Mango

Mango Bars with Li Hing Crust

I should really be packing right now. In case you didn’t know, we are moving to Oahu in 8 days. You wouldn’t guess it by looking around my house though. Yikes!

As my friend Sarah said, “I’ve always done my best packing like homework- by busting it out through cramming. It’ll get done- you gotta enjoy life!” Sound advice Sarah, I like your style.

I think I would enjoy life more if I was eating a mango bar with a li hing crust and coconut milk whipped cream on top. It is mango mania around here in case you haven’t noticed. Maybe if I had some of those I would feel more like packing. Let’s find out, shall we?

Besides, I certainly can’t let all this food in my cupboard go to waste! Cooking everything in my house should be at the top of my to do list right now. Siri, remind me not to feel bad about making mango bars.

There, that’s better. Now let’s do this.

Mango bars are just like lemon bars but we are going to sub out the lemon juice and add mango puree instead. We are also going to add some li hing powder to the crust just for fun and to give it a little local flare. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the salty, sweet flavor the li hing powder adds! It’s unlike any pie crust I’ve ever tried and now I can’t stop thinking about the world of li hing powder possibilities!

I might even get crazy and see what happens if I whip coconut milk and powdered sugar together. Oh my!

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1/2 # butter, cubed at room temp

1/2 C sugar

2 T li hing powder

2 C flour

For the Filling:

6 eggs at room temp

2 C sugar

1 C pureed mango

1/4 C lime juice

1 C flour

For the Coconut Whipped Cream (or foam as in my case)

1 can of overnight chilled coconut milk

3 T powdered sugar

Directions

First let’s make the crust. Get out your mixer and cream the butter, sugar and li hing powder together with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy.

Then add the flour a half cup at a time. Don’t over mix, it should be crumbly.

Dump all this out onto a clean, floured work surface. Gather it into a ball adult play doh style. Good times.

Then using your fingers press it into a pam-sprayed 9×13 baking sheet making it nice and even and building it up the sides a bit.

Put it into the fridge to chill and preheat your oven to 350.

Take a break, clean up a bit.

Bake until lightly browned. Mine was in the oven for exactly 17 minutes, and I was pretty darn proud of that crust!

Now this is important, let it cool down!

Ok, let’s get busy on the filling. Peel and cube one large Maui mango. Put it in the blender with some lime juice to get it going and puree it up.

In your mixer, wisk your eggs, mango puree, sugar, the rest of your lime juice, and flour together until nice and smooth.

Pour it over your NOT hot crust. You don’t want scrambled eggs. Not here, not now.

Into the oven for about 30 minutes. If you shake the pan you want just the middle to jiggle:)

While those are cooling and smelling onolicious, let’s talk about toppings. I wanted to make whipped cream from coconut milk because that’s what I had on hand and because it sounded like a grand idea.

Instead of getting whipped cream, I got foam, which I ate anyway and was pretty happy with. If I had the time I would have tried again but as you know, I have to get moving. So this is going to be sort of a follow what I say not what I’ve done kind of situation.

Here’s what I recommend you do. Chill a can of coconut milk for at least 12 hours. Chilling the coconut milk will solidify the fat and separate it from the watery part. The fat will rise to the top and that is the part you want to whip. Now here’s where I went wrong. Have you ever noticed how sometimes you have to open a can of coconut milk from the bottom?

Yeah, very tricky!

Take note of how the can must be opened before you put it in the fridge to chill because once it has chilled you can’t shake the can or turn it over.

If you do all this without any problems you can scoop out the fatty part and whip it up with your powdered sugar. Let me know how it is!

Sprinkle Li Hing Powder over the top to finish.

Love,

And We’re Live, Hello World!

This morning I got a text from my friend Cristina. “Are you home? We have an overwhelming amount of mangos and I’d like to bring you some.” Ummmm… Yes!!!

I love mangos! Who doesn’t? If you don’t like mangos you’ve probably never had a mango from Maui. Maui mangos No Ka Oi! Mangos from South America that travel around the world and end up in a grocery store in the middle of winter just don’t cut it for Maui Flour Child.

Here’s a strange thing that happens in Hawaii, even during the peak of mango season, certain grocery stores insist on importing these plastic smelling, sorry excuses for mangos. Why???

If you’re visiting, don’t be fooled! Go to a farmers market and buy yourself a local mango, it will be worth it, I promise!

Some people are allergic to mangos and for this I am sorry. Life isn’t always fair. Hopefully they are not also allergic to wine…that would just be cruel.

Cristina and I have been friends since we were 3 years old playing under the monkeypod tree at Kapalua Preschool. We don’t see each other nearly enough. Friends who bring you mangos from their trees are one of the best things about living in Hawaii! It makes the $5/gallon gas prices worth it. It is also an excellent excuse to have tea and talk story with an old friend.

I had been struggling trying to decide on a worthy first blog post for Maui Flour Child. I wanted my first post to breathe the essence of Hawaii. Thank you Cristina for your act of kindness. Sharing mangos should be included in the definition of aloha.

Aloha means, hello, goodbye, I love you and here’s a bucket of mangos from my tree.

For the Mango Salsa

1 large peeled and diced mango about 1 1/2 cups

3/4 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber

1 T finely diced jalapeño

2 T finely diced red bell pepper

1 T chopped cilantro

1 T honey

1-2 limes, squeezed

Toss all your ingredients together and you’re done.

For the Fresh Island Fish

4 5oz fillets of a nice, fresh, mild white fish (I used Mahimahi)

Salt, Pepper and Olive oil

When I have a beautiful piece of fresh island fish, I like to keep it simple and healthy. A drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper is really all you need, especially when you are serving it with a super flavorful salsa like this one.

Preheat your grill to a medium heat. Spray the heck out of it with Pam. Trust me on this one, you don’t want your fish stuck all over the BBQ! Grill until it’s done. Don’t over flip and do your best to not over cook.

For the Coconut Rice

2 cups jasmine rice

2 cloves minced garlic

1 inch of peeled and minced ginger

1/4 cup diced onion

2 cups lite coconut milk

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 T olive oil

Heat 2 T olive oil in a sauté pan then add the onions, ginger, garlic and rice. Saute and stir often until the rice looks lightly toasted. At this point I prefer to transfer my rice to a rice cooker. I will never be as good at cooking rice as my rice cooker is. Fact of life. You can continue in the pan though if you like. Add your coconut milk and broth, a little salt and pepper and turn your rice cooker on.

To make your rice fancy you will need to buy one of these rice molds from your local asian market. Look in the sushi rolling section. When your rice is finished cooking, fill up your rice mold.