Pink water apple salad/ Nakshatra nerale salad/ bell fruits salad with onions & vegetables

Pink water apple/ bell fruit/ nakshatra nerale which is also called as rose apple sometimes are crunchy, juicy and tangy tropical fruits. A single tree or young healthy plant yields a lot of fruits during the season spring/ summer. They fall off tree within a week of maturing too. They are tasty to eat with salt and they go well in juice, chutney too. This time we had nice harvest in our garden during this period of lock down and I tried this salt which was really delicious. Even raita can be prepared with it by adding thick curds. If you are a person who likes tomato raita, then you will like this too with that tangy taste in it. I made both salads with and without curds, liked both of them.

Served raita with bisibele bhath, salad goes well as a started during lunchtime or as a healthy mid-day snacks! Check for the recipe of bell fruit juice.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Bell fruit/ water apple/ nakshatra nerale (chopped after removing seeds)– ½ - 1 cup

Onions – 1

Grated carrots – ½ cup

Freshly grated coconut – 2 tbsp

Chopped green chilli – to taste

Chopped fresh coriander – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Coconut oil – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – to taste (optional)

Method:

• Clean bell fruits properly, wash clean. Remove seeds and chop them as desired.
• Peel, wash & chop onions.
• Wash, peel carrot and grate it. Grate coconut too, keep it ready.
• Now take a wide mixing/ salad serving bowl. Mix all the vegetables, bell fruits and grated coconut. Add chopped chilli & coriander leaves.
• Add chilli powder if using and coconut oil too.
• Mix salt before serving and serve fresh & delicious salad.

Notes:

• You can use any variety of bell fruits, I used pink & sour tasted ones here.
• You can make variations by adding other vegetables like cucumber/ capsicum/ beets and so on.
• Optionally yogurt/ curds can be used to make raita.