Mango and raspberry dessert

This colourful nutrient-dense fruit dessert will instantly brighten your day and your mood.

It has been raining here in London for the past few days and I really needed something mood-boosting and nutrient-rich. I remembered this amazing fruit - mango. It's sunny, it's delicious, it's full of colour and so I decided that this was the fruit that was going to come to my rescue.

I've always known that mango and raspberry go well together (all those mango and raspberry sunrise smoothies are a definite hit), so I thought I'd create a dessert using these two lovely fruits.

There are many things that are great about mango. For example, it's rich in vitamins A and C like most yellow fruits and vegetables, and it is known to improve digestion. But there is a new fact I've only recently discovered. Did you know that mango is one of the lowest fruits in pesticides (source - "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman)? I think that my sensitive gut somehow feels those pesticides, which is why I always try to go for organic, preferably even locally produced ingredients, but this is tricky with such exotic fruits as mangoes, so I was thrilled to discover this fact. As for raspberry - it is of course a beloved berry of a lot of fodmappers, because it is allowed even during elimination stage of the diet.

If you are a strict low fodmapper, please remember that mangoes are high in one particular FODMAP - the mono-saccharides (fructose). The good thing is that this is the only high FODMAP that mango contains, so when you are reintroducing FODMAPs mango is one of the best fruits to try for fructose intolerance. I was lucky enough to be able to reintroduce fructose, so mangoes are completely fine for my gut.

Here is this easy mango and raspberry dessert recipe!

Ingredients:

1. 1 ripe mango

2. half a cup frozen raspberries

3. 1 tbsp sugar

4. 1 tbsp of freshly brewed jasmine green tea (please trust me!)

Additional ingredients for decoration:

Whole fresh raspberries

Method:

Take two slices of the mango by cutting it lengthwise slightly off centre on the left and on the right (so you miss the pit). You end up having 2 "cheeks" or halves and the pit. The pit is still surrounded by some pulp, slice it off and feel free to eat it right away - you are the chef after all, you deserve a treat, don't you? ;) Take the two halves and score each one of them diagonally crosswise, but make sure you do not cut the peal. Turn the mango halves inside out and you'll have your wonderful dessert base.

Blend frozen raspberries, sugar and brewed jasmine green tea in a high-speed food processor. Pour this lovely sweet sauce over your mango and decorate with some fresh raspberries. Remember to serve with a dessert spoon so that the mango "cubes" and the raspberry sauce can be scooped.

This dessert is light, quick to prepare and is sure to leave you smiling and talking about it for the rest of the day. xx