Spiced Buttermilk

Every Indian household has a different way of making buttermilk. Thick yogurt used to be luxury in olden days whereas buttermilk is what the lower middle class and poor drank/ate. If I think about it now, it was a smarter way of living. Less calories in buttermilk and it hydrates the body too. I usually make this during summer and we have it instead of drinking coffee or tea since it is so hot. It is not a recipe to call it one. Just a thinned yogurt to which some flavoring has been added. For fun, these can be frozen as popsicles. In that case, reduce the water by half.

One Year Back - Maddur Vada/Deep fried onion crackers
Two Years Back - Vegan Soudough Applesauce Pancakes
Three Years Back - Roasted Red Bell pepper Soup
Ingredients: 
Yogurt - 4 cups (I used homemade using 2 % milk - See Notes)
Water - 2 - 3 cups (depending on how thin you like the buttermilk)
Ginger - 1" piece grated (remove fibres)
Cilantro - 4 TBSP (You could use part mint too)
Green chilli - 1 small (It just adds a flavor, not the heat)
Salt - to taste
Ice cubes to serve

 

Method:
In a mortar and pestle, take ginger, green chilli and cilantro and make a paste. Add the paste to a pitcher. Add yogurt and salt and beat vigorously. Add water cup after cup beating till you get the desired consistency. Adjust the salt if needed. Chill and serve with ice cubes.

Notes:
This is best made with home made yogurt. If you want to use the store bought yogurt, you might need more water. Preferably use greek yogurt. You can add a clove of garlic to change the taste.
Enjoy.

Pin It

Mango Peach Drink

Why am I posting this? I have no clue. As an attempt to get back to regular blogging I can say. I have been really busy with lot of other things and cooking and baking has been to the basic needs of the family. So, even when it is not even a recipe, I am posting it in case it inspires someone to mix in these fruits. Combination of peaches and mango is very nice.

One Year Back - Chocolate Almond Gelato
Two Years Back - Home made rice milk
Three Years Back - Vegan Fondant
Ingredients: 
Mango - 4 ripe mangoes pitted, peeled and chopped into large chunks
Peaches - 3 ripe pitted. (I did not remove the skin. You could if you want to)
Water - 3 cups
Milk - 1 - 2 cups (as per how thick you want)
Sugar - 1 cup or to taste (depends on how sweet mangoes are)

Method:
Take the peaches and mango in a blender jar and churn till smooth. Add sugar, and run it for few more seconds. Pour into the pitcher and top it with milk and water and mix well. Serve chilled. 

Enjoy.

Pin It

Pink Lemonade (All natural)

If you have girls, you would understand how obsessed they are about pink and purple. I still don't get it, but that is how my kids are. If we go grocery shopping, my younger one wants almost every thing in there. But since I tell her that we make better and healthy stuff at home, she has stopped asking for food items except for few things. Last week, when we went grocery shopping, she saw bottles of pink lemonade and instead of asking me to buy it for her, she asked if I could make it at home. I said yes and bought a bag of lemons. I was thinking of just dropping a drop or two of red food coloring to make it pink. Then I saw cherries next to it and thought of using them instead to color. Here comes delicious pink lemonade that is home made and all natural. (If you are one of those who don't consider sugar as natural, then it is not for you.)

One Year Back - Peanut and Sesame Chutney Powder
Two Years Back - Vegan Banana Bread
Three Years Back - Challah, Car Cake
Ingredients: 
Lemon Juice - freshly squeezed 1 cup (I used about 6 lemons)
Sugar - 1 cup (you can use 3/4 cup if you don't want it sweet)
Water - 3 cups divided use
Cherries - 12 - 15 stalk removed (no need to pit them)

