Mango Sorbet

We have almost reached the fag end of the lovely Mango season and like every year I did my experiments with the mighty fruit. The mango ice cream I experimented this year was loved and relished so much that I made it three times over. The Lychee lemon sorbet was a hit too at home, so much so it gave me the idea to try a mango version of it. Since I do not have an Ice cream machine, the texture of the Lychee sorbet was not very soft. I expected the same with my Mango sorbet, but surprisingly it came out much smoother in texture. I reckon, it is because of the texture of the fruit which lend its natural smoothness. 

The lovely part of a sorbet is that it just melts in your mouth and refreshes your palate making you feel not too heavy with the dessert. It is light, refreshing and a smooth dessert and this season I am in love with Sorbet's. 

Since my last experiment with Lychee pannacotta , I have been hit hard with the dessert plating bug (if there is any) There was no set plan for plating this dessert but since the texture of the mango sorbet was so smooth that I got near perfect quenelles, I quickly planned one before clicking pictures of the same. I randomly put the quenelles on some chocolate biscuit crumb and threw in some mango cubes along with mint leaves. 

Ingredients : Serves 2-3

• Mango pulp from 1 ripe mango(I used a variety called Langda)
• 1/4 cup or less sugar, depending on the sweetness of the mango
• 1/4 cup water

Procedure : 

Heat sugar and water in a pan till sugar dissolves.

Strain the mango pulp to remove any fibre and add it to the pan.

Cook for a minute and them remove from flame.

Allow to cool completely.

Transfer to a freeze proof container and freeze overnight or for minimum 6 hrs.

Next morning break the crystals with a fork and put it back in the freezer. Repeat 3-4 times. This will help achieve a smooth texture.

For plating, crumble a chocolate biscuit (I used hide and seed) and put on a plate. Make quenelles out of the mango sorbet with the help of two spoons and place on top of the biscuit crumbs. Place cubes of mango randomly on the plate and finish with mint leaves. 

Otherwise just scoop out the sorbet and enjoy it. 

Happy Mango Relishing

Amrita

This recipe is a part of Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event 'Celebrating Summer Fruits'. Find more recipes here 

Easy Mango Ice cream

Of the few things to love about Summers is the availabilty of the king of fruits-the Majestic Mango. I absolutely adore mangoes and have a little weak heart for the variety which is interestingly called 'Langda' or 'Langra'. The origin of the name is debateful but it is believed that since most of the names are derived from the places of origin, it too could be named after a certain place called so. But, whats in a name. Langda has a distinct taste and even though it has a green skin which might trick you into feeling its not ripe, it is one of the most sweetest mangoes. 

Vaanya, my daughter, is a mango lover too. This season she has been wanting to eat the Langda over another sweet mango called Himsagar and has been relishing her Mango escapades with the oozing nectar and the consequent mess. 

A very ripe Langda in my fridge made me kick my lazy self and turn it into an easy mango ice cream which has been in my list for a long time. This is one super simple recipe, very much like the easy strawberry one I made. It is best to make it a night before and let it set in the freezer overnight and then relish it in the day. 

 Ingredients : 

• 3-4 tbsp condensed milk (adjust depending on the sweetness of your mangoes)
• 1 ripe mango, peeled and pureed( I used Langda variety of Mango)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup whipped cream(see notes)

Procedure : 

In a bowl, combine milkmaid, mango puree and milk. 

Fold in the whipped cream and pour in a freeze proof tin.

Allow to set in the freezer for 5-6 hours. Best is to leave overnight.

Take out and beat the mixture and allow to set again in the freezer. Repeat this 4-5 times to break the ice crystals. 

Scoop and serve.

Note:

• Take 1/4 cup of whipping cream and then whip it with a handheld beater till it gets thick and fluffy. 
• In case, you do not have condensed milk, add powdered sugar to the mango puree.
• Remember, this is a soft set variety of ice cream and therefore will not be as firm.

Happy Mango relishing

Amrita

Aamlicious festival at Khandani Rajdhani

The best part about Summers is getting an opportunity to relish the King of fruits~the mighty Mango. Mango is used in both its raw and ripe form in a wide range of food all over India. 
I look forward to relish my favourite fruit in a variety of dishes and so when I received an invite from Khandani Rajdhani to experience their Aamlicious festival, there were no second thoughts.
I have a weak heart towards the Rajasthani and Gujrati food because I have friends from these communities since my school days. A visit to their house means relishing their simple and flavourful food. 
Khandani Rajdhani, is a personal favourite . I have enjoyed their grand Thali many a times when they opened first in Kolkata. Last Durga Puja, I was pleasantly surprised to see them opening up in the heart of the city, Park street. At Khandani Rajdhani, they believe in pampering you big time. From the moment you enter their restaurant till you leave with a happy heart and a full stomach, the staff continues to charm you throughout with their smiling faces and caring nature. 
All this and more were reasons enough to make my husband babysit our daughter while I walked down to Park street to enjoy my Aamlicious day. 
I was warmly greeted by Debjita Mallick, the PR & marketing Manager, and the rest of the staff. The traditional Tika was adorned on my forehead and I was seated with a big thali with numerous little bowls.  

