Once it’s made, the cream needs to chill in your refrigerator for at least 45 mins. Why? Well, as the lime juice continues to react with the full-fat dairy, it has the effect of thickening the cream even further. And that’s just dandy.
So, we’ll start with making the cream, and while it’s chilling, you can turn your attention to prepping the mangoes.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the heavy cream until it’s just thick enough to start forming low peaks. Then gently stir in the yoghurt along with the lime juice. Stir just enough so that everything is just barely combined – stir too vigorously and the whipped cream will begin to lose its thickness.
A contrasting sweetness now comes in the form of the flesh still surrounding the de-cheeked stones. Remove as much of this you can from its skin and the stones. Then chop it all into a smooth puree and stir it gently into the dairy mixture. Good. Set the cream to chill in the fridge. Time now for spicing the mango cheeks.
Adding the rub to each mango cheek
Mix all the rub’s dry ingredients together – the cayenne, sumac, salt, and paprika.
Rub this mix all over the crisscross cuts on each of the cheeks. Then use the back of a teaspoon to work the rub a little way into the cuts.
Leave the cheeks to stand for 30 mins. This will give the rub’s salt enough time to pull out some of the mangoes’ juicy sugars. The cheeks are now ready to be seared.
Searing the spiced cheeks
I used a heavy, deep sided, 12-inch skillet that’s amply big enough to sear four of the rubbed cheeks all at once.
Set your skillet on a high heat and add the coconut oil. As soon as it starts smoking, lay the cheeks cut side down into the skillet. Take a bit of care here – there’s going to be a fair bit of sizzling, spitting oil. Keep the heat on high, but don’t be tempted to fiddle with cheeks or move them about. Just let them sear in that hot oil for 90 seconds. Turn off the heat, remove the cheeks quickly with a broad spatula, and set them skin side down on some kitchen towel.
‘Popping’ the cheeks open
As soon as the cheeks are cool enough to handle, gently press up the middle of the skin side so that the crisscrossed flesh sort of pops up in into separate pillars. Great. They’re ready to serve.
Serving the spiced mangoes
Now, you might find the cheeks won’t stay popped on their own. If that happens, I sit them firmly on top of a wedge of lime to make sure they stay nicely pillared on each diner’s plate.
Serve with the chilled cream alongside and couple of lime wedges for squeezing over the cheeks.
Notes
Optional, garnishing nuts: I added a few slivers of toasted almonds – just to scatter over the cream. In an ideal world, I would have used pistachios, but my fave stores were out of stock. No matter. The magic still worked.