Fruit Sushi

IF your resolution is to eat fruit instead of creamy desserts, read on. Of course the easiest option is to offer a selection of cut fruit on ice – but I like to go one step further.

"Picture provided by SPH"

I like to serve cold fruit soups, for example – just mango spritzed in a blender with vodka perhaps, or more sedately, papaya blended with lemon or lime juice. Add some pomelo fruit sacs or pomegranate seeds into the glass just before serving. Top with a sprig of mint.

Very pretty and very low fat. And healthy to boot as all the nutrients are preserved – there is absolutely no cooking to destroy the vitamins. Just make sure that the cutting of the fruit and the blending is done at the last minute, again to obtain the maximum nutrients from the fruit, which dissipate in the air while waiting.

But one could do more with fresh fruit… like making fruit sushi.

This is a fruit dessert that is delicious and enticing even if it is relatively low fat. It even looks interesting for it is served sushi fashion.

The fish slices have been replaced by fruit, but they are still sitting on top on sticky rice.

To confuse you further, this is actually inspired by a Thai dessert – mango with sweet sticky rice, cooked with a bit of coconut milk.

For those watching their sugar levels, you should know that glutinous rice is high in sugar, so do restrain yourself to only a few pieces.

For the rest of us, the fat content is low – just one cup of coconut milk to be shared among six to eight people. And if you say no to the cream, there is even less to worry about.

Ingredients:

Fruit Sushi (For 6-8)

• 250 g glutinous rice
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 2 Tbsps. sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• A selection of fruit – I chose mango and jackfruit
• Coconut cream:
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp. flour
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Toasted black sesame seeds to top – optional

Method:

1. Soak rice for one hour. Drain and place on a heatproof dish. Place dish over boiling water in a covered wok and steam for about 15 minutes.
2. When rice turns translucent, stir in coconut milk, sugar and salt. Fluff up with a fork and cool.
3. Make coconut cream by thickening coconut milk with flour. Make flour into a paste with some water. Stir it into the coconut milk over a slow fire, and keep stirring till the mixture thickens. Add sugar and a pinch of salt.
4. Half an hour before serving, peel and slice fruit into small pieces. Squeeze some lemon juice over fruit to prevent browning.
5. Using clean wet hands, shape rice into small egg-shaped pieces. Top each with a fruit slice and some black sesame seeds. Offer coconut cream on the side.