Banana Smoothie

The scorching sun already shows the sign of peak summer here in Chennai. Sun seems to work hard right from 9AM to 5PM and its becoming really hard to step out of the house.

Feeding on steaming hot food or beverages is not a likely choice at all for this kind of climate. So my choice is to go for more of cold milk shakes and cool drinks to keep myself hydrated.

Last evening when I was thirsty for smoothies, I just picked all my favorite ingredients and blend them together to make this delicious drink ;)

Abiruchi on E tv is one of the cookery shows that I keenly follow and I must agree to the fact that Mr.Raju is one of the most talented chefs I have come across. He rocks with different dishes and also carves a lot of creative creatures with simple vegetables.

This banana boat is one of his creations that I got lot inspired and tried :)

Ingredients:

Banana - 1
Raisins (kismis/dry grapes) - 2 tblspn
Almonds - 2
Milk - 1/2 cup
Honey - 1 tbl spn
Vanilla ice cream

Method:

Soak raisins and almonds in warm water for an hour.

Chop the banana roughly. Peel the almond skin.

Blend banana, soaked raisins and almonds along with milk and honey.

Serve chill topped with vanilla ice cream :)

This quantity would make one tall glass of smoothie.

Tips:

Replace the milk with some fresh yogurt(curd) to make smoothie.

You can add dates instead of raisins to make a different version.

Banana Boat:

You will need a banana, 5 tooth picks, 1 skewer and some thread.

Take a long morris or green banana which is pretty stiff and in the shape of a boat.

Tie a tooth pic vertically to a skewer using thread. Carefully slip open a 1/2 inch width of banana peel leaving it attached to one side of the banana. Now pierce the skewer into the peel in a zig-zag manner and pierce it into the banana leaving an inch gap on the right.

Now poke two tooth picks on left end as well as right end of the banana. Tie a thread to the left side tooth pics and secure the thread to the top of the skewer and extend it to the tooth picks on the right.

Pretty looking banana boat is done :)