Gambia

GAMBIA: Mango and Ginger Cream Parfaits

I want to thank a few kind people for their help with Gambia — Sebastian Barnick, Khadi Anton, Diago Dieye and (of course) Kip Kiprop. Turns out West Africa, isn’t a big dessert eating region. I could make the millet-yogurt dish called Chakary, but I made that for Gabon a few days ago.

Khadi Anton sent some helpful insights and said: 
“Something to take into account is that most of the countries in West Africa, from Senegal mostly to the end of Niger, used to be part of one big empire with very similar culture and, even today, gastronomy. And desserts are truly not a part of that culture. We do eat tiakry, lakh, degué, ngalakh and so on, sometimes for breakfast, or for very specific ceremonies (christenings, weddings, funerals…) but not really as part of lunch or dinner. My mother, who defines herself as a Senegalese for instance, consideres eating something sweet as a waste of time (except when it comes to breakfast). Not saying that you should stop trying, but it may be hard to get a specific dessert for every single country in that area. But then I also guess it must be similar in other locations on earth… Anyway, your gabonese Chakary looked great.
We do add some grated coconut and raisins in Senegal”.

So you see the challenge. In the end these Mango Parfait are described as “a high class Gambian dessert”. How authentic is really anybody’s guess…

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 small mangoes
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar , or as needed
1 1/2 tsp ginger root , freshly grated (packed)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Dice up your mangoes and if they aren’t completely ripe, add sugar.

Next, add water. The water will keep everything moist as it simmers. Simmer, uncovered, until the sugar dissolves and the fruit is softened to desired consistency.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together fresh grated ginger, 2 golden eggs, sugar, whole milk and heavy cream.

Cook over a pot of heartily steaming water, double-boiler style. The heat should be pretty high. Cook until thickened and the mixture resembles yogurt in texture. 

Serve warm, room tempature or cold.