Kitchen (spring)

Lactose free dessert for Sunday Lunch

Posted on 26 May 2015 at 11:31am    2 comments

Coming up with a light dessert which isn't packed with cream or soft cheese can take some doing - we've long given up on the dessert menus in most restaurants, and the best they can come up with when pushed is a run of the mill fresh fruit salad. The biggest shame, is that we feel obliged to accept it if it's offered!

In our kitchen, there is more scope for trying totally lactose free desserts and we have discovered and created more than a few. Having invited the neighbours to join us for lunch recently, we decided to offer mini versions of a variety of desserts so that we could enjoy more than one without over doing it. Served up in liquor glasses, a refreshing combination of fresh mango and pistachio fool made with coconut cream went down a treat. The original recipe came from a cookery book so I cannot claim it to be my own invention - but it is worth sharing. 

This dessert takes around ten minutes to prepare and requires at least two hours chilling time. For our lunch party I halved the ingredients and created six mini portions using sherry glasses to serve them in.

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp cornflour

1 x 250 tin coconut cream

2 large ripe mangos

30g unsalted pistachio nuts, finely chopped

2 tbs clear honey

METHOD

Add 1 - 2 tbsp of water to the cornflour and stir to a smooth paste. Gently warm the coconut cream in a heavy-based saucepan, add the conflour paste a little at a time and beat with a whisk throughout. Heat for five - six minutes until the mixture is thick. Whisk thoroughly off the heat and leave to cool.

Carefully slice the mango with a sharp knife - take care to avoid the stone. Over a bowl, slice the flesh inside the skin and then scoop it out with a spoon. Cut the flesh off the stones.

Add the coconut mixture to the bowl with half the pistachios and blend together with a hand-held electric blender; alternatively, put all the ingredients into a liquidiser or food processor. Add the honey to taste and blend quickly. Spoon the fool into serving glasses or bowls and leave to chill in the fridge for at least two hours. Sprinkle with remaining pistachios and serve.

Recipe and method adapted from The Best Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes by Grace Cheetham. Duncan Baird Publishers, London. 2007. For orginal recipe, simply double the quantity of ingredients required.