Add a tropical touch to your next sweet or savoury meal
Sweet and sharp aren’t usually words used to describe a piece of fruit. Especially when tropical is thrown into the mix. But that’s exactly what passionfruit are, and they’re the perfect addition to meals in winter.
“Weight is the most important feature in choosing passionfruit,” Tina McPherson, an Australian passionfruit grower, says. “Choose a fruit that feels rather heavy for its size. “It doesn’t matter whether the fruits skin is wrinkly as this is not an indicator of ripeness”.
Rich in antioxidants including vitamins A and C, potassium and dietary fibre (and low in calories), they’re great alongside pork, prawns, chucked into a smoothie or dessert.
MOROCCAN GLAZED BBQ PRAWNS
Serves 4
For the marinade/glaze:
6 passionfruit
½ bunch coriander (roots and stems)
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp mild paprika powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinammon
½ tsp ground ginger powder
½ tsp cardamom powder
Chilli powder, to taste
Salt and pepper
For the remaining dish:
24 peeled, deveined, raw prawns, tail on
16 bamboo skewers
2 passionfruit
½ bunch coriander (leaves, from above)
Green salad and crusty bread, to serve
Remove passionfruit pulp and place in a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds on high, then
strain through a fine sieve. Reserve the juice and
discard the seeds (optional).
Thoroughly wash coriander and pick leaves, set a
side for decoration. Chop the stems and roots and place in a mortar and pestle along with some salt. Grind to a paste, then mix in olive oil, all the spices, and passionfruit juice.
Place marinate and prawns in a bowl and mix thoroughly to coat. Allow to marinate for
at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, soak skewers in some cold water for at least 30
minutes to prevent burning.
Using 2 bamboo skewers at a time, thread three prawns onto each of the skewers so
that the prawns are semi straight and sit snugly together. Keep remaining marinade and
mix in the passionfruit and a little extra olive oil if you need to loosen it – this will be the
glaze.
Heat BBQ to a medium heat and place prawns on grill, baste constantly with the passionfruit glaze, turning every so often, and cook until the prawns are just cooked
through (you will see when they change colour).
Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves and a side of crusty bread and green salad.
PASSIONFRUIT, WHITE CHOCOLATE AND CASHEW CHEESE-FAKE
Serves 4
Base:
¾ cup (110g) raw almonds
¼ cup (50g) pistachios
1 cup (90g) desiccated coconut
8 Medijool dates, (170g pitted)
1 vanilla bean, seeds only
3 tbsp of passionfruit seeds only
Pinch of salt
Cheesecake:
440g cashews, soaked over night
250g lemon and lime juice
250g honey, raw honey or agave
270g extra virgin coconut oil
2 vanilla beans, seeds only
½ tsp of salt
1 tbsp of lime zest
1 tbsp of lemon zest
1¾ cup passionfruit seedless pulp, (Approx. 6
passionfruit), reserve seeds for base
Garnish:
200g block of good quality white chocolate,
shaved (optional for lactose free)
2 small passionfruit, halved and placed on top
1 tbsp of lime zest
1 tbsp of lemon zest
Soak cashews overnight in water, or pour boiling water over cashews and soak for 2 hours.
Remove passionfruit pulp and place in a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds on high, then strain through a fine sieve. Reserve the juice and seeds. Zest and juice the lemons and limes, set aside.
Line the base of a 26cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.
To make the base place, almonds, pistachios, desiccated coconut, dates, vanilla, passionfruit seeds, and salt in a food processor. Process until the mixture resembles a fine crumb and comes together when pressed.
Place crumb into the cake tin and press down evenly to form the base. Chill in freezer.
Melt the coconut oil in the microwave at 10 second bursts until it becomes a liquid.
To make cheesecake layer, place drained soaked cashews, lemon and lime juice, honey, vanilla, salt, melted coconut oil and zest into the food processor. Blend until very smooth and well combined.
Pour half the mixture into the cake tin and tap to level out the filling. Place in freezer to set for 1 hour.
In the meantime blend the other half of filling with passionfruit pulp until well combined. Then pour over chilled first layer, and set in freezer for at least 2 hours.
Prepare the garnish, using a vegetable peeler shave white chocolate into ribbons. Cut
passionfruit into halves.
When cake is set remove from freezer, and with a wooden skewer release the edges of the cake before removing it. Scatter shaved white chocolate and zests around the center of the cake and top with halved passionfruit. Enjoy frozen or chilled.
All recipes and photos: Sammy and Bella Jakubiak (My Kitchen Rules 2011 winners) for Passionfruit Australia www.passionfruitaustralia.org.au