Another Healthy choice.
I was first introduced to this cold dessert Mango Sago Pomelo about 4 months ago at a Hotel’s Chinese banquet dinner. When I tasted it at that time, I was totally blown away. It has a strong coconut and milky fragrance, and very sweet. When I sipped on the mango coconut-milk puree with sago, the pomelo burst out sourish juice in my mouth to counter the sweetness, it was totally unforgettable. Although I was very full after eating 8 course dinner that night, and I was wary of the sweetness in this dessert, I could not stop myself to a few extra bowls on the table … sinful me.
After that, I started researching for the recipe of this cold dessert. I call it one of the cleverest cold dessert creation by far. But there are a few hurdles which I need to overcome.
Traditionally, the Chinese call their dessert Tong Sui(糖水), which laterally translated to mean “sugar water”. Thus their desserts are usually very sweet. This is one hurdle that I have to break through. I experimented using reduced sugar level to fully replacing sugar with the sweetness of the mango fruit. I realized if I used ripe mango, there is a lot of natural sugar residing in the fruit, there is really no need to use additional sugar. Please do not use unripe mango for this recipe, it will not taste good.
I had made this cold dessert a few times using guaishushu’s recipe and Christine’s recipe. I used coconut milk and full cream carnation milk in making the dessert, but somehow, though it was delicious (and unhealthy), but I could not get the taste that I am searching for.
I also used red grapefruit in the dessert then as pomelo was not in the season. Now that I have tried both, I must say that pomelo sacs tasted much much superior to grapefruit sacs. Always use pomelo sacs if you can find it.
Putting together my experiments results, I mixed and match the portion of various types of milks, the outcome is a modified recipe with very satisfactory result. The result was a much healthier recipe, and I found the milky taste that I am looking for. And I am very glad that there is no sugar added to this recipe. My daughter was so pleased with my dessert yesterday that not only she scooped up almost all the dessert herself, she insisted that I make another portion for her again today. I graciously obliged her.
On the methodology, there is basically 2 steps. First step is to prepare and cook the Sago Pearls. I did some research and experiments, I found the detailed steps outlined by guaishushu is very effective in preparing and cooking the Sago Pearls and removing a lot of extra starch. You can see the transformation of the Sago Pearls until they turn transparent (ready to eat) and do not stick together.
Soaking Sago in water for about 10 mins until it expands.
Boiling Sago until it turns translucent.
Off the fire, and let Sago rest in pot (with cover on) for 10 mins. Then drain off, and soak sago in cold water.
Second step is preparing the mango puree using blending method. I used a mix of Carnation brand Low Fat Evaporated Milk and HL Low Fat Fresh Milk to blend with ripe mango. No sugar is needed. But if you prefer the normal sweet version, you can add in up to 50 grams of sugar.
Recipe for Mango Sago Pomelo Dessert (杨枝甘露) – (4 pax)
(Preparation time: 45 mins)
Ingredients
1 can Low Fat Evaporated Milk
3/4 Cup Low Fat Fresh Milk
2 Ripe Mangoes – cut into cubes
50 grams sago pearls
2 slices of Pomelo (or substitute with Red grapefruit) (peal the skin and take out the pomelo sacs)
Method:
Step 1: Prepare the Sago Pearl.
- First soak the Sago pearls in a bowl of water for about 10 mins until it expands. At the same time, start boiling water in another pot. Then drain the soaked sago pearls of the water, and put into boiling water to be cooked. Keep stirring the sago pearls constantly in the pot so that they do not stick to each other. About 5 – 8 mins later, once the sago pearls turn translucent, turned off the fire. Put the lid on the pot and let the sago pearls rest for another 5 – 10 mins to cook any remaining uncooked sago pearls and the centre of the sago pearls.
- Use a strain to drain the sago pearls off the starchy water, and wash with cold water. Soak the sago pearls in cold water (water should at least cover the sago pearls) to prevent the sago pearls from sticking to each other. Set aside.
Step 2: Prepare the Mango Puree.
- Pour the evaporated milk, fresh milk and cut mango cubes (of 1st mango) into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour out the mango puree, add in sago pearls (drained off any water), additional mango cubes (2nd mango) and stir to combine.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until cold.
- When serving, each bowl/cup of mango puree mixture to be topped with pomelo sacs. It is ready to serve and eat now.