Papaya Milkshake

          Papaya, I have never been a big fan of this fruit in the past, the smell was too strong for me and for all other unknown reasons, I had avoided it. But now, I have developed a liking for this fruit, I think, might be the hybrid varieties available don't have the very strong smell and also, knowing the health benefits of this fruit, you want to set a good example for your kids. At home, we like it ripe but at the same time firm, not overripe and mushy and we just have it as such. The other day I tried out this simple milkshake with it, it turned out very good. I didn't add any flavors to it, just milk, papaya and honey, very healthy and tasty. Only, one warning, make this milkshake fresh and just have it right away, it might taste a little bitter with time..

Need To Have

• Papaya Pieces - 1 cup
• Cold Milk - 1 cup
• Chilled Water - 1/2 cup
• Honey Or Sugar - 1 teaspoon or as needed

Method

          Blend the papaya pieces with half the milk, till it turns into a smooth mixture. Then add the remaining, milk, honey or sugar and pulse it lightly. That's it, serve it immediately.

Note
If needed, you can add some cardamom for flavor.
If you refrigerate, it not only tends to turn bitter, but also thickens up.
If you use fat free milk, then you can avoid the water, just make the milkshake as thick or thin as you prefer.

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Oats Apricot Smoothie

          As I had already said, both my husband and daughter are totally against having oats in the form of a porridge, the only way they'll have it is in a upma, or camouflaged  in some dosa batter, they both don't like the slimy texture of cooked oats. Couple of weeks back, I made this smoothie with oats and apricot, is very easy to prepare and tastes really delicious, sans the sliminess of oats. My daughter had no complaints and I am happy that I could include oats in her diet in some form, try this out when you are tired of having the regular oats porridge..

Need To Have

• Quick Cooking Oats - 3 tablespoon
• Apricot Preserves - 4 teaspoons
• Cold Milk - 1 cup

Method

          Powder the oats as finely as possible, then add the apricot jam or preserves and a little milk, blend it well to make a smooth paste. Now add the remaining milk and blend it one more time and serve.

Note
Can use  any jam of your choice, or even fresh fruits.
The sugar in the preserves was enough for us, if using fresh fruits, add sugar as needed.

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Strawberry Almond Milkshake

          It's already very hot here in India, especially the afternoons, no longer do I feel like having hot coffee or tea, even kids want to have something cold. Milkshakes are the best, kids get their daily dose of milk, plus, when you add fruits and nuts to it, makes it even more nutritious. Since strawberries are now in season, I made this Strawberry Almond Milkshake, very easy to make and very delicious..

Need To Have

• Strawberries - 15 small ones
• Almonds - 8 
• Cold Milk - 2 cups
• Sugar - 2 teaspoons

Method

          Soak the almonds in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, remove the skin and keep. Take the almonds, strawberries ( washed ), and sugar, blend smoothly, adding very little milk. Once you get a smooth paste, add the rest of the milk, blend it once more, serve cold.

Note
Can replace sugar with honey.
While grinding the almonds and strawberries, add as little milk as possible, then only you'll get a smooth paste.
The amount of sugar added depends on the sweetness of the strawberries.

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Pomegranate Juice

          Pomegranate, I am not going to go into a discussion about this wonderful fruit's health benefits, enough has been said, and also I am in the middle of so many things now, so straight off to the dish or drink. Pomegranate juice, unlike back in the US, here in India, whenever I tasted it, it's made with a little milk and tastes lot more sweeter, I think kids would prefer this much more. It's very easy to prepare, just takes about 5 minutes and perfect for the hot weather..


Need To Have

• Pomegranate Arils (the seed like red edible part) - 1 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Method

          There's is not a big method for making this, take everything in a blender and blend well. Strain it and serve chilled.

Note
You can make this entirely with milk, but we like it with milk and water, so the final product is more like a juice than a milkshake, without too much of milk flavor.
Can replace sugar with honey, again the amount varies depending on the sweetness of the fruit.

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Strawberry Lassi/ Strawberry With Yogurt

          Few years back, strawberries were hardly seen in India, especially in Chennai, very difficult to get them. But now, I see a lot, not only in the big shops, the local vegetable vendor brings them too and they taste good too. Though we are happy to have them plain, as such, my daughter also likes to have it with some melted chocolate and we also like to have it in this lassi. It's not much of a recipe, just blending together the strawberries with yogurt and sugar..

Need To Have

• Strawberries - 10 medium size, chopped
• Curd/ Yogurt - 1 cup
• Sugar - 5 teaspoons or to taste

Method

          Blend the strawberries smoothly along with the sugar. To this add the yogurt and blend it well. Chill it and enjoy.

Note
Can replace sugar with honey.
I didn't add any other flavoring agent, you can add some cardamom if you want.
The above quantity is good for 2 servings.

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Strawberry Jelly Milkshake

          How many times in a day or in a week we get excited about something, and then what are all the things for which we get excited, well, this differs from person to person. But as a food blogger there is one more thing we get excited about, when the dish we make comes out super good and it's a double bonus when it's just two ingredients that go into it and it's super easy too. Well this strawberry jelly milkshake is one such, it tastes very different from the regular strawberry milkshake but very tasty..

