Mango sorbet & coconut ice cream
When we were in Jakarta two weeks ago, some lovely friends of ours gave us a boxful of mangga gedong (which happened to be in season) to take home with us. While mangga harum manis is famously sweet, the relatively smaller mangga gedong packs a heady punch. It is not only sweet and juicy, but irresistibly perfumed. The ripe fruit has vibrant, orange skin and flesh, and smells simply heavenly. We shared the bulk of our stash with friends and ate as many as we could just chilled and sliced. But at the end of a week, we were still left with over half a dozen delightfully ripe fruit. Inspired by Keiko’s gorgeous post (and the blistering heat), I decided to use our mangoes in a sorbet.
David Lebovitz’s recipe in The Perfect Scoop (a tome I have raved about previously) is fabulously simple. I will give an adapted and abbreviated description of it below, but I highly recommend buying the book — especially since the toasted coconut ice cream he suggests that we pair the sorbet with is absolutely divine. I can’t think of a better way of capturing the gastronomic glory of ripe mangga gedong. The sorbet tastes like smooth spoonfuls of frozen fruit and dazzles with its brazen tropical hue. I’m tempted to serve it in a glass of icy cold Prosecco or with a shot of kaffir lime-infused vodka.
As for the coconut ice cream, its subtle coconut flavour comes from infusing milk and cream with toasted, unsweetened dried shredded coconut (I used some from Bob’s Red Mill). A vanilla pod and splashes of homemade vanilla extract (a treasured gift from our dear friend Melissa) give it an added depth and dimension. Best of all, the French style (or custard-based) ice cream doesn’t taste overly rich or heavy. It is now my favourite coconut ice cream recipe! Now, if I can locate a website that will deliver a wooden cone-rolling form to Singapore, I’ll try out David’s ice cream cone recipe.
Mango Sorbet
Adapted from A Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Makes 1 litre
1kilogram peeled and deseeded ripe mangoes, roughly diced
130grams sugar
160millilitres water (I used Fiji Water because it tastes so clean)
8 teaspoons freshly squeezed kalamansi juice (This is a lime indigenous to the Philippines. It has a distinct sweet tartness to it.)
2 tablespoons dark rum
Pinch of salt
Combine the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth (add more lime juice and/or rum to taste). Chill the mixture then freeze it in your ice cream machine.
About Su-Lyn Tan
Su-Lyn is Aun's better half and for many years, the secret Editor behind this blog known to readers simply as S. Su-Lyn is an obsessive cook and critical eater whose two favourite pastimes are spending time with her three kids and spending time in the kitchen. She looks forward to combining the two in the years to come.
Hi S,
Thanks so much. I had just finished making a coffee flavored ice cream and I was looking to do something more fruity next. Your mango sorbet recipe is perfect. But I think I try making a version using unriped or green mangoes.
What a gorgeous color!
I love Mango Sorbet! Love it love it love it. It reminds me of home where Mango’s grow like weeds and we would eat them by the dozen, sticky juice running down our chins and hands and staining our clothes. Now Mango’s are exotic and expensive and I can never get one that was picked ripe and perfect. le sigh.
I acquired his book recently and have been making ice cream like nobody’s business too!! His peanut butter ice cream recipie is dead easy and tastes fantastic with melted chocolate drizzled in last minute 🙂 I’ve got some fig ice cream mix now waiting to be churned. Do share the other great recipies! I will certainly try out the toasted coconut one soon too!
Great photography! 🙂
YUMS SCRUMS! Pure bliss for the hot weather we’re having now. S, ifyou haven’t gone to Manila yet for the project, rem to try the magnolia macapuno (young coconut), ube and mango icecream over there – I lug back tubs all the time!!
Hi CH & S,
The sorbet looks yummy! I have a question on the Mac & Cheese recipe. If I can’t find the emmantel & mimolette or the kirsch, what would you suggest for substitution? The mac & cheese looks SO appetizing, I can’t wait to try the recipe.
what a great use for ripe mango. Your post makes me miss home and our mango trees!
Looks stunningly good!
Oh yummy. What gorgeous photography. I’ve been blogging about the Lebovitz book as well. Absolutely a model for a great cookbook.
Spring has just started in South Africa so I cant wait for mango season. Looks fantastic. My fiance loves Ice Cream and I always try and get him to eat a little healthier, but here we will both give in to temptation…
The ice cream spoons look fabulous!. May I ask where did you get them?
