Bel-phal Sarbat

Adding colours to the city: Colour plays a very important role in our lives. Experts in Colour therapy say that each colour has an energy and hence it affects us on a physical, emotional or psychological level to some extent. I don't have much knowledge about the therapy, but i know for the fact that colours do affect us at personal level. Though being a fan of monochrome images, i must admit that certain colours really brighten up my mood. A very important image i have impressed on my mind of "colour" is that of the girl wearing a red coat in the movie "Schindler's List". I am sure most of us have seen this classic! The idea behind showing that bright red coat (that too a little girl wearing it and walking alone amid the horror and panic) has made a lot of impact. 

I really adore artists who paint (one thing which i always lack- i can't even draw a decent elephant, haha). And even though i have very little knowledge about understanding a canvas, i just love hopping into some or the other art gallery and check the beautiful works of some artists. My use of colours is limited to clothes, home decor or food but for some people, the world is their canvas. They see a plain wall and their mind would be bouncing with ideas. They would see a plain car, and they would just know right how to elevate it with colours. I have even seen people draw some amazing stuff with pens or pencils on a tissue paper. During our recent walk in Connaught place in New Delhi, we walked through the streets of Shanker Market and saw some amazing art work of students from Jamia Millia Islamia and College of Art. 

Street art is catching up a lot in India now with students painting park benches, walls or even trash bins. Delhi Street Art (DSA) is working in promoting art on the walls. Here is a glimpse of the creativity we saw :

We wish many such walls get painted and we see a colourful town as colours surely make us smile. You can see the whole street is painted like that :

Walking through this lane and enjoying our shopping at Janpath, our throats started getting dry with the scorching heat. As thirst quencher, my mother-in-law suggested we have the "Bel-juice" on a stall we saw nearby. The name went bonkers to me. The fruit surely looked interesting but not sure of the hygiene of the stall-walah, we gave it a pass. When home, we bought that fruit from the sabziwalah, as i was keen on knowing the taste. The fruit looks like this:

(Please excuse my pictures, as i have clicked them all in a hurry with a phone :)

Belphal, as my in-laws told me, is also known as Kaveeth in Marathi. It is known as a very sacred fruit as it is used to worship Lord Shiva. Known as Wood Apple in English, this fruit is eaten to beat the heat in summers. Eaten fresh or in dried form, my mother in law told me the recipe of Bel-murabba that my husband's granny used to make. The pulp when mixed with milk makes a lip smacking milkshake but i was keen on having juice. So, all we did was just cut the fruit, added water to it and kept in refrigerator. The fruit leaves it's flavour in the water and this juice is said to treat all problems of stomach.

Bel-phal has a lot of benefits as mentioned in Ayurveda: It treats constipation, best for urinary infection, helps reduces cholesterol, to treat indigestion and above all, makes a refreshing drink. So, here's presenting Bel-phal Sarbat (Sherbet) :

Ingredients:

Belphal fruit - 1
Water - As much required to completely immerse the fruit (Keep adding water everyday as you remove the sherbet. Once you see clear water coming, its time to discard the fruit. Mine lasted for almost a week to 10 days). 
Black salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste (You can add jaggery too)

Recipe:

Cut the fruit and keep in a bowl with a lid. Add water as much required that the fruit is completely immersed. Keep refrigerated. 

Next day (or after 8-10 hours), remove the water (strain it in a glass), add black salt and sugar according to taste.

You can have it without sugar if the fruit is too sweet. So add according to taste.

Add more water to the fruit, cover with lid, refrigerate again and use the next day!

Another way of making the sarbat is :

Break the fruit and remove pulp. In a bowl, take sugar (as required) and add water to it. Bring it to boil, then add the pulp. Mix well and again bring to a boil. Put off the stove and let it come to room temperature. Transfer the syrup in a clean bottle and refrigerate. Use as and when require adding water to the concentrated syrup and a pinch of black salt.

I love when we use more of natural-fruity sarbat's and syrups than getting the ones from the market. Like Kairiche Panha is an all time favourite in our home, just as the Kokum Sarbat. You can also see my other posts on summer drinks :

1. Luscious Litchi
2. Watermelon Cooler

Also since yesterday was Mother's day, I would like to wish you all, a very Happy Mother's Day! Check out this post and blog of my school friend Shruti who's daughter just turned 2. She has penned down some beautiful writing about her journey as a mother :

https://sum4sruti.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/100/

Her blog : https://sum4sruti.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling


Happy Cooking :)

Luscious Lichi

What's in a name : Litchi is also spelled as Lichi and also as Lychee, though the pronounciation of all is the same ( Li-(t -silent) - chi ). Well, what's in a name or a spelling , when all that matters is this luscious, juicy, watery, super sweet tasting fruit!! Though a native to China, it is now cultivated in many parts of the world. I have had lichi drinks made with canned lichi juice back in Mumbai, but they never tasted so great. Guess the aroma fades away druing the canning process and the taste is extra-sweet for my buds. I never really saw lichis at the fruit stalls so much in Mumbai, as i see here in Delhi. In summers, the fruit stalls here are loaded with them and i am always tempted to buy them. They are irresistible. A great source of Vitamin C and minerals, Lichi's are cholestrol free and low in sodium content. I found out in wikipedia that Bihar produces almost 74 % of Lichi production in India. Makes for a livelihood for a lot of people there.

