Mango Lassi Frozen Yoghurt
London has been hot and humid recently. The kind of weather where I stop daydreaming about dinner for once and imagine cold showers and ice lollies instead. I’ve been drinking ice coffees to cool down and rather than cooking in the evenings, standing over the kitchen sink trying to keep the juice of a chilled watermelon or a sun ripened mango from running down my front.
Mangoes are one of the finest flavours in warm weather. Sunshine turns them into something really special, and it’s a joy to suck the flesh from the stone inside while holding it in sticky hands sitting outside. But few things are more refreshing than the subcontinent classic of a mango lassi.
Sweet velvety mango puree with creamy chilled yoghurt and the tiniest dash of salt cools any day or any curry down beautifully and I can’t get enough of them in Indian restaurants. I can never get them quite right at home though usually. The yoghurt isn’t thin enough for drinking consistency and if I water it down, I lose the flavour of the mango. But this heat had me determined to crack the code.
And that answer came with the recent discovery of buttermilk in the local Polish shop. I think we all know I’m totally and utterly obsessed with this ingredient and it’s a total fridge staple for me. The Polish stuff is a lovely loose consistency and I knew it would get the texture just right if I mixed it with the yoghurt. It did and I’ve been starting the morning with a glass of this amber nectar.
It put me in mind of how I’ve always meat to try making frozen yoghurt again after an ill fated attempt a few years ago where it frozen so densely, it took about an hour to defrost enough to chip a spoonful out by which time we’d eaten the dessert it went with and moved onto ice cold beers instead. Perhaps the buttermilk would sort the texture here too?
Mango Lassi Frozen Yoghurt (adapted from David Lebovitz’s recipe here)
- 425g Alphonso mango puree
- 240g greek style yoghurt (not low fat)
- 100ml buttermilk
While mangoes are in season at the moment in Brixton market, I keep running out of them because they tempt me too much. My local shop sells an 850g tin of Alphonso mango pulp for £1.89 which made approximately a litre of fro-yo and at least 4 lassis in the morning.
Prepare your ice cream machine as instructed. I have no idea if you could make this without a machine by mixing with a whisk or fork to break up the crystals every hour for the first 4 hours, but I don’t see why not.
Mix the ingredients together well. You should have a thick but runny mixture. It is best to use the ingredients chilled. Pour into the machine and churn for 30 minutes. Freeze for an hour until just set or if left in for longer frozen yoghurt has a dense creamy texture which needs to sit out for about 15 minutes before you can dig into it.
It is however so worth the wait. This is soft, creamy and velvety and the buttermilk keeps it from being sickly sweet so it is immensely refreshing. I’ll actually be sad to see the heatwave go having discovered this…
you can make it without a machine, the texture suffers a bit, though it still tastes great!
Sheila: good to know. Might try it without the machine and with strained yoghurt and see how that works?
I love mango lassi! I never thought of freezing it! what a wonderful treat! 😀
Miss Messy: you could make popsicle ones! (I had problems getting your blog to load the other week but it’s fine now) I have lolly envy around you!
This looks so fantastic I’m going to have to give it a go despite no machine! I’m also obsessed with mangoes at the moment; they never seem to last more than 5 minutes in my house. I make very light work of a large one these days! As a Brixton local myself, I’m wondering if you could share the secret as to which Polish shop you found the buttermilk in?
Mrs T: I got the buttermilk in the Crackerjack Stores on Brixton Road (the block between the Academy). They sell loads of Polish stuff but it can be pot luck if they have when you want it. It keeps for ages though so snap it up if you see it. I think you can get it in the Tesco on Acre Lane too as they have a large Polish grocery section.
Thanks! I’ll be giving this a go this weekend if the weather holds up! 🙂
Fantastic idea, I love buttermilk for baking as well. Where did you get the Alphonse puree from?