Indian gooseberry and shoe flower mocktail

I have travelled home to be with my parents just for about two weeks and then to attend the first of its kind Indian Food Bloggers Meet in Bangalore, in less than ten days time.
I chose to travel light and did not bother to carry much of my equipment that would help me write a post, take pictures and blog about that. However, each update on the IFBM page gets us the participants more excited. Some of the sponsors have announced interesting contests and I am chiding myself for not being prepared for surprises. I would have loved to participate in all of those announced, though not hoping to win, yet to feel good about trying.
One of the sponsors Urban Dazzle have a simple contest for the participants. We just have to make a cocktail or mocktail with Indian flavours and blog about it. We abstain from any form of alcohol and thus I went on to prepare a mocktail. My nephew is around and both of us were voicing choices out that my mother got pulled in. After much debate, we went for this mocktail, I wish to share here as an entry to the contest.
In the past few months, as suggested by someone, my father is trying out a small ounce of hibiscus tea and consumes one steamed Indian gooseberry with his meal.This is a practice to keep his blood pressure under check along side his regular prescribed medicines. So both flower and fruit were available at home and all I needed was a soda drink that will add to the flavour.
The below recipe serves three in 330 ml tall glasses, I wish I could serve them in these Urban Dazzle glasses shown in their website.
Indian Gooseberry and shoeflower mocktail

What we had on hand
10-12 fresh hibiscus flowers/ shoe flowers
10 Indian gooseberries/ amla/ nellikkai chopped to come up to 1 cup and 1/3rds of the same
1/4 cup sweetened gooseberry candy chopped
Juice of three limes
1" piece fresh ginger grated
250 ml of 7up drink
Sugar syrup from 150 grams sugar

  How we combined the drink

We put the fresh hibiscus in a large pitcher and added the juice from the limes. We squeezed these by hand until the flower dissolved in the juice. We added some water and part of the sugar syrup.
We blended the goose berries, berry candy and the ginger in a blender and strained it.
We mixed both the juices and adjust the sweetness by adding sufficient sugar syrup.

To serve we placed a few ice cubes in glasses, poured in the juice and topped off with the 7 up drink.
Though both of the fruit and flower can be separately had as drinks, this combination worked wonderfully for the mocktail.
Don't you think it will be a great party pleaser too?

Kiwi fruit juice

Approaching middle age, I am trying to look up nutrition and benefits of foods that we eat. Although I include lot of fruits (as many as vegetables), there were certain fruits, I had not tried. Kiwi was one such fruit that I would almost pick up from the counter and drop back. Since they were always imported into the countries that I have lived, they came with a heavy price tag, for fruits. That may have been the primary reason and the fact that the seeds were crunchy and left an after taste was another put off. Thus, I might slice just one fruit in a fruit salad or add as topping to some custard.
When my blood sugar levels read high with a deranged liver last year, I studiously looked up low sugar, low GI foods to keep my sugar levels in control. Thus I read few articles on the kiwi fruit. Two such can be read in these links here and here. Now, health concern beats the reluctance hands down and I do not mind at all paying the cost for these.
However, I will eat the fruit as such, but it is a task to get my husband have them. So I blend them in juices and get him to drink those.
Last week, for some prayer offerings, I purchased six kiwi fruits and blended few of them in juice.

Skin three kiwi fruits. Blend them in a juicer with sufficient water. Add sugar to taste.
For added taste, squeeze the juice of one medium or two small limes. Adjust the sugar accordingly.



Serve chilled with a few thin slices of the fruit topped in the juice.
I do not strain the seeds after blending. But if you really do not like them, you may do so.

Minty lemon barley

With summer in most of the tropics, we are often found to reach for some chilled drink to quench our thirst. During our younger days, our mother used to make barley water that will enable free flow of urine, which, because of perspiration might be less.
Children, with all holiday activities, do not drink the required quantity of water even when they thirst for. The result is severe pain in the lower abdomen and irritation while you force yourself to urinate. The best remedy to this is barley water and hibiscus gulkhand. I remember that my grand mother had always in store somewhat large Horlicks bottles with shoe flower dropped in honey. We were given to eat them whenever we complained of abdominal irritation.
Compelling us to drink plain barley did not work and so often they had to disguise it in juices. We were given Sathgudi orange juice or a lemonade made with barley water. Nowadays, I consciously drink barley water. Many times though, I add lemon juice or buttermilk and to spice it up, a bit of salt or cumin powder and such.
My homegrown mints are often used in my day to day cooking. Mint is cooling to the body and can be used in many ways. I made lemonade with barley and dropped some crushed mint leaves in it. They added a nice flavour to the drink.
I have skipped the granulated white sugar and added 'sugar free'. It is your choice as to how you want to sweeten the drink. Sometimes I have this salted with a hint of black salt skipping the sugar entirely. You can add honey also.

