Cucumber-Ginger Refresher

This granita of cucumber and ginger shreds is not a vegetable dish per se, but a special course to serve alone. It was prepared at the Jakarta Hilton International by Detlef Skrobanek when he was executive chef. The pale green icy mass is so sharply refreshing it will wash away the pervasive shallots, garlic, coconut milk—even chillis—of the Spice Islands to make way for another course. (The recipe appears in another form in Dining in Grand Style, a book I wrote with Dieter Hannig an