Batida de coco

I feel that not a lot beats watching football with a great little snack by your side. However a special drink makes all the difference, it helps the most tense of hearts to relax which is no easy feat during the World Cup, these matches are tense! So this week our World Cup recipe is one that is very popular in Brazil, but not as well known abroad: Batida de coco, or coconut smoothie. Don’t know if smoothie is the right word as it contains a little booze, batida would be translated as beat or blitzed.

I am pretty sure you’ve all heard that Brazil has some spectacular natural treasures, and when it comes to fruit there are just too many to name it, good news is I start to see them more and more in exotic fruit markets, and that is the case with the main ingredient today: fresh coconut. In the last few years fresh coconut, together with its water, has become the new super food for celebrities, but before that many only ever heard of shredded coconut and coconut milk. So if you ever walk by a market with exotic fruits try drinking the water from the fruit and eating the flesh, fresh. Nothing like the artificial tasting, tetra pak-ed coconut water you find in the supermarket, it has nothing on the real, fresh stuff.

I think this drink is a hit with the girls because the alcohol is light and it’s nice and sweet. The ingredients are easy enough to find so start filling those ice cube trays and get blitzing!

Batida de coco

50ml coconut milk

50ml sweetened condensed milk

50ml cachaça or vodka

20ml water

Fresh shreded coconut, to garnish

Ice cubes

Method

1. Mix in a blender or in a cocktail shaker the coconut milk, condensed milk, the alcohol and water. Chill in the fridge

2. Smear a little of the leftover condensed milk from the tin on the rims of the glasses you’re going to use. Add the shredded coconut on a plate and twist the rims on the coconut.

3. Add ice to the glasses and add the blended mix.