Playing to the drupe

Here’s what is making chefs go the au natural way of working with mangoes – and why you should follow suit too for a five-day treat, writes Madhulika Dash

For almost two decades, summers for food curator Alka Jena have been about mangoes and having it two ways. The green ones as pickles, especially the Odia style Aambo Khatta, which is an instant relish, and a whole ripe mango a day, says Jena, who has been following this ritual ever since she was a teenager visiting her grandmother. “It was how I have always looked at the mango season, especially around this time when we had these three to four different varieties coming in every other day, and each would have a unique style of having it. Some as shakes, others will be blend into yoghurt while a generous part would be had as it is — whole,” recalls the food curator who has, like many of us, found little reason to change this good old habit.

And it isn’t just the nostalgic value, says Chef Sabyasachi Gorai (Culinary Director, Byg Brewski), but a lot with the tradition of eating mangoes. Chef Gorai, who grew up surrounded by a mango orchard, even today finds eating ripe mangoes whole as the “best way to enjoy it”. In fact, he adds, “it is nature’s very own cooked food with no additives. And this is true not only for the ripe varieties but the raw ones as well.”

Mavinakkai Gojju (Mundappa)

Chef Gorai, who much like Alka, was brought up on a staple of eating mangoes “by the bucket” advocates it as an ingredient that can add much value to any dish with very little cooking. The culinary anthropologist began working with different kinds of mangoes as part of his historical pop-ups which gave an insight as to how mangoes were considered more a summer antidote than a fruit. The reason for this, adds Chef Vikas Seth (Culinary Director, Embassy Leisure), “is the drupe’s natural make. When raw, it has this amazing tartness that can be used to create a wide range of flavours in a dish to summer salad as well like Som Tum Salad. And when ripe, it opens the canvas for more experimentation given that different notes of sweetness come to the fore.” Chef Seth, who has spent the last few weeks working with its au natural form, even to make Mexican paletas that usually demand a process of straining the pulp, finds it an exceptional ingredient that can ring in surprises with simple marination and can do away with many processes that till date were believed to be standard. Take the paletas served in avocado skin as bowl. Says the culinary genius, “earlier I would perhaps have strained the pulp, but in this case, I used the pulp that was hand mashed. The result was that the paletas had more texture and paired with cubes of a different variety of mango it made for a satiating treat.”

Similarly with mango kulfi, where he has paired the mango pulp of Alphonso with coconut cream to get the same result or mango chocolate mousse where two different mangoes are used for sweetness while avocado gives the creamy texture, a trick, says Chef Seth, “lends his mango guacamole its amazing palate play.”

Marina Sundal (Totapuri)

Minimal processing of ripe mangoes is also a culinary format that Chef Mandar Madav (Executive Chef, Conrad Centennial Singapore) likes to follow, especially with ripe mangoes. It was this realisation that made mangoes part of Chef Madav’s culinary repertoire where he used mangoes as a note to a dish. An excellent example of this is the Mango Scallop where he uses a tartar of raw and ripe mangoes, cucumber, coriander and sweet paprika. Another masterpiece is Birds Nest and mango pudding. Here, he adds, “the ripe mango pulp with chunks of mango is added to pomelo, sago and coconut milk to give the dessert the texture and notes.”

The concept finds home in Chef Seth and Chef Gorai’s style as well. “The thing about using the rather natural or crude form of mangoes and mango chunks is not only to preserve the natural goodness of the drupe, but also the flavours that get lost with too many ingredients added or through processes,” says Chef Gorai, who like his peers, loves to use the undiluted version of mangoes in his dish. But there is another side to why chefs are taking an au natural approach to mangoes, and it is the wide goodness that these delicious drupes pack within.

Unlike a green mango, that's great on taste, it attains its nourishing virtues as a pickle, thanks to the sun drying process that helps happy bacteria to breed on the skin and make it an excellent food for the gut, raw mangoes, says nutritional therapist Sveta Bhassin, “come pre-packaged as a nutritional powerhouse that works for you on the first bite.” Adds Sveta, “one serving of mango forms an excellent source of energy, soluble fibre, Vitamin A and C, folate and magnesium. In fact, one mango covers not only a good part of the fibre needed for easy digestion and functionality of the body but also nearly 60% of the vitamin requirement of the body. In other words, enough to help you manage to function well despite the hot summers.” This is one of the reasons that mango, despite its good sugar content, can digest itself happily within the next 60 minutes, and that makes it a fruit ideal for even those with diabetes. The only caveat, says Sveta, “is to have it as it is, for five days a week. Try processing it, including adding cream or pulverising it in a processor that rips apart the fibre, and you can turn mango into a calorie-dense pulp of sweetness.”

No wonder when Alauddin Khilji decided to throw a victory feast after gaining the Delhi throne, he did it with mangoes served as it is. After all, he was giving his fleet of soldiers and nobility a drupe of nourishing deliciousness.