Badam Milk(Almond Milk)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup almonds (soaked for about 6 hrs)
• 3 cups milk
• Sugar to taste
• 2/3 tsp cardamom powder
• 2 tbsps kewra essence (available at Indian groceries) - optional

PREPARATION:

Grind the almonds to a smooth paste in your food processor. Add a little milk to do this. A lot of people like to remove the skin from the almonds before grinding them. I don't do this as the skin contains many nutrients.

You can do it if you wish, by pressing the almonds between your thumb and index finger. The skin will slip off quite easily.

Mean while bring milk to a boil then add almond paste, saffron strands soaked in milk, sugar and cardamom powder, kewra essence (if using).

Simmer it down for about 5 min.

Serve chilled/ warm.

Note:- Along with almonds Pistachios can also be added.

Strawberry Smoothie

Strawberry smoothies are the most popular fruit smoothie recipes. They are simple to make and are very abundant most seasons.

Ingredients:

6 large strawberries
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 cup of whole milk
1 cup of ice cubes

Method:-

1. Remove the stalks from the strawberries
2. Rinse the strawberries under the cold tap and cut them into slices
3. Put the strawberries into a blender
4. Add the milk and blend on low speed till well smooth, than add ice cubes and blend on high.
5. Add sugar and blend on high speed for about 1 minute.
6. The texture should be slushy and smooth.
7. Pour into two glasses
8. Serve

Orange Banana smoothie

For an energy kick, there's nothing like a fruit smoothie.This creamy, refreshing drink is great for breakfast.This is rich in Proteins as it contains soy milk.

Ingredients:-

1 1/2 cup--Soy milk

1/2 cup--vanilla low fat yogurt

1small-banana cut in to chunks
Salt apinch
1/4-cup sugar

1 cup orange juice
1 cup Ice cubes


Method:-

1. In a blender, combine milk, oranges juice , banana, sugar, salt and yogurt. Blend for about 1 minute. Insert ice cubes, and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

APRICOT & ALMOND DELIGHT

Apricot and Almond Delight is naturally healthy nutritious smoothie perfectly fit for a natural sunny day.It is a thirst quencher.Apricots are a good source of beta-carotene. Three fruits contain 2 mg, or about 30 % of the recommended daily amount of beta-carotene. Three Apricots contain 3 g of fiber.Yet this sweet, velvety fruit contains a variety of compounds that research shows can fight infections, blindness, and heart disease.
It is now summer in the Paris and the grocery stores are filled with the aroma of delicious and fresh Apricots.Seeing that I can't stop myself from buying Apricots and here is how the Apricot and Almond Delight comes out.....


Ingredients:-
5 or 6 fresh apricots (or use canned apricots without sugar)
1 cup orange juic
6-1/2-ounces low-fat yogurt
1 Tbsp sliced almonds
2 or 3 ice cubes
Honey according to ur taste
grated nutmeg

Method:-

Place all ingredients in blender container and process until well mixed. Sprinkle with nutmeg before serving.

Apple Banana Milk Shake

Apple and Banana Shake is an excellent thirst quencher for summers and it is also quite nutritious which really keeps you full for a long time. You can even serve it to your guests in summer afternoons.

Ingredients:-

1 banana, peeled and chopped
1 apple, peeled and chopped
¼ cup of milk or water
2tsp Sugar (or as per ur taste)
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:-

Blend all the ingredients into a blender jar and pour in two tall glasses.
Refrigerate for a few minutes and serve .
You can also add 2 scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream instead of milk or water. That also tastes really good.

Strawberry Shake for Valentines Day

Ingredients:-

1 cup fresh Strawberries 
1/4 cup Strawberry Ice cream
2 cups Milk3 tsp Sugar or To taste SugarIce -cubes




Method:- 

Wash strawberries properly and remove the stems.
Blend strawberries and little milk together in a blender until crushed properly into a smooth paste.
Add the remaining milk, Strawberry Ice cream ,sugar and crushed ice. Blend again for another 30 seconds or so. 
Served chilled in glasses.
Garnish each shake with strawberry.
Enjoy the Delicious Healthy Strawberry Shake!The drink is perfect for Valentine's Day!

Thandai - Holi Special Recipe

Thandai is a wonderful cold refreshing and healthy flavored milk that is traditionally prepared during the Holi festival (festival of colors). When people become a little exhausted after playing exciting yet tiresome holi a glass of Thandai offers instant energy and cools the body.




