Strawberry Lychee Sorbet

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I’m not going to lie; I have a love/hate relationship with Donna Hay.  I’ve followed her recipes countless times, and more often than not, they end up in disaster.  I can currently think of only three of her recipes, that I’ve tried, that I have absolutely loved (this post will include one of them).

This is the thing about Donna’s recipes and me; if I make one of her recipes, it’s guaranteed I’m either going to hate it with a passion, or, one the other hand, I’ll think it was the best ever thing I’ve ever eaten.

One of those recipes I’ve loved was this gorgeous ginger, cardamom and pomegranate syrup cake.  In the cold of winter, make this cake.  It’s so comforting and warming.

The second recipe I’ve loved is Donna’s brownie cookies with peanut butter filling.  I didn’t post about this because my pictures didn’t turn out good enough, but here is the recipe from Donna’s website.  It’s sinful, but oh so delicious.

And the third recipe?  It’s this strawberry lychee sorbet, which I discovered when I downloaded a back issue of Donna Hay magazine on the magazine’s iPad app.

I was hesitant to make this because I had never eaten a lychee before.  My daughter loves them though, so I thought I’d give this recipe a go; if I didn’t like it, then she probably would.

Lychees are mainly native to China, however many other counties are now growing this exotic fruit.  They have a hard, thin and bumpy outer shell that is pink to dark red in color.  The shell is easily broken and the soft, white smooshy flesh inside is eaten (there is one black, smooth and oblong seed inside, which, of course, isn’t eaten).  The flesh has a very strong floral smell.  I’ve never eaten one plain (only in this sorbet!), but apparently it’s very sweet and stars in many Asian dessert dishes.

The sorbet requires canned lychees, which I thought was a little odd – why not fresh lychees?  I almost decided to use fresh lychees, but bought canned instead, just in case the sorbet might not end up with the right texture.  I did buy fresh ones anyway both for my daughter and to accompany the finished sorbet in my photos.

I had a taste of the sorbet mixture before pouring it into the ice cream maker, and I was just blown away by how delicious it was.  I was completely surprised that I loved it so much!

Although this wasn’t in the recipe, I strained the mixture through a fine mesh sieve before pouring it in the ice cream maker because I didn’t want the finished sorbet to be full of seeds.  This was a little difficult because I had to actually push the mixture through the sieve with the back of a spoon, but it was worth it.  There were still some seeds in the end, but not many.

The sorbet has the wonderful flavor of fresh strawberries, with a floral hit from the lychees.  Its taste is delicate, refreshing and exotic.  Without a doubt, this is the best sorbet I’ve ever tasted.

And my daughter?  She loved it as well!  She couldn’t get enough of it!

This will definitely be a summertime staple in our house!

Strawberry Lychee Sorbet

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

A light and refreshing sorbet made with lychees and fresh strawberries.

Author: Donna Hay magazine

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 1.5 liters

Ingredients

• 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
• ½ cup (125ml) water
• 500g strawberries, hulled and halved
• 2 565g cans lychees in syrup, drained
• 2 tablespoons lime juice

Instructions

1. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Set aside to cool completely.
2. Place the strawberries and lychees in a food processor and process until smooth. Place the puree in a large bowl with the sugar and lime juice and stir to combine. If desired, strain the mixture through a fine sieve to remove strawberry seeds and any larger pieces of the lychees - this may require you to use the back of a spoon to help push the mixture through the sieve.
3. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions until the sorbet is just firm. Spoon the sorbet into 3 2-cup capacity (500ml) jars (or whatever you would normally put your homemade ice cream or sorbet in) and place in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until frozen.

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