Orange Ambrosia

At the dawn of New Year 2013, I made a resolution that I will only eat healthy food. It was at this time that I started searching for healthy dessert options and stumbled upon this recipe of Orange Ambrosia. It was shared by my gym instructor, but I made some variations in it to make it more delightful. Ambrosia is a variation on the traditional fruit salad. In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is the food or drink of the Greek gods, often depicted as conferring immortality upon whoever consumed it. I can’t promise you immortality with this recipe but I can give you my word that it does taste heavenly :-)

Although the name references the food of Greek gods, Ambrosia is widely believed to be an American dish originated in the early 19th century. Even though I gave in to the temptation of Pizza and Cake after one month of following the healthy food diet, nevertheless, Orange Ambrosia became a staple at my home.

To make Orange Ambrosia you will need:-

Ingredients :

Brown Sugar – 2 tbsp (you can use regular sugar as well)
Oranges- 2 medium Sized
Sponge Cake – 4 slices( One slice per serving)
Orange Marmalade – 4 tbsp
Vanilla flavored Yogurt – 1 cup (You can use any flavor or even plain)
Orange Juice – 1 cup
Banana- 2 medium sized banana, sliced
Honey – 1 tbsp
Strawberry – for garnish
(Serves 4)

Steps:

Peel the oranges and cut them into sections. Make sure you remove all the white pith from the orange. That pith is bitter and you don’t want it in your sweet Ambrosia.
The next step is to make caramelized oranges. For this you have to heat some brown sugar in a pan and caramelize it. You can also use regular sugar in this recipe.
Make sure that the heat is not too high. Melt the sugar stirring continuously so that the sugar does not burn. The caramel will turn bitter if the sugar burns. You can add some orange juice (approx 2 tbsp) if you feel that the caramel is too thick and sticking at the bottom.
Now add the peeled orange sections into the caramelized sugar and coat it on all sides. Remove from heat and set aside.
Now take a sponge cake slice (you can even use store bought fruit cake slice) and cut it into 2 equal sections. Spread Orange Marmalade on both the slices.
Now in your serving glass (or bowl) first place one of the orange marmalade covered cake slice.
Add honey to your flavored yogurt and mix well.
Add the honey –yogurt mixture on the sponge cake slices.
Now add a layer of caramelized oranges.
Add some banana slices.
Now add the other slice of Marmalade covered sponge cake
Pour some orange juice and top it with honey yogurt mixture
Refrigerate for 2-3 hours, garnish with strawberry and serve.