Chill with Mango Granita
In another life, we were an innocent bunch of kids, who lived a stress-free and tech-free life. We literally lived in our neighbours' homes and loved to play cricket & scrabble. Many years (or is it light years?) later, we have no inkling of who stays in the house next door, forget about the one down the lane. Now my 8 year old nephew send me an invite on Facebook. Seems like this real world has been taken over by the virtual world of social networking and internet surfing. For quite some time, this had been disturbing me, as it would to anyone who comes to a new unknown country. I felt bad for my son, for not getting a friendly neighborhood to play and grow in. I used to crib about the virtual life becoming more real than the real life. But then how can you complain about what's becoming your lifeline? And I got to experience this blurring line of real & virtual world, in an interesting way, which literally proved a slice of life!!
While the routine blog-hoping, I came across this lovely blog, and left a comment on some posts. Soon the blogger was visiting my space too and leaving her feedback. After a few such notes exchanged, we discovered that she and her husband are friends of my husband, staying right across the road. Now since we are new in Bahrain and they had not been around for a while, my husband didn't get to introduce us, until today. Finally the two bloggers hopped out of their screen to meet face to face. And had a good laugh over the antics blog can play. So time I rest my anxiety to rest and relive my childhood with mango granita, which is an instant reminder to the "chuski", we enjoyed so much in summers. I really want to recreate that, but maybe next time, till then a simple granita. Hope you had enjoyed the Mango Fool too!!
Granita is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various types of flavourings, quite similar to sorbet, but has a more crystalline texture. And this is what I failed to capture in my clicks. The summer heat of Bahrain, ensured that the granita was melting faster than I could click. Did I mention I was clicking in the mid afternoon - right next to the window sill, with ac setting on 'not so cool". Thanks for the compliments to my intelligence!! So I would let your imagination crystallize it. This recipe was adapted from here.
Mango Granita Recipe
Ingredients:
Ripe Mangoes: 2, medium sized
Lemon Juice - 1/2 tbsp
sugar: 2-3 tbsp
water: 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder -1/4 tsp
Mint Leaves - 4-5
Method:
- Boil water with sugar, till sugar dissolves. Add lime juice and cardamom powder and let it cool
- Peel, chop and puree mangoes. Add sugar syprup and blend it well.
- Transfer to a chillded bowl. Cover and place in the freezer until nearly set, about 1-2 hours,
- Now break this semi set mixture with a fork, vigorously. Repeat every 2 hours for at least 2-3 times, till it starts resembling ice shavings or granular.
- Serve chilled, but not frozen with mint leaves as garnish
Sending it as my entry to Mango Recipes and Serve it Chilled events.
16 comments