Hayden McMillan's young coconut ceviche

Hayden McMillan's young coconut ceviche. Photo / Ian Jones

1 young coconut, juice drained and kept
150ml coconut juice
50g caster sugar
1 kaffir lime, roughly chopped
Handful mint leaves
75g caster sugar (extra)
300ml green apple juice
1 lemon, juiced
Handful spinach leaves
2.5g agar powder
2.5g gellan gum (available here)

1 With a serrated knife, cut 5cm down from the top of the coconut. Scoop out the flesh in 3cm-sized pieces, removing any brown skin, so you end up with pristine white coconut.

2 With a sharp knife or mandolin, slice the coconut on an angle into thin, sashimi-like pieces.

3 In a saucepan, place the coconut juice, first (50g) amount of caster sugar, kaffir lime and mint, and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and allow to infuse for 30 minutes. Once cool, pour over the coconut and store in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.

4 In a mixing bowl, dissolve the remaining quantity of sugar in 30ml of apple juice. Put into a liquidiser along with the remaining 270ml of apple juice, the lemon juice and spinach. Blend until smooth and cool.

5 In a saucepan, place the cooled liquid, agar and gellan into a saucepan and simmer for one minute, then quickly measure out 100ml in Swiss roll trays to create a thin sheet of jelly. Place into the fridge for three minutes. Cut into strips to resemble shaved, peeled cucumber.

6 On a plate, overlap the coconut and pour over a little of the syrup. Add the folded apple jelly, apple balls scooped out with a melon baller (or compressed apple), butterscotch sauce (or butterscotch foam in a cream siphon with two gas cartridges), a little maltodextrin (available here) mixed with coconut oil for the snow and grated, freeze-dried apple.