Thanks to all those who participated in the AFAM poll. Sorry dear Lychee haters, but the clear winner is this tropical beauty also known as Litchi. Well, the season is almost over; but sure you can find some canned ones or some Lychee Puree or some Lychee Drink. A variety of Lychee products are available at your local Asian markets.

Think you can’t do much with Lychees? Check out this page: http://www.lycheesonline.com/recipes.cfm , there are about one hundred recipes here, from sweet to savory, from appetizers to main dishes, from desserts to drinks along with some salads and soups and more. There is something for everyone!

© Erick Nguyen - Fotolia.com

A Fruit A Month event started by Maheswari of Beyond the Usual. Thanks Maheswari for giving me the opportunity to host this event.

So, ready to get cookin’? Here is how you participate in AFAM:

1. Prepare a dish with Lychees, Lychee Puree, Lychee Juice or any other Lychee product and post the recipe on your blog in the month of August.

2. Add a link back to this event announcement, and feel free to use this logo:

3. Please send me an e-mail to MailLiveToEat@gmail.com with the following info.

 Or you can just leave a comment in this post with this info, I will come and get the picture.

4. Non bloggers can e-mail me the recipe and the picture and I will include it in the round up.

5. Deadline is August 25th and the round up will be posted before the end of August.

Looking forward to all the delicious entrees.

To get the ball rolling, here is a super simple recipe.

Caramelized Lychees

Ingredients

Method

Peel and remove the pit from the Lychees. (I just couldn’t remove the pits from fresh Lychees without tearing the fruits, so I gave up and used canned ones. )

Stuff some orange marmalade inside the lychees where the pit used to be.

In a heavy sauce pan, add sugar and water and bring to a boil on high heat and cook till the sugar dissolves completely.

Pour 1/3rd of the sugar syrup into a small bowl and keep aside.

Add the prepared lychees to the remaining sugar syrup in the pan and stir gently and cook till the sugar is caramelized and turns into deep brown color.

Add the rest of the sugar syrup and stir gently to combine and remove from the stove.

Serve over ice cream.

Recipe adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25594,00.html

These were delicious. We had ours with pineapple-coconut ice cream.

Check out my other Lychee recipes:

some more from the net

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Comments

43 Responses to “Caramelized Lychees - AFAM August Announcement”

  1. Anh on July 30th, 2007 12:39 am

    What a lovely theme!!! I’ll try my best to participate…

    And your caramelised lychees are to die for. Great recipe! :)

  2. Padma on July 30th, 2007 1:02 am

    Wow that is cool! really a treat…with caramelized lychees. I am not sure if I too will try my best to participate in this event.

    Sig thanks for your kind comments, yes indeed even I was thinking there are so less non-veg bloggers. But I am glad the list will go on n on. Count e in ^_^

  3. Roopa on July 30th, 2007 1:13 am

    cool fruit! the photo is tempting …gal :)

  4. Mishmash ! on July 30th, 2007 1:15 am

    haa…you have started with a recipe itself :) caramelised lychess are a neat idea :)

    Shn

  5. Suganya on July 30th, 2007 1:21 am

    Sig, Lychee looks very pretty in the pic, but its not my cuppa joe :(

  6. Sandeepa(Bong Mom's CookBook/DesiMomzClub) on July 30th, 2007 2:50 am

    That lyche pic is somply amazing Sig…total WOW

  7. Anita on July 30th, 2007 3:04 am

    That’ll make the ice cream stand out!

    Lychees? They are amongst my absolute fav fruits but the season just got over here! :-( And Ilike them best fresh, peeled and popped into the mouth. So there, you have my recipe anyway.

  8. bee on July 30th, 2007 3:16 am

    great choice. will participate if we get fresh or frozen. dont quite like the canned ones. lychee juice or lychee icecream in rustomji’s in churchgate (bombay) - absolutely fantastic!
    jai

  9. Vcuisine on July 30th, 2007 4:41 am

    Caramelised Lychees are yummy Sig, Will try if i get some fresh ones, as i normally don’t prefer canned ones. As you said, the season is over here and I don’t find Lychess anymore in the market. Look forward to see the round up. Viji

  10. Dhana on July 30th, 2007 5:51 am

    Lichi haters??? Is there such a thing ;) G8 theme for AFAM!

  11. Jyothsna on July 30th, 2007 5:59 am

    Aiyyo! You burnt(caramelised) those lovely lychees, Sig!! I was going to send you that lychee yoghurt, now have to think of something else! I’m not sure I can see lychees here, so I may use rambutan or mangosteen, if available, is that okay?

  12. Raaga on July 30th, 2007 8:12 am

    Lychees are out of season here now. Will see what I can make. :-)

    Nice recipe. I’ll have to wait until next year!!

