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Raw mango, fish and the ides of spring
Summary
As the seasons change, a terrace garden brings flowers and fruit into reach and allows a family favourite to be reinventedI did not think I could write another column on a Goan fish curry. I have often waxed eloquent about my ajji’s (grandmother’s) fish curry, my shortcut version, my mother’s version, the original version—to name a few. The beauty of the basic Goan fish curry is that there are as many versions as your imagination.
My imagination was jostled recently by the arrival of spring in Bengaluru, and the spectacular flowering of the trumpet trees—white, pink and yellow—the roads beneath them transforming into radiant carpets of blossoms. The rain trees—those hulking giants imported from South America and boycotted now because of their demand for lebensraum—also did their bit, covering themselves in feathery pink and white.
We are privileged to see the offerings of the rain tree at eye level because one sprawls into our rooftop garden, a privilege in a city that has chopped down more than 80% of the trees it had since the 1970s. Bee-eaters and tits gambol in its upper reaches before our eyes, and iridescent butterflies excite the dulled hunting instincts of our ginger house tabby.
We acknowledge in hushed wonder the glories of the other flowers in our garden: Asian pigeonwing, hydrangea, Madagascar periwinkle, honeysuckle, butterweed, jungle geranium, bridalwreath, raat ki rani (sadly with none of its strong fragrance), madhumalti or the Rangoon creeper, the bleeding heart vine and the lilies—the last of them slowly dying out as spring begins to fade, and the heat and rain vie for supremacy.
If you are awed by my grasp of Kingdom Plantae, don’t be. I simply had the wife do a Google image search on each flower.
Also read: When it comes to healing, copy the trees
But the bloom that really excited me was on two trees that grow alongside our rain tree: sturdy mango trees that first put forth their white-green blooms last month and have quietly begun transforming those into mangoes. It isn’t yet summer, and there were only some mangoes, and they were raw, which is why I started thinking about a new fish curry.
We spent our childhood eating raw mango with salt and red chilli powder, the blast of sourness shutting our eyes and puckering our lips. Some were converted to mango pickle. I recall raw mango in my mother’s fish curries but only on rare occasions. We are more a TTM family: tirphal (a lemony, mild relative of the Sichuan pepper), tamarind or kokum (the dried rind of the mangosteen fruit), souring agents used singly or in twos. And, yes, we prefer that our fish curries are sour. If I deviate somewhat, my mother will likely say, “It’s good but perhaps it could have used some more kokum."
The mango tree, I noticed, had no more than four mangoes that overlooked our terrace. Two were tantalisingly out of reach. They looked like you could grab them, but the risk was that you might plunge headfirst four floors. Two were nearer, but it still meant leaning over the edge. In the event, you could forgive me for feeling triumphant when I grabbed the mango.
I did not have the time or the inclination to make the fish curry very complex, so as you see, I whizzed most of the ingredients together and allowed only the mango and the fish to remain intact, retaining their primacy in the orchestra of ingredients.
The overlap between the fish and mango seasons is limited, so I intend to make the most of it. When the mango season gets into high gear, the monsoon comes along, making fish scarce, at least for those of us who depend on fish from the seas. I am a bit of a mango snob, eating only the Alphonso. I can see you getting red and indignant, but I’m being truthful.
I’ve sharp-focused on the mango and fish, but this is the season when we must remember its place in our culinary heritage. It is especially used to make a variety of desserts, including kheer, lassi, halwa and rasmalai.
The seasons are always an inspiration to those who cook. Spring in most of India is fleeting. As you read this, summer has begun to make its presence felt. In dread—and anticipation—I wait.
FISH CURRY WITH RAW MANGO
Serves 4
Ingredients
500g fish fillets (any firm fish will do)
Half tsp turmeric powder
100g coconut pieces
7 cloves garlic
Half-inch piece ginger
6 Kashmiri chillies
Half an onion sliced
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 tsp tamarind
1 tsp coriander seeds
Half tsp cumin seeds
A little more than half a raw mango cut into wedges
Half cup water
2 tsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Method
Marinate the fish in half tsp turmeric powder and set aside for at least an hour.
In a food processor, grind the coconut, garlic, ginger, chillies, onion, tomato, tamarind, coriander and cumin seeds with the water to a paste of thick liquid consistency.
Heat oil in a vessel. Add the paste and fry well for about two minutes. Add water so that it becomes a curry, whether thick or thin is up to you. Add salt and bring to just before a gentle boil. Add the raw mango slices and when it starts to boil, lower heat and add the fish. Cover and cook on low heat till done, perhaps five minutes. Check for salt. Serve hot with rice or sannas or appams.
Our Daily Bread is a column on easy, inventive cooking. Samar Halarnkar is the author of The Married Man’s Guide To Creative Cooking—And Other Dubious Adventures. He posts @samar11 on X.
