117. watermelon granita

Krishna’s 21st birthday

A few days ago my niece celebrated her 21st. She probably celebrated it with something less sober but Krishna, we celebrated it with some yummy dessert. Sorry could not post the blog on your birthday as the dessert got ready at night and couldn’t take any photos. But now I am ready with the recipe, photo and no dessert left ! Its all piled on my hips and tummy ):
Granitas and sorbets are made of fruit juice and simple syrup. However the difference is that sorbets are usually made in an ice cream maker to give it a nice soft snowy texture where as granitas are made by hand and has a coarse flaky texture, much like the gollas we get in India. The gollas are sprinkled with artificial flavouring but granita is made of fresh juice.

WATERMELON GRANITA
Makes about 1 litre, 12 to 15 scoops depending on the size.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
8 cups of seedless cubed watermelon
2 tbsps lemon juice
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1. In a small pan mix sugar and water and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes. Add the grated or minced ginger.Cool the syrup.
2. Liquidize the watermelon pieces without using any water. If need be, use a  bit of the syrup to liquidize the watermelon.
3. Mix the juice, lemon juice and sugar syrup. 
4. Pour it into a 13″ by 9″ dish, tray or plastic container.
5. Cover and put it in the freezer.
6. When it becomes semi solid, break the crystals by racking it with a fork or whisk it.
7. Repeat the racking or whisking 2 to 3 times.
8. Let it freeze completely before you serve it.
9. To serve, leave the granita out at room temperature for 5 minutes. Scoop and serve or gently mix portions of it with a hand blender and serve.

Tips :

• Add chopped mint or basil for a different flavour.
• If you have an ice cream maker, make it into a sorbet.
• Add a tot of vodka if you prefer.