Submitted by: Richard Hammond
Servings: Serves 8 as an Appetizer
Ingredients: 8 large ripe mangoes
4 Valencia oranges
2 (14 oz.) cans Thai Kitchen coconut milk
2 organic limes
4 oz. piece of fresh galangal (or ginger)
1 small bunch Thai basil (optional)
1 small bunch cilantro
½ cup EV olive oil
Instructions: Substitute fresh ginger for the galangal and more cilantro for the Thai basil if you do not have a local Thai market. Refrigerate the cans of coconut milk for an hour before preparing this soup.
Wash and dry the herbs in a salad spinner and place the cilantro leaves and tender stems in a blender. Strip off the basil leaves and add them to the blender also. Discard any tough cilantro stems and all the basil stems. Go on to the next steps as you will finish the cilantro-basil oil right before serving the soup.
Zest the limes into a food processor using a microplane grater. Cut the limes and oranges in half and squeeze all their juices using an electric citrus juicer. Pour the orange and lime juice into the food processor bowl.
Use a sharp teaspoon to peel the galangal or ginger, cut it into ½” chunks and place these in the food processor. Peel the mangoes with a vegetable peeler, cut the top or bottom off each mango to make a flat base. Stand the mangoes on their flat end and slice downward cutting the fruit into long strips away from the pits.
Place about 2/3 of the mangoes into the food processor and cross-cut the remaining strips of mango into ½” dice and leave them on the cutting board while you finish the soup.
Purée everything in the food processor as smooth as possible; open the coconut milk cans and spoon out the congealed coconut “cream” into the processor and discard all the coconut water which contains guar gum (a laxative).
Blend again on high speed until thoroughly mixed. Place the soup in a large covered container, add the diced mango and chill the soup in the freezer for about an hour or so until very cold. Stir it occasionally to prevent freezing around the edges.
Chill the soup bowls in the refrigerator while you’re waiting for the soup…
Right before serving the soup:
Pour the olive oil into the blender, cover and turn on the highest speed to make the cilantro-basil “pesto”. Stop the blender as needed to stir the contents with a chopstick or small spatula and blend again, repeating this process until the pesto comes together.
Ladle the soup into the chilled bowls and swirl 2 or 3 tablespoons of the pesto into the top of each serving. Use up all of the basil-cilantro oil as this preparation does not keep well. Place the soup bowls on plates and bring to the table.
For an awesome three-course dinner party the chef highly recommends starting with his Paleo Shrimp Cocktail with Thai Flavors, followed by this ice-cold Mango Soup and for the entree, the Chicken Curry with Pumpkin-Coconut Chapati, enjoy!
This dish sounds amazing! Small tip, if you have access to it, the canned coconut milk brand I swear by is Chaokoh. It is one of the only brands out there that does not contain guar gum (so you dont have to throw out the yummy coconut water!)
Hey mswonderwoman thanx for that info, I have never seen any coconut milks w/out these stabilizers. I appreciate the tip, I’m googling “Chaokah” right now! By all means try this soup in late spring/summer, it is very refreshing, enjoy!
Actually this brand has K metabisulfite but I did see some boxed coconut milks without these preservatives and without vegetable gums so more research will be required…
I like the Tiger Tiger brand coconut milk. It tastes great. One of the very rare ones I’ve found that only has coconut and water as ingredients (no guar gum or preservatives). Now if I could only find one like that in a BPA free can.
Hi Chris, yes that’s a tough one, I’m hoping the boxed CMs will be BPA free. BTW, might you have any info on that, perhaps BPAs are only added to canned products? Just curious, anyone else out there, feel free to chime in!
I read that certain cardboard/paperboard cartons use different linings, so you would have to look at the plastic number on the carton or contact the manufacturer. Some of them apparently do use “safer” plastics. Even bpa-free plastic isn’t a guarantee from what I read.