After moving to a new city (actually, a whole new country!), there are lots of things I miss from home. One of them being my old city's summer festivals. Edmonton was known to have some pretty great summer festivals, but my favorite was always the Heritage Festival, which happens on the first weekend of August. It's not that my new city doesn't have any good festivals, because it does, but they're not quite the same.
My recipe for Mango Popsicles with Chili and Lime was totally inspired by Heritage Festival. More specifically, it was inspired by the whole mango on a stick covered in lime juice and chili that you see millions of people walking around with from the Guatemala booth. Not that I've ever purchased one. After all, I can make one myself for much less than the roughly $7 they charge at the festival.
Now let me talk about popsicles for a minute. My 2 year old is absolutely crazy for them. She only gets one per day, which she usually chooses to have at breakfast time. I have tried to explain that in my opinion, afternoon would be the best time to have it, since that's the hottest part of the day. But she replies by saying "now". Crazy kid. Anyhow, I have been experimenting with different pop flavors like crazy. Many have not been blog worthy. Some take some perfecting. These slightly spicy mango popsicles were pretty much perfect first try. The other mango popsicle I've made this year also involved coconut milk, but that one didn't go over so well.
These pops are pretty easy to make. The hardest part is cutting up the mango. Peel it and then dice it up. Be careful though - I once lost a fingernail to a mango peeling accident. Those things are slippery! Then puree all the ingredients together.
If you don't want to be picking out fibrous mango threads from your teeth all day, you will want to strain the mixture. Keep stirring to make it go faster. What you'll be left with in your sieve will make you think you've just cleaned out the shower drain. Eew!
Pour the mixture into your popsicle mold and in a couple hours (or a few minutes if you have an insta-pop maker like I do) you will be eating a delicious chili lime infused mango popsicle. A nice refreshing, fruity low calorie treat.
And if you happen to be in the Edmonton area on August long weekend, make sure to check out Heritage Festival. There's no better way to sample the foods from 60 different countries in one place. Here are some of my favorites from past years:
- Cevapi, burek and sirnica from Bosnia-Hercegovina
- Honey pancake from Korea
- Arepa from Venezula
Mango Popsicles with Chili and Lime
Ingredients
- 1 large mango peeled and diced
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 3 Tablespoon lime juice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ancho chili powder
- pinch cayenne
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Puree all ingredients together in a blender or small food processor. Strain mixture through a mesh sieve. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze until solid. Run under warm water to remove pops from mold when ready to serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer: I try my best to make sure the nutrition information I provide is accurate to provide you with the best information possible. However, due to ingredient discrepancies and other factors, the above nutrition information should be considered an estimation only.
Jaclyn Chute (@jaclynchuteRD)
Loved mango on a stick when I was in Mexico so this sounds yummy. Thanks for the recommendations for Heritage Days as well! I'm going this year and was just wondering how I will figure out what is worth trying.
Carissa
Yes, there is so much to choose from at Heritage Days, it can be overwhelming! I recommend going for things that aren't easily accessible at local restaurants or that you can make yourself at home. Otherwise it can end up being a pretty pricey (and caloric!) endeavour.