Frozen mango lassi
The Indian yogurt drink as a frozen yogurt: ripe mango, cardamom and a dash of lime.
Mango lassi is a popular refreshing drink in India made from yogurt and mango. Frozen, it stays light and creamy — mango has thick flesh that adds body even without cream. Use the ripest mango you can find; tinned Alphonso mango purée works brilliantly too, just reduce the sugar.
Type: Frozen yogurt · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Easy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 60 g whole milk 3.5 %
- 80 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
- 35 g dextrose (glucose powder)
- 35 g skimmed milk powder
- 1.5 g locust bean gum (carob gum, E410)
- 1.5 g ground cardamom (about 1/2 teaspoon, or the seeds from 6 pods)
- 350 g mango (flesh) (flesh of 1–2 ripe mangoes)
- 15 g lime juice (fresh)
- 400 g plain yogurt 3 %
Making the mix
- In a small pan, mix the dry ingredients: sugar, dextrose, milk powder and locust bean gum (carob gum, E410) — mixed with the sugar, the gum won’t form lumps.
- Stir in the milk and cardamom and heat to 85 °C, stirring constantly. Hold for two minutes.
- Cool the syrup in a bowl set in cold water with ice, then chill it completely in the fridge.
- Blend the mango with the lime juice into a smooth purée.
- Whisk the cold syrup, mango purée and chilled yogurt together. Don’t heat the yogurt.
- Leave the mix in the fridge for an hour.
Method — Compressor ice cream maker
- Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes in advance so the bowl pre-chills.
- Pour in the chilled mix (no higher than the fill line) and churn for 25–35 minutes until it has the consistency of a thick cream.
- You can serve it soft straight away, like soft-serve. For scoops, transfer it to a chilled container, cover with cling film and leave to harden in the freezer.
Total time: 3 h 55 min
Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker
- Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours in advance. Take it out just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
- With the machine running, pour in the thoroughly chilled mix — filling the bowl no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
- Churn for 20–30 minutes until the mix thickens. Going on longer is pointless — the bowl has already warmed up.
- Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for 2 hours.
Frozen yogurt has less fat than cream ice cream, so it thickens more slowly in a freezer bowl. The mix must be really cold (5 °C or below), otherwise it stays runny.
Total time: 4 h 20 min
Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines
- Pour the chilled mix into the CREAMi tub up to the MAX line (one or two tubs, depending on their size), put the lid on and freeze level for 24 hours.
- Put the tub in the machine and run the Frozen Yogurt (if your model doesn’t have it, Lite Ice Cream) program.
- If the result is crumbly or powdery, run Re-spin — with a very cold freezer even twice (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk or yogurt first).
Programme: Frozen Yogurt (if your model doesn’t have it, Lite Ice Cream)
Total time: 26 h
Stages
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cooking
- 5 min
- Cooling
- 30 min
- Ageing in the fridge
- 1 h
- Churning
- 30 min
- Hardening in the freezer
- 1 h 30 min
- Total time
- 3 h 55 min
Serving and storage
Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and a pinch of cardamom, or serve with slices of fresh mango.
In a sealed container, 4–5 days.
Tips
- Cardamom is most fragrant freshly ground from green pods — crush the seeds in a mortar.
- With tinned sweetened mango purée, cut the sugar by about half.
- A pinch of saffron soaked in a tablespoon of warm milk adds colour and aroma, as in Indian kulfi.
Why it works
Mango contains about 14 % sugars, half of it sucrose — so in the mix it replaces some of the added sugar. Its flesh is thick and fibrous, so it binds water much like a stabiliser. That is why less milk powder is needed here than in the strawberry version.