Mango sago dessert (芒果西米露)

(serves 2)

One of my favourite places to go when i go back to Hong Kong is the dessert houses. They have a huge range of fruit blends (watermelon, mango, strawberries, kiwi fruit etc) with an equally-wide range of chewy extras (pearls, sago, jelly etc). The concept is similar to Easy way and Chatime, but more of a sit-down place with real fruit mixes, rather than syrup-y additions.

Despite all the varieties, my childhood favourite was always just the basic mango sago mix. I don't know why it's taken me so long to think of making it for myself, somehow i always thought it would be more complicated than just milk and mango, but that seems to do the trick! I read a few recipes that use condensed milk or sugar to sweeten it up, but usually our Aussie mangoes are so amazing when ripe that i don't think you need it!

Prep time: 20min

Ingredients
1 large ripe mango
200mL  milk
2-3 ice cubes
1/4 C sago (dried)

Method
1. Soak the sago for about 10min in cold water to rehydrate. Drain and rinse the starch off.

2. Heat a small pot of boiling water and put the sago in, stirring regularly until majority of the sago has gone translucent (3-5min).
NB. Don't wait until they all go translucent as they will continue heating in the water and may completely dissolve!

Left: Sago after rehydrating, Right: Sago after cooking (mostly translucent)

3. Turn off the heat and drain the sago through a fine sieve. Rinse with cold water. Keep the sieve slightly immersed in cold water to keep the sago separated, or you can remove and put in cold water.
4. Cut the mango into thirds. Remove the flesh from 2/3 (one cheek and the middle) and place into a blender with the milk and ice. Blend until well-combined.

5. Cut the remaining third into fine cubes and scoop out with a spoon.

6. To serve, pour the mango pureé into 2 bowls, even distribute the sago and top with the mango flesh and it's ready!   

NB. If you want to do this in stages, you can refrigerate the mango pureé, but leave the sago in cold water at room temperature otherwise they'll go hard!