serving plates.

Halve seed and finely chop 1 fresh red chilli and sprinkle evenly over the cheese. Place a little pat of butter on each cob and brush over the corn to coat. When the butter has melted, roll each cob in the cheese and chile, so the flavours stick to the outside.

Season with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.