Lychees or litchis are one of the summer fruits everyone eagerly waits for in Bangladesh. This fruit is widely cultivated in the subtropical areas including Southeast Asia and China. Litchis are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Litchi is popular for its wide range of health benefits.
Litchis can help to improve heart health and may reduce risk of cancer and diabetes. It can fight against liver cancer. It can boost hair growth. This fruit is also good for skin. It is beneficial for chronic disease reduction.
Everyone loves the chewy, sweet taste of litchis. You can’t miss the short period of this seasonal fruit. Apart from eating fresh litchis, you can also try dessert recipes at home. Here, we offer 7 litchi dessert recipes that you must try before this summer ends.
7 Mouthwatering Litchi Dessert Recipes
Litchi Popsicles
Ingredients
500 grams litchi, 125 gram vanilla ice cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon rosewater, and rose petal (optional).
Process
First of all put all the ingredients including litchi, ice cream, sugar, lemon juice and rose water in a blender. Start blending from low speed and gradually increasing to medium speed. Keep blending until it becomes smooth without forming any bubbles. Taste the drink and adjust sweetness to your liking.
Then pour the liquid into the popsicle molds. Keep stirring continuously while transferring the mix. After that insert the sticks into the mold and freeze it for 7-8 hours or better overnight. Bring the pop molds out from the freeze. Now, your tasty popsicles are ready!
Litchi Sorbet
Ingredients
500 grams fresh litchis, 100 grams icing sugar, 1 ½ cup water and ½ lime (juiced)
Process
First wash the litchis and remove the seeds. Then start with litchi flesh, sugar and water. Put them all in a pan and wait for boiling. Keep stirring to ensure that the sugar dissolves completely. After boiling the mix well, wait for it to be cool.
After cooling, blend the syrup, litchi and lime juice altogether in a food processor. Keep blending until the combination reaches the desired consistency. You can sieve it if you prefer a smoother texture or just leave it like that.
Now, freeze the mix. When it gets solid, break them into smaller pieces and churn it for another 5-10 minutes. Freeze it again. Now, delicious litchi sorbet is ready to be enjoyed.
Litchi Ice Cream
Ingredients
2 cups fresh litchi, ½ cup cream, ¾ cup condensed milk, 1 cup milk, 4 egg yolks, ½ cup sugar and one pinch salt.
Process
Begin with preparing the litchis. Wash them thoroughly, peel and separate the flesh from the seeds. Now blend the litchi flesh smoothly. Then pour the puree, and cream together in a bowl and give the mix a stir.
Place milk and condensed milk in a small saucepan and heat the combo gently at low temperature until it starts steaming. Next, take egg yolk, required amount of sugar, and a bit of salt in a separate bowl and whisk them. Now pour the milk mixture into this bowl. And stir continuously.
Heat the mixture at medium temperature until it reaches a perfect consistency. Continue stirring until the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Now, it`s almost ready.
At this point, pour the litchi puree that was prepared before into this mixture. After that mix the whole combination well and then cool it down. To make ice cream the instructions of the ice cream maker need to be followed.
Without an ice cream maker, you can make it in the freezer. Place the custard in the freezer and after an hour bring it out. Give it a good whisking or blend. Put it back in the freezer. Repeat this for a few times until it reaches a creamy and soft consistency. Finally freeze it in an ice cream container and after a few hours enjoy your creamy, sweet litchi ice cream.
Litchi Mousse
Ingredients
1 can litchi in syrup, 2 tablespoons icing sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons gelatin powder, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 2 teaspoons syrup from the lychee can, 150ml thickened cream and 1 egg white.
Process
For this recipe you may use canned litchi or fresh litchi as per choice.
In case of fresh litchi, make some litchi syrup by boiling lychee and sugar together nicely. While using canned litchi, first separate lychee and the syrup. Keep the syrup aside. Now blend the lychee into smooth puree. Mix lemon juice, and litchi syrup in a bowl. In this liquid add gelatin powder and place the bowl over hot water to dissolve the gelatin.
At this stage combine the litchi puree and gelatin mixture very well and leave it in the fridge. Then whip the cream and egg whites separately. Mix the whipped cream with the litchi mixture thoroughly. And gently fold in the whipped egg whites. Now serve this mouthwatering lychee mousse.
Litchi and Coconut Pudding
Ingredients
8 sheet gelatin, 8 fresh litchis, 1 lime (juice), 2 tablespoon vanilla sugar, 250 milliliter lychee juice and 400 milliliter coconut water.
Process
Start the process with washing and peeling the litchis. Deseed them and chop them into small chunks. Let the gelatin sit in cold water. Now take the ingredients including litchi juice, vanilla sugar, and lime juice in a bowl and place it over the cooker at low heat. Slowly add the gelatin and keep stirring until the gelatin completely dissolves.
After that, remove the mixture from the heat. Next, add coconut water, and the chopped litchis into this combination. After that pour down the final mixture into a pudding container and allow it to cool down for at least 4 hours. Finally, unmold the pudding and garnish as desired.
Litchi Jelly
Ingredients
125 ml litchi juice, ½ teaspoon agar agar powder
Process
This is one of the easiest but delicious litchi recipes. First take the litchi juice in a saucepan and sprinkle agar agar powder over it. Heat the mixture over a medium temperature. Bring the mixture to a boiling state and continue stirring until agar agar totally dissolves.
Keep boiling for approximately 1 minute. Then turn off the heat and pour the liquid into a jelly mold. Allow it to chill and then place it in the fridge. After setting, cut the litchi jelly into small pieces and enjoy.
Litchi Butter Cake
Ingredients
¾ cup unsalted softened butter, ½ cup white sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 large egg yolk, 3 ½ tablespoons litchi syrup , ½ teaspoon rose water, 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 cup chopped lychees.
Process
First, wash litchis; separate the seeds and chop the lychee-fleshes into pieces.
Next, mix butter, and sugar in a bowl and stir the mix with an electric beater until it becomes fluffy and white. It may take about 3 minutes. Then keep adding eggs one by one. And after each addition beat smoothly. Then gradually combine litchi syrup and then rose water and beat for another 2 minutes.
Take a separate bowl and mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Now take half of this mixture and combine with the previously prepared mixture. Keep whisking until finely amalgamated. When the combination becomes smooth and nice then add remaining half flour mixture and combine again.
After mixing everything perfectly, pour half of the chopped litchi into the batter. Again mix it. Next pour the batter into the baking tray and over that spread the other half left lychee chunks.
After that, set the oven to be preheated to 175 degree Celsius. Then place an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper covering the bottom and sides of the pan.
Bake it for around 45 minutes and check with a toothpick if it`s baked perfectly. If the inserted toothpick comes out clean then it’s done. Bring it out and wait for it to be cool. Finally decorate the cake as desired and serve.
Conclusion
During the summertime, refreshing citrus fruits and cooling drinks are the best to refresh the mind and heath. Litchi is a delightful and nourishing fruit that can be enjoyed as a valuable part of a healthy diet. Besides being a healthy summer fruit, litchi offers great versatility in various recipes. From creative puddings and ice creams to flavorful salads and sorbets, there are lots of litchi recipes to make you delighted in this hot summer.
