Mint Ginger lemonade

Mint Ginger lemonade is awesome refreshing summer cooler made from lemons, water, sugar and fresh ginger juice with mint. It infused with the flavors of ginger and mint with a zest of lime is a booster that energizers your systems. For those who do not want to add sugar can replace sugar with honey or any sweetener of your choice.

 

Ingredients:

Fresh mint leaves- 5 to 6sprigs

Fresh ginger- 2 inch

Honey- 1 tbsp or

Granulated sugar-5to 6 tbsp

Fresh lemon juice

Lemon slices and fresh mint for garnish

Method:

Crush mint leaves, ginger in 1/2 glass of water and bring it to a boil

Stain the water and place it in a large bowl

Add the lemon juice, sugar / honey and enough cold water .Stir well until the sugar get dissolved

Chill in the refrigerator

Put this mixture in a serving glass. Garnish with few mint leaves.

Its just refreshing on a hot summer day.

 

To decorate glass edge,make the edge wet with the help of water.In a bowl take some good amount of sugar.Dip the edge of glass into it and put it in freeze foe 15-20 min..Take it out just before serving.

Eggless Vanilla Cake with Cream Frosting

Eggless Vanilla Cake with Cream Frosting

 I baked this egg less  vanilla cake yesterday after a long time:)

Ingredients:

Maida - 1 cup

Baking Powder - 1 tbsp

Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp

Milk- 1/2 cup

Butter - 3/4 cup

Condensed milk-200gm

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

For decoration:

Butterscotch-1/2 cup

Chocolate chips handful

For Whipped Cream Frosting:

Heavy whipping cream - 1 cup

Vanilla Essence - 1/2 teaspoon

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Method:

1.Take Maida, Baking Powder, Baking Soda together. Sieve it in a large  bowl.

2.Take a deep bowl or container and pour melted butter in it. Add condensed milk to it and stir it nicely with a wooden spoon or a hand mixer. Then add milk and mix for another 2 minutes.
3.To this mix add the sieved dry contents. Add the Vanilla essence and give it a good stir for a minute so that everything is uniformly mixed.

4.Keep a cake baking pan greased with butter and dusted with flour ready before starting to make the cake batter. Pour the cake batter into it. Insert the cake pan into preheated oven. Bake the cake at 180 degree C for 20-25 min.
5.Switch off the microwave and allow the cake to cool down. To ensure that the cake is done, insert a tooth pick into it. The tooth pick has to come out nice and clean. Keep it in the refrigerator for around 20 min.

6.To make the icing, take a large bowl and place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and mix well. Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

7.Refrigerate the icing for 30 min.Sprinkle the sugar syrup generously over the cake but do not over do it. Sugar syrup helps in keeping the cake moist. 

8.Now spread the whipped cream over it into a smooth layer. Use a knife to spread it.. Spread the cream on the side of the cake and use a knife to smooth out any irregularities and give a fine finish. 

9.Now, decorate the sides of the cake with the butterscotch over the cream layer.. Refrigerate the cake for half an hour.
Slice and serve.

Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce

I wanted to try something new…more on the whole food option. It should be healthy vegetarian dish. I saw this recipe on Food Food Tv channel, as it was a healthy dish and so end of it, I decided to give it a try. It came out very well at my first try, it is really simple and tasty dish and Content of this recipe is light; Fresh tomatoes and basil, mixed with all sorts of goodness, delivered a wonderfully clean taste. I have become a fan of the deliciousness of this spaghetti with tomato sauce.

 

INGREDIENTS

  For the tomato sauce

 Tomatoes – diced 5

 Peas- handful

 Garlic clove-1

 Onion-    1

Water-    1/2 cup

 Bay leaf- 1

Sugar-    1/2 tsp

Basil leaves-    4-5

Onions – chopped-    1 tbsp

Chopped garlic-    1/2 tbsp

Salt and pepper to taste

 Olive Oil – 3 tbsp to sauté

Mix herb- 1 tsp

fresh basil, julienned-few    

                       

  For the spaghetti

Ingredients:

Whole wheat spaghetti-300 gms

3 cups water or as required by the pasta to boil

Pinch of salt

Method For the tomato sauce:

Cook the tomatoes in a pan.

Add the clove of garlic, onion and bay leaf to it.

Add water and then season with salt and sugar.

Cover and let the tomatoes boil.

Cool and then grind to a puree.

Now in a separate pan, heat oil and add cooked peas ,chopped onions and chopped garlic.

Add the tomato puree. Cook till its reduces to half.

Add basil leaves and mixed herbs keep aside.

 

Method for Spaghetti

1.Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, and add the whole wheat spaghetti to it. Cook it uncovered until done.Usually  it will cook about 12 minutes, but whole wheat can take longer, depending on the brand.

2.While the spaghetti is cooking, start the sauce.

3.Check the sauce for seasoning, and turn off the heat once the sauce has thickened;Now add the spaghetti to the sauce

4.Toss the spaghetti in the sauce until it is well coated. Add the freshly chopped basil and toss Turn off the heat and drizzle with some more olive oil if you wish

5.Add spaghetti and serve in a bowl, Feel free to spice it up with herbs , basil and  coriander.

Pal therattipal (Palgova)

A traditional and delicious Dessert made in southern part of India. It tastes splendid from the way it looks .It’s an integral part of dessert for any ritual in a Brahmin household the first sweet which comes to mind before starting any happy occasion is Theratti Pal. It is a very important part of Tamil Brahmin functions. . Be it an engagement or a wedding, a baby shower or the first birth day of a baby, or an upanayanam (thread ceremony)Palthirattipal  is the sweet to be prepared first..I feel Palthirattipal  is the king of  all sweets. It  is really treat for all the senses, especially to the nose and the tongue.Making this sweet needs so much of patience, since it is prepared over low heat. I Just love this..Not only me my family’s fav sweet. In my childhood days my mother often makes this for us. Now I often make this sweet for my family!And One more think to make this sweet is I completed three years of blogging :)

 

Ingredients:

Milk -     1 Litre

Sugar-200gms

Method:

1.Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan or kadai  .Stir the milk to avoid overflow.

2.Keep boiling till the milk thickens and reduces to 1 cup of quantity

3.Once the milk thickens and reduces its volume, add the sugar and mix well... and keep stirring frequently to prevent burning.

 

4.Continue to stir well till the thirattipal starts to thicken without sticking on to the sides of pan and leaves the sides of the vessel and come together with a coarse consistency

5.Remove from flame. Now Yummy and the delicious Pal therattipal(Palgova) is ready for serving. We can get 1 cup of thirattipal from 1 litre of milk.

Vegetable Smoothie

Vegetable Smoothies are one of the highly nutritious drinks. It should be considered a goldmine of natural vitamins and nutrients and can provide us with the same energy that a whole meal can provide. we can drink a glass of smoothies as an alternative to our meal or breakfast. It will help us to lose or maintain weight.

 

Ingredients:

Carrot-1

Tomatoes-2

Beetroot-1

Ginger-1

Lime-1 tsp

Honey- 1tbsp

Or Sprinkle roasted and ground cumin powder. Pepper powder and a pinch of salt if you wish.

 

Method: Wash and cut all the vegetables in small pieces. Blend all in a juicer with or without ice cubes.  Taste and adjust water consistency, Garnish with black pepper, cumin powder or dried herbs. Drink! A blushing smoothie is ready for a healthy start of your day:)

Instead of tomato  we can replace with apple, orange or cucumber As per availability!