Coconut and raw mango chutney/ chammanthi penguins. The Art of Plating.

Decoration of dishes is very important, it gives personality to specific meal and final touch to your delicious story. In the world of culinary art is well known that the appearance of food is one of the most important factors that will attract or reject. It is the specific way how food is placed on the plate.

There are so many ways how one meal can be served and presented. Learn the basic rules about serving and food presentation. How to use an unusual techniques for food presentation with simple plates, and how can create interesting food presentation just with use of unusual kitchen utensils.

There are certain rules that you need to follow, so you could be able to master some advanced techniques for food presentation.

1. Plate should not never be overloaded with food.
2. It is always necessary to leave blank the outer part of the plate along the edge.
3. You need to create color contrast on the plate.
4. Mix large and small, soft and crunchy, bright and dark colors.
5. Keep uniformity when it comes to portion size.
6. Do not overdo with sauces, rather served them separately.

Today we can also see that food garnishing go one step furthered and chefs are freely using ingredients like edible flowers for decoration.

Surprise your guests!!
How would you respond if you get sauce served in a test tube instead of the usual bowl? I’m sure that you would be pleasantly surprised. Free your mind and present food in the alternative crockery and cutlery. 
Why don’t you go one step further and use the service and dishes made from natural materials. Everything natural and organic is more popular each day, so why you should not use plates and spoons made from wood or stone? Stones or slates in use as shown in the picture above.

Lets do a simple easy preparation and presentation on coconut and raw mango chutney which is one of the favourite of Kerala. The name ‘Kerala’ was derived from the Malayalam (the language of Kerala) word ‘Kera’. Kera means coconut. As the state is rich with the thick cultivation of Coconut trees, it naturally got the name ‘Kerala’. In fact, Kerala got its extreme charm because of this largest concentration of Coconut trees on her soil. Her land was one of the wealthiest places in the Planet, attracting explorers and merchants from all over the world for many millennia. The riches came from her land and what it gave in the form of pepper, cardamom, coconut and numerous other crops.

Chutney/ Chammanthi/ is a simple and tasty South Indian side dish with fresh coconut and spices. We can prepare Chutney/ Chammanthi in different ways and texture. Here we are doing coconut and raw mango chutney. It is mild spicy and usually served with idly, dosa and vada as a dipper or  with rice. Here is the easy recipe.

Coconut and raw mango chutney/ chammanthi

Preparation time -10 mins
Cooking time – 5 mins
Total time – 15 mins
Serves – 4

Ingredients

Coconut – ½ cup shredded
Raw mango – 1 medium size, chopped into cubes
Shallots ( small Indian onion) – 8 nos
Chilly – 4 to 5 (adjust spice as need)
Curry leaves – few ( optional)
Salt – to taste

Method

1. Peel the skin and chop the raw mango into cubes
2. Remove the skin of shallots, and cut in to two halves.
3. Take a jar, add all the ingredients. Add salt to taste. Grind into a paste ( not very sooth)
4. Do not add water, because from raw mango it oozes water, if at all it required just a tsp of water is enough.
5. serve it with idli, dosa or rice.
   Notes
   Curry leaves are optional but 4 to 5 leaves enough which helps in a better flavour for chutney/ chammanthi.