Mango mania ..

MANGO LASSI :-
Mango,the king of indian fruit is entering now in aussie land when the spring is digging in and winters are out ,mango is our family favourite fruit and we luv mago lassi with our heavy and caloriefull of north indian meal in indian restaurants and to add some more calories  with sipping this lassi over here on a lazy weekend,mango lassi was really new to me when i came here in melbourne and i was amused as here it was so common in all indian restaurants and when i read DK's post on mango lassi at CHEFINYOU i immediately bookmarked it and it reminded me the same feelings and thoughts which she had ,so here it goes the yummiest and sexiest mango lassi ;) ....SLURP..SLURP..thank you so much dk for this wonderful and delicious lassi.

ingredients :

11/2 cup mango pulp (i used fresh mangoes but store bought pulp can also be used )

1 cup yoghurt

cardomon pwd to taste

sugar/honey to taste ( i used 1 tbsp raw sugar )

milk/water to adjust the thickness ( i used 1-2 tbsp water )

method :

Add mango pulp,yoghurt and sugar togther and blend it till its smooth enough,add water/milk if its too thick or depends on your consistency,sprinkle cardomom pwd and mix well,refrigrate if required chilled lassi or serve immediately.

COCONUT-MANGO BURFI : -

The second new recipe i came across was coconut burfi using mango pulp which was very unique and flavoured burfi ,coconut burfi is very common at my mom's place as every fasting day she makes it for her self but adding mango was a wondeful idea according to me and something different so may be next time i go to my mom's place i can make this when she is fasting to collect all her blessings ;).This fantastic combo of mango and coconut is been adapted by REDCHILLIES.US,thanx a bunch redchillies for this gorgeous burfi.

ingredients :

1 tbsp ghee

11/2 cup shredded coconut ( i used frozen,after thawing it or can use fresh grated coconut also. )

1/3rd cup of mango pulp ( i used fresh mangoes but store bought pulp can also be used. )

1/2 cup milk

3/4th cup sugar (adjust more or less acc to the taste )

handful of blanched almonds for garnishing

cardomom pwd to taste

method :

Heat a pan,add coconut and roast for a while (till it slightly changes its colour ) on a low flame taking care of not burning the coconut,add sugar, milk and mango pulp and mix well and keep stirring on a medium heat till it gets little thick.Sprinkle cardomom pwd and mix well.Pour this coconut mixture in a greased plate/dish and set it evenly using back of spoon or pressing with a spatula.After it cools down,cut into square /burfi/or desired shapes ,top it with blanched almonds and serve.You can store it for a couple of days in refrigerator.

Sending my first season mango mania recipes to BB7-THE IRONCHEF EDITION event by nupur,here i have used mangoes as a common ingredient and made mango lassi and coconut-mango burfi out of it.

cucumbers peel's spicy buttermilk

Cucumber in any form is highly nutritious  and as we all know it has end number of health benefits ,we three like to eat cucumber mostly raw with salt and pepper but my husband loves the vegetable out of it with dal and rice,today i made it in lunch and  we make this sabzi without its peel and we throw out the peel ,but today when  i was peeling cucumbers i remembered nithu's event and i really felt i should try something out of this peel and this recipe was born,i really thank nithu for hosting such an innovative and nutritious event where we are bound to think and use the waste which are nutritious yet we dont use them in our regular basis.Needless to say this is my entry for her wonderful event "Best Out Of Waste".

ingredients :

3 medium size cucumbers peel ( i used the lebanese cucumber variety which have smooth texture and dark green in colour )

1/2 cup yoghurt

1 cup water ( adjust more or less acc to the thickness required )

1 tsp grated ginger

2 green chillies ( adjust acc to your taste buds )

salt to taste

1 tsp roasted cumin pwd

1/2 tsp kala namak (black salt )

method :

Wash the peels of cucumber,add ginger and green chillies and grind into a paste,add yoghurt,water,salt,cumin and kala namak to it and grind again till smooth and frothy.Serve immediately or you can chill and have it.

reposting : nirvana (mocktail)