Method:
Place one cup of water with sugar in a saucepan and keep it on heat. Drop the cherries in it. Stir to prevent sugar from sticking to the bottom. When it starts simmering, take a potato masher and gently mash the cherries. It will start oozing out the color. Let it come to a rolling boil and remove from heat. At this point, if you have saved the lemon rind after squeezing the juice, you can drop a few of them into the sugar syrup to enhance the flavor.
In a pitcher, mix lemon juice and the remaining 2 cups of water. When the sugar syrup comes to room temperature, strain the cherries and sugar mixture and add it to the pitcher. Gently press the pulp with the back of the spoon to get all the juices out. Discard the pit and skin. Chill and serve.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

Have you ever thought about the way some people buy stuff? I was reading somewhere a story of a frugal lady. She will not buy anything unless it is on sale or she has a coupon to buy it. I was like "How can you buy only the stuff that is on sale or using coupon and survive?". I cannot understand that but, there are some things I will not buy unless it is for a good price or I have a coupon. One of them are frozen fruit. I prefer fresh fruit all the time except when the fruits are seasonal. Example berries. I do buy a lot of fresh berries and freeze them myself but this time, I got them for very less - a huge bag of wild blueberries. But the problem is I cannot use berries in baking. My younger one refuses to eat them. So, to use up before the fresh blueberries start pouring in, here is a simple smoothie recipe. Good thing about using frozen berries is you can skip the ice altogether.

One Year Back -
Two Years Back -
Three Years Back -
Ingredients: 
Blueberries - 1 cup (frozen works better)
Banana - 1 medium to large
Milk - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - to taste ( I used 3 TBSP)

Method:
Churn everything in a blender or mixie. Serve immediately or keep it chilled to serve later.

This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali,  

Enjoy.

Pin It

Frappuccino Mocha (Not the frothy kind)

I love Coffee. And I do like to drink the expensive Starbucks occasionally. Many years ago, I tried their bottled Frappuccino Mocha and fell in love with the taste. They are quite expensive though. Recently, I bought a whole case and when I saw that everyone at home was consuming it with great speed, I thought of making my own. Here is the result of that. This is not the same that you get in the cafe where they have churned the coffee with milk and ice to make it frothy. This is almost like coffee, just chilled and with lots and lots of milk, sugar and some chocolate.

One Year Back - Vegan Almond Oat Cookies
Two Years Back - Tomatillo rice spiced with Coconut and mustard
Three Years Back -  Whole Wheat and Quinoa Sourdough Bread, Bread Baking Basics
Ingredients: 
Freshly Brewed coffee - 1 cup (Mine is very strong. You might have to increase the milk if yours is stronger)
Milk - 4 cups (Start with 3 and add more depending on the strength of your coffee)
Sugar - 1/4 - 1/2 cup (I use 1/2 cup)
Chocolate Syrup - 1/4 cup

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together till all the sugar dissolves. Chill and stir very well before serving. Chocolate syrup settles down in the bottom and stirring/shaking is a must.

This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali,  
Enjoy.

Pin It

Super Thick Hot Chocolate (Anne Burrel's recipe)

I had decided I would not post any baking recipe for a while after Bake-A-Thon. And at the same time, I had decided not to post any rich, dessert kind of recipe which has good amount of sugar in it too. But, this is something I made when we had a snow storm and it was so good that my kids were asking me to make again. I thought why not share it since it is pretty easy for anyone to make it. I warn you though; after drinking this hot cocoa, you will probably never like Swiss Miss or Nesquick hot cocoa mixes where you just add it to milk or water and heat. This is worth making particularly if you are a chocolate lover.

