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Posts Tagged ‘Smoothie’

Discontinued Mango Black Tea Smoothie

Late in the spring last year I went to my regular smoothie place. I stood in line and when it was my turn to order I found out that my favorite mango black tea smoothie was no longer on their menu. It had been discontinued! Disappointed, a few day later I made my own version in my kitchen, just like my mom would do. There is something about food cravings and fulfillment. For food lovers, satisfying a craving is taking care of our soul.

The mango smoothie I made last year was a good one. It was right at the peak of mango season and it tasted great. I call it a Lychee Black Tea Mango Smoothie. I was ready to share the recipe with you then, but the mango season was gone before I could capture a picture of my new drink. Since the recipe depends on just three ingredients—mango, lychee black tea and honey—you’ll want to pick the freshest, best quality mangoes for your smoothie. The other key to this recipe is balancing the deep flavor of the tea with the fruity and sweet flavors of the mango and honey.

I love lychee black tea. It is fun to drink this black tea with its alluring aroma and note of sweet floral lychee. However, this tea may be difficult to find if you do not have an Asian market nearby. There are a few online sources for lychee black tea. The alternative is to use any fruity black tea that you think would work well with mango and honey. Just give it a try!

Honey, lychee black tea, and mango

A fresh honey mango or a Manila mango is ideal for this drink, though any mango will work. Let it sit in a brown paper bag until it fully ripens. (I tested this recipe late last summer with a fully ripened peach and it was amazingly good as well.) Mangoes and peaches are available frozen all year round, so you can enjoy this lychee black tea mango smoothie as often as you wish. All you have to do now is find the perfect lychee tea to add to your tea collection.

Lychee black tea, mango, and honey smoothie

Lychee Black Tea Mango Smoothie

Nahm Lynjee Chadum Mamuang Pun

น้ำลิ้นจี่ชาดำมะม่วงปั่น

I love this smoothie recipe, which came to me effortlessly. I always have lychee tea at home and a supply of honey from my friend’s garden. When mangoes are plenty and I have one that is fully ripe, I simply place all of the ingredients in a blender, blend and pour into two glasses. Cheers to double antioxidants!

Serves: 2

Yield: 3 cups

2 to 3 tablespoons lychee black tea or 2 bags black tea
1 cup boiling water
Steep for 5 to 10 minutes
2 large mangoes, peeled and sliced, about 2 cups
1 tablespoon honey
2 pinches salt
1 cup crushed ice

Steep lychee black tea in 1 cup boiling water, letting it sit for at least 5 minutes, or steep for 8 to 10 minutes to make a deep colored tea. Set tea aside to cool while peeling and cutting the mangoes.

Place cooled tea, mango, honey, salt and crushed ice in the blender. Blend until smooth. Serve right away!

I Love Thai cooking
Pranee teaches Thai Cooking classes in the Seattle area.
Her website is: I Love Thai cooking.com  

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Drink Me

It has been exactly a week since I returned from Thailand and I am still trying to catch up with our Seattle summer. My friends have all assured me that I didn’t miss much during the past month as we are still having the same cold weather we had in June. This July, Seattle hit the record lowest temperature for summer, so all I really need to catch up on is eating the plentiful seasonal fruits and vegetables from the local farmers markets and nearby towns.  

Hami Melon

During my first grocery shopping back here in Seattle, my cart was full with all sorts of berries. And then my eye caught on a good-looking melon that I haven’t tried: Hami melon. It is grown in California and available from mid-May to July and from September to December. I let it ripen at home for a few days and its sweet aroma was inviting me to taste it. The sweet scent reminds me of the Thai long muskmelon that I used to grow a long time ago in my organic garden in Phuket—it grew abundantly despite my lack of knowledge and farming experience.

Hami Melon

Hami melon is a type of muskmelon, a Chinese melon variety. A good one can taste sweeter and have a higher sugar content than most other varieties of melon. I decided to make a smoothie with coconut milk to duplicate Taeng Thai Kati, a famous Thai muskmelon dessert made with coconut milk, but we will drink ours instead of eating it. I kept the flavor profile and the amounts of ingredients the same as in Taeng Thai Kati, but added a generous amount of crushed ice and simple syrup to turn it into a nice cold smoothie. I used only one-third cup coconut milk in my recipe, a perfect amount to make a smoothie, a healthy summer drink. But if you are looking for a nice milkshake-like drink and dessert combo, add a scoop or two of coconut ice cream; it would taste heavenly. When a sweet flavor is needed, honey or palm sugar simple syrup are good choices to add a dimension of sweetness and aroma.

Coconut Melon Smoothie

Stock up on a few cans of coconut milk, then anytime the sweet floral scents of melon invite you, all you have to do is prepare this recipe. Hami melon is hard to resist, especially when it is combined with alluring fresh coconut milk. Drink me.

