Summer Strawberry Salad

An amazingly simple, colourful and refreshing summer strawberry mango salad with arugula, reminds you of a spring in a bowl! 

That makes this green salad with mango interesting and different from other arugula salad with strawberries is the spicy sweet mango chutney dressing.

Fruits added to an ordinary mix of leaves and salad vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, raddish, peppers, celery gives a salad a natural tangy sweetness and breaks the monotony of blandness.

This also means that you do not have to take that extra step to make complex or heavy salad dressings to add flavour to a bowl.

This is a perfect summer salad with fruits, fresh salad leaves and spicy mango chutney made with Ayurveda recommended cooling spices that makes a  quick lightweight salad dressing.

Ingredients for Making Summer Strawberry Salad

This is a very flexible summer salad recipe with the flexibility to choose your fruits and salad option.

The unique part of this recipe is the spicy sweet mango salad dressing.

So here are the ingredients you will need to make this easy arugula strawberry cucumber salad with mango.

FRESH AND PANTRY INGREDIENTS 

⇒ strawberries , diced

⇒ cucumber , chopped 

⇒ mango, cubed 

⇒ red onions , chopped 

⇒ rocket.arugula leaves 

⇒ mango chutney 

⇒ olive oil 

⇒ lemon juice 

⇒ salt to taste 

SUBSTITUTE INGREDIENTS 

⇒ Substitute for mango chutney – Use any other chutney such as tomato chutney, apple or pumpkin chutney if you are unable to find spicy mango chutney. 

⇒ Substitute for arugula/rocket leaves – Use baby spinach or any other salad leaves of your choice 

⇒ Substitute for Mango – Use peach, nectarine, honey dew or cantaloupe melon, papaya instead

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS 

⇒ You can also add dried fruits, nuts and seeds to the salad. 

⇒ Add chilli flakes for a spicy kick to the salad. 

⇒ Add feta cheese or any other cheese. 

How to Make Strawberry Salad? Stepwise process with images

There is absolutely no reason for you to stick to the same salad ingredients that I have used. Feel free to make your own combinations.

For the dressing, I fancied something spicy and non-vinaigrette dressing, so came up with the idea of making one with some mango chutney that I had. .

What I like about this recipe is this unique yet effortless dressing.

The use of mango chutney gives the salad a spicy tangy-sweet taste that really tantalises the taste buds!

Below are the 3 steps that is took me to make this cucumber strawberry salad with mango and rocket leaves.

STEP 1

Chop or dice cucumbers, strawberries, mangoes, onions. If the arugula/rocket leaves are too long then I suggest breaking them a bit too.

Keep few mangoes separate to add them on the top if you wish.

STEP 2 

Make the Sweet mango chutney dressing by taking a few teaspoons of sweet and spicy mango chutney (I used Pataks Hot Mango Chutney which you can buy online, or use any other brand you get.)

Add half a lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and salt to the mango chutney and give it a good stir and set aside.

STEP 3  

Add the dressing to the chopped/diced vegetables, add the mango and give it a good toss making sure the vegetables and fruits are coated well with the dressing.

Serve and enjoy your fresh bowl of a fruity, fresh, tangy, spicy summer salad!

Cooking Notes and FAQ’s

⇒ Use fresh firm fruits for salads. Sloppy soft salad make it less appeasing. 

⇒ Use crispy leaves that you enjoy to keep the crunch. 

⇒ Serve the salad immediately after adding the dressing to prevent the salad from becoming soggy. 

⇒ Add a little water to the chutney if you think it is too thick even after adding it with lemon juice and olive oil. 

What do you use instead of mango chutney?

Although the unique flavour of this salad is the use of mango citrus vinaigrette, but you do not need to stick with using mango chutney.

The mango chutney used in this strawberry salad has spices such as mustard seeds, turmeric, fennel seeds and chillies added which lend the salad a spicy twist.

You can use pumpkin, apple or tomato chutney instead.

Add few chilli flakes to the chutney to neutralise the sweetness.

Can I add feta cheese to the salad ?

Of course. I have tried to keep this strawberry and arugula salad as close to a vegan salad but add any type of cheese you wish.

The saltiness of the cheese against the sweetness of the fruits add a very interesting dimension of taste.

What types of leaves can I use other than rocket?

Rocket/arugula leaves have a sharp raddish like taste, if you are not to keen on the taste you can swap them for milder tasting leaves such as lettuce leaves, kale etc.

The combination of baby spinach and strawberries tastes amazing as well.

Are there any other summer salad combinations to try?

Spring and summertime is perhaps the best time of the year to get an abundance and variety of fruits and salad ingredients.

A cool, crisp light salad with colourful fruits makes for a great healthy quick summer meal that is full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals!

Just what to need to maintain that bikini bod!

Below are some easy summer salad ideas and combinations of flavours you can play with:

1. Green sprouts, cucumbers, watermelon, tomatoes and sunflower seeds
2. Avocado, peach, Gorgonzola, Rocket
3. Mixed green, oranges, grapefruit, feta and nuts
4. Garbanzo beans, cucumbers, olives, feta, grapes, apples
5.  Fennel, apples, oranges and pine nuts
6. Kidney beans, peppers, corn, red onions, cranberries and cucumber
7. Raddish, celery, mixed green and pineapple
8. Lettuce, Baby spinach, grapes and roasted nuts

How can I make salad easier to chop?

A typical salad will include about 3-4 different types of ingredients.

You have the choice to add as many ingredients to your salad.

Adding different types of salad vegetables obviously means the added work of chopping, dicing or slicing.

I found that putting a salad together becomes quicker and easier if you have the right kind of gadgets which makes chopping a piece of cake; or in this case a bowl of salad!

I find this Fun life 4-in-1 Vegetable chopper, slicer and grater.

Its an amazing piece of handy kitchen gadget to have that takes little shelf space and works without electricity.

It has multifunctional blades that can be used to chop, dice, make spirals and julienne too if you wish to make a fancy bowl of veges.

Not only will your salad come together in few minutes but you can easily clean the parts too!

If you wish to find out more or buy the product then link on the amazon link below.

Over to You

I hope you get to try and make this easy summer strawberry salad with spicy mango chutney. Do leave a comment below to say how it was if you do and also share your summer salad recipe for me to try.