Over the last few weeks I’ve been gorging myself on delicious Kesar mangoes from India. Alphonso mangoes haven’t been as good this year, their flavour not as sweet and their scent not as perfumed as usual but the Kesar ones have been delicious. I’ve bought box after box from my local Asian grocery store, shared with family and friends or eaten at home with sleeves rolled up and an apron protecting my clothes.
The last box I picked up wasn’t ready to eat when I bought it so I had to wait, impatiently, for the fruits to ripen. When they did, they all ripened at the same time and it wasn’t long before they continued onwards from ‘perfectly ripe’ to ‘starting to go brown’. I quickly cut open the last four and scooped all the flesh out before they turned. That left me with 700 grams of top quality sweet and fragrant mango flesh in the fridge.
I thought about freezing the mango flesh in small portions to throw straight from the freezer into smoothies or instant sorbets. But my thoughts went instead to a recent family barbeque in which my mum had made lassi, which we enjoyed while eating sweet, ripe mangoes.
Lassi, for those who aren’t familiar with it, is a popular Indian drink made from natural yoghurt and water. It can be made sweet or salty, the former often enhanced with rosewater or kewra essence, the latter with spices such as cumin. More recently it’s become common to add fruit, with mango lassi becoming increasingly popular both in India and worldwide.
I’m not the first to think of translating mango lassi into ice lolly form – it’s an instinctive idea during the hot summer months. It’s also a great way to enjoy top quality mangoes beyond the all-too-brief mango season.
For these mango lassi ice lollies I debated whether or not to blend the mango flesh into the yoghurt but decided to keep the two elements separate so that some bites are sweet and heady with mango, while others are refreshingly tart from the yoghurt.
If you prefer, you can blend mango and yoghurt together for an all-in-one style ice lolly.
Mango Lassi Ice Lollies
Ingredients
- 700 g fresh mango flesh
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice, (about 1 medium lime, juiced)
- sugar to sweeten the mango, to taste (optional)
- 500 g thick full-fat natural yoghurt
- sugar to sweeten the yoghurt, to taste (optional)
You will also need lolly moulds and lolly sticks. I use disposable plastic cups as moulds, and traditional lolly sticks (easily purchased online).
Notes
Likewise, my natural yoghurt was very tart, so I mixed 50 grams of sugar into it – just enough to soften the tartness without eliminating it.
Instructions
- In a blender, combine the mango flesh and lime juice and blend until smooth. If you are adding sugar, add a little at a time, blend thoroughly and taste again before adding more if needed.
- If adding sugar to the yoghurt, fold it in by hand or your yoghurt will lose its naturally thick texture.
- Assemble your lolly moulds – as you can see I use 'disposable' plastic cups but usually clean and reuse at least a few times before they break.
- Spoon in dollops of the mango mixture and the yoghurt in turn, swirl with a lolly stick to mix if needed.
- Insert a lolly stick into each mould. If using cups rather than custom-designed ice lolly moulds, you may need to use elastic bands or masking tape to hold the stick upright – mine stayed upright on their own as the mango and yoghurt mixtures were both quite thick.
- Freeze upright for 24 hours.
- Once frozen, unmould individual lollies by dipping each mould into a bowl of hot water for a few seconds before pulling the ice lolly gently out.
If you’re a fan of fresh fruit lollies, you may also like my roasted banana ice lollies and my eton mess strawberry cream and meringue ice lollies.
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Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!25 Comments to "Mango Lassi Ice Lollies"
These look delicious Kavey. I am so gald you were able to put your favourite mangos to good use before they went off. I am looking round Birmingham for these Kesar mangos. Not managed to find out any yet though.
Ask any local Asian grocery what varieties they have in at the moment from India and Pakistan. I’ve found alphonso disappointing this year but you may have better luck. Also look for honey mangoes, a marketing term used for a range of similar varieties from the region. Usually good.
Mango is my favourite fruit, so I would love to try these popsicles! And I love it when frozen desserts are made with natural yoghurt, yum! 🙂
Mango is my favourite too and I adore lassi so it was a good use for my sweet ripe mango flesh!
I love yoghurt and fruit lollies and love the way the mango is swirled into these!
Thanks Corina!
These sound so refreshing and summery! I’ve never had kesar mangoes and sadly I don’t have an asian supermarket in my small town, but I’ll definitely look out for them!
I hope you can find them somewhere!
You’re lucky to live in London because here in Essex we sit with almostly exclusively with the Keitt variety. Do you pick up on my enthusiasm for the stuff? Apparently, it’s lychee season in the Far East. I keep a lookout at Asian markets. Nothing. Yeah, I know. First world problems. Anyhoo, my ice lolly sets will be arriving today and I can’t wait to experiment with different flavours. Yours look lush!
Aaw Michelle, yeah I hear you. You can find them outside London but only in areas where there’s an Asian population sufficient to support an Asian grocery shop!
Like Michelle, I haven’t really seen the “good stuff”. I rarely bother with mangos because unless they are like these Kesars or the near-mythical Alphonses, mangos in the UK are pretty terrible. But when you get the best ones I can’t think of anything better than 1) eating them over the sink, and 2) doing as you have done. Love lassi. And homemade mango lassi lollies? Perfection.
The ones supermarkets have focused on for eons are Tommy Atkins and similar, very firm, easy to cube for fruit salads but comparatively tasteless and no beautiful aroma!
aside from looking very cute, these look as though they would be perfect for a boiling hot summers day. A very tasty way to cool down Kavey x
Thanks Stuart, yes very cooling!
These look delicious – I love that you used fresh mango. Great idea to use disposable cups instead of forking out for dedicated lolly moulds!
Thanks Becca, I do fancy the traditional shape moulds but the ones I can find are in a big block that I don’t have freezer space for. X
Love these ice lollies, mango is a fruit that has gradually won me over in recent years and I have a ripe one in the fridge that I’ve been thinking of making into something!
So delicious! And a good way of increasing fruit and dairy intake for those who don’t eat much.
Hi, I’m Sonia from Teaologists. I loved your Mango Lassi Ice Lollies recipe. Would you care to make it again with Matcha tea this time instead of Mango? That way, it can be Matcha Lassi Ice Lollies and have an interesting twist. I think the sweet, vegetal taste of Matcha will bring a unique touch to the recipe. We could send you a 20g sample to make it!
We are approaching bloggers like you who are passionate about food and offering them to try our Matcha tea for their recipes as a part of our promotional campaign. It’s completely free and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to do anything. There are no hidden costs, or hidden anything!
Let me know if you’d be interested to give your Mango Lassi Ice Lollies recipe a twist with our Matcha green tea.
Love from Teaologists,
Sonia
You’ve got me desperate to try a Kesar mango now. I haven’t had a good mango in a very long time. Mango lassi is delicious and I love the way you’ve made it into ice lollies.
I’ve just bought some ice lolly moulds so I can get creative and join in with BSFIC, but I can’t find enough room in my freezer 🙁
Thank you Choclette, I hope you can try a kesar mango soon! I’m the same, it’s always a challenge to find space in my freezer too!
We have been getting through loads of mango recently, and just eating it by itself, but this looks like a nice way to use it next time we buy some. Great photos too!
Thanks Dannii, great that you’ve been enjoying mango season too!
This sounds looks refreshing,i love mango,it is perfect feast in this summer,really awesome lassi..
Yes, I love when mango season rolls around each year!