Our country is blessed with a local produce comprising of a variety of food. There are vegetables, grams, pulses and fruits for every season. The citrus family offers up its delicious variety to the whole country.
Renala Khurd and the plain regions shower down an abundance of oranges upon the Pakistani people. The variety and the taste of the oranges is sweet and tart, juicy and sharp and consumed with a hunger like there would be no oranges next season. Preferably, in our country, oranges are eaten raw. Peel away the skin, clear away the white inner skin, open it and with a little dash of salt and pepper, gobble up the juicy fruit.
What if that was not the only way to eat it? That is the simplest way and the most casual way to consume this delicious fruit but while the whole world out there is eating processed oranges, we have an abundance of fresh oranges available to be used in several dishes which are all a tribute to this blessing.
There are so many ways to forge oranges into delicious recipes. The fleshy texture of the fruit adds a great juicy element to any dish. Every part of it can be used including the zest which is a favorite among world acclaimed chefs in many of their signature dishes. It imparts a bitter strong orangey flavor to the dish it is added to. The first stigma that has to be modified is that oranges are ‘sweet’. While eating, many people consider themselves lucky that their orange tastes sweet. Oranges are typically tart and juicy. Fruits with a natural tartness and a juicy profile are not easy to find. Almost all these fruits belong to the citrus family.
So even if you think of forging oranges into a sweet dish, try and use its tartness as an element to cut through the sweetness of the sugar that is being used in the dessert. The most typical orange dessert available in Pakistan is ‘Orange Ice cream’. Many would argue about the most suitable ratio of orange to milk and sugar in the ice cream. If the ice cream has a tart tinge with every bite, the ratio of orange is one to two parts of milk. If it does not, the orange’s ratio is less. The best way to accumulate orange in dessert is to make an orange curd, which is made in the same way as lemon curd which is used in making lemon tarts. Just check out the recipe online, whisk orange juice and orange zest in place of lemon juice and lemon zest and refrigerate this delicacy for use over the year. Make an orange syrup with orange juice, sugar and water and pour in some gelatin powder and let it set. Without any additives, this dessert lets us cherish the orange flavor to its fullest.
The other direction one could take with oranges is the savory cuisine. The Chinese cuisine celebrates oranges in its savory recipes. The Pakistani-Chinese cuisine however does not recognize this element. Cooking with oranges in savory recipes can become tricky. Balancing the flavors and using them in the right ratio is integral. The typical South Asian cuisine including Chinese, Malaysian, Thai and Filipino cuisine is based on broths. Complex, clarified broths in which oranges are used to freshen up the meaty flavors which are infused in the broths. The concept of broths is variably different in Pakistan. So instead of arguing over broths, the orange can be used in its original form in salads. Cut up some seasonal vegetables.
The winter season offers some delicious crunchy vegetables like carrots, radishes, beetroots etc. You can cut up orange segments in the salad and even make orange juice a part of the salad dressing. Orange segments cooked with a piece of fish also imparts a fresh flavor to the winter delicacy.
The essential part of cooking any ingredient is to respect its flavor profile. Orange offers a range of flavors from tart to sweet. Juicy and fleshy, the textural qualities of orange can be played and experimented with. One requires only creativity and a good palate to accommodate this fruit into your diet.
Contributed by Aamnah Jawaad.
