Bengaluru's chefs are curating Indian meals, sushi, and bar snacks with mangoes

The Hindu

28-04-2025

The king of fruits is finally here and is lining local markets, larders, and restaurant menus alike. For those looking at eating seasonal, now is the time to indulge in all varieties and forms of mango. . Be it in a curry or cheesecake, a soup or sushi, chefs in Bengaluru are crafting menus to celebrate the fruit in all its glory.
Chef Taiyaba Ali, former headchef and curator at the erstwhile Awadhi restaurant Khanposh, is all set to host her pop-up dedicated to the mango from May 2 to May 4at The Conservatory. Titled Aam Baat, the seven-course tasting menu focusses on the beauty of cooking with raw mangoes. The chef, who hails from Malihabad near Lucknow, says the region is popularly known as India's mango capital. 'The mango season starts earlier in South India. We get our mangoes only by July and August. While the rest of the country is enjoying the fruit, we cook with the raw variants,' says Taiyaba, who has crafted dishes including aam paapdi, akhti (tofu dumplings with raw mango), and dal Moradabaadi. Varieties such as the dussehri, alphonso, and mallika will be used for desserts, the sidhura for chutneys and in stews (instead of jaggery), she adds.
Raw mango, says Taiyeba, is commonly used as a meat tenderiser in Lucknow. 'We cook a lot of red meat and raw mango together,' she says, adding how she aims to represent home kitchens and the women in Lucknow's food scene. 'My focus is always on dishes that come from homes. For example, there are no kebabs or biryanis on my menus, and even if I do have them, there is a homestyle inspiration.'
The menu, Taiyeba says, not only celebrates culinary heritage, but is a 'political commentary of representation and identity. I want to bring to the fore our style of cooking. There is a generalisation that people in Lucknow eat meat everyday, but that isn't true. Many aren't prosperous enough to afford meat on a daily basis.'
For instance, a vegetable preparation common in Lucknow's Hindu households, she says, is made with potato, okra, kalonji (nigella seeds), and raw mango. 'I have revisited this dish for the menu's third course. Mysubz karari kairi wali features crispy layered potatoes, totapuri mango mayonnaise, and okra chips.'
On a platter
Another dish that has been adapted to suit local tastes is the mango seekarne with jowar bhakri at Kamat Restaurant's various branches. Akashrai Kamat, COO, Kamat Yatrinivas, says the seekarne is similar to the aamras, but has a savoury twist. 'We cook the mangoes in a flavourful broth, and then give it a tadka,' he says. 'Traditionally, the dish was called mangoupkari, but when we started making it, we called it seerkarne.'
The restaurant is also serving other delicacies like aamras, and amrakhand, and a mango menu is being offered at their Malleswaram branch. The latter, called Mavina menu, features dishes such as mango rasayana, aamchuri chana masala and raw mango sambar.
For the last three years, Hallimane's mango meal has been popular on social media, and Raghavendra Sanjeeva Rao, managing partner at the Malleswaram restaurant, says the response has been overwhelming. Usually available only in May, this year they kickstarted the special meal in April due to the high demand.
'We use varieties such as totapuri, alphonso, and sindhura that we source from Ratnagiri and Krishnagiri, and have dedicated teams for each part of the meal,' says Raghavendra, who has temporarily discontinued the breakfast menu to focus on the mango meal that is served on a plantain leaf.
'We want it to be worth the wait.' Available for lunch and dinner until May 31, the meal comprises dishes such as holige, rasmalai, halbai, chitrana, kadabu and kosambari all using mango. Starting May 1, the meal will also be available for lunch (with options to pre-book) at their newly-opened Dose Camp at Kalyan Nagar.
With diners coming in from Delhi and Mumbai, the restaurant caters to an average of 1,000-1,500 diners for the lunch service on weekends. On what prompted them to curate this menu, Raghavendra says, 'We have friends in Maharashtra who make dishes with the mango, and I learnt how to make mango malai. When I tried to replicate it here, it did not turn out well so I made it into a holige. This was popular on our menu for many years, as were the mango milkshake, mango halwa, etc. A food blogger wanted to shoot these dishes as a platter, and when that went viral, we went on to curate a mango menu, and later expanded to a full-fledged meal.'
Alphonso in your sushi
Regional favourites aside, chefs are giving the mango a contemporary twist in international cuisines too. At Fatty Bao, their seasonal menu features mango avocado cream cheese sushi and mango maki, among others. Tushar Fernandes, local partner at Olive Bar & Kitchen (that runs Monkey Bar, Cantan and Fatty Bao in Bengaluru), says mango is the star of their summer menu. 'Besides the year-round raw mango salad, we use varieties of ripe mangoes in sushi, salads, compotes, desserts, and sangrias. Currently, we work with small farms around Bengaluru, and mainly use the alphonso and badami varieties.'
At Monkey Bar, a mango festival will kick off in May and highlights include a mango chicken salad and tandoor paneer with a spicy mango mix. Brand Chef Ashley DSouza says the mangoes (totapuri and banganapalli) this year are being sourced from Velanga Orchards in Andhra Pradesh. 'The recipes are centred around Asian flavours, and Indian classics. For example, I am using raw mango in a house-made curry with coastal tones, and also using mango as a bar snack much like you'd find at a local toddy shop.'