Need To Have 

• Chilled Milk - 1 + 1/4 cup
• Smuckers Simply Fruit - Strawberry - 6 teaspoons

Method

          A word about Smuckers Simply Fruit, it is just spreadable fruit sweetened with juice concentrate from other fruits, so no sugar added. Now take the milk and the fruit preserve in a blender, blend it well and serve it and that's it.

Note
There might a little fruit at the bottom that's not blended, if you have very fuzzy kids, strain and give.
For those in India, if you are not able to find Smuckers Simply Fruit, try it with the local brand, it should also taste good.

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Rose Lassi

          Today before going into the recipe, I want to share something with my fellow blogger friends. On Tuesday, I was not able to see my blog, an error message kept popping up, saying that the blog has been removed, I got really worried, very close to tears. After checking on google, I left a query in the google help forum, I didn't get any reply, but finally my blog appeared after nearly 15 hours. I was truly vexed during that time, from what I understood, there is an automated procedure which identifies blogs as spam blogs, and as with all systems, there is a chance of a false positive. I am sharing this here, because this could happen to any of you guys, in that case, don't lose heart, post your question in the google help forum, if it's a false alarm, everything will be back to normal within some time. If any of you out there has experienced something similar to this, do share it, so that we'll all know that we are not alone. 

          Now coming to today's dish, I shouldn't be really calling it so, it's so simple, technically it's just mixing and serving. After coming to India, the daughter and I have become big fans of rose milk, mainly because of the heat, I give her this when she comes back from school. The other day, I made it with curd instead of milk and we both loved it..

Need To Have

• Curd - 1 + 1/2 cup
• Rose Syrup - 8 teaspoons
• Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Method 

          Refrigerate the curd before doing this. Take all the ingredients in a blender or mixie, pulse till frothy, take out in glasses and serve. If you want you can decorate with edible rose petals and also serve topped with some fresh cream ( the thick layer that forms on top of the milk, not the store bought one).

Note

The rose syrup is available in Indian grocery stores.

The syrup contains sugar, but when you mix it with curd, since curd has a slight sourness, you need a little sugar, otherwise you can add more syrup, but then the flavor will become too much.

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Carrot Buttermilk

          Buttermilk, which is nothing but diluted yogurt (curd) is the best cooler for the hot Indian summer and an healthy option too. I try to make some variation to the simple plain buttermilk, this time I have added some carrots to the buttermilk and it came out good. My daughter who is not a big fan of carrots didn't have any problem in having this carrot buttermilk..

Need To Have

• Grated Carrot - 1/2 cup
• Green Chilly - 1
• Grated Ginger - 1 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 15
• Yogurt (Curd) - 1 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Salt - as required
• Mint Leaves - to garnish

Method
          Grind the carrots, green chilly, grated ginger, curry leaves, if needed add a little curd, grind it very finely. To this add the curd, water and salt, pulse it till everything is mixed well. Serve it chilled, garnished with some mint leaves.
You might also like the Cucumber Cooler.
Sending it to Sumee's Culinary Bites for the Bon Vivant - Sunny Refreshing Drinks event.

Note
Can leave out the green chilli, if you feel it'll be spicy or add 1/2 of it. 
Add more or less water depending upon the consistency you need it.

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Watermelonade

         Adding a little lemon juice to many fruit juices gives a nice taste to the juice, in fact it is way of increasing the sweetness of a juice without actually adding more sugar. But for today's watermelonade, I didn't add lemon juice to the watermelon juice, instead I added some frozen water melon cubes to the regular lemonade, this made it more interesting..

Need To Have 

• Watermelon Pieces - 1 cup
• Lemon -1 
• Sugar - as desired
• Water - 1 to 2 cups

Method
         Blend the watermelon pieces in a blender to get the juice, you can use this juice just like that or strain and use it. Pour the juice into ice cube trays and freeze them. Then squeeze the lemon juice, add the water and the sugar, mix well and chill it. To serve, pour the lemonade, top with the watermelon cubes, the dissolving watermelon cubes will start making the lemonade pink

Note
I didn't add any sugar to the watermelon cubes, it was sweet enough, if needed add some sugar.
Also you can add some ginger while blending the watermelon, this will give a nice kick to the drink.
Increase or decrease the amount of water for the lemonade, depending on the sourness of the lemon.

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Pineapple Juice With Ginger

         Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits, just love it in any form, plain slices, or sprinkled with some salt and chilli powder or as a juice. And also since the whole family likes it, I buy it very often. As always, fresh juice tastes better than the ones available in cartons. I also add some ginger to it, this makes it taste even better, adds more flavor and on the whole, a very simple and refreshing summer cooler..

