Like a fool, I planned regular meals for this week, so as a result I spend each evening roasting in my kitchen which catches the burning rays of hell from the late afternoon sun. I sweltered at the hob making fish curry last night and instead of keeping things simple, I went ahead and made onion bahjis and mango kachumba. I was looking for a nice, cooling side dish to have with the curry and I’d also purchased a box of mangos that afternoon and like a sweaty genius I put two and two together.
When I make curries I like to go large.
Kachumba is the name typically given to a certain type of chopped salad in Indian cuisine. It usually contains diced cucumber, tomato, onion, corriander, sometimes chili and dressed with vinegar or lemon juice and sometimes some spiced with cumin. For the mango version, simply add diced mango and I also added a dash of garam masala, salt and olive oil. The final flavour really depends on the dressing and the sweetness of the mango. You could use an under-ripe mango for extra tartness or ramp up the lemon juice.
I love the confusing blend of sweet and savoury, it never fails to please my palate whether it’s salted caramel desserts or pancakes with maple syrup and bacon.