I am anyways not a canned/tinned drinker. I make sure that hubby dearest also consumes as much less soda as possible ( though he is a fan of Mirinda ). So i try to make some juices/drinks at home with fresh fruits always. One such drink i made was the Lichi Lemonade. A very simple drink, and makes for a perfect summer drink ! Refreshing, cool, juicy, and made right in your kitchen!!! Presenting the star-drink of summers : Luscious Litchi

Ingredients:

Lichis - 20

Lemon - 1 ( Adjust if you want less tangy or more )

Sugar - 2 tbsp

Water - as required ( Chilled )

Ice cubes - as required ( optional )

Black salt - just to taste

Recipe:

Remove the skin of the lichis and take out the pulp. Remove the seeds.

Make a puree of the lichi pulp and sugar ( you can also add powdered sugar directly ) in a blender.

Add the lemon juice of 1 lemon, and mix it well.

Remove from the blender and mix water as required. Add a little black salt. 

Pour in glass and garnish with lichi or fresh mint leaves.

You can add in some chopped litchi pieces to the lemonade.

It's best to serve this immediately, however if you want to store and serve later, store the lichi pulp with sugar in refrigerator and add in lemon juice at the time of serving.

Enjoy sipping this one cool drink :)

Happy Cooking :)

Watermelon Cooler

One Divine Drink : The summers seem never-ending here and temperatures rising day by day. Standing in the kitchen and cooking a meal gets me drenched in sweat. It's like taking a shower all over again. Day by day, i have started replacing solid food for lunch and prefer drinking some fruit juice, Aam panna or some Kokum sharbat. ( Making sure i have a heavy breakfast). Sometimes, just a fruit or fresh salad does the needful. My poor 4 legged angel babies also have to be kept in the AC and the walks have become short with the timings being early morning and late evening :) Summer fruits have started making way in the markets like watermelon, litchis, mangoes, papaya, muskmelon etc. Watermelon is one fruit which i can have any time of the day. Can eat it at breakfast, a juice in the evening instead of coffee or even as a dessert or sometimes, a midnight snack. It fills you up because of the water content and keeps you hydrated. I love to bite on the juice and when it drops down the sides of my mouth when i am trying to have a big bite!!! ( Yes, just like kids ! )It's fun when you become kids while eating food at times... Having the milk moustaches, the chocolate sauce on the cheeks or even some daal or curry spilled on your clothes...

Yeah yeah, i know, you must be thinking, this is one crazy girl, but honestly, don't we all like it? Coming back to my post, i made this watermelon cooler recently and it tasted "Divine"... a true thirst quencher. Add it to any alcohol and make a cocktail, add any other fruit juice and make a mock-tail out of it or just have it as it is!!! You wouldn't want anything more...

Note : Usually, i don't believe in throwing away the pulp as it has it's own set of fibre and nutrients. So if you are having this drink as it is, don't throw the pulp, but if you are making a cocktail, better strain the juice. 

A glass of this, a book in hand and some nice music... get set to enjoy a beach holiday right at your home :)

Ingredients:

Watermelon - 2 cups chopped pieces

Lemon juice - of 1 medium sized lemon

Sugar - 2 tsp

Black salt - little to taste

Pepper powder - little to taste

Mint leaves - to garnish and/or you can add it crushed to the drink

Ice cubes - as needed

You can even make it without the lemon juice, just adding the mint leaves.

Recipe:

Put watermelon pieces, sugar or lemon juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. 

Add in black salt, pepper and mint leaves.

Top with ice cubes or crushed ice ( crush ice in blender or blend along with watermelon )

Now you can even mix everything together, blend in mixer and take out the juice. 

Garnish with watermelon pieces in the juice or at the side of the glass as shown with a mint leaf.

Now wouldn't you want that right now?

Happy cooking :) ( or should i say, Juicing? )

Homemade Kokum Sarbat

Though there have been showers in Delhi, bringing the temperature from 41 degrees to 30 degrees, that sigh of relief was only for a day! Temperatures rose again, with power cuts and sweat dripping down the bodies being a regular feature. And to beat all that, the desi stuff comes to the rescue. Chaas, Lassi, aam panna ( http://cookininpajamas.blogspot.in/2014/05/kairiche-panhe-aam-panna.html ) and of course the fruit juices. Another favourite drink of mine is the Kokum sarbat. I couldn't find a good kokum sarbat here in Delhi, except the commerical concentrates packed in bottles. In pune, we get kokum sarbat in every nook and corner and it tastes super awesome ( Chitale Bandhu being the most famous ). Whenever we made a visit to Mumbai-Pune, i would bring some. 

