Raw Mango Drink

Sumer is in and so are the yummie food varieties. Summer takes me back the fond memories of childhood vacations spent at Ammama's place (Ammama in konkani means Grand mother). She used to cook for a mighty gathering of 25-30 folks on a daily basis. She makes the most tastiest Colombo (Colombo is a type of a Konkani Sambar) on the planet. I am a big fan and happily subscribe to her classy, tasty, appetising dishes which I believe have a special touch. She used to make "Paanak" everytime we used to go to Udupi for vacation. These used to be prepared in huge vessels known as "Kataar" (Kataar is a huge heavy bottomed utensil specially used in South India for cooking and mass food gatherings. After carefully mixing all the ingredients, the crimson-yellow drink used to get served in tall glasses. Sighhh!!! The aroma is still fresh in my mind.

I made the Mango drink based on Raaga's recipe. Thanks Raaga. I have stored the mixture in fridge and enjoy it during the quiet evenings!!

Serves: 3-4 people
Recipe source: Raaga

Ingredients:
Raw Mango - 2 C
Water - 1 C
Pepper powder - 1/2 t
Cumin powder - 2 T
Salt - 1 t
Sugar (Jaggery: optional) - 6 t

Method:
Chop the Mango to small pieces and boil them in little quantity of water, water should be good enough to immerse the pieces. Add rest of the ingredients. Grind to a smooth paste. Serve in a glass with water in 1:3 ratio. Serve chilled with ice during summer evenings.

I stored them in a container as suggested by Raaga in the recipe. However I made ininor modifications to the recipe. So here is my version based on reference to Raaga's recipe.

Green Spinach Soup

Soups have this uncanny way of making me happy any time of the day. Quite early on I picked Anglo-Indian eating habits from my close buddy. Mom began making Vegetable soup for me of different kinds growing up. She was for once releived because I refused to eat vegetables otherwise.

I used fresh green spinach which I had got from local grocery shop. It turned out quite well. I had learnt this recipe from Aunty S from India. She used to prepare this soup for brunch and lovingly invite me to have some alongwith warm bread. I miss Aunty S a lot and I am sure she is happy to see this soup simmering in a lot in my kitchen.

Serves: 2-3 individuals
Recipe source: Aunty S

Ingredients:
Green Spinach - 3 cups, finely chopped
Red Onions - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Maggi Soup seasoning - 1 cube
Salt - as per taste
Herbs for seasoning
Oil - for frying

Method:
Heat oil in a sauce pan and fry onions till they turn transluscent. Add green spinach which is chopped and saute for a while. Cook them down in 1 cup of water, cover with a lid. Cook till done. You will notice that it loses its original color and turns blackish green. Add extra water for boiling now and add seasoning cube of choice and leave aside on low flame on cover.

Check after 10 minutes and give a gentle stir. Serve hot with bread greased with olive oil.

Aloo Paratha

Of late I am trying to match up my cooking as per P's taste. P loves Aloo is any form - fried, sauted, boiled, scrambled with eggs. Sometimes I am surprised how can someone love a vegetable so much. He can devour aloo fritters in minutes. So I thought of surprising P with a crisp to perfection bread of his choice - Aloo Paratha. He loved it and was surprised since the edges did not break nor did the Potato pieces oooze out while rolling. I made his day and he made mine!!!


Serves: 2-4 individuals
Source: Self

Ingredients:

Filling:
Coriander stems + leaves - 4-10 sprigs
Green chillies - 2
Garlic - 2 flakes
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Salt - as per taste
Boiled potatoes - 4 (I used Idaho potatoes)


Paratha dough:
Wheat flour - 3 C
Water - for mixing
Amchur powder - 1/2 t (optional)
Milk - 2 t


Method:
Knead the dough my mixing salt, wheat flour and water. I also added 2 t milk as per Maa's suggestion. Maa said it makes the paratha more softer. Keep the dough aside for 20 minutes.

Gring the filling mix except potatoes. Smash potatoes alongwith the mixture and make equal portions of wheat flour and potato mixture.


Roll out Parathas by placing each potato mixture in the wheat flour portion and roll out a round paratha. Fry on a griddle alongwith ghee.


Serve hot with Curd or pickle.

Iced Ghirardelli Cocoa

We both are self-confessed and helpless chocolate addicts. Sometimes when we go to departmental stores for grocery, I have to literally dissuade husband from shopping for Godiva's and Ghirardelli Cocoa powder's. But heart-to-heart we both love our beverage's topped with liberal helpings of cocoa and chocolate bits. Yesterday evening, hubby wanted to have something warm as it was raining very heavily in our county.

He promtly asked me to make some Ghirardelli Cocoa. He suggested some tips which helped me sharpen the taste of the sinful beverage. Compared to other chocolate mix, Ghirardelli had a very creamy and smooth texture. So we both prefer this taste for out Iced Cocoa drinks. End result was pretty impressive!!! I recommend this drink to anyone who is a chocoholic and Ghirardelli afficionado...!!

Serves: 2 individuals

Ingredients:

Milk - 2 Cup (preferably cold milk)

Ghirardelli Chocolate Hot Cocoa - 2 teaspoon

Sugar - 5 teaspoon ~ as per taste

Instant Coffee powder - 1 teaspoon

Ice Cubes - 4

Method:

Thaw 1 Cup of milk in microwave with 1 teaspoon of Ghirardelli Chocolate Hot Cocoa. Give it a good stir after done. Blend the microwaved milk with cold milk alongwith coffee powder, sugar and ice cubes. Serve with crackers or you could have it plain as a evening beverage.

Note: I used Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa which you get at any departmental store/grocery store in US. If not available, one can use regular hot chocolate powders. One could also add a dash of cinnamon for that extra zing and punch.

Welcome Spring!!!!

(SOPT IT: Spot a chipmunk couple hidden in the photo :)))

Finally!!!! Spring has arrived!!! Its bright and sunny!!!

Birds and flowers coming in from everywhere!!!

There is chirp, rustling and a little bit of zing!!!

Spring is "IN" my friend!!

Jalapeno Cheese and French Wine

"The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for" goes Allan K. Chalmers.

There are times when we all get busy with the day to day affairs. From cooking breakfast to cleaning, work, lunch, shopping, errands to run, office duties, conference calls, meetings, hurry curry dinners. Stop!!! Are you taking your me-time for yourself and your loved ones!!! Today P and I enjoyed our sweet me-time with some exotic french wine and yummy Jalapeno Jack Cheese picked by P himself. The taste was amazing. We threw in some crackers for extra punch and the evening was some. Aptly accompanied with some soft numbers to be concluded as a "wonderful evening".

Strawberry Jelly

I am honestly not much of a dessert person. But of late after coming to US, thanks to P I have started liking sweets, that could be partly because P has introduced me to various kinds of sweets and desserts which I had never tasted before. So I decided to try my hand at Jellies and brough a packet of Jelly powder from nearby grocery store. But much to amazement it was quite an easy task and I think it turnd quite well. P added another zing to it with some fruits and the end result was simply superb.

Serves: 2 individuals

Recipe: A typical Jello recipe

Ingredients:

Jelly powder - 1 packet

Water - 2 Cups, one cup boiled and one cup cold water

Method:

Boil a cup of water. Once boiled. add to the serving bowl and add the powder and stir well. If not continuously stirred, lumps would form. Keep stirring for 3 minutes and add cold water (1Cup) after that. Mix well. Allow to settle. Refrigerate for 4-5 hours and your jelly is set.

Serve with fruits and enjoy!!!