Cuisine: Drinks

Turmeric-melon-coconut Shake

Kurkuma-Melonen-Kokosnuss-Shake

Two weeks ago, I made this incredibly good turmeric almond milk from Healthful Pursuit.
I used fresh turmeric instead of the powdered stuff and the flavour was unexpected fruity. I don’t know if that was because of the fresh turmeric or if it would have tasted the same with the dried turmeric powder. But I liked that. A lot!
And that’s why I thought this morning, that the turmeric (there is still a fresh piece in my fridge …) might taste very good paired with melon. And with a charentais melon waiting in my fridge as well, I changed the recipe to a very delicious, exotic milkshake.

Zutaten

  • 5ooml coconut-rice milk (or rice-coconut milk :-) )
  • 1–2 cm fresh turmeric, peeled
  • 1/2 charentais melon, deseeded and flesh scooped out (I guess any honeydew melon will do)
  • 1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
  • 8 stoned dates
  • 4–5 ice cubes (optional)

Simply staple everything in your blender. If the dates are quite dry, it might help to soak them for some minutes in the milk. Blitz until everything is smooth.
Divide between 4 small glasses (0,2l) or 2 larger ones (0,4l).

Kurkuma-Melonen-Kokosnuss-Shake

Aronia-pear-smoothie

Aronia-Birnen-Smoothie

Since the smoothie yesterday turned out so well, I gave it another try with some other ingredients. Also very tasteful … and short ingredient list :-)

Ingredients

  • 1 big pear
  • 2 small oranges, or 1 big orange
  • 1/2 cup aronia juice
  • 1 small handful parsley
  • 1 small handful blackberries (I guess any other berry will be fine, or omit the berries)
  • 1 cup water (or same amount in ice cubes)
  • 1 Tbsp agave nectar or sweetener of choice
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp hemp seed

Put everything into your blender and blend well. Divide between 2 glasses and enjoy.

Aronia-Birnen-Smoothie

Aronia-Coconut-Smoothie

Aronia-Kokosnuss-Smoothie

My neighbour brought me homemade aronia juice. Very interesting … I tried it first half and half mixed with water, but decided, that it might be better mixed with some other ingredients.
That’s how I came to the idea of making a smoothie.

Ingredients

  • 1 big pear
  • 1 small apple
  • 1/2 cup aronia juice
  • 1/2 cup chinese cabbage (I hope it’s healthy as well …)
  • 2 cups coconut-rice milk (I guess almond milk will be just fine)
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp hemp seed

Put all the ingredients in a blender, blend very well. Ready to drink :-)

Aronia-Kokosnuss-Smoothie

Mote con Huesillos

Mote con Huesillos

In Chile exists a quite strange drink. It is calles „Mote Con Huesillos“, which translates as pearl barley with peach. Sounds like a drink? Not really I guess. And it isn’t, but it also is.
It is a drink to drink, spoon and chew.

getrocknete Pfirsiche beim EinweichenIt consists of dried peaches and pearl barley, cooked in liquid, and eaten/drunken as soon as everything is chilled.
I found the original recipe in a chilean cookbook, but you can also find it on websites, e.g. here.
But I guess I did something wrong, because the ratio between solid and liquid ingredients just wasn’t right. What I got was kind of a soupy compote. Very delicious, but still not a drink.
So I changed the recipe a bit, cut down the amount of the barley and the peaches and now it works better.
I’ve never tasted the „real“ mote in chile, but I was told, that it tastes like it should taste.

The dried peaches, that you’ll need for the recipe may be hard to find, here in germany it is almost impossible.

If you have the same problem, feed free to substitute dried apricots. I found some really dry ones, not the chewy kind, and they worked very well. The dried peaches have the same consistency.

This time I used a mix of aprocots and peaches, because the peaches are so rare.

Ingredients

  • 125g dried peaches (or dried apricots)
  • 125g pearl barley
  • 50g sugar (e.g. brown sugar)
  • 1/2l orange juice
  • 1 cinnamon stick

Wash the peaches thoroughly and soak them in plenty of water for 24h. The peaches will expand a lot, so maybe you have to add more water.

PfirsichkompottWash the pearl barley, drain and bring to the boil in 1l water (use the rest of the soaking liquid) and the orange juice. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook until the barley is tender. This should take about 30 min. Stir once in a while.

When the peaches are ready to cook, drain and reserve the soaking liquid.
Cut the peaches in 1/2-inch/1 cm pieces and put them in a pot, top with the soaking liquid up to 1 cm, add the sugar and the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil, then simmer on low heat for 10 min.

As soon as the barley is cooked, mix the peach compote and the barley and let cool to room temperature. Now put everything in the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours, or until everything is nicely chilled.

 

Mote con Huesillos