There are many fantastic tropical cocktails, but this is one of my new favourites – a Lychee Mojito, inspired by my Mauritian heritage and love of lychees!
When the sun comes out, everyone gets a little overexcited in the UK. Suddenly it's all about “alfresco” dining, or sipping on something a little tropical to get you in the mood for warmer months.
So, in light of coaxing out the sunshine – and considering Jamie Oliver's recent launch of Drinks Tube – it's a perfect time to create a cocktail that embodies the essence of a tropical island.
I'm sharing with you here my new favourite tipple – a Lychee Mojito, inspired by my Mauritian heritage and love of lychees! This idea came from my recent visit to the Mauritian Rum Festival that was over in London for two days last week, showcasing some great rum producers from the island who are fusing their rum with tropical flavours such as pineapple, passionfruit, coconut, vanilla, mandarin and citronelle, to name a few. Having recently taken part in a cocktail class that involved making mojitos, I couldn’t think of a better way to give mine an extra exotic twist than adding fresh lychees into the mix.
You could add litchi liqueur to your mojitos but this may be difficult to find – if you have it to hand in your drinks cabinet an extra splash of this accentuates the flavour of the lychees. However, in this recipe I use canned lychees in syrup, which are easy to find in supermarkets and Asian stores.
All you need for this recipe is a working blender, a sieve, glasses, crushed ice or ice cubes and a few extra ingredients. Fancy colourful straws and umbrellas are optional but recommended.
Lychee mojito recipe
Makes 2 glasses
Ingredients:
1 x 567g canned lychees in syrup
75ml white rum
1/4 wedge of lime, cut in half
2 tsp light brown sugar
6 fresh mint leaves
crushed ice
Method:
Tip your whole can of lychees, including syrup, into your blender and whizz. Once well blended, sieve the juice into a jug to get rid of extra lychee pieces. Add the rum to the lychee juice and mix well with a spoon.
Take a glass, squeeze in the first lime wedge, add it to the glass, then muddle with a 1 teaspoon of sugar and 3 crushed mint leaves. Repeat this process for a second glass. Add some crushed iced or an ice cube into each glass, then top them both up with the lychee rum juice and stir well. Sit back, relax and enjoy.