Saffron infused Mango Cream topped with almonds & pistachios

Saffron infused Mango Cream

Mango, oh, mango! The king of all fruits, luscious and tempting. I am nostalgic and thrilled everytime I see you all stacked up beautifully at a fruit vendors'. My grandfather was a true mango aficionado. When I was a kid, he got loads of mangoes. It was like a mini-mango shop at my place. He dutifully attended to them. Turning them over, alternating them and ensuring each one got enough heat to ripe the right amount. The whole house was filled with sweet and warm smells of mangoes. Each evening, we all kids (my cousins) would sit in a circle. My grandfather would sit right in the center with a big aluminum tub filled with ice and mangoes. He would artfully cut each piece and we all would greedily stare at the golden-orange-yellow luscious mango flesh in his hand. He would give one piece to each and we would all bite into the slice hastily, waiting for more. None of us stopped till all the mangoes from the tub were gone. It would be right to say that I inherited my obsession of mangoes from my grandfather. So, each summer I have a "liaison amoureuse" with mangoes. This time around i made it more memorable. Mango Cream was one such way.



Saffron infused Mango Cream (makes one 400 g jar) 
Ingredients:

3 ripe mangoes (preferably Alphanso variety)

I pack whipped cream (I used Blue-Bird’s)

2 tbsp chopped almonds and pistachio

Few strands of saffron

Method:

1.     Slowly massage two out of three mangoes and remove the pulp of the mangoes. Smoothen the pulp with a hand blender. If you find this difficult, you can also peel the mangoes and grind them into a mixer to make the pulp. Mix half of the saffron strands with the pulp.

2.       Chop the remaining one mango into small pieces. Keep refrigerated.

3.       Make whipped cream by following the instructions on the pack. I prefer Blue-Bird. Have used one from Crawford market (Mumbai) too. Didn’t like it much.

4.       Now slowly mix ¼ of the mango pulp with the whipped cream. Refrigerate.

5.       Mix the remaining mango pulp with the mango pieces.

6.      Take a sterilized jar. Fill the bottom with ½ of the remaining mango pulp- mango pieces      mixture.

7.       Take some of the whipped cream-mango pulp mixture and place on the top. 

8.       Put the remaining mango pulp-mango pieces mix on the top.

9.       Finish with placing the whipped cream mix as the last layer.

10.   Top the cream with almonds, pistachios and remaining strands of saffron. Refrigerate. 

11.   If serving immediately, take small glasses and make similar layers. Refrigerate for 20-25 minutes before serving.