Mango Pudding (芒果布丁)

A case of a dozen Ataulfo mangoes can be had for about $15 CAD if you know where to shop. The problem is, they all start to ripen at the same time. I had the brilliant idea of making a pudding that would use up a lot of the fresh, ripe fruit, but it turned out to be a dud.

A Cantonese-style chilled pudding is essentially a soft set Jello. I have fond memories of eating milk pudding flavoured with almond extract in a rabbit mold, served with canned fruit cocktail. The easiest way to make mango pudding is to prepare it from a packaged powder (Robertsons is a common brand) and add some mango chunks. But we’re “from scratch” bakers in this house!

The recipe I tried comes from the excellent site, Woks of Life. It calls for blending a mango puree with water, gelatin, sugar and condensed milk. I subbed some regular milk instead, reducing some of the water.

My biggest complaint about this recipe is that the flavour is quite mild due to all the water that’s used. Why not use something like mango nectar or juice? And maybe a touch of lemon juice would be nice too. Because of the fresh puree, and how fibrous many mangoes are, the texture is not smooth like Jello but I don’t have any problem with that.

I’ll keep looking for another recipe for mango pudding. I might even invest in a rabbit or fish mold for future experiments!