Category: Vegan

If you don’t happen to live in a tropical paradise, sometimes you go to the grocery store with a desperate desire for mangoes, and there is nothing resembling a ripe mango to be found — there may be canned mango (good for making mango fluff, my daughter’s favorite dessert), or even frozen mangoes (which are decent in smoothies), but the fresh mangoes either aren’t there at all, or look very unlikely to ripen into anything delicious.

But what you CAN do, if they happen to have green mango (whether still unpeeled or already cut up), is cook green mango curry, which is sweet and fruity and coconut creamy, with just a hint of spice. It is not a small consolation.

(Note: I was tired and didn’t feel like chopping garlic and ginger, so I used two tablespoons from a jar of ginger-garlic paste, a staple around here, and thankfully now available in my local grocery store, so I don’t have to trek out to the Indian neighborhood the way I used to. Not as good as fresh — I wouldn’t use it if I were serving guests. But it’s fine for just me.)

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Green Mango Curry / Maankai Kari

(30 minutes, serves 6)

This dish can be traced as far back as the fifth century, when it was served at the court of King Kasyapa of Sigiriya (famed for his luxurious Sky Palace).

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 small onions, minced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. ginger, chopped
3 tsp. black mustard seed
2 stalks curry leaves
3 green chilies, chopped
3 Tbsp. vinegar
3 tsp. Sri Lankan curry powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
3 large green mangoes, peeled and cut into long, thick pieces
1 can coconut milk
½ cup water
1 Tbsp. sugar

1. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion, garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and chilies until the onions are soft.

2. Add the vinegar, curry powder, cinnamon, salt, and half a can of coconut milk with ½ cup water—stir to combine.

3. Add the mango slices, bring to a boil, and simmer until the mango is just tender, about ten minutes.

4. Add the rest of the coconut milk and sugar to the curry; bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about five minutes. The gravy should be thick enough to thoroughly coat the mango. Serve hot with rice or bread.

Fun start to the morning — recorded a Vegan Serendib-focused podcast interview for Foodie and the Beast, a DC-based food industry show with Nycci Safier Nellis. They cover food and beverages, along with all kinds of other interesting things — the show I was on had someone talking about the health benefits of taking algae powder, for example!

It’ll drop tomorrow (Sunday 1/8), found wherever you get your podcasts, and also at their site:

https://www.thelistareyouonit.com/cate…/foodie-&-the-beast

Now I’m going back to reading the very fun little novel (novella? It’s short…) I started last night, _Legends and Lattes_, about a retired orc adventurer with a dream of opening a coffeeshop.

Cauliflower poriyal is the recipe that got my kids to actually like a cooked vegetable for the first time. I give the credit to the salty, fried onions that intermingle so deliciously with the fried cauliflower.

The key to this dish is sautéing the cauliflower until it’s browned—the browned bits will be the tastiest.

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Cauliflower Poriyal

(25 minutes, serves 4)

3 medium onions, chopped coarsely
3 TBL vegetable oil or ghee
1/4 tsp black mustard seed
1/4 tsp cumin seed
1 medium cauliflower, chopped bite-size
1 rounded tsp salt
1 rounded tsp turmeric

1. Sauté onions in oil on high in a large nonstick frying pan with mustard seed and cumin seed, until onions are slightly softened (not brown). Add cauliflower, turmeric, and salt. (I’ve made this in a regular frying pan, and found that it’s difficult not to burn it; if you don’t use non-stick, you’ll need to stir constantly.)

2. Cook on medium-high, stirring frequently, until cauliflower is browned (mostly yellow, but with a fair bit of brown on the flatter parts). This takes a while—don’t stop too early, or it won’t be nearly as tasty. Serve hot.

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