VAZHAITHANDU MOR | NEER MOR WITH BANANA STEM

Summer has started and many parts of India it is in peak. To beat the heat, we need to hydrate ourself with loads of water, cucumber and fresh fruits. Buttermilk | Neer mor is a best summer cooler and to make it more tasty i have already posted Neermor and Masala chaas recipe here. Last month  when i went  to India, my sister after making morkootu with vazhaithandu, made this vazhaithandu mor for all of us. We had this after a heavy breakfast, and it tasted very nice. Later after coming back here, i tried this few times and i can say i am addicted to this. You could never know that Vazhaithandu is added in this butter milk. Enjoy summer with this healthy drink.

Milk masala powder | Home made milk masala

Milk masala is a blend of nuts and aromatic spices, we used to get Everest Milk masala in mustafa center here in Singapore. I have used this in many of my sweet recipes like rasmalai, motichoor ladoo, malpua.. But last time when i went and checked in mustafa it was not there. So i decided to do it at home. I know from the package the ingredients they used so it is quite easy for me to do it. I have made this in one of my cookery class which i did at my home here in Singapore. I wanted to share this recipe of milk masala with you all. You can also add this to milk and drink it as masala milk too.
Stay tuned for few sweet recipes coming up using milk masala powder.

Ridge gourd dal recipe - Peerkangai dal

Ridge gourd dal | peerkangai paruppu is a simple dal recipe, perfectly accompanies with rice and roti. Ridge gourd, takes place more often in my kitchen always in the form of thogayal. Few days before i got a pack of 4 super fresh ridge gourd from a nearby Indian store. They were tiny and too fresh and i wanted to try out a new recipe using ridge gourd. Already i have posted a andhra style mango dal recipe and tried a recipe similar to this using ridge gourd |peerkangai. It turned out very well and we all enjoyed this for lunch along with hot steamed rice.

Soda Sarbath recipe | Nannari Sarbath

Soda sarbath |nannari sarbath, the name itself gives me lots of childhood memories. We used to get this soda sarbath in a near by potti kadai (petty shop) in my Home town in Madurai. They have few varieties of syrup to add to the sarbath but we love this nannari syrup to be added to the sarbath. My mama used to take us to the shop in his 2 wheeler and we love to see the way the shop keeper is making it. Especially the sound he makes while mixing it in the last is so fascinating for us those days. Most of our summer holidays will be spent like this. We will eagerly look forward for mama to come and take us to the shop. When i bought nannari sarbath 2 days back during our visit to Mustafa, i decided to make this soda sarbath. After finishing the video of soda sarbath today, i tasted a sip from that and immediately the taste brought back so many childhood memories. The 2 wheeler, mama, our trip to the shop, the shopkeeper, the sound of mixing.... i relished the soda sarbath by thinking of my childhood memories.

Soda sarbath recipe

  Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : Nil |Serves: 1

    Nannari syrup  2-3 tblsp
    Lemon juice   2 tblsp
    Ice cubes  2
    Soda water | plain soda|club soda  1 cup
                                              Video of how to make soda sarbath

                   
     

Method:

• Take a glass. Add the nannari syrup. Nannari sarbath we get in super markets. I got it from Mustafa center Singapore.
•  We get this towards the end of the paneer section before the masalas. Also few shops in little India sell nannari syrup.

• Add lemon juice to this.
• Add ice cubes. 

• Add the plain soda |club soda to this.
• Mix well with a spoon. 

• Serve immediately. 

Notes:

• If you want you can replace nannari syrup with rose syrup. Personally i haven't tried this but i feel it will be good.
• You can replace plain soda with sprite or limca and skip the lemon juice.
• No need to add sugar to this as nannari syrup has sugar in it.
• If you do not want soda you can add plain water.

Thakkali Sambar recipe | Easy tomato sambar

Thakkali sambar | Tomato sambar is an easy sambar recipe, generally made as a side dish for idli | dosa | Ven pongal. My grandmother makes thakkali sambar whenever she runs out of veggies in the kitchen. That she makes in the same way as we make drumstick sambar. This tiffin sambar recipe i followed the method which our neighbour aunty in Madurai used to make. As i got a huge pack of  super ripe tomatoes from little India, i thought i will make this easy tomato sambar. I have made a video of tomato sambar too. Try this at home and let me know how it turned out.
Check out my

• Thakkali kuzhambu
• Tomato pickle

Mango ginger lemonade | Mango recipes

Mango lemonade is a popular mango based juice made using fresh mango pulp and lemon juice. When i tried Grape juice few years back i added a small piece of ginger to this. That was a super hit at home. So i wanted to try the same with mango lemonade too. Generally for lemonade they make simple syrup, that is sugar syrup, but i wanted to make it simple so just added sugar as we do for other juices. Enjoy summer with mangoes. As mangoes are peak in season now, i will be posting a mango recipe every week. All mango lovers stay tuned.

Mango ginger lemonade

  Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : Nil |Serves: 3 

    Alphonso mango  1 small
    Sugar  3-4 tblsp
    Ginger   a small piece (optional)
    Lemon juice  1 tblsp
    Water  3 cups
    Ice cubes   few
                                               Video of how to make mango lemonade

      
     

Method:

• Peel the skin of the alphonso mango and take out the pulp. It came out 3/4 cup of mango pulp.
• Grind the mango, ginger and sugar into a fine paste. Add little water while grinding. 

