Mango Ice Cream Recipe

If you have noticed the less than frequent posts on this blog lately, you are right - Irene and Man Yung have been LESS annoyed than usual. Summer is in the air, people are (generally) following the line of dance, we have not seen hide nor hair of "Fabio" in months (apparently he has realized that he has to actually pay to get into the local milongas) and we have been enjoying some incredibly delicious homemade Mango Ice Cream at home!

When we lived in Hong Kong back in the 70's and 80's (or in the 1850's, if you happen to be as old as Man Yung), there used to be basically only one dairy company for the whole colony called "Dairy Farm". I used to live in a low-rise apartment about 500 metres away from one of their cattle sheds in Pok Fu Lam. Apart from the scintillating preview of the smell of "Fabio" that oftentimes wafted our way on the breeze, it was nevertheless always fun trying to sneak a peek at what they were doing over there with all those cows.

Wikipedia says these are the Pok Fu Lam Dairy Farm cow sheds. I remember living near more dingy and less museum-worthy cow sheds. Maybe there were inferior sheds in Pok Fu Lam for the 2nd-rate cows, kind of like how some less than superior tango towns end up hosting lots of 2nd-rate Fabios?

Well I'll be damned, there's a Tango connection in all these pre-senile reminiscences! Apparently, the old Dairy Farm Depot at 2 Lower Albert Road, Central has now become an arts facility called "The Fringe Club". Which hosts a milonga every 1st Thursday of the month called "Milonguita".

The Fringe Club, formerly the old Dairy Farm Depot

Well, back to the main topic, the only ice cream available in those days in Hong Kong was the "Dairy Farm" brand. Most ex-pat Hong Kong-ers would agree with me that no matter how far we travel, and however distant Hong Kong is to where we are today, we all still retain vestiges of nostalgic longing for pre-packaged, cardboard-y "Dairy Farm Lotus Cups" of coconut, pineapple, honeydew melon, and of course, mango flavoured ice cream.

Until, that is, you are presented with a one litre container of Irene and Man Yung's homemade Mango Ice Cream!

Irene and Man Yung's homemade Mango Ice Cream

Ataulfo Mangoes

1 kg of ripe mangoes (I think I actually used 1.25 kg or something like that, but the more the merrier. I used Ataulfo Mangoes because they are sweetest and most fragrant)
One 300 ml can of condensed milk (my secret ingredient for all "asian" inspired ice cream flavours)
One cup of half and half
One cup of whipping cream
One pinch of salt

Peel mangoes and remove all the flesh, squeezing the juice and pulp from the pits if necessary. Dice mango flesh and puree with the condensed milk, half and half, cream and salt. Freeze in ice cream maker (like the Cuisinart ICE-30BCC) - and voila!!

Makes two scrumptious litres.