I am traveling in Japan right now, visiting family. And you might not know this, but Japan has the best fruit in the world. Fruit here is meticulously grown in small crops, and carefully selected for perfect sweetness and appearance. Some fruit, like our prized white strawberries and Yubari melons are anxiously awaited each season and are considered luxury items. The prices that some of these fetch would make your head spin. Japan’s fruit is so prized that it is frequently given as gifts for special occasions. Couple all these fun fruit facts with the fact that like most of the globe right now Japan is blisteringly hot, it’s no wonder that I feel like sharing my Tropical Passionfruit Salad with you today. This colorful medley of exotic fruits, drizzled with a luscious passionfruit sauce, is a feast for the eyes but also a refreshing and cooling treat for your taste buds. Grab whatever fruit looks best in your part of the world and get ready for a taste of the tropics that you are going to want to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No cooking required, so let’s get into it.
South Florida may not have quite the swoon worthy fruit of Japan, but I do have access to lots of tropical goodies like mangoes and lychees. Watermelon is also grown here and we can’t get enough of it in our house (See Watermelon Kimchi and Watermelon Soju). For this Tropical Passionfruit Salad, pick out what looks best in your area. This recipe is a template, allowing you to mix and match your favorite fruits. Kiwi, berries…as long as its fruit you enjoy it will be delicious, especially with the dreamy passionfruit sauce. If you don’t have access to fresh lychees, canned ones can be found online or in some Asian markets. You’ll save yourself some prep time and any leftovers can be used to make Lychee Mai Tai’s or Strawberry Lychee Lemonade.
I make the passionfruit sauce using frozen passionfruit pulp. Grab a couple packages because it’s also excellent to have on hand for smoothies.
Stir until all the sugar is dissolved and you have a smooth sauce:
The sauce can be made several days ahead and kept chilled in the fridge. Now it’s time to prep the fruit. Lychees are native to China, but they are also grown in South Florida. If you have access to fresh ones, you will need to peel off the rough, leathery skin and to gently squeeze out the hard and inedible brown pit in the middle. (You can also use a knife to slice the lychee flesh away from the pit but I like to keep them intact) You will be left with juicy little translucent orbs that have a tantalizingly floral and exotic tropical taste, there’s nothing quite like them!
Then I cut up my pineapple. Yes you can buy pineapple already cored and cut but it’s easy to do yourself, it costs less, and you will be rewarded with fresher tasting fruit.
Prep your berries and than you are ready to toss it altogether!
I like to serve the passionfruit sauce on the side because both the fruit and the sauce stored separately will last nicely in the fridge for a few days and this way folks can put on as much or as little of the sauce as they like.
My Tropical Passionfruit Salad travels well, so pack it up and take it to the beach or the pool or a picnic! Everyone is going to love this refreshing summer in a bowl. Leave your comments below and don’t forget to tag us in your pics @funkyasiankitchen, we love hearing from you.
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Tropical Passionfruit Salad
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: serves 2-4 1x
- Category: salads, sweets
- Cuisine: pan-Asian
Ingredients
- 1 cup berries (any kind is fine)
- 1 cup lychee fruit (drained of syrup if using canned)
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- 1 cup cubed watermelon
- 1 cup mango, peeled and cubed
Sauce:
- 1 cup passionfruit pulp
- ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
- Combine the passionfruit pulp and sugar in a small bowl, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Wash, peel, and cut your fruit, making sure that they are approximately the same sized pieces.
- Arrange the fruit in a bowl or platter. Garnish with mint if desired and serve with the passionfruit sauce on the side.
Notes
*You can make the fruit and sauce ahead of time and refrigerate the fruit until ready to serve. Both the fruit and sauce keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.
Keywords: fruit, lychee, salad, no cook, summer, passionfruit
