A lust for mangoes

This versatile fruit can be eaten at various stages of ripeness.

By FAYE LEVY
mango521 (photo credit: MCT)
mango521
(photo credit: MCT)
Last week, I ate a perfect mango – one bite took me straight to mango heaven. It happened to be a Kent mango, a large, sweet, smooth-fleshed mango that grows well in Israel and is exported to Europe.
When I have a mango like this, I don’t add anything – I eat it all by its glorious self.
In an ideal world, all mangoes would be that delicious. Even when they’re not, they can still be excellent in all sorts of dishes. For me, simple recipes best showcase the mango’s natural flavor – smoothies like Indian lassi, for which the mango is blended with only yogurt, a bit of sweetening and crushed ice, is one example.
Thai sticky rice with mango is another great way to make use of a superb mango. Nothing is done to the mango itself; the peeled halves are simply served on a bed of slightly sweet rice cooked with coconut milk.
According to the California Rare Fruit Growers, the fruit “is native to southern Asia, especially Burma and eastern India. It spread early on to Malaya, eastern Asia and eastern Africa.“ Cooks in these regions have learned to use mangoes of varying degrees of ripeness.
Susan Chan, author of Flavors of Burma, makes firm, tart green mangoes into a salad that is unusual to Western palates. The salad is appetizing, she writes, due to the sourness of the mango combined with the sweet fried onion, hot chiles and salty fish paste. To make it, she mixes grated raw mango with thinly sliced fresh red onions, fried onions with a little of their oil, fish paste and chile powder. She serves the pungent salad on its own or with boiled rice, coconut rice or red lentil and butter rice.
Cooks in Indonesia and Malaysia turn mangoes into a salad-like dish called rujak. Antoinette DeWit and Anita Borghese, authors of The Complete Book of Indonesian Cooking, describe it as mixed fruit with spicy sweet sauce; the salad usually has vegetables, too. For their version, diced mango is combined with cucumber, as well as pears, green apples, bananas, guavas, pineapple and melon, and flavored with gingerroot; the mixture is moistened with a coconut sauce seasoned with sweet soy sauce, lemon juice and the fiery Indonesian pepper paste known as sambal ulek.
Some cooks sprinkle the salad with fried tofu and chopped peanuts.
India is by far the world’s largest producer of mangoes. According to Yamuna Devi, author of The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, “mangoes have been cultivated in India for over fifty centuries” and are often called the “king of fruits.” Several hundred species are cultivated there, and the mango’s “succulent, distinctively sweet-and-acid flesh is second to none.... While ripe mango is recognized by many to be the world’s finest fruit, Indians hold the green unripened fruit in the highest esteem.” Tart, spicy mango pickles are a standard condiment at Indian restaurants. Green or unripe mangoes are used, notes Priti Chitnis Gress, author of Flavorful India, because they will not fall apart like ripe mangoes. She marinates unpeeled mango chunks with salt, then dries them and combines them with sauteed fenugreek seeds, cayenne, turmeric, asafoetida powder and oil; in two days, they become pickles.
My sister-in-law Mati Kahn, who was born in India, taught her children to enjoy mango pickle with their rice, but for me this was an acquired taste. Iraqis in Israel love a similar mango pickle called amba, which comes with the popular eggplant sandwich sabich, and is offered as an optional condiment with felafel.
To make a side dish called “sizzling green mango” for serving with flatbreads or rice, Gress treats the mango as a vegetable. She heats the mango with garlic and sauteed fenugreek seeds, black mustard seeds, asafoetida powder and dried red chili powder, and then simmers it with additional spices – cayenne, turmeric, cumin, coriander and the Indian spice blend garam masala. Salt and a touch of sugar complete the spicy dish.
IN INDIA, notes Devi, grated firm green mangos are added to dals (legume dishes) or vegetables for a pleasant, tart flavor.
Sun-dried unripe mango slices are also made into amchoor, a tan-colored powder “used, like pomegranate seeds, tamarind or lemon juice, to bring pungency to a dish.” Shredded green mangoes lend a refreshing tartness to Devi’s chilled yogurt rice, made by gently mixing the firm, underripe mango with cooked basmati rice, yogurt, ground ginger and pepper. To finish, fried mustard seeds and curry leaves and a garnish of parsley are added.
For a thirst-quenching mango drink that is both sweet and savory, Devi roasts mangoes that are green or just ripening. She purees the cooled roasted mangoes and blends in sugar, saffron, cardamom and water. The strained, cooled beverage is garnished with roasted crushed fennel seeds.
