Mangoes

Costco had a great bargain on mangoes so I bought a pack of six. That's a lot of mangoes for our household and I was a little worried about what I'd do with them all. Instead of worrying, I decided just to plunge in, head first.

First up was a mango and banana lassi. Lassis are Indian yogurt milkshakes—great to drink with a very spicy meal. And like most milkshakes, they're very easy to make. Of course, lassis aren't really milkshakes as they're yogurt based. You can also make salty lassis as well as sweet. For the salty, just combine a cup of yogurt, salt and enough iced water to thin (this is for one person). For sweet, add about two to three tablespoons of condensed milk. For fruity, add a nice, ripe tropical fruit of two.

Next, a mango salad. I thought a simple sweet-and-sour dressing of rice vinegar, sugar and oil would be best for the fruit. Then I chopped some green onions and mangoes and added it to the mixture. For greens I used shredded red leaf lettuce and mizuna (a Japanese mustard green).

For the last of my mangoes, I made Thai sticky rice. This too was pretty simple. Just get a package of "sweet" rice (also known as glutinous rice), wash, soak for 24 hours, and steam until done. Make a sauce by combining and heating canned coconut milk (about a cup), sugar (about a third of a cup) and salt (a quarter teaspoon)—heat just until the sugar is melted. Reserve about a quarter of a cup. Put the sauce in with the rice and mix well. Then cut up mangoes, throw on top of rice, decorate with reserved sauce and voila!