While me and Debjita got our seats and started talking about everything, the manager politely urged us to begin with the starters which were already served to us. The polite servers always make it a point to tell their customers the name of the dish they are serving. On my plate was an array of starters like sprout keri kanda salad, Maharaja shahi dhokla, keri samosa served with 4 different types of chutneys. The Kairi panna served alongside was perfect for the scorching afternoon. 

The most lovely part about eating at Rajdhani is that you are so well looked after. There are servers who keep an eye on your plates and keep urging you to try more, almost like a close relative who loves to feed you till you start crying full. 

My plate soon had dishes like the famous Ragda patties, Aam ki launji and dal baati churma which came loaded with a spoonful of ghee. 

The main dishes of the day were Paneer makkhanwala, flower capsicum, Aaam batata chips tindora, choula, panchkuti dal, surti dal, kadhi. All this was served with Phulka, puri, rotla adn my favourite Khuba roti. We also had khichdi and rice as options. 

The desserts of the day were  Shreekhand, Corn halwa, Malpua with rabri and Aamras. 

The Aamras that they serve is from Alphonso mangoes from Mumbai.

The entire meal was nothing short of a sheer delight. The simplicity and flavour of the dishes were so pronounced. My favourites were the khuba roti with keri tindora sabji, the ragda patties, the keri samosa, the yummy raw mango chutneys and the delicious Aamras. 

Their Aam ki launji needs a very special mention. For me it was the dish of the day. The sweet, sour, spicy flavours along with chunks of raw mango bowled me over. 

Pic courtesy : Khandani Rajdhani

The Aamlicious festival at Khandani Rajdhani is on throughout the Summers and will have a special rotational mango menu with 2-3 special dishes from raw and ripe mango. Some of the dishes on their menu will be the delicious and rare Kairi Chana Dal Dhokla, the inventive Kairi Samosa Sabzi, lip-smacking Mango Kofta Pulao, exotic Malabari Mango Kadhi and the regional delicacy Mango Pachadi, evergreen favourites like the Mango Raita, Fajeto and Aamrakhand and the Mango Jalebi for all those with a sweet tooth.

Find out more about them here. 

Happy mangoeing

Amrita

Mango Phirni

I strongly believe in food being very inspirational. A sudden thought, a casual discussion, an image or even a remote one-word talk of food can really inspire us. It does to me, atleast. 

This recipe is purely an attempt because of the inspiration I got from my husbands casual visit with his friend who were catching up to devour some Eid delicacies. Vishal called me up to find out if I am interested to cook mutton as he was close to a meat shop waiting to relish on some Phirni. It was just this one word 'Phirni' that kept rolling in my head and for who's sake I refused to hear the word meat too. I kept the phone down and went on thinking of that sweet, earthy smelling, milky thick goodness that my husband and his friend were digging into. I refrained from calling him again and demanding my bowl of the heavenly sweet and thus decided to make my own. This silly little incident, you see, made me wake up from my lazy self and churn up this sweet delicacy. 

Since we still have mangoes lingering all around us, I decided to try a Mango phirni version making it all the more irresistible. I took my mothers help who shared her recipe of this rather simple, quite a cousin of kheer sweet. I fetched these typical earthen bowls meant specially to set Phirni which is easily available in the local markets. This gives that earthy beautiful aroma to the phirni. In case one does not get them, set your phirni in any normal bowl. 

The mango version was quite loved by my Sweet guru-my father who has an unmatched authority over everything sweet. But one bite into that earthy smelling, elaichi flavoured yummy normal Phirni satisfied my craving finally. 

Flavoured or simple, this recipe is super simple and a must if you have never tried. 

Ingredients : Serves 8-10

• 1 litre full fat milk
• 3tbsp rice (I used gobindabhog. You can use Basmati too)
• 3-4 tbsp sugar (depending on your taste)
• mango pulp from 1 mango, strained
• almonds, pista, chopped mango for garnishing

Procedure : 

Soak rice in water for half an hour.

Take milk in a heavy bottomed pan and let it come to a boil. Simmer and cook on low heat.

Meanwhile grind the soaked rice in a mixer. It will not become fine so a little coarse is alright. 

