My Cute Rossy And Lassi

Cute Rossy From My Balcony

This Picture is my entry for the photo event Au Naturel hosted by Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi .

Rose Used In Cooking:

1. Dried rose petals(Roja mokku) are used in Indian biryani/pulav.

2. Rose is chiefly known as a decorative and fragrant ornamental, but it also has culinary importance.


3. Rose water is used to flavour marzipan and is occasionally found in drinks.


4. An Indian drink popular with Western tourists is lassi. In its simplest case, lassi is just a mixture of water, yogurt and sugar drunk cold, preferably iced. A common type of this drink, gulabi lassi, is flavoured by the addition of some rose water.


5. Rose and rose oil are important flavourings in Western and Central Asia, where they are used in many sweets. Turks dissolve locoum, a very sweet confectionery with strong rose fragrance, in their coffee. In Iran, honey and jams are made more fragrant with rose flowers and rose ice cream is known in many Middle Eastern countries.(4&5 courtesy from here)

Banana Apple Lassi

I've been searching some cool and refreshing drink for EC-Sun&Fun Event.Finally hubby dear gave me the idea of making apple lassi.Once we had a apple lassi in the restaurant and we liked very much.I mixed apple,banana and used greek yogurt for this recipe. Greek yogurt gives a creamy texture to the lassi. Although you could use home made yogurt or store bought yogurt as well, you will need to add less milk to get a creamy texture.Recipe is quite simple yet so delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

Banana - 1
Apple - 1
Sugar - 2tsp
Greek Yogurt - 1/2cup
Crushed ice - 1/2cup
Rose water - 1/2tsp(optional)
Cardamom Powder - 1pinch
Mint spring (for garnishing)
Salt - 1pinch(salt brings out the taste)

Method:

Blend apple,banana,yogurt, cardamom powder, salt, Ice cube & water in a blender till smooth. Give it a taste and adjust sugar if you prefer.

Pour into glasses. Garnish with mint and serve.

Sending this gorgeous dessert to EC's Fun n Sun Event.

Carrot-Almond Cooler For MBP

I had a bag of baby carrots sitting in the fridge for ages! I knew that I cannot finish it before the used by date,so had a thought of making some refreshing drink for MBP…When I saw this carrot-almond cooler on lavanya’s blog i was totally impressed and wanted to try it out immediately. It tasted awesome and quite simple to make. Just pressure-cook the carrots, almond with milk. Blend everything with milk and sugar until smooth. Serve chill.

You can find the recipe here.

I don’t usually drink mixed drinks but Sig's event made me an opportunity to try.I really enjoyed making and drinking this lovely drink. As I don’t have raw almond, I replaced it with the roasted ones.

This awesome drink goes to Sig who is hosting the March edition of Monthly Blog Patrol.

Arusuvai Food Chain – Coconut Ladoo With clove Tea

The Arusuvai friendship chain has been going on for quite sometime now in India. It was started here, in the US, recently by The Yum Blog, Bhags & Bharathy. I was wondering what would be the surprise ingredient that I would receive from Seema. Finally I got the surprise ingredient yesterday. I guessed the ingredient before opening the package from the smell which spreads everywhere in my mailbox and apartment. It was a small package of cloves (kirambu) with a friendly note. Thank you seema for sending such a nice ingredient over.

My hubby was nagging for a long time for ladoos.Really I want to make something different so I added Coconut and rava to make ladoo and it came out very well and we thoroughly enjoyed it with a cup of clove(kirambu) tea. Both recipes are easy to make and you’ll be amazed by its taste. Here are the recipes how I made them….

INGREDIENT:
(For Coconut ladoo):

Rava(sooji) - 1/2cup
Grated Coconut – 1cup
Sugar – 2cups
Milk – 1cup
Cardamom powder - 1tsp
Cashews - 10 (fried in ghee)
Raisins – 10(fried in ghee)cloves – 4
Ghee – 1/2tsp

Method:

Pour ghee in a kadai. Fry cashew and raisins until till golden brown color and keep aside. Fry sooji in the remaining ghee. After the sooji is fried add the grated coconut also and fry for 2 minutes.

Add milk to the pan. The consistency should become watery. Grind sugar and the fried cashews(5) into a smooth powder .Now add this powder to the milk. Keep stirring it till becomes thick. It takes about 30-40 mins to become thick.

It has to become thick enough to make rounds balls with hand. Remove from the fire and add the remaining cahews,raisins and cloves.Cool it and make this mixture into small round balls it by pressing gently with your hand.

Serve with hot tea or allow to cool and keep in airtight dry container.

CLOVE TEA:

Clove tea is good for health and has been used by the Chinese to treat indigestion. Cloves are stimulating and aid digestion and this is used to break up intestinal gas and to treat nausea and heartburn. This makes a strong flavored tea. If it’s too strong for your taste dilute it, or start with a smaller amount of cloves and gradually increase. You might enjoy the Clove Tea recipe below as well.

INGREDIENT:

Tea powder – 3tsp
Milk – 1cup
Sugar – 3tsp
Sukku(dry ginger) – 1tsp
Pepper – 1tsp
Clove – 5
Cardamom powder –1/2tsp
Cinnamon – 1tsp

METHOD:

Grind cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and make it as a powder. Bring water to boil. Add tea powder in to water. Now add sukku and allow boil it for 2 mins.Then add cloves,cardamom,cinnamon and pepper one by one and boil for another 2 mins. Cover and let simmer for few minutes. Add sugar, milk and stir for another mins. Steep for 5 minutes. Pour through filter to remove spices. Enjoy with delicious snacks......

I am passing on the Arusuvai Friendship Chain to a couple of my friends ....

Cham from Spice club

Sagari from Indian cooking

Divya from Dilse

Enjoy everybody as the Arusuvai Friendship Chain continues......Cham-mailed you the stuff today morning..Sagari and divya will mail you the stuff tomorrow and confirm it with you girls. Hope you like your secret ingredients!Good luck and expecting the superb dishes you will come up with...