‘Atom’ smoothie

The streets of Turkey’s food-obsessed town of Gaziantep are dotted with fresh juice shops, where you can get anything from a simple nar (pomegranate) to the famous ‘atom’.

Credit: Nicolas Petit

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Named for the energy it gives, atoms are churned out by the minute. All throughout Turkey and Greece, you will find jars of dark honey stuffed with pistachios, almonds or hazelnuts known as balli çere; what makes this smoothie so special is this spoonful of it they throw in. It is not the lightest – in fact, it could probably replace a light lunch or breakfast – but I promise you it will quickly find a place among your favourite smoothies.

Ingredients

• 1 banana, peeled, chopped
• 5 strawberries, hulled
• 2 kiwifruit, peeled, chopped
• ¼ honeydew melon, skin and seeds removed, chopped
• 435 ml (1¾ cups) ice-cold milk (or almond/rice/soy milk, just adjust the honey for sweetness)
• 1 tbsp walnuts, plus extra crushed (optional), to serve
• 1 tbsp pine nuts, plus extra crushed (optional), to serve
• 1 tbsp pistachios, plus extra crushed (optional), to serve
• 1 tbsp honey
• a drizzle of şalgam syrup (see Note) or grenadine

Instructions

Throw it all into a blender and buzz until smooth, then pour into glasses and top with extra crushed nuts, if desired.

Note

• Şalgam literally means turnip, but salgam syrup actually made from pickled red carrots. Finding it may be difficult, but it can easily be replaced by grenadine if you want to keep the colour, and the smoothie is just as good without. 

• If you want to make your own balli çerez, just fill a sterilised jar with your favourite unsalted nuts and cover with your favourite honey. Natural runny honey would work better than the creamed kind here.

Recipe from The Funnelogy Channel by Gabriella Zanzanaini and Nicolas Petit, with photographs by Nicolas Petit.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Named for the energy it gives, atoms are churned out by the minute. All throughout Turkey and Greece, you will find jars of dark honey stuffed with pistachios, almonds or hazelnuts known as balli çere; what makes this smoothie so special is this spoonful of it they throw in. It is not the lightest – in fact, it could probably replace a light lunch or breakfast – but I promise you it will quickly find a place among your favourite smoothies.