Burmese Mango Salad with Peanut and Lime

I've loved all of Meera Sodha's books but her new one, East, which includes vegetarian and vegan recipes from the Indian sub-continent to the far east may be the best yet. And I love the zingy fresh flavours of this mango salad.

Meera writes: This is inspired by a dish I ate at one of my favourite restaurants in Mumbai called Burma Burma. So it is that I offer up my memory of its mighty and mouth-watering mango, peanut and lime salad.

note / When freshly made, this salad is great by itself or with seasoned and fried tofu, but if left a day it will release delicious juices and is wonderful with rice noodles. You can hand-cut the long strips, but a julienne peeler will make quick work of it. Make sure you buy the hardest, greenest, most unripe mangoes you can find, because ripe mangoes will juice when you cut them.

NB contains nuts

Serves 4

2cm fresh ginger, peeled and julienned

1 bird’s-eye chilli, finely chopped

5 tbsp lime juice (from 3 limes)

1 tsp salt

rapeseed oil

1 onion, halved and thinly sliced

4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1½ tbsp chickpea flour

2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

½ a sweetheart cabbage, finely shredded

2 unripe mangoes (500g)

2 medium carrots (200g), peeled and julienned

a handful of fresh mint leaves

a handful of fresh coriander leaves

a large handful (60g) of crushed salted peanuts

Put the ginger and chilli into a bowl, add the lime juice and salt, and leave to steep.

Put a plate by the stove and cover it with a piece of kitchen paper. Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium flame and, when smoking hot, add the onion. Separate the slices using a wooden spoon and fry, stirring once or twice, until brown and crisp. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and put on the prepared plate. Fry the garlic in the same pan for 2 minutes, until golden brown (be watchful: it cooks quickly), then transfer to the plate.

Stir the chickpea flour into the remaining hot oil in the pan over a very low heat to create a paste. Stir constantly for a minute, then add the peanut butter, stir for another minute and take off the heat.

Put the cabbage into a large bowl. Peel the mangoes and shave with a julienne peeler until you hit the stone; or, if cutting by hand, cut the cheeks from the stone on all four sides and julienne. Add the mango and carrots to the cabbage. Reserve a handful of the fried onion to garnish, then add the rest, together with the fried garlic, to the cabbage. Toss, then pour over the chickpea and peanut paste and the ginger, chilli and lime mixture, and toss again. Taste, and adjust the lime and salt if need be.

To serve, finely chop and add the herbs, toss one final time, and top with the crushed peanuts and remaining fried onion.

What to drink: I'd go for a riesling with this, preferably from the Clare or Eden Valley or a passionfruit or mango cider

See also The best wine pairings for mango and mango desserts

From East by Meera Sodha, published by Penguin Figtree at £20. Photo © David Loftus

Coconut & Mango Yoghurt Cake

Rukmini Iyer's 'Roasting Tin' series has been a huge success so the sweet-toothed among you will be thrilled that there's now a book devoted to desserts and cakes - The Sweet Roasting Tin. I chose this recipe on the grounds that it would double as either. I reckon it would be a particularly good finale to a curry night.

Rukmini writes: I" ate three slices of this cake standing up at the counter the first time it came out of the oven – it’s that good. The yogurt, along with the desiccated coconut, makes this a wonderfully light sponge under the roasted mango; I’d consider serving it for breakfast."

Serves: 8

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 30–35 minutes

120g natural full-fat yogurt

50ml coconut oil, melted

150g soft light brown sugar

3 medium free-range eggs

120g desiccated coconut

50g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ripe mango, chopped into 1cm chunks

Preheat the oven to 160C fan/180C/gas 4. Whisk the yogurt, coconut oil and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Gently fold in the desiccated coconut, plain flour and baking powder, taking care not to overmix. Spoon the batter into a lined 20cm x 26cm roasting tin.

Scatter the chopped mango all over the batter – don’t worry if it looks like a bit too much for the cake, the cake will rise up around it.

Transfer to the oven for 30–35 minutes, until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into a non-mango bit comes out clean.

Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes, then gently lift it out on to a wire rack and leave to cool briefly before serving warm or at room temperature.

Any leftovers should be stored in the fridge: you can gently warm the slices in the microwave as needed.

FOR GLUTEN-FREE: substitute the plain flour for a good brand of gluten-free blended flour (I like Freee self-raising flour from Doves Farm).

FOR DIABETICS: substitute the soft light brown sugar with 75g xylitol.