The outer cover of this fruit is dried in the sun and we get what is called Aamsul or Aamsool ( in Marathi ), commonly known as Kokum. We use aamsul especially in aamti ( the daal that we make ). It adds a nice sour-tangy flavour. It is blackish-red in colour and is a good substitue for tamarind to add that tanginess to a dish. Apart from it's use in cooking in konkan region of Maharashtra, Gujrat and also south of India, the oil extracted from this fruit is also used for foot massage.

I decided to try making Kokum Sarbat at home, as i had a lot of kokum at hand given by my mother. It is so easy to make, and yessss... tastes much better than the extra-sugar sweet concentrate available in market. The recipe was given to me by my friend Ayushi who also writes a blog (http://ayusuppercrust.blogspot.in/ ). She is one enthusiast in cooking and also makes some amazing artistic gift envelopes and accessories. This concentrate makes for about 6 cups depending on how much concentrate you add. I normally add 1/4th concentrate and 3/4th water.

Ingredients :

Kokum - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Roasted cumin powder - 1 tsp

Black pepper powder - 1/4 tsp

Black salt - to taste

Recipe:

Boil about 1 cup of water and soak the kokum in hot water for 30 minutes.

Add sugar to this and put in mixer and grind to a smooth paste.

Strain this concentrate.

( After straining, what left behind was also a smooth paste. So what i did is added some powdered sugar and water to it. And it tasted great for me. But if u want, you can use this in any sabzi/curry instead of throwing it. )

You can also grind the kokum to a smooth paste and then add powdered sugar to it and mix well, but i guess the earlier method, it blends well.

Now add the roasted cumin powder, black pepper powder and black salt. Mix it all well.

Now take some concentrate in a glass, and add ice cold water. You can also add crushed ice or ice cubes. 

Kokum sarbat is ready :)) 

 

Note : You see a dark colour of sarbat here, because it depends on the quality of kokum, and also because i let it soak for a longer duration than 30 minutes. Also i don't believe in straining too fine ( i do that with juices too ), as i believe the fibre and nutrients are lost. So you will see the heavier particles of kokum settling at bottom in the glass. But believe me, they taste just as smooth and great.

Happy Cooking :)

Aam Panna : Kairiche Panhe

I have been missing from the blog for quite sometime!!! Too many engagement kept me on toes! My pet sitting appointments, some invites to events and restaurants, spending quality time at home doing the cleaning stuff and of course hubby-time!

Delhi is known to have extreme climates, and summer time really drowns you down! Keeping yourself hydrated is quite a task when the mercury reaches as high as 47 degrees. So, i decided to make some refreshing aam panna and it did bring back some childhood memories...

Kairiche Panhe ( Kairi- kaccha aam -green mango ) is what we call it in Marathi. This drink occupied a permanent place in our fridge when we were kids. Summer vacations was all about playing, eating mangoes, and sipping on the panhe. Aam panna as it is commonly known as, is a preservative free drink and the concentrate lasts in the fridge for almost a week.

So go ahead, buy some raw mangoes, and make this easy recipe right away to make one awesome summer cooler. 

Ingredients :

Raw Mangoes ( Green Mangoes ) - 2

Sugar - 1 cup ( A lot of people add jaggery which i love to, but hubby likes the one with sugar . You can add grated jaggery or just crush it soft with your hands and mix it. Adjust the sugar according to taste. We normally don't like it too sweet )

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp ( I took 8-10 cardamom seeds and crushed them with mortar and pestle )

Black salt - to taste

Saffron - a few strands ( This is optional but tastes great when you add some )

Recipe :

Wash the mangoes and pressure cook them for 2 whistles with little water ( I added around 3 to 3 n half cups of water ). You can add less water( about 2 cups ) or more too, it will affect the consistency and thickness of the concentrate as we are going to use this water to make the concentrate.

Note : You can add the mangoes as whole or cut them into large pieces. Both ways is fine.

Let it stand for a while, and after all the pressure goes away, remove the lid of pressure cooker. Now mash the mangoes well into a pulp with hands. This would be easy as mangoes become too soft after 2 whistles. 

Note : You can remove the skin of the mangoes while mashing, as some people find the skin bitter. But personally, i keep the skin as it holds a lot of nutrients and i like a little tangy taste. Plus addition of sugar later on negates the bitter taste.

Now transfer the pulp into a mixer and add sugar, cardamom powder and black salt.  A nice smooth pulp is formed. Add saffron and stir to get the nice yellowish-orange colour.

Note : The pressure cooked mangoes are so mushy that you need not use mixer-grinder at times. I only add it to the mixer , so that it mixes well with the sugar. But you can alternatively pulp it with hand and add powdered sugar and then mix all the other ingredients. When adding jaggery, just mix the grated jaggery into the pulp with hands.

No water is added. Store this pulp in refrigerator. When required, Mix 1/4th of the concentrate to 3/4th of chilled water. Put some ice cubes and your drink is ready!

Some people even add mint leaves or roasted cumin powder for garnishing. You can try mixing it according to your taste. 

This drink definately occupies the top list in summers- all natural, fresh and cooling !