Cook With Kids: Mango Parfait

One of the reasons I love summers is because we get a variety of mangoes in abundance during this season. Come summer and mango would be mentioned in our conversation frequently at home. That bag of season's first mangoes that my mother would get from the neighbourhood fruit and vegetable market was so treasured by my siblings and I.

Whenever heading to the market, mom would always ask to check if there are enough mangoes at home or not and so many times when mom would get 2-3 kgs of mangoes, my father would also come home with the same amount at night. :-) Mangoes would never go out of stock at our home during summer.

Mangoes would be the reason we would love to rush home after school. As we would finish our lunch, mom would ask each one of us whether we want our mango full or to be sliced. My sister, brother and I would each get one whole mango to ourselves and we would hardly like to get it sliced. Eating the dussehri mango would mean biting off the black part on top of the mango to make a small opening and pressing with hands to suck the pulp out of this yummy fruit. We would never let a drop of the juice going down our hands or elbows to fall or go waste and would lick the juice starting from our fingers, hands, down to our elbows, giggling away.

I am of the kinds who do not like anyone tempering with their favourite fruit/recipes and I liked to eat my mango as it is, chilled from the fridge. No other flavoring or mixing for me, please. At most that I would let anyone play with my mango is to make a mango milkshake out of it or some mango ice-cream, made at home. I do not like the taste of store-bought mango ice cream and only enjoy eating a mango cream duet popsicle or an ice mango pop. But last year at my son's nursery when I had gone for a healthy cooking competition to mark Mother's Day, I tasted a mango parfait. I had no idea what a parfait meant, it was like a creamy layered dessert served in a glass, topped with chopped fruits. Tasting it was heavenly and I knew this is one thing I am going to try and learn and make it for my family in summers.

Now there are so many versions of parfait all over the internet that I end up getting confused whether to use yoghurt as a healthy alternate for cream in order to create layers. Many parfaits have a layer of oats and smoothies. Since I had recently made a bowl of fruit custard, I was brimming with ideas to serve the custard (see the above picture) to my family in a new way.

Method:

I made this mango parfait by layering it with a slice of chocolate cake (that I made in a mug in the microwave, see the recipe here), mango fruit custard (Click for the recipe), mango chunks and pulp and pomegranate seeds.

Then I let Little M arrange one of the glass jars by first showing him how to do it and then asking him to repeat the steps one by one. He absolutely loved doing it. You can also involve your kids in arranging the parfait jars with their own choice of ingredients. Just keep everything ready in advance. Chop the fruits, slice chocolate cake and prepare the custard and let your little ones make their own beautiful custard and fruit jars. You will be surprised by their imaginations and ideas as they create their own masterpieces. Why involve kids in the kitchen, you may wonder! Well, see the number of benefits I listed out here!

This is a super simple recipe that I highly recommend everyone to try out. The simplicity of this recipe amazes me and we can do so many variations in creating the layers. For example, you can completely omit the cake and use crushed or broken Marie/digestive biscuits. You may even create a layer using chocolate syrup or chocolate ice cream or use some other fruits such as grapes, apples. One may also garnish with dry fruits and nuts instead of pomegranate. Since this recipe is so versatile I did not feel the need to list out the exact measurements of the ingredients and the steps or method.

Ever since we made it together, my little one keeps on asking me to make it again! Plus, this is another recipe which is no-cook and totally fuss-free and the arranging of the parfait can be done by involving kids too! Now I have a quick dessert recipe for days I and my family are craving for something sweet. This one is surely going to be a saver to please unexpected guests or an impromptu dinner get-together.

Hope you enjoyed reading this sweet recipe as much as I enjoyed making it!

Have you tried making a parfait? What are favourite ingredients to us in a parfait?

Tell me all, I'd love to read what you all think!

Thanks for reading! :-)