We are in the mid of March and I can clearly see the mercury soaring to new levels with every passing week. I shudder to think of how nature will unravel itself in the months of April-May, which have been the conventional ‘hot months’ in India.
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Bhindi (Okra) Raita
Dear readers, in the culinary landscape of Indian cuisine, Biryani is one of those revered dishes that finds itself equally popular amongst the elites and the general masses. Just as you would need an eye of a fine art connoisseur to appreciate the work of Picasso, magic of biryani needs to be discerned by an ardent food connoisseur.
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Chocolate Walnut Ice-Cream
I know, I know, all those who are rolling their eyes in disbelief and shaking their heads in disapproval seeing a post on recipe of Ice-cream come at the far end of summers, I guess a part in me which leans towards being reasonable and commonsensical would agree with all of you. However the excited half of me, which has often pushed me to make many unreasonable moves in my life, stares back at realist and asks, why play by rulebook all the time? Be impulsive. Sometimes it is fun to be crazy.
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Pudina Mattha -Mint flavored buttermilk
This year summers has been a tad bit uncharitable. Actually bearing the intensity of sun shining over my shoulders, as I sit with my laptop writing this post in my balcony, I believe “tad bit” doesn’t fit the bill. It is just 8 am in the morning and sun has come out in its full glory, its scorching heat disallowing even the gentlest of breeze. The last two days mercury has been hovering near 42 degrees Celsius, and this is one record that I hate to see being broken.
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Gulab Lassi-Rose flavored Lassi
This week we decided to hop onto beverages category and make something that suits the changing weather. Actually, the reason for this post is twofold, summers and the arriving festivity.
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Lauki Ka Raita
Lauki or bottle gourd is a vegetable that often gets overlooked when one is doing weekly rationing of vegetable. It often gets labelled as a vegetable that is unexciting for the palate. Everyone in family, kids and adults want to shy away from having it served in their plate.
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Aloo Pudina Raita (Potato-Mint Raita)
Last week we had a dinner planned out for our guest. On their insistence we kept it a low key affair. We decided to do away with an elaborate 4 course meal and make a simple one-pot meal. What better than a Biryani for such meals. As our guests had a strong appetite and craving for fiery food, we made biryani reasonably spicy to suit their palate. However, we were hesitant and decided to go easy by adding a Raita to our menu. We needed something that will complement the spicy biryani and will provide a cooling after-effect and so we added Aloo-Pudina Raita to our menu.
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Dry Fruit Lassi
Lassi is a yogurt based drink that is more popular in north India and more specifically in Punjab. However, my first encounter with this drink happened in Mumbai, city where I was born. The street food in Mumbai reflects the cultural ethos of the city. The inhabitants of this city practice different faith, religion, have different food practices and often speak in different language that separates them in many ways but at the same time there are many common threads that keeps the city together and it reflects in its attitude and spirit also popularly known as Mumbaikar spirit. This feeling of oneness keeps the city together during times of peace and turbulence.
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Paan Pasanda Ice cream (Betel leaf Ice cream)
This was on my cards; the recipe had waited long enough, as an entry in my recipe diary and it was about time I made this dessert.If you are wondering, how it tastes like, I would use a term to describe it, that I heard in the movie “Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory”, “its scrumdiddlyumptious”. I can’t get over the taste of this ice-cream. One of my dear friends “Chaya Ratnaparkhi” had shared this recipe with me some time ago. I had discussed this recipe with Pranay and how we should be preparing this ice-cream sooner than later. Finally, last Sunday we decided to make it.
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Tender Coconut Punch
As per an old Swedish proverb “A life without love is like a year without summer”. I completely subscribe to the thought behind that lovely proverb, although I am not sure how many Indians would have that feeling for the summers. This month of May sun has been overbearing. As we crank up the air conditioning at home and offices to make it little cooler, I often see people become crankier in summers. As mercury raises so do our temper, which is why we witness increased level of honking in traffic and road rage incidents during summers.
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