• After grinding transfer it to a wide bowl. Add 3 cups of water and few ice cubes.
• Add the lemon juice.

• Mix well using a whisk.
• Sieve it to get rid of the fibre from the ginger or mango if any.

• Mango lemonade is ready.

• Serve chilled.

Notes:

• Instead of lemon juice you can add 1/2 cup of orange juice too.
• If you do not want ginger skip it, but i highly recommend ginger as it was so refreshing.
• You can replace sugar with honey. 
• You can garnish with few mint leaves for an additional flavour too.
• I used alphonso mangoes for the mango lemonade, you use any variety of rip mango available in your place.

   

  

Caramel payasam recipe | Payasam recipes

Caramel payasam recipe with video

Caramel payasam | caramel kheer, is similar to the paal payasam recipe, with 3 major ingredients, but with a variation of caramelising the sugar. I have this payasam tried few times but i chose to post it today to celebrate a special event. Yes, my in laws are celebrating their 50th Wedding anniversary today. Yesterday they had a small get together in Chennai. As things were planned in the last minute i couldn't join the event. But my husband and his 2 brothers were there with them on this special occasion. So this caramel payasam comes as a virtual treat for them.
Check out my rice kheer recipe.

Caramel payasam recipe

  Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 35 Mins |Serves: 5-6

    Full cream Milk  4 cups
     Sugar  1/2 cup
     Nuts  to garnish (optional)
     Raw rice or millets or basmati rice  3 tbslp
     Salt  a pinch
                                        Video of how to make caramel payasam

          

     

Method:
  For this recipe pressure cooker works out well. If needed grease a pressure cooker with ghee. Though i don't do it i have seen my mami doing this.

• Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes. You can use millets or basmati rice. Even seeraga samba rice works out well.
• Add 1/4 cup of sugar into the cooker. Do not add water. Keep the flame medium.

• Let the sugar caramalise and turn into golden brown, amber colour. 
• Do not stir it often. Just keep a close eye on this. 
• Once the sugar starts turning out golden colour, immediately pour the milk. 

• Better switch off the flame and pour the milk. You can add the raw milk. Be careful as it may splutter.
• Stir it once. You may find some sugar sticking to the bottom but do not worry, it will be ok once it is done.
• Drain the water from soaked rice and add it to the milk.

• Cover the lid of the cooker and give one whistle. Sometimes it may flow. 
• After one whistle, keep the flame in the lowest possible flame.
•  If your stove do not have this  option, heat a dosa pan and put the cooker on the top of the pan.  Keep in low flame and let it sit for 30 minutes.
• Switch off the flame. Once the pressure completely subsides open the cooker.
• Add 1/4 cup of sugar, If you need the caramel payasam more sweeter add few more tblsp of  extra sugar.

• Stir it well.
• Add a pinch of salt. This balances the sweetness and the slight bitterness of the caramel. Thank you raji for giving me this tip. 
• Garnish with nuts. I used almonds and pistachios.

• We generally don't add cardamom in paal payasam. I feel the overpowering flavour of cardamom suppress the caramel flavour. 

Notes:

1. When you add sugar in the beginning for caramelisation, keep the flame medium. Once you see the light golden brown colour, be alert and it will immediately turn amber /honey colour. 
2. If you feel the basmati rice is big pulse it once in a mixie  and then soak it and add.
3. For me 1/2 cup sugar was just perfect but if you want some more sugar add it some more.
4. The entire payasam can be made on a heavy bottomed vessel. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour on a low flame like how we make the kerala payasam. 
5. Enjoy the caramel payasam | caramel kheer, hot or chilled. Both ways it taste yum.

    

Rose milk shake recipe | Milkshake with ice cream

Rose milk shake recipe is influenced by Sri krishna sweets and MTR rose badam drink. I am a huge fan of rose milk from my childhood. Amma used to make this for us almost everyday in summer. We used to make rose milk popsicle in freezer trays and enjoy during summer vacation. Whenever i travel to Chennai, i buy this Rose badam drink bottle in Sri Krishna sweets and but Madras Mixture for kids as they are a big fan of that. I wanted to make it simple and serve it as a milkshake. I added few more nuts apart from badam. It tasted so yummy and kids loved it too. Check out my badam milkshake. 

Spicy Masala poori recipe | Travel friendly recipes

Spicy masala poori, i happened to taste this for the first time in our Europe trip last year. We landed in London and from there took a package holiday trip to Europe. The travel of 9 days was with a group of 40 people. Among that there is one big Gujarati family from US and also people from other parts of the world were there. The entire trip was awesome filled with joy,music and of course food. The gujarati family packed a whole lot of chivda and masala pooris and distributed to all of us during the entire trip. I have already posted the chivda recipe and since it is holiday season, i thought i will post the masala poori recipe too. It is a deep fried poori, which stays good for 2-3 days, but in the excellent weather of Europe it stayed good for 10 days. If you are making long train journeys, as khakras and dosas  this is also a perfect one.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins | Eggless baking recipes

Whole wheat chocolate chip muffins i recently came across in a facebook forum and tried it last week for kids snack box. If you are following jeyashirs kitchen on Instagram, you must have seen this in my story. As varsha bakes a lot now a days, it has been a long time since i baked anything. This eggless muffins was loved by kids and i thought i will make it again and post the recipe in jeyashri's kitchen. As the summer holidays are on, you can make this for kids and ask them to help you out in the kitchen too. Check out my eggless baking recipes.