Lychee Carpaccio

Ever been kept up at night wondering if you can carpaccio a lychee? Hi. Hello. Welcome.

This is what happens when curiosity gets the better of you. Lychee, usually parked firmly in dessert territory or floating in something alcoholic, gets flattened, chilled and dressed like it’s heading out somewhere special. Thin, translucent slices. Cold, glossy and slightly unexpected.

The idea itself is simple: early-harvest olive oil for that grassy bite, lemongrass steeped until the oil smells faintly tropical but not like a KFC refresher towelette, microscopic jalapeño heat to stop things drifting into polite territory and a few Thai basil flowers because, well, pretty. It’s refreshing, strange in a quiet way, and feels far more luxurious than the effort involved.

This isn’t a reinvention or a grand statement. It’s just a small reminder that asking “what if?” in the kitchen often leads somewhere interesting. And yes, you can carpaccio a lychee.

Lychee Carpaccio

Serves 2

20 lychees, peeled and deseeded 
125ml early harvest olive oil
1 stalk lemongrass
1/4 jalapeño, extremely finely diced
Thai basil flowers 
Sea salt flakes

Line a tortilla press with baking paper. Place 2 lychees onto the paper, top with another sheet and pressssss. Take a moment to enjoy the sensory satisfaction this brings. Let out all your stresses onto those lychees. Take the whole lot out of the press, sheets and all, pop into the fridge while you repeat with remaining lychees. Layering them up as you go is OK. Once they're all done, refrigerate for an hour.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a small frypan over low heat. Cut the green part off the lemongrass and peel off the outer tough layers until you get to the white inside. Smash, smash, smash with a pestle, rolling pin or anything hard. Therapy is expensive, cooking isn't. Pop the smashed lemongrass into the oil, turn off the heat and let it sit for a long while. Maybe an hour, maybe more. If it's cooled down it's good. Strain through a fine sieve or a coffee filter if you live in Melbourne like me.

Find the fanciest serving plate you have. Take off the top later of the baking paper and invert the lychee slices onto it. Remove the top paper. 

Drizzle with a tiny bit of the lemongrass olive oil. Scatter over the jalapeño micro bits and the Thai basil flowers. Give it a little bit of sea salt flakes before enjoying.

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