Monday, September 6, 2010

Mango Lassi and Strawberry-Honey Yogurt Popsicles



All summer, we've been kicking back here on the West Coast in our mild 70-degree weather, watching blithely as the rest of the country roasts in some of the hottest heat waves ever to hit the States.  Until now, of course--right after school starts!  (Thanks, Mother Nature.)  Suddenly, we've had soaring temperatures for days on end, where by 11pm at night, it's still 90 degrees Fahrenheit out.  Can you say "ice me, please"???


Thankfully, I went on that popsicle-making craze a while ago, and our freezer has been stocked full of all assortment of flavors of popsicles, including these mango-lassi ice pops.  I mean, do I really need to convince you of the wonderfulness that is blended, super-sweet fresh mango, thick, creamy yogurt, and a dash of spicy ground cardamom?  In icicle form?  I thought not.  Then, there's the lovely variation on the mango lassi popsicles: strawberry-honey yogurt ice pops, which swaps out the mango and cardamom for sweet, end-of-season strawberries from your favorite grower and a mild flower honey.  *Lick.*  I also highly recommend layering the flavors--they go excellently together, especially for those indecisive people like me!  (Or, like my friend-- when we had her over for an Indian dinner night, she alternated between a mango lassi popsicle in one hand and my roommate's yummy homemade naan in the other! hey, girl knows the definition of a balanced diet, apparently.  :-))


Anyways, as long as I have these popsicles in my freezer, I say, bring it on! to the heat.  (Okay, not really--I do like the mild cold better.  I *am* a Bay Area native, after all.)  Plus, it allows us to have lovely nighttime, roof-top, Christmas lights-and-candle-lit picnic parties at my house whilst blasting bad "nostalgic" nineties pop tunes and Joni Mitchell, so we're hoping for at least a few more Indian summer nights in the coming months for more midnight jollity--and popsicles!


Brace yourselves--more popsicles coming later this week!


Read on for recipe...


Mango Lassi Popsicles
makes ~8-12 popsicles, depending on the size of your molds

2 cups ripe mango, chopped
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbspn sugar
BIG! pinch of ground cardamom
big pinch of salt

1.  Combine the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
2.  Pour the blended mango mixture into the popsicle molds and freeze until solid, preferably overnight.
3.  To unmold, run hot water around the outside of the molds for a brief time until you can easily pull the popsicles out.

for a Strawberry-Honey variation...

Substitute 2 cups of ripe strawberries, chopped for the 2 cups of mango. Skip the cardamom and the salt and instead add 2 Tbspn mild-flavored honey.


Enjoy!

21 comments:

  1. I'm bookmarking these babies for summer :)

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  2. ph my! mango cardamom in a frozen lassi treat! my senses are craving for this right now!

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  3. Since it seems summer is over here in Germany, I mark them for next year ;). Your photos let them look delicious over all!

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  4. Is licking a monitor screen a bit juvenile? I just did. The mango lassi popsicle looks so refreshing. Stay cool up north. LA weather is so weird lately. Labor day weekend was 70 degrees and the rest of the week is going to be cloudy. Regardless of weather, however, I am convinced your popsicles choose no season. Popsicles for fall, yes please!

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  5. Yeaaa Savage Garden and 90s (and 80s) music! Girl, you really make me want to buy popsicle molds but I'm running out of space for food props/equipment haha. Fantastic recipes and photos (especially diggin' the mango and cardomom shots). I wonder how kefir would work in place of yogurt...

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  6. Thanks everyone! Sorry the recipe is a tad late for places that are already turning into fall/winter!

    @Kathy: lol, I've been known to lick my monitor, too! hehe. I'm totally an ice cream year round person, and especially in LA, I'm sure you'll have the right weather for these soon!

    @Xiaolu: no need to go and buy popsicle molds. I sometimes make popsicles out of the randomest stuff lying around. Shot glasses work really well for minis, for example, if you have those. I've never worked with or even had kefir at all! Definitely will have to check it out... super curious now!

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  7. Love love love your blog. Such beautiful ideas and things to make. I absolutely love your photography. May I ask what camera you use to get such vivid pictures?

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  8. @Sandeep: Thank you! I use a Nikon d90, shooting raw.

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  9. Thanks for the info. I honestly wake up to your blog. Puts a smile on my face. :)

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  10. @Sandeep: aw, thanks! that makes me so incredibly happy to hear. :-)

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  11. OOoooooh those mango & cardamom ones look yum! I'm such a fan of lightly spiced desserts, cardamom being one of my favourites to use like this.

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  12. These are so beautiful! I just got some popsicle molds and I think I will try your recipe first. Thank you!

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  13. oooooooooo, I'm drooooolin on your post. sooo delicious.

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  14. I know I'm pretty late to find this, but I think I'm going to make this and throw it in my ice cream machine to get a nice little sorbet!

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  15. So funny to see this. I just made Mango Lassi pops last week but hated the way they came out. I think I might have used the wrong kind of mango. I used the smaller yellow mangoes instead of the bigger red/yellow ones. Do you think they taste very different? I havent eaten enough mangoes to be sure.

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  16. @Melissa: I think they might taste different--I actually don't eat the small yellow ones very much, so I wouldn't know?

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  17. @Melissa: I think they might taste different--I actually don't eat the small yellow ones very much, so I wouldn't know?

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  18. oooooooooo, I'm drooooolin on your post. sooo delicious.

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  19. @Sandeep: aw, thanks! that makes me so incredibly happy to hear. :-)

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  20. ph my! mango cardamom in a frozen lassi treat! my senses are craving for this right now!

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  21. Hi! Thank you for the recipe! I made these, here's a link to my blog (written in Finnish): http://hapsuli.blogspot.com/2011/07/mangolassijaatelo.html

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I love hearing from you and reading your comments! Thanks so much for stopping by the blog. Happy feasting!