Tropical Fruits with Coconut Mousse

Cook Time 1 hour + refrigeration

Servings 6

Ingredients

1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 1 cm slices
2 mangoes, peeled and sliced
6 lychees, peeled, split in half, seeds removed

Coconut mousse
1 1/2 gold-strength gelatine leaves
200g white chocolate, roughly chopped
165 mL can coconut milk
300 mL cream

Coconut crumb
30g (1/3 cup) desiccated coconut
zest of 1 lime

Ginger syrup
1 tbsp unpeeled ginger, grated
110g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split and scraped

Method

For the mousse, soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for five minutes until soft. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Put the coconut milk in a saucepan, bring to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Mix regularly until the chocolate has melted and smooth mixture forms. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatine, add to the hot coconut milk mixture and mix until the gelatine has completely dissolved. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk the cream to medium peaks. Don’t over whip. Add one-third of the cream to the cooled coconut mixture and mix through. Fold in another third, then very gently fold in the last third. Pour into a container, cover and chill for 4–6 hours or, even better, overnight.

For the crumb, place the desiccated coconut in a frying pan, place over medium heat and constantly toss the coconut for four minutes, or until golden. Cool, then add the lime zest.

For the syrup, combine the ginger, 250mL of water, the sugar and vanilla pod and seeds in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, or until a thick syrup forms. Discard the vanilla pod and set aside to cool.

Place the pineapple, mango and lychees in a bowl, pour over the syrup and toss gently. Arrange the fruit on individual plates, spoon on some of the coconut crumb and top with a large quenelle of coconut mousse.