Mango and cucumber roll with yoghurt mousse & summer salad
This special summer salad is concocted using mango, the king of fruits, along with cucumber which has a cooling effect. Filled with a mango-flavoured yoghurt mousse and topped with avocado sauce, it captures all the flavours of summer on one plate
Ingredients
Mango & Cucumber roll — 1 unit
Yoghurt mousse — 1 portion
Summer salad — 1 portion
Avocado sauce — 1 portion
Yoghurt mousse
30 gm curd
20 ml fresh mango puree
2 gm mint leaves
1 gm ginger
Method
1 Take curd and let it hang overnight in a muslin cloth to remove excess water.
2 The next day, take out the curd, add mango puree, chopped mint leaves and finely chopped ginger and mix well.
Mango and cucumber roll
1 mango, peeled
2 gm salt
1 cucumber
2 gm black pepper powder
Yoghurt mousse
Method
1 Take the peeled mango and make thin slices out of it.
2 Make thin slices of cucumber as well
3 Place one slice of mango and overlap it with a slice of cucumber and repeat it until 4 slices of each are arranged on the plate.
4 Season the slices with salt and pepper, and stuff it with the yoghurt mousse and make a roll.
Summer salad
40 gm arugula leaves
30 gm diced mango
5 gm pickled ginger
5 gm red radish
10 gm micro greens
5 ml ginger juice
5 ml lemon juice
10 ml olive oil
5 gm salt
Method
1 Take lemon juice, extra virgin oil, and ginger juice and mix them together to make the dressing.
2 Toss with the arugula leaves, mango, pickled ginger, red radish and micro greens.
Avocado sauce
1 avocado
3 ml lemon juice
3 gm salt
10 ml extra virgin olive oil
Method
1 Take out the pulp from the avocado and add lemon juice, salt and olive oil to it to make the sauce.
Plating
Spread the avocado sauce on the centre of the plate. Place the mango and cucumber roll and the summer salad on either side.
Serve with extra virgin olive oil
Chef Hitesh Pant is a sous chef at Spectra, The Leela Palace, Chennai
Pomfret or halibut with barley, summer zucchini tzatziki and charred lemons
With the mercury levels rising to new highs every day, summer seems to completely drain us out. Temperatures have been scorching high and humidity levels have escalated. Most of us feel dehydrated and low on energy in such a climate and we look for ways to cool ourselves. Our body needs cooling foods that will balance our diet and keep our energy levels stable.
This dish has all the elements to keep oneself energetic, hydrated and also refreshed by using ingredients like barley, which we all know is a natural diuretic; it increases urination which helps to flush out toxins from the tract. For the summer, one should consume barley water as it drastically reduces the heat in the body and keeps common cold at bay, especially the summer cold.
The use of summer squash (zucchini) and the yoghurt are the perfect combination for the heat that the body generates during the summer. They do not allow the body to get dehydrated.
Ingredients
For the salad
6 small zucchini
Greek yoghurt or hung curd
Lemon juice
Crushed black pepper
Handful of dill fronds or dried dill
For the barley
300gm pearl barley
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
300gm fennel bulb, chopped into 2cm pieces
1 large onion, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-2 lemons, juice only
2 tbsp fennel fronds (and/or dill)
For the fish
3 lemons, halved widthways
6 large (450g) or 12 small (250g) Pomfret or 6 large Halibut, cleaned, trimmed and gutted
25gm parsley, finely chopped
15g dill fronds, finely chopped
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for oiling tins
Method
1 For the zucchini tzatziki, trim, and then finely slice the zucchini lengthways into ribbons using a mandolin or vegetable peeler. Now cut into thin juliennes or strips. Mix it with the rest of the ingredients and season well.
2 Cook the barley till tender — avoid overcooking — and drain well. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and sauté the fennel, onion and garlic for 7 to 8 minutes until golden brown, slightly softened but still with a little crunch. Deglaze the frying pan with half the lemon juice. Stir in the cooked barley and the fennel fronds. Season with salt and add more lemon to taste.
3 For the fish, heat the oven to 180 C. Heat a griddle pan over a high flame and grill the lemons, cut-side down, for 10 minutes until charred and softened. On the dark-skinned side of each fish, make 3 to 4 slashes down to the bone and arrange cut-sides up, head-to-tail, not overlapping, in one or two oiled roasting tins.
4 Mix the herbs and olive oil with salt and freshly ground black pepper and spread over the fish, rubbing into the cuts. Cook small fish for 10 to 12 minutes and large fish for 12 to 15 minutes or until flesh is opaque and easily pulls away from the bone. Spoon any juices over the fish. Serve with the barley, lemons and salad.
Chef Joseph Rathna Raj is the executive chef at The Westin Chennai Velachery
Dark Chocolate and nutmeg cremeux with chocolate rum soil
A very simple yet elegant dessert, the 64 per cent dark chocolate cremeux is specially crafted for chocolate lovers. With an extremely smooth finish, it is complemented by the subtleness of nutmeg leaving a lasting taste and craving for more. The lightness of the cremeux is an absolute delight and a thorough favourite of pâtissiers (pastry chefs) considering its beautiful texture. When eaten cold, it can instantly allure your palette and what better way to beat the summer heat than through the indulgence of rich dark chocolate in its lightest and purest form.
The macaroons add elegance to this already beautifully crafted dessert. The French can live on this bite-sized but flavour-packed dessert, and it has slowly become very popular in India. Any flavour can be mixed with butter cream, ganache or lemon curd and be added as a filling for the macaroons. These little macaroons can be served along with some refreshing lemonade, ice tea or even milkshakes, which will complement its taste and best suits the summer season.
Dark chocolate nutmeg cremeux
100ml milk
20gm egg yolks
24gm sugar
10gm corn starch
46gm dark chocolate (70 per cent)
10gm gelatine powder
50gm whipped cream
10gm nutmeg powder
Method
1 Boil the milk in a saucepan. Add the nutmeg powder.
2 Simultaneously whisk the egg yolks and sugar on a double boiler until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Then gradually add the cornstarch while whisking continuously.
3 Pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture once boiled and thicken slightly.
4 Melt the dark chocolate just until all chunks have dissolved. Do not over heat.
5 Add the dark chocolate into the above custard and whisk.
6 Soak the gelatin powder and allow it to bloom; then whisk into the dark chocolate mixture.
7 Fold in the whipped cream once the mixture has cooled down.
8 Allow it to set in the fridge.
Rum infused ganache
Boil 50gm fresh cream and pour it onto 50gm of chopped chocolate. Whisk while gradually adding the rum for flavour.
Chocolate rum soil
Mix 50 gm of chocolate sponge crumbs with 25ml rum infused ganache and set aside.
Macaroons
150gm sugar
37.5 gm water
55gm egg whites
150gm almond powder
150gm icing sugar
Method
1 Make a sugar syrup and bring the mixture to a temperature of 118 C.
2 Whisk the egg white simultaneously till it reaches soft peaks and gradually add the sugar syrup in a stream.
3 Mix the almond powder and icing sugar together. Ensure that the almond powder is thoroughly sieved before being used.
4 Fold the meringue into the almond mixture without deflating the meringue too much. Note that food colour may be added to the egg whites after the meringue is formed, or may also be whisked into the almond mixture.
5 Pipe the macaroons on a silicon mat, tap the tray hard to release any air bubbles, rest the tray for at least 20 minutes before baking at 180 C.
Plating
Arrange the chocolate soil, make quenelles of the cremeux, garnish with nuts, mixed berries, and the macaroon.
Chef Ajit Bangera is the senior executive chef at ITC Grand Chola
