Make your own low calorie fruit desserts

Ripe mangoes, juicy lychees, peaches and melons, luscious berries… need I say more? The perfect end to a summer meal is a fruity dessert of course! And with summer’s outstanding fresh fruits one can even give creative twists to classic recipes. In fact, fruity desserts are healthy too as they contain fresh fruits and are low in sugar content.



DO IT YOURSELF

Sometimes it’s just easy to not have to turn on the oven, or even buy a dessert off the shelf for your summer dinners. A fruit salad is the easiest addition to any type of summer meal. A summer fruit salad is packed with vitamins, minerals and beneficial nutrients. Home-made ice-lollies are a fun idea and calls for just a few simple ingredients; a mould and a stick.



SEASON’S BOUNTY

Use your favourites — peaches, nectarines, berries, lemons, limes, and more to make tempting summer desserts. On a hot summer day, a homemade strawberry ice cream is both refreshing and fun. Summer peaches are juicy and aromatic. When baked, they soften into sweet syrup. And if it’s too hot in the kitchen, keep that ice cream maker on hand for luscious scoops of fruit ice cream or sorbet.

Summer berries crepes

Ingredients
300gm refined flour
380ml milk
80gm sugar
80gm butter
2gm baking powder
3gm vanilla essence
3 eggs
For sauce
50gm mixed frozen berries
150gm cranberry juice 25gm butter
60gm sugar
3gm cinnamon and star anise

Method
Mix all the batter ingredients together and keep aside for 1 hour at room temperature, then store at 2-4 degree centigrade.
For sauce, melt butter in a pan, add mixed berries, cranberry juice, sugar, spices and simmer until thick and shiny. Soak raisins in sweetened brandy for 2 hours and mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Heat a non-stick pan, brush lightly with butter. Pour a ladle full of sauce and spread gently into the pan.
When the batter sets, bubbles will form and the crepe is ready to be removed.
Now, heat a pan, add butter and place the crepe in hot butter. Place the mixture in one quarter of the crepe and fold over into triangle, pour over a dash of brandy to flambé. Serve with mango and ice-cream.

By chef Billy Marchetti, Spaghetti Kitchen

Lychee & mango trifle

Ingredients
200gm cookies (store bought, as per your liking)
50gm custard powder
30gm sugar
150ml milk
200gm ripe mango: 200gm fresh lychee 60ml red wine
Jelly mix: one small packet (store bought)
A pack of vanilla ice cream

Method
Boil milk and sugar together. Add custard powder and cook till it’s about to boil. Make jelly as per the instruction on the packet and add red wine.
Peel and cut mangoes into small dices. Deseed lychee.
Put a layer of fresh mango in a martini glass, followed by a thin layer of custard, and cookies crumbs. Put a layer of lychee and red wine jelly on it. Repeat the process till the glass is full, and serve with vanilla ice cream.

By chef Ravi Tej Nath, The Oberoi Gurgaon

Mango coconut icecream

Ingredients
400gm fresh alphanso puree
100ml mango juice
A few strands of saffron
50ml fresh cream
2gm green cardamom powder
30gm castor sugar
For coconut jaggery ice cream
300ml vanilla ice cream
50ml jaggery syrup
30gm coconut milk powder
2 rice-puff jaggery laddoos

Method
For aam ras, mix all the ingredients well using a whisk in a large bowl. Keep in the refrigerator to chill.
Churn the vanilla ice cream to make it creamy, add coconut milk powder and churn well, making sure the ice cream does not melt completely.
Now fold in jaggery syrup, pour in a container and deep freeze to set.
To serve, pour aam ras in a serving bowl and top it with a scoop of coconut jaggery ice cream. Serve garnished with crumbles of puffed-rice laddoos.

By chef Manish Mehrotra, Indian Accent

First Published: Jun 28, 2012 16:57 IST