This classic mango pudding comes with Dan Hong’s clever tweaks and is featured in his first cookbook, the recently published Mr Hong: a glimpse into the mind of the brilliant chef behind Mr Wong, El Loco & Ms G’s.

Each of Hong’s re-imagined Vietnamese, Chinese and Mexican recipes in his book is illustrated with a speech bubble giving some context to the dish. With the following mango pudding recipe Hong says: “Every single Cantonese restaurant in the world has mango pudding on the menu. If white people order deep-fried ice cream, then Asians order mango pudding. For Mr Wong, I wanted to give this classic more texture and put my own stamp on it. I added tapioca, those mouth-popping balls that you eat with frozen yoghurt, fresh pomelo and mango, as well as passionfruit granita to accentuate the tropical fruit vibe.”

Recipes and images from ‘Mr Hong’ by Dan Hong, Murdoch Books, $49.99.

Passionfruit granita

100 ml (3 ½ fl oz) passionfruit pulp (no seeds)
150 ml (5 fl oz) sugar syrup

Combine both the ingredients in a bowl with 300 ml (10 ½ fl oz) water. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream tray and put it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so, stir the granita with a fork, scraping the ice crystals off the bottom and sides of the tray. Break up any chunks of ice that have formed and return the tray to the freezer. Repeat this step three or four times.

The pudding

700 g (1 lb 9 oz) frozen mango puree
3 ½ tablespoons sugar syrup
150 mls (5 fl oz) evaporated milk
12 g (¼ oz) gelatine leaves

In a large bowl, combine the mango puree, sugar syrup and evaporated milk and whisk well. In a separate bowl, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5 minutes until soft. Remove the leaves from the water and gently squeeze out the excess. Set aside.

Add 150 ml (5 fl oz) of the mango mixture to a small saucepan over a medium heat. When it starts simmering around the edges, add the soaked gelatine leaves and stir until the gelatine has completely dissolves. Stir this mixture back into the remaining mango mixture and whisk thoroughly. Divide the mixture among four shallow moulds, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Tapioca

100 g (3 ½ oz) tapioca pearls
375 ml (13 fl oz/1 ½ cups) evaporated milk

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the tapioca pearls and cook them on a rolling boil for 5-8 minutes, or until they have become soft and transparent. Drain and refresh the pearls in cold water. Put in a bowl and set aside. Just before you’re ready to serve, add the evaporated milk, stirring well to combine.

The rest

1 fresh mango, cut into 8 mm (3/8 inch) cubes
100 g (3 ½ oz) mango ‘boba’ balls
150 g (5 ½ oz) pomelo flesh, broken up
10 sprigs baby coriander (cilantro) to garnish

To serve

Unmould the puddings onto serving plates. Spoon about 1 ½ tablespoons of tapioca on top of each pudding, followed by 1 tablespoon of mango cubes and 1 tablespoon of mango balls. Scatter some pomelo flesh all over. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of passionfruit granita around each pudding and garnish with a few sprigs of baby coriander.

Serves 4