RECIPE - Minted Mango Flambé (Manga Flambada com Caldo de Hortelã)

To wrap up our collection of mango recipes in celebration of the arrival of mango season in Brazil, here's an uber-simple and really delicious way to showcase perfectly ripe mangoes.

Brazilians often combine mint (hortelã in Portuguese) with fruits to perk up the flavor as well as to make the dish more refreshing in Brazil's hot climate. The most common combination is pineapple and mint (click here to read about pineapple-mint juice), but other fruits combine equally well with fresh mint. Including mangoes, clearly.

This recipe is very straightforward, and the only skill required is in the flaming of the cachaça. Flaming spirits is one of those culinary techniques that requires caution but needn't cause fear. Properly done, it's relatively foolproof and should be a skill included in any self-respecting home cook's repertory. Click on this link for an easy lesson in how to flame liqueurs safely.

If you don't have a bottle of cachaça  at home, you can substitute white rum or tequila. The rum will make a sweeter dessert, and tequila will add its own distinctive flavor, so do try to use cachaça if possible.
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RECIPE - Minted Mango Flambé (Manga Flambada com Caldo de Hortelã)
Serves 2

1 large ripe mango
1 1/2 oz (60 ml) cachaça 
1 Tbsp granulated white sugar
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 sprigs fresh mint (to garnish)
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Over a large bowl, peel the mango and cut the flesh into thick slices. Reserve the slices in the bowl along with their juice.

In a non-stock frying pan heat the sugar, but don't let it burn. Add the mango slices, toss them in the sugar, then add the cachaça . Flame the cachaça, and when the flames die down add the chopped mint and toss everything once again.

Divide the mango slices between two dessert dishes, and add one sprig of mint to each to garnish. Serve hot.