Summer bounty

Indian summer is the time of festivals and the start of the harvest. To those who work the land, it is the season of plenitude and signifies hope and belief — in Mother Earth and the merits of hard work. To others, it means the arrival of mangoes!

I remember growing up playing in mango orchards, waiting for the dussehris to ripen… nothing can beat the memory of the first time I tasted a Malihabad dussehri.

The Portuguese, ever since they landed in Calicut, gave us many things starting from the late 1400s. The most significant of these was the grafting of many a Brazilian mango strains with ours (in fact the first people to use the word “manga” were the Portuguese). What the mulgoba and hapoos have done for India’s mango reputation is unmatchable.

A common story is that the alphonso was named after Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese administrator of Goa & Malabar. The Brazilian graft found its way to India during Afonso de Albuquerque’s voyage, when he brought his famous namesake fruit here. The locals took to calling it aphoos in Konkani and in Maharashtra, the pronunciation got further transformed to hapoos. This variety was then taken to the Konkan region of Maharashtra and other parts of India.

Other folklore credits a Spanish monk St Alphonso Rodriguez of Spain (as being the one the fruit is named after). Since most varieties were named after grafters, the two things that we can certainly consider true are: One, that the alphonso is a grafted variety and two, that it is named after a Mr Alphonso. He’s the person we thank come summer, when the aroma of ripening mangoes fills our homes.

A fruit that doesn’t get as much credit as the mango but has the most beneficial effects on the body in the summers is the bael or woodapple. Indian in origin, this fruit is naturally cooling and the most effective detox that nature could provide, besides being a single solution to all summer stomach issues. Ayurveda deems the fruit “nature’s true gift”. Give it a shot when summer next comes along, and I promise, you’ll have only good health and well being.

Celebrity chef Ranveer Brar is seen as a judge on Masterchef India

==========================================

Chilled Mango & Tomato Gazpacho with Popcorn

Ingredients

• 2 cups mangoes (dussehri), cubed
• 1½ cup tomato juice
• ½ cup fresh orange juice
• ½ cup chopped bell peppers
• ½ cup chopped cucumber
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• Salt, to taste
• Juice of half a lemon

For the garnish

• 1 tsp olive oil
• ½ plum, chopped
• 1 tsp chopped mint leaves
• Chopped mango pieces, as required
• Salt, to taste
• Crushed black pepper, to taste
• 1 lemon wedge
• Popcorn, as required

Method: lIn a blender, put the mango pieces, tomato juice, orange juice, bell pepper pieces, cucumber pieces, cumin powder, salt, lemon juice and blend it well.
lSieve the mixture and remove in a bowl. Garnish the gazpacho with olive oil, chopped plum and chopped mint leaves. lApply salt and crushed black pepper on the mango pieces and garnish with this as well. lDecorate with lemon wedge and popcorn.

====================================================

Italian chaat salad

Ingredients

• For the Parmesan wafer:
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1 tbsp lemon zest, dried
• 1 tbsp shredded basil leaves
• 1 cup flour
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp tamarind chutney
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp lime rind
• Chopped coriander leaves, a handful
• 2 cups sweet potato, boiled, cut into thin slices
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 medium tomato, sliced and deseeded
• Salt, to taste
• ½ tsp red chili powder

For the garnish

• 5-6 strands spaghetti pasta, uncooked
• Oil for frying

Method: Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Mix all the ingredients for the parmesan wafer together in a bowl. Make a dough with these and keep aside. Roll it flat with rolling pin, thinly, and cut into small size pooris using a cutter or small katori. Dust flour on a baking tray and place the chips on these. Bake until they turn golden brown in colour. Next, sauté the sliced sweet potato and sliced tomato in oil and season well with salt and red chilli powder. Deep fry the spaghetti pasta and keep aside. In a bowl, place the potato, grated ginger, parmesan wafers and tamarind chutney gently. Garnish with chopped coriander and the fried spaghetti.