Cucumber, Mint & Lemonade Cooler

A glass of freshly made cooler or any drink of your choice is always a welcome relief on a hot sunny day.

I like to calm down my nerves by sipping away to a chilled, fresh drink after an exhaustive day at work. Nothing beats the comfort of sipping away your favorite glass of drink tuck         amidst your air conditioned room and at the same time watching your favorite program on TV.

 

Now, if you are a person who likes experimenting with your cold drinks, then here is a refreshing way to do so. This summer, try this cucumber lemonade, with the freshness of cucumber, mint and lemon. This drink is refreshing, healthy and truly summery.

To top it all, this drink will help to keep you sufficiently hydrated for facing the extremities of the summer season. There are many variations to this drink you can try, apart from the one mentioned below like use honey to sweeten the drink instead of sugar. Why think of only sweet juices, you could completely skip the sugar and spice up the drink with some black pepper powder and chaat masala.

I heard someone telling me that these three ingredients sums up to form a healthy detox drink. Lemon juice helps to cleanse and alkalize the body. Mint adds a touch of sweetness without the sugar, and it also helps settle your stomach and aids in digestion. Cucumber is excellent for rehydration, and it contains anti-inflammatory properties.

Now without much ado, let me share this wonderful refreshing recipe….

Serves: 3-4 people

Cooking Time: Under 15 Minutes

Preparation Time: Under 15 minutes

Cottage Cheese Wrapped and Cooked in Banana Leaves (Paneer Paturi)

As mentioned before, Lazy summer days aren’t made for elaborate cooking. The sun good seems to be in no mood to do away with the humid and sweltering summer weather. This is a perfect season to sip away your favorite drink and to enjoy light meals full of fresh ingredients. It is a season of bare legs and flip flops and my appetite too turns summery. 

Instead of adding extra heat to your home when Mother Nature is at her worst, take advantage of summer's bountiful fresh vegetables and whip up  interesting dinner meals without spending too much of time in the Kitchen.

Last weekend, I wanted to cook something interesting for my dinner which obviously tastes good but wanted to make something which is not very elaborate and is definitely full of flavors. So finally I decided to make “Paneer Paturi”. Cottage cheese wrapped and cooked in Banana leaf with an interesting mix of aromatic flavors.

Most foodies may know about the famous ilish maach paturi from the Indian Bengali cuisine. Fish fillets are marinated in a paste of mustard, green chillies, parcelled in banana leaves, and then steamed or fried in mustard oil.     

                                                                                                                                  

Being a Staunch Vegetarian, it is quite a challenge to try out my own vegetarian version of paturi and not to deny myself the desire of savoring the goodness of great paturi.  

I simply love the flavors or the aromas resulting out of these small banana parcels. 

A parcel made from banana leaves seals in moisture and flavor and infuses the contents with a subtle, grassy aroma. From Latin American to Asian dishes, there are several ways of cooking beautiful recipes with the use of this versatile leaves.

Paturi is a cooking process in which leaf wrapped marinated fish, cottage cheese or vegetables are cooked. The final cooking is done wither by steaming or by roasting the leaf wrapped envelops on griddle. The famous version is to cook the marinated fish fillets in a wonderful mix of spices and yogurt.

I have used more or less the same technique used to make the hilsa paturi but the end product still brings in a lot of different flavor and taste.

The soft and subtle piece of cottage cheese marinated in mustard and yogurt mix looks gorgeous served straight from the banana leaf package. It’s casual and extremely appears to be serene option for summer night meal. Pop open a cold drink of your choice and ease into summer night wonders.

With due respects to all the mashis, mamonis, pishis and all my dear Bengali friends, here is my version for “Paturi Paneer”.

Serves: 3 people

Cooking Time: Under 15 minutes

Preparation Time: 30 Minutes

Exotic Veggie’s & green Apple Salad with Lemon and Mustard Dressing

Soaring heat in the summer not only curbs the appetite, but also lessens the desire to slave over a hot stove. Such days call for cool, refreshing salads. Salads are packed with goodness of nutrients bursting with flavors.

Eating salad doesn't have to be the healthy habit of someone who is trying to lose weight, however.  The health benefits of eating salad are so numerous and adaptable, making salads a healthy option for anyone.

What are the health benefits of salad?  The answer depends on the ingredients used when preparing a salad, as well as the actual leafy greens themselves.  Salads that consist mainly of vegetables and fruits – and avoid lots of unhealthy “extras” – provide many nutritional benefits like fiber, vitamins, minerals and heart-healthy fats.