 One Year Back - Carrot Kurma
Two Years Back - Cranberry Thokku
Three Years Back - Thengol
Adapted from foodnetwork.
Ingredients: Makes 4 generous servings or 6 moderate servings.
Evaporated Milk - 1 can (12 Oz)
Milk - 2 1/2 cups (See Notes)
Natural cocoa - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 - 1/2 cup (I used 1/4 cup initially and it wasn't sweet enough. I used 1/2 cup)
Corn starch - 2 TBSP
Vanilla - 1 tsp

Method:
In a saucepan, combine the milk, evaporated milk and heat up over a low heat.
Combine the cocoa powder, sugar, cornstarch  in another bowl.  When the milk has warmed up, take few spoonfuls of it and combine it with the cocoa and sugar mixture. Mix it well so that there are no lumps. Use more milk if needed and transfer back into the saucepan. Whisking the contents of the saucepan frequently, bring it to a boil. When it starts boiling, turn off the heat and add vanilla. The mixture should be rich and thick and it gets more thick as it cools. This is so thick that you can add a spoon to the mug while serving, but delicious. If you feel it is too thick for your liking, you can only use 1 TBSP of corn starch.

Notes:
The original recipe calls for 1 cup of evaporated milk and 3 cups of whole milk or 2 % milk. Since all I had was 1 % milk, I increased the evaporated milk by 1/2 cup (using the whole can) and reducing the milk to 2 1/2 cups.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Orange Creamsicles

Ice cream was something special when I was a kid. We didn't have refrigerator or freezer and the only time we would get to eat ice cream was when we went out to ice cream shops. And the other time was when the ice cream cart would come in front of the house. I still remember one flavor vividly. It used to be a creamy popsicle which would melt in the mouth just like ice cream. And it was flavored with orange and looked bright orange in color. I do not know how they make it, but I tried to mimic it with two ingredients and I should say it was awesome.

One Year Back - Salsa Vinaigrette
Two Years Back - Zucchini Chutney
Ingredients: 
Cool Whip - 16 Oz tub ( I used low fat, you could use fat free instead)
Frozen Orange juice concentrate - 1 can thawed in the refrigerator (12 Oz)

Method:
Thaw the cool whip in the refrigerator. Whisk in the orange juice concentrate to it gently. Pour into popsicle molds or 3 Oz cups and freeze till firm. It doesn't get very firm and is more like ice cream. It takes longer to set than a typical popsicle.

Notes:
You could use plain orange juice instead and use heavy cream (2 cups) whipped instead. In that case, you will have to add sugar to taste. Frozen orange juice concentrate is very sweet, so didn't have to add any. It was perfect.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Peach Berry Smoothie

I try to buy seasonal fruits whenever I go grocery shopping. But, I am the one who ends up eating most of those fruits. One kid of mine thinks the fruits are only banana, pear, apple, orange and grapes. The other one adds strawberries, melons to it but that's about it. Peaches, nectarines are not in the list for anyone at home except me. Even when I know this, I cannot resist buying juicy peaches or plump berries. So, to make others eat this fruit, I made this smoothie. Very delicious and refreshing to beat the heat.

One Year Back - Beetroot Brownie Bites
Two Years Back - Skillet baked whole wheat pita, Cantaloupe Granita
Ingredients: 
Peaches - 4 large ripe but not mushy, pitted.
Blue berries - 1 cup
Strawberries - 6 - 8 hulled
Ice cubes - 6 - 8
Sugar - 1/3 cup or per taste
Orange juice - 1 cup (optional, add more ice if omitting this or use water)

Method:
Take all the ingredients in a blender except the orange juice. Blend till smooth. Add the orange juice and blend for the final time. Serve cold.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Tropical Smoothie

Happy Friday everyone. Here is a quick and cool post for you all. When it is hot, instead of coffee/tea, you need something cool other than water. That is the reason for many drinks recipes off lately. This is inspired from the recipe of mango papaya smoothie from the book 'Cool Smoothies'. But since I didn't have papaya, this became a totally different recipe.

