Mango Mousse

I love mangoes. They're, along with bananas, the only fruit I buy throughout the year, although I tend to favor U.K.-grown ones for environmental reasons. But apart from greedily devouring their sweet yellow flesh, standing at the kitchen counter, bags of unpacked groceries at my feet, juice dripping down my forearm, I never quite know what to do with them.

This state of affairs looked unlikely to change until I stumbled, in the course of the past few days, upon an avalanche of recipes for raspberry mousse. Now, I like raspberries. In fact, I like them so much --and they're so darn expensive--that I didn't immediately take to the idea of blitzing them into a puree. So I thought, why not try it with mangoes?

When an idea for a recipe strikes me, I usually need to execute it immediately. So I rushed down to the Indian corner shop and took a look at their mangoes. They were yellower, thinner and longer than the kind I usually buy, but the shopkeeper assured me I would be pleasantly surprised. And indeed I was.

This recipe makes about five individual mousses of the size of a largish espresso cup (as seen in the photo).The mousse is not very sweet and the mango taste, while delicate, is very noticeable so this pud is not a good way of making little people who dislike mangoes eat them, just in case you were thinking you might get away with it.

Ingredients:
Two mangoes
300ml double cream
2 egg whites
5g gelatine
2 tablespoons honey, agave syrup or sugar

15 minutes before you start, place a large bowl in the fridge to chill it.

Slice each mango in two. With a sharp knife, criss-cross the flesh. Peel off the cubes thus formed by sliding your knife as close as possible to the skin, as you would when preparing melon. Put the flesh into a food processor and reduce to a pulp.

Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form soft white peaks. Then, in your chilled bowl, whip your double cream. Be careful not to overdo it or it will turn into butter.

Dissolve your gelatine according to the instructions on the packet, usually in a few tablespoons of warm water. Once the gelatine has dissolved, blitz it in the microwave at full power for 15 seconds, just to be sure. Incorporate it with your mango puree. If you're adding sugar or agave syrup, now's the time.

Carefully fold in the cream, making figures of eight with a wooden spatula. Repeat with the egg whites. Place in the fridge until set, at least a couple of hours. Serve chilled.