Need To Have

• Pineapple pieces - 1/2 cup
• Grated Ginger - 1 teaspoon
• Lemon Juice - 1 tablespoon
• Water - 1/2 cup

Method
        Grind the pineapple pieces into a nice pulp. To this add the ginger, pulse it one more time. Then add the lemon juice and the water, blend everything well and serve it cold.
Sending it to Recipe Junction for Spotlight - Summer Cooler event,
                to Srav's Culinary Concepts for CC- Splash Into Summer event,
                to Divya's Culinary Journey for Showcase- Fun In The Sun event,
                to Pages for the Cool Summer Sips event,
                to Tickling Palates for Let's Cook - Kid's Special event and
Note
I find that adding the lemon juice boosts the sweetness of the juice without adding any extra sugar.
If the pineapple is very sour then you might need some sugar.
You can strain the juice or serve it as such.

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Cucumber Cooler

           Though it is not yet summer here officially, the weather has become a little warmer. You feel like having something cold now, be it juices, salads or ice creams. In my family, all of us like buttermilk, and my daughter likes the cucumber raitha, so I put the two together and  added some cucumber to the regular buttermilk. It's very simple to make, very healthy cooler and tasted really good..

Need To Have
Curd Or Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Cucumber - 1/2 cup chopped
Chopped Coriander - 1 tablespoon
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - to taste

Method
          Grind the cucumber pieces into a smooth paste. To this add the curd, coriander, salt and asfoetida, blend everything well. Serve it chilled.
Sending it to Pages for the Cool Summer Sips event,
                to Simply.Food for Sara's Cooking With Love - Dad event.
                to Recipe Junction for Spotlight - Summer Cooler event and
                to Tomato Blues for the Summer Spirits event.

Note
Remove the seeds from the cucumber before grinding it.
Homemade yogurt is always a little thin, if you are using store bought thick yogurt use some water.
If you buy buttermilk, do it the same way, there is no right consistency, it is individual preference.





 

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Mango Colada (Mango Drink With Coconut Milk)

          I like Pina Colada, with all the tropical flavors of pineapple and coconut in it, but of course without alcohol. Got to taste it only after marriage and thereafter, one of my favorite mocktails. I had bought this huge box of mangoes and wanted to make something with it apart from eating them plain and I also had some coconut milk ( not the canned ones, it comes in tetra paks at Trader Joe's, without the oily smell), so putting the two together, I made this delicious drink, replacing the pineapples with mangoes. Cheers, to all those mango lovers out there..

Need To Have

• Mango (ripe) cubes - 1/2 cup
• Coconut Milk - 1 cup
• Sugar - 3 tablespoons
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Lime juice - from 1/2 a lime

Method
          Blend the mango pieces to a smooth pulp, add the coconut milk, sugar, water and lime juice, blend everything together, serve it cold.


Sending it to Tickling Palates for the Let's Cook: Chilled Delights event,
                to Food Corner for the Midweek Fiesta event,
                to Vegetarian Food & Me for Gayathri's WTML event,
                to Tomato Blues for the Summer Spirits event,
                to Srav's Cooking Concepts for the CC - Spring Seasonal Food event and
                to The Pumpkin Farm for the Mango Mania 99 event.

Note
You can replace the water with ice cubes.
Adjust sugar according to the sweetness of the mangoes.
Can use fresh coconut milk, and also sugar replacements.

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Jigarthanda

     
          Jigarthanda is a drink very popular in Madurai, a city in Southern India. When I was a school going kid I used to spend most of my summer holidays there and this used to be my favorite drink. Though now it is available in some shops in Chennai too, taste wise still it doesn't come close  to what you get in Madurai. The main ingredient in this drink is badam (almond) gum which you get in medical stores (naatu (country) marandu kadai) in India. Whenever I have this drink now, it brings back those childhood memories..

Need To Have

• Badam Gum - 1 + 1/2 tablespoon
• Evaporated Milk - 3 tins
• Sugar - 10 - 12 tablespoons
• Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon

Method
          Soak the badam gum in 4 cups boiling water, in the night. Next day morning, the badam gum would have expanded like jelly, ( it'll look like plain gelatine), drain the water in a juice strainer and keep it in the fridge. In the meantime, heat the evaporated milk and mix in the sugar well, remove, cool and add the vanilla extract to it. To this, add the cooled badam gum, mix it with hand or an egg beater and chill it. Serve it as such or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Sending it to Gayathri's Cook Spot for the Walking Through Memory Lane event,
               to Zesty Palette for the Sweet Luv event,
                to Srav's Culinary Concepts for the Dish For Loved Ones event,
                to Tickling Palates for the Let's Cook-Sweet Somethings event,
                to Spice N Sugar Tales for the Cakes, Cookies And Desssert event,
                to Good Food for the Just 4 Fun event,
                to Anzz Cafe for the Valentine's Special event and
                to Sumee's Culinary Bites for the Bon Vivant event.

Note
Do not use more badam gum, it expands so much, the amount I have given will give 8 to 10 servings.
Can use condensed milk also, in that case reduce the sugar and add some boiled milk to it.
Badam gum might be available in ayurvedic medical stores too, just ask around.
I have shown the badam gum in the picture, and also the final consistency of the drink.

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