Red Dragon Fruit Blushing Smoothie

I had a few tries of the white dragon fruit in the past and they did not make so much impact to me.  Until I first had a taste of dragon fruit shake in The Hidden Garden Restaurant in Ilocos Norte. It was good and its bright purple-pink color remained vivid in my memory.  So, my interest in the dragon fruit was planted in my hypothalamus.

A little bit of info-- the dragon fruit belongs to the cactus family (notice the spikes on its skin).  The flesh and its texture is similar to kiwi and pear.  The dragon fruit which is natively called "Pitaya" is abundant in Southeast Asian countries.   

The red dragon fruit variety has a magenta-colored spiked skin and red-purple flesh

I love pink. Probably in my past life I live in a magenta-painted house or maybe I owned a carmine-tinted taverna.

Nothing in pink escapes my eagle eyes. I saw this personal blender in Robinsons. It's cute. Ir's cheap and on sale and guess what, it's pink. And guess further, I bought it right there and then.

Now I need to do something with this blender, lest it just collect dust sitting at home. So, what's a blender got to do but blend. So, I need to buy something to blend.

What is the opposite of nightmares? That's what has been haunting me about that fuchsia-colored dragon fruit shake I tasted in Ilocos.

When we went to Binondo, I went gaga over the abundance of rare fruits. Fruits that you don't normally see in the supermarket. What's more, these rare fruits are cheaply priced in Binondo. I bought 1 kilo (that's 2 big pieces) of red dragon fruit at only Php180. Beat that!  Did you know that it is only on this trip to Binondo that I discovered that there is white and red varieties of dragon fruit?  I used to think that there is only white dragon fruit and that the fuchsia color of that dragon fruit shake in Ilocos was made by blending a little of the red-pigmented skin (the outer skin of the white dragon fruit has green and red hues).  Now, I'm laughing, that probably would have been bitter.

Red dragon fruits are in abundance in Binondo Chinatown

So much for my Binondo market day. Let's go to my concoction which I call, The Red Dragon Fruit Blushing Smoothie.  Aside from the health benefits, this smoothie task is to complement the color of my blender.

Very simple to do. I just asked the help of our ever reliable pantry girls to help me operate that lil pink equipment.  Obviously I brought my lil pink blender to the office.

I sliced the fruit in half then I scooped the flesh with a spoon. Then, we tossed the fruit chunks into the canister, poured approx 1/2 cup of soya milk and put some cracked ice. We covered it with the lid. Plugged the lil pink blender, pressed the ON button. And voila! It rotated with that sound that says, "hey, this machine is working."

Red dragon fruit halves

Red dragon fruit chunks ready for blending

Into the blender you go!

I love the sound of "propellers" and the fuchsia color I see 

Oh my, how gorgeous it is! It's so fuchsia. It's so healthy looking. Like it would give the cheeks of anyone who drinks it that vibrant blush. 

The Red Dragon Fruit Blushing Smoothie!

We had a hard time though uncovering the lid when it's done blending, but we succeeded the second attempt.

So, we drank the Red Dragon Fruit Blushing Smoothie in the pantry.  And would you believe I wrote this in 5 minutes?  Ideas flowed smoothly it's just like telling a story to a friend.  Maybe red dragon fruit is not only rich in antioxidants but it propels brain cells faster.

I chilled the second batch of the Red Dragon Fruit Blushing Smoothie for my snack this afternoon.  I feel lighter in my stomach.  Ah, yes.  That's because red dragon fruit is also rich in fiber that aids in digestion and weight loss.

Healthy snack

The pink is gone!

More Red Dragon Fruit Blushing Smoothie coming up! :)