Here in Canada when they say "heatwave" they describe temperatures that many of you around the world take for granted. 32 celcius is always threatened as dangerous here when it happens. They warn that young, old and animals should stay inside. Yesterday was the day of the heatwave.
We have finally moved completely to our new apartment. The arrangements that were made, not by us, for movers, paid for by the building that we left, were not understood. We moved the entire apartment on foot ourselves. We just begged the movers to take the couch and gave them a big fat tip. They were moving someone else so they had to quickly do this for us.
Now we are in a place without air conditioning and we have to pay for electricity ourselves. For this reason we had to eat lightly yesterday. Today has perfect weather.
I usually make a watermelon salad once a year. Even these melons are imported and expensive so I bought a quarter of one. I happen to love my watermelon savoury rather than on it's own.
I wasn't sure at first what dressing I would make but ended up with a sweet and tangy chili tamarind dressing.
Sweet and tangy chili tamarind dressing
3 tablespoons tamarind concentrate
1 tablespoon garlic
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sambal oleck
1/4 cup neutral oil
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/4 cup water
Saute garlic and chilies then add the other ingredients to dissolve the sugar. Add salt to your liking. Set aside to cool.
Salad ingredients
1/4 large watermelon
1/2 English cucumber
Handful of mint
Handful of cilantro
Fresh figs
1 fresh hot pepper (optional)
I sometimes keep the melon in big chunks but this time I opted for small dices. The same with the cucumber.
Originally I had planned to put some fresh red onion but with the dressing that had garlic and chili, I chose not to. I thought it may be too overpowering.
After mixing the ingredients gently I poured on the dressing and gently mixed.
After I tasted it I decided to give a generous sprinkle of sea salt and an extra squirt of lime.
The dressing was nice and spicy but I dared to add a hot pepper which I wasn't sure about at the beginning. Marc and I can handle spice so I put it in.
It seems clear that hot peppers are most popular in the hottest climates. Eating spice, makes you sweat which is what is needed in very hot weather.
I decided on not having a protein, such as tempeh, tofu or legumes. It doesn't hurt to take a break from those heavier items.
I happened to have a slab of guava paste in my fridge. I have never used this before but bought it on a whim a while back. I didn't know what to do with it. My Mexican manager told me that they often eat it with cream cheese.
I decided to combine some cashews and guava paste to make a guava cream spread.
The guava paste is quite sweet so I added lime juice and garlic to make it more savoury.
Guava cashew cream spread
2 cups soaked cashews
1/4 cup guava paste
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 2 limes
Salt to your liking
Blend the ingredients into a smooth paste. My food processor broke so I had to use a blender which is not ideal for this. I added a little cashew soaking water to get the blender to move.
This was originally going to be on a baguette but I decided to keep things healthier with some spelt bread from my favourite company.
I toasted them until they were crisp than cut them into cracker size pieces.
It was super tasty but I still put extra black pepper and chilies.
I decided to crush peanuts and sprinkle them on top of the melon salad along with toasted sesame seeds. These items really sealed the deal with the spicy dressing.
If you don't like spicy foods you could have just as a refreshing salad with a light vinaigrette or simply lime or lemon juice with salt.
You could say this was inspired by Asian and Mexican flavors. Those are two cultures that offer the things I love most. Spicy, sweet and savoury. I may have added a bit of Mediterranean with the figs and the mint. It's all good to me.
A light lunch goes a long way and makes you feel nourished and hydrated without the sacrifice of tasty fun.
Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.
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