JalJeera - Summer Coolers - BM#5

JalJeera is the most refreshing drink. I had a taste of it when I visited a dhaba for the first time. Since then I never miss to drink it whenever I go to any dhaba. It my fav drink. It is best when served in a small matka pot. I never hesitate to ask for a second round of this wonderful JalJeera.
When I chose Summer coolers for this marathon. I knew this will surely get featured as one of the drinks that I prepare. I adopted the recipe from here
Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp Dry Cumin Seeds, roasted and ground


• 2 tbsp Mint Leaves Paste


• 1/2 tsp Cilantro Leaves Paste


• 1 tbsp Dried Mango Powder


• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice


• Pinch Sugar


• 5 cups Cold Water


• Kara Boondhi for garnish

Method:

• Roast and ground the Cumin Seeds


• Make seperate paste of coriander and mint leaves


• Take all the ingredients except water and boondhi in a bowl,mix well


• Add the cold water and mix well


• Serve in long glass


• Garnish with Kara boondhi just before you serve it ( else they will become soggy )

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Cold Coffee - Summer Coolers - BM#5

Cold coffee is my all time fav in coffee shops. This marathon has given me a chance to make it at home and relish it. Though I knew the ingredients and method to make Cold coffee, i still googled to find a recipe for it. I landed in Sanjeev Kapoor s site. I made the drink in accordance to this recipe

Trust me ..it was awesome and I loved it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Next time you get a craving to have cold coffee.. make it at home with the minimal ingredients you have and enjoy .

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani

Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh

Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika

Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ

Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani

Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Neer More / Butter Milk - Summer Coolers - BM#5

Neer More / buttermilk is a common thing in every indian household. Being so common in our lives , this buttermilk is sometimes not taken very seriously. It has a whole lot of nutrients and its the best natural cooler of our body.

Buttermilk is a Probiotic food. These contain living microorganisms, that can survive the passage through the stomach and become active in the intestines.
Healthy bacteria reside in everybody’s colon, and in return for food and a warm place to live these resident bacteria contribute to your health. One of the most intestinal-friendly resident bacteria is the family of lactobacteria, so-called because they thrive on lactose sugars. The commonest form is L.acidophilus.
Here are some healthy things these bacteria do to your body:
1. Manufacture vitamins
2. Improve digestion
3. Boost Immunity
4. Manufacture nutrients
5. Protect against cardiovascular diseases
6. Protect against carcinogens
Buttermilk is lower in fat than regular milk, because the fat has been removed to make butter. It is also high in potassium, vitamin B12, calcium, and riboflavin as well as a good source of phosphorus. Those with digestive problems are often advised to drink buttermilk rather than milk, as it is more quickly digested. Buttermilk has more lactic acid than skim milk.
Now buttermilk is made by adding cultured bacteria to low-fat or fat-free milk, just like yogurt. The live cultures provide its distinctive rich, creamy texture–and a host of health benefits.
Going on to the simple preparation of Neer More

Ingredients:
1. Curd - 2 Cups
2. Salt to taste
3. Ginger - 1 small piece
4. Green chilli - 1 cut into small pieces

5. Cumin Powder - a pinch

Method:
1. Take curd in a big bowl and whisk it using the Thayir Mathu

2. Add salt, crushed ginger and chillies and whisk again

3. Store in a mud pot for the neer more to cool

4. You can refrigrate it also alternatively

5. Add a pinch of cumin powder when you serve

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Rose Milk - Summer Coolers - BM #5

Rose milk is yet another cooler that I have relished from the road side cool drink shops. I remember having a lot of this cooler with my dear chitti. Whenever we both go out to the market or shops, people at home can vouch that we will surely have a glass of rose milk before we head back home.As a child i was fascinated by the pink color of the drink. Later only did I realise the coloring agent that does the work.
I was kinda nostalgic when the cooler was being prepared at home.

