With Fiji Day’s just around the corner and with an abundance of seasonal mangoes, Chef Seeto shares new ideas to enjoy the best of our local gastronomy.
How will you lovo on Fiji Day? Like many others you may be tempted to just do the same thing with your chicken or pork, but with mango season now upon us, using the “king of fruits” on Tuesday may just turn “not another lovo” day into an exotic celebration with the sweetness of mango.
The traditional Fiji Day lovo consists of earth-oven meats, root crops and palusami, as well as the ubiquitous chop suey, curry and salad, but any one of these dishes can be brightened with the addition of fresh mango.
Mother nature has seemingly timed this season’s mangoes with our national day of independence; so before you throw together the usual Fiji Day fare, go find some mangoes.
Bury a pot in the lovo
To infuse your meats with deep flavours of herbs and spices as it cooks in the lovo, place them into a pot with a marinating liquid and bury the entire pot.
A pot roast of pork, chicken, beef or lamb cooked in the lovo allows the meat to slowly braise while being smoked by the charcoal at the same time. The first time my staff watched me do this they thought I was crazy, but the end result was unmistakably divine.
You can use an old roasting pan, claypot or pot. Just make sure the pot doesn’t have plastic handles or they will melt! You will also need to allow for the height of the pot, so dig the lovo a bit deeper.
Before you bury the pot roast, season the meat all over with salt and pepper and sear it brown on a stove pot first.
Wrap the meat in coconut leaves and then return it to the pot with a recipe of spices, fruit and liquid. Cover the meat with more leaves while in the pot, cover with foil or a lid, then bury. Once family and friends have tasted a lovo pot roast, they’ll wonder why we didn’t think of it sooner.
Sweeten your curry
It is not so common for Fijian curries to utilise fruits but many South East Asian recipes do. My favourite is a Thai red curry duck with lychees. The sweetness of the lychee tempers the fiery red chilli and complements the rich coconut sauce.
Mango is the perfect partner to a chicken or lamb curry. The exotic sweetness of mango pairs perfect with curried meats and in the case of lamb helps cut through its fattiness.
Many local curries are two dimensional, meaning they are deliciously spicy and floral but the additional of some sweetness helps round out the flavour. Green or raw mango adds crunch and body, but try adding some ripened mango to your next curry pot.
Mango chop suey
Like pineapple, mango can be found in many Asian stir-fry recipes like black pepper beef and Sichuan pork.
Medium ripe mangoes are the best, for if they are over ripe, they become mushy and dissolve in the sauce to easy. Peel and slice the mango then throw them into your hot wok or fry pan towards the end of the cooking process so they retain their shape and colour.
There is something magical about eating stir-fry beef or pork with mango. A match made in heaven!
Tavu fish with mango
If you are serving grilled or roasted fish with your lovo next week, try serving it with a rich mango sauce.
Fish can get a little boring without an accompanying sauce and if you are sick of just serving tomato sauce at your function, surprise friends with a deliciously sweet mango sauce or chutney. Over ripe mangoes are perfect in these types of recipes as the sauce should be pulpy to service with the soft flesh of fish.
A simple recipe is frying the mango pulp with onions, chilli, garlic and a little cinnamon, but don’t be afraid to go more exotic with an aromatic citrus mango chutney that offers tartness to complement the smokiness of charcoal grilled or lovo fish.
Green mango cuts the oiliness
With the season underway, many vendors have an abundance of green mangoes that are commonly used in Indian recipes of pickles, brinjals and chutney, but have you tried shaved raw mango in salads like coleslaw? Many Thai recipes use raw pawpaw, jackfruit or mango in their salads to help cool and freshen any spiced meal, especially when eaten in tropical climates like ours.
The preparation is simple. Grab a very hard and raw mango; shave it with a vegetable peeler or use a julienne vegetable slicer to create long thin strips.
Toss this with any mixed salad of cabbage or leafy greens, add your favourite dressing and you’re ready to enjoy the nutritional benefits of green mango.
One of the best dressings comes from Thailand, and is a sweet and sour sauce using pungent fish sauce which can be bought from most modern supermarkets and Chinese shops.
Eating green mangoes with oily foods also helps top cut through the fat and aids in digestion to move oils through the body like a sasa broom.
Enjoy Fiji Day with these fabulous mango-inspired recipes, and don’t forget to “Put up a flag, and put down a lovo”.
* Join Chef Seeto for a special Fiji Day lunch experience at Malamala Beach Club on Tuesday www.malamalabeachclub.com
