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Melon and Jicama Salad with Cumin Cucumber Dressing

Today I am going to introduce you to my best friend in the kitchen. Well, other than Sadie and Skyler, who are my constant companions while I cook.

The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg is considered to be the essential guide to culinary creativity. What exactly is it? The Flavor Bible is 377 pages of ingredients, their flavor profiles and best matches. It also has a great section on combining flavors. It is indispensable in my kitchen.

 

Jicama Melon Salad @Rawmazing.com

 

Yesterday, I had a bowl of macadamia nuts soaking. Wanting to use them before it was too late, I picked up “The Flavor Bible” and looked up macadamia nuts. I already know many things that go with macadamia nuts but The Flavor Bible lists so many things…many which I never would have thought of.

Macadamia nuts “volume” is considered to be moderate which means they won’t completely overwhelm a recipe. I also had tons of lemons, dropped off by my assistant, Shannon, and cucumbers. After looking up each ingredient, I got thinking. The macadamia nuts went in the high-speed blender, along with garlic and lemon juice.

Wanting to lighten up this nut based dressing, I threw in a cucumber. After a taste, everything started falling into place. Listed as a match for cucumber was cumin. The minute I saw that, the rest of the salad took shape in my mind. Jicama and melon would be the star players of this salad and the cumin cucumber dressing, the supporting player. All of the flavors play off of each other beautifully and the cumin brought a depth and savoriness to the sweet, cool flavors of the jicama and melon. A melon jicama salad!

Once the salad was mixed up, I decided I wanted a little more heat and crunch. I added red pepper flakes (completely optional) and pumpkin seeds. When everything came together, it was heaven! I had a huge bowl for lunch and mixed it with black rice for dinner. It was so tasty, we ate the whole batch and today I made another.

You can find The Flavor Bible here: THE FLAVOR BIBLE

Equipment needed:

Blender

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29 Comments

  1. Christine Heninger wrote on April 21, 2014

    Also does this last a couple days in the fridge or does it get mushy??

    Reply
    • Susan wrote on April 21, 2014

      It will last a day or two. Just follow the same rules you would with any salad with melon. Cheers!

      Reply
  2. Christine Heninger wrote on April 21, 2014

    Can you use soaked cashews instead of macadamias (so expensive)! Also cantaloupe instead of musk melon??

    Reply
    • Susan wrote on April 21, 2014

      You could try it. Let me know how it turns out. Cheers!

      Reply
  3. Carol McKenzie wrote on December 26, 2013

    A few substitutions (almonds for hazelnuts, sadly; no pumpkin seeds and forgot to buy garlic) but still, the salad was excellent. It’s winter at the moment, but this takes me right to a warm summer day, sitting in the shade. It’s even beautiful to look at, with all the pastel colors. Another winner!

    Reply
  4. Desiree wrote on August 5, 2013

    I made a variation of this and it was wonderful. Thank you for this recipe! I couldn’t find musk melon so I used an orange honey dew and I used sliced almonds rather than pumpkin seeds. I also added some chopped cilantro on top. OMG, it was amazing and perfect for a hot summer day on the porch.

    Reply
  5. Patricia wrote on July 23, 2013

    A note to those of you who can’t find jicama–my local supermarket was out of jicama, so I subbed in honeydew melon. The flavor went nicely, but with all the added liquid (since honeydew is much wetter than jicama) I doubled the cumin to compensate for the diluted taste.

    But I’m definitely going to try this again when I can get my hands on the proper ingredients. I imagine it’s even better when made as written.

    Reply

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