Homemade badam (mamra) milk drink

This is one of the drinks I make for kids for breakfast especially during winters… Their breakfast includes an Indian breakfast and cup of badam milk to go with it.

I believe almonds provides heat to the body and also develop immunity, now that is what I have read and heard.

And yea I never believed in the store bought ‘health drinks’

Badam milk is something made at home using soaked almonds blended with sweetened milk. Earlier I use to use the american almonds but few years back I met a mom who mentioned about mamra variety of almonds , did a bit of research on it and since then been using  mamra variety for making badam milk, it’s a bit costlier compared to the American variety but is very nutritious.

We soak mamra variety of almonds overnight and grind the almonds with milk, raw sugar and a pinch of home made turmeric powder.  I feel so happy and satisfied when I make this and kids drink this in the morning.. :)

Coming to the recipe

Ingredients

Mamra almonds - 10-1 2 no.s

Milk - 2 cups 

Sugar - 2 tsp.

Turmeric powder – a pinch 

Cardamom power – a pinch

Method

• Soak the almonds overnight and wash thoroughly the next day( I don’t peel the soaked almonds).
• Grind the almonds with little milk, sugar, turmeric powder and cardamom powder well and then later add the rest of the milk.
• Once ground strain thru a juicer sieve.
• Pour out in cups and serve! 

Note : 

• I use 'Braun' chopper to grind this quantity of almonds, have tried most of the other appliances but it never gets ground well.
• We use organic milk, raw sugar, a home made turmeric powder to make the drink healthier. 

Thank you 

Chaithanya.

Mango tender coconut drink

Summers and mangoes are made for each other, mangoes lasts till the summers last! and this time I tried this king of fruit with king of drinks.. nothing but a simple tender coconut. Like I have said in many other places I am very poor at naming my creations, I combined these two nice fruits with curd/yogurt. I dunno whether this should be a smoothie, juice or something else. But I just named it as a drink not complicating it much :)  Garnished with sliced almonds over the chilled drink was quite a relaxing drink in this summer.

So following is the