ango is undoubtedly the king of summer fruits for me. Now summer is not my most favorite of seasons but there are a few things that make the memories of summer good. Be it the long vacation away from school, being allowed to just go out and play, visiting grandparents, all the pampering, several of these things that I often talk about in my posts. These along with a lot of fun and cool food and fruits and berries - jamun, lassi, a million varieties of kulfi, soda pops, ice-chuski and the list goes on. The mango definitely figures in there somewhere as well. For some strange reason these things are what I think of first when I think of summer (of course followed by the reminder of the scorching Indian sun that I used to hate). Any conversation on food and summer is incomplete with mango featuring in it. Especially with its versatility, the mango is a fruit well loved in my family. Eat it raw, just peel it, chop it up, mix in a little salt and red chilli powder and tantalize your taste buds, or roast it, pulp it and make a nice cool drink with it or chop it up and cook with brown sugar to make a nice sweet and sour chutney... and then the 'achaar' of course, pickle it if you can't think of anything else to do with it. When in ripe form it of course can be had as a fruit but its pulp is also used to flavor many dishes. Ice-cream is one such dish. It can be made using different kinds of mangoes however the pulp of Alphonso works the best. Use a sweet, ripe and a non-fibrous mango for best results. This time around I wanted to try the classic combo of coconut with mango to give it a nice tropical twist.The best part with this recipe is that it is extremely easy to put together without the need of an ice-cream machine.
