Green Mango Curry - Reinventing Food

Reinventing Food is series of blogposts where as a chef, I will share a few of the food discoveries and recipes I am collecting throughout my world tour. Each traditional dish will be the playground for creative cooking and ideation.

India doesn’t stop to amaze me with its cuisine. Not long ago, I was pleasantly surprised with the Green Mango Curry mainly made of two delicious fruits: mango & coconut. It is fascinating to discover the potential of green fruits as an ingredient for savoury dishes. The lack of sugar and its acidity at their early stage can make the fruits ideal for some salty courses. I couldn’t let this opportunity escape from my Chef repertoire. Let’s have a look at the traditional recipe and then discover my adaption.

Green Mango Curry (easy cooking level)

Ingredients:

3 green mangoes

1 tablespoon of veg oil

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

7 curry leaves

2 green cardamoms

1 inch stick cinnamon

1 medium onion chopped

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of red chilli powder or paprika depending on your desired spiciness

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste

1/2 cup fresh coconut scraped

1 tablespoon of coriander seeds roasted

1 dried red chilli

1 teaspoon of concentrated tomato paste

1 teaspoon of brown sugar/jaggery

Salt to taste

Cooking tools:

Blender

How to make it

1. Heat oil in a non-sticky pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add curry leaves, green cardamoms and cinnamon and mix. Add onion and sauté till golden.

2. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and curry powder and mix well. Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté till the raw aroma is gone.

3. Add mango and mix. Add about half a cup of water, reduce heat and cook on medium heat for three to four minutes.

4. Put coconut, coriander seeds, red chillies and tomato paste in a mixer jar and grind to a smooth paste with a little water.

5. Add ground paste to the curry and mix well. Add brown sugar and salt and mix well. Continue cooking for a minute.

6. Transfer into a serving bowl

Chicken & Green Mango Pesto Toast (easy cooking level)

Ingredients:

One chicken breast 4 slices of whole-wheat sourdough bread 50 gr. of pine nuts 200 gr. of green mango curry 1 lemon A few bay leaves Sea salt Black pepper

Some olive oil

Worth a try for the pesto: a few dry tomatoes and with some Parmesan cheese.

Cooking tools:

Small food processor Steamer or a sous vide cooking equipment

How to make it:

Chicken breast

1. Prepare a 1,8% salt brine of the total weight (chicken breast + water). Before submerging the chicken in this solution, add the crushed black pepper, the bay leafs and the squeezed lemon cut into 2 pieces.

2. Then, either steam your breast for 20-30 minutes or cook it sous vide for 1 hour 30 min at 60ºC or 55min at 65ºC.

3. Once at room temperature, slice it for your toast.

Pesto

1. Start by reducing your Green Mango Curry to around 25% percent of its initial weight so it becomes a tight and drier paste. Let it cool down to room temperature.

2. Then, toast the pine nuts.

3. Blend the reduced green mango curry with your pine nuts and some olive oil. Optional to add some parmesan cheese and dry tomatoes (to be tested).

Toast your sourdough bread slices before assembling 2 toasts with some massaged green kale seasoned with lemon and olive oil.

You deserve a toast like this one!