Spicefreak

Hey there heat eaters, it’s the last sunday of the month and you know what that means. It’s recipe time and, being that it’s now the height of summer, I figure it’s time for some frozen dessert.

A delicious mango sorbet with a fiery mexican twist.

You will need:

450ml mango pulp

1 tablespoon red chipotle powder (or 2 small dried)

125ml golden syrup

1 passionfruit

1 lime

And surprisingly little effort.

It’s not quite as simple as just throwing everything into a bowl but, actually, it’s not too far from that, either.

Halve your fresh fruit and squeeze them into a bowl through a sieve, so as to retain only the juice. Roll the passionfruit seeds around to get off any excess, tasty goo and then chuck them so that you can sieve the rest.

By which I mean the mango pulp, the golden syrup and 75 millilitres of water. The chipotle (which I had to grind myself, having run out of powder) gets stirred in after, as you’re whisking everything together. Which you can do as soon as you’re done sieving.

Then, when you’re done with that as well, cover your bowl and leave the mix to sit in the fridge. It should taste good right now but, with an extra day for the flavours to combine, the richness of the chilli and smooth tang of the passionfruit should truly come into their own.

The smooth blend of passionfruit and mango forms a tasty base but it’s that rich, savoury, chilli note and subtle tinge of lime that truly turns it mexican. Whilst freezing it takes the edge off that chilli’s heat a little and further rounds out and smooths off the flavour.

To do so, I’m going to have to recommend an ice-cream maker to ensure that everything’s churned to a texture as smooth as its taste. One that looks a little bit like this, albeit less soft serve, since it took a little while for me to get the shot and it’s pretty darn hot out now:

Not that the sorbet itself isn’t hot. It’s on the low end thereof, at a high

3/10

Heat

that comes in incredibly slow.

Between this sorbet’s sweetness, fruity tang and cold temperature, the dry heat of the chipotle takes roughly half a minute to even get going and, once it does, it takes at least as long again to peak.

This is definitely a dessert to be wary of because it’s all too easy to eat a little too much before the first hit of chilli and the flavour makes doing so oh so tempting. But, if you like it hot or have a good amount of self-restraint, I’d thoroughly recommend it.

It’s a scrumptious take on mexican sweet stuff that, while not entirely traditional, perfectly captures the blend of sweet, savoury and spicy at the heart of mexican candy.

The only thing that it’s missing is an overabundance of salt, which could easily be fixed with something like a margarita on the side. Or perhaps even one of ChimouliS’ salted caramels on top.

I’m thrilled with how this dish turned out!

And, for those of you who don’t have an ice-cream maker, not all is lost. You won’t get the same smooth texture but you can still make ice lollies by freezing the fruit and chilli mix in small plastic cups with lolly pop sticks.