Inspiration doesn’t always come to you. Sometimes you’ve got to find it. And I chased it, stubbornly putting my head to pair okra with mango. Almost unheard and unseen. Atleast, I haven’t come across that one before.
I knew the mango sauce would be the key to shape this dish, so I began building on it first. The Alphonso wouldn’t give me the flavour profile I had in mind. So I picked up a native sweet and tarty mango variety and layered it with gentle yet very perceptible flavours.
What sings through this sauce is simmered kaffir lime beautifully settled between sweet and sour notes of the mango. Next, I imagined crisp okras looking like blooms and the experiment turned out fairly successful. I dipped them in a seasoned battered of corn starch and buttermilk and deep fried.
Ideally, I would have served it over glass or rice noodles but for the sake of convenience I went ahead with the rice vermicelli at hand. Revved it up with seasoning and Worcestershire. Finally, put it up altogether as petite mounds and waited for the judgement. The unanimous verdict was “awesome”.
You should also checkout another of my very novel marinate of Pomegranate and spices.
