Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Did someone say mango season?

It's that time of year again. The trees have flowered, and their fruits have set and are starting to ripen. Riding my bike home from yoga after dark, the whole town smells like mangoes. But, it's still the early days and no one is selling any mangoes at the markets. So last weekend Andy and I took matters into our own hands. We were at uni on Saturday to do some work, and before going home we toured around to a few of the mango trees on campus and helped ourselves to a bag full of a combination of Bowens and an asian variety (chok annan or nam doc mai, I think).

They were all pretty green and there was no chance they would ripen before Andy set off on his field trip. But, inspired by Brisvegan's green mango salad, I decided to make something with them in their current state. That spiralled into a whole tropical-themed dinner.

Green mango salad with crushed peanuts, the suggested variation of Green Papaya Salad from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen.

Coconut crusted tofu with lemongrass and capsicum sauce, from The Urban Vegan cookbook.

And baked sweet potato chippies, gently spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

For dessert, a coconut jelly (agar, sugar, coconut cream) with "Aussie-style Green Mango Sauce" from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen. The green mango sauce is simple--mango, sugar and water, cooked like apple sauce. I don't know how "Aussie-style" it actually is, but it was yummy enough. Andy said it would be better as a chutney than as a dessert item, but I liked its simple sweet-tartness.

Luckily, this all only used about 5 or 6 mangoes, so I've still got a fair few ripening on the benchtop... (See all of my other mango-themed posts.)

11 comments:

Amy said...

Yay Mango season! I love what you did with it all! I had no idea green mangoes were even edible!! Not being able to eat fruit makes me sad, mangoes are the one fruit I always cave on then suffer (but oh, it's SO worth it!)

Vaala ◪ said...

Yay! Can't wait till we get mangos over here too. Summer is on its way at last! I love your tropical themed dinner especially the look of that coconut crusted tofu. Looks awesome.

The Voracious Vegan said...

This all looks delicious! Especially that coconut crusted tofu, such a looker, bet it tastes absolutely amazing.

Dee said...

As rent for enjoying your blog can I offer you some bananas? I have too many, they are organic, and I can bring them to uni or you can drop over and collect.

photo of the goods on my blog. You can comment or email adella.edwards@jcu.edu.au

cheers

BrisVegan said...

Oh yum! I am jealous that you can get so very many fresh tropical fruits year round.

I have agar in my cupboard and really should try to make something like your coconut jelly. Yours looks just like a restaurant dish.

Gina said...

I love that you can smell the mangos everywhere! That's so cool. We had mango trees in Hawaii but we could never smell them.

I love the tropical themed dinner, especially that tofu, YUM!

Mike K said...

Mango season brings back fond memories of Ecuador, where we could get a half dozen fresh mangoes for a dollar - it's really the best time of year :) Mango salad sounds fantastic, and the coconut/lemongrass tofu looks great too.

Susan said...

I love mangoes! I have a nice ripe one sitting in my fridge, wooing me as we speak.

x said...

You are so lucky, I think I should move up north!

I want to make that coconut jelly, it reminds me of a dessert I had at my birthday.

Anonymous said...

i like how simple that coconut jelly sounds

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