Coconut Melon Smoothie

Nam Kati Taeng Thai Smoothie

น้ำกะทิแตงไทยสมูทตี้

Serves: 2 to 4

Yield: 3 cups

16 ounces (see note) diced Hami melon, seeded, peeled and diced, or substitute honey-dew melon
⅓ cup coconut milk or coconut ice cream, more as desired
1½ cups crushed ice
2 tablespoons palm sugar simple syrup, optional (see note)
pinch of salt

Place melon, coconut milk, ice, sugar and salt in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and serve right away with a straw.

Pranee’s Note

A 4-pound Hami melon (medium size), seeded, peeled and diced will yield about 2 pounds of diced melon.
 
To make palm sugar simple syrup, place a disc of palm sugar (about 4 tablespoons) and about ¼ cup water in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Cool and chill. Keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week.   Yield: ¼ cup.
 
© 2011 Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen  
I Love Thai cooking 
 Pranee teaches Thai Cooking classes in the Seattle area. Her website is: I Love Thai cooking.com .

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It’s a mango day!      

A perfect crisp green mango is hard to come by in Seattle, just like getting a crisp and sunny day in the month of June. I grabbed this unique food opportunity and heightened the day by having two friends over for lunch so that we could celebrate both the sunsine and the mango. It was a beautiful day.         

Fifteen minutes before the door bell rung, I turned on the rice cooker and prepped for green mango salad. Then, I had some mangos, bananas and pineapples ready in the blender for a smoothie.  My menu was very simple, it consisted of a Thai Green Mango Salad served with Prawn and Mango Smoothie with an optional cocktail.         

When my girlfriends arrived, the conversation started flowing and I was enjoying it. After all this is the first summer that I am spending in Seattle in fifteen years without having an intensive travel plan. I asked if anyone was interested in adding Triple Sec and Tequila  for their smoothie/cocktail, and yes was the majority answer. Three minutes later, we clinked to salute our kids moving up celebration. Then I took another three minutes to prepare Thai Green Mango Salad, next we sat and ate in the warm-cold-warm sunshine.        

Summer is the ideal time for having friends over for casual lunches and catching up. I am happy to stay in town this summer regardless of the weather in Seattle.      

Thai Green Mango Salad

 

 I teach this recipe with granny smith apples, something that you can count on, so use green tart apples to substitute for green mangos when it not available. It is a great alternative. For dry shrimp, use any dry shrimp from the AsianMarket and pulse in food processor until it becomes a fine powder.     

Thai Green Mango Salad with Prawn         

Yum Mamuang Goong         

Serves: 4        

16 medium size prawns, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice, about 1 large lime
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder, or one fresh Thai chili, minced
2 tablespoons chopped shalot
2 cups shredded green mango, from about 1 green mango
3 tablespoons shrimp powder
1/4 cup chopped dill, mint and cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped Vietnamese mint, aka Rau Ram , optional plus one sprig for garnish
1 tomato, sliced for garnish

To cook prawn, add 3 tablespoons water with prawn in a frying pan and bring to a boil on high heat. Stir on high heat until the prawns are pink and opaque. Strain and let it cool.       

To make salad dressing, whisk fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chili powder until sugar is dissolved. Mix in shalot, green mango, shrimp powder,cooked prawns, mixed herbs and Vietnamese mint. Mix well and serve. Garnish with sliced tomato and Vietnamese mint sprig.       

Thai Vegetarian Option: Use sea salt instead of fish sauce and ground roasted peanut instead of dry shrimp powder    

Thai Cooking for Kids: Omit chili powder in the recipe instruction. After removing kid serving portions then may add chili powder as desire for adult.    

Gluten-Free Recipe    

© 2010  Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen  
 I Love Thai cooking
 
Pranee teachs Thai Cooking class in Seattle areas, her website is:  I Love Thai cooking.com

 

 Mango  Smoothie     

Nam Mamuang Pan       

Serves: 2       

2 cups ripe mango, peeled diced – can be fresh or frozen
1 banana, peeled and diced
1/2 cup diced pineapple–can or fresh
A pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup crushed ice
 
To make a smoothie, place mango, banana, pineapple, salt, lemon juice and crushed ice. Blend until  smooth. Serve Cold.
 
 Mango Margarita
 
 Serves: 4    

 

1/2 cup Gold Tequila
1/4 cup Tripple Sec
4 mint sprigs, for garnish

Add gold tequila and Triple sec to blender on top of the smoothie from recipe above and blend for 5 seconds, served in 4 chilled- margarita glasses and garnish with mint sprigs.       

Cheers,       

© 2010  Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen  
 I Love Thai cooking
 
Pranee teachs Thai Cooking class in Seattle areas, her website is:  I Love Thai cooking.com   

 

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