Mango ice cream

Absolutely incredible ice cream! Real mango ice cream, prepared the traditional custard way with egg yolks. You can make this mango ice cream using fresh mangoes, but I highly recommend using canned mango pulp (purée) because mangoes available in our climate are often less aromatic and not as perfectly ripe as we would wish. The finished ice cream is creamy, intensely fruity and tastes absolutely wonderful.

I used ready-made canned mango pulp. If you use fresh mangoes instead, choose fully ripe fruit — about 4–5 mangoes. Peel them, remove the stones and blend the flesh into a smooth purée. Then press the purée through a sieve to remove the fibres. Finally, simmer the mango purée briefly with a small amount of sugar (subtracting that amount from the sugar in the recipe) and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Makes 2 litres of ice cream.

Ingredients for mango ice cream:

• 500 ml mango purée
• 250 ml milk
• 500 ml double cream
• 5 egg yolks, from large eggs
• 140 g sugar
• finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 tablespoon lemon or orange juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon or orange liqueur

Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until almost boiling, then remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, place the egg yolks and sugar into the bowl of a mixer. Whisk until pale, thick and fluffy. Pour half of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks (this tempers the eggs), mix thoroughly with the mixer, then pour everything back into the saucepan with the remaining milk. Return to low heat and cook gently, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens slightly and lightly coats the spoon. Immediately remove from the heat and do not allow the custard to boil, otherwise it may curdle. Leave to cool.

Once cooled, add the mango purée, orange zest, citrus juice and citrus liqueur. Mix thoroughly until fully combined. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 12 hours.

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Note: this recipe makes quite a large quantity of ice cream, so it is best to churn it in two batches because the volume increases significantly during churning.

Transfer the churned ice cream to a container, cover and freeze for several hours. The finished ice cream should be firm yet still beautifully creamy.

Without an ice cream maker:

The ice cream can also be made without a machine. Whisk the chilled mixture, pour into a freezer-safe container and place in the freezer. During the first 3 hours of freezing, mix or blend the ice cream every 30 minutes to prevent ice crystals from forming and to keep the texture fluffy and smooth. Freeze until firm.

Enjoy!