Date shake

I seem to have gone a bit date crazy recently… In my defence, as my local supermarkets just seem to stock awful 'ready to eat' dates (i.e. reconstituted with nastiness, preservatives, oil and usually tasting of nothing) when I see unadulterated dried dates or beautiful glistening fresh ones I have a tendency to go a bit wild and buy in bulk. Which has resulted in having around 2kg of dates in the cupboard, and a couple of packs of reduced to clear medjool dates that I picked up last night on the way home from work. So I decided I had to do something with them and quick. As it is Ramadan at the moment, and it is traditional to break the fast with dates and a drink, here is a recipe that combines both. 

Ingredients
500ml milk (real, soya, rice or otherwise)
10 dates*
2 tablespoons rose water or orange blossom water
Pinch ground cardamom
Flaked almonds or pistachios to decorate (optional)

1. The first step depends on how squidgy your dates are, if you’ve got some large juicy medjool dates then just whizz them up in a blender. If your dates are of the drier variety then chop them up finely and soak in some freshly boiled water for an hour or so and then puree
2. Pour the milk, date puree, rose water (or orange blossom water) and cardamom into a blender and blend
3. Serve over ice in a tall glass, decorate with some flaked almonds if you so wish and enjoy. Also delicious if made into a smoothie with yoghurt instead of milk, or with a scoop or two of ice cream to thicken things up, or some oats if you want to have a breakfast smoothie instead. The possibilities are endless...

*I used medjool dates, so soft and lucious that they practically turn into a delicious puree as soon as you look at them. Dried dates will need some soaking to soften them up, and I am not sure how well it would work with a date like deglet noor, as beautiful they are to look at, and with a delightful honeyed taste I am not sure whether they'd puree successfully, but I may be wrong...