White Chocolate Mango

Mango is native to India and cacao to Central America, and today not only are the two grown in a much larger (tropical) belt  than their places of origin but also familiar and accessible globe-wide.  In my day job of dabbling with genomics, I came across mango researchers from Australia and I mused to myself “Really ?”.

White chocolate is technically the cacao butter. Thanks to very creative processing they are available in most supermarkets in the baking section as sweetened morsels.

You will find that the most ardent mango fans are Indian– the keen eyes of  some stand-up comedians are also picking up on that. These gourmands are the purists with a dont-mess-with-that-already-superdelicious-fruit attitude.  Yet I dared to try my concoction on one such aficionado, who doesn’t hold his brutal criticisms back.  I am happy to report that this received a massive endorsement and I share the recipe with you.

white chocolate mango

mango white chocolate

Special tools:

Food processor, steaming basket

Ingredients

• pulp of 4 ripe medium sized ripe mangoes
• 1/2 cup white chocolate morsels
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• a pinch salt

Method

Put all the ingredients in a food processor.  Process for 1-2 minutes. The white chocolate morsels will shatter but not blend completely. It is quite alright since it will melt in the steaming process.

Pour into (three)  individual ramekins or cazuelas.  Do not over-fill  since it rises a little in the cooking process.  Steam for 10 minutes.

Serve warm with a garnish of a few chocolate morsels.

Notes, hints, tips:

1. I used the Mexican Ataúlfo mango in the picture above.  This is a very sweet cultivar, also called the champagne mango. But feel free to use any other sweet variety that you can lay your hands on.
2. Tastes good even chilled and also at room temperature (to compete with a fresh mango!).
3. For steaming: bring water to a rapid boil. Place the covered steaming basket with the ramekins and steam on rapid boil. I am very partial to the Chinese bamboo steaming baskets and use that for almost all of my steaming.
4. As an added flavoring agent, you could add 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder. An interesting addition is a final flourish of a dash of Grand Marnier liqueur.