Ingredients:-

Almonds- 1/4 cup
Blanched Melon Seeds( Magaz) - 1 tbsp.
Soaked Poppy Seeds (Khus Khus) – 2 tbsp
Whole Fat Milk – 500 ml.
Peppercorns – 3
Fennel Seeds (Saunf) – ½ tsp.
Cardamom (Elaichi) - 2
Sugar – 150 gm.
Rose water – 1 tsp
Saffron Strands -Few
Some slivered pistachios and a few saffron strands for garnishing




Method:-

1) Heat the milk ,then add sugar.
2) Stir it till sugar dissolves completely and remove from flame.
3) Add Saffron Strands.
4) Allow the milk to cool to room temperature.
5) Blend almonds, melon seeds, Soaked poppy seeds to a smooth paste.
6) Grind the fennel seeds, pepper corns and cardamom into fine powder.
7) Add the powder ,paste to the boiled milk.Mix well.
8) Refrigrate it for 2-3 hours.This allows the flavours to infuse into the milk.
9) Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and discard the solids.
10) Add rose water and Mix well.
11) Serve Chilled after granishing with Silvered pistachios and saffron strands.
12) Lip Smacking Thandai is ready:)




Tip:- You can also use 1/4 cup dried or fresh rose petals or gulkand variety rose petals too.

Honeydew Kiwi Smoothie / Summer Coolers

Smoothies seem to be the perfect summer treat. Kiwi smoothie is an ideal drink for breakfast and also perfect for a hot sunny day. It is refreshing and cool beverage but also a rich source of vitamin C and minerals.

Serves -2  

Ingredients:-

2 cups cubed honeydew melon
2 ripe kiwi, peeled and sliced
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp Honey / Sugar
1 Cup Ice Cubes

Method:-

In blender, whirl honeydew, kiwi, lime juice, sweetener and Ice cubes until smoothly blended. .
Pour into Glasses.
Garnish each glass with Kiwi Slice or Honey dew slices.
Serve immediately.
Honeydew Kiwi Smoothie is ready to enjoy :-)

Mirchi Bajji ( Mirapakaya Bajji)

Mirchi Bajji is an Indian street food and is popular during the monsoon season served with coconut chutney . Be it any season or any celebration in Hyderabad you see Mirchi Bajji is the common snack or appetizer to start with. It is the best snack for teatime. It is favorite of many people. This is mine and my husband's all-time favourite snack.Every one in our family just love mirchi bajji.With little garnish it can be just heaven on earth eating the spicy yummy mirchi bajji.

Ingredients:

long green chillies - 10
gram flour - 2 cups
baking soda - 1/4th tsp
cumin powder - 2 tsp
Ajwan powder - 2tsp
salt
oil

for serving/garnishing:

1 medium sized onion finely chopped
chat masala 
1 lime/lemon

Method:
1) Wash green chillies, make a slit on one side of the chillies and carefully remove the seeds using the back side of your teaspoon.If you are a spicy eater, then can leave the seeds as it is, but I usually remove them.
or the secondary way, to remove the spiciness is;boil some water in a small pot with salt, drop these green chillies and remove within a minute or two and then make a slit in them.
2) Mix gram flour,salt, baking soda and make a thick batter.
3) In a small cup mix cumin powder, Ajwan Powder ,salt . Apply this mixture inside the slit green chillies lightly.
4) Heat oil in a wok, dip the chillies one by one in the batter and deep fry them. 

5) For garnishing, chop an onion finely, slit the bajji length wise and stuff the onion on top. Drizzle some lime juice on top. Sprinkle coriander, cumin powder on top . Enjoy :))

Mysore Bajji /Mysore Bonda

Now a days weather has become very cold and its raining here.This rainy weather made me to crave for some hot deep fried food on saturday. So I made Mysore Bajji on saturady evening for snacks.Mysore Bajji are very tasty and delicious, especially good in rainy or cold day. My kid loves to eat these bajjis and its my favorite one too..

Ingredients:-

Maida/All purpose flour -2 cups
Sour curd - 2 cups
Onions - 2 small, finely chopped
Baking Soda -1/4 tsp
Green chillies 6 paste (As per the spice you can adjust )
Coriander leaves finely chopped
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry




Method:-

1) Mix maida / All purpose flour ,chopped onions, green chillies paste, coriander leaves ,salt with curd like a thick batter with out any lumps .Add Baking soda .Mix it Well. Keep it aside for 30 mins.
2) The batter should be loose enough like bajji batter.. Take a spoon and scoop the batter, dip the batter into hot oil or take a small quantity with hand and slowly drop in to hot oil. Fry till they are golden brown and remove them on a kitchen towel.
3) You can serve hot with coconut chutney ,peanut chutney ,chutney of your choice or tomato sauce.
You can have it for breakfast or evening snack.
Tip:- Sour curd makes Mysore Bajji Fluffy.