Ingredients:
4 teaspoons barley
1200 ml water
1 teaspoon crushed cumin seeds
Juice from 4 large limes
Sugar as required to taste
Few fresh mint leaves




Method:
Wash barley and clean it.
Take the barley with the water in a large pan. Keep on high heat and bring to a boil.
Add the crushed cumin seeds and simmer on the lowest heat for at least 30 minutes to reduce the cooking liquid.
Remove from the stove and strain the liquid. Allow to cool.
Extract juice from 4 large limes/lemons.
When the barley water is completely cool, add the juice and the sugar. Mix well until sugar dissolves.
Crush the mint leaves between your palms and drop them in the juice. Let them float in the juice.
When serving, strain the mint out and serve.
This is not just a summer thirst quencher but a very effective remedy also.
This lemonade is being sent to Siri's Healing foods event, currently hosted at Pritya with Sukham Coolers.

Simple to make chikku milkshake

One of the simple recipes to make is the milkshake. A wholesome drink that keeps hunger pangs away for quite a while and could be made with just as few ingredients. We always end up having excess fruit in the bowl and I have to think up ways to clear them prior to a visit to the fresh market.

This week during our weekly temple visit the fruit vendor had nice looking, firm yet just ripe Sapodilla, our very own chikku fruit. She was insistent that I buy a dozen at the least. We obliged her making a bargain.

The final lot was what I made the milkshake with.

Skin four chikku fruits and remove seeds.

Cut them in cubes and drop them in the jar of your blender.

Add two cups of skimmed milk. Or use whole milk and ice cubes.

Add sugar as required, depending on how sweet the fruit is and how sweet you like the milkshake to taste.

Blend until very smooth.

Transfer to glasses and serve immediately or chilled just for about few minutes.

Enjoy the goodness of the fruit blended in milk.

Merry Christmas and have this Party Punch

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and festive cheers. Hope all of you are looking forward to get done with the year 2010 and surging with full energy into 2011. Hope there is much entertaining going on and there are cakes and cookies being baked and shared.

I have not baked anything for a while now. So I can share with you only my Party Punch.

Living in a tropical country, there seems to be no so called 'off season for mangoes' in Ghana and now in Nigeria also. We get excellent bananas and I am feasting my morning breakfast on papayas many days.

Having read the above, you may have guessed what fruits I have blended into this punch. To give it the citrus burst, I squeezed an orange and added some home-made pineapple juice too.

The pineapples had to be blended separately and strained.

Here is one musumbi that had beach ball like skin :)

For myself I can have without sugar and for my husband who wants the juice sweet, I could go really low on added sugar. Top it with rose syrup and add crushed ice, you have one delicious drink to serve.

Those who like, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the place of crushed ice, and you might have people asking for repeat helpings.

Have a fantastic Chirstmas friends and let me take an annouced break until the end of January 2011. I am spending some weeks with my daughter, parents and more members of the extended family too.

I might simply squeeze yet another post to wish you all a Happy new year 2011! If not, here's wishing all of you a wonderful start to the new year.

Signing off....
So long.....

Ginger Lemonade Concentrate

My mother makes lemon juice concentrate and stores in the refridgerator. She makes it a point to store such stuff whenever we are on vacation. She bottles the concentrate and sends it over to my sisters. She may have to refill often whenever my husband is around and any of her grandchildren.

I love ginger in the juice as much as in my tea. I add ginger to the recipe she follows to make ginger lemonade.

Make a puree of ginger, and extract the juice; boil it with the sugar while making the syrup and add to the extracted lemon juice. It is as simple as that.

The concentrate does not use any preservative. Hence has to be stored in the refridgerator. But keeps well for about 20 days provided it lasts that long. Beyond that period, there will be a tinge of bitter tangy taste of rotting fruit.

Given below is with some 10 very juicy lime fruits that yielded about 350 ml of concentrate.

1o numbers medium size but very juicy lime fruits

2X2'' piece ginger

400 grams granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

Wash the lime, cut and squeeze out the juice.

Peel the ginger and chop. Run this in a blender adding water. When pulped, pass this through a strainer and extract the juice.

In a heavy utensil, dissolve sugar in the water. Add the ginger extract to the sugar.

Boil the mixture for about 5 -7 minutes to form a syrup.

Simmer for another 3 minutes.

Allow to cool completely.

Once cool, add the lemon juice extract and mix well.

Store in clean bottles.

To serve, add three parts of water to one part concentrate. Drop thinly sliced lemon zest and serve chilled.

The quantity of sugar can be adjusted according to requirement. The ratio of sugar to juice extract from lime is about 4:1, sugar:lime juice extract.

You may use lesser sugar for the concentrate and add more sugar while serving.

Aam Ka Panna - Microwave version

Aam ka panna is a very refreshing mango drink. It acts as a coolant especially in summer when the mercury hits high. They are made from raw mangoes that have a sour -sweet taste and with mint leaves. Mangoes are cooked prior to being blended. Cooking them in the microwave gets it done easily.

The high power or 100% power in the recipe refers to an output of 900watts. So adjust the time for cooking according to the specifications of your microwave oven.

1 whole big raw mango

3/4 cup of sugar

1 fist full fresh mint leaves

1 teaspoon roasted and powdered cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon black salt/ Kala namak

Water as required

Choose firm, green skinned mangoes. They should be raw and hard to press.

