Pistachio and rose are two flavours that go beautifully together; that’s why they’re featured heavily in many Turkish, Persian and Middle Eastern desserts. This pistachio rose smoothie is a healthier, low-carb recipe that provides the same creamy deliciousness of pistachio rose ice cream, without the guilt!
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
I love the flavours of pistachio and rose together. They’re a match made in heaven; if heaven consisted of ice-cream and chocolate and everything sweet and creamy (that’s my kind of heaven!). Sadly, most of the traditional recipes that include both pistachios and roses are too sugary, buttery and calorific, which means I can only eat them once in a blue moon. That’s not frequent enough for me, though. So I decided to try and come up with a recipe that combines the flavours I love so much, without containing an enormous amount of sugar. I also wanted the recipe to include nutritious stuff as well. And so this smoothie recipe was born!
On my quest to make my smoothies creamier and more milkshake-like, I discovered that adding avocado makes for the perfect texture. I also discovered that my local supermarket sells frozen avocado cubes, which I thought would be perfect since adding frozen avocado might make things even creamier and I’m too lazy to freeze my own. Avocado is great because it’s really nutritious and good for you, contains no sugar, and has a very subtle flavour that goes well with almost anything. Then the inspiration came: how about combining avocado with rose and pistachio and seeing what happens? And voila! Here we are, with what is now my ultimate favourite smoothie recipe of them all.
The only problem with this recipe is that it requires both rose petals (edible ones please, not laden with pesticides) and rose water. The rose petals took a bit of searching for. Although I found a lot of sellers on Amazon who sold food-grade dried rose petals, the reviews weren’t that great. I finally stumbled on an online shop called Organic Matters and bought some rose petals from them, which I’m very happy with. As for the rosewater, thankfully, in Canada supermarkets carry a large variety of international foods and I had no trouble finding it. If you have a rose plant at home that you cultivate without too many chemicals, feel free to use your own fresh or dried rose petals.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup frozen avocado cubes
- 1/2 cup frozen banana cubes
- 1/2 cup shelled, unsalted pistachios
- 1 tablespoon rosewater
- 1/2 cup low-fat unsweetened plain yogurt
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 cup dried organic, food-grade rose petals (you can use fresh instead)
- 2 sachets of stevia or other sweetener (optional)
Method
- Combine all the ingredients in the blender and blend on high until everything is combined and smooth
- Pour into cups and garnish with some rose petals and pistachio pieces.
- Enjoy!
Do you like the flavours of rose and pistachio together? What are your favourite dishes that combine these flavours? Let me know in the comments!
For more smoothie recipes, check out these Five Smoothie Recipes.
© 2019, L.E.. All rights reserved.