Simple yet yummy recipe

Ingredients:
1.Cold Milk - 2 cups
2.Rose essence - 2 tsps ( I used Roohafza )
3. Sugar - 3 tsps

Method:
1. Take all the ingredients in a blender
2. Blend well till frothy
3. Serve Chilled

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani

Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh

Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika

Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ

Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani

Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Mango Popsicle - Summer Coolers - BM#5

What are summer coolers without the flavor of the season , mango .. I love them so much, but keep them at a distance owing to the calories they have . Mango has a special place in my tastes .. have a pieces of that sweet fruit with vanilla icecream.. My athai loves that combination.
Mangoes and mom are inseperable she defenitely needs to have it with curd rice during this season.
I had a different plan this time. So made popsicles out of fresh mango pulp. It was sooper .. you must give it a try for the freshness of the popsicle made from fresh mango rather than essence or artificial flavoring. Simple yet delicious. I have two more popsicles to be posted but Im reserving them to be posted after the marathon. I want to post the ones that came after I did a lot of thinking, after choosing Summer Coolers as my theme. But do watch this space for more popsicle ideas.

Coming to the recipe
Ingredients
1. Mango Pulp - 2 cups
2. Sugar - as required

Method

1 Clean the mangoes and cut them into small pieces
2. In a blender take the cut mangoes along with sugar and make a pulp ( i did not add water )
3. Pour this mixture into popsicle moulds and freeze for 3 hours
4. Yummy mango popsicle ready

My dear fellow bloggers are

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Vazhathandu Saaru - Summer Coolers - BM#5

I am not sure how many people will agree on this point.. With age your taste for food also differs. In my case .. I used to hate Vazhathandu , Vazhapoo, Pavakai during my childhood days. But today I relish these veggies. May be because I have understood the nutritional value and give more importance to healthy food rather than tasty food.
This vazhathandu saaru is a very very healthy drink for people who are obese and suffer from kidney problems. It is known to be an excellent cooler for the whole body. It is very apt to have it during summer as helps to keep the body cool in this high temperature environment. Making this is very simple.
Caution: People who have sinusitis try a small quantity or consult your physician before you start taking this as a part of your regular diet.

Ingredients:

1. Vazhathandu - 1 foot long stem

2. Salt - a pinch

Method:

1. Cut the thandu into small pieces

2. Put into a blender and make a smooth paste

3. Add a little water if required

4. Strain the blended thandu and extract the juice

5. Add a pinch of salt and serve chilled

Do check what my fellow runners are upto for the second day of the blogging marathon.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Jayasree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Vaishali, Suma
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Kamalika, Srivalli

Orange Popsicle - Summer Coolers for BM#5

Hi Everybody, here I am back with my creations for the blogging marathon # 5.. which is the brain child of Srivalli. Something very strange between Srivalli and me , we always land up choosing the same themes for marathon. When we had a chat about this marathon, I told her its tough to do Coolers without having fruit juices and milkshakes, but then what is life without challenge. I put on my thinking cap and came up with 7 summer coolers that will be presented to you in the week to come. Presenting to you my first creation - Orange Popsicle.

As a child I have always fancied an orange or a grape popsicle owing to fact the color that they leave in the tongue after you have had them. So I decided to make it first this time. Trust me it was so simple and the result was incredible. I was so happy for myself. My nephew and nieces are coming down next month, so this will surely feature in the menu.

Getting on to the recipe of Orange Popsicle
Ingredients to make 2 popsicles
1.Kissan Orange Squash - 5 tsps
2.Water - 2 cups
3.Sugar - as required

Method:
1. Mix the ingredients in a clean vessel
2. Wait till all the sugar that you have added gets completely dissolved
3. Drain the mixture through a fine cloth so that any foreign particles in the sugar gets filtered off.
4. Pour them into popsicle moulds and freeze for 4 hours.
5. Check after 3 hours and then depending on the texture of the popsicle you can freeze it for some more time
6. Show them under running water to remove the popsicle from the mould
7. Enjoy the Orange popsicle done in a very hygenic way.

I can see gleaming faces of many mothers out there who have found a way to satisfy their kids wants of eating a popsicle in a simple way. Keep watching this space I have three more popsicles lined up for the marathon

Do check out what my fellow runnners have done on Day 1

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Jayasree, Kaveri, Pavani,

Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,

Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,

Seven Days of Regional Specials: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Vaishali, Suma

Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani

Summer Coolers: Kamalika, Srivalli