Coconut, mango and lychee terrine

I love those almond, coconut, grass and mango flavour jelly powders you can get at Chinese supermarkets. I discovered them when I was living in East Vancouver in 1996 and every corner store was a Chinese grocery. This desert, slightly reminiscent of my chai panacotta, is light and fruity for summer. It's also great for vegans, as the gelling agent is agar agar, rather than gelatin. beware when using this sort of gelatin powder though, as agar agar has a tendency to produce a watery sweat if your jelly gets warm. Also, it does not have the same sticky, stretchy quality that gelatin does, so the layers tend to separate more easily rather than stick together.

Ingredients

• 1 packet coconut flavour jelly dessert, prepared according to the instructions using 1/2 water and 1/2 coconut milk in place of whatever liquid they say to use
• 1 large mango, cheeks cut away from the pit
• 25 lychees, peeled, pitted and sliced in half

Pour 1/3 of the prepared jelly mixture into the bottom of a 3 litre terrine dish. Place in the fridge to set. This should not take long as agar powder sets up much more quickly than gelatin. It will sometimes even begin to set up while still warmish.

While it is setting, slice the mango cheeks horizontally so that each cheek gives you 3  slices, each about 3 mm thick at the thickest part. To aid you in slicing the cheeks this way, hold the cheek, skin side down, in one hand. Use the fingers of that hand to gently press upward on the centre of the cheek, so that cut side of the cheek bulges slightly upward. Use your other hand to slice a thin layer from the cheek. When you are done, you should have at least 6 cheek slices (three from each cheek).

Once the first layer is set, remove it from the fridge and lay the mango slices, overlapping, on top of the set jelly, so that the jelly is completely covered by mango. If you're aworried about your layers separating, you might consider leaving room between mango slices for the two layers of jelly to bond. Gently pour over another third of the jelly mix and return the terrine pan to the fridge. Once the second layer of jelly has set, remove the pan from the fridge and arrange the halved lychees on top, evenly covering the jelly. Pour the remaining gelatin mix over the lychees, taking care not to dislodge them

Return the pan to the fridge to allow the terrine to finally set up.

Once it is set, you may remove the terrine from the pan by running a knife between the jelly and the edge of the pan and setting the pan in a sink full of hot water for 20 seconds or so. Remove it from the hot water and place a damp plate upside-down over the top of the terrine pan and, holding the pan and the plate together, flip both over. Tap on the pan bottom and sides, and jiggle the pan and plate about until the jelly plops out onto the plate. If it is off-centre, the moistness on the plate should help you to slide the jelly to the correct position.

Slice and serve, taking care when transferring the slices and they may try to separate into layers where the fruit and jelly meet.

Comments

[Emily]

wow! i love mango and lychee.. so this combination really sounds delightful!

[clare eats]

Yum it looks great lyn!

Casey (and I ) would LOVE THIS!

hope you are feeing better ;)

[mireille]

this is really a post-back: I must thank you once again for your grandmother's Edam Tomato Tart recipe. This is the second one I've made and it is the ULTIMATE comfort food. Again, thank you! xoxo

[J]

that sounds and looks wonderfully refreshing...cheers,j