Siew Mun: We bought them in Tokyo. They are by Sabo Studio. Link is here. The spoons come in steel, silver and gold. I want their ice cream bowls too! http://www9.big.or.jp/~sabo/SHOP/SHOP-flame4.html
The ice-cream looks really divine! Which ice cream maker will you recommend for a beginner? Where can I get one in SG? Many thanks.
Christine, that’s always a difficult question to answer. If you’ve never made ice cream before, start with the Phillips machine (I’ve seen it in Best Denki in the past) that you have to freeze. It costs around SIN$80. One of our chef friends used to use this to prepare the ice creams he served at his restaurant until he upgraded to a Musso. Or if you can get your hands on one, KitchenAid has an ice cream attachment.
If you get hooked, you can upgrade to the Cuisinart which has a self-freezing compressor (Mayer sells it). I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve heard good reviews. It isn’t cheap, but if you love making ice cream, it may be worth thinking about buying it. I use a Musso (Bats sells it in Singapore). It also has a self-freezing compressor and it has worked wonderfully for me over the past six years. But it is a pretty hefty investment!
Thanks so much for your recommendation. However Best Denki only carries the machine from Kenwood now. I will head down to Courts and hopefully my ice cream making endeavor will be successful. 🙂
Hi Christine
Good luck! If not, try the Kenwood if it is reasonably priced.
Thanks! My gelato’s freezing in the fridge now. It seems runny. I’m not sure if it’s because I churned it for only 30 minutes?
Will attempt your mango sorbet next! 😉
Hi Christine, This’ll take practice. You’ll need to get to know your machine. You may need to churn it a little more (especially since we live in such a warm climate). Sometimes I put the machine in an air-conditioned room. The texture should be scoopable, but not like the firmness of store-bought sorbet. I’d love to hear how yours turned out.
Hi S,
thanks for your comment. I’ll try churning it for longer in future. Yup will update you how it turns out. ‘The Perfect Scoop’ has so many delectable recipes! 😉
omg..the sorbet looks oh-so-delicious!! i love your blog!! Gorgeous pictures =)
Hi S,
the mango sorbet turned out quite well. As per your advice, I churned it longer this time for about close to 50 minutes till it was rather slushy. Thanks so much for your help. 😉
Dear S, due to your divine ice cream blogs, i recently succumbed and bought myself a musso mini!!
Problem is I dont seem to have much success with the machine so far. 🙁 thought I would test the machine with a simple ice cream recipe from the musso booklet… but twice it turned out too slushy. Wondered if you could share how long you would normally churn and freeze your ice cream for with the musso mini? Should you be able to eat the ice cream straight from the machine after the musso does its work, or do you usually need to freeze it in the freezer for a firmer texture? Hope I will be able to fix this slushy ice cream mixture and ‘advance’ to the next stage to try out your yummilicious mango sorbet recipe!
Dear Dawn
I’m so sorry you haven’t had much luck with your machine as yet. Um, I don’t use the recipes in the booklet. a) I usually chill my ingredients overnight so whatever I pour into the machine is already cold. b) I usually churn each batch for about 35 minutes. The first batch tends to take a little longer than the subsequent batches (I usually churn two batches, one immediately after the other). c) I usually leave the churned product in the freezer for a day to ripen/harden (churn first thing in the morning, serve the same evening). d) Other issues with slushiness could be due to the recipe.
You can eat your ice cream immediately after churning it, but it won’t be scoopable in the way we expect ice cream to be i.e. it won’t shape into a ball. It’ll be thicker than milk shake, definitely spoon-able, but not of a texture that would make it possible for you to sit it on an ice cream cone.
Please feel free to send along any other questions you may have!
S
Beautiful – looks so yummy
Hi; I’m from Colombia and I recently found your blog and I just can’t stop reading it, it’s amazing.!!!!!!!
I’ve read all the guides you’ve made of different cities and I love it; someday I’d like to travel to asia and know all the places you recommend; right now I’m interested in the whole asian culture and food; I’d love to do your mango sorbet; the problem is here in my country it’s hard to find some asian ingredients or spices; for example I’d like to know what is the kalamansi juice; and if I can replace it for other ingredient more common??? because here I’ll never find kalamansi juice.
Anyway thanks for your advices, they are very useful.
I just found this inspiring post some days ago and decided to haul out my musso lussino and Lebovitz book from storage to engage in some ice cream making:)
However I found that after ripening/hardening for a day or so in the freezer, the ice cream is too hard to scoop out. How do you soften your ice cream for use and refreezing with causing the creation of large ice crystals in the ice cream?