Frozen Mango Yoghurt

March 23, 2004

A good many years ago I bought myself an ice cream maker. It was a large bucket-like appliance with a smaller pail inside. You had to fill the gap twixt bucket and pail with a large amount of ice and salt.

Before you could set about making your ice cream, you had to remember to make copious amounts of ice and lay in a good supply of salt.

I managed to do both, several times, and I made some delicious home-made ice cream. I also made some splendid sorbets for dinner parties, particularly a very fine kiwifruit sorbet.

One of the things you have to remember with kiwifruit is to be careful when reducing the flesh to a pulp. Don't do it in a food processor with an aggressive metal blade - it will manage to pulverise the seeds and produce a pulp that will irritate the mouth.

I don't like a lot of kitchen machines, particularly those that take up a lot of space. However, in recent times I have been investing in the occasional gadget that I think will earn its keep.

Anyway, I was idling through a local auction website and came upon an ice cream maker, undoubtedly hugely more advanced and sophisticated than my other model, so I snapped it up for less than $NZ40. Today I put it to the test.

I started putting a bottle of cream in the shopping trolley then guiltily returned it to the cabinet (I usually buy only about one bottle of cream a year - at Christmas). Instead I went for some light sour cream, some thick Greek yoghurt, flavoured with a little honey, and a nice fresh mango. Voila - a nice fresh flavoured dessert.

Frozen yoghurt with mango

1 500g pot sweetened Greek style yoghurt
125g light sour cream
2 tablespoons honey
1 or 2 fresh mangos
2-3 sprigs lemon balm

Peel the fruit, cut into chunks and process in a blender until smooth. Finely chop the lemon balm. Mix all the ingredients together.

Prepare your ice cream maker as per instructions.

Set the machine going and empty in the ingredients and churn until frozen. Spoon into a container and place in the freezer till required.

Allow to mellow in the fridge for about 20 minutes before serving.

This recipe makes a slightly tart, fresh flavoured dessert. Instead of using mangos, you could substitute peaches or apricots - either peeled fresh ones or drained canned fruit.