The other great fruit of summer, apart from the mango and the watermelon, is the lychee. I love that delicate whitish pulp and the perfumed flavour, and we at Kookie Jar just love using it in our desserts.

Lychee is best used fresh as it loses the delicate aroma once canned. It can be a refreshing drink in summer. Lychee slices can be great additions to fruit salads and dressings. The fruit can also be used in jellies, jams, sorbets, sauces and syrups. Lychee is low in calories, contains no saturated fat or cholesterol and is rich in dietary fibre, besides being an excellent source of vitamin C.

We at Mangio recently introduced some new innovations with the lychee on our menu. The recipes I have listed use readily available ingredients and are easy to cook.

The right way to peel a lychee

Separate the fruits from the bunch and wash them in cold water. To peel, gently pinch at the stem end and pull away the outer coat slowly. Alternatively, if you don’t want to use your hands, then using a small paring knife, make a slice over the outer tough skin lengthwise all the way to the tip. Take care not to press the fruit or you will squirt the juice. Now carefully peel away the tough outer skin along with the inner thin membrane to expose the beautiful, jelly-like translucent white flesh.

Prawn & Lychee Spring Rolls

Ingredients

Spring roll sheets,
each 10cm square: 6
Large prawns, peeled but with the tail on, deveined and cut in half lengthways: 6
Soy sauce: 2tbsp
Oyster sauce: ½tsp
Ginger: ½inch
Green chillies: 2
Large lychees (fresh or tinned), peeled and roughly chopped: 6
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Egg, beaten: 1
Oil for deep frying

Method

Marinate the prawns with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sliced green chillies and julienne of ginger. Take one spring roll sheet and fold over one corner towards the centre. Lay a prawn on the sheet, with its tail hanging over the folded edge. Lay half of a chopped lychee along the length of the prawn, and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Roll the sheet over the prawn, so that you have a cylinder with the tail protruding from one end. Seal the spring roll with the beaten egg. Repeat the process to make the remaining spring rolls. Set aside.
Heat a pan of oil for deep frying to 200°C. Deep fry the spring rolls until they are golden brown all over. Drain on kitchen paper and serve.

Ice Cream

Ingredients

Full cream milk: 1 litre
Cornflour: 2½tsp
Gelatin: 1tsp
Sugar: ¾ cup
Fresh cream: 1 cup
Vanilla essence: 1tsp
Cold milk: ½ cup
Lychee, crushed coarsely: 1 cup

Method

Boil the full cream milk for 15 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. Mix cornflour in the half cup of cold milk and keep aside. Add sugar to boiled milk and stir. Add cornflour paste, stirring continuously. Boil for four to five minutes more and take it off the fire.
Sprinkle gelatin over 3tbsp water in a small pan. Allow it to soak for 5 minutes. Warm over gentle heat, till dissolved. Do not bring it to a boil. When the boiled milk cools a little, add the gelatin solution and mix well. Cool it to room temperature, freeze in a covered tray (to avoid ice crystals) till set but not hard. Break it into pieces and beat with an eggbeater till soft. Add the cream and essence, and mix well.
The texture should be light and creamy. When semi-set, take it out and crush lightly. Add lychees and mix gently. Set again till firm. Scoop out and

 

Lychee Cheesecake

Ingredients

For cheesecake base

Digestive biscuits: 70g
Butter, melted: 30g

For lychee cheese

Cream cheese: 250g
Whipped cream: 150g
Lychee flesh (fresh): 200g
Castor sugar: 35g
Gelatin: 8g (about 1½tsp)

Method
Break the digestive biscuits into pieces by using a rolling pin. Spread the melted butter evenly on the biscuit crumbs and press it to the bottom of a pan or mould. Set it to chill in the fridge.
Dissolve the gelatin in hot water and set aside. Roughly chop 120g lychees and set aside. Whisk the cream cheese and sugar until smooth; add in the lychee chunks. Whip the cream to a soft peak and gently fold in the cheese mixture.
Make sure the folding
is gentle. Lastly, fold in the gelatin and pour into the pan or base on top of the chilled crust. Set to chill in the fridge for at least four hours (or preferably overnight). Garnish with the remaining lychees on top of the