Maybe a week more of mango gluttony, then it’s over for another year. So here’s the mango upside down cake recipe, so I remember it for next year.
My favourite dish to take to a party is always little tarts. They make such easily transportable finger food, so easy, and they look so party-food. Simple shortcrust pastry, lightly blind baked, then half filled with a slightly lemony cheesecake mix, topped with mango jelly. Recipe:
Back in midwinter, I posted a picture of my new, very beautiful fruit bowl – a Yule gift – filled with winter fruit – oranges, mandarins, lemons, limes, grapefruit. Then in Spring I posted a picture of it filled with spring fruit – pawpaws and strawberries in my part of the world. And now it is full of mangoes and grapes.
I don’t make jam. If I did, I’d just have to eat it and I really don’t need that much sugar. Besides, I am very very lucky in that I live in a place where there is some fruit in season pretty well any time of the year, and making not-jam is so much easier. Mulberry not jam, followed by strawberry, then peach and nectarine and plum, then mango, then…
This year’s Hot Mango and Tomato Chutney is in the jars. I make some version of this every year around this time, when mangoes, tomatoes and chilies are all available in glut proportions.
This recipe is frugal on the work and energy, but really it’s not for the sake of keeping mangoes I make pickles. It’s for the sake of a condiment, a little bit of flavour sparkle to go with curries or dhal, or on crackers with cheese. Just a little spoonful of a really good Indian pickle can make a very plain lentils and rice dish seem like a feast.
There are several bits of this recipe that don’t seem right and you’ll just have to trust me! It has no sugar, no butter or oil, only 5 ingredients (not counting water), and though it takes an hour to bake, it takes only 10 minutes to make.