Pineapple Carpaccio
Served with Ginger Syrup, Candied Watermelon Rind, Roasted Salted Cashew Nuts and Coconut Sorbet.
This dish I created in Zanzibar, one of my favorite dessert creations. This is a dish kids will love, so mom get the kids involved, teach them something exciting so they can feel proud afterwards.
Ingredients:
Pineapple Carpaccio:
- 1 Pineapple
Ginger Syrup:
- 750g Watermelon rind, weighed after preparing it
- 500g Casting sugar
- 1L Water
- 150ml White wine vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 Cup casting sugar
- ¾ Cup water
- 1 Cup fresh ginger sliced
Roasted Cashew Nuts:
- Cashew nuts
- Coarse salt
Coconut Sorbet:
- 2 Cans coconut milk
- ½ Cups shredded roasted coconut
- 1 Cup white sugar
Candied Watermelon Rind:
- 750g Watermelon rind, weighed after preparing it
- 500g Casting sugar
- 1L water
- 150ml White wine vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
Method:
Pineapple Carpaccio: Remove peel from pineapple, cut into paper thin round shapes.
Ginger Syrup: In saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water, stir constantly until sugar is dissolved. Add ginger and continue to heat, bringing syrup to a light boil. Cover, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool and let it sleep in covered pan for 1 hour. Strain ginger and bottle syrup with a thigh seal.
Candied Watermelon Peel: Remove the red flesh of the watermelon, leaving only a very thin layer of red flesh attached o the rind. Remove the green skin of watermelon completely. Chop the watermelon rind into even pieces of about 3-4 cm. Place 1L water and the vinegar in a pot. Bring to a boil, add watermelon rind and let it cook for about an hour (the vinegar will help watermelon not to disintegrate and keeps it shape). Drain in a sieve , refresh with cold water, cool enough to handle.
Weigh the watermelon rind, measure the sugar, it must be the same as watermelon rind. Place sugar in rinsed pot you used before, add 1 cup water to sugar and turn on heat, stir to dissolve the sugar, when syrup comes to the boil, add watermelon rind and lemon juice. Cook until a light syrup forms.
Coconut Sorbet: In a medium sauce pan combine coconut milk, 1½ cups roasted coconut and sugar and bring to boil, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, let it cool and freeze.
Roasted Cashew Nuts: Preheat oven to 160oC, spread cashew nuts mixed with coarse salt on roasting tray. Roast them for 15 minutes, stirring it twice during that time. Transfer to cooling rack, let them cool, they get crunchier the cooler they get, chop them roughly.
