Fresh vibrant mangoes are turned into a sweet compote, flavored with cardamom. A simple and light fruit dessert to complete your meal.
TL;DR
Compote is a fruity dessert from France. Fruits are simmered down with sugar and spices. The result is a simple and wholesome, fresh dessert.
Originally, we make them with apples or pears during the harvest period in Europe, especially when we are left with half-eaten worm-infested fruits.
We never. waste. fruits.
Every year we have plenty of mangoes growing in our tropical home, and this is why I frequently prepare this mango compote.
The addition of cardamom, adds a warm fragrant sweet element to the dessert, that compliments the tropical fruity elements of the mango.
Ingredients
- Mango — Fresh mango. Pick a mango variety that isn't too fibrous, or else you will have a hard time cutting them up. Commercial mango varieties tend to come without fibers. I used a dark orange Indian variety in the pictures and video called Alphonso. I like dark orange varieties because the color pops!
- Cardamom — Green Cardamom Pods preferably as they are more flavorful. Look out for quality pods which are evenly bright green in color and not grayish. Ground Cardamom can be used too, if you are short on time (I have tried it, it's ok, but not that flavorful compared to using whole pods).
- Sugar — Normal crystal sugar is fine. If you have brown sugar or palm sugar, you can use that too. Other sweeteners (i.e., Honey) are also an option, but I, personally, haven't tried those yet with this particular recipe.
- Salt — a pinch to balance the sweetness. I like Himalaya pink salt as it adds minerals to the dessert.
- Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar — optional, can be used as a topping.
You can always add some more warm sweet spices to your mango compote. Start out with a small quantity and adjust as needed. Some of the spices that you can add include, cinnamon, clove and black pepper.
How to make it?
Step 1
Slice your mango lengthwise, on the broader sides, on both sides along the seed core, so that you are left with 3 mango parts. The two “cheeks” as I call them and the center seed core.
Slice and discard the skin from the seed core, and cut off the fruit flesh around the seed core to collect the pulp in a bowl.
Cut a grid pattern into the “cheeks” and invert it to expose the hedgehog-like fruit pieces. Cut and collect the mango pieces.
Step 2
Lightly crush cardamom pods so that the spice can infuse the mango during the cooking process.
Step 3
Heat up a pan with the mango pieces, cardamom pods, salt, and sugar.
Step 4
Cook mango until soft and you are satisfied with the consistency.
Step 5
Take out the whole cardamom pods and discard them.
Serve up your mango compote. You can top it with brown sugar or palm sugar.
📖 Recipe
Cardamom Mango Compote Recipe
Ingredients
Topping (optional)
- Brown Sugar or Palm Sugar optional
Instructions
- Slice your mangoes to expose the fruit flesh. Slice along the sides close to the seed core on both sides. You should have 2 "cheecks" and a seed core. Cut off the skin from the seed core and cut and collect the fruit pulp from the seed core. Cut a grid pattern into the cheeks, invert them so that they look like a hedgehog, and then you can slice the fruit pulp along the skin.3 Mangoes
- Collect all the fruit pieces in a bowl.
- Slightly crush the cardamom pods to expose the aromatic small seeds inside.3 Green Cardamom Pods
- Keep a small pan on a lower heat setting and toss in all the mango pieces with the cardamom pods, salt, and sugar.3 Mangoes, 3 Green Cardamom Pods, Salt, ½ cup Sugar
- Mix the content well, increase the heat to medium and cover the pan.
- Cook the compote covered for 5 minutes, or until it's visibly boiling and bubbling.
- Take off the cover and continue to simmer down the compote on a medium to low-heat setting. Cook it until the fruits are soft, or you are satisfied with the consistency.
- Take out the whole cardamom pods and discard.
- You can choose to mash the fruits with a fork a bit. I like it chunky and a bit more liquid.
- Serve up hot, at room temperature or cooled with some brown sugar or palm sugar as a topping.Brown Sugar or Palm Sugar
Notes
- For the sugar, use normal crystal sugar. You can try the recipe with brown sugar or palm sugar (jaggery/panela), or experiment with honey and other sweeteners.
- If you are trying to cut on sugar in your diet, skip adding the sugar all together.
- Try to use green cardamom pods because they will infuse your compote better than ground cardamom. Alternatively, you can take out the green seeds from the Cardamom pods and grind them fine, instead of just crushing the pods and throwing them whole into the compote. I choose not to grind the seeds because it's easier to just drop the crushed pods to infuse and to pick them out later before serving up the dessert.
Equipment
- Silicone Spatula or Spoon
Nutrition
Serving
A compote can be always eaten by itself as a small fruity dessert or with other dessert.
On its own, you can choose to serve it either hot, at room temperature or cold. At home, we all have our temperature preference.
I like it fridge cold, Paul likes it at room temperature and my parents will always eat it straight from the stove hot.
I like it cold because the flavors get time to sit and mingle, which in turn, in my opinion, results in a more flavorful dessert.
If you decide to serve your compote with another dessert, you will most probably enjoy it with ice cream, whipped cream, a bavarian cream or a plain panna cotta.
Storing
You can easily store this mango compote in an airtight Tupper or glass container in your fridge. It remains good for at least a week.
Alternatively, you can freeze it in batches and thaw or reheat at a later time. Theoretically, your dessert will freeze well for at least 2 months.
This is great if you have a batch of quality mangoes from a harvest or market deal that you'd like to process.
You can have mango compote in the winter or seamlessly add it to your meal plan dessert rotation.
We have mango trees and every so often I'm loaded with mangoes. We don't waste, and I try to be mindful of all our homegrown produce.
This is when I make this mango compote or something else to store them, such as my mango jam or a quick mango pulp.
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