1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (217 page)

The tender, round-leafed watercress that thrives in running fresh water is said to flourish only if that water is clean and free of pollutants, making it dear to the hearts of those who eat for health as well as pleasure. Its botanical name—
Nasturtium officiale
—misleadingly suggests a relation to the edible nasturtium plant, but the only thing they share is the “nose-twisting” quality indicated by their Latin moniker. Although delicate in texture and appearance, watercress is delightfully bracing, with a peppery flavor and just enough bitter bite to remind us that it belongs also to the
Brassicaceae
, or mustard, family. As delicious as cultivated watercress can be, it pales beside the icy-sharp wild sprays pulled out of running mountain streams and brooks.

An elegant and multipurpose green, it is commonly stir-fried with garlic and tofu or cooked into a popular, restorative soup in China. In the West it is usually eaten raw, either incorporated into salads or used as a flavorful garnish nestled beside rare steak or broiled lamb chops, where it absorbs the meaty juices as its only dressing.

Trimmed of its toughest stems, watercress acts as a stylish replacement for lettuce in many sandwiches, most famously in Britain’s dainty tea treats, and shines when part of fresh herb mixes for omelets, dressings, cheese spreads, and cream sauces. It is a refined flavor and texture enhancer in soups such as France’s
potage cressonière
(watercress and potato soup) and the curative Chinese favorite made with pork bones and watercress. In Japan, it makes a beloved addition to soupy noodle hot pots, and in Vietnam, it is the preferred accompaniment to stir-fried beef.

Growing wild and cultivated in Asia and Europe for millennia, and in the United States since at least the eighteenth century, watercress was a particular favorite of the ancient Persians, who made a complete meal of it with bread. The ancient Greeks and Romans valued it more as medicine than as food, believing it could treat everything from baldness to toothaches, a belief that persisted for centuries. As the Victorian chef Alexis Soyer writes in
The Pantropheon
, his 1853 tome on ancient cookery, “Persons who made it their habitual food found their wits sharpened and their intelligence more active and ingenious.” We may no longer turn to watercress to raise our IQs, but its hefty levels of vitamin A and C, and minerals such as iron and potassium, certainly make it a smart addition to your diet.

Further information and recipes:
Beyond Bok Choy
by Rosa Lo San Ross (1996);
Vietnamese Home Cooking
by Charles Phan (2012);
Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini
by Elizabeth Schneider (2001);
Watercress Greats
by Jo Franks (2012).
Tip:
Watercress is a stylish and beguiling substitution for lettuce in America’s classic BLT sandwich (see
listing
).

What makes a food sensual? Generally, a combination of qualities that might involve a memorable and mysterious flavor, a vivid hue, a silky-smooth texture, and a beguiling if somehow unplaceable aroma. And in this, a perfectly ripe mango delivers. So luscious, so juicy, so sweet as sin is the fruit, with its overpoweringly lush flavor and sunny tropical scent, that one almost feels compelled to eat it in private.

If it’s the right mango, that is. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of varieties in the world, mango pickings in the U.S. have been notoriously slim, usually limited to four varieties. Inviting though they may be, they pale beside the real thing—the mangoes of India, where the fruit is believed to have originated.

Much to the dismay of the fruit’s vocal fans, India’s mangoes were long embargoed in the U.S., as they can harbor a rare weevil unknown in American orchards and farms. After a great deal of negotiating, the ban was lifted in the landmark nuclear trade pact of 2006, following a plan to gently irradiate the produce to kill or sterilize the insects. Ever since, America’s mango situation has vastly improved. “Whatever anyone else might say,” wrote Indian food writer Madhur Jaffrey in
The New York Times
, “India gets nuclear fuel for its energy needs and America, doing far better in what might be called a stealth victory, finally gets mangoes.”

To fans, the cultivar known as Alphonso, a relatively small, tennis-ball-size enticement considered by many to be “the king of mangoes,” was well worth the wait. Specially fostered by farmers in prime coastal orchards near Mumbai, where it has grown for thousands of years, it has a smooth, fiberless texture and an intoxicatingly powerful aroma that is redo-lent of coconut.

But one act that should remain forbidden by a host of international laws would be introducing the fruit to a blender for the purpose of turning it into a smoothie—this mango’s flavor is far too special not to be enjoyed on its own.

