Mango and Tomato Curry

I got this recipe from Vig's Indian Cuisine, by Vikram Vij. He has a restaurant in Vancouver, BC. I have been to BC, but I never had the chance to stop by his restaurant. What a shame! Judging from the recipes that I have cooked from his book, it must be a very wonderful place to have a meal. Check out his restaurant in BC here.

This is a wonderful and delicious recipe of curry and tomatoes and is perfect for summer! I have been to India several times, but I have never seen a recipe like this. It is simply wonderful. The masala for this dish can also be used in a variety of other Indian curries, as it makes a good base sauce.

It really helps to have fresh curry leaves for this dish. I searched long and hard for fresh curry leaves. Most Indian stores here in the Bay area have curry leaves in small plastic packs. They are fairly fresh, and work. I never realized how wonderfully different this dish tastes with fresh curry leaves! I was at a Indian grocery store in Dublin that I usually frequent, and they had the curry plant! I was so excited. Fresh curry leaves are very potent and give a very different taste to this dish.

Fresh ripe mangoes are also very important to this dish. I prefer alphonso mangoes, from southern India. They are much sweeter and juicer than other mangoes. You can tell when a mango is ripe and ready to eat by its smell. Its skin should be yellowish red, and smell very sweet. You can also make this dish with green, raw mangoes and it will yield a more tangy flavor.

Cutting a mango can be a messy adventure. When I was going to grad school in Hawaii, one of my cousins taught me how to cut a mango "island style". Cut the mango around the stone in the center. This leaves you with 2 mango halves and a stone surrounded with the mango fruit. Take one of those halves. Take a sharp pairing knife and cut deeply into the flesh of the mango, scoring it horizontally and vertically. Then, push the mango from the skin, "popping" it inside out. The mango should come off the skin, nicely diced. Repeat with the other half. Take the remainder of the mango (the stone surrounded in flesh) and make an incision into the mango, letting the knife follow the contours of the stone. This will allow the rest of the flesh of the mango to "roll off" the stone and can then be easily cut up.



This is a classic Indian dish, where oil is flavored with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Tomatoes and spices are added to create a "masala", the flavor component of the dish. This is a useful masala to make and can be used in lots of dishes. Mangoes are then added as the vegetable portion of the dish and to add some bulk to the dish. I have also added chicken to this dish and it works wonderful as well.

Ingredients
1/3 cup canola oil or ghee
1 Tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 tsp asafoetida
30-40 curry leaves, fresh or frozen
2 cups chopped tomatoes, with seeds (about 2 large tomatoes)
1 tsp tumeric
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt
3 medium to large mangoes, peeled and cubed (preferably alphonso)
2 cups chopped green onions (white and green parts) (for garnish, extra)

Making the Masala
Add a swig of oil to a wok and roll the wok around, coating the wok thinly and evenly with the oil. Heat the oil for 1 minute on medium heat. Add mustard seeds and cook until the seeds begin to pop. Immediately add asafoeetida and curry leaves. Watch you head and hands, as some oil might splash on you. Give the mixture a stir. The curry leaves should shrivel up. Reduce heat to low. Add the tomatoes, tumeric, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt. Stir fry this for about 5 minutes.

Add in the mangoes and give them a good stir, making sure they are fairly evenly incorporated into the dish. Cover and increase heat.  After 5 minutes, give them a good stir and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. The mangoes should begin to "sweat", and some of their juices are released. If you want to add green onion at this point, stir the green onion in and cook, uncovered, for 2 to 3 minutes.







At this point, you can serve this dish with rice and or chappati.

If you want to make it non veg, you can also add chicken to this dish and cook on low heat for another 10 minutes, or until the chicken has turned white and cooked through. If you choose to add chicken, you need to marinate the chicken for 30 minutes in the following:

1 lbs boneless, skinless free range chicken breast, cubed
1 tablespoon vodka or dry vermouth
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

The oil allows the chicken to separate easily in cooking.

I serve this with either rice and lemon pickle or with chappati.


Enjoy!!!

