RA-HOOR-KHUIT FRUIT SALAD
This fruit salad is the best of the fire fruits. If one is able to find the prickly pear fruit in a local Mexican market, farmers market, or a natural food supermarket, purchase it, because the tough job of picking and cleaning these prickly babies has already been done. The flavor prickly pear imparts is very different, a cross between the taste of bubblegum and watermelon, and they really add to the Latin theme of the menu. If they cannot be found, just add more of the other fruits.
Ingredients:
4 cups pineapple, diced
2 cups blood oranges, sliced
2 cups carambola (star fruit), chopped
2 cups mango, diced
1 cup whole cooked cranberries
1 cup prickly pears, diced
½ cup pomegranate seeds
(Other fruits that can be added are bindal berry, chokeberry, clementines, dates, durian, fig, gamboge, granadilla, pink grapefruit, hawberry, kumquat, mandarin, orange, pigeon berry, safou, and tangerine, if they are available locally.)
Directions:
While preparing all of the fruit, retain as much of the fruit juices as possible to help blend the fruit flavors.
Preparing most of these fruits is pretty basic, but some instruction is needed with the prickly pears if found fresh. Wear thick gloves and use tongs. Slice both ends of the prickly pear off and discard them. Make one long shallow slice down the length of the prickly pear. Hold the edge of the skin with the tongs and peel it back and away from the center of the fruit. Running the edge of a large spoon between the skin and the inside pulp can be helpful. Discard the outer skin. The remaining fruit flesh has lots of little seeds, but they are edible. Taste the fruit and see if the seeds are wanted. If so, then cut the fruit into small chunks and add to the other fruits. If the seeds are not wanted, briefly pulse them in a food processor and strain the juice and pulp through a sieve. Toss the seeds and remaining pulp, and add the extracted juice with the other fruits. Blend all the fruits together, chill and serve.
Correspondences:
The fruits of spring are featured in the Ra-Hoor-Khuit fruit salad. Cranberries are of water, and blood orange, carambola, mango, pineapple, and prickly pear are water of fire.