Where:
In New York
, Junoon, tel 212-490-2100,
junoonnyc.com
;
in Washington, DC
, Rasika, tel 202-637-1222,
rasikarestaurant.com
;
in Houston
, The Bombay Brasserie, tel 713-355-2000,
thebombaybrasserie.com
.
Mail order:
In season, Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
; Exotic Fruit Market, tel 877-398-0141,
exoticfruitmarket.net
; Savani Farms, tel 855-696-2646,
savanifarms.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Mongo Mango Cookbook
by Cynthia Thuma (2001);
Mangoes & Curry Leaves
by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (2005);
Indian Cooking Unfolded
by Raghavan Iyer (2013);
theguardian.com
(search ottolenghi’s mango recipes);
vegrecipesofindia.com
(search mango recipes).
Special event:
International Mango Festival, Coral Gables, FL, July,
fairchildgarden.org
(click Events, then July).

The long-grain basmati has been cultivated in the Indian Himalayan foothills—where some scholars believe all rice originated—for centuries. The foundation of many classic dishes in both Indian and Persian cuisine, it is an essential ingredient in
biryani
, the classic Mogul Empire dish consisting of layers of meat and rice spiked with saffron and garnished with gold or silver leaf (see
listing
). But among the more than eight thousand varieties of rice grown across the globe, what is it that makes this particular grain so special?

Although there are several answers to the question, the best place to start may be with the grain’s aroma. Basmati means “the fragrant one” in Sanskrit, and indeed the nutty, buttery scent that hangs heavily in the air is more than matched by its rich flavor, cozily reminiscent of popped corn. Then there’s the rice’s famously delicate texture, partly the result of its aging process. Customarily the best basmati is aged for six months to a year, always in burlap sacks stuffed with leaves from ancient East Indian Neem trees. The leaves function as a kind of insecticide, and keep the grains fresh and preserve their signature scent. Lastly, the rice is beloved for its fluffiness. Well rinsed in several changes of water to rid it of excess starch, basmati becomes one of the least sticky varieties of rice, a quality that makes it ideal for cooking.

Where:
In Delhi and environs
, Sagar Ratna,
sagarratna.in
; Karim’s Hotel, tel 91/11-2326-9880,
karimhoteldelhi.com
;
in New York
, Tamarind, tel 212-775-9000,
tamarind22.com
; Dawat, tel 212-355-7555,
dawatnewyork.com
;
in Washington, DC
, Rasika, tel 202-637-1222,
rasikarestaurant.com
; Masala Art, tel 202-362-4441,
masalaartdc.com
;
in San Francisco
, Amber India, tel 415-777-0500,
amber-india.com
.
Retail and mail order:
In New York
, Kalustyan’s, tel 800-352-2451,
kalustyans.com
.
Mail order:
iShopIndian, tel 877-786-8876,
ishopindian.com
;
tilda.com
(click Products, then Where to Buy).
Further information and recipes:
Seductions of Rice
by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (2003);
Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking
by Madhur Jaffrey (2003);
epicurious.com
(search coconut basmati rice; saffron steamed basmati);
saveur.com
(search pohp batalu jo pulao; middle eastern rice toasted almonds);
foodnetwork.com
(search ina garten basmati rice recipe).

Bhel puri, India’s popular street snack, for sale in Delhi.

Iconic, omnipresent, nostalgia-inducing, and loyalty-inspiring, the
chaats
of India are akin to American hot dogs, pretzels, and other beloved street snacks—and they are infinitely varied. The cold vegetarian salads are based on a crisp,
starchy underpinning, such as puffed rice, fried chickpeas, or broken-up samosas or
papadums
, doused with cool yogurt and heightened with a mix of exotic spices into a bright and zesty mélange.

Among the chaats of Gujarat, especially along the avenues and alleys of its capital, Mumbai (formerly Bombay),
bhel puri
is an understandable favorite. An enticement of taste and textural contrasts, it provides an object lesson in flavor identification that begins with puffs and chips of rice, chickpea, and wheat flours deep-fried to nutty crispness. Tossed with peanuts, the mix is showered with hot, salty, and sweet condiments and spices like cayenne, cardamom, cumin, ginger, brown palm sugar, lemony tamarind, and fresh coriander, all flavors that light up the whole palate with each bite. Addictively stimulating, bhel puri is one of those foods that cannot be relinquished until totally consumed. Leftovers are unlikely.