Bitten by the mango madness bug - Mango Mousse

Mangoes and summer go together and in India, we try to make the most of it. In the Southern part of India, we get varieties that spoil us for choices. During summer holidays, my grandmothers used to buy a whole basket from the vendor who would sell them on streets. This ensured that we ate one whole mango in a day. We have never thought of making anything with them; eating them whole, licking off the juice that drips to our elbows and trying to shave the stone within clean with the teeth was such pleasure. Only later, we found that there were other varieties and large in size mangoes that were pulped to juice and served as a refreshing drink in wayside stalls.
Here in Africa, there seems to be no specific season. I have seen trees laden with fruits even as late as November.
Come April, every other vendor seemed to be stocking the mangoes and offer you for cheap prices that you cannot deny them. However, I try to keep their pressure well contained, explaining that we are a small family and we can come back to them to replenish supply. These mangoes however, come not even close in taste to the ones I am used to. They are very good for juice, lassi and other such servings - to eat them plain is just about okay, nothing to yearn for.
We picked up two large fruits after much persuasion from the vendor and recommendation from my driver. I planned to make sorbet with them for guests who dropped in for dinner. Plans did not work well so I had them sitting on my counter. That is until I read three posts that made me opt to try mousse or panna cotta. I chose to make the mousse.
I used hung curd and agar agar in the recipe. There are recipes that use gelatin, greek yoghurt and such. I do not get greek yoghurt here and thus chose to make hung curd.
The measures are very approximate as I had no clue how much agar agar will be needed and went by intuition. Also how much sugar depends on the sweetness of the mangoes.So read the ingredients list and use your discretion if you choose to make them. It really does not change that it is one thoroughly enjoyable treat for those who love mangoes.

Mango Mousse
Makes 4 sumptuously large servings

Ingredients:
550 ml mango pulp (two large mangoes, skinned, stone removed and pulped in the juicer)
1 tablespoon crushed agar agar
3/4 cup warm water
200 grams hung curd (Hang 1/2 litre curd tied in a cloth to drain liquid)
1/4 cup sugar (measured and then powdered)
200 ml light whipping cream
For garnish:
Few pieces of mango cut in cubes
Few raisins

Method:
Dissolve the agar agar in the warm water for thirty minutes.
Run the mango pulp and sugar together in the blender and blend well.
Remove about three tablespoons of the mango mixture in a bowl and heat over low heat.  Leave the rest in the blender jar.
When the pulp is warm, strain the agar agar solution into it and cook until it thickens.
Quickly add it to the blender jar and run a couple of minutes to combine, before the agar thickens further.
Transfer this to a bowl.
Place the hung curd in the jar of the blender and run the blender for few minutes until the curd has become creamy in it's own liquid.
Fold in this cream into the mango pulp and whisk until the mix is fluffy.
Whip the cream until soft peaks are formed and fold this also into the above mixture. Gently blend them all together.

Transfer into serving glasses and chill them in the refrigerator for few hours.
Garnish with the mango cubes and the raisins.
Serve chilled.

And I did make the sorbet too. So I am really giving in to the mango madness.

Meanwhile, over two weekends my husband decided to pep me up to be more attentive to the blog. On that account he went around looking for making boards for my photographs. He cut the wood and painted them.

He has a few ideas brewing in his head; though I do not know how I may use those if he makes them, for now I am going with the flow. this has been in my mind for sometime now, though I have not been actively posting recipes. Left to me I would have been saying this but would not have acted upon it. Now, I have to respond to this enthusiasm by making it work with my photos.