Introduction: Tiki Trio Bowl (Trio Sorbets Served Over Young Coconut Halves)
Hi everyone! Can you believe it's almost the end of July? If you are reading this, I would like to congratulate you for making it this far. I hope you are having a great summer where ever you may be. Summer is in full swing, it's hot, it's humid, there is no way in heavens that this post is going to involve any baking. So for this Instructable's post, I am introducing you my Tiki Trio Bowl! It screams Summer, it screams Luau. You may not be on an island right now (or maybe you are), but this refreshing sorbet bowl will definitely make you think you are on one!
Our Tiki Trio Bowl consist of a Raspberry & Beet Sorbet, a Mango Sorbet and a Salted Coconut cream sorbet. Served on a young coconut bowl, with alot of coconut flesh and mint.
This sorbet is incredibly smooth, silky and refreshing. Yes, I am using the traditional method of making sorbet but let me tell you that the extra effort is worth your time. No annoying gritty ice chunks anywhere. And our course you can be creative and use a different fruit combination for your coconut sorbet bowl and serve with other toppings, this is your time to have fun this summer! Just remember to keep your proportions right.
Now let's get to it!
Step 1:
My fruit sorbet like most traditional sorbet recipes, uses the freshest fruit available and simple syrup. Simple syrup is made from equal ratio of white granulated sugar and water, cooked until it starts to boil and let cooled before use. This syrup prevents ice from crystallizing too much which may result in a large impossible chunk of fruit flavored ice. We are not making popsicles today ladies and gentleman.
The reason why I (and most sorbet parlours would agree too) highly recommend you using the freshest fruit of the season is because their level of sugar content is high and their flavors are the best. For example, I wouldn't do a mango sorbet in December because one, you can't find one and two, it would probably be the blandest hard-as-a-rock mango available. Skip it, use what you can find and taste great to YOU.
For our coconut cream sorbet, (and honestly i wouldn't call it an ice cream because it doesn't have full cream, milk, eggs nor stabilizers whatsoever) we are using a full fat coconut cream. If you can't find coconut cream, canned coconut milk is a great alternative. Don't use the ones from the refrigerated section inside cartons, those have been added too much water, not fatty at all and taste BAD.
You want a silky smooth sorbet worthy of an ice cream parlour? Follow this steps :)
Step 2: Equipments That You Need
1. An egg. (Raw and washed thoroughly)
We are using the egg method. This raw, clean egg will guide you on how much simple syrup you may need. Some fruit are denser and require more liquid sugar, some fruit require less. What we will be doing it is, we are adding small amounts of syrup into our fruit puree, stir and then dunk the egg. If the egg is sitting on top doing nothing, the puree is too dense. If the egg sinks all the way to the bottom, there's too much liquid. What we are looking for is for the egg to sink, but just enough for the egg to show on the surface, about the size of a quarter or 2cm.
2. An ice cream machine
The ice cream machine will help to churn your base into a sorbet. At the same time, it will aerate your base as it churns resulting a lighter, less icy texture. Be sure to pre-freeze your bowls according to the manufacturer's instructions 24-48 hours before use.
So what if you don't have an ice cream machine? Here is my preferred alternative:
...a high powered blender, the one that can grind ice.
I see a few videos where people make sorbet using frozen fruit, a "dash" of simple syrup and a food processor. It works great too BUT using so little syrup will still give you an icy block. The ratio is inconsistent. It's great IF you are eating it right away and not storing it in the freezer. But if you wanna store this for another day or two,I would recommend that you make the base and freeze it into an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop the cubes into an a blender and blend till it's fluffy. Than place that fluffy soft served sorbet back into the container for it to harden.
Other tools:
A high powered blender
A mixing bowl
A large strainer
1 tall vessel
A few freezable containers with lids (I recycled my previous yogurt containers)
Small spatulas or spoons
Step 3: Simple Syrup Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups of white granulates sugar
2 cups of water
Directions:
Pour two cups of sugar into a medium sized sauce pot along with equal parts water. Placed onto a stove and on medium heat, dissolved your sugar solution. Once it starts boiling, let it roll for 1 minute. Then turn off your heat and let it cool completely on your counter top.
Step 4: Ingredients for Your Mango Sorbet
I have measured out the syrup ratio for you, so the amount of simple syrup should be more or less accurate. Remember to do the egg taste for exact accuracy, as we all have different amount of puree by weight.
Ingredients:
3 small (or 2 large) Red Mangoes, peeled, chopped and blended
1, 1/2 cups of mango puree (that's 1 cup + 1/2 cup)
1 cup of syrup
Directions:
First bland your chopped mangoes and turn it into a mango puree.
Pour 1 and a half cup of mango puree into a tall large vessel.
Slowly and gradually pour in your syrup and mixed it with a spoon. If you put too much at one go, you risked the ratios off and you have to blend more fruit to counter act the extra syrup.
Dunk in your washed egg. Your egg should have floated leaving only a quarter sized (or 2 cm) face showing.
Pour your base into a container with a lid and chill in the freezer until ready to churn. (DO NOT freeze the whole thing that you wind up with an ice block, just chill until it gets icy around the edges).
