LYCHEE: PEEL BACK THE LAYERS OF FLAVOUR on Monday
From traditional to innovative dishes, chefs blend lychee’s sweet essence into culinary masterpieces
As May rolls around, all attention turns to the luscious stone fruit — lychee! Bursting with juicy sweetness and boasting a fleshy texture, lychee isn’t just ideal for refreshing sorbets; it also pairs beautifully with savoury dishes. And chefs are increasingly giving this fruit a modern culinary twist. According to Ashish Bhasin, a chef based in Gurugram and the founder of CB Hospitality, “Lychee’s unique texture is a culinary blessing. It’s versatile and effortlessly fits into soups, appetisers, desserts, and main courses. It’s a remarkable accompaniment to various proteins, including fish, chicken, and duck. Furthermore, it has also emerged as a substitute for fish in dishes like sashimi, carpaccio, tataki or ceviche.”
Let’s take a glimpse at some lychee-based recipes straight
from the experts.
NO-COOK STUFFED LYCHEE
Pressed for time? MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria from Lucknow has a solution: “Try a no-cook, fat-free dish with stuffed lychees. Peel and deseed the lychees, then fill them with raw paneer and mango pulp. Garnish with chopped pistachios for a delightful blend of taste, crunch and colour.”
LYCHEE KOFTA CURRY
Niriksha Reddy, sous chef at ITC Grand
Central, Mumbai, highlights how the sweet, floral essence of lychees creates a delightful contrast with Indian savoury dishes. She suggests, “Prepare a lychee kofta gravy by incorporating lychees into the potato mixture for the koftas, along with paneer, corn flour and spices. Add these to the kofta curry, and they will wonderfully transform the dish!”
LYCHEE AND CARAMELISED RICE PUDDING
Who doesn’t love a comforting rice pudding? Executive chef Santosh Yadav’s Lychee and Caramelised Rice Pudding, at The Park Indore, is a great twist to add to your summer menu: “A velvety mix of rice and milk is prepared kheer-style, and then caramel is topped with succulent lychees, offering a delightful smooth-meets-crunchy sensation—a perfect summer treat!”
LYCHEE ICE CREAM SANDESH
Elevate your taste buds with a playful twist on traditional mithai: Lychee Ice Cream Sandesh. Chef Sneha Singhi Upadhya from Kolkata shares the secrets to this delightful dessert: “Lychees and vanilla ice cream perfectly complement each other. To create this dish, simply blend paneer, saffroninfused milk, vanilla ice cream, and sugar in a bowl. Deseed lychees and fill them with this creamy mixture. Chill and garnish with chopped pistachios for a delightful treat.”
Kapil Dubey, executive chef at The Leela Gandhinagar, suggests taking an Italian-inspired route with lycheecheese ravioli. “Simply whip up a delightful ricotta mix with Parmesan cheese, nuts, lemon zest and seasoning. Fill the pasta sheet with this mixture, then cut it into square shapes. Cook the pasta and dress it with thyme, lychee juice, and a butter-garlic sauce. Finally, add blanched lychees to the dish for a perfect finish.”
SUMMER LYCHEE SALAD
For a refreshing addition to your summer al fresco party, Anubhav Moza, assistant brand chef at Sly Granny, Bengaluru, has a delightful suggestion. He recommends, “Create a lovely seasonal salad with lychees. Toss together crisp greens, tangy citrus and crunchy vegetables for the perfect combination. Adding juicy lychees on top elevates this dish to a whole new level.”
SAUCE TO SALAD DRESSINGS
Chef and food author Tara Deshpande notes, “lycheeflavoured sauce is esteemed as one of the foundational sauces in Chinese cooking. Also, the fruit lends itself beautifully to salad dressings and can be utilised in making jellies, compotes and jus that enhance both meat and seafood dishes.” In traditional Sichuan cooking, lychees shine in dishes like pickled fish. Vaibhav Soni, consultant chef and founder of Snowy Foods Real shares, “Simply prepare steamed sea bass with fermented chili and lychee, then top it off with homemade lychee and mint caviar for an explosion of flavour.”