With the mango season set in and summer at its highest, I thought it would be fun to beat the heat with this wonderful, easy, and quick recipe overloaded with mangoes. My daughter was at home with her holidays set in, getting bored and wanted something interesting to have. So, both of us set in on this recipe. On our way from Coimbatore, we could get some really good mangoes and so we could do this immediately.
Then came the hunt for a good recipe to work on. I explored so many sites and suddenly I remembered of a recipe from the bake along group I am a member of and checked on it. To my surprise, it was the simplest one and easy of all and could be done with the ingredients that I had at home in stock. y Luckily, I had them all with me. With all things ready, we set off to work in a jiffy. But lo, we didn't think of the electricity factor and just when the mango cheese layer was put in the freezer to be set, there was power failure and we had to patiently wait for it to be back. Thank god, it just turned back in an hour's time and we could get back to work without much hassles.
Cheesecakes can be of either the baked variety or the no bake type. We chose to do the "no bake" type for this time. No bake cheesecakes are done in different ways in most recipes on the web using gelatin or agar agar as the setting agent ideally. In most cheesecake recipes, cream cheese is used - either homemade or store bought. It is also equally acceptable to use cottage cheese or paneer as well along with hung curd. In this recipe, a combination of paneer and condensed milk is used and it gave a really good yummy taste.
As I was in the process of doing the no bake mango cheese cake, I suddenly got a call from a client turned friend from Bangalore for a delicious treat for her mom (who is in Palakkad) on her birthday who is very fond of mangoes in any form. Immediately, I told her about me doing this recipe and she was wonderstruck about this idea and approved of it though cheesecakes are not very popular in our place. I went ahead and doubled the recipe and made one for the order and one for us. I also made a white chocolate collar for the birthday cheesecake and left ours plain. My friend's mom just couldn't believe of mangoes in this form and just loved it to the core.
This cheesecake contains of 3 layers, viz., the base biscuit layer, the center cheesecake layer, the top mango jelly layer apart from the mango pieces over the top layer and the chocolate collar. The decor is of your choice.
Any seasonal fruits like blueberries, strawberries, etc. can also be used instead of the mango for this recipe. Chocolate cheesecake is also an option.
Ingredients:
Base:
Digestive biscuits – 200 gms
Butter – 60 gms, melted
Cheesecake Layer:
Cottage cheese/paneer – 200 gms
Condensed milk – 400 ml
Fresh cream – 200 ml
Mangoes – 400 gms, chopped
Gelatin/Agar Agar – 2 tablespoons
Water – 1/4 cup
Topping:
Mango – Puree of 1 Mango
Gelatin/Agar Agar – 1 tablespoon
Water – 2 tablespoons
Method:
1. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan with butter.
If you do not have a springform pan, a tart pan from which you can get the base of the pan away from the sides can also be used.
If you do not have both of these, line the inside of a normal 8-inch cake pan with aluminium foil and have excess foil hanging from the sides so you can pull it out once the cheesecake has been set. To the sides here on the foil-lined pan, cut strips of acetate /OHP sheet and butter the sides and position the sheet inside of the foil in your round pan. This is literally to pull out the cheesecake easily from the normal pan and yet have neat, smooth sides.
2. Process digestive biscuits in a food processor and add melted butter to it.
3. Mix butter and crushed biscuits well and cover the bottom of the prepared pan and press it tightly and evenly. Keep in freezer to set until you continue doing the rest of the recipe.
4. Grate or crumble paneer. Add it to a food processor along with condensed milk and grind on high speed for a couple of minutes until it has pureed really well and smooth. Add the mixture to a bowl and mix together with fresh cream. Keep aside.
5. Puree mangoes into a smooth fine paste and heat it up in a heavy bottomed saucepan until it is just hot. Do not let it boil.
6. Add gelatin/agar agar in a microwave safe bowl and mix it with water. Let it bloom for 2 to 3 minutes. Microwave on high power for 40 seconds and mix well until gelatin/agar agar granules have melted. Add this mixture into the mango puree and mix well until combined. Allow to cool to room temperature.
7. Now, add the mango mixture into the paneer mixture and mix well. Take the pan which is lined with biscuits and is freezing. Pour the cheesecake mixture on top of the biscuit lining and tap few times to get rid of any air bubbles. Again, put it back in freezer until you prepare the topping.
8. Topping: Puree mango and heat it up in a heavy bottomed saucepan until just hot. Add gelatin/agar agar in a bowl along with water and let it bloom for a 2 to 3 minutes. Microwave gelatin/agar agar for 40 seconds on high power and add it to the mango puree and mix well. If desired, add 2 drops of yellow food color to the gelatin/agar agar mixture for a bright colored topping.
9. Check if the cheesecake has set, and once set, pour the mango jelly on top and tap it once to release air bubbles, if any; and again, put it back in freezer to set firm.
It might take an hour or more to set completely, and once done, it is ready to be relished. You can also let it set overnight. Before serving, make sure you release the sides of the pan. Also if using acetate strips to the sides, peel it off before slicing. Always keep it refrigerated and serve chilled.
Finally, I melted some white chocolate and did chocolate lace to decorate the sides of the cheesecake to add glamour to the yummy dessert. Also, I placed loads of chopped mango pieces on the center of the cheesecake for the mango lover. Here goes the fully loaded mango cheesecake for you to relish..yummilicious...slurp...
This one went for the order with the white chocolate wordings as given by the client turned friend for her lovely mom "Celebrating You - Kuttikal"... Just Amazing to love your mom so much!!
My Notes:
1. I used Marie digestive biscuits. Graham crackers if available can also be used.
2. Condensed milk can be homemade or store bought. I used 1 standard tin of Amul mithaimate.
3. Amul fresh cream was used in this recipe.
4. If you do not have a microwave to dissolve the gelatin/agar agar after it has bloomed, place the bowl in a bigger vessel of hot water and heat up in medium flame until the gelatin/agar agar dissolves (double boiling method).
5. You can use a cake layer also as the base layer instead of the biscuit layer. Ideally, a vanilla or mango plain cake would be the best as the base layer.
6. Individual servings can also be done by setting them in layers of the same pattern in ready-to-serve bowls or shot glasses.
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