Fakhfakhina, Mother of Fruit Salads

It’s a drink or a fruit salad or perhaps an ice cream float. No wait, it’s all these and more , in short heaven in a glass. Fakhfakhina is a Middle Eastern fruit salad/cocktail (non alcoholic) of Egyptian origin, where it’s consumed as street food and a quick fix to cool off under the scorching sun. Since we are not far behind in South Asia when it comes to surviving the hot weather, I think it’s an equally comforting summer coolant for us here and wherever in the world the sun is shining mercilessly.

It’s a spectacular layering of the most colourful and fresh seasonal fruit, dried fruits, fresh fruit juices (mostly mango) and at the top scoops of ice cream. No wonder they call it the ‘Mother of all fruit Salads’! You can choose from a variety of fresh fruits and juices and add toppings of your choice too, like toasted crushed peanuts, chopped dates or honey. It tastes best when made with fresh juice. My favourite flavours are mango, pomegranate and apple.

If you are using fresh fruit juice and just a single scoop of ice cream, it actually becomes quite a low calorie snack option. A single scoop of regular vanilla ice cream has 137 calories, 3-4 cup of fresh fruit juice has around 60 to 80 calories and 1 cup of assorted fruit has almost 80 calories. Though this is not something I would recommend if you are trying to cut sugar from your diet. Otherwise the salad cocktail is rich in fibre and vitamins.

It’s so popular in the Arabian region that they have even made fakhfakhina flavoured tobacco for hookah. Fortunately, I’m not a fan of smoking of any kind, so I’m more than happy to treat my taste buds and replenish my drained energy with the glorious Fakhfakhina drink.

1 mango
1 Apple
1 peach
2-3 apricots
1/2 cup cherries
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1+1/2 cup any fresh juice, chilled
2 scoops of vanilla ice cream

Choose tall glasses to serve this salad cocktail.

Cut mango, peach and apricots in big chunks. Remove stones from cherries. Coarsely crush peanuts.

Divide the ingredients between two glasses. Start building the salad from the bottom upwards.

First add peanuts at the bottom then fruit chunks. Pour the juice over the fruits.

Top with ice cream scoops. Sprinkle any nuts (optional) or decorate with a fruit of your choice.

Serve with a drinking straw and cocktail spoon ( the long spoon).

Strawberries and pineapple taste great in this salad too.

Serves 2