Spiced Exotic Fruit Salad, Vanilla Syrup & Lime Syllabub
No it’s not just a fruit salad, but this recipe has a slight twist to make it more interesting! With infused spices, sweet syrup and a tangy lime syllabub to eat it with, it’s a perfect dessert for a loved one or super easy to rustle up for one.
Using tropical fruits from Mauritius normally, but you can add what you fancy, I found the best combination is below.. I added the strawberries for some bright colour!
Spiced Exotic Fruit Salad
Ingredients for 6-8 people
1 Pineapple, cored, peeled, cut into cubes or small pieces
1 packet Strawberries, cut into halves
1 Papaya, peeled and cut into cubes
5 Kiwi, peeled, cut into rounds
2 Bananas, peeled, cut into rounds (do this last minute)
2 Mangoes, peeled, cut into small pieces/cubes
Fresh or canned lychees (optional) or any other exotic fruit
Spiced Syrup
250g caster sugar
150ml water
2 vanilla pods & seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp fennel seeds
5 cardamom pods, split
5 cloves
Lime Syllabub
568 ml Double Cream
3-4 Limes, zest and juice
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
Firstly chop, dice and prepare all the fruit minus the bananas, place on to a serving platter.
Start making the syrup, put the sugar, half the water, vanilla pod, cinnamon sticks, fennel, cardamom, cloves into a small heavy based saucepan over a medium to high heat. Slowly bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, once it starts to bubble stop stirring and let it turn golden brown in colour
Stand back from the pan, stir in the remaining water, be careful as it will splash! Stir again to dissolve ay caramel, make sure it’s a golden colour, or coats the back of a spoon in consistency. Take off the heat and let it cool slightly.
Pour the syrup over the fruit and leave to cool completely, then cover with cling film and chill in the fridge until serving.
Make the syllabub, beat the cream, lime juice, zest, vanilla seeds and icing sugar together, till soft peaks are formed. Taste test on whether to add more sugar or lime for flavour. Chill until serving.
When ready to serve take out, chop the bananas over the fruit and serve on the platter with the chilled creamy syllabub.
Delicious!
By Selina Periampillai
