Mango Madness

Howdy Folks!

Two posts in one week I hear you cry?? I must be becoming one of those prolific writers....or do I mean gobshites.......Oh Well Nevermind!

So this week Monkey was away in Germany and you know what they say whilst the cat is away the mouse will carry on as normal because there are mouths to feed!

So on my day off this week I had a very creative day in the kitchen at home. I know it seems odd that I spend my days off cooking but it's the time that I actually get to cook more for the pleasure than the purpose. I don't have any hungry customers waiting (if you discount Monkey), there is no time limit that I have to work to, I don't have to shout at any one to hurry up or do this or that and the only hazard is perhaps I'll trip over a cat (apart from the obvious knife and burn hazards but that just comes as standard).

I started my day right with my rye bread and some boiled eggs....

....Ruddy delicious if I do say so myself. It has just the right chew to crunch ratio in the crust and the flavour is malty and sweet and savoury. Safe to say I'll be revisiting that recipe soon!

I have been browsing Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/cooknoevil) for ideas and inspiration for Sunday Supper Club (this is the once monthly get together that our group of friends have on the last Sunday of the month where, like a pot luck, we all cook and bring a dish based around a theme to one of our houses on a Sunday afternoon have a meal together. It started out with a couple of big group Sunday Roasts where we'd buy all the ingredients, split the bill and then someone would cook but that got changed to a rotation basis so there wasn't the pressure on one couple to do all the cooking every time and we introduced a different theme each time to mix it up and keep it interesting). This month the theme is Indian/Curries. Within our group of friends we have at least 3 people who are gluten free, one veggie, two who hate fish, one allergic to coconut, one who hates chocolate (WTF I know right!?!?) and Monkey who claims to be allergic to vegetables (he's not) so sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to find a dish that keeps everyone happy. We have Facebook group so we can all give a heads up as to what we're planning to make so we don't double up and sometimes it pays to get in early and snag your favourite dish before someone else says they're going to make it!

Back to the point - I was searching Pinterest. I always like for us to try and do a savoury and a sweet dish between us and with Indian cuisine sweet is a tricky one. How many times when you're out for a curry do you even bother with dessert because you're so full of poppadoms, curry and rice?! 
In my family we have a little in joke about Indian desserts as when I was about 11 or so we went to the local Indian restaurant for dinner and for pudding I ordered one of those Orange sorbets that they all used to have on their laminated menus. The one's where it's a hollowed out orange filled with orange sorbet with the top back on to make it look fancy and usually they are frozen rock solid and it's a good twenty minutes before you can even get your spoon in. This one particular time I took up the challenge and had managed to scrap minute bit of sorbet off round the edges. I was getting a bit frustrated and rather viciously jabbed it with my spoon to try and get it stuck in there. The orange landed somewhere on the other side of the restaurant and came to a stop under another table. It was like the scene in Pretty Woman where they're in the fancy restaurant and she's coming to grips with escargot for the first time and she sends one snail flying into the outstretched hand of a waiter and she can only smile and say 'Slippery little suckers'. Fortunately it was giggles all round between us and the waiters and I got a new orange sorbet. 
With fruit sorbets ruled out it left me a few choices and I decided to go with Kulfi. Traditionally this is made with milk, sugar and nuts and unlike western ice cream is a lot denser and takes much longer to melt which is obviously a bonus in the Indian Climate. My recipe is a bit of a variation again and probably somewhere more between a traditional Kulfi and a frozen Lassi (essentially a yogurt based milkshake). I avoided nut flavours as Monkey isn't so keen but I will have some whizzed up pistachios to sprinkle on them for those who want it on Sunday.

Ingredients
I know it's not very Indian but I used Greek Yogurt in my Kulfi's instead of cream as it's thick and creamy but has that little bit of acid so that it's not so rich. The Lancashire Farm stuff is what we use at work it's really thick set and has plenty of body to it unlike some other brands and is really creamy and indulgent tasting. Condensed Milk I only used this to sweeten the mix, no other added sugar, as I was also using fresh and tinned mango and I didn't really want it too sickly. As you can see my chosen flavouring was Mango. This was partly because I had one sat in the fridge and partly because it's a traditional flavouring for Lassi. I used tinned pureed mango which you can find in the world food aisle of the supermarket. Look in particular for the sections where it is the imported authentic ingredients rather than the big commercial name brands. I'm a big fan of the KTC brand. The products are just as good as the name brands and more often than not the packages are bigger and at least 10% cheaper. The mango puree is bloody delicious and the tin was massive. I only used half and have the rest saved in the fridge for something but I may just pour it over some granola for breakfast on Sunday along with some of the leftover yogurt. I also used fresh mango which I chopped up fine for some texture. I also put a little Cardamon in for an authentic flavour (if you were doing this really authentically you would infuse the milk/cream with some cardamon pods whilst you were heating it) and Lime Juice just to help cut through the sweet creaminess. I've listed 2tsp  but you may want to add more/less.


Mango Kulfi

350g Thick Set Greek Yogurt
200g Condensed Milk
425g Mango Puree
1/2 Mango, finely chopped
2 tsp Lime Juice
1/4 tsp Ground Cardamon

• Combine all the ingredients except the chopped fresh mango in a bowl and whisk, either by hand or with a hand mixer or as I have in a stand mixer.
• Fold through the chopped mango.
• Transfer into a jug for ease and pour either into ice lolly moulds or into silcone muffin cases. The chopped mango may have all sunk the bottom so make sure you put a little into each mould.
• Freeze until solid (at least 6 hours)
• To serve run the moulds under a warm tap and turn out. OPTIONAL - Whizz a handful of shelled roasted (but unsalted) pistachios as fine or chunky as you like. If you have made ice lollies simply roll them in the blitzed nuts or if you have made them in muffin cases turn them out and sprinkle the nuts over the top. 

I'll let you know how they taste after we have them on Sunday, but if they taste half as good frozen as the mix did when I was making it I think we'll be a bunch of happy Supper Clubbers!