Summer was a favorite time for us cousins, signaling the start of the mango season. My grandmother bought barrels and barrels of fresh tree ripened mangos from the African market. The driver would throw a hessian mat on the floor of the pick up truck and tumble the sunset yellow balls onto it. Next, the smallest of the grandchildren would scramble in and sit atop the mounds of the yellow fruit for the ride home, all the while being intoxicated by the sweet honeyed fragrance tinged with a hint of freshly cut grass emanating from these voluptuous fruits.

At home, the mangos were once again, strewn across the hessian sacks onto the floor of her pantry. These little mangos, named Apricot for their shape, were spotted with tiny black dots once they were ripe.  They fitted into the palm of our hands making it easy to rip off their skin with our little teeth. Once rid of the skin, we were left with a ball of thick pulpy orange flesh. With mango juice dripping down our chins and forearm’s we would greedily devour the orange orbs in seconds, and then reach for more.

With summer in full swing, I have seen endless boxes of juicy ripe mango at most grocery stores and plenty of the alphonso mangos at the Indian store too. I couldn’t help but buy a box of mangoes! The ripe, juicy smell was just intoxicating I had too! Now with more mangoes that we can eat, my kids are going to be ecstatic, I’m going to make their favorite drink… Mango Lassi!

 You will need

2 cups mango juice or a 1 additional ripe mango (peeled)

2 ripe Alphonso mangoes

½ cup low fat plain yogurt

1 cup whole milk

1 cup cold water

A large pinch of cardamom powder plus extra

Agave, Honey or sweetener of choice

A few sprigs of mint for garnish

 

Pour the mango juice into ice trays  and freeze or if using the additional mango, cut it into cubes and freeze.

Peel the two mangoes and cut the flesh into large pieces. Discard the seed.

Place the cut mangoes, plain yogurt, whole milk and cardamom powder into your favorite blender and blend till its smooth and silky.

Now add the water and blend again.

Taste and add some sweetener if you’d like but that probably won’t be necessary depending on the ripeness of the mangos.

 

 

Toss a few mango juice ice cubes or frozen mango pieces, if using, into a tall glass.

 

Add a sprig of mint and a couple of leaves too.

 

Pour in the mango lassi, dust with more cardamom powder and serve with a straw.

 

My mother, however, makes the best damn Mango pulp dessert, she adds sugar to the mango pulp with a little bit of milk and serves it with fresh poori’s. Poori’s are a deep-fried flat bread that puff up into balloons when fried. I can eat quite a number at one sitting therefore attesting to their deliciousness!