One Year Back - Watermelon Limeade, Lime and Chilli Pickle
Two Years Back - Basic White Bread
Ingredients: 
Sweetened condensed mango pulp - 1 can of 30 Oz (You can find these in Indian grocery stores) - See Notes
Crushed pineapple or chunked pineapple in its own juice - 1 can of 20 Oz undrained
Banana - 1 large or 2 small peeled and chunked
Coconut milk - 1 cup (Thin part of it)
Sugar - to taste Optional (I had to use 1/4 cup since it was not very sweet)
Water - 2 - 3 cups (See Notes)

Method:
Place the coconut milk can in the refrigerator without opening for an hour or so. When you open it, thick cream will be on the top. Scrape it and use it for something else. The bottom portion is thinner and use that for this recipe. Empty the pine apple can into the blender. Add banana and blend till smooth. Add coconut milk and blend further. Transfer it to the pitcher. To the pitcher, add condensed mango pulp, water and stir. Taste and add sugar if needed. Chill and serve.

Notes:
If you use just 2 cups of water, you get a thicker smoothie. I wanted it to be a bit thin, so used 3 cups. If you are using fresh mango, use 2 cups of chunks of it either fresh or frozen. Blend it with the remaining fruits. You will have to add about 1 cup of sugar to the recipe in that case.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Lemon Barley Water

I am pretty flexible when it comes to food as long as it tastes good and is vegetarian. But, I am pretty rigid when it comes to certain things used as substitutes. Best example is sugar. I would rather eat/drink stuff without sugar than put splenda or sweet N Low or any other sweetener for that matter. Without going into a debate about those, let's just say it is my preference not to use them. I was looking for some kind of drink to make that didn't have too much sugar in it and is a very good thirst quencher. I found this Lemon barley water in the book 'Cool Smoothies' by Elsa Petersen-Schepelern. When I looked up on the internet to see what this drink is, I read that it was in fact a soft drink served in England. It had such less amount of sugar in it, I had to try and guess what, I love it. Instead of drinking plain old water all the time, I think I will make this in big batches and drink this summer. Another variation given is using apples that I have to try soon.

One Year Back - Homemade Rice Milk
Two Years Back - Vegan Fondant
Ingredients: 
Barley - 4 TBSP or 1/4 cup (I used regular hulled barley, but you can use pearl barley also)
Boiling water - 12 cups
Lemon - 2 juice and peels
Sugar - 2 - 3 TBSP or to taste

Method:
Rinse the barley. Take it in a sauce pan. Pour the boiling water on the barley and set it on low flame to simmer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the lemon taking care not to get the white part. Or you could zest it. Place the peels and lemon juice in a large pitcher. When 30 minutes is over, turn off the heat and strain the barley water to the pitcher. Add sugar and stir and refrigerate. When chilled, serve over ice.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Strawberry Coconut Milk Shake

For some reason, coconut goes very well with many things. It is good with spices, it is good with mango, pineapple, chocolate and nuts and a lot of other things. I had bought a 2 lb box of strawberries. This is my kid's favorite fruit. But, for some reason, she didn't want to eat any. I used up the whole box to make this milk shake for a gathering we had at home. It was a big hit. I am sure you all have tried strawberry milk shake but when you pair it with coconut milk, it adds a delicate taste that is just awesome.

One Year Back - Easiest Vanilla Cake, Cream Cheese Brioche
Two Years Back - Sweet Ricotta Loaf, Eggless Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
Ingredients: 
Strawberries - 2 Pounds (about 50 - 60 strawberries)
Coconut milk - One 15.5 Oz can (I used light coconut milk)
Milk - 4 cups (I used 2 % but fat free would be fine too)
Sugar - 1 - 1/4 cup (Vary as per taste and sweetness of strawberries)
Water - 1 1/2 - 2 cups (Or more milk)
Ice to serve

Method:
Hull the strawberries and chop them very roughly. Take strawberries in a blender or food processor and add sugar and process till smooth. Slowly add coconut milk and blend. Pour half of it into the pitcher. Add half the milk to the processor/blender and blend again and pour it back to the pitcher. Add the remaining milk and water to the pitcher and stir to combine. Top with lot of ice and serve.

