Fresh Mango and Ginger Quark Pie
I was just preparing this recipe for my blog when I got a message from one of my connections on Hyves (the Dutch version of Facebook) if I knew any healthy pie recipes. I thought about it for a bit and couldn’t really think of any. All of a sudden I realized that the recipe I was working on right now, is a semi healthy one. If you use low-fat items and decrease the amount of sugar this could be a really healthy pie!
In my case though I didn’t use any low fat items, but I’m pretty sure it’ll taste nice with some substitutes.
So here’s what you need: Ginger Nuts cookies, butter, quark (or yogurt), double cream, sugar, lemon and ginger.
Next, take a spring form cake tin and lightly butter it.
Take the top part off of the tin and put parchment paper on the bottom of the tin. The butter will help the baking pager stick to the tin.
Put the top part back on and cut around the tin to remove the excess parchment paper.
Next, put some parchment paper on the sides as well.
Now it’s time to get you’re Ginger Nut cookies. Mine are home made Rockhard Ginger Nuts, just the way I like them, but you can just buy your favourite brand.
Now I have to say, that at this point, I suggest you get your blender and crush those cookies till they’re dust. Trust me that is the easiest way. However, in my case, my blender broke, so I had to result to some old fashion methods, which is putting the cookies in a bag,
Taking a rolling pin (I suggest a wooden one and not the one I have in the photo here, that one doesn’t work for this…)
Put the bag in between a cloth and start banging till it’s all nice and fine, just as if you’ve crushed it in an electric blender.
Just keep on banging it till it looks like this! (30 seconds in a blender, or in my case, 15 minutes manual labour…)
Next it’s time to melt the butter.
Add the melted butter to the cookies.
Stir until just combined.
Pour the mixture into your tin.
Take a spoon to spread evenly across the tin and flatten. Next it’s time to transfer the tin to the fridge so the bottom of the pie can set.
Next, take your mango (make sure it’s a nice ripe mango) cut along side the core so you’ve got a thick slice of mango. With your knife slice the mango in small pieces (smaller than in the picture), but not all the way through though! Make sure the mango is still sticking to the skin.
Next turn the skin backwards so the flesh of the mango is exposed. Now you can just run your knife past the skin and the bits of mango will just fall off! Do the same with other part of the mango and slice the rest of the mango in small pieces. Do keep a few slices of mango for decoration.
Ofcourse, you can just peel and slice the mango any way you want, but I find this way to be one of the easiest ways. Set aside your little chunks of mango.
Next take your gelatine and soak them into cold water for at least 5 minutes.
Take the zest of the lemon and set aside.
Take your zested lemon and squeeze it for some lemon juice.
Into a saucepan add lemon juice and ginger extract.
I actually made this ginger extract myself by grating a piece of ginger and squeezing it through a sieve. It takes a bit of work, but it does give the pie a little bit of extra ginger flavour. If you don’t feel like grating ginger you can skip this step.
Add a couple tablespoons of water and warm the mixture through on a low heat.
When the mixture is warm (not boiling) it’s time to add the gelatine. First squeeze the gelatine leaves before adding it to the mixture.
Now dissolve the leaves in the lemon juice mixture while stirring constantly. Once the gelatin is completely dissolved let it cool down for a bit.
In a bowl combine the quark (or yogurt) with the sugar and lemon zest.
Once mixed it should look like this. This tastes amazing already!
In a separate bowl, pour in your double cream.
And mix to a stiff consistency.
Next, add your mango pieces into the quark mixture.
Then pour in your gelatin mixture.
And stir.
Now scoop in your whipped cream and fold and gently mix into your quark (or yogurt) mixture).
I can eat it just like this, but I won’t…
Take your spring form cake tin out of the fridge and pour in the quark mixture. And put back into the frige for at least 2 hours. This is when the hardest part starts, waiting…
Once set, top it with the slices of mango you set a side. Be creative!
Once you’re ready to serve it’s time to take the spring form off. Take off the sides.
And tear off the parchment paper.
Now doesn’t that look delicious?? I absolutely LOVE this pie! I can eat a piece of this everyday! I like the way the ginger combines with the mango. You could use a different base for the pie of course, it just won’t be a ginger and mango quark pie anymore, just a mango quark pie, which I’m sure tastes delicious as well. But my suggestion would be to try this and tell me if you love it just as much as I do!
Don’t forget to comment and rate and star my recipe when you’ve tried it!
| Prep Time | 25 minutes |
| Passive Time | 2 hours |
| Servings |
pieces |
- 200 g Ginger Nuts cookies
- 50 g butter
- 10 gelatin leaves
- 1 lemon
- 500 g quark or plain yogurt
- 200 g caster sugar fine sugar
- 250 ml double cream
- 1 mango
- 1 tsp ginger extract optional
Ingredients
| |
- Put the cookies in a food processor and crush into crumbs. If you don't have a food processor you can also put the cookies in a plastic bag in between a kitchen towel and bash it with a rolling pin.
- In a saucepan or microwave, melt the butter. Mix the melted butter into the cookie crumbs. Transfer the cookie mixture to the springform and spread evenly over the base of the tin. Transfer the springform to the fridge so the bottom of the pie can set.
- Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.
- Peel the mango and cut into small pieces. Keep a few strips of mango for decoration. Clean the lemon thoroughly and grate the rind. Use a fine grater.
- Squeeze the lemon and put the juice into a saucepan. Add to this 2 tbsp of water, 1 tsp ginger extract and warm it up on low heat.
- Squeeze the gelatine leaves and dissolve the leaves in the lemon juice mixture while stirring constantly. Once the gelatin is completely dissolved let it cool down for a bit.
- In a bowl combine the quark with the sugar and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream to a stiff consistency.
- Gradually stir the gelatin mixture into the quark mixture. Add the mango pieces. Next gently stir in the whipped cream try to keep some air in the mixture.
- Pour quark/whipped cream mixture into the springform. Let the cake firm up in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Once the cake has firmed up you can decorate it with strips of mango.
- Instead of quark you can use plain yogurt.
- For a stronger ginger flavor you can add some finely grated ginger. Ginger extract can be made by grating a piece of ginger and squeezing it through a cheesecloth or sieve. The juice that comes through the cloth or sieve can be used as an extract.
- For a healthy version use low-fat items and add two extra gelatin leaves.