Tropical Fruit Salad

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You can buy ready-to-eat dried exotic fruit in a single packet containing a mixture of papaya, pineapple, mango and melon or alternatively create your own combination by choosing your favourites. They are cooked slowly in pineapple juice, flavoured with lime and sweetened with honey to make a healthy dessert.

Serves 2

1 lime
300 ml/½ pint/1¼ cups pineapple juice
15 ml/1 tbsp clear honey
250 g/9 oz packet of ready-to-eat dried exotic fruit

1. Pare a long strip of zest from the lime and put it in the ceramic cooking pot with all the remaining ingredients. Cover with the lid and switch on the slow cooker to Low.
2. Cook for 4-6 hours or until the fruit is very tender and most of the fruit juice has been absorbed. Turn off the heat.
3. Halve the lime, squeeze out the juice and stir into the fruit salad. Leave the fruit salad to cool, then spoon half into a bowl and serve scattered with coconut shavings and with a spoonful of Greek-style yoghurt.

Second serving
Transfer the remaining fruit salad to a bowl and leave to cool. Cover and chill in the fridge for the following day. Serve cold with ice-cream or at room temperature.

Cook's tips
Adding the lime juice after cooking helps preserve the vitamin C, which could otherwise be destroyed by the long, slow cooking.
Create a tropical fruit sundae by layering the fruit salad with scoops of mango sorbet or pineapple ice-cream. Chop the fruit into smaller chunks first.

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