I like serving salads for summer night meal because:

It is easy to cook and you simply can’t go wrong when adding basic salad ingredients, so it isn't necessary to be a chef or even know how to cook in order to make a delicious salad. Children can easily assist in preparing salads. It is also the perfect meal to motivate children towards eating a variety of vegetables since they are more apt to eat what they help prepare.

Secondly it is surely a treat for your eyes. Salads have varied textures, shapes, sizes and colors which make them visually appealing and satisfying. We enjoy foods that entice our eyes and also eat more of them. Eating a variety of textures keeps mealtime interesting. Salad ingredients can add a nice crunch which is much better for you than munching on cookies or potato chips.

Today’s recipe is a combination of some exotic veggies green apple and feta cheese tossed with an interesting dressing of lemon, coriander and the pungent flavor of mustard seeds. To add an extra zing, I have topped the salad with roasted pumpkin seeds which gives that irresistible crunch and enhances the taste. This is a salad with all the ingredients of summer-“Warmth, Fresh and Colorful”.

This is my favorite salad and it is always a hit when I take it to a gathering. You can use any combination of salad greens that you like; I use whatever I have on hand. I shouldn’t admit it, but I could drink this dressing.

Serves: 2-3 People

Cooking Time: Under 15 Minutes

Preparation Time: Under 15 Minutes

My mum’s Signature Dish-Doi Potal(Pointed gourd in Yogurt curry)

‘Cook Like Mom’ & an International Giveaway

My mum was a wonderful cook and I believe we all adore our mothers’ for their simple and easy cooking. Have you ever wondered why mom’s cooking is universally acclaimed?  The answer lies in the fact that it is cooked with love and passion.

I believe every kitchen in India has its own cook book, and it has a unique way of preparing their signature authentic dishes. Even in my case, you might find small to big differences in your known method of cooking and the ones posted here. I call them truly “Ma’s Style”. 

It is mainly because of two reasons: Firstly it is cooked with  love for my friends and family. Secondly I believe in simple easy cooking by using the basic ingredients available in your kitchen. My mum used to say, it is very easy to make good food by using exotic and interesting ingredients but it is an art to please someone with a simple meal cooked with pure love and simple ingredients.

As a teenager, I found a broader purview on the importance of loving your existence and to live happily and feeding yourself beautifully was another important part of it.Nothing pleased my mum more than cooking for good friends and family. I also cook for the same reason I try out new places/eating joints -- to experience the thrill of discovering something new.

My mom was a working woman but on weekends my home turned into a little Indian Colony. 

She was not known for churning out exotic food but she just made simple basic food very exotic. I guess because she poured all her love while cooking.

Cooking authentic homemade Assamese food was her way of keeping herself close to the roots; and is the most important way to remain healthy. Assamese people are fond of rice and their fish and they can’t think of any meal which is devoid of any non-vegetarian element.

I was an unusual vegetarian element born into the family of hardcore non vegetarians but thankfully my mum made some really tasty vegetarian dishes which were out of the world. They were just too simple to the core.

Doi potol( Pointed Gourd in Yogurt Curry) is one of my mother’s specialty or rather call it a signature dish… Till date, I haven’t been able to match up to her recipe. She can make it better any day. This a very simple and delicious vegetarian option for summer meals. This recipe is equally famous in Bengali households.

In the summer months, curd or doi plays a vital role in the lives of Assamese households. It is also served as a palatable antacid. My mum always liked to set natural yoghurt/curd/doi at home and we liked to consume it by the end of a meal for its cooling effect. It is also used as an ingredient in cooking to prepare numerous main course dishes. Curd is used in vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian dishes like “doi Maach” ,doi potol or doi begun to name a few.

This dish is so beautiful and easy to make that I would recommend this for every household. Even the non-vegetarians would love to try this without a hitch. I would straight away discuss the recipe or else I would get lost in the intricacies of explaining the beauty of the dish.

I like to eat it with plain steamed rice but it equally goes well with roti/ chapattis.

Serves: 2-3

Cooking Time: Under 15 minutes

Preparation Time: Under 15 minutes

Stir Fry Semolina Idli with Dry Coconut Garlic Masala-Served with Instant curd & Gram Flour Dip

The mornings are tough. You have to go through the difficult task of getting yourself out of bed. Make yourself presentable to start the day and then actually leave the house to be productive. “All before nine o'clock in the morning”. And on top of that, you're supposed to find the time to make and eat the most important meal of the day. It's absurd but hard reality to come in terms with.

With all that other stuff to worry about in the mornings, breakfast is the first thing to be forgotten about. Especially, working moms like us, who are constantly acting as an alarm clock in the morning hours and we actually get little time to settle down ourselves for a satisfying, quick and healthy breakfast meal.

