Easy Peas-y Mango Soup

My fourteen year-old future stepsister Liddy has a mild obsession with all things mango. During a visit earlier in the summer she posted on her Facebook, "they should make a mango soup!" I didn't know she loved mangoes so much, she didn't know I love a food challenge.

Shortly after, my apprentice and I grabbed a few beautiful mangoes, rolled up our sleeves and started throwing stuff in a blender that we thought would taste good. I'm not much of a fruit fan ("A VEGAN WHO DOESN'T LIKE FRUIT?!" you gasp. What can I say, I like it crunchy and spicy!) so I would've preferred the end result to burn my mouth a little more, but we ended up with a beautiful chilled soup that had a nice, mild kick and was the perfect meal on a summer afternoon. I paired it with a chapati bread, the recipe for which I took from a Hare Krishna recipe book "The Higher Taste" that I bought from a local Indian restaurant. (I tried to find a link, but it seems our Hare-y friends aren't terribly inventive and several of them have distributed drastically different books of the same title.)

Blended Family, Blended Fruit

• 3 mangoes pitted and seeded
• 1 16oz can light coconut milk
  
• 2 cups peas (fresh or frozen; we used frozen)
• 1 bunch chopped scallions
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 1 lemon, wedged
  
• Curry powder to taste (I probably used about 4+ TBSP)
• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut

1. Toast almonds on a cookie sheet at 350 for about ten minutes
2. Combine mango, coconut milk, peas and scallions in blender and puree
3. Add lemon juice, garlic and other seasonings as you see fit! Like I said, I like it spicy and would've added much more curry powder if Liddy were less sensitive to spice.
4. Garnish with almonds and coconut. I even saved a few peas!

Chapati Bread (via The Higher Taste)

• 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup warm water

1. Combine flour, salt, oil and water in a large bowl
2. Knead dough for about 10 minutes
3. Cover dough with a smaller bowl for 1/2 hour
4. Re-knead dough
   
5. Form into 12 balls
6. Preheat ungreased skillet or griddle on medium heat
7. Roll each ball into a 6" round and heat on skillet until golden brown bubbles and a pocket start to form
8. (This next step is an optional after thought and is only do-able if you have a gas oven!) On a neighboring range over medium heat, use tongs to hold about 6" above flame. The bread will fluff up even more!

*Note: You'll see a spinachy chapati-esque experiment in the picture. Liddy wanted a bread with a little more flavor so we fooled around with garlic and spinach chiapati. It was messy and difficult and, while edible, not a "recipe" I would try to pawn off on you fine folk.