No fewer than three members of staff urged us to try the mango dessert, a dense, super-sweet mango paste in a cigar-shaped tuille, which we liked better than our other choice, a clammy square of clove-spiced rice pudding.
Seasoning pastes and sauces include zhoug ($6), a fragrant and spicy Yemenite green sauce made with cilantro, chilies, garlic and caraway that is often stirred into chicken soup; amba ($6.50), a delicious spiced Israeli pickled mango paste; date "honey" called silan ($10); and powerful harissa ($6.50).
Then add the paneer back in alongside the mango, tamarind paste and ¾ teaspoon salt.
Using the blender, add milk (2-3tbsp), water (sufficient for a smooth paste), mangoes, multani mitti (clay), and the earlier mixture of step 1. Make sure it is a non drip paste.
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse together the onion, garlic, apple, mango, ginger, carrot, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce until a grainy purée forms.
I also enjoyed a classic salad from Singapore called "rojak" -- made with pineapple, cucumber, mango, fish sauce, shrimp paste and ground nuts, prepared by chef KF Seetoh.
For the equivalent of about 5 cents, she offered a huge green mango leaf filled with rice, fish paste and fried beetles.
Note: Some of the ingredients like the tamarind paste concentrate, the dry mango powder, black salt (kala namak) and jaggery can be found at most International food stores and even on Amazon.
Chilled red chile mango and iced coffee with crushed almond paste are both much better than they sound.
Near the entrance to Ayada, she keeps a narrow bookcase stocked with tubes of durian paste and packets of dehydrated mango slices, grilled seaweed crisps and garlic bread.
They're often eaten raw -- chopped and stirred into fish sauce for dipping, sprinkled into green mango salad -- or pureed into curry paste.
