Calamari, mango and coriander salad

Isn't the 1st of March supposed to be the start of Autumn? I thought so, but someone clearly forgot to tell whoever it is up there that controls the weather. You see...Cape Town has been off-the-charts hot this week. On Wednesday Icepick and I set out to do the Men's Health 10km race (cleaned it, obviously) and it was 35.5 degrees. What's the big deal? The race started at 18h15!!! Yeah, that's what we're dealing with down here. 

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not one of those people who moans about the heat. If I do feel the slight pang of "this is just too hot" I do a quick Google search for temperature in London and see how the expats are doing over there. 9 degrees. Yeah...

It's pretty chilly here today too. 28.5 at the moment. Annnnyway, the point is when it gets this hot I turn to light, easy salads for dinners. I keep the flavours clean and try and spend as little time cooking as possible. That was the gameplan last night and this popped out. A lovely little dish. Check it out. 

Stuff you'll need to feed 4:

•  800g calamari tubes, cut into strips
  
• 2 - 3 mielies (cobs of corn)
• A handful of cashew nuts
• 2 big handfuls of mixed lettuce (different colours, shapes, textures etc)
• A handful of coriander, roughly chopped
• 2 mangos, peeled and thinly sliced

Okay, what to do:

1. In boiling, salted water cook the corn for a few minutes until done. Slice the corn to remove the kernels.

2. In a dry pan roast the nuts for a few minutes. Be very careful not to burn them. It's quite easy to do so keep an eye on them and shake the pan often. Remove and allow to cool. 

3. Place the lettuce leaves, the coriander, the mango, the nuts and the corn in a bowl.  

4. Heat a wok (or big pan) until smoking hot and cook the calamari in vegetable/avocado/sunflower oil (olive oil won't work here) for 1-2 minutes. Do not overcook it.  Add the calamari to the bowl. 

5. Season with salt and black pepper and serve immediately, before the calamari has a chance to wilt the leaves. 

I didn't make a dressing which was a big a mistake but I just used some soy sauce and honey to drizzle over, which was a pretty good save. If you've got lemons that would be good too. The whole thing took about 10 minutes and was absolutely perfect for a quick, healthy summer dinner. Loving it. 

Cheers,

Jamie Who