Mango recipes to bring the sweet taste of summer

In this abundant mango season, there are myriad ways you can make use of this windfall across meals – both savoury and sweet.

Prawn and mango salad cups. Picture: Guy Bailey

During this abundant mango season we have been snapping up aromatic, golden beauties by the tray-load. There are myriad ways you can make use of this windfall across meals – both savoury and sweet. Mango in salads provides a creaminess and zip that cuts through rich ingredients such as avocado and prawns for a twist on an Aussie classic, complete with macadamia nuts for crunch. Or for desserts, that same zip and creaminess freezes up a treat to create a home-made play on the frozen mango bar, with extra crunch from macadamias and toasted coconut. If you still find yourself with leftover mangoes, scoop the flesh out into portioned bags or containers (approximately two mangoes each), freeze, and then blitz in a high-powered blender for a one-ingredient sorbet that’s sure to keep you glowing well beyond the end of summer.

PRAWN, AVO, MANGO AND MACADAMIA CUPS

1 iceberg lettuce

¼ cup neutral oil (I like grapeseed)

¾ cup raw macadamias

1 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated

200g peeled prawn cutlets, butterflied and deveined

Juice of 2 limes

½ teaspoon salt flakes

½ teaspoon caster sugar

2 ripe avocados, cubed

2 ripe mangoes, cubed

2 tablespoons each finely chopped chives and mint

Freshly ground pepper

Remove the core from the iceberg lettuce and pull the shabby outer leaves off, then gently remove the next 6 leaves and use scissors to trim the outer edges off to make cups. Place cups in a large bowl filled with chilled water, slip the lettuce heart and the trim into the water too, and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Add the neutral oil and the macadamias to a small pan and cook over medium heat until the macadamias turn golden brown and aromatic.

Pop chopped chilli and garlic into a heat-proof bowl and pour the hot maca-flavoured oil over the top. Set the golden macadamias aside, then put the pan back over high heat and stir-fry the prawns with a couple of tablespoons of the chilli and garlic oil until curled and mostly opaque (about 2 minutes).

To the remaining chilli and garlic oil, add lime juice, salt and sugar and mix until sugar has dissolved, then set aside until ready to serve.

Drain the lettuce and dry on kitchen towel, then arrange the chilled lettuce cups on a platter. Finely shred the remaining lettuce and pop into the bottom of each cup. Scatter mango and avocado cubes over the lettuce, top with prawns and macadamia nuts and then drizzle liberally with dressing. Scatter over the chives and the mint and crack over some freshly ground pepper to finish. Serve in the lettuce cups, as you would san choi bow.

Serves 6

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Mango, macadamia and coconut bars. Picture: Guy Bailey

MANGO, MACADAMIA AND COCONUT BARS

500ml coconut cream (I prefer the ones in a UHT container)

1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 sweet ripe mangos (approximately 800g of flesh)

½ cup shredded coconut

½ cup raw macadamia nuts

½ teaspoon icing sugar

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Zest of 1 lime

Whisk the coconut cream, maple syrup, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt together. Pour the mix into the base of a shallow baking tray and pop into the freezer until frozen (approximately 4 hours). Cut the cheeks off the mangos and scoop out the flesh, cut into chunks and trim around the seeds for bonus bits, then place into the freezer on a separate tray until frozen (approximately 4 hours).

Line a 1.5 litre loaf tin with baking paper and plenty of overhang.

Break up the frozen coconut mix and blitz in a food processor until smooth, then pour half of the mix into the base of the prepared loaf tin. Add the frozen mango bits to the remaining coconut mix in the food processor and blitz together to a fine puree. Taste for sweetness and tartness (this will depend on your mangoes) and splash in some maple syrup and/or a squeeze of lime juice if need be. Spoon over the coconut base, and fold the lining over the top, then place in the freezer overnight or even a few days ahead.

Place shredded coconut and macadamias in a pan over low heat and shake the pan until the coconut turns golden, turn off heat. Toss through sugar, salt and zest, and set aside to cool. This can be cooled and stored in an airtight jar until ready to serve, too.

Take the loaf tin out of the freezer and leave on the bench for 10 minutes or so, until it softens slightly (if you’re somewhere hot, reduce this timeframe). Turn out onto a serving board. Pull the baking paper all the way off, then cut into bars and sprinkle with the toasted sweet/salty coconut and macadamia to serve.

Serves 8-10

Top Tips

You can make this even easier by adding some softened coconut ice-cream to the base of a lined loaf tin, then filling loaf tin with some softened mango sorbet, smoothing the top and placing in the freezer again until solid. Then serve as above with the toasted coconut and macadamia topping.

You can scoop out the flesh of mango cheeks on the side of a glass and catch the flesh into the glass for speed.

My preference is for Kensington Pride (KP) mangoes, as they have a nice balance of tart and sweet and a flat pip, but use whichever is most fragrant or accessible to you.