Don Diego's Zouk & Soca Salad

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 large beef tomatoes, thinly sliced
• ½ cucumber(s), peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small onion(s), red, cut into thin rings
• 1 mango(s), preferably firm, cut into longish pieces
• 2 tbsp chives or spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove(s), pressed
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp sauce (hot pepper)
• 1 pinch(s) of sugar
• 1 tbsp oil (sunflower oil)
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 5 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 15 minutes

cool Caribbean salad, served in spicy dressing

Who doesn’t long for a refreshing drink in the eternal German heat that’s not too sweet and doesn’t weigh down the stomach? A quick, healthy snack from the depths of the vegetable drawer would be just the thing. It’s not a bad idea for “His Coolness” to take the initiative, dive into the fridge, and pull two tomatoes, a cucumber, and—what do we have here?—a mango onto the countertop. A red onion and chives were already there. To prepare the dressing, we need the Zouk music of Kassav’ from Martinique or the Tabou Combo from Haiti, unless you prefer Mighty Sparrow’s Soca from Trinidad & Tobago. Also, a crushed garlic clove, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, half a teaspoon of hot pepper sauce, a pinch of sugar, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. After adding the sunflower oil, the dressing can be whisked to the rhythm of the music. Caution: It’s enough to create an emulsion; sweeping the whisk until it’s a polonaise of mayonnaise would be prematurely wasted ecstasy. Cool down, man, cool down! Now arrange the tomato slices in a circle, overlapping each other, on two attractive, large plates. In the same way, arrange the cucumber slices on top of the tomatoes in an inner circle. Five mango slices are placed on top in a star shape. A few onion rings are artistically scattered on the mango core—as if flung into the world—and a scant tablespoon of chives are lavished with flourish. Finally, the dressing is evenly swirled over the salad. A sophisticated gentleman is best served with the Zouk & Soca Salad in colorful Bermuda shorts, sunglasses, bare-chested, but with a sucked-in stomach. The information “The salad is already dressed!” is something to be dispensed with, however. This is a decent salad!