Fancy Fruit Salad

Women’s Web is an upcoming online women’s magazine that has a wide range of impressive articles primarily catered towards Indian women. It is organizing a unique cooking contest to which I was invited to participate! Wow, that has never happened to me before - somebody inviting me to contribute :). My long-lost-but-recently-united friend Anne, whose writing is as beautiful as she is, is one of the lovely writers and publishing agents for Women’s Web. Thanks Anne, for the invitation! Anne and I bonded over interesting conversations, most of which involved empathizing and sharing our life’s “woes” with each other, while waiting for the college bus to arrive :). Both of us are kindred spirits! While writing has so far remained just a hobby to me, she has found the heart and will to let go of her software engineering profession and plunge into freelance writing. I applaud her and wish her the very best in her writing career!

The theme of the cooking contest is - Cooking is Child’s Play. So, I had to think of a dish that could be prepared with a child. Knowing me, even I’m not safe by myself in the kitchen, let alone bringing a child into the mix! So I’d almost abandoned the idea of entering this contest, for I couldn’t think of a suitable dish that didn’t require chopping, heating, or complicated techniques. And then it suddenly came to me - a fruit salad!

During my fifth and sixth standard, my school had an annual “fruit salad day” and “sandwich day”. On these rare days, the entire afternoon session of classes was canceled and was instead devoted to our fruit salad or sandwich making! We eagerly looked forward to this day, planning for weeks on what ingredients to bring in which boxes, with which friends we would sit together and prepare our dishes, envisioning all the fun we would have eating and chatting, and so on. Although none of us were excited about fruits per se, the day brought us closer to fruits. And a lot of memories were made. So, for people like me, fruit salad is a “happy” dish that brings to mind good times, childhood friends, and much laughter.

I also tried to put myself in my little cousin’s “shoes” (or mind). She is a smart kid with a vivacious burst of energy that begs to be channelized into creative avenues! So engaging her in a knife-free kitchen and letting her imagination run wild, seemed ideal. Besides, she loves fruits of all kinds and shapes.

So here we go - here are some basic ingredients to make a special, elegant-looking fruit salad.

Ingredients:

1. Fruits (of course!). I decided to go with the below combination, but you can always substitute and use any fruit/s of your (and your child’s) liking. I envision a fun trip to the grocery store with the child, letting him/her pick the fruits of their choice, with perhaps some guidance to try the ones they don’t like. If the child goes towards a fruit like pineapple, I would recommend that the fruit be chopped prior to the child entering the kitchen, or pick up pre-diced, canned/frozen versions.
1. Two bananas
2. One orange
3. 170 gms or 1 pint each of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries (I didn’t pick strawberries for they involve dicing)
4. Raisins
2. Milk (quantity depends on the fruits - but around 4 cups)
3. 1 tablespoon of Honey
4. 2 teaspoons of cardamom powder
5. A couple of scoops of Mascarpone cheese (or vanilla icecream/ any kind of icream, or whipped cream)
6. A handful of toasted almonds (or any other nuts... hopefully the child isn’t allergic to nuts)
7. A drizzle of store bought caramel syrup (or chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, maple syrup.... you can pick one the child really likes)
8. A teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Grate the zest of one orange (a rasp/grater is sharp, but with a little guidance and supervision, kids can manage this, as an orange is much easier to firmly grasp such that the fingers are away from the grater. If not, zest it yourself). Take care not to zest the white-part of the orange as it is bitter. Gently scrape just the orange part.
2. Add the zest to a deep and wide bowl. Then allow the child to peel the orange and add the pieces into the bowl... I can imagine my cousin doing this... her brows knit in concentration, a bit of her tongue sticking out, until of course, she loses patience!
3. Next, the bananas! I think children would love to squish bananas into tiny pieces, so let them do it. Clean hands, though!
4. Then, watch them add the washed berries and raisins to the colorful mix.
5. Now pour in some milk just until the fruits are barely submerged. Measure out the milk before allowing the child to pour :).
6. Hand over the vanilla extract to the child and let them decide how many teaspoons should go in ;)
7. Squeeze a tablespoon of honey. I am wary of adding too much sugar and fueling kids to an uncontrollable sugar-high.... my cousin is usually always at such a state anyways ;). So I’m not inclined to add any more sugar in addition to the fruits, the syrup and topping! I may even skip honey.
8. Let the child sprinkle some cardamom powder (cardamom gives a distinct Indian flavor). Give them a spatula to stir the entire mass of sweet smelling salad.
9. Ladle out a few spoons of salad into a smaller bowl. Top it with a scoop of mascarpone cheese (a creamy, unsweetened cheese that doesn’t have the pungent smell of cheese), or ice-cream or whipped cream. Drizzle some caramel syrup/ any syrup of the child’s liking on the topping.
10. Finally, chop or crush some nuts... it is easy to break up cashews and peanuts with your fingers. So you don’t need to go near a knife. Toast them on the stove.... distract the child with other activities such as scooping out ice-cream or licking the ice-cream spoon as you toast the nuts. Sprinkle the toasted nuts on the topping and enjoy!

 

Fruit salads with a creative mix of flavors are a great way of encouraging kids to have their fruits. And making the process fun and engaging might entice them to change their perception of fruits. Both the child and the adult get to have a healthy, flavorful snack/meal, depending on their portion size! 

 
Plus, the simple manner of layering the fruit salad with toppings, and serving it in an elegant bowl elevates the simple and humble dish into a fancy dessert that can find its place even in gourmet menus. It’s easy for adults to throw together such a decadent-looking dessert when time is not on their hands. And it’s wonderful that you can tweak and change the flavors to your liking. Cooking surely becomes  child’s play with this dessert! 

P.S. : This entry actually won the first place! I'm still reeling with surprise :). Thanks to all you kind people from Women's Web :).