MANGO FAILS

Love mangoes, hate doing things to them. But they're gone now, anyway.

Surely the mango is Australia’s most beautiful fruit. It almost takes over your senses as you eat. It’s inspiring. Or is it?

In the throes of the fresh mango season back in December, mango-related possibilities came thick and fast. First, I decided to make the world’s best mango lassi.

Hmm. What I made tasted beautiful, but it was so thick the straw stood up in it like the mast of a ship. Fail.

Wait, I’ll turn the mango lassi into ice-cream! Out comes the ice-cream machine, in goes the mango lassi. One hour later, out comes a very solid, frozen-since-the-ice-age mango lassi ice-block.

Most mango ice-cream recipes cook the mango first to reduce the water content, which I didn’t want to do, because, you know, cooked mango. Fail.

Then I saw that clever-blogs chef Matty Stone had posted a spectacular looking BBQ mango as a last-minute dessert special, after an “epic” box of mangoes rolled in to the kitchen of You Beauty in Bangalow at 5pm.

So I started glazing mango, and barbecueing it, and damn near ruined the barbie as the sugar melted and dripped and burnt. Fail. (My fail entirely, not his).

I pretty much gave up at that point, and just ate fresh mango. And so should we all, while we can.

Unsurprisingly, it has taken me so long to realise this simple truth, that the mango season is now almost completely over.  Fail.

But at least I got a blog out of it. Win!

Okay, so here’s a recipe for a nice cold, creamy, Greekish rice pudding topped with mango and passionfruit from my archives, above.

Given that you may not actually find a mango at this stage of the game, feel free to swap it out for something that is available. A little seedy crunch of chopped strawberries, for instance, makes a great contrast to the soothing sweet milkiness of the rice, below.

Chilled rice pudding

• 1 litre milk

• 150g short grain or risotto rice, rinsed

• 100 g caster sugar

• Pinch of sea salt

• Half tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp clear rosewater extract, optional

• 1 tsp cornflour

Combine the milk, rice and pinch of sea salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil slowly, stirring ( you do NOT want it to boil over).

Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes or until rice is tender. 

Stir in the sugar, vanilla and rosewater, until the sugar has dissolved.

Mix the cornflour to a paste with 2 tsp water and add to the rice.

Simmer for 1 minute or until thickened, stirring well, then ladle into shallow bowls or earthenware dishes, and allow to cool and set.

Top with some beautiful fruit, and serve. Serves 4

Thanks for reading! And special thanks to my right-hand man, Terry Durack, for keeping me in mangoes for nearly three months. Fare thee well, dear mangoes, until we meet again.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about time, folks.