Notes:
You could use all milk and not use any water. I thought it would be too heavy that way. It was a big hit at the party. You could also skip coconut milk and just use milk. But, coconut milk acts like a secret ingredient and enhances the flavor here. I used only 1 cup sugar in the beginning but felt it was bland. Maybe because the strawberries I used were not that sweet.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Strawberry Pineapple Crush

It is so hot nowadays that I don't feel like turning on the oven at all. Every summer, I decide to get another oven to keep in the basement where it is cool and bake there. But, somehow it never gets done and I end up not baking too much or baking in the early hours of the day. Since it is so hot, I have been making too many drinks. Limeade, lemonade, mango juice, you name it. I had some strawberries to finish and this drink was made. Slightly adapted from the book 'Cool Smoothies' by Elsa Petersen-Schepelern.

One Year Back - Oats and Cashew Milk
Two Years Back - Kesar Nankatai and Molasses Oat bran Cookies
Ingredients:
Pineapple chunks - 2 cups (1 can of 20 Oz pineapple chunks in its own juice drained)
Pineapple juice or Orange juice - 1 cup (I used the drained pineapple juice from the can)
Strawberries - 10 - 15 hulled and coarsely chopped (I used 10 since they were really big)
Sugar - 2 TBSP or to taste
Ice to serve

Method:
Blend all the ingredients except ice until smooth. Pour into glasses and top it with ice and serve.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Badam Milk / Sweetened Almond milk

We visited family this memorial day weekend. My in-laws who returned from India recently had brought Chiroti from Bangalore. Chiroti is a dessert that is nothing but flaky pastry deep fried and served with almond milk. You can say it is simply puff pastry in the shape of a circle that is deep fried. This is something that is served in weddings. He had brought a pack of MTR instant almond milk mix to go with it. All you have to do is heat milk and add that powder to it. I was mixing up that almond milk to serve the dessert. When I tasted it, it tasted just sugary no flavor of almonds at all. When I checked the ingredients, the packet said it has 82% sugar and about 8% almond; I doubt this number very much - there was absolutely no flavor of almond in it. So, here is to make almond milk drink or Badam Kheer or Badam milk from scratch which tastes like almond and not too sweet at all. If you have a sweet tooth, you can always add more sugar.

One Year Back - Quinoa with Dill, Muffin Vs. Cupcake
Two Years Back - Penne with minty almond sauce
Ingredients: 
Raw Whole almonds - 1 1/2 cups (You could use already blanched almonds to skip the blanching process)
Milk - 8 cups
Water - 4 cups plus more for blanching process (See Notes)
Cardamom - 10 - 12
Sugar - 3/4 cup - 1 cup as per taste (I used 1 cup)
Saffron strands - few

 

Method:
In a skillet, lightly toast the almonds. After they are toasted, add enough water to cover the almonds to the same skillet. Bring it to a boil. Let the water boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and using a slotted spoon, remove the almonds and put them in a bowl of cold water. After about 5 minutes, you should be able to peel the skin away very easily. Remove the skin and take all the almonds in a blender. Add the cardamom pods to that and blend adding little by little water (part of the 4 cups) to a smooth paste.
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the milk. When it has heated up, add the ground almond paste, saffron strands and stir. Add the remaining water from the 4 cups and stir frequently to prevent burning. When it starts boiling, add sugar and mix. Let it come to a full boil with lot of foam on the top. Turn off the heat. Serve hot, warm or chill in the refrigerator and serve.

Notes:
You could use all milk and not use water at all. I did not want it to be so heavy with almonds and all of the milk. If you use the already blanched almonds, lightly toast them and grind with milk or water and proceed.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Mango Creamsicles / Easy mango kulfi

Anything mango is welcome in my house. Be it mango lassi, mango milk shake, mango mousse, mango ice cream, mango sherbet and this mango kulfi. I had promised my kids that I would make mango ice cream for them, but ran out of time. So, this was a quick fix to keep up my promise. It is delicious, but not very sweet. Add sugar if you have sweet tooth.