Minty Thai Chicken Salad

When I was traveling in Northern Thailand and in Vietnam, I had a delicious minty chicken salad. It was delectable and served cool, which was very nice since it was so hot. This is a variation on a traditional dish called larb, which is served often in Thailand and Laos. This dish works wonders if you spoon the mixture into a nice fresh romaine lettuce or cabbage leaf and eat it like a sandwich. It also works really well poured over a bowl of freshly cooked noodles.

This recipe is from Mai Pham, The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking, which I highly recommend for anyone who loves Thai and Vietnamese food! Mai Pham also has a restaurant in Sacramento, which I had the extreme pleasure of visiting one time! Its definitely a great place to eat!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon dried chili flakes, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2/3 lbs chicken breast, minced
2 teaspoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 1 lime squeezed)
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced lemongrass
3 kaffir lime leaves, cut into fine slivers
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves (or lime-mint if you have it)
4-6 red lettuce leaves
12 sprigs fresh cilantro
1 serving of teuchi men (freshly cooked noodles)

I have made this dish a few times, and I find the addition of lime-mint (as opposed to regular mint) to give this dish a much more tangy & robust flavor profile. The lime-mint also adds an interesting textural element that is lacking in the traditional mint. I have a bush of lime-mint growing in my backyard garden! Look at the size of it! It grows quickly like mint. Doesn't it look fantastic?! This huge plant all came from one small single stem of mint leaf that my fiancee got. I grew it in a glass jar before it got roots and then planted it!

One more tip that I learned from this dish. Fresh lemongrass really helps! Fortunately, I also have fresh lemongrass growing in my backyard! Previously, when I made this dish, I would get the lemongrass at the grocery store. At the store, they never have the blades of lemongrass, just the root. The root works fine in this recipe, but if you can get hold of some fresh blades of lemongrass, it really punches up this dish to a whole new level!










Heat oil in a wok. Add the chili flakes and paprika. Stir for 5 seconds. Add chicken, brown sugar and fish sauce. Increase heat to medium. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the chicken turns white. Transfer the chicken (but not the juices) to a mixing bowl.

Add lime juice, onion, lemon grass, lime leaves tomatoes and mint and gently toss. Garnish with a little cilantro.

To serve, take a lettuce leaf and use it as a bowl, pouring the mixture in the leaf. Fold the leaf over and pop it into your mouth! Delicious! Also, you have serve it over homemade noodles (see link above).

Enjoy!!

Thai Chicken Satay

Chicken Satay is a quick, delicious dinner that can easily impress all but the most discerning of dinner guests.

Its super simple to prepare. Buy a good pound or pound and a half of chicken breasts. Again, I prefer free range chicken, but sweatshop chicken will work just fine too :)

Slice the chicken breast in half width-wise, so you have two thinner breasts of the same size. Then cut them into slices. 

                                                                                   Thai Chicken Satay with roasted cauliflower and potato puree, wrapped in naan. 

Prepare the chicken marinade in a bowl. Marinade the chicken for at least 15 minutes, but the longer the better! 

In the meantime,  take bamboo skewers and soak them in water. This will make sure the chicken doesn't stick to the skewer when it is done or burn excessively when grilling. 

Skewer the chicken, then grill till they are cooked through and have the marks of the grill. 

You can serve this with Spicy Peanut Sauce and/or Thai chili sauce. It also works really well in a paratha or naan wrap, with fresh lettuce, mango chutney and roasted cauliflower and potato puree (pictured above). You can also have it will Yaki Miso Nasu (Grilled Miso Eggplant) (pictured below).

Marinade

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric

1 teaspoon minced garlic

pinch of ground coriander

pinch of ground cumin

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons coconut milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1.5 lbs chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

20 bamboo skewers, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes to prevent burning and stickiness

Accompaniments

Spicy Peanut Sauce

Spicy Chili Sauce

Spicy Peanut Sauce and/or Thai chili sauce

Yaki Miso Nasu (Grilled Miso Eggplant) and Chicken Satay