Vegan Orange Curd Swirl Yoghurt with Sunset Fruit Salad

Giving a loved one breakfast in bed is one of the nicest and simplest things you can do for someone, start their day with a wonderful surprise and let them know you're thinking of them. It's a lovely gesture for a partner, parent, best friend or even house mate. My partner's birthday was last month and I always like to make sure he starts it with breakfast in bed. But he's much keener on a lighter start to the day than a fry up, a big breakfast, waffles or even pancakes. After living together for about 3 years now, I'm glad to say I knew him well - his eyes lit up when he saw this beautiful, colourful and fresh breakfast.

That was a while ago, and I've had these photos in my file since. But it seemed like Valentines Day might be a good excuse to share it with you. I'm a firm believer in not indulging too much on Valentines Day (see my post from last year with this fun bouquet of melon hearts), we don't do anything together for it - plus I don't need any more excuses to eat lots of chocolate and drink more. But if you want to do something special and thoughtful for your partner, then this gorgeous breakfast in bed is just the ticket (without encouraging them to be unhealthy).

It's a bit of a cheat - the yoghurt isn't home made - but the delicious flavourful orange curd makes your plain vanilla yoghurt really, really special. Just use your favourite brand of vanilla yoghurt (vegan if you're vegan, of course). You can prepare the Orange Curd Swirl Yoghurt the night before so that it's ready to go in the morning.

I chose these fruits because they were beautifully seasonal, but also because of the vibrant hues that look so lovely together. Feel free to change up the fruits used - but try and stay in the orange and red spectrum because it gives the Sunset fruit salad it's name. :)

Ingredients:
1 tub your favourite vegan vanilla yoghurt
1 mango, seeded and chopped
3 apricots, seeded and chopped
1 punnet strawberries, washed and sliced in half
1 pomegranate, seeds only (you won't need a whole pomegranate, just use as many of the seeds as you like)
2 passion fruits

Vegan Orange Curd
Zest of 1 orange (hint: zest before juicing!)
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (should be about 1 naval orange)
3/4 cup coconut milk
3 heaped tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp turmeric (just for colour, if you make with blood oranges then leave this out)

To Make:
1. First make the curd: Combine all the curd ingredients in a small saucepan and whisk well to combine. The cornstarch will be lumpy at first, but if you keep whisking the lumps with go (it's ok if there are just a few remaining, they'll cook out). If you want to avoid all that whisking then I guess you could use a blender.
2. Place the small saucepan over a medium heat. Whisking constantly, heat it for about 2 minutes - or until the contents of the pan are hot but not simmering or boiling (if it starts to simmer, reduce the heat immediately!). Once hot, reduce the heat and continue stirring for another 3-5 minutes. The curd will thicken suddenly quite a lot. Once this happens remove from the heat (still stirring) and swirl through your bowls of vanilla yoghurt. Chill in the fridge while you make the fruit salad.
3. Place all the chopped fruit in a bowl and toss together. Serve with orange swirl yoghurt.

Serves 2.