Last few days Sun had been scorching hot, temperatures soared up so much I couldn't stand and cook in my kitchen as it becomes too warm there and I feel like running away to find some place cooler.  Any amount of water and juices wouldn't quench your thirst down, I feel like drinking something cold all the time.  I made some ice creams, kulfis, popsicles, juices and smoothies.  This smoothie is my favourite which  I make now and then when I get hold fresh Mangoes fortunately which are in season now otherwise when I crave for it I sometimes use tinned mangoes.  I have been eating lots of mangoes as well :), from markets here, they do not taste like the ones I get back home but, they are quite delicious.  When I think of mangoes I think of my hometown, as this is the  season you get loads of mangoes.  My sister has a Mango tree and she used to bring us boxes of mangoes every year, I have a photo of her Mango tree somewhere I should dig it out to share it with you all.

This smoothie was something I whipped once long back when I ended up with lots of Avocado when compared with these two fruits, Mangoes are more appealing to me, which one do you prefer?  Then off course I love the visual appearance of Avocado rather than eating it when compared with Mango.  I use Avocado in many ways it is such a versatile fruit just like a mango, it can be used either as sweet or savoury version, it adapts to anything very easily.

Avocado is definitely a super food, it is said to have a plethora of health and beauty benefits.  There are loads of research done upholding the facts about Avocados.  They are said to have good fat that is the Oleic acid found in Avocados can reduce LDL Cholesterol and Increase HDL Cholesterol.

They are rich in Vitamin E, it is rich in Omega-9 fats that repair damaged skin by reducing redness and irritation caused by Acne, you can use it as a face mask and use its skin as an exfoliator, Did you know it is said that the oil is good for your hair as well, it helps in regulating hair growth and prevent hair loss,  I use Avocado as a hair mask, apply mashed Avocado on to your hair leave it for sometime and wash it with a good shampoo. It is rich in potassium, Mono- saturated fatty acids, high in fibre, it is useful for people who suffer from the symptoms of Arthritis.

Did you know something about how to peel an Avocado and why is it so important? well, read further as there is an interesting fact to know about it. why peeling an Avocado properly is useful for healthy eating.  This information is from Whole foods (www.whfoods.org) Avocado and health benefits page.  To know more about this click on the link

The method you use to peel an avocado might make a difference to your health. Research on avocado shows that the greatest phytonutrient concentrations occur in portions of the food that we do not typically eat, namely, the peel and the seed (or "pit.") The pulp of the avocado is actually much lower in phytonutrients than these other portions of the food. However, while lower in their overall phytonutrient richness, all portions of the pulp are not identical in their phytonutrient concentrations and the areas of the pulp that are closest to the peel are higher in certain phytonutrients than more interior portions of the pulp. For this reason, you don't want to slice into that outermost, dark green portion of the pulp any more than necessary when you are peeling an avocado. Accordingly, the best method is what the California Avocado Commission has called the "nick and peel" method. In this method, you actually end up peeling the avocado with your hands in the same way that you would peel a banana. The first step in the nick-and-peel method is to cut into the avocado lengthwise, producing two long avocado halves that are still connected in the middle by the seed. Next you take hold of both halves and twist them in opposite directions until they naturally separate. At this point, remove the seed and cut each of the halves lengthwise to produce long quartered sections of the avocado. You can use your thumb and index finger to grip the edge of the skin on each quarter and peel it off, just as you would do with a banana skin. The final result is a peeled avocado that contains most of that dark green outermost flesh, which provides you with the best possible phytonutrient richness from the pulp portion of the avocado.

Coming back to the Recipe, This tropical fruit  blended with something incredibly healthy secret Ingredient which your kids wouldn't notice or I can say for fussy eaters who will never know what is in it, it's so yummy, creamy and thick.

VEGAN AVOCADO AND MANGO SMOOTHIE

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Pureed Mango Pulp*
3 Ripe Avocadoes
1 Cup Orange Juice
3 to 4 tbsp of fair trade Brown sugar*

METHOD
First of all blend y our Avocadoes which are cut into pieces use some orange juice if it is a bit difficult to blend into a lovely smooth consistency, once Avocadoes are smooth add the Mango puree and the remaining Orange juice and blend hem well with the sugar to a smooth consistency.
Increase adding extra orange juice or water if it becomes too thick.

For a variation:
You can add cream of coconut and some bits of Pineapple  to make it a complete tropical smoothie, you can even add Soya/almond/oats milk to make it more delicious.

* I used 2 mangoes cut them into chunks and blended it into a smooth consistency, you can even use tinned Mango pulp if fresh mangoes are not available.

If you liked it try it out and leave me a comment below  and also tell me how do you use Avocado in your  diet? Have you tried Avocadoes in any other way in your beauty techniques, Check out this blog for some baking recipes as well using Avocadoes

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Vegan Avocado-Mango Smoothie

Healthy and delicious, Tropical fruit blended with Avocado

Course Drinks

Cuisine International

Servings 5 Glasses

Author Jayasri

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Pureed Mango Pulp*
• 3 Ripe Avocadoes
• 1 Cup Orange Juice
• 3 to 4 tbsp of fair trade Brown sugar*

Instructions

• First of all blend y our Avocadoes which are cut into pieces use some orange juice if it is a bit difficult to blend into a lovely smooth consistency, once Avocadoes are smooth add the Mango puree and the remaining Orange juice and blend hem well with the sugar to a smooth consistency.
• Increase adding extra orange juice or water if it becomes too thick.

Notes

You can add cream of coconut and some bits of Pineapple to make it a complete tropical smoothie, you can even add Soya/almond/oats milk to make it more delicious.

