from my orchid kitchen

This homemade dessert is nothing more than pure and ripe mango puree with a bit of natural pineapple juice combined with gelatin and prepared in a pudding mold.

In these summer days, fresh desserts are always more prevalent, but sometimes they aren't the healthiest ones. Children mainly love fresh jellies and puddings but for the most part, there is no real fruit involved, just color and artificial flavors.

It is not the case of this mango pudding made only with fresh fruit, yogurt, and little (if any) sugar.

The ingredients

• Mango - in the pudding you see here was used fresh ripe mango, however, it can also be made with canned mango pulp.
• Pineapple juice - in this recipe I used this juice but you can use any other as long as it is from real fruit. It is not recommended to use pineapple-flavored soda because, in addition to being nothing more than a liquid full of sugars/sweeteners and additives when exposed to heat, it will undergo changes that can be harmful to health and also the taste may change.
• Yogurt - as I had no yogurt in my fridge, I replaced it with 0% quark cheese that has approximately the same consistency, but both natural flavored and/or vegan yogurts, as well as those with mango or pineapple flavor.
• Sugar - the amount of sugar used will depend on several factors: if the pineapple juice has sugar, if the yogurt is sweetened, the natural sweetness of the mango, and finally, the personal liking of each one of us.
• Agar-agar - when it comes to preparing this type of fresh puddings, I prefer to use agar-agar algae instead of gelatin sheets not only because they are of vegetable origin (unlike gelatin sheets that are of animal origin) but also because they set better and its structure and consistency better withstand not so cool temperatures.

How to make

• If using natural fruit (as I did), start by peeling the mango and removing the stone.
• All the pulp pieces are crushed, using a food processor, blender, or hand mixer, yielding approximately 400ml of mango puree.
• The puree is then passed through a strainer in order to remove the filaments that may have escaped the blending (this step is optional and depends on the blending method and equipment used).
• If you prefer to use the canned pulp, just measure the same amount that I obtained from the fruit.
• Add the puree to the yogurt (or quark) and mix well.
• Sweeten it with some sugar to taste (depends on the amount of sugar present in the ingredients used).
• In a proper container, bring the water together with the agar-agar to the heat, stirring constantly to dissolve well.
• Let it boil for approximately 1 minute.
• Turn off the heat and pour in the pineapple juice, stirring constantly.
• Without stopping stirring, add the 2 preparations (agar-agar with pineapple + mango with yogurt) until everything is homogeneous.
• The interior of a pudding mold is rinsed with water, and then the prepared mixture is poured into it.
• Place in the refrigerator until solid, at least 4 hours.

Fresh mango pineapple pudding recipe

Ingredients

Pulp of 1 mango (approx. 400ml)
125gr of yogurt or quark
200 ml of pineapple juice
1 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
2 teaspoons of powdered agar-agar
100 ml of water

1. Peel the mango and remove the core.
2. In a food processor, blender or hand mixer, grind the pulp well.
3. Pass the pulp through a strainer to remove filaments that have not been crushed (optional).
4. Add the pulp, sugar, yogurt or quark and mix well.
5. In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil together with the agar-agar, stirring constantly so that it dissolves well.
6. Let it boil for approximately 1 minute.
7. Turn off the heat, and stirring constantly, add the pineapple juice.
8. Always stirring, preferably with a whisk, add the 2 preparations until everything is homogeneous.
9. The interior of a pan is rinsed with water, and then the prepared mixture is poured into it.
10. Place in the refrigerator until solid, at least 4 hours.

 

This mousse is a creamy and fresh spring dessert, which highlights one of the fruits of the season and its balanced flavor between sweet and slightly acidic.

When we get to May, these orange coloured fruits start to be seen for sale, often full of spots, inducing those who do not know to think they are already touched or damaged. Actually, loquats are somewhat sensitive fruits that are easily marked on the skin by their tree, and these bruises often do not pass to the pulp.



I always got used to savoring loquats since I was little because for many years we had a tree of this fruit in our garden, but they were smaller in size than the ones found for sale.

Every year, when I buy loquats, this is one of the recipes I usually make, sweetening it sometimes with some sugar and sometimes using condensed milk.

The ingredients

This mousse is very simple to make and only needs 4 ingredients to prepare it:

• Loquats - For this recipe, I calculated about 2 to 3 ripe medium-sized fruits per person.
• Cream - as always, I prefer heavy cream without additives; between 15 to 30 minutes before starting the recipe, you should put the cream in the freezer to make it cooler and whip faster.
• Gelatine - helps to fix the whipped cream while maintaining its lightness, since the purée loquats are added (a moist and heavy element).
• Condensed milk - I prefer to use skimmed condensed milk or else condensed coconut milk, in a proportion of about 1 tablespoon per person.

How to make

Since loquats oxidize very quickly, I like to start this mousse by preparing the other elements first:

• After the cream has cooled, start whipping the cream and then add the condensed milk.
• Soak gelatin sheets in cold water, then drain.
• Place them in a bowl and melt in the microwave (defrost function) for a few seconds, enough to melt completely but without boiling.
• Mix a few spoonfuls of the cream preparation with the gelatin and mix everything well. Gelatin is never added directly to the whole of the cream and condensed milk preparation because we risk that the gelatin might solidify very quickly (due to the thermal shock) and we'll have some solid pieces of gelatin in the middle of the mousse.
• As the content of the gelatin bowl is added to the remaining cream, everything is well wrapped so all is uniform.
• Place in the refrigerator while the loquats are being prepared.
• Fill a bowl with water and some lemon juice, in which we will place the pieces of fruit as we peel and pit, to prevent them from oxidizing (which happens very quickly) and thus keep their natural color.
• With the help of a hand mixer, blender, or food processor puree the loquats.
• Finally, this puree is added to the remaining ingredients, mixing well until the mousse is homogeneous, and is distributed in bowls or cups that are placed in the refrigerator until serving time, simple or decorated to taste.

Loquat and condensed milk mousse

Ingredients

8 or 10 loquats
200 ml of heavy/whipping cream
4 sheets of gelatin
4 tablespoons of condensed milk
lemon juice 

1. Whip the cream along with the condensed milk.
2. Soak the gelatin sheets in a bit of water, and when they are moist, drain.
3. Place in a bowl, and take it about 10 to 15 seconds to the microwave (defrost mode) to melt (but don't let it boil).
4. Add a few tablespoons of the cream+condensed milk mixture to the gelatin and mix well.
5. Pour the contents of the gelatin bowl into the bowl of cream+condensed milk and wrap it well with a whisk or hand mixer.
6. Place it in the refrigerator while peeling and pitting the loquats into a bowl with water and some lemon juice.
7. In a food processor, blender or hand mixer, puree the loquat pulp.
8. Using a whisk or mixer, wrap the fruit pulp with the mixture of the cream+condensed milk+gelatin.
9. Divide it into bowls and return to the refrigerator until serving time.