Sometimes after a big lunch day, we back off for the night-time meal with a simple fruit salad.

Most often that means the chopped fruit with a dollop of yogurt on top.

But every now and then we take the time to make this delicious variant.

I found this in a book of vegetarian Indian cooking I used a lot when I first started cooking Indian food.

The book is long gone, but this recipe remains its legacy.

I’ve never heard, read or seen anything like it any other cookbook or Indian eatery.

For this particular effort, we had a particularly tropical line-up of fruit goodies – two small blood oranges, a large and very ripe mango and a punnet of strawberries, bulked out a little by the everyday-exotica of a couple of bananas.

INGREDIENTS

Fruit – whatever you have on hand, desire or can afford.

Salt – to taste

Freshly ground black pepper – to taste

Freshly roasted and ground cumin seeds – to taste

Chilli powder – to taste

Lemon juice – to taste

METHOD

1. Chop fruit into bowl.

2. Gently mix fruit

3. Add seasonings.

4. Gently mix seasonings into fruit.

5. Serve.