Wash, peel and chop the mango into small slices.

Place the slices in a microwave proof utensil, add 1 cup of water to it.

Cover and cook the mango on 100% power for 4 minutes.

Add sugar, black salt and roasted cumin seeds powder and microwave covered on 80% power for 5 minutes.

Allow to stand a further 5 minutes.

Cool them outside the microwave.

Blend this mixture along with mint leaves in a blender.

Transfer to clean bottles and store in the refridgerator.

To serve, mix 1 part of juice to 3 parts of very cold water.

Pour in glasses and enjoy.

The salt and sugar can be varied as required.

Triple Duet

Yes! I coined the name for the combination juice, I created. I had these many fruits after all the poojas that lined up and had consumed enough of the fruits by themselves and fruit salad and whatever I could use them in. Then I had little of each like one apple, some cut pieces of mango, few red grapes ½ of a pomegranate few musumbi oranges and two kiwi fruits. On an odd whim I wanted to try making juice of these in varying thickness and combining them. Wow!! What an idea that was. See the pictures and tell me. I waited for my husband to be around so we can consume the punch right away before any discoloring sets in. He was fascinated and clicked away in all 23 pictures which I made a photo folder and called it MY JUICE INDULGENCE :)
I guess you may create your own by combing other fruits, but my duets were,
Yellow combination –Mango and apple
Pink combination – Red grapes and pomegranate
The light green and not much prominent combination –Kiwi and musumbi
Wash fruits, peel and cut them. Blend very well adding sugar each combination. Keep them separately chilled until you need to serve.
I have not added ice or milk or ice cream here. Those may be more creative combinations, no doubt.
Using a funnel, take small quantities of the above into tall glasses and serve.
Patterns may form and delight you depending on the thickness, one may float over the other combo or blend to an altogether delicious punch.
I wish to send my indulging triple duet to,
Sireesha’s Soup and Juice event

and to Radhika's Food for Life Zero hour event. co-hosted by Sudeshna Banerjee of Cook like a bong

Pomegranate Cooler - Taurus is pink on the Zodiac

Food in colour is an event started by Sunshine mom of Tongue ticklers to emphasis the important of colour in food. Ashwini of Ashiwini's Spicy Cuisine is hosting this event this month.
The colour and the zodiac table states, Taurus the Earth sign, secure, active, warm and sociable has been related to pink for the colour. I was hence, supposed to dish out something pink and serve.



I thought of every food from rose milk to strawberry milkshake to beetroot rice. Finally managed this juice for the event.
Had some very nice pomegranates for the pooja offerings. Tried eating one and it was too sour for consumption just as fruit. We had trees that bore these sour pomegranates at home and amma will make pomegranate rice just like lemon rice and rasam with these.
So I thought I would make use of these sour fruits I had purchased the same way. I soaked them in warm water to squeeze out the juice. When I squeezed the juice out, it was so beautifully pink that I decided to make juice. I made and enjoyed the refreshing colourful juice.
For 2 litres juice you will require,
2 Kabul pomegranates (Large)
Sugar/ honey to taste, depending on how sour the fruits are
Ginger scrappings adjust according to taste
Mint leaves few
Peel the pomegranates, remove the pearls and soak them in warm water for a while in a fairly big utensil. Save one tiny sprig of mint and soak the rest of the leaves along with the seeds.
Once the water is cool and the seeds well soaked, press them with your fingers thoroughly.
Pass through a strainer, obtain the juice. Resoak the seeds and extract the remaining juice.
Clean and scrape ginger to tiny shavings.
Add more water as required and mix desired quantity of sugar. Drop the ginger shavings and refridgerate.
Serve chilled with some ginger toppings and the reserved sprig of mint.
I had the juice with honey instead of sugar. Hence the colour is darker in the glass than in the canister.



I am sending this to Ashwini's event mentioned earlier and to Mom's recipes - soup and juices event.

Vasantha Neer

Way back in 1989, our cousin took some of my cousins, sister for dinner at a very famous 5 Star place in Chennai. As most of them were newly married, he wanted to throw them a party. So a whole lot of youngsters were having a good time. I was pregnant with my daughter then and at home in Namakkal. I had various updates about this rendez-vous. The most significant memory was, of course, their welcome drink which helped me coin the title. I have used the basic ingredient in that drink which is the tender coconut water and have justified the name :)




Here in Ghana mangoes are invitingly hanging out of all the trees, Srivalli has hosted the Mango Mela event...so, all these factors got me putting up this post.

Ingredients:

Tender coconut -2 numbers

Mango -1 very ripe, pulpy, sweet variety

Sugar -3 tablespoons

Lemon juice -few drops

Skin the mangoes and with a fruit baller,take out balls of the pulp.Make a very thick syrup of the sugar. Drop mango balls just long enough to coat them with the sugar. Open the tender coconut and drain the water in a glass. drop the mango crystals into it. Float a few pieces of coconut in the juice. Add the drops of lemon and serve.

I'm sending this recipe as my entry to Srivalli's event. Mango Mela.