One Year Back - Vegan Banana Bread, No Knead Coconut and Chillies flat bread
Two Years Back - Methi Malai Mutter
Ingredients: 
Sweetened mango pulp - 3 cups
Cream cheese - One 8 Oz block softened (I used low fat but you could use fat free)
Milk - 1 cup (I used 2 % )
Optional - Sugar about 1/4 cup. This is not very sweet kulfi unless you add sugar.
Optional - cardamom powder to flavor the creamsicles

Method:
With an electric mixer (hand mixer is just fine here), blend the cream cheese till no lumps remain (My cream cheese hadn't softened till mushy. You can see small specks of it). Slowly add sweetened mango pulp and continue to beat till everything is mixed well. Add milk and stir. Freeze in popsicle molds or 3 Oz cups. I filled less in a 5 Oz cup since I was out of 3 Oz cups and I don't have so many popsicle molds. You will get about 14 - 18 popsicles out of this depending on how big the molds are.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Chai tea Masala (Spice mix for tea)

There are many kinds of recipes. Some easy, some very difficult and some very easy but worth noting it down.This is one such recipe. Adapted from the recipe of a very good friend's mother who is no more. If you see how easy and good this one is, you will never pay money to buy the masala tea bags or the masala mix for the tea. Trust me when I tell you this, if you brew loose tea and use this spice mix, sweeten with sugar and add enough milk to it, you will not miss the taste of expensive 'Chai Latte' from any cafe. This one is more authentic and if you feel some spice is overpowering to your taste buds, you can always alter them to suit your taste.

One year back - No Knead Whole Wheat Bread
Two years back - Green Mango Rice, Stuffed Potato Bun
Ingredients: (Makes about scant 1/2 cup)
Powdered Cinnamon - 2 TBSP
Dried powdered Ginger - 2 TBSP
Powdered Cloves - 1 TBSP
Powdered Cardamom - 2 TBSP

Powdered Black Pepper - 1/2 TBSP (Yes, it adds lot of flavor)

Method:
Mix all the ingredients well and keep in an airtight container.Use within 3 months. To make tea, brew tea (I prefer loose tea and not the tea bags) and add a generous pinch for each cup of tea. Sweeten and add milk as required. I usually boil one cup of water add 1 tsp or a little more loose tea, boil, add a generous pinch of this masala powder, 1 1/2 tsp sugar, about 3 - 4 TBSP of milk per cup of tea. Remember that when you boil the water in a saucepan, some get evaporated. Strain and serve. If you want to enhance the ginger flavor, you could add about 1/2 tsp of grated fresh ginger to the water while boiling.

Enjoy.

Pin It

Gasagase Payasa / Poppy seeds drink

I learned how to cook like most of other women in India. By watching their moms, grand mothers and aunts. I learned by watching my mother. She never measured anything in day to day cooking. Needless to say, I did the same and still do. When I blog about some of these dishes, I have to literally measure and keep a note of it. This is not only good but is immensely helpful in some situations.

Why am I telling you all these? I have to tell you something to make you understand the reason. Two years back, we all went to my brother-in-law's place for a ceremony. Since I was the 'main cook' and to make my life easier, I had done some prep work before I went. You see, I am not very comfortable in some one's kitchen that too when I was cooking for 45 people. I had made the mix for this dish. All I had to do was boil it with water, coconut milk and add sugar. When I finished making it, since I had not measured anything, I tasted it and added more sugar to adjust the taste. Someone, who was watching me like a 'hawk' (let's see if anyone can guess who it was) told me that it needs to be boiled again since I added sugar. I just said I would and never did it since I knew that it was not needed for the sugar to dissolve since the whole mixture was still very hot. I wish I had posted this before that. I could've made it without tasting for sugar.

