A cleverly curated pantry is a home cook’s best friend, and holds within it the power to take your daily meals in countless different directions at the mere twist of a lid. The simple truth is that all you really need to create flavourful food at home is a capsule of flavourful pantry ingredients. This, for me, includes everyday staples such as toasted sesame oil, dark maple syrup and peanut butter, and bold taste-boosters such as tamarind, pecorino romano and gochujang. Another ingredient I turn to repeatedly is mango chutney, a beloved staple at the Punjabi table of my childhood upbringing in Leicester. Today, I use it in infinite different ways to enliven whatever I happen to be cooking, leaning into its characteristics as a sticky and vinegary, bustlingly tropical, flamboyantly spiced, sweet and mellow flavour hero. These recipes show you just a few ways that mango chutney, or indeed any ingredient in a thoughtfully stocked pantry, can be used when you liberate yourself to play with ingredients with creative joy.
Mango chicken schnitzel with lime-leaf smashed peas (pictured top)
Schnitzel and mushy peas both have a nostalgic 1970s Fanny Cradock-meets-Wimpy-diner charm that I’m always drawn to – they’re also crying out for the addition of pineapple rings, piped green mashed potato and silver jugs of parsley sauce on the side. My flavour-elevated take on these culinary relics uses mango chutney to add tropical pizzaz to the chicken, and lime leaves to bring south-east Asian fragrance to the peas.
Prep 10 min
Marinate 30 min+
Cook 20 min
Serves 2
For the schnitzels
5 tbsp mango chutney, plus extra to serve
3 fat garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Fine sea salt and black pepper
2 large boneless and skinless chicken breasts (2 x 250g)
Cornflour, for dredging
1 large egg, beaten
60g
panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp nigella seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
Sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying
Lemon wedges, to serve
For the peas
400g frozen peas
12–14 fresh makrut lime leaves
About 30 fresh mint leaves
Juice and finely grated zest of 1 small lemon
20g butter
A splash of olive oil, for frying
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
Put the chutney, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and a teaspoon each of salt and ground black pepper in a small blender and whizz to a fine paste.
Put one chicken breast between two sheets of baking paper, then gently flatten it with a rolling pin into a 3-4mm-thin steak – don’t bash hard, though, or the meat will tear. Repeat with the other breast. Put the flattened breasts in a large bowl, smother in the mango chutney paste, and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the peas in a pan of boiling salted water for three minutes, then drain and set aside. In a small blender, whizz the lime leaves, mint, lemon juice and a teaspoon of zest to a very fine paste.
Melt the butter and a splash of oil in a pan over a medium heat, then add the green paste and fry, stirring, for two minutes. Add the spring onions, cook for a minute, then add the peas and a teaspoon of salt, and cook for a minute more. Mash the pea mix with a potato masher until rough and chunky (or blend to a puree), and keep warm while you cook the chicken.
Put the cornflour in one large bowl, the egg in another and the breadcrumbs, nigella seeds and sesame seeds in a third bowl. Dredge one schnitzel in the cornflour, flipping it to coat all over, leave for 30 seconds, then dredge again so it’s completely covered. Shake off any excess cornflour, dip into the egg, and then into the breadcrumb mix so it’s coated liberally. Repeat with the second schnitzel.
Put 2cm oil in a deep-sided frying pan on a medium heat (if you have a probe, you want it to reach 165C). Fry the schnitzels one at a time for six or seven minutes, turning occasionally, until crunchy and golden brown on the outside and cooked through.
Serve with the smashed peas, lemon wedges and extra mango chutney on the side.
Balinese mango pork crispy rolls
After a week of yoga, juicing and chanting at a Balinese jungle retreat in Ubud a few years back, I made the executive decision to undo all of that “wellness” by booking into the Slow in Canggu. It is without doubt one of the most chic, stylish and cosmopolitan places I’ve ever stayed, with beautiful boho interiors, a tropical cocktail list of dreams and a Balinese-leaning, culture-crossing menu that read like poetry. These spiced pork crispy rolls are inspired by my stay there, with the mango chutney, lemongrass, fish sauce, peanuts and lime creating flavour acrobatics on the palate. Forget the yoga: cooking these is my kind of meditation.
Prep 15 min
Cook 45 min
Makes 10 large or 20 mini rolls
8 makrut lime leaves, stalks removed
20g lemongrass, roughly chopped
10g knob of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbsp fish sauce
20g roasted peanuts
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp chilli flakes
3 tbsp vegetable oil
, plus extra for brushing
1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced
500g pork mince (at least 5% fat)
100g mango chutney
Juice and finely grated zest of 2 limes
Fine sea salt
10 sheets filo pastry
Nigella seeds, to finish
In a blender, whizz the lime leaves, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, peanuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, chilli flakes and a splash of water to a very fine paste.
Put the oil in a large pan on a medium heat, then fry the onion for five to six minutes, until softened. Add the pork and fry, stirring, for 10–12 minutes, until most of the moisture has evaporated and the meat is starting to brown. Add the lime leaf paste, cook for three minutes, then add the chutney and cook for another three minutes.
Stir through the lime juice, a teaspoon of lime zest and a teaspoon and a half of salt, then take off the heat and leave to cool to room temperature.
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. Lay a sheet of filo on a board, then cut it in half. Spread two heaped tablespoons of the cooled mince mix in a thick line down one side of one half sheet, then fold over the sides and roll up into a cigar. Brush the join with oil to seal, then place seam side down on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling. Brush the tops liberally with oil, then sprinkle over the nigella seeds.
Bake for 14–16 minutes, until crisp on the outside and piping hot in the middle, then serve with drinks or as a starter, perhaps with dips or chilli sauce.
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These recipes are edited extracts from Flavour Heroes: 15 Modern Pantry Ingredients to Amplify Your Cooking, by Gurdeep Loyal, published last week by Quadrille at £27. To order a copy for £24.30, go to guardianbookshop.com