Chef Veena Arora has given a ‘mango makeover’ to exotic dishes from Sri lanka, Thailand and Vietnam
As the mercury rises, the desserts and the juleps on the menu of city hotels make almost an overt shift to mango, with the drinks like mango milk shakes, puddings and ice creams topping the charts. However, chef Veena Arora, chef de cuisine at The Spice Route, a South-East Asian Restaurant at The Imperial, refuses to restrict this luscious flavour to desserts and drinks. Her new menu, which reads ‘Celebration of Mango’ has 15 items, all made out of the yellow fruit.
“In India, summers mean lots and lots of mangoes, and this year I have mangoes, raw or ripe, in all my dishes,” says Chef Veena. From the appetisers and soups to the main course, the king of fruits has managed to find a place in everything.
Served with a lemon dressing, the raw mango salad is one of chef’s favourites. As extraordinary as it sounds, with dry shrimps and prawns garnished with spicy and shredded raw mango, this salad seems to be a perfect Thai appetizer with a dash of Indian fervour. The chef calls it Yum Mamuang kung heng. “The raw mango salad is served as an appetizer. Although I keep it on the menu all year round, it tastes best in the sweltering heat of the summer,” says the chef.
Rich in fibres and antioxidants, mangoes not only have digestive properties but also serve as excellent coolants for the body, making for the perfect summer fruit. “The Thai cuisine predominantly comprising of sea food, is warm and therefore appropriate for lower temperatures. Adding mangoes, however, makes them suitable for consumption during the hot weather. During summers, my evenings back home also witness a lot of cooking with mangoes,” says the chef.
Ga Xao Hot Dieu, a Vietnamese preparation of stir-fried chicken with ripe mango and cashewnuts is one of a kind. It is a great substitute for conventional noodles. Divulging the secrets of this nutritious item on her menu, chef Veena says, “Along with chicken and mango, it also includes a lot of healthy vegetables like capsicum, mushroom, tomato and spring onion. After being diced, the chicken and the veggies are put in the wok in which the garlic is fried until it is light brown in colour. Other ingredients like oyster sauce and sugar are added to taste, followed by cooking on high flame for five minutes. It is garnished with cashew nuts before serving.”
Chef Veena’s South East Asian menu has a vast repertoire, with flavours sourced from the exotic land of Sri lanka as well.
“A curry made out of the spicy green mangoes from the neighbouring island, with assorted vegetables becomes a rage during the season,” she said. Maambalam Appams is just the right dish to hone the craving of mango lovers. One of the chef’s favourites, appams, are Kerala style, soft-centred, rice pancakes with mango.
Interestingly, they can be consumed as both breakfast and an evening snack, much like khao neow mamuang, which although is served under desserts, oscillates between the categories of main course and dessert. Sticky rice served with ripe mangoes, it is extremely filling and can make for a main course as well. The flavour of the roasted sesame seeds gives it a flavour of the south Indian payasam.
Another mouth watering range that this summer has to offer is ‘The Chef Special’ items. A plethora of flavours are likely to gush into your mouth in unison as you put a spoonful of chef’s special prawns on your palate. “Wok fried prawns with tamarind sauce topped with shredded raw mango, crispy shallots and palm sugar” will tantalise your taste buds like never before. A little less exotic but nevertheless a delicacy is chef’s jasmine rice and mango cooked in coconut milk.