  13. Sia on July 30th, 2007 8:44 am

    cool pick for AFAM:) n girl, u made me drool early in the morn:) the pica are absoulutely gorgeous.

  14. Padmaja on July 30th, 2007 11:50 am

    Sig Sig Sig!!
    The most dreaded fruit b’coz I do not know what to do with it but for you I am going to dish up something amazing!!
    Will write my experience even it turns out a disaster

  15. Asha on July 30th, 2007 11:53 am

    YOU EVIL WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!
    I love Lychees but I have to hunt for the Vietnamese stores now just like I did for Jackfruit!!! But no worries, I will bring it!:))
    Great dessert! You got the easiest dish made YOU EVIL WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

  16. Richa on July 30th, 2007 1:32 pm

    lychee=coconut=pineapple, what a delicious combo :)
    thanks for the link, now lemme’ see what i can come up with :)

  17. Coffee on July 30th, 2007 2:05 pm

    YAY!!! Lychee it is!
    This post is a visual delight my dear! Really awesome. :)

  18. RP on July 30th, 2007 2:21 pm

    Nice choice. But but…
    Where in the world am I going to find them? I need them fresh. Gosh..this is harder than jackfruit. :)
    Lychee…..where are you??

  19. ushaprashanth on July 30th, 2007 5:33 pm

    Hi!
    That’s a great fruit you have choosed for the event! and the recipe list is soooo long .. thanks for the link otherwise .. i would still be in the dark for the recipes!!!

  20. KitchenAromas on July 30th, 2007 7:55 pm

    Only if I could find fresh juicy lychees! Is using lychee juice acceptable? Honestly, I think the canned ones taste like thermocol :(

  21. Mallugirl on July 31st, 2007 1:15 am

    absolutely marvellous photo.. can i ask what kind of a camera u use? i love litchis and get them here.. $4.75 a pound! still i buy for the luscious juiciness. never cooked with it thoough!does eating it, count?

  22. Sig on July 31st, 2007 5:12 am

    Anh, thanks… I’m sure you will come up with something great.

    Padma, Yep, let’s unite and get some non-veg recipes out there… :) I’m sure you can come up with some fab recipes with lychee too.

    Roopa, thanks… the first photo is not mine BTW.

    Shn, yeah thought I’ll get the ball rolling so to speak. :)

    Suganya, ah come on…. I’m sure there must be one recipe from that page that you will like… take it as a challenge girl… :)

    Sandeepa, I can’t take credit for that, I bought that pic from Fotolia.com , best $1 I’ve ever spent :)

    Anita, if you can sprinkle some sugar or some cardamom powder on it, that will make a recipe. :)

    Jai, you know, with the right recipe canned ones are not that bad… agree its not the best, but I like it in fruit salads and drinks and stuff… of course nothing can beat the frozen ones..

    Viji, come on… give canned ones another try :)

    Dhana, thanks… :) Read all the comments, there is a species called Lychee haters :D

    Jyo, lol… I bought so many pounds of it, had to burn some… You can still send me the lychee yogurt, but I am sure you can come up with a new one… and sure the other fruits or longan will work too…

    Raaga, come on girl… I’m sure you can at least find some lychee juice or puree in the stores… :)

    Sup, thanks :)… the first pic is not mine… Glad you are not cribbing abt lychee too :D

    Padmaja, :) thats the spirit.. I’m sure you will come up with something awesome and will change your whole outlook on Lychees.. :D

    Asha…, love that attitude… wish everyone had that “bring it on” spirit… :)… and this is just my preview recipe.. more lychee treats coming up…

    Richa… it sure was yummy… can’t wait to see what you come up with!

    Coffee… I wanted to get everyone excited about Lychees, and went on a quest to find a great pic… :) but looks like it didn’t work that well… glad you are excited though… , but you already were a fan…

    RP, you tooo…. come on girl, you sure can find some somewhere I’m sure… :D

    UshaP, thanks… can’t wait to see what you come up with.. glad the links helped.

    Kitchenaromas… as I said before, even though it doesn’t come close to real ones, some of the canned ones are not that bad… hope you give it another chance, if you can’t find fresh ones..:)

    Shaheen… ahem… I didn’t take that picture, bought it for a buck from Fotolia.com… :) wish I could take pictures like that… sigh…. Hey, Lychee prices dropped here a lot… I bought a lot from the Chinese market last week for $1.85/lb… :)… And for recipes, there are a ton in the link I gave, I’m sure you could find and modify one to your taste…

  23. sunita on July 31st, 2007 1:25 pm

    I love lychees…but can’t say I’ve made anything with them…just love to have the fruit as it is…now you’ve got me thinking…

  24. Priyanka on July 31st, 2007 1:28 pm

    Cheers for the lychees….Oh this is awesome Sig…. I once had caramelised lychees with icecream at an indo-chinese restaurant in NY. they taste fabulous…. Now that i have the recipe, i m going to try it out..:)

  25. Sharmi on July 31st, 2007 4:13 pm

    that is a good chioce. I too love lychee but in the Indian market its pretty expensive. your caramelized lychee looks out of the world.