Devi’s mango jam, although primarily sweet, gains a savory touch from spices – whole cloves, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cardamom seeds, cinnamon stick and sliced fresh ginger tied in a bag. To make it, she cooks diced ripe yet firm mangoes with sugar and water, and then continues simmering them with the spice bag and lime juice until the jam is thick.
Mango is well suited to savory Western dishes, too. I use it to make a French-style duck entree with a mango sauce flavored with fresh ginger, red wine and red wine vinegar.
Ripe or slightly underripe mangoes are good on green salads topped with toasted almonds, cashews or peanuts. For summertime suppers, I enjoy mangoes in salads of grains or pasta, such as the salad of turkey and brown rice below.
How to cut and peel a mango: Hold the mango with one end pointing toward you. Cut downward on either side of the flat pit, as near to pit as possible, cutting the mango into two near-halves. Use a sharp paring knife to carefully cut off the peel from each mango half.
There will still be a ring of mango flesh around the pit. Cut off this ring of meat in pieces (they will be in strips) and cut the peel from each strip.
For serving a mango half to eat with a spoon, you can instead use this technique, which works best with very ripe mangoes: On each mango half, score mango flesh in cubes in a criss-cross pattern without piercing the skin, then press from the skin side upward; the cubes of mango can then be removed easily with a spoon.
The writer is the author of Feast from the Mideast.
TURKEY, MANGO AND BROWN RICE SALAD
With its diced mango, ginger-orange dressing, red onion and crunchy water chestnuts, this salad makes a colorful, light and lively summer entree.
Choose good-quality mangoes that aren’t stringy. If you like, serve the salad on a bed of mixed baby lettuces. You can substitute white rice for the brown rice; cook it for only 18 to 20 minutes.
1 1 ⁄2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. orange juice
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil or olive oil salt and freshly ground pepper
1 ⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1 ⁄2 tsp. grated orange zest
2 to 3 cups cooked turkey or chicken, diced or in strips
1 /3 cup chopped red onion
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth or water
1 1 ⁄2 cups long-grain brown rice
225 gr. (8 oz.) canned water chestnuts, drained, sliced, or 1 ⁄2 cup thin quarter-slices of cucumber
1 /4 cup chopped parsley
1 ripe mango, peeled and diced
Whisk together vinegar, orange juice, oil, salt, pepper, ginger and orange zest. Add 3 Tbsp. of this dressing to turkey. Add onion and mix well. Let stand while cooking the rice.
In a large heavy saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Add rice, cover and cook over low heat for 40 to 45 minutes or until just tender. Transfer to a large bowl, fluff with a fork and cool.
Toss turkey mixture with rice and remaining dressing.
Add water chestnuts, parsley and mango and mix lightly. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve at room temperature, cool or cold.
Makes 3 or 4 main-course or 6 appetizer servings
SHREDDED MANGO AND COCONUT CHUTNEY
This recipe is from The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. Author Yamuna Devi writes: “Green mango makes delicious raw or cooked chutney. In this much loved South Indian variation, the rock-hard type is preferred. On the other hand, in the North fruit just short of ripe is favored. Use whatever is to your liking and convenient. The peppery orange-lime dressing beautifully sets off the near tart mango and sweet coconut-dried fruit mixture. This textured, nearly raw chutney... makes a pleasant contrast for soups, dals or stews. It is best assembled at least 1 /4 hour before serving.” If you don’t have lime juice, substitute lemon juice.
2 medium-size firm unripe mangoes (1 kg. or about 2 lbs.)
25 gr. ( 1 /4 cup) dried or fresh coconut ribbons
1 Tbsp. diced dried fruit, such as papaya or apricot
1 Tbsp. each orange and lime juice
1 ⁄2 tsp. salt
1 /8 tsp. cayenne pepper or paprika
1-2 hot green chilies, halved, seeded and slivered
2 Tbsp. sesame or coconut oil
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh coriander
Peel mangoes with a vegetable peeler or paring knife. Coarsely shred the fruit and discard the seed. Combine mangoes with coconut, dried fruit, juices, salt, cayenne and green chilies in a serving bowl, gently toss, cover and marinate for 1 ⁄2 hour. It can be refrigerated for up to 6 hours before serving.
Heat the oil in a small pan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Drop in the black mustard seeds and fry until they turn gray and sputter (keep a lid handy to catch flying seeds). Pour into the salad, add fresh coriander, toss to mix, and serve.
Makes 1 1 ⁄2 cups