Healthy Mango Eton Mess

Eat Eton mess? I should be so lucky. Full to the brim with thickly whipped double cream, it’s a dessert best left for others. Or so I’m told. Yet, there exists one loophole in the Eton mess embargo; Greek yoghurt. And it isn’t at all a disappointing one, like so many workarounds end up being. Healthy though it is, my mango Eton mess remains worthy of eager consumption.

As with other fruits and vegetables, there exists numerous varieties of mango. As such, there is no particular “best” time to eat mangoes in the UK. Just you try growing one yourself. It’s unfortunate that our climate doesn’t lend itself well to tropical fruit. Still, mango Eton mess is technically never out of season. So, enjoy.

If you do intend to enjoy this recipe, please keep it simple. Do not, as others have, add passion fruit to your mango Eton mess. Enjoy the one fruit for what it is; delicious, refreshing, juicy. A recipe need be no more complex than is required. And additional flavours are just as likely to detract as they are to enhance.

You’ll, no doubt, be glad to hear that mango and Greek yoghurt combine rather wonderfully. The effect is, surprisingly, better than the unhealthy alternative, with the tangy yoghurt standing up well to the sweet fruit. Yet, the dessert is still punctuated by the lavishly saccharine meringue, without which you’d simply have an after-dinner snack.

Healthy Mango Eton Mess

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe mango, peeled and cubed
• 2 large meringues
• 4 tbsp Greek yoghurt, full fat

Method:

1. Once prepared (you can find my recipe here), break the meringues into a large bowl and spoon over half the yoghurt. Combine gently.
2. Arrange the meringue mixture into four bowls, along with the cubed mango. Spoon the remaining Greek yoghurt over each dessert and serve.

Cost: This is a fantastic recipe for using up any leftover egg whites you might have chilling out in the fridge. But while you may be avoiding waste, the desserts still cost money. And while mango can be a little expensive, the four servings shouldn’t set you back much more than £2.