Mango mania with my Mango Mess

One of the best things about summer, apart from my birthday that is (I turned 55, can you believe it?..I can hardly believe it myself ), is that it’s mango season. Yaaay!...I love mangoes!!

We can talk about mangoes in a bit but let’s talk about lockdown birthday celebrations first.

It was a strange birthday for me this year and like everyone else, I am still social distancing so of course my birthday celebrations were uncharacteristically sombre. However I had the best cake I have ever tasted and the “icing on the cake” wasn’t the fact it was chocolate, peanut butter and caramel, the real icing on the cake was that my daughter came home as a surprise. I had not seen her for months, so yes guys - there were some tears but they were happy tears.

OK back to mangoes now...I can hear you saying “surely we can buy mangoes all year round?” .Well yes you can but when I talk about mango season I am talking about the mangoes that grown in South Asian countries like India and Pakistan. These mangoes and non-fibrous and generally smaller but don’t be fooled by their size, they tend to be much sweeter than the larger more fibrous mangoes that we can buy in supermarkets all year round. Personally, I think Indian/ Pakistani mangoes taste like nectar from heaven!

OK, perhaps I am being a little melodramatic but that’s me, sometimes more drama queen than spice queen!

So what can we make with these seasonal, sweet and juicy mangoes? Sometimes there’s really no need to do anything other than just slice, dice and eat - that’s what my husband does. He thinks it’s a waste of a good mango and sacrilege to do anything else with them, I disagree with him but then I often do. Well, it wouldn’t be a marriage if we didn’t.

But when it comes to anything foodie or cooking related, I like to pull rank! It’s the only time I really do.

One of my favourite ways of having mangoes is in a dessert - like my Mango Mess. This East Meets West dessert is my Asian take on the quintessential English dessert Eton Mess which is usually made with strawberries. Try it for yourself, mouth-watering Mango Mess - sweet, satisfying and so simple to make.

(Thank you to Dana of Aldanah Photography for this beautiful image of mango mess, by the way).

RECIPE FOR MANGO MESS -

Prep Time: 10 mins Assembly time: 10 mins Makes 8 Individual Portions (approx)

INGREDIENTS

500ml whipping cream 200g tinned mango pulp 2 mangoes

8 ready-made meringue nests (5x7cm)

1 to 2 tablespoons of caster sugar

METHOD

1. Peel the mangoes and dice into 1cm cubes by carefully cutting down either side of the fattest part, sometimes called the cheek. Take that piece and score lengthways and widthways, making small squares. Turn the skin inside out and you should have a mango that looks like a hedgehog. Cut out the juicy little cubes of mango. (See Photo)

2. In a large bowl, add the sugar to the cream and whip till stiff peaks, you can do this by hand or an electric mixer. I do it by hand, doesn’t take very long to be honest.

3. Carefully crush the meringues into the cream, add the mango pieces and fold mixture together.

4. Into small dessert bowls, or dessert glasses as I like to use, add approximately 2 heap tablespoons of the mixture and drizzle mango pulp on top as a dressing,

Happy Cooking, stay safe

PARVEEN’S TOP TIP

If you don’t use all the mango pulp, you can freeze it and it lasts for 3 months