And more mangoes!

In case you missed my post yesterday, we bought a tray of ten massive mangoes in the afternoon. Last night we used 2 of the mangoes to make some mango and passionfruit jam. This morning, we woke up with a big task at hand - to see if we could do something with all 8 of the mangoes we had left, as they were at their perfectly-sweet-and-juicy peak ripeness.

We started with... more pancakes! We had some batter left over from yesterday, and I couldn't let it go to waste. We pureed one mango to put on top of our pancakes this morning.

Then we got cracking with some real cooking! We pureed another mango, along with the seeds scraped out of a fat, juicy vanilla pod. Then came a lot of patience and a necessary trip to Great-Grandma's house to avoid the temptation of dipping our fingers in the pot (both of us struggled with this, not just Mr T).... We came home to find, still waiting on the counter for us, over a litre of delicious mango and vanilla bean YOGHURT! Wooohoooo, I finally made yoghurt! I don't know why/how it has taken me so long. I've owned my thermomix for 9 months and I've only just made yoghurt?!? I could make a baby in that time! Anyway, yay for me, I finally did it. I was a bit nervous, because I added the fruit in early rather than setting the yoghurt and then stirring the fruit in... It can make the yoghurt less likely to set. But not this time! It set beautifully, and it tastes fantastic!

The mango/vanilla bean puree. My biggest culinary turn-on has to be those tempting little black specks of vanilla bean. I will ALWAYS overindulge if I see those beautiful black specks, and I'm totally okay with that. :)

The pre-set mixture. This deliciousness had to sit on my kitchen bench, right in front of me, for FIVE HOURS! I snuck a spoonful, but only once!

Five hours later, the good bacteria had done their job well - it was perfectly set! Sorry the picture is a bit blurry; I was in too much of a rush to get it in my belly. :)

So that was one more mango done... 2 down, 6 to go!

I had to turn to my cookbooks for some inspiration. Found a recipe for some veggie fritters with a mango sauce. Excellent, that's dinner sorted. But the sauce needed both 1 whole mango and some mango chutney... Not to worry! Another cookbook revealed a mango chutney recipe. Perfect. So we proceeded with the mango chutney in preparation for the dinner later.

Those black balls are actually "popped" mustard seeds. I did not know until today that mustard seeds were pop-able! I used less chilli than the recipe called for, so Mr T would still enjoy it. I also added more lime juice, to help it set. It was scrumptious.

 We had it on homemade bread rolls for lunch.

2 more mangoes down... 4 to go!

So of course, we made more jam! My big sis in Deutschland has been begging me to send her some homemade jam, so this is her lucky day! She also loves and misses mangoes very much. We made a mango and vanilla bean jam. Both jars were claimed before they were even made. Perhaps I should listen to the suggestions that I start a jam stall at a market somewhere... With all my spare time, hah!

Again, those gorgeous little specks of vanilla bean! When I was testing whether or not it was set I took a larger-than-necessary spoonful... I knew that was all I would get from this batch, and I just couldn't help myself! I hardly want to give these up. It is my favourite jam so far.

2 more down... only 2 to go!

One was already destined for the mango sauce with dinner. We whizzed up the Cauliflower Broccoli Fritter mixture and started frying them in small batches, then whizzed up the sauce while the fritters were frying. My goodness! These are, without a doubt, the best veg fritters I have tasted. So much flavour - curry powder adds a tiny kick, and you pop open delicious fennel seeds as you chew... mmmmmmm!

The recipe (including sauce) was from my newest cookbook - Free Range in the City, by Annabel Langbein. They've had a book stall at the markets the last couple of weeks, and last weekend they had this book for sale. Half price, and this book has only just been released. I have another cookbook of hers and I love it, so... I'm a very easily-swayed consumer. Ah well!

A close-up of that delicious sauce! The mango chutney was a perfect match for the rest of the sauce ingredients and for the fritters. And we still have plenty of chutney left for sandwiches, too! I told my Dad about the mango chutney, and he replied, "Oh, that'll be really good for Christmas!" To which I responded, "There's absolutely no way it's going to last that long!"

...But I think he was actually trying to tell me that I should make it for him for Christmas!

And by now we're down to the very last mango!

Before we got the dinner going, I whipped up something a little bit special to throw in the oven.... Creme Brulee! Or, as Mr T would prefer it to be known - Creme Bru-LaLa!

I drew inspiration from yet another Annabel Langbein recipe, and put a mango (and lime peel) puree at the bottom of the ramekins then added the creme brulee mixture on top. Smashing idea! Mr T loved the blowtorch bit at the end best... I went a bit blowtorch happy and the sugar on top was borderline-burnt but still scrumptious.

And... We did it! Eight huge mangoes in a day, ten in 24 hours! All going to some very happy places indeed! It wasn't a very challenging challenge, that's for sure. But it was certainly fun!

And what did Mr T think of all the mangoes?

 

I hope you can all see that sticky mango juice covering his face! He got to eat the flesh from around the edges of 8 mango seeds over 2 days. It got to the point where I would start cutting into a mango, and he would run and get paper towels ready - two to lean over, and one to wipe his hands and face afterwards. He knew the whole routine! He had an absolute blast. :)

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