One year back -  Craisins and White chocolate Biscotti, Coconut Jaggery Rice, Kara Sev
Ingredients:
Rice - 1 TBSP
Poppy seeds/Gasagase/Khuskhus - 1/2 cup
Coconut - Grated about 2 cups (Or use 1 can of coconut milk)
Cashews or blanched almonds - 1/4 cup (optional I use it to thicken the drink. You will need less liquid and sugar if you omit this - See Notes)
Cardamom - 6 - 7
Nutmeg - a pinch
Sugar - 1 1/2  - 2 cups depending on how sweet you like the drink (I used 1 1/2 cups)
Milk - 1 1/2 cups (See Notes)
Water - 6 cups

Method:
Rinse and soak rice. Add poppy seeds to it and let it soak for an hour at least. Some people roast the poppy seeds but it gives a smoky flavor. I prefer to keep it raw. Grind the rice and poppy seeds with cardamom, nutmeg, coconut, cashews or blanched almonds (if using). Poppy seeds are stubborn. They won't grind so easily. Use the water already measured little by little and grind till smooth. Transfer the ground paste to a big pot. Dilute the paste with remaining water. Turn on the heat and let it come to a full boil stirring occasionally. The foam will look curdled, but don't worry about it. When it is boiling all over, add sugar, milk and mix well. Let it come to a full boil again. Adjust sugar if needed and turn off the heat. Serve warm, cold or even hot on a winter night.

Notes:
Reduce the water by 1 - 1 1/2 cups if omitting nuts. If you omitted coconut and used coconut milk, reduce the water by the same quantity. Some people add more milk and less water, but since coconut and nuts are quite rich, I tend to reduce the milk. Go with what you like the best.

Enjoy.


Pin It

Black & White Wednesday - South Indian Buttermilk

This picture is my entry to Susan's Black & White Wednesday - Culinary photos.

 

South Indian Buttermilk

There is not much to write about the recipe. This is a great summer cooler made by churning the home made yogurt with lot of water to thin it down. Add salt to taste, some finely grated ginger and chopped cilantro or mint. If using mint, use less. Garlic lovers can mince a pod of garlic and add it too.

Happy Wednesday everyone. Pin It

Watermelon Limeade

Maybe it doesn't happen to you. Ever.

Maybe you are an expert in picking sweet, good watermelon.

I am not. So, it happens to me once in a while that I pick up a watermelon which is not sweet at all. Just blaaaaaaaaaaaaand.

This is not a recipe either. I made this and was trying to practice couple of settings on my camera. You can call it a photography exercise if you may. Trust me when I say I don't do this often even though I should. So, here is something to cool you in this heat visually.


One Year back - Basic White Bread
Ingredients:
Watermelon - chopped into cubes and measured - 9 cups
Water - 2 cups
Sugar - 1/2 - 1 cup (as per taste and as per the sweetness in the watermelon)
Limes - 4 juiced
Ice - optional


Method:
Blend the watermelon cubes in the blender. Add sugar, lime juice, water, stir. Serve with ice if desired.

Cool thing to do with this: Freeze in popsicle molds. 

Enjoy. Pin It

Almond Mousse

Our brains work overtime. Have you ever thought about that? At least, I do believe mine does. It never stops working except when my kids are driving me crazy. Duh...
I give the credit to the brain for coming up with different recipes. Not just mine, all the recipes came to existence because of this wonderful thing.
For example, we have mango lassi, mango kulfi, mango mousse, mango ice cream, mango bread, mango milk shake....
We have strawberry ice cream, strawberry mousse, strawberry milk shake....
We have almond cookies, almond with penne, almond butter, so why not almond mousse?
At least, that is my excuse for coming up with this recipe.

Actually, I had heavy cream that I wanted to use up and I didn't want to make more ice cream. This makes a lot of mousse. Perfect for parties. You can freeze them in individual cups and use it when you have the party. They are good in the freezer for 3 months. I use the 3 Oz solo cups and freeze them.

