The past month has been as bas as pulling teeth; Really. My oldest son had all his wisdom teeth yanked. Against my advice (laughing gas) he opted for general anesthetic, the wimp. I braced for histrionics post op, but he came through like a trooper, and except for the occasional snarky remark (he blamed the meds) he did fine. I found that cooking for someone who had temporarily lost the ability to chew was quite daunting. He’s sixteen and needed to eat his usual caloric load, but mush is hard to bulk up calorie-wise. I fixed him a mango flan, which went down nicely and can even be a little addicting. It’s dense and satisfying, eaten warm or chilled.

MANGO FLAN

Prepare a ramekin as follows: I use a stainless steel ramekin, because it’s easy to caramalize the sugar and it reduces the number of dishes you’d have to wash up. Individual ramekins work as well, or if you want to save yourself some trouble, use a rounded stainless steel bowl that is at least 8 inches deep. Melt three Tbsp of white sugar in the bowl, allowing the sugar to caramalize. If you like, add a small pat of butter to the sugar while it’s melting. Use tongs to coat the bottom of the bowl and the sides, as far up the bowl as you can get the caramel to travel. Set aside and allow the bowl to cool.

In a separate bowl, beat:

3 Eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 cups whole milk
1/2 cup mango puree (most canned mango puree comes sweetened. An asian market is a good place to find decent quality mango puree such as Alphonso Mango puree or Kesir Mango puree from India)
pinch of nutmeg

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the mixture into the prepared bowl. The caramel will crackle. Set the bowl in  a shallow water filled pan and place uncovered in the oven until set approx. 35 -40 minutes. Insert a toothpick to test for done-ness.

Allow the flan to cool. Loosen edges and invert the pan onto a shallow plate. Scrape the sides, and pour the melted caramel over the flan. Enjoy warm or chilled.

FOR THE LACTOSE INTOLERANT : Substitute lactose free milk