Saturday 7 May 2011

Summer Fruits II

Another fruit I've had for the first time this summer: watermelons. You don't believe me, yes? I wouldn't believe me either. But stretch credulity, my friends, because I hve just discovered why I didn't like the fruits I didn't.

All fruits I've only tried recently for the first time were fruits that were sold by street vendors all over the city. Ripe papayas, watermelons, cousins of watermelons, ripe yellow bananas, shobeda (I've no idea what its English name might be). Pushcarts would have a selection of slices displayed for immediate advertisement, and a thick swarm of flies would constantly battle with the vendor's flailing wrists to land on these slices. Plus, the sticky juices from the sliced-up fruits would leave stains on the wood and glass, drawing a lip-smacking path for the flies to follow.

It was disgusting. This is probably why, despite all the wonderfully healthy options available on the streets of Calcutta, I stick to the fried-in-front-of-my-eyes greasy stuff. At least they don't have fly-vomit on them.

But that was then. Last winter my mother found a young fruit seller who delivers at home if you call with your order. This makes life easy for my mother, who would otherwise have found an enormous watermelon impossible to drag home from the local market. And so I'm getting rid of my icky associations with a vengence! Today, it's chilled watermelon slices, cold watermelon juice, and frozen watermelon kulfi for dessert :-)

 
First, halve and slice a watermelon.


 Then peel the juicy red fruity bit from the tough green rind. If this is difficult, you can slice the fruity part while it's on the rind, and pull the pieces out by hand. The pieces will be triangular.


 Chop 'em up. And scoop out the seeds.


 Chill in the fridge and serve after lunch.


 OR. Put into a mixie.


Juice! Pour over crushed ice and serve on hot summer evenings. With all that pulp, this is a snack in itself.


Gratuitous second shot.



 Poured into a bowl and frozen.


Red and black.

8 comments:

Magically Bored said...

Watermelon juice is my biggest comfort in summer. Well, that, and mangoes.

Dea-chan said...

I hate watermelon 'cause I can't stand anything that I have to spit seeds from.

But pre-cut, and just hanging out, I might grab a slice if they look "seedless" (a.k.a. only a handful of seeds per slice).

Dea-chan said...

http://crazinessandmore.blogspot.com/2011/05/corset-part-ii.html
And another post! hopefully this one is a little more explanatory. :-\

Priyanka Roy Banerjee said...

i have tried adding a pinch each of bhaja mashla, chat masala and black pepper powder to this red beauty. it works, trust me.

Rimi said...

Brilliant! Will do.

dipali said...

Watermelons are simply delightful:)

Ghalib said...

It is very fantastic news beacuse these fruits keeps our body very cool and our body water level become not descrese so these fruits very usefull in summer seasons .moatly we eat very quantity.

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