ecoTrain Medicinal Cooking Competition Week 4 - Tasty, fruity Acai Bowl

I was totally blown away by this week 4 competition. In the final contest of the medical cooking competition on @ecotrain, I tried to think of the most impressive dish I can make. Having participated in all four competitions, I don't expect this to be the last. However, things are still going, and hopefully @ecotrain will have more contests for cooking lovers in the future.

This week, I’m introducing a fruity bowl with the main ingredients from South America. It was the first dessert I had upon arrival in Australia and I completely fell in love with its vibrant colors. If you’re wondering what Acai Bowl is! It’s basically a very thick, ice-creamy smoothie with topping added in a bowl, and one of the main ingredients is the Acai Berries. It's the dark berries native to the rainforests of Central and South America, harvested from the Acai Palm Tree. With high antioxidant content, acai berries have many potential health benefits. These plants contain powerful plant compounds that act as antioxidants, which could benefit your brain, heart, and general health. Additionally, they contain healthy fats and fiber, which make them a generally healthy food.

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The other advantage of the Acai Bowl over the Acai Smoothie by itself is that you can add any topping to the Acai Bowl (fruits, nuts, oatmeal,...) that you like. Personally, I recommend going with fresh fruit. This is the most exciting part. Just sorted out any fresh fruit left in my fridge to make a perfect Acai Bowl for the hot sunny day. I would say that you can easily find Acai Bowl at any cafe’ in Australia, especially the stores near the beach. After a long hot day swimming or playing sports on the beach, there is nothing better than a bowl of chilled, fresh smoothie.

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Ingredients for the smoothie

100gr unsweeten acai berries: The acai is available in either powder or frozen form. I highly recommend using the frozen acai as the flavor doesn’t change much compared to the fresh one

50gr frozen berries: mix berries with berries, it’s just a simple but great recipe

A half of banana: to make an icy acai bowl, you should put the banana in the freezer for 2 hours before blending it in the mixture. Banana is the key ingredient which makes the texture more creamy and sweet

50ml coconut water: some people use coconut milk instead but personally I prefer coconut water. The main purpose of adding some liquid is to get things moving along.

Toppings

I simply found any fruits left in my fridge and layered them on top. You can use any type of fruit you prefer, mangoes, kiwis, blueberries, grapes, nectarine...whatever is in season.

Here are the toppings that I chose in my recipe:

• Banana
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pineapple
• Passion fruit
• Granola
• Mixed nuts

How to make

Blend: Put all of the ingredients of the smoothie in a blender and mix them well on low speed

Assemble: Pour the acai smoothie in the bowl and simply arrange all the toppings on top of it, free style as you like. Believe me, this is a very fun part. If you have a kid, ask them to join a decoration contest. It must be so fun!!!

Acai has a very unique taste. I feel like the more I eat it the more I want it. It’s kind of addictive in a way! In the hot summer days, I usually just have an Acai Bowl for dinner. It's a healthy meal with enough nutrition and it tastes great. I hope you enjoy this recipe, if you are also a fan of Acai Bowl, please leave a comment below, I would like to learn your recipe as well.