Such a nag – Mango Sago

So this is what they call a writer’s block. I have opened this window at least five times the last two weeks but closed it each time empty. Nope. Nothing. Nada. Haven’t a clue what to write. Until today. About time too!

I had a revelation today. Nagging works. As a kid, my mum would nag at me till she turned blue in her face but I would just carry on as I were. I often wondered why she bothered since it obviously didn’t work. She still nags at my sister today and having been in both positions as the nagger and the “naggee”, I got to say I feel sorry for my mum more. It’s very very frustrating. But nagging works! Ok, not always and it depends on who you’re nagging at but it DOES work.

I’ve been nagging at my husband to trim his plant in the living room for the last month and a half. I’ve nicknamed it “monster” for its ridiculous rapid growth, so you can only imagine how I feel like I’m hacking my way through a jungle every time I need to get from the dining room to the living room. The damn thing is always in my face, literally. Did I mention that I have a very mild case of Botanophobia? It’s not so much that I am afraid of plants, but that I get very very uncomfortable around them. Anyway, today, he finally trimmed it and he got his reward: Mango Sago 🙂 (Alright, that was a lie. What?! It’s called creative writing!)

This is a really simple dessert to put together. It’s so easy I’m having second thoughts about posting it. There are however, some things to remember when making this dessert;

1. You got to cook the sago just right. It has to be cooked through but not overcooked into a mush.
2. You need to really get RIPE mangoes for this. The last time I made this for a class, I wasn’t able to get ripe mangoes and although it didn’t taste too bad, it was not impressive. It had a slight bitter aftertaste to it and obviously the mango taste just wasn’t rich enough. So you *NEED* *RIPE* mangoes! Cannot stress this enough.

Here’s a funny quirk of mine. As much as I love love love mango, I don’t really like anything mango-flavoured. And it’s the opposite with strawberries. I like anything strawberry-flavoured but I can’t stand the real fruit. That Pretty Woman scene, where Richard Gere ordered champagne and strawberries for Julia Roberts, just had me cringing all eight times that I’ve seen it.

Mango Sago

Serves 6 – 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup dried sago
• 2 ripe mangoes
• 1 ½ cup milk (evaporated if you have it, otherwise regular milk will do just fine)
• coconut milk (optional)
• Condensed milk or sugar syrup to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring a big pot of water to boil and sprinkle in the sago pearls. Stir to prevent sago from sticking to bottom of the pan.
2. Boil for 20 mins or until sago is no longer white in the center. Stir occasionally.
3. While the sago is cooking, peel and cut mangoes into 1cm cubes. Set aside 1 cup of mango cubes.
4. Place 2 cups of mango and milk into food processor and blend the living daylights out of it.
5. Pass the sauce through a sieve to remove any stubborn bits that just won’t die.
6. Add condensed milk or sugar syrup to taste.
7. When the sago is cooked, drain it into a sieve and run cold water over it.
8. Combine sago and mango sauce and chill for at least 2 hours.
9. To serve, spoon mango sago into a bowl and top with reserved mango cubes and coconut milk if desired.

Tips:

• Use condensed milk for a richer flavour.
• Do NOT leave drained sago to sit for too long. It will stick together and you get sago pudding, which you can use to make Sago Gula Melaka 😀