I’ve been generally trying to make delicious, but interesting salads each week, so I thought my Dad, who is living in Thailand, might have some ideas for salads that are different from what I would typically encounter or think of. He told me that for the most part, he has found their salads to be super spicy, so he suggested this fruit salad instead. Or something like this fruit salad.
Although the inspiration came direct from Thailand, I am not going to pretend that this salad is anything like authentic. He told me they use whatever fruit they have on hand, add red kidney beans and serve it over yogurt. And swore that he did not just make it up to mess with me. So I picked up whatever Thai fruit that I could find at the grocery store, added some kidney beans and served it with a honey lime dressing. It was really different but surprisingly good.
Thai Inspired Tropical Fruit Salad with Red Beans Recipe
- Handful of kidney beans
- small papaya
- 2 mangos
- 2 dragon fruit
- 2 bananas
- ½ pineapple
- 1 tablespoon honey
- juice of 1 lime (adding the zest would be nice too)
- Chop the fruit into bite sized pieces and put them in a large bowl.
- Drain and rinse your kidney beans and add them to the bowl.
- Mix the honey and lime juice together and pour over the bowl of fruit.
- Mix everything well. Serve over yogurt or eat it straight up.
Variations
- Use whatever fruit you like – try strawberries, kiwi, grapes, cantaloup, watermellon
- Swap the lime juice for lemon juice
- Add some poppy seeds for a bit of crunch
Did They Eat It?
Gordie: Thought the fruit would be better without the dressing, but tried a bit of it anyway. Decided he now likes pineapple and the kidney beans were great.
Nicky: Did not like the beans or dragon fruit but LOVED everything else.
Anne: The beans are a surprise but the salad’s good.
Stephen: Tasty. Really different fruit salad.
Dana: I wasn’t too sure about this salad, but I ended up liking it. I’m not a huge fan of dragon fruit or papaya, but mixed in with the rest of the fruit, I didn’t mind them at all. I liked the crunch of the dragon fruit seeds. If I was making it would them I would probably add poppy seeds to mimic it.
Have you ever had a fruit salad with beans? What did you think?
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