The King of Fruits is here!

It’s the season of mangoes. The King of Fruits visits us just for 2 months, but oh, these 2 months!
If the mango is the king of fruits, then the king of all mangoes is the Alphonso. (Hapus in Marathi). This is entirely my personal opinion and though there might be other variants like Langda and Dashehri and Ratna, for me its only Hapus.
Mangoes can be relished in myriad ways-
-The fruit, as-is (cubed, segmented or whole (yes!!))
-In the form of Aamras – the pulp+juice of a mango (actually, several mangoes) – a fragrant puree to dip your chapati (or if you’re lucky, your puri) into
-Cubed, with vanilla icecream on the side
-In mango sheera (mango-flavoured semolina halwa, rich with raisins and almonds)
-Cold mango milkshake – a great start to a summer day
-In Aamrakhand – mango-flavoured shrikhand (hung curd mixed through with mango puree and sugar)
-And finally, the SUBLIME mango cream.

I am not a true mango fan(atic) like a lot of my friends and family. I do not long for April to come. I don’t despair when I hear news of the mango blooms being swept away by winter storms. (A routine bit of news every December, to hike up the anticipation) My ears don’t prick up at the sound of the mango seller’s call – “Payari - Hapuuuuuuuuus!!”

But yes, I do enjoy a good mango, with its glowing orangey-yellow colour, luscious sweetness and heavenly fragrance. I simply tolerate aamras (much to the shocked horror of my Aamras-loving extended family) but love having the fruit as-is – whole. Wearing old clothes (or a bib!) is a must when gorging on mangoes in this fashion – the juices WILL trickle down your chin and leave permanent tell-tale yellow stains. It is also recommended that you are alone (or with your nearest and dearest ones who have seen you at your worst) when you eat mangoes so – it is quite a sight to see a mango being WOLFED DOWN whole.

But when you do sit down to it, eating a mango whole is delightful. First, the smooth skin needs to be peeled (or is it pulled away?) by the teeth. Then a moment to sit back and ogle the treasure you’ve uncovered - the glorious orange hue, the mind-swooning scent. Then after a moment of reverie, you start feasting on the glistening nuggets of sweet, succulent flesh – and don’t stop until you reach the seed at the centre. Even then, you don’t stop – you just change strategies and nibble on the seed for every last scrap of deliciousness. Deep, deep pleasure! (a la Nigella!)

I DO enjoy the more civilized forms of the mango (all except the aamras!) but of them all, mango cream has a special place in my food-loving heart (or is it tummy?)



This ethereal dessert is the marriage of bite-sized cubes of scented mango, heavy cream and just the teensiest bit of sugar. Just mix the lot and chill. And then enjoy every single delectable mouthful!

Store Review: Godrej Nature's Basket

Today saw me going to the Nature's Basket store (http://www.godrejagrovet.com/) near the Mahalaxmi Temple for a quick peek while Ma shopped at the Nallis next door.

And was I impressed! The range of products available is mind-boggling. From fresh snacks (like pies, cakes, sandwiches etc)to cold cuts to cheeses to fresh produce, the store is a treasure trove of epicurean delights.

Among the more elusive stuff, I spotted the Bonne Maman range of jams and preserves (Rs 285 a jar), small logs of chevre (goat's cheese) (Rs 325 a log), smoked cheese, baked hams, avocados, vanilla pods (in hermetically sealed test-tubes!) (Rs 185 for 3 pods), harissa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harissa) , truffle oil, and my favourite wasabi peas (sadly not as strong and pungent as the ones I had bought at Rakhangi Stores at Worli) (Rs 100 for 170 gm)

Awesome place to shop for exotic foods (no need to do any food shopping aborad any more!) - if you have the money, of course.

Godrej Nature's Basket
Tirupati Apartments, Bhulabhai Desai Road,
Opposite Mahalaxmi Temple, Mumbai, Maharastra
Tel: 022 - 39595959

Tadgolas!

'Tis summer here and the heat is sweltering. Sultry, humid, opressive weather which brings on rivulets of glistening sweat....
But Nature has her own cures and remedies. Come the heat waves of April, and a variety of juciy, cooling fruits make their presence felt in the markets - watermelons, grapes - and tadgolas.

Tadgola (pl: Tadgole) is the Marathi word for the fruit (edible seeds) of the toddy palm (Borassus flabellifer). The tree is pretty, and has fan shaped leaves:

The fruit is a marvel of Nature. Found in clusters of large, glossy green-and-black diamond shaped nuts, the inside of each husk has 3 jelly-like fruits, each with its own thin, rubbery peachy-brown skin.

Peeling this skin off needs nimble fingers and patience! But the result is worth it! Inside nestles clear, transparent, jelly-like flesh which is juicy and sweet and delightfully refreshing. Kind of like a super-sized litchee, without the pit (What can be better?!)

The flesh is hollow with a large-ish cavity - which, if you pick the fruit at the right time is filled with nectar-like juice!
Thank you, Mother Nature, for bestowing us with such jewels from your bounty when we most need them.

Sugar and cream, and desserts of dreams

I have been nibbling (ok, ok, feasting!) on desserts this week. What bliss!

First up was chocolate cheesecake. Baked at home, by yours truly. :)
As exams come clser and closer, all my creative instincts flare up - be it culinary or literary or musical. And I cook, write, sing rather than study.(Anything than studying!)

So 2 days before the finals, I got down our old, temperamental oven ("temperature controls - what are they?")from the loft and set out all the ingredients for Nigella Lawson's chocolate cheesecake. [There was a tub of labneh (Turkish/Lebanese cream cheese) lying in the fridge ever since I bought it on the Qatar trip waiting to be used. Ditto a pack of semisweet chocolate chips. But lets leave that for now]

So after a bit of subsitution in the recipe (What are graham crackers?!), I shoved the pan with the cheesecake batter into the oven. And nearly had a heart attack!
The oven, which had, under protest, heated up for the pre-heating, now gave up. The heating coils were a depressing, cold grey rather than luminescent orange. Despair clutched at my heart (and I clutched the table edge)What ws I to do with a panfull of uncooked chcolatey, eggy, creamy batter?!!

But the tide turned - Lady luck deigned to smile - and after a bit of tinkering by Dad, the oven toed the line. Whew! But this harrowing experience had me all jittery till the cheesecake was done, covered with chocolate sauce, garnished with cream and pushed into the fridge.

Luckily, my nervous sytem is directly linked to my tummy, and so just a bite of the thick, rich chocolatey cheesecake was enough to soothe my ruffled nerves. :)
Thank god for "comfort" food.