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.

Last night a bunch of my old classmates dropped in for the evening. To mark the occasion, I decided to try something new. This recipe was the outcome. It's based on the sweet & sour recipe that my parents used to make while we were young, but I've used different spices.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 tsp chinese 5 spice
• sweet red chilli sauce to taste (I used thai)
• hot chilli sauce to taste (I used maggi hot & sweet tomato chilli sauce)
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup Straw mushrooms
• 1/4 cup baby corn
• 1/4 cup bamboo shoots
• 1/4 cup baby carrots
• 1/4 cup brocolli florets
• 1/4 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/4 cup tofu cubes
• 1/4 cup sliced pears (either canned or fresh but stewed to soften them)

Method:

1. Preheat a large skillet on high
2. Add the 2 tbsp oil and heat for 1 minute
3. Reduce heat to medium
4. Add the chinese five spice and fry it for 1 minute
5. Increase heat to high, add the tofu and stir fry until well coated with the oil and spice
6. Add in carrots, brocolli and cauliflower and stir fry until tender but not soft
7. Add in the mushrooms, baby corn and bamboo shoots and stir fry until all vegetables are coated
8. Add in the pears and mix well
9. Sprinkle vinegar and lemon juice into the skillet and mix it up
10. Add sweet red chilli sauce - 3tbsp is the base line, increase or decrease depending on desired sweetness level
11. Add hot chilli sauce - 3tbsp is the base line, increase or decrease depending on desired heat level
12. Stir fry for an additional one or two minutes
13. Reduce heat to medium for 1 minute, then cover skillet and reduce heat to low for another two minutes

Serve with of rice noodles or steamed rice.

Variations:

For a non-vegetarian option, add in shrimp, thinly sliced chicken or cubes of pork. If using shrimp, add it in after the pears, if using chicken or pork, either pre-cook the meat and add it in after the pears, or add it in before the tofu and fry thoroughly for about 5 minutes.

Alternately, coat the shrimp, chicken or pork in a corn flour based batter and deep fry it before adding to the mix.

Had prawns. Had idea what. Had no idea how.

Decided that I wanted to make either sweet and sour prawns or garlic prawns, but didn't know how to make either. Called up dad. He gave me a rough recipe over the phone. All quantities were "to taste", so I decided to give it a try.

Ingredients:

• Prawns (200gms)
• Tomato Ketchup (to taste)
• Pineapple Juice (to taste)
• Salt, Sugar, Chilli Powder, Ginger Garlic paste
• Vinegar (optional, again, to taste)
• Soya Sauce (1 tsp)
• Corn flour/Maida (refined wheat flour)
• Carrots, cauliflower, spring onions (quantity as you see fit)

Method:

1. Chop up carrots into longish slices (diagonally is nice). Break onions into petals.
2. Keep prawns ready (not frozen or cold, should be at room temperature)
3. Mix tomato ketchup and Pineapple juice, adding to taste in a saucepan
4. Heat on low flame
5. Add salt, sugar, chilli powder and ginger-garlic paste
6. Mix in some corn flour or maida to increase thickness. Stir continuously to avoid forming lumps. Keep stirring until it turns translucent.
7. Add in vinegar if necessary for taste and soya sauce.
8. Add in prawns
9. Add in carrots
10. Bring to a boil while stirring continuously. Boil for about 5-10 minutes depending on freshness of prawns.
11. Simmer to get rid of excess liquid if necessary.

I made a few mistakes though. I used frozen prawns and they weren't completely defrosted when I put them in, so they didn't cook completely. The sauce however turned out well.

Other options:

Pre-boil the prawns, or deep fry them in a batter made out of maida/corn flour and bound with egg (you can use just the egg white if you don't want the yolk).