* I used 2 mangoes cut them into chunks and blended it into a smooth consistency, you can even use tinned Mango pulp if fresh mangoes are not available.

The post Vegan Avocado-Mango Smoothie appeared first on My Veg Fare.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Simona of Briciole.  She chose to challenge Daring Bakers' to make Pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating well.

PASTA FROLLA - CROSTATA
Pasta Frolla with Cake filling (In India it is called Dil Pasand)




Pasta frolla with Mixed Fruit filling (In India it is called Dil Kush)

The filling in Dil Kush is perfectly the recipe given by my family and it just turned out absolutely the same I used to buy and love eating it.., Of course I couldn't find Tutti frutti here so substituted with all kind of dried fruits and enjoyed it.
Hope you all try it out and enjoy this lovely Indian Pasta frolla.....

How to make Pasta frolla...

VERSION I 

1/2 cup, minus 1 tbsp (105ml,100gms,31/2oz) Superfine sugar or a scant 3/4th cup (180ml,90g,3oz) of powdered sugar.

1 and 3/4 th cup (420ml, 235gms, 8 1/4 oz) unbleached All purpose flour

A pinch of salt

1 Stick (8 tbsp/4oz/115gms) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Grated zest of half a lemon

1 Large egg and 1 Large egg yolk , lightly beaten in a small bowl
VERSION II
1/2 cup of Superfine sugar
1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup Almond flour (I used Rye flour)
1/4 cup whole grain Barley flour
A pinch of salt
6 tbsp Unsalted butter cold
1 Large egg
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

METHOD:

version I

Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl, Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs, I made this in a bowl as my work surface is too small.
Make a well in the centre add beaten eggs into it ( If you want you can reserve a tsp of egg mixture for glazing purposes later on and place in the refrigerator covered well ready to use).
Add Lemon zest to the flour/butter/egg with using a fork or spatula or something comfortable you like to use to incorporate the liquid to the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
Knead lightly so the dough comes together into a ball.
Shape into a flat disk and wrap it into a plastic and place the dough in the refrigerator and chill at least an hour
version II  
The method is same as the above but a slight change is you need to first sieve all the flours together so they are well combined and continue with the above method.

Now to make the filling and Baking the dough....
I made one blind bake and the other one just like that
Heat the oven to 375 degree F/Gas Mark 5/180 degree,
Take the pasta out of the fridge unwrap it and cut 1/4 of the dough to make lattice top of the crostata refrigerate the dough while we work on the tart base.To help roll the crostata dough keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that we used to wrap it, this way we can transfer the dough to our tin directly after we roll.
But, I directly rolled on my work top lightly dusting the top of the dough and work surface, keep some flour handy to dust the dough as we go along.
If the dough is very firm press the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, when it softens start rolling into a circle.
If you have used plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface flip dough over the pan, centering it and delicately press it all around the corner well covered, peel away the plastic wrap.
I used my palm after I rolled it, then the excess dough hanging over the edges my tin was quite big and the whole dough filled then prick the dough with a fork in several places as I have done here.
Then trim the excess dough hanging out as my tin was quite big I did not have much hanging out.
Take out the reserved pasta frolla refrigerated and cut them into strips you can design them into shapes or strips  as you love to decorate it make a lattice over the surface or decorate with the cut shapes.
You can brush the surface with reserved eggs.
Put the tart in the oven and bake for 25 minutes ( depending upon your oven), Bake it until Golden hue.

 

what is Blind Baking ?
Cut a piece of the parchment paper or aluminium foil large enough to cover the bottom of the crust extending over a bit at the edges of the tin.
You can use pie weight or dry beans to blind bake I used rice, place the crostata shell in the over and bake for 20 minutes
Remove weight and bake it an extra 5 more minutes until the border is golden if the crust may rise in the middle gently push it back with the back of a fork or spoon.
Allow the pastry shell to cool then spread the filling and bake it for further few minutes until the top turns golden in colour.

 

MY FILLINGS:
Pasta Frolla with cake filling:
I did not really get the recipe for this, but I came to know they use Jaggery and cake, ( use any cake you have in hand), what I did was, I took a pan and heated  a tbsp of milk I dissolved 1/4 cup of Jaggery, once it dissolved I filtered it then back to the pan to this I added crumbled 1 cup of cake ( I had eggless chocolate cake in hand) then added one powdered Bread crumbs, few powdered biscuits and some fresh coconut and fried it a bit some they all came together well like a nice ball, then flattened it out and filled it in the tart case, then placed the strips and in the gaps I filled it with some Home made mixed fruit jam and baked it in the oven until it cooked ( well, with lot of going around I baked it for a long time so is the colour! I kind of forget until my H reminded me I have something in the oven Oops!!).
Any way it tasted great with so many things in it! :))Pasta Frolla with Mixed Fruit filling:
This I got the recipe properly My cousin said they use Tutti- Frutti, as I had no Tutti fruites (I have come to know that Tutti frutties are nothing but dried Papaya) I kind of used 20 gms of dried Pineapple, Mango, Apricots, Raisins, and lots of dried Papaya finely chopped.

Then I mixed it with grated fresh coconut, poppy seed, 1 slice of powdered Bread crumbs and 3 tbsps of granulated sugar.Mix all this together and fill this into the tart case, In this filling I halved the dough made a complete round topping to go over the case and blind baked this.
Here are two more pics of my Pasta frolla......

DIL KUSH

Here is the other one.....

DIL PASAND

Hi Daring bakers sorry for posting this so late, but I loved this challenge and really enjoyed thank you so much, brought me lot of nostalgic memories.

The post Dil Pasand / Dil Kush Indian twist to Pasta Frolla - Crostata appeared first on My Veg Fare.