Dragon Fruit Granita

A few weeks ago I was walking through Chinatown and realized that despite living in New York for 8 years (I can't believe it's been that long!) there are still areas of this city that I know very little about.  Chinatown being one of them.  Sadly, I can probably count the number of times I've been down there on one hand.

When I was there a few weeks ago, I took the advice of Serious Eats, and had lunch at Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles.  There's a good reason they voted this shop as their top pick for hand-pulled noodles in Chinatown!  My lunch was beyond delicious (hand-pulled noodles with duck, if you were wondering), it was really inexpensive and such a cool experience to see these noodles getting made.

I walked around the neighborhood after lunch, enamored by the foreign produce offerings of the street vendors.  There were so many fruits and vegetables I had never so much as laid eyes on before.  I felt myself becoming more and more intrigued and curious, and wondering what these foods taste like and how they're best prepared.  I found myself especially drawn to a table of these beauties.....   

Dragon fruit!  I'd never seen anything like it before.  I was lured in by its vibrant pink color and exotic texture.  The only thing I knew about dragon fruit was that I knew nothing, and I was dying to know more.

Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya fruit or pitahaya fruit, is most commonly found in Mexico, Central & South America, and a numbers of Southeast Asian countries (think anywhere with a topical climate), and is the fruit of a cactus.  This beautiful fruit has a high water content, is low in calories & high in vitamin C, phosphorus, calcium, fiber and antioxidents.  Its flavor is unlike anything I've tasted before, and I'm not quite sure what I'd compare it to.  I've heard it described as a cross between a pear and a kiwi.....I don't know that I agree with this 100%, but at least partially.  It's light, sweet and refreshing with a delicate & mild flavor.  The inner flesh of the fruit is either white (which is most common) or bright pink, and studded with small black seeds.  To eat a dragon fruit, simply cut it in half and scoop out the center flesh.    

Maybe it's the summer heat, and the fact that I have cool treats on my mind all the time, but the very first thing I thought when I saw these fruits was to make dragon fruit granita.  A granita, or granité as our French friends call it, is a frozen dessert made from sugar, water and either fruit puree or juice, wine, liquor, coffee or tea.  You can get pretty creative with this dessert.  The added sugar is an important ingredient because it keeps the mixture from forming into a giant chunk of ice, and helps to give it a "grainy" texture.

Print Recipe

Dragon Fruit Granita

Serves 4

2 dragon fruits, halved & outer skin reserved

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons water

Bring water to a boil, and add sugar, stirring until it's completely dissolved, to make simple syrup.  Set aside and let the mixture cool.

Scoop out the center flesh of the fruit and add to a blender.  (The outer skins make a wonderful serving dish.  Set them in the freezer while you prepare the granita, so they're easier to work with later.)  Add the cooled simple syrup to the blender.  Blend until the mixture is totally pureed.

Pour the mixture into a shallow pan or tray (I used a 9x13 baking dish), and place the dish in the freezer.  Remove the dish every 30 minutes or so, and use a fork to "rake" the mixture & stir to break up any clumps of ice that have formed.  Be sure to get the sides and bottom of the pan.

To serve, spoon granita into the frozen outer skin.

Enjoy!