Add the ground rice to the milk and stir continuously. 

Slowly you will observe that the milk has thickened.

Add sugar to your liking and cook till it reaches the required thickness to set. 

This is the normal Phirni which can be set at this stage in bowls. Refrigerate and garnish with almonds, pista and elaichi powder.

For mango Phirni, once the thickened milk has cooled a little, add the mango pulp little by little and use as much as required. Too much addition will dilute the phirni consistency. In that case reduce it again on low heat. 

Set this in bowls and refrigerate. Garnish with chopped mango and pista. 

Happy Phirni Indulgence

Amrita

Mango Marvels-a workshop at Afraa Deli, Kolkata

Mango is truly the king of fruits. This gorgeous golden full-of-nectar fruit is awaited every Summer with baited breaths by most of us. I am no exception and so the mere name of Mango and a workshop with it made me jump on my feet and nag the not-such-a-mango loving husband to drive us to Afraa Deli, Salt lake on 12th of this month. The fact that I was just back from a horridly late train journey did not deter my love for the fruit.

Mango Marvels-the workshop was further special to us as it was the first of its kind in association with Kolkata Food Bloggers. A simple quiz was held on KFB page and the winners were invited to attend the workshop and get other goodies. 

We had the privilege to have Afraa Deli's Bakery and pastry chef Debopom Sinha guide us through the intricacies of some amazing and exotic desserts like Chocolate Mango Lava Cake, Red velvety Mango Mousse cake, Mango Pannacota with coconut jelly. His easy instructions and live demonstrations of minute details enriched us with recipes of some yummy mango delights. Their executive chef Dibyendu Ghosh was kind enough to sit through the entire session and help us learn from the one of its kind workshop.

The happy participants got to taste the unique Mango desserts in the end which are available at Afraa Deli's outlet for their ongoing Mango festival. Do make the most of them while the season lasts. 

Till then enjoy some glimpses of the fun we had:

Pastry chef Debopom Sinha

KFBian Urmi Ghosh

Hands on workshop

Mango Planter's Punch

Chocolate Mango Lava cake

Red Velvety Mango Mousse Cake and Mango Pannacota with Coconut jelly

Summer Indulgence-Mango Cheesecake and a fun competition between team KFB and Crossindia

Pic courtesy : Swarnendu De

KolkataFood Bloggers recently had a competition of its kind with Crossindia team which happens to be my husbands dream project. The idea was to get together and have fun over food which is a common passion of both the teams. Team Crossindia has developed this cooking challenges on a monthly basis as their team building and bonding exercise. 
On a scorching May afternoon we all met for a memorable day of fun, food and interaction. The competition had 3 segments of serving for about 20 people with a starter, a main dish and a dessert by both the teams. 
Loads of planning, hard work and dedication went into the competition and some fabulous dishes were churned out by both teams. 
For starters team KFB presented an innovative dish named Vodka Prawn Croquettes which had a unique filling and an outer covering. This was served with a tamarind based relish. 

And team Crossindia presented a classic dish with an amazing presentation called Devilled Crab where crab meat and mushrooms were mixed with a rich white sauce and cheese toppings and was served in crab shells itself. 

The main dish from KFB was a family recipe of Bangladeshi Roast Chicken adorned with boiled eggs and served with pulao which was devoured in no time. 

Team Crossindia served a classic Thai dish called Pla Manao where steamed Bhetki fish was served with a thai sauce flavoured with thai herbs, lemons and palm sugar.

Finally the dessert section had a Summer special in Mango Cheesecake presented by team KFB which had three layers of goodness-a biscuit layer, a mango flavoured cheesecake layer topped with a fresh mango jelly layer garnished with fresh fruits. 

Team Crossindia served and won all hearts with a Thai dessert called Tap Tim Samsee which is coconut cream flavoured with pandana leaves and served with chilled and coloured water chestnuts.  

For each course of meal, people were requested to vote for their favourite dish. Team Crossindia won hearts and votes with their splendid dishes. Team KFB lost by marginal votes but went back with a memorable day. 
Here are some pics of the fun we all had. 
Pic courtsey : Swarnendu De

Dart fun

Chit chats 

Team KFB

Team Crossindia

Hop on to the recipe of the dessert fit for these summers

Ingredients : Yields about 8 individual servings

Biscuit layer : 

• 6-8 digestive biscuits 
• 3-4 tbsp melted butter

Cheesecake : 

• 1 block of Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature 
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup mango pulp, strained (requires about 2 mangoes)
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 100 gms whipped cream

Mango jelly layer : 

• 1 cup mango pulp
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 1/4 cup hot water

Procedure : 

Biscuit layer :

Crush biscuits fine. 

Add melted butter and mix well. 