This incident is quite funny ,once  there was a marraige proposal for my husband's brother,the girl was from kolkatta,but her sister was settled in bangalore and the girl had come to stay at her sisters place for few days,and suddenly we heard of them and we went to meet her,we were really embarrased so as to how to start the conversation ,all these arrange marraiges are so difficult and funny at times,they first served us this drink saying its "nirvana " and we were like grrr...wht...huh! we were like thinking but still smiling at the same time and confused wether to drink or not,but the drink was so attractive that we all cudnt take our eyes off ..and there i had my first sip,hmmm.. yum yum ,and then second ...yummy and immediately had more, just cudnt resist to finish it all :),meanwhile came to know that drink was made by the girl and we were higly impressed with her,also finally at the end of the day we approved her to be my co-sister and within few months they got married,since then i had this drink in my mind and after she came to our house i asked her to share this recipe with me and now its my favourite drink till date.

( serves 2 ppl/2 glasses )
ingredients :
300 ml sprite/limca
2 large scoops of vanilla ice cream
2 tsps khus sharbet ( i use haldiram khus sharbet )
1tbsp lemon juice
for decoration :
few drops of khus sharbet
1-2 small dallops of vanilla ice cream
straws
sliced lemon

This drink is now floating towards madhuri's event " serve me some juices,shakes,smoothies".and daisy blue's "chef of the lounge-summer challenge" event,also to diya's show me your smoothie event .

method :
Blend together sprite,khus syrup,lemon juice,icecream till frothy and smooth and pour into a glass.Add 1-2 tsps of icecream,drizzle few drops of khus syrup,put the straw in the glass,place the sliced lemon on the rim of the glass and serve immediately.

avacado milkshake

After coming to australia i tasted avacados for the first time and frankly speaking i didnt like the taste as it was too bland and that day spoke to my sister who stays in US and she suggested using avacado in a milkshake instead having it plain so i mmediately made milkshake out of it and it was awesomely yummy...thanks to her !!.My daughter also started liking this milkshake and for her i repeatedly make this milkshake on her demand ,the picture below is quite questionable as to what a hat is doing in this post ?? its just that the other day i made this hat for my daughter and in sometime i made the milkshake for her ,at the time of taking my milkshake pictures she insisted to take her hat pic too and it was her creativity to keep her hat with the glass ,she was so adamant and keen that she dint allowed me to take a single picture without her hat :) ,i wonder how kids minds work at times.

This is my entry for the event " serve me some .....juices,shakes,smoothies " hosted by madhuri of CCN,the world is so small,i came to know about madhuri's event through rashmi ,one of my friends in melbourne and happens to be madhuri's freind too,she is a non blogger though a fabulous chef too :),i really admire her and have tried and posted some of her recipes in this blog too.

ingredients :
1 small riped avacado
2 cups full cream milk
1 cup water
4 tsps sugar (adjust according to your taste)
4-5 unsalted pistachios ( optional )

method :
Scrape the avacado,blend together all the ingredients till smooth,pour in the glass and serve.If the shake is too thick you can adjust adding little more water as it really depends on your avacado size and the flesh it has.

mango milkshake

We all freak on mangoes...right ?? specially i love the alphanso ones which is quite famous in mumbai,maharashtra (india).Since childhood we have been having chilled mango juices and shakes during mango season in summers and here in australia too i have continued my mango shakes though without alphanso mango ,still having an awesome taste so just thought of posting this recipe .The mangoes here are quite different as in the taste as well as the size,they are quite large ones,so according to the sizes here we can make 4 glasses of shake with one single mango,also i have used the full cream milk which i specially use for my daughter and the other day she wanted to have the mango shake as soon as i bought them from the market and so i added some water as the shake was quite thick,if you are using fat free milk then you can avoid using water and make with the milk only.

ingredients :
1 mango
1-2 tbsp sugar ( adjust according to taste )
1 glass full cream milk
1/2 glass water
1-2 tsp cardomon powder
method :
peel mango and cut into pieces.add milk ,sugar,water and mango pieces into a blender and blend till smooth.strain the pulp and add cardomon ,mix and serve chilled .