London’s hot, so I’m all about salads right now

This is one I found through Pinterest, on sweet sugarbean, and been meaning to make for a while now. Have you discovered Pinterest yet by the way? It’s a virtual scrapbook – very cool

But of course, I ended up changing it. I seem to have an aversion to keeping to a recipe. I’ve always been this way, even when I couldn’t cook, so you can imagine how many disasters I had before I realized that you can only freestyle once you’ve mastered the basics. I think that applies to most arts, not just cooking. I kept the quinoa, black beans, mango, coriander and red pepper. I took away the curry powder, red onion and cucumber, and I added a more south-east Asian flavour with fresh chillies and fish sauce (mixed with the lime juice). The fish sauce is salty so no extra salt. A fantastic salad for the sort of weather we’ve been having, though I wish my mango had been firmer, it was a bit mushy. I know how it feels, but still, pull yourself together mango