Ingredients:
Heavy cream - 4 cups
Almonds - 1 1/2 cup blanched (See notes on how to do it)
Sugar - 2 cups or less if you like it less sweeter
Rose essence - 1 tsp (You could use cardamom, I wanted something different today)
Agar agar - 2 TBSP (If you don't mind using gelatin, use 2 TBSP of gelatin)
Cold Water - 1/2 cup
Warm water - 1/2 cup

Method:
In a food processor, take the blanched almonds and powder them. If you like the crunch of almonds, you can make a coarse powder. In a bowl, sprinkle agar agar to cold water and let it rest for about 5 minutes. When almonds are almost ground, add warm water, sugar to the food processor and keep running it. When it has come to desired fineness, turn off the food processor and mix in the cold water to which you had added agar agar. Run it again to incorporate everything. Mix in the rose essence or flavor of your choice. Scrape it to a bowl and set aside. To the same food processor, add whipping cream and turn it on. Keep an eye on it since couple of seconds more, it'll turn into butter. You could use your mixer instead for this. I was lazy to clean two gadgets. Whip till you get stiff peaks. Fold in the almond sugar mixture gently to the whipped cream. Try not to deflate the whipped cream. Pour into serving cups and refrigerate for couple of hours or freeze the rest for later use. These stay fine in the refrigerator for about a week. You could garnish them with some chopped almonds.

Notes:
To blanch almonds, bring enough water to cover the almonds to a boil. Pour the boiling water on the almonds placed in a bowl. Leave it for exactly one minute. Drain and rinse with cold water. You'll be able to see the wrinkling of the skin. When you can handle the almonds easily, start squeezing them between your index finger and the thumb. Skin will peel off easily. Or you could use already blanched almonds.

You should definitely taste this. This was great and has the consistency of something in between ice cream and kulfi. One of my kids loved it but the other one didn't due to almond bits. So, if you are a picky eater, make sure you have made the almond into a fine paste.

Enjoy!! Pin It

Cantaloupe Granita

Summer is here and kids ask for ice cream quite often. When either I or my husband are giving them the ice cream, we get tempted to eat it too. Since we are not among those lucky people who can eat 5000 calories a day and not put on an inch around the waist, I try to come up with things we can eat when kids are eating something cold like ice cream. My first choice would be fat-free sorbet. But after I started making granita since last year, I would say I love granita too. Last year I had made some watermelon granita which we loved. Here comes 'Cantaloupe Granita' for folks like us.

Granita is basically raked ice which is made with a simple syrup (sugar and water boiled together) which is flavored with seasonal fruits. Cantaloupe has so much water in it, I didn't bother to make a syrup at all. Just added brown sugar and churned it in the food processor. I used brown sugar since we South Indians are used to this cantaloupe mixed with jaggery to make a juice 'panaka' during 'Rama Navami'. I kind of tried to mimic that taste in a different form.

Ingredients:
1 medium cantaloupe - cut into cubes
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup or to taste (You could use regular sugar here)

Method:
Take the cantaloupe cubes in a food processor or a blender. Add sugar and churn till the mixture is smooth. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze. Every 30 minutes to 45 minutes (this may vary depending on the kind of freezer and the size of the box you have frozen it in), take it out of the freezer and rake it with a fork to get crushed ice kind of a finished product. After doing this for 3 times, freeze. When ready to serve,  scoop the granita into serving dish and serve. It melts pretty fast so don't take it out of the freezer just before serving.

Notes:
You could add a little bit of cardamom to this after raking for the first time. Otherwise, it'll go and settle in the bottom. Same recipe can be used to make watermelon granita. Just use sugar to taste. If you like tangy taste, you can add some lime or lemon juice to this. Mix with the blended puree and freeze.

Enjoy!! Pin It