If you own a list of healthy, tasty and instant breakfast recipes (less than 15 minutes), wouldn’t you find a way to squeeze that into your morning schedule. I thought so. And with the recipes below, it won't be hard to find the motivation to do so.

Semolina idli is one of the easiest breakfast recipes which come in handy when I don’t want to spend too much time in kitchen and still want the dish to be tasty... Very recently i started making this idli with an interesting mix of dry coconut, chillli and garlic masala. Once the idli’s are made, I just like to pan toss it with some aromatic spices to enhance the taste and appealing for my appetite. It comes out very soft and porous. The dry coconut, chilli and garlic masala is the one which I normally store in my kitchen for adding that extra zing to my curries and snacks. It is very simple to make. It is very popular in Maharastrian cuisine and they usually like to stuff it inside their “vada pao” (potato Pattie).

Idlis are generally accompanied with some delicious sambhar or dips. I usually like to serve them with an instant dip made out of roasted gram flour and yogurt.

To sum it up, this recipe is very easy and simple to make and delicious to eat. Unlike the traditional Idli, this does not require any beforehand planning, soaking, elaborate grinding, fermenting for hours and can be prepared in a jiffy and it can be prepared plain or using any vegetables you like, and the key part of this recipe is the yogurt used in this dish and seasoning to this dish gives it an extra soft, taste and flavor. This Rava Idli recipe is a keeper and I recommend you all try this.

Cooking Time: 15 Minutes

Preparation Time: 15 minutes(if all your ingredients are ready)

Serves: 4-5 people

Acaraje-Brazilian Street food

Acarajé is a traditional street food in Brazil; it is especially popular in the state of Bahia.

It is a kind of fritter which is light in texture and bold in flavor. Red palm oil is used in the original recipe to deep fry the acaraje. The main ingredient is black eyed peas (lobia) seasoned with other condiments and spices. However you can introduce your own innovation to the original recipe to suit our local palate.

The Acaraje recipe is popularly savored in the north eastern state of Brazil, Bahia. In the city of Salvador, the dish is relished as a popular street food. Typically, Acaraje is split into two halves and filled with stuffing of caruru and vatapa(red and Green Sauce). The dish has both vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions, however, the latter has more fan following, especially in the Nigerian regions.

In the modern times, the vegetarian version of Acaraje has gained a lot of popularity. The only variation in this vegetarian Acaraje recipe from its traditional form is the replacement of shrimp by vegetables. I have used olive oil in place of Palm oil and I like to serve it with mint sauce and it goes well with herbed garlic dip.

I have a confession to make. After making this recipe from scratch, my level of respect for the native Brazilian has sky rocketed! This apparently easy fritter has some little tricks that must NOT be overlooked! They are critical to the success of the recipe. For example, peeling the pea’s takes forever (I think it took me 1 hour)! But this process is very necessary so the cakes become light and fluffy.

Last but not the least; Let me say that this is not a very healthy recipe! But it is incredibly delicious and unique! I usually like making things that are less time consuming and much healthier. But come on, once in a while everyone deserves a treat, right?!

I am sure you would simple love the experience of making this wonderful Brazilian tradition, and sharing it with your family and friends.

Preparation Time: 1 hour

Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes

Serves: 4 people

Apricot Strawberry Crush Smoothie-Works Magical during summer drenched Sun

Hot summer days intensifies the need of water in our body. Intense perspiration can cause dehydration quickly, especially in little bodies. Natural, refreshing hydration is the goal. While cold, pure water is an excellent choice, it’s also nice to kick back with a homemade, healthful and refreshing drink.

Whether you call it a cooler, mocktail, virgin, or simply a non-alcoholic cocktail, it doesn't need to be bright blue or have an umbrella in it to get the true taste of summer. In fact, by incorporating seasonal produce into a homemade drink, you’ll be much more in tune with the summer palette of sweet, ripe fruit.

Today’s recipe is smoothie made out of fresh apricot and strawberry crush. It tastes divine. This smoothie is wonderful for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. They are low in calories, composing just 50 calories per 100 g weight. Nonetheless, they are rich source of dietary fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. The fruits are enriched with numerous health promoting phyto-chemicals; that helps prevent heart disease, reduce LDL, ("bad cholesterol") levels and offer protection against cancers. It is an excellent source of vitamin-A, and carotene. 

So, if you don’t feel like slaving yourself cooking up meals at the kitchen. Go make yourself this refreshing drink to chill down and to beat the heat!  

It is extremely healthy, yummy and easy to make. If you want to revitalize your energy than it is must to try cooler.

Serves: 3 People

Preparation Time: Under 15 minutes

Cooking Time: Under 10 minutes