This weekend, Holly and I had a rare morning together with no Daddy and no Lara. Holly was desperate to do some cooking in her big sister's absence but because it was 9.30 in the morning, it wasn't really time to set about creating feasts so instead we made ourselves a little morning boost - a smoothie.
Cuisinart sent me a Soup Maker Plus to use to create some new cookery inspiration in the Mellow kitchen and, while I know we will be whipping up some amazing soups, risottos and hot savoury dishes, I really wanted its first outing to be something very different so I got Holly to choose some ingredients from the fridge. Holly chose a mango and a banana - a perfect combination for a smoothie.
This Mango, Yoghurt and Cardamom smoothie is inspired by Indian desserts and would make a perfect, light accompaniment to a strongly-flavoured curry. We felt it was a light, summery and refreshing pick-me up in the morning. Cardamom is a very strong flavour for a little person like Holly who wasn't totally sure about it, but she is used to the taste in our home-made curries so she kept coming back for more sips of the smoothie.
INGREDIENTS - serves 2
1 mango peeled and stoned (the riper the better...ours was a bit useless)
1 banana peeled
200ml plain low-fat yoghurt
3 green cardamom pods
2 scoops of vanilla ice cream (optional)
Mint springs to serve.
METHOD
Roughly chop the banana and mango and place into the Soup Maker Plus, blender or food processor with the yoghurt.
Firmly bruise the cardamom pods with the base of your hand, or the side of a knife and take out all the seeds - add the seeds to the fruit and yoghurt.
If you like a bit of sweetness in your smoothie, add some good quality vanilla ice cream to make the smoothie extra rich and luxurious.
Blend for about 2 minutes until the mango is totally smooth. Holly very much enjoyed watching this magic happen!
Enjoy with a sprig of fresh mint.
I will be blogging lots more soup maker plus recipes as we create them over the coming weeks - if you have a soup recipe or risotto recipe you'd like to share with me or recommend, please leave me a link in the comments below.
