Mango Pudding...the cheat way

This was dessert last night. Me and mango pudding, Aaron and mango pudding, our love for mango pudding, indescribable is the word. I ran out of gelatine and I ran out of ice cream. All I have is a packet of 85g Mango Flavoured Aeroplane Jelly.

I don't eat stuffs like that. Apart from the fake mango essence taste and deep lemon colour, no part of it is truly mango. But it was 89cents. The cheapskate in me couldn't help but buy it and figure out what to do with it. I could just make the jelly and run a fork through them and serve them with ice cream or use them to top a velvety smooth cheesecake but I didn't.

A crazy idea sparked my mind. I could use this packet of mango jelly powder as gelatine instead! The mango jelly powder will be what forms my aspic. I gotta figure out the proportion myself though. I can almost say it's failproof and hey, mango size doesn't matter too! You'll either get a more wobbly consistency or firmer depending on the mango size you use but rest assured, it will definitely set.

And it set real quick, like after 2 hours. I didn't make too much, it's just me and Aaron anyway. And mangoes....good, sweet, creamy luscious mangoes are everywhere! Generally, I'll only buy R2E2 or Honey Gold Mangoes because they are as sweet as ever.... and they have less fibre too! Good or bad, you figure it out but I want my mango pudding silky smooth.

And because I didn't add any sugar to the pudding, I sugar-coated the lips of my glass just in case it's not sweet enough for us. And the strawberries, it's sour and tart. I quarter them and squeeze in some of the leftover Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Buttercream from my previous cupcakes. You of couse could use chantilly cream, this is just what I've used.

And the cubed mango cheeks taste so good with evaporated milk dribble over them. I'd be making them over and over again. The mango jelly powder by itself sucks but it taste real good after a couple of transformation. If you're looking for creamy mango pudding, this is it.

Mango Pudding
(makes 2 cups scant of pudding)

1 packet of Mango Flavoured Jelly Powder (Mine was an 85g pack)
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup cold water
1 mango, peeled and pureed, pass through a fine sieve to remove fibrous stuffs
1/2 cup evaporated milk (use creamy ones, don't use those light stuffs)

Place the jelly powder in a small pot. Pour in the hot water and whisk until combined. I generally can never get it to dissolve properly so I place them on the stove, heat them up a bit, use a water-soaked brush to paint the sides of the pot to remove any stuck jelly powder and stir non-stop with a whisk. Use low heat and don't heat it up too long. Whisk in the cold water to bring down the temperature a bit. Finally, whisk in the mango puree and evaporated milk. Whisk hard else it might set and curdle. But don't fret, cuz when mine curdled because I didn't whisk quick enough, I run a stick blender through the mixture and it became uniform again, easy peasy and failproof.

Pour it into serving glasses. Feel free to add a tablespoon of castor sugar in the mixture if you think your mango is not sweet enough. Chill for 2 hours and it'll firm up. Pop it in the freezer for 15mins and it's all icy cold and ready to serve.

P/S: I thought I was smart to use jelly powder to make pudding but a quick Google search and I realise I'm not the first one and definitely not the only one.... :( Whatever, I like my proportion so use mine with assurance from me!

Pei Lin, I've picked up your Happy 101 Award meant for me. If you're reading this, a million thanks to you again for thinking I'm worth it!

Pei Lin, I think I'll make this a leaf node in the tags spanning across the blogosphere. In a quick 5 mins Google, it looks like most bloggers that I have known and those that I have not already known have already been tagged, and I'm not going to spread the contagion outside the organization further :)