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Spicy Lime & Cucumber Paletas (a.k.a. popsicles)
August 04, 2009
Lately, Tim & I have been making fresh fruit paletas for dessert on these hot summer nights. A paleta is a Mexican popsicle, and this one is our favorite. It starts with a pop of chili heat, quickly cooled by cucumber and brightened by the lime -- it’s a festival of flavor! Once you have the basic idea, you can use this simple recipe as a guideline for making paletas with whatever juicy fruit you have on hand. Cantaloupe and mint, pineapple, ginger and cilantro, peach, black pepper and lavender: you can add savory spices or keep it simple and sweet, as you wish. We like these very much – and hope that you do, too!
Spicy Lime & Cucumber Paletas (a.k.a. popsicles)
Makes 6 paletas.
1 1/4 pounds cucumbers (about 2 large)
1/6 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 small dried chili pepper, crushed
1-1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Set aside a piece of cucumber about 1-1/2 inches long; chunk up the remaining cucumber, peels and all, into 1 inch pieces and puree them in a blender or food processor until smooth. Strain the pulp through a fine meshed sieve into a bowl; use a wooden spoon or spatula to press as much liquid from the pulp as possible. It’s okay if some pulp gets into the juice. You should have 1 ¼ cup juice. Set this aside.
Peel the remaining piece of cucumber and cut it into little matchsticks. Set these aside.
In a small saucepan, mix the lime juice, sugar and dried chili pepper together. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves and forms a syrup. Set aside to cool.
Mix together the juice and lime/chili syrup. Stir in the chili powder, cayenne and salt. Stir well and then pour into your popsicle molds, leaving about half inch at the top. Add a few matchsticks of cucumber to each mold and close up the molds with sticks in place. Put in the freezer until solid (2-4 hours).
Run a little warm water over each mold to loosen the paleta, then run outside into the sunshine and enjoy!
