Gastronomic tours with Swiss Cheese

In India, Mangoes are considered the king of fruit. We had a couple of mango trees in our backyard when I was growing up, but I liked climbing the trees far more than I liked eating the mangoes, mainly because I'm someone who likes my fruit crunchy.

Many years later, at a little bistro in Paris that S & I ended up at quite by accident, we tasted a most excellent Mango Salsa as a side for Duck Confit. We tried to reproduce that salsa and this is what we came up with...

Ingredients

• 1 ripe mango (it needs to be sweet, in the US this is sometimes considered overripe)
• 1 small shallot (optional, skip if you don't like the taste of raw shallots)
• ¼ cup cilantro leaves
• 1 tsp cilantro seeds
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Procedure

1. Roast the cilantro seeds in a pan on medium-low heat until you can smell the aroma
2. Transfer the cilantro seeds to a mortar to cool
3. Dice the mango into a salad mixing bowl (instructions available here)
4. Add chilli flakes to the mango
5. Dice the shallot (instructions here) and add to the mango
6. Chop up the cilantro leaves and add to the mango
7. Now crush the roasted cilantro seeds with the mortar & pestle. You can use the back of a spoon on your cutting board as well, but that's harder. Do NOT turn it to a powder.
8. Add the crushed cilantro seeds to the mango
9. Add lemon juice
10. Toss & serve

This salsa goes well with spicy tacos or a fatty dish like duck confit. Even great on its own. They have a little spice of their own, but are mostly sweet, and the freshness of the cilantro and mango provides a great accent for the rest of your meal.