One of the things that I like best about living in Singapore is the access to some amazing food and ingredients. The tart- sweet- creamy soursop was one of the fruits that I discovered a couple of months into our move here. This funky looking fruit that resembles a jackfruit from the outside, but custard apple on the inside, surprised me with how much it tasted like amangosteen the first time I tried it.
While we were out picking groceries and veggies on the weekend, my little one pointed out to a basket of Soursop at the market and asked what it was?
She had never tasted Soursop before, so we bought some pre-cut wedges for her to try. It was no surprise that she eyed the fragrant, white pulp with large black seeds, rather suspiciously and I could tell she was going to resist giving it a taste.
TIME TO PLAY!
In our home, we have a ground rule, never judge food on appearance alone. As this is hard to implement with a five year old, we've made it into a game. The "Blind fold tasting" game.
To play this game, we taste different foods with our eyes blindfolded / closed and guess what they are. We pair it with a simple description -- "This next bite is a fruit. It's red. Its sweet" for example.
I usually start out with a few of K's favourite foods to get things off to a positive start.
She loves 'winning' at this game and it helps her open up to tasting the new food, when she's feeling happy. So as part of this blindfold game, she finally tasted Soursop. The verdict was that she liked the sweet & sour taste but did not like that it was "slippery".
Our rather amused helper who was witnessing our little game, mentioned that Indonesians eat soursop with fresh coconut and sugar. I found her suggestion very interesting but knew that "slippery" Soursop + "slippery" tender coconut meat wasn't going to fly with K.
So I did the next best thing - made a smoothie :)
We blitzed away the de-seeded Soursop pulp with some fresh coconut milk and raw organic honey then topped it off with some Chia seeds and mint (because we like our food to look pretty!) ... And OMG it was so delicious that I wanted to share this recipe on the blog right away!
For those of you who struggle with getting their kids to try new food ... do try this "blind fold" game. The key is to keep it casual and informal. This game will not magically solve fussy-eater problems, but the goal here is to help your child learn how to keep an open mind as that is the first step to their healthy relationship with food :)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup de-seeded Soursop pulp
- 1 cup fresh Coconut milk (thin)
- 1/2 cup or more filtered Water (cold)
- 1 tbsp raw honey
- 1/2 tsp Chia seeds
- sprig of mint to garnish
To make:
1.) Place the soursop pulp, coconut milk and honey in a blender and blitz until smooth and creamy. Add cold filtered water to adjust the consistency and blitz away again.
2.) Pour into glasses. Sprinkle the chia seeds and garnish with some mint and enjoy!
