No Guilt No Bake Mango Cheesecake

 

In an Indian summer, mangoes enter our lives in a big way. At our home, we never tire of eating mangoes, of any variety, shape or ripeness. Any mangoes that escape being devoured, find it’s way into special dishes.

If it were possible to make this fragrant fruit any more delicious, it has to be in the avatar of  this cheesecake! But wait, how about the guilt from the extra calories? The extra sugar, cream, and so on? Well, what if you could indulge in a ‘cheesecake’ without any cream or cheese or extra sugar? What if I told you this dessert is richer in protein and vitamins than fat or carbs? What if we have just discovered the best guilt-free dessert for quite some time to come? If you are interested, read on….

Without much ado, I want to share with all you lovely people, this simple, guilt free, low sugar, low fat, no bake, gelatine-free, mango cheesecake! An indulgence that is easy on your girth as well as on your wallet. Can be made with mango pulp when fresh in season or using canned mango pulp or home-frozen mango pulp when these divine fruits are not in season too. Totally invoking the spirit of summer, come and fall in love with mangoes all over again this season!

Preparation Time – 30 minutes+8 hours setting time; Cooking Time – 10 minutes; Serves – 4

Allergy Information – Does NOT contain egg, soya, peanuts, corn. Contains gluten. May have traces of lactose.

You Need

Cookware – Mixer/Food Processor, Cheese cloth, String to tie, a vessel of approx. 1 litre capacity, Shot glasses/Glass Dessert bowls – 4-5, Sauce pans –2, Heat proof strainer – 1.

Ingredients

1. Marie biscuits – 10-12
2. Melted Butter – 20 gms (And the recipe said low fat! So Butter? Do read Notes )
3. Any ripe mango – 1 large or 2 small
4. Skim milk yoghurt – 400 gms OR Skim milk Greek yoghurt – 250 gms
5. Agar Agar strands – 10 gms
6. Sugar – 2 tbsp (Optional)

To Assemble

1. Tie the cheesecloth around the mouth (use elastic band or string to secure) of the 1 litre vessel, pour the skim milk curd into the cloth, and leave the whole assembly inside the fridge* undisturbed for 4 hours. The whey water will drip from the yoghurt into the vessel, leaving thick cheesy curd in the cloth. Drink the whey water separately.
2. Crush the biscuits in a mixer to a sandy  coarse powder. Drizzle the butter in,(easier in a food processor) pulse the mixer again until you find the mixture looking like wet sand.
3. Rinse and wipe dry the shot glasses you will be using. Layer the biscuit base at the bottom  of the glass. Divide the mixture equally between the glasses and press with back of spoon to level this ‘cheesecake base’. Leave the glasses in the fridge until needed.
4. To 1/2 cup of warm water, add agar agar and leave to soak in a sauce pan.
5. Peel the mango, remove pulp and puree in the mixer. Place the pulp in a sauce pan over a medium flame, stir briskly until just hot.           
6. Return the sauce pan with soaked agar –agar to heat, keep stirring briskly over a medium flame until it is fully dissolved. Add some water, a tbsp at a time if needed to dissolve the agar-agar well. Strain this hot liquid into the simmering mango puree, combine well, and switch off the flame.
7. Mix 3/4th of the above mango liquid, with the cheesy curd and whip well in the mixer. Divide this mixture into the prepared shot glasses. Tap on countertop to level and leave in fridge to set for half an hour.
8. After half an hour, warm up the 1/4th leftover mango puree+agar-agar mixture gently to loosen it, pour over as topping over the set curd, leave to set undisturbed in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Overnight would be a better idea!
9. Enjoy chilled after a long, hot day!

Notes

• At 4-5 gms butter per serving, this dessert allows for an ‘acceptable’ fat content, within the RDA range for most people.
• Using skim milk curd in this recipe ensures you consume less than 3 gms of fat, vs 25 gms if you were to use cream cheese! ( Read 8 minutes vs 1 hour of treadmill). Now is that good or what?
• *Set the curd ‘to hang’ inside the fridge to avoid it getting sour.