Recipe by Illanique van Aswegen
Caramelised mango skewers and lemongrass ice cream
Ingredients
Ice cream
- 1L (4 cups) milk
- 250ml (1 cup) cream
- 2½ stalks lemongrass, halved and bruised in a pestle and mortar
- 250g (1¼ cups) brown sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 vanilla pod
Skewers
- 4 mangoes, peeled
- 80g (½ cup) palm sugar, finely grated
- fresh mint, to garnish
Instructions
For the ice cream, heat the milk, cream and lemongrass in a pot until warm. Remove from heat just before it starts to boil. Cover with a lid and allow to infuse for 45 minutes.
Whisk the sugar and yolks together until combined. Strain the infused milk mixture through a sieve into the egg mixture and stir to combine.
Scrape the vanilla seeds into the mixture and return the mixture to the pot.
Stir constantly over very low heat until the custard thickens slightly and you can no longer taste raw egg, 15 – 20 minutes.
Allow the mixture to cool completely. When cool, churn it in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When churned, place in the freezer to set.
Prepare the mango skewers just before serving. Remove 8 cheeks from the 4 mangoes and slice diagonally in half or quarters, depending on how big the mangoes are. Place 4 pieces of mango on each skewer so that you have 4 skewers in total.
Heat a griddle pan until hot and sprinkle the skewers with palm sugar. Grill on a griddle pan until lightly charred.
Serve each skewer with a dollop of ice cream and garnish with mint.
Notes
Use firm, ripe mangoes to make the skewers. The softer the mango, the more difficult it will be for them to stay on the skewer when grilling. This dessert is also great with good quality shortbread, which adds another element of texture to the dish.
