Seasonality

If there is such a word it means the joy of seeing and tasting foods in the right season. In my youth we would await the arrival of baby cucumbers to signal the arrival of spring, crunchy and firm like kakari, or the first watermelon when the summer months were approaching. Fresh artichokes in the autumn and the unmistakable taste of tangerines picked fresh off a tree as winter settles. Now of course with air freight and deliveries, grapes seem to be available all year round, and strawberries appear in the oddest months. I am not a fan of this globalization - much happier to see what comes up with the seasons and the weather and India is a joy in that respect. You travel along the road and you know what is new on the market instantly as it is all around you, by the roadside, on the barrows and in the markets.

This week's discovery is lychees.

This is a fruit which to me was always something that came in tins and was the perfect end to any Chinese meal. But when you see them fresh what a different picture they present. The vibrancy of their skins, the way you can peel them and pop them in your mouth, the smoothness of the pip which you never see in the tinned variety, the delicacy of the real flavour, delectable and delicious.

So to tempt you even more here is a recipe with Lychees !

A raspberry and lychee cake

125 gms flour
1sachet of Baking Powder/ 1 tsp of BP
125 gms of butter ( melted )
100 gms of sugar
3 eggs
1 small tin of lychees in syrup
1 pannet of raspberries ( yes I know not widely available here but use your indian imagination and substitute, strawberries or frozen ones)
Whipped cream

Heat oven to 150C. gas mark 5 Beat the three yolks with the sugar and add 4 tlbs of the syrup of the lychees. Add the flour and the BP, the melted butter , 15 lychees chopped roughly and half the pannet of raspberries.

Beat the whites of the eggs to form a meringue and add a pinch of salt. Add the whites to the mixture and fold in carefully. Place in a buttered cake tin and cook for thirty five to forty minutes or until cooked. When cool decorate with whipped cream and the rest of the raspberries.

Untested as yet so feeback welcome !!