Though we all love to bite into a supple, sweet and fleshy piece of mango, it’s worth knowing that there’s a lot more to mango than what most often meets your lips.
The favourite fruit of almost everyone, mango can provide crunch and tartness in savoury recipes and creaminess for sweet. Mango is so good in its natural form that we often forget how delicious it can be in different preparations. However, once you start introducing it to your desserts, salads and cakes, you may wonder why it took you so long.
Here are our favourite ways to enjoy mango in both sweet and savoury.
Sweet
Curd
Mango curd is a versatile food product that is made with butter, egg yolks, sugar and lime, orange or lemon juice. It’s creamy, tart and the perfect accompaniment to a slice of plain vanilla sponge cake or crisp toast. The silky curd can easily be turned into mango bars, a fabulous filling for a layered cake or an ice-cream topping. In fact, it’s such a delicious product that we wholeheartedly recommend jarring it and gifting it to a friend.
Pure + Simple
Nothing beats mango in its purest form. Whether eaten straight off the seed or diced in a bowl fresh and raw, mango is a treat all on its own. We love taking from Thai cuisine and pairing diced mango with coconut ice-cream—it is truly a match made in heaven. Chunks of mango layered between cake slices or on parfaits, smoothie bowls and tarts are pure bliss.
Get the recipe for this Tropical Eton Mess at www.propaeats.com!
Purée
Puréed mango is an extremely versatile product that can easily be made with frozen and thawed, fresh or cooked mangoes. You can add purées to yoghurt for a yummy sweet breakfast, to cheesecake batter for a tropical version and even to quick bread, muffin and cake batters. The uses of purées are endless.
Ice-Cream
It’s easy to imagine the silky fruit in ice-cream form. Frozen mango blended by itself or with another fruit (try banana or pineapple) can create an easy sorbet. For ice-cream, add blended mangoes into an ice-cream base. We think the inclusion of yoghurt would also be a delicious addition, think mango lassi ice-cream!
Savoury
Salad
This preparation makes use of half-ripe or green mangoes. If thinly julienned or chopped and dressed in an acidic vinaigrette flavoured with lime juice, brown sugar and fish sauce and then topped with roasted peanuts, you can create an easy spin on tom sum (a Thai paw paw salad) can be made. Other than that, you can dress your thinly sliced mango with any vinaigrette that you would like. We recommend keeping your vinaigrette high in acid and slightly sweet as it breaks down the half-ripe or green mango into a more tender and palatable texture and compliments its tartness nicely.
Chow
This one needs little to no explanation. Chow, our national snack, is any fruit that is dressed in an acid, chandon beni, garlic and hot pepper. We all know this to be a delicious treat, however, chow which is also like a Trini salsa, can work beautifully in salads or as a topping for grilled fish and chicken. Mango chow is particularly delicious because it can be made with green mangoes which are sour but would go well with fish; half-ripe which would be perfect in salads and ripe if paired with a spicy and acidic chow ‘vinaigrette’ would make a great salsa.
Curried
Another savoury preparation of mango which needs a minimal description is curried mango. The Indian dish is spicy, sweet, aromatic and everything in between. It is commonly eaten with roti and is often seen around Divali time. Many persons freeze mangoes and utilise it in the October/November period—just in time for the festival of lights. However, there’s no rule banning you from making curried mango now.
Condiments
Kuchela is a condiment made from unripe or green mangoes that are grated and seasoned with amchar masala, vinegar, salt and hot pepper. It’s tart, pungent and very spicy but goes well with doubles, pelau and roti. Though it’s widely available, we don’t see the harm in an attempt at homemade kuchela.
Savoury sauces can also be made from ripe mangoes. Adding puréed ripe or half-ripe mango to hot sauce would balance it out beautifully. We also love puréeing ripe mango with lime juice and zest, garlic and chandon beni as a savoury sauce for fish and chicken.