Paw Paw and Tahini Smoothie

It sounds strange however, tastes great! I had a brain wave one day whilst eating some tahini with some veggie sticks and thought… I need to test drive tahini in a smoothie. So I did… and it worked!

Paw Paw & Tahini Smoothie

Submitted by: Raw Blend
Makes: 1 to 1.5L
Serves: 2-4 people

Ingredients

• Water from 1 fresh coconut
• 3/4 cup flesh from 1 fresh coconut 1 cup paw paw (without seeds)
• 1 orange (peeled)
• 1/2 cup mango (peeled)
• 1 Tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp maca powder
• Ice (optional)

Method

1. Put all the ingredients into the Vitamix 2L container in the order listed and secure the lid.
2. Select Variable 1. Turn the machine on and quickly increase the speed to 10, then to High.
3. Use tamper to effectively press the ingredients into the blades if required whilst processing.
4. Blend for 60-90 seconds or until desired consistency is reached.
5. Stop the machine and serve.

I found that you could almost use this recipe as a custard too! Just take out the mango which makes it sweeter and add in some more paw paw and coconut flesh. The mango makes it a lot sweeter that just the paw paw and the coconut flesh gives it a nice creamy texture.

Don’t want to use store bought Tahini?

Here is a super yummy and easy recipe for your own homemade tahini in the Vitamix.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sesame seeds (raw)
• 3 cups water (to soak your sesame seeds)
• 1/2 cup sesame oil or light tasting olive oil

Method

1. Soak hulled sesame seeds for 4 hours and then drain and throw away the water.
2. Rinse  and drain your sesame seeds again and leave the soaked seeds to sit for another 4 hours.
3. Spread your seeds thinly and evenly over some Dehydrating Teflex sheets and put into your dehydrator.
4. Dehydrate on high (65 degrees celsius) for around 2 hours and then bring the temperature down to 40 degrees celsius until the seeds become dry.  This could take up to 8 hours.
5. Place your sesame seeds into your Vitamix 2L wet container and add in about 1/2 cup light tasting olive oil or macadamia nut oil (or coconut oil which might alter the taste).
6. Turn your Vitamix to Variable Speed 1, then immediately turn up to speed 10 and override to High Speed. Use your tamper effectively as this is a thick mixture.
7. If you find it isn’t getting any smoother feel free to add some more oil.
8. Add a tiny dash of sea salt of you like.

Eat!