If the mixture starts clumping together, it is ready to be pressed onto the base of the serving glass. If not, add more butter. 

Refrigerate.

Cheesecake layer :

In a bowl whip the cream cheese well. 

Add sugar and mix.

Add mango pulp.

Dissolve gelatin in hot water and allow it cool a little bit. 

Add to the cream cheese mixture and mix well.

Gently fold in whipped cream.

Spoon the mixture in the serving glasses and refrigerate for an hour.

Mango jelly layer : 

Dissolve gelatin in hot water and allow to cool little bit.

Mix with the mango pulp and pour on top of the serving glasses.

Serve chilled with some fruits as garnish.

Notes : 

• Replace cream cheese with equal quantity of paneer and hung curd. Blend well in a mixer to get a smooth consistency. 
• Experiment with other flavours like strawberry, blueberry or lemon.

Sending this recipe to KFB's ongoing event Summer related recipes :  

Happy Cheese-caking

Amrita

Mango cupcakes with Mango Buttercream frosting

The mango season came this year and has already almost gone. 

Summers for me has always been synonymous with the love for mangoes. I remember soaking them for few hours in water and then chilling them to devour after lunch and dinner. Yes, two times a day. I have always loved mangoes. For us the season to relish this fruit starts with the arrival of Langra. It is the most loved variety in my house. We do compromise with the taste of a Dussheri but that is when Langra has already bid farewell. 

Every year I look forward to all the yummy treats I can whip up with the King of fruits. But this year, mangoes arrived and I just did not feel like picking them up. The reason being last year Vaanya, my daughter, fell sick and developed rashes all over her body and we believed that it was the heat of the mangoes that made her sick. 

Only at the fag end when the mangoes are bidding adieu with the promise to come next year, I decided to put my hands on a Mango cupcake with Mango Buttercream frosting. 

I spoilt one batch of cupcakes due to my over enthusiasm of putting too much fresh pulp in the batter. For the next batch I decided to reduce the moisture from the mango pulp by cooking over low heat. This yielded me cupcakes full and bursting with the mango flavour. And I decide to get overboard with the flavour by adding some of it to the Buttercream frosting as well. I had made some Mango sandesh which I reserved to make some cute decoration to beautify my cupcakes. 

After clicking pictures, Vaanya leapt on the cupcakes and gave me the best compliments in her toddler language declaring them to be 'Delicious' and kept saying 'yum yum' throughout. Luckily with my camera beside, I could take some lovely shots of the beautiful moment. 

Ingredients : Yields 5-6 medium sized cupcakes

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 50 gm butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of the mango)
• 1 egg
• Mango pulp from 1 medium sized mango
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Frosting : 

• 3 tbsp white butter, softened (you can instead use amul butter and use twice the amount of sugar)
• 3 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp or more of the mango pulp

Procedure : 

Mango Cupcakes :  

Prepare mango pulp by peeling and chopping the mango and processing it in a mixer. Do not forget to strain it to remove any threads from the fruit.

Take this pulp in a non stick pan and mix with 1/2 the quantity of sugar i.e. 2 tbsp. Cook over low heat, stirring continuously, till the mixture thickens and reduces to half the quantity. Keep aside and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and prepare cupcake moulds with a cupcake liner or simply grease and flour it.

Take butter and remaining sugar (2 tbsp) in a bowl and beat till pale and creamy. Add the reduced mango pulp and mix it well.(Keep a tsp reserved for the frosting)

Sift all purpose flour with the baking powder. 

Add egg and flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and mix till incorporated well. Do not overbeat.

Pour the batter equally into the prepared moulds till 3/4 full. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool.

Mango Buttercream Frosting : 

Mix butter and icing sugar very well. Add a tsp of the reduced mango pulp and mix. You may use fresh mango pulp too. Add more if you want more colour and flavour. 

Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and refrigerate for 15-20 mins to set and for the flavour to enhance.

Take it out before piping and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Pipe on the cooled cupcakes and decorate with a flower and leaf decoration made out of Mango sandesh. Check here how to make Mango sandesh. 

I made the flower by pinching four small balls together and shaping them as a flower. For the leaf, I added a tiny drop of green food colour to the mango sandesh dough and shaped as a leaf. 

Notes : 

• Use 1/4 cup of fresh mango pulp in the cupcake batter instead of cooking the mango pulp.
• Do not add any water while making the mango pulp. And do not add too much of the mango pulp to the batter as too much liquid imparted by it will hinder proper baking.
• You may take the cheats way out and make the flower and leaf decoration with mashed paneer. Add food colour of your choice.
• You may enjoy the mango cupcake without any frosting too. 

Happy Mango relishing

Amrita