Mango trio

Last year, I came up with a sugar-free dessert recipe for my friend Gilly who has to avoid dishes with added sugar for health reasons. It turned out to be very popular not just with Gilly but with lots of my blog readers too, and came in at number 3 of my Top 5 recipes in the first year of the blog (https://a-cooks-plot.blogspot.com/2018/04/poached-pears-with-orange-and-cinnamon.html)..

Gilly and her husband Keith came to lunch last weekend, so it was time to come up with a new dessert recipe for her. This trio of mango-based dishes was the result - mango 'ice cream', with a texture somewhere between a sorbet and a traditional ice cream, made using bananas in place of cream and sugar; mango purée; and cubes of mango dressed with lime. All deliciously sweet and refreshing, with not even a teaspoonful of added sugar in sight.

It would make a fab Easter dessert too - see A Cook's Plot tip 2 below for a way to get some Easter chocolate into the recipe...


Mango trio

Mango ice cream:
300g frozen mango chunks (most supermarkets sell them)
2 ripe bananas, sliced
Small tub low-fat yogurt
2 tsp lemon juice
half teaspoon vanilla extract 

Mango purée and mango cubes:
1 ripe fresh mango, cubed
Juice of 1 lime
Handful of toasted almonds (optional)


To make the ice cream, all you need to do is put everything in a liquidiser or smoothie maker and whizz until smooth. You can then use it immediately, or transfer to an freezerproof container and freeze until needed - get it out about 20 minutes before you're ready to serve it though, or you won't be able to scoop it out.

For the purée, whizz half the mango cubes and half the lime juice in a liquidiser or smoothie maker and use a teaspoon to draw thick stripes of it onto large dessert plates.

Toss the remaining cubes in the remaining lime juice and arrange on the plates with scoops of the ice cream and scatter with toasted almonds, if using.  

Serves 4

A COOK’S PLOT TIP 1: The easiest way to cube a mango is the 'hedgehog' method. Slice down each 'side cheek' of the mango as close as you can to the long, narrow stone in the middle. Then use a sharp knife to score around the skin, and score the flesh vertically then horizontally to create cubes. Next, push the skin inwards from the bottom so the cubes pop forwards. Slice them away from the skin.

A COOK’S PLOT TIP 2: If eating added sugar isn't a problem, this would be really delicious with melted chocolate squiggled artistically over the top. 

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