Banana - Cashewnut milkshake (Sharjah shake)

Sharjah shake is a milk-shake popular in the "Ice cream and milk-shake corners" springing up all over Kerala. This is basically a milk shake with a wonderful blend of the flavors of bananas and cashewnuts. I doubt if anybody who has been to Kerala in the past decade havent had this yummy shake. I was a big fan of milk-shakes while in college. My friends and I used to frequent such a "frozen treats shop" which had a menu which pretty much sounded like this: Sharjah shake, Abudhabi shake, Dubai shake, King shake, Vanilla shake, Strawberry shake, Chocolate shake and so on....But I am pretty confident in saying that this is the most requested one among all those. It does not have anything impressive about its looks, but those who have had this before would know better! Moms can make these cool shakes to get their li'l ones to have the goodness of bananas. It is pretty filling and is a healthy breakfast option to-go!!

Recipe (Serves 2):

Whole milk - 1/2 cup, chilled

Half-n-half - 1/4 cup, chilled

Water - 1/4 cup, chilled

Ripe banana - 1 medium sized, sliced

Cashewnuts - 10, broken

Sugar - 2 tsp

Ice cubes - 4

Method:

Place all the ingredients into a blender in the listed order.

Process until smooth, frothy and well-blended.

Serve immediately.

Tips:

1. The whole milk can be substitued with low fat milk.
2. Half-n-half can be replaced with milk-water mixture. (Half-n-half gives a real creamy taste to the shake). But with the above substitutions, the shake would not be as thick and rich.
3. Adjust the amount of sugar to suit personal preference.
4. An alternate method is to freeze the milk and add it during the final blend, so as to get the gritty-ice texture for the shake.
5. Some recipes that I have come across mention the addition of cocoa powder which will probably give a darker color to the shake.