How To Eat a Mango

This tutorial is for my 'mango-challenged' friend Susi. She asked for a  step-by-step tutorial on how to cut mangoes after I put up post on the previous BWD challenge.

I have to admit, at the risk of sounding narcissistic, the mango did look pretty in the photo I took for the post. The one I have used today is a mango with more fiber so it doesn't have the nice clean lines the other one did. 

So that is step #1 : The choice of mango is important. Choose a firm, sweet mango with little fiber. Look at the stickers on mangoes when you're out buying them to see where they originate from. Mangoes from Brazil or Kenya, for example, are much like the one I used today and have a lot of fiber in their flesh. 

Small, pulpy mangoes will not work either if you want to cut them this way. Anyway, here we go: 

All I had was two mangoes. The one on the front is the one I chose for the tutorial before I realized (after cutting it) that I should have chosen the Pakistani mango at the back (which is what I used in my old post).

Cut as close as possible to the stone this way and please ignore the fact that I need a manicure.

Repeat with the other side.

Now, pick one half up in the palm of your hand and cut into the flesh (without tearing the skin) along the length of the mango.

Repeat by cutting along the width.

Now, just hold it from the sides and turn the skin out.

I know, not as pretty as the mangoes here but it's not too bad, right? At this point, you can slice as close to the skin as possible while holding the mango-half over a bowl and you will get perfect mango cubes. 

Or (and this is better) this is also a pretty way to present mango when you have company, since it can be eaten right off the skin with a spoon. 

I'm throwing in this next bit for fun. If you have small kids, here's a fun way for them to eat their mangoes. Cut all around the middle of a mango :

Then twist one half off. Here's what you will get:

Kids can eat out of their 'mango cups' with a spoon (you could even fill the scooped-out half with some ice-cream). I loved eating mangoes this way as a kid & still do! And so does my offspring:

Baking With Dorie: Tender Shortcakes

These baking challenges and this blog are turning out to be the reason why I have to hit the gym at 5 a.m. daily. Seriously.  

But does the guilt stop me from at least wholly consuming everything I make? Nah. You already knew that, didn't you?

This weeks' recipe was chosen by Susi of Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures & we're joined this week by two new bloggers who have joined our baking group.

I made these short cakes in a hurry this morning & was glad that it wasn't an elaborate dessert that I would have had to labor over.

I've never made shortcakes before, so I was a little perplexed over the dough which looked too crumbly and didn't come together as well as I had expected it to. I didn't want to overwork it, but had no idea if this was even what it was supposed to look like. 

So, I just took the plunge and baked a batch of 4 to begin with. And guess what happened: burnt the bottoms. I had better luck with the second batch which came out looking great and was only slightly scorched on the bottom. 

Now handling these cakes was tough - they were crumbly and using a serrated knife to slice them just didn't work. So I did what Dorie alternatively suggests: pricked with a fork all around and then just lifted the top off with a spatula & layered it back on after spreading the bottom halves with fruit & whipped cream.

For the fruit, I chose to use chopped mangoes with a squirt of lime (as suggested by Dorie on page 425) . Her original recipe asks for berries, but I used mangoes because they are my favorite fruit and it's hard to resist them now, with the beginning of mango season here. 

I also played around with the dough & took up one of Dorie's suggestions of adding powdered as well as candied ginger into the dough. And for me, the blend of flavors from the lime, mango and ginger were a real treat. 

All the shortcakes then  needed, was some simple whipped cream.

Please go over to Susi's blog for the recipe, and the blogroll here to check out the other BWD bakers versions.

Our next recipe, due on June 7, is the Lemon Cup Custard (page 387). If you'd like to join the challenge, please drop  me an email at needfulthings at ymail dot com.