Monday, November 21, 2011

Happiness is...Mango Lychee Sorbet


One of my favourite desserts is the sorbet trio at Blue Ginger restaurant in Balmain (Sydney). The trio usually includes a lychee sorbet, and it is sublime – sweet yet subtle with the unmistakable fragrance of luscious lychees. I even bought the Blue Ginger cookbook to see if I could make it using their recipe, but unfortunately, it requires an ice cream maker which I don’t have.

So what to do? Well, in my case, I just pined over the lychee-sorbet-that-was-not-to be for a couple of years. Until last week. And all because I had 2 eggwhites left over.

After making some spaghetti carbonara that needed 2 egg yolks, the remaining eggwhites languished in the fridge for a couple of days while I mulled over what use them for. I’m NOT a macaron maker, so macs were out of the question. Eggwhite omelette? Too boring. Then I did what I should have done first off – type ‘2 eggwhites’ into the search at taste.com.au. It came up with this fantastic Lychee and Mango Sorbet that is every bit as good as the one at Blue Ginger (and with the bonus of mango). I pine no longer.

Mango and Lychee Sorbet
Serves 6

Ingredients
3/4 cup caster sugar 
565g can lychees in syrup, drained
425g can mango slices in light syrup, drained 
2 eggwhites, lightly whisked

Method
1. Combine sugar and 1 1/4 cups water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Simmer, without stirring, for 10 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and cool completely.

2. Place lychees and mango in a processor or blender. Process until smooth. Press through a sieve into a bowl. Discard pulp. Add sugar mixture to fruit mixture. Stir to combine. Pour into a 3cm-deep, 20cm x 30cm (base) lamington pan. Cover and freeze for 1 to 2 hours or until almost firm.

3. Transfer mixture to a food processor. Add eggwhites. Process until smooth but not melted. Pour mixture into a 6cm-deep, 11.5cm x 21.5cm (base) loaf pan. Cover and freeze for 3 hours or until firm. Serve.

recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients: Canned mango and lychees (great if they're not in season); lightly whisked egg whites (warning: this dessert contains uncooked eggs); process the lychee and mango then push through a sieve; frozen delicious sorbet is the result

This sorbet is wonderfully smooth as long as you combine the eggwhites well with the mango/lychee slush.

These raspberries are so brightly coloured. All the better to contrast with the mango/lychee!

A frosty sweet treat that's worthy of a restaurant.

18 comments:

  1. A few years ago I got so excited when I saw a small icecream maker at Priceline for $30. It's just one of those jobbies you where you put the base in the freezer before using it. It works well enough but to this day I've used it a couple of times. Looks like I need to dig it out of the attic & dust it off. Love this flavour combo!

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  2. This looks sooo delicious and refreshing. Great summer dessert for those hot nights we've been having! :)

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  3. Been meaning to try Blue Ginger. What a refreshing and perfectly summery combination.

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  4. There's this frozen yogurt place here that occasionally has a mango flavor and i ALWAYS get lychees as a topping. I just know I would love this!

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  5. Ooooh the weekend was perfect weather for it!!!

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  6. How refreshing Bel! This sorbet screams out Summer to me. I think I'll eat it straight out of the tin :)

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  7. I hate it when I have leftover eggwhites or egg yolks in the fridge and don't know what to do with them!! :( This sounds like a wonderful way of using those left over egg whites though! I love the idea of mango AND lychee- I love both of those flavours :D

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  8. Another great idea for leftover whites. Can I use can jackfruit instead?

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  9. Good use of your leftover whites. I'm digging those luscious tropical flavours!

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  10. this sounds great, I don't eat lychee enought so in a ice-cream how can I resist.

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  11. That recipe looks so easy and incredibly tasty! Must try this when the weather improves again!

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  12. I have just finished reading this and on a day like today, this is just sunshine in a bowl!

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  13. A lovely tropical treat! Nice colour contrast.

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  14. What a delicious combo! Mum bought me some more mangoes, looks like I'll need to go get a can of lychees to make this ^^

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  15. Dear Bel,


    This is very clever as I've never considered using a combination of canned and fresh fruit to make such a delicious looking dessert.

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  16. Looks absolutely delicious! Very refreshing too.

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  17. Looks delicious - I've never had lychee in a frozen dessert... I bet it's wonderful

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