Lychee Martini Sorbet

When the mood strikes, drinks out at a nice bar will see me ordering Lychee Martini - its sweet and the taste of alcohol is not too strong. Of course, it helps that the martini glass imparts an air of sophistication to the drinker as well. My name is Eunice, Eunice...

Just in time for WCC#18. I was still in the sorbet mood and the theme had my eyes peeled at the fruit section in the supermarket. The beautiful peaches, strawberries and cherries caught my eye but I felt that it would be a shame to mush them up for sorbet. At the price I had to pay for them, they should be enjoyed in all their wholesome goodness. Fortunately, there were basket of lychees there too.

I used a combination of fresh and canned lychees for my recipe as the canned ones tend to be overly sweet. However, you can do as I did or simply use either fresh or canned by itself. I did not use the liquid that the canned lychees came in because the sugar content was unknown and too much sugar can inhibit the feezing process.

The alcohol part was tricky because I wanted to make sure that the sorbet would freeze. I decided to hold back on the vodka and simply drizzle it over the sorbet before serving. That way, I can drizzle on more depending on taste.

Lychee Martini Sorbet
makes 3-4 cups

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 kg lychees or 2 large cans of lychee
4 tbs lychee liquer
4-8 tbs vodka

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat to make a syrup, set aside to cool. Remove the skin and seed from the lychee to get only the pulp or drain the canned lychees to remove any liquid. Blend until puree is smooth to get 2 1/2 cups.

Mix the syrup, puree and lychee liquer together, chilling thoroughly before freezing in the ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. Drizzle vodka over the sorbet before serving.

Verdict: Definitly a cool concoction! Much nicer than the drinks at the bar since this 'drink' remained cold a lot longer. Cheers!