Oven Poached Star Fruit & Apples

Fresh Star Fruit (Kamrakh; कमरख) is sold on street corners, and by street vendors during the summer, pretty much all over India. I've only probably had it a half a dozen times in my life. I remember it being a crisp tart fruit which was eaten most often with Chaat Masala, which add a savory, chili peppery zing to the fruit. I saw some at the store yesterday and decided to pick a couple up. I figured if I didn't end up using it in a prepared dish, I'd still be able to enjoy it as we did in India.  A Google search revealed recipes for drinks, chutneys, salsas and upside down cakes. I wasn't in the mood for the first few and wasn't in the mood to improvise and modify an omnivore cake recipe to my style (no eggs, no oil). So, after a few unsuccessful searches on the internet, I improvised and decided on an oven poached version with flavors borrowed from Indian desserts.

Oven Poached Star Fruit & Apples

Prep Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

1. 1 Star Fruit (edges peeled, thinly sliced & seeds removed)
2. 1 Honey Crisp Apple (peeled, thinly sliced & seeds removed)
3. 2-3 tbsp Raw Sugar
4. A Dash of Allspice
5. A couple dashes of Ground Cardamom
6. 2 tbsp Slivered Almonds
7. A splash of Almond Milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Spread the apples in a thin layer in an "ungreased" (lidded) casserole dish. Cover apples with a layer of sliced star fruit. 

Sprinkle raw sugar, allspice, cardamom and slivered almonds and almond milk. 

Bake, covered, for about 20 minutes. Consider it done when the lovely aroma of cardamom begins to waft out of the oven and fill the house!! 

Remove from the oven, let stand for a few minutes and serve warm. For an absolutely new experiment, this came out really good. The almond milk at the bottom of the pan was poured into each serving. I thought the little sprinkle of almond milk gave the fruit, and the dish, just a little bit of creaminess. The Star fruit and the apples both retained just a touch of crispness. The cardamom flavors evoked a sense of nostalgia :) 

Veggie Fact of the Day

New Veggie #45 - Star Fruit

The Star Fruit, also known as Carambola, and my New Veggie #45, is native to the Indian Sub-continent and the islands of the Indian ocean. It is now cultivated in multiple parts of the world and is also locally grown in parts of the United States. 

The fruit gets its shape from its unique shape - it resembles a perfect 5-point star when cut across its length. The texture is firm and crisp (like a pear or an apple) and the taste is quite tart when the fruit is green, with a gradual sweetening as it ripens to a yellow color. 

Star fruits are low in calories, and sugar and has no fat. A medium sized star fruit has almost 50% of the RDA of Vitamin V and it is also rich in Vitamins B3 (Niacin) and B9 (Folic Acid) and is loaded with copper and potassium. It is most often eaten raw. It is loaded with polyphenolic antioxidants and is even said to help fight the intense heat of the Indian summer with its cooling benefits.