Lychees are in season! Here are quick desserts with them

What is the monsoon without lychees? The fleshy, sweet stone fruit is loaded with vitamin C and antioxidants. Peel them and have them as it is, make a smoothie or ice cream out of them, or just add them to your pastries and cakes, there's a lot to try out with the fruit. We share two recipes from food experts...
Lychee Coffee Mocktail
Says Tara Deshpande, "Inspired by the Black Russian this chilled mocktail is a heady mix of aromatic summer lychees, vanilla and coffee." Here is here recipe to try…
IngredientsFresh or bottled lychee juice - 1 cup
Whole milk, cold - 3/4 cup
Fresh cream, cold - 4 tbsp
Freshly brewed espresso, room temperature (decaf is fine, too) - 1.5 tbsp
Vanilla bean extract or paste scraped from beans - 1/4 tsp
Sugar syrup (or to taste) - 3 tbsp
Garnish (optional) used vanilla bean pods
MethodChill two lowballs glasses in the fridge. Blitz the lychee juice with the cream, milk, espresso and vanilla to a smooth consistency. Strain through a sieve in case your fresh juice was pulpy, if not don't bother. Taste then add the sugar syrup, more if required. If you like it stronger add more espresso and vanilla. Place two ice cubes in the lowball glass and fill with the lychee mocktail. Garnish with vanilla pods.


Lychee ice popsCan’t get enough of the fruit? Enjoy them via ice popsicles. Foodie Shriya Sharma shares her recipe…
IngredientsLychees – ½ kg
Coconut milk - 300ml (canned)
Sweetener (whatever is preferred)
MethodBlend together the above ingredients until smooth. (can also add soaked chia seeds to this). Pour the mixture into the moulds. Freeze and enjoy.