Vegan Strawberry and Coconut Milkshake
A quickie recipe for the summer, for in-between or for when you've got kids in the house: the strawberry milkshake.
Here is my version of this classic drink - a vegan strawberry and coconut milkshake. Of course the old traditional recipe with milk is just as delicious, for those of you who are not vegan or lactose-intolerant.
A small problem I've encountered several times before: you open a tin of coconut milk and it looks weird. You're not sure if it's still good to use. I'm almost certain that in most of those cases, the coconut milk is just fine, but the manufacturing process separates the fat from the coconut water, and that's what you're seeing when you open the tin. It's not immediately appealing, but doesn't have any effect on product quality. Your best bet is to shake or stir the coconut milk before you use it, to recombine the fat and the liquid.
Coconuts contain coconut water, but not coconut milk. The milk is created by mashing the coconut pulp up with water and then squeezing the mixture through a muslin cloth. This produces a milky, aromatic drink with a fat content of 15 to 25% (depending on the amount of water used).
Coconut milk is extremely rich. It doesn't just enhance Asian dishes like curries but also desserts and breakfast cereals. Our bodies use coconut milk as a quick energy boost due to its medium-chain fatty acids which can be absorbed and processed quickly. And even though coconut milk has a high fat content, it actually doesn't end up as fatty tissue deposit.
For this particular milk shake, I used a rice-coconut drink - a plant-based milk by Isola bio I found at the Merkur food store.
Deli bluem's Andrea serves her guests homemade cashew milk with their coffee, which would have worked well with my strawberry shake, but you need a pretty powerful food processor to grind the cashews. You would then pour half a litre of water over them and keep mixing until you get a milky consistency.
In the summer, I eat strawberries almost daily - in my breakfast cereal and as an in-between snack at the office. Strawberries contain a lot of water and very few calories, but a surprising amount of vitamin C - even more than any citrus fruit.
Just looking at those crimson berries makes me happy. Strawberries contain potassium, which supports our muscles and nerves, as well as minerals and various antioxidants.
Vegan Strawberry and Coconut Milkshake
5 glasses
Ingredients:
- 300g strawberries
- 300ml rice-coconut drink or coconut milk
- 2 TBSP coconut flakes
- 1 TBSP maple syrup or sugar
- some mint leaves (optional)
- Ingredients for the Cashew Milk (coconut-rice drink/coconut milk alternative):
- ½ cup cashews
- 500ml water
Preparation:
Version 1:
- Wash and de-stem the strawberries and put them in a mixing bowl (I use a Kenwood food processor but you could also use a bowl and a hand blender - I use a BRAUN one). Add the rice-coconut drink or coconut milk and mix well.
- Now add the coconut flakes and the maple syrup or sugar. I unfortunately didn't have any mint at home, but it's a great addition - just throw it into the bowl and blitz it with the food processor - it gives your milk shake a refreshing kick.
Version 2:
Make the cashew milk as instructed above, add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Notes:
Die Mengen sind nur ungefähr: wenn du es gerne süßer hast, einfach mehr Zucker oder Ahornsirup nehmen. Wenn du es gerne fruchtiger hast, nimmst du mehr Erdbeeren. Natürlich kannst du auch andere Beerensorten hinzugeben.
