Fried whole bekti with dried shrimp and mango

It was a salad that never was. We had organised a BYOF — Bring Your Own Food — dinner some days ago, and a friend promised to bring along a mango salad dish she’d been talking about for days. Apparently, it was a wonder dish of rocket leaves and sliced ripe mangoes drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

I can’t vouch for that, because we never got to eat or even see it. Apparently, she couldn’t find rocket leaves. I should have told her to try the vegetable shops; for all I know she was in touch with ISRO. But these days, whenever I see carts laden with golden mangoes, I think of all that you can do with the king of fruits. You cook them with fish or chicken, and you can make great salads with ripe mangoes.

Of course, it goes without saying that mangoes make for wonderful desserts and drinks. You can’t beat mango ice cream, pies, cakes, bread, mousse, sherbets and shakes when it comes to flavours. Of all things sweet, I love the mango shake the most.

Long years ago, I remember how we used to walk 5km every day and wonder why we weren’t losing weight. Later it struck me that it could have had something to do with the fact that midway through the walk, we used to stop by for a tall glass of frothy mango shake that an enterprising man used to sell from a kiosk.

Roast chicken infused with rosemary flavoured mango sauce

Mangoes are also great for salsas — which you can serve with anything, from baked or fried fish to pork or lamb chops. You can make a simple salsa with 1 ripe mango, 1 tomato, 1 onion, ½ cup coriander or basil leaves, 1 or 2 sliced green chillies and 1tbs lime juice. Mix this together, and you have your mango salsa.

The other day, I had a chat with Chef Pradip Rozario of K.K.’s Fusion about the use of mangoes in European and Chinese cuisine, and he came up with a wonderful list of dishes all using mangoes. He’s patented something called ALHFB prawn. ALHFB stands for Alfonso, Langda, Himsagar, Fajli and Baganapalli — different kinds of mangoes. He mixes the juices together and then adds tamarind, sugar, shallots, chillies and a bit of nam pla sauce to the mix. He thickens the sauce, and then serves it with fried prawns.

If you don’t mind sugar in your food, you can go to town with mangoes. You can, a la Chef Rozario, chargrill jumbo prawns with green chillies, coriander, sugar, ginger, lime juice salt, pepper and mango pulp. He makes a tangy mango cheese fondue, and roasts a chicken infused with rosemary flavoured mango sauce. For this, he takes the juice out of ripe mangoes, and heats it with rosemary, salt, pepper, cream and aamchur. He strains it and then pours it over sliced roasted chicken.

Chargrilled jumbo prawn with raw mango pulp

Though the mango is indigenous to India, the fruit grows in many parts of the world. And those nations which don’t have mangoes, export them in large quantities. So you find mangoes in all kinds of food — from European fusion to Southeast Asian, Caribbean and world Chinese. I remember one wonderful Nouvelle Chinese dish I once ate that consisted of a crispy chrysanthemum-shaped fish with a mango mustard sauce. The Caribbean region has its coconut prawns with mango salsa.

You can let your innovative juices flow when you are cooking with mangoes. Chef Rozario does a fried whole bekti with dried shrimp and mango. For this, marinated the fish with fish sauce, salt and pepper, fry till it’s golden and keep aside. Then make a sauce with mango, shrimp, chillies, fish sauce, shallots, sugar and green chillies. Now pour it over the fish and serve.

This is the season for mangoes, and it’s also the time for cool salads. That’s good timing, for mangoes lead to great salads. Take this recipe for a mango, tomato and red onion salad. For this, you need 1 firm mango, sliced, 2 large tomatoes, sliced, 1 large onion, cut into rings, and 1 medium-sized cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced. For the dressing, mix 2tbs oil, 1tbs lemon juice, 1 garlic clove crushed, ½tsp Tabasco, salt and ground pepper. Arrange the fruits and veggies on a large serving plate. Pour the dressing over the salad and serve.

Mango fritters

Or you can make a radish, mango and apple salad at home. For this, take, 10-15 small, red radishes, 1 apple (peeled, cored and thinly sliced), 2 celery sticks (thinly sliced), and 1 ripe mango (cubed).

For the dressing, you need ½ cup sour cream, 1tsp horseradish puréed (you can buy horseradish in jars these days), 1tbs chopped fresh dill, salt and pepper to taste. Blend together the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. Top and tail the radish, slice them thinly. Put in a bowl with apple, celery and mango. Pour the dressing over it and stir gently so that it is well-coated. Serve with smoked fish or with ham and salami.

Of course, if you can find some rocket leaves — unlike our hapless friend —you can try out the dish that we never got to see. Take rocket and ripe mangoes and toss them in lemon juice and olive oil. Simple, really.

Fruit kebabs with mango and yoghurt sauce

Ingredients for the kebab

½ pineapple, peeled, cored and cubed •2 kiwi fruit, peeled and cubed • 150gm strawberries halved lengthwise • 1 ripe mango, peeled, stoned and cubed

Ingredients for the sauce

• 120ml fresh mango puree • 120ml thick yoghurt •1tsp sugar • 1tbs finely shredded mint leaves • A few drops of vanilla essence

Method

To make the sauce, beat all the ingredients together (barring the mint leaves). Stir in the shredded mint leaves. Cover and chill till required. Thread the fruit onto 12 wooden skewers. Transfer the sauce to a bowl, decorate with a mint sprig and place in the centre of a large serving platter. Surround with the fruit kebabs and serve.