Step 5: Churn Your Sorbet
Once you noticed that the base has iced up around the edges of the container, it is ready to churned.
Placed your pre-freeze bowl into your churner, turn it on and carefully pour your cold base into the churner. Let it churn for approximately 20 minutes or until it has freezed up and form a soft served consistency.
Scoop your soft served into your previous container (or a pre chilled metal loaf tin or preferred ice cream carton) and let it set in the freezer for another 2- 4 hours. You want to harden up your sorbet a little more so it will scoop up nicely.
Step 6: Ingredients for the Raspberry & Beet Sorbet
Ingredients and tools:
1 very small beet (peeled and cut into quarters)
24 oz (4 small clams) of Raspberries
Step 7: Making Your Puree
Place all your raspberry and only 1/4 of your quartered beet into your blender.
Blend your puree until smooth and no chunks of beet is present.
Strain your puree using a strainer and push all of the puree through. You will be left with a hefty 1/4 cup of seeds. Discard the seeds.
You will yield approximately 1 and half cups of raspberry beet puree.
Step 8: Proportions for Your RB Sorbet
You will need:
1, 1/2 cups of Raspberry Beet puree (That's 1 cup + 1/2 cup)
1, 2/3 cups of simple syrup
Directions:
Pour your strained puree into a tall mixing vessel ( I used my juicer's cup). Slowly and gradually pour in your syrup and mixed it with a spoon. If you put too much at one go, you risked the ratios off and you have to blend more fruit to counter act the extra syrup.
Dunk in your washed egg.
Your egg should have floated leaving only a quarter sized (or 2 cm) face showing.
Pour your base into a container with a lid and chill in the freezer until ready to churn. (DO NOT freeze the whole thing that you wind up with an ice block, just chill until it gets icy around the edges.)
Repeat churning instructions.
Step 9: Ingredients for Your Coconut Sorbet
Ingredients:
400ml (that's 1 and 1/2 cups) of Coconut Cream
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
3 tablespoon of coconut liqueur ( I used Malibu)
1/2 cup of water (IF you are using canned coconut milk, skip this ingredient)
2 tablespoon of simple syrup*
Why so little syrup this time? My aim is to maintain the natural flavor of the coconut cream. I personally am not a fan of sweetened coconut desserts because it overpowers the coconut taste and make it taste artificial. So to counter act the lack of syrup, adding alcohol will help hinder extreme ice formation.
Directions:
Pour all of you ingredients together and stir until the salt is dissolved. Pour into your freezable container and chill in the freezer until it ice up around the edges.
Step 10: Churn and Let Set.
Repeat churning instructions, and scoop the soft served into your sorbet containers.
Let all the soft served base set in the freezer for 2-4 hours until ready to serve.
Step 11: Prepping Your Young Coconut
If you lucky enough to have your grocery store selling some YOUNG coconuts, this will be a great way to serve your tropical sorbets. Unlike old coconuts, young coconuts MUST BE REFRIGERATED. Before purchasing, be sure to check for any possible cracks or mold. Any cracks could result in mold growth within a few hours. Because young coconut husk are moist, they are susceptible to mold growth and easy spoilage.
To combat this, I like to de-husk my young coconuts. That's all the white fibrous parts. Using a small pairing knife, stab the outer layer of the husk and slowly peel them following their fiber directions. Peel until you can sea the coconut shell.
You can rinse it with water when you are done, just make sure to use a paper towel to dry the outside thoroughly before popping them back in the fridge. Young coconuts tend to change it's flavor if it is sat on the counter for long periods of time and spoil quickly. So refrigerate!
Step 12: Crack and Scoop!
Look at the bottom of the coconut and you will spot three dots that look like eyes and a mouth. If you look closely, you'll notice that in between the 'eyes' there will one long ridge. Use the middle point of that line at the cracking point. Using a heavy cleaver or a concrete floor, bang that spot really hard it will crack open.
The juices will spill out quickly so be sure to have a cup ready! The juice is fresh and sweet and be mixedinto your smoothie or drink on it's own. If you want to scoop the flesh out, simply use a spoon and scrape the white parts. The flesh is sweet, smooth and slightly crisps.
Step 13: Garnishes
You can be absolutely creative and choose your own tropical toppings! I simply used freshly scooped young coconut and mint leaves.
Some ideas of other toppings?
Small cut fruits, like mangoes, lychees, longan, pomegranate etc.
Drizzle fresh fruit juices like Passion fruit or Custard Apple.
Bloomed Sago seeds
Edible flowers or non-poisonous floral decor like Orchids and chrysanthemums.
And so much more!
Step 14: Time to Serve!
Be sure to crack your coconuts just moments before serving. If you leave a cracked open coconut int he fridge overnight, it will dry out and becomes hard.
Thaw out your sorbet 5 minutes before serving so it's softer to scoop out.
When you are ready, simply scoop out your sorbets and pile them inside your coconut bowl and garnishes with your preferred garnishes. Serve immediately with some decorations if you wish? Tiki umbrella? Perfect!
Step 15:
Step 16:
No more coconuts? Pile them up high!
Truly a showstopper, have a great summer everyone!!!