Makes just over 500ml

From April onwards, India becomes a mango-lover’s paradise, as Mumbai’s Crawford Market bustles with lorries laden with Kesar, Badami and Alphonso mangoes brought in from all corners of the subcontinent. Huge wicker baskets overflow with pale yellow orbs, carried into the large indoor market atop sellers’ heads. Inside the market, workers sitting on beds of straw pack barely ripe mangoes into colourful boxes to be exported across the globe, each mango inspected to ensure that by the time it arrives at its destination, it will have ripened to perfection.

The mango season is short in London. By the time mangoes reach London, the price has gone up considerably – Alphonso mangoes especially are sold at a premium. So in our family, our favourite alternative to fresh mangoes was Alphonso mango pulp which we could buy year-round and enjoy poured on ice cream, over fruits, mixed with yoghurt or my favourite, straight from the tin!  Tins of Alphonso and Kesar pulp are both readily available at Asian stores, and are sweet, fragrant and delicious.

Although this recipe uses mango purée, the purée of blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, apricots, peaches or papaya, or any mixture of these fruits works brilliantly too. The only equipment you need is a whisk and a bowl.

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300g mango purée, preferably Alphonso or Kesar
juice of ½ lemon
175g caster sugar
250ml double cream
1 tablespoon rose water
½ tablespoon kerwa water (optional, but good for a typical Indian flavour)

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1. Measure 5 tablespoons of the purée into a small saucepan and add the lemon juice and sugar. Place over a low heat and allow the sugar to completely dissolve so that you have a mango syrup. Pour this into a bowl with the remaining mango purée and mix to combine.

2. In a separate bowl, whip the cream with the rose water and kerwa water (if using), until it almost doubled in volume and it forms stiff peaks. Fold the mango purée through the whipped cream, being as gentle as possible, until no streaks remain.

3. Pour the mixture into a freezer-proof container and leave in the freezer for 3 hours before enjoying with abandonment!