Minoli de Silva's genius hack to transform a watermelon into an eye-catching optical illusion
Sweet, tasty and refreshing, there's nothing quite like a juicy watermelon on a hot summer's day.
Chopped into delicious triangles, blitzed into a refreshing cocktail or added to a sweet summer salad there are so many things you can do with the versatile fruit.
One pro has taken this to the next level and come up with a genius way to turn the vibrant summer fruit into an impressive dessert with one clever hack.
Watch the video above.
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Minoli de Silva has come up with a genius way to transform the summer fruit into an impressive dessert. Nine
Instead of simply cutting the fruit up into juicy slices, chef Minoli de Silva says her "favourite thing to do with a watermelon" is to blitz it up into a jelly.
But not just any old jelly.
De Silva's recipe involves forming the watermelon jelly to make it look like the real thing- making for an impressive optical illusion that is just as delicious as it is eye-catching.
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Scoop the flesh out of the watermelon while maintaining the form of its rind. Nine
To make what De Silva calls "the most beautiful watermelon-jelly", she says to first grab half a watermelon.
Scoop all of the flesh out of the watermelon while maintaining the form of the rind (you'll need this later). Then place the flesh into a blender and blitz it into a juice.
Then, take the watermelon juice and strain out the pulp. De Silva says this is a key step to making a "nice smooth watermelon jelly".
You can strain out the pulp with a cheese cloth, but De Silva says you can easily use a linen towel instead – which, she admits, is what she and her mum prefer to do at home.
Using the linen towel, squeeze all the juice out until you have a smooth, pulp-free juice.
To make the jelly, take the pulp-free watermelon juice and pop it into a pot, carefully, along with a cup and a half of sugar and agar agar, which is a setting agent and will help thicken it up and transform the watermelon juice into a delicious jelly.
Combine the juice over medium heat with sugar and agar agar to make a jelly mixture. Nine
Simmer the mixture at a medium heat and stir as it heats to avoid any clumping. De Silva says using agar agar instead of gelatine makes for a less wobbly jelly that holds its form better.
This is essential for the next step, which is turning the jelly into a watermelon lookalike.
To do this, De Silva takes the watermelon rind she scooped the flesh out of earlier and makes sure it is hollow like a bowl.
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Then she scoops the watermelon jelly mixture back into the rind, before placing it into a bowl to hold it upright and then into the fridge to set.
Once set, turn the rind upside down and cut it into slices.
What you should be left with are some stunning slices of watermelon jelly that look like the real thing.
"I feel like jelly is one of those things that never stops being fun," De Silva says.
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Once cut up, you will be left with a watermelon jelly that looks just like the real thing. Nine
To serve it up, De Silva likes to serve it up as is or with a little bit of lime squeezed over the top and let her guests dig into it.
"It may get a little bit messy, but you know what? That's what summer and watermelons are all about."
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