What to drink: If you're feeling indulgent a glass of Sauternes or similar sweet Bordeaux would be delicious with this. Or, a late harvest sauvignon blanc. See also The best wine pairings for mangoes and mango desserts

Extracted from: The Sweet Roasting Tin (One Tin Cakes, Cookies & Bakes) by Rukmini Iyer (Square Peg) September 2021, £18.99. Photography by David Loftus

Summer gooseberry and raspberry upside-down cake

If you're looking for the perfect summer dessert to make for friends try Rosie Birkett's Summer gooseberry and raspberry upside-down cake from her lovely book The Joyful Home Cook.

This juicy upside-down cake is reminiscent of macaroons and Turkish delight, with rose water-laced clouds of whipped cream, baked summer fruit and almond and coconut sponge. Pairing tart gooseberries with raspberries gives it a sweet, sour and textural contrast with pockets of moist fruit keeping every mouthful interesting. The sponge can easily be made ahead and topped with the cream and flower petals just before serving.

Summer gooseberry and raspberry upside-down cake with clouds of rose water cream

Serves 4–6 (depending on greed)

For the cake

butter, for greasing

50g flaked almonds

250g raspberries

250g gooseberries, washed and any little dry brown tails pinched off

100g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder pinch of fine salt

100g ground almonds

100g desiccated coconut

4 eggs

120g golden caster sugar 1

00ml whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp olive oil

rose petals or other edible flowers, to serve

For the rose water cream

400ml double cream

1 tbsp golden caster sugar

3 tsp rose water

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6, grease a round 22cm cake tin and line it with baking parchment.

Scatter half the flaked almonds over the base of the cake tin, followed by the berries and the rest of the almonds.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds into a bowl, add the desiccated coconut and stir to combine.

Put the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on medium speed for a few minutes until frothy, then whisk in the milk, vanilla extract and olive oil. Alternatively, use a bowl and an electric hand-held whisk. Fold the frothy egg mix into the dry ingredients to make a thick but wet batter. Pour this over the berries and bake in the oven for 35–40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the cake tin, then turn it out onto a plate, with the gooseberries on top.

Using a balloon whisk and elbow grease, or very gingerly with a stand mixer, whip the cream with the caster sugar until it reaches soft, floppy peaks (keeping a close eye on it so that you don’t over-whip it). When it’s almost at the perfect soft consistency, add the rose water and mix it through. Pile the rose water cream on top of the cake and scatter with rose petals or other edible flowers.

What to drink: A light dessert wine like a young Sauternes or similar sweet white Bordeaux or late harvest sauvignon blanc would work really this. Or, given the tartness of the gooseberries, a moscato d'asti or Clairette de Die.

Extracted from The Joyful Home Cook by Rosie Birkett published by Harper Collins. Photo © Helen Cathcart

Watermelon, halloumi, lime-pickled red onions

There have been a lot of great veggie cookbooks this summer but one of the most useful is Genevieve Taylor's Charred which finally empowers vegetarians to enjoy barbecues as much as meat eaters. That said this isn't the recipe in the book that makes the most extensive use of the grill but it's such a sublime combination of ingredients it's really summer on a plate.

Gen writes: OK, I’ll admit that no actual vegetables were grilled in the making of this salad but I hope you agree it is worthy of inclusion. And, after all, grilled halloumi with almost anything is very much worth eating. You cangrill watermelon (useful to know if your melon is a little underripe), but I do prefer its texture when eaten raw.

Serves 6–8

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

zest and juice of 2 limes

2 tsp caster sugar

1kg (2lb 3oz) watermelon, about ½ medium-sized one

4 tbsp olive oil

3 x 250g (9oz) blocks of halloumi, cut into 1cm (½ inch) thick slices

a small bunch of coriander (cilantro), leaves roughly chopped

a small bunch of mint, leaves roughly chopped

50g (½ cup) pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

Put the onion into a small bowl with the lime zest and juice and the sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside for about 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Cut the watermelon into 1cm (½ inch) thick wedges, trimming off the rind as you go. Spread over a large platter.

Fire up your barbecue ready for direct grilling, or heat up a griddle pan on the hob.

Drizzle a little of the oil over the halloumi (save the rest for the salad), then place directly over the heat on the grill bars. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until seared, then turn over with a fish slice and cook the other side. Once the halloumi is cooked, cut each slice in half on the diagonal and scatter over the watermelon.

Sprinkle over the coriander, mint and pickled onion slices, drizzling over the lime juice from the bowl too. Scatter thechopped pistachios over the salad Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper and serve immediately,while the halloumi is still warm.

What to drink: Any crisp fresh white would be great with this from an albarino to a sauvignon blanc.

Extracted from Charred by Genevieve Taylor, published by Quadrille at £16.99. Photograph © Jason Ingram.