  26. Mandy on July 31st, 2007 8:23 pm

    ah, another reason for me to make another lychee cheesecake! Let me mark this down on my calender. :)
    Nice blog!

  27. Sukanya Ramkumar on July 31st, 2007 8:59 pm

    This is a nice pick….

  28. Pravs on August 1st, 2007 2:10 am

    Great pic sig! Caramelised lychees looks divine with the ice cream.

  29. Mandira on August 1st, 2007 3:08 am

    sig, what a coincidence, I just bought some from the store today… definitely participating in this one :)

  30. Sig on August 2nd, 2007 4:59 am

    Sunita, hope you take this as a challenge.. i know you love a good challenge.. :)

    Priyanka, thanks :) U know I’ve never had caramelized lychees before, so I had my doubts, but it tasted yummy!

    Sharmi, thanks :)… hope you find some fresh lychees somewhere… I know the season is just over :(

    Mandy, thanks and welcome :)… You have some amazing lychee creations at your blog, I loved it… :)

    Sukanya, thanks :)

    Pravs thanks :)

    Mandira, yay, you found some fresh ones :) looking forward to ur entry

  31. Evelin on August 4th, 2007 10:12 pm

    Thank you for the excuse! I remember reading about a wonderful lychee sorbet…:)

  32. Sig on August 5th, 2007 2:21 am

    Evelin, lychee sorbet sure sounds delicious… can’t wait to see the recipe! :)

  33. Raaga on August 10th, 2007 12:23 pm

    Sig: The things we do for friends.

    I’m risking my marriage… if Sachin comes home and sees one more dessert in the house, he’s going to run!!

    But I’m running this risk for you. Just for you sweetheart!

    Ditch all those 101 recipes for litchis… I am modifying an age old recipe to make you this month’s AFAM entry. Its in the oven right now and I do hope that it turns out fine :-) Totally tropical. If it turns out fine, you’re going to love it.

    You will anyway, I am making it just for you, ain’t I?

  34. Anonymous on August 10th, 2007 12:23 pm

    Your caramelized lychees are sensational!! I made the recipe last night. Unfortunately, I don’t have a blog but I make a killer Lychee sorbet with Lychee Juice, Lichido Liqueur, Lemon Juice, Lemon Extract, and Ice.

  35. Sig on August 10th, 2007 3:56 pm

    Raaga, You made my day darling… :D I woke up and saw this comment, and couldn’t stop laughing… :) Thank you sweetheart, and can’t wait to see the end result!

    Anonymous, thanks for the feedback.. :) And that lychee sorbet sounds super delicious! Why don’t you send me the recipe at mailLiveToEat (@) gmail (.) com, and I will be more than happy to publish it in the round up.

  36. Raaga on August 13th, 2007 8:51 am

    I sent you an email… but was sooooooooo excited, that I forgot the link. Here goes: http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/08/litchi-sauce-and-guessing-game.html

  37. Nora B. on August 18th, 2007 6:29 am

    I love lychees but never had caramelised lychees. That is such a fantastic idea! Lychees are not expensive in Singapore, but are quite dear in Sydney where I live now.

  38. Sharmi on August 21st, 2007 11:34 pm

    you have not shown up for quite a while!! hope all is well at your end.
    take care and hugs.

  39. LEMONPI :: blog.lemonpi.net » A Fruit A Month - Lychees on November 17th, 2007 11:53 pm

    […] chosen fruit for this month’s AFAM, as hosted by Sig of Live to Eat is the Lychee. I grew up eating a lot of lychees as a kid, and seeing them served in chinese restaurants with […]

  40. Chicken with Lychees « Zaiqa.. on January 14th, 2008 10:43 am

    […] post of mine is for the event - A fruit a month’ AFAM, which the lovely Sig, of Live to Eat, has hosted for this month with Lychee as the fruit of the […]

  41. ASamuel on February 19th, 2008 12:14 pm

    I love your blog !!! Very Interesting…Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes with us

  42. Zaiqa » Chicken with Lychees on February 21st, 2008 6:42 pm

    […] post of mine is for the event - A fruit a month’ AFAM, which the lovely Sig, of Live to Eat, has hosted for this month with Lychee as the fruit of the […]

  43. Priya on March 18th, 2008 6:48 am

    i LOVE lychees!!!!! this website is awesomeeee, thnks for the recipes :grin:

    xx

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