From ciders to salad dressings, city restaurants are reimagining the indigenous fruit in new, innovative avatars
Spiced chicken wings
Just wing it
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Urvika Kanoi
Urvika Kanoi, chef and owner of Cafe Duco, has grown up with the puckery sourness of kokum flavouring dals prepared at home. But at her restaurant, the chef is using the ingredient to zing up spiced chicken wings with kokum dust, signature hot sauce and paprika (R325 onwards). “We use it in our chicken wings, salad dressings, spice mixes, home-made peri peri and also our family meals. Kokum reminds me of sumac, a very pleasing sourness that is not bitter or too sweet. It can be made into an oil, dried and pounded to a powder, a paste, a syrup, and is literally malleable in every way possible,” she notes.
AT Shop no 2, Kalpitam Apartments, 16th Road, Pali Village, Bandra West; 11.30 am to 11.30 pm
CALL 9137076462
Kokum cider
Beer-y good time
Nothing like a chilled beer to beat the heat. Two city-based restaurants are offering a kokum hit to beers. While Drifters is brewing a kokum cider (R575 onwards), The Sassy Spoon has a Mumbai kokum beer (R299 onwards).
AT Drifters, Bandra; The Sassy Spoon,Nariman Point and Powai.
CALL 9322892243 (Drifters); 9920003500 (The Sassy Spoon)
Lettuce celebrate
For Niyati Rao, head chef and partner, Ekaa, summer memories are laced with the ubiquitous sol kadhi. “My mother never used dried kokum for this, but a rich purple liquid called kokum agal, which we would extract from fresh kokum in summers for the entire year. What I find unique about agal is the slightly mild, fermented fragrance combined with the teeth-rattling tartness of the fruit, and the gorgeous deep purple colour,” she recalls, adding that this makes the fruit versatile. At the restaurant, she uses kokum to make a sesame dressing for this dish (in pic) called lettuce (Rs 600 onwards) that’s served with silken tofu and courgette or salmon sashimi. “I’m using kokum agal along with balsamic vinegar to create one of the condiments for a tapioca dish [R450],” she adds. Musing on the ways to add the fruit to one’s daily diet, beyond the usual fare, Rao suggests using good quality kokum extract (without sugar) or the dried fruit peel. “You can make it a base for a salad dressing instead of using fresh lemon for that fermented deep twist along with a few hot red chillies, honey and oil.”
AT Kitab Mahal, 1st floor, D Sukhadwala Road, near Azad Maidan; 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm and 7 pm to 12 am
CALL 9987657989
Niyati Rao
Raise a toast
Kokum splash
Kokum is synonymous with sherbets and sol kadhi, but at Foo, Vineeth Krishnan, bar head, Pebble Street Hospitality, serves up kokum splash (Rs 250), a medley of black tea, kokum syrup and lime juice. The mixologist explains that one can also sun-dry kokum and grate it to garnish drinks. “Kokum can be muddled and used in a mojito for that sour and saline flavour. Kokum liqueur can be added to a Manhattan,” he advises.
AT Foo, Andheri, Bandra, BKC, Lower Parel and Churchgate; 12 pm to 1.30 am
CALL 9321346591
Lightly grilled kokum shrimp
Shrimply amazing
Kokum meets seafood in this innovation by Toast & Tonic. The lightly grilled kokum shrimp (R595 onwards) is served with a kokum and coconut sauce, prawn pickle and prawn crackers.
AT Unit 1, ground floor, Godrej Building, BKC; 12 pm to 4 pm and 6 pm to 1.30 am
CALL 7208871559
It’s sour good
Crab tortellini
Sherbet, kadhi, bhaji and dal are great, but kokum with tortellini? Khar-based Mexican and Spanish joint Poco Loco Tapas and Bar has banked on the fruit’s characteristic sourness to balance a creamy sauce accompanying buttery crab tortellinis (R610) in its new summer special menu. Owner Megha Datwani shares that owing to its unique flavour profile, kokum lends itself to a host of dishes. “We’ve used kokum due to its summer relevance; for this dish. We have made tortellini, and a creamy, rich-textured sauce with kokum, butter, cream, cheese and garlic,” she explains. The restaurant also offers kokum gaseosa (R575), a fizzy cocktail that muddles kokum with rum and fresh shrubs.
AT Poco Loco Tapas and Bar, Khar; 12 pm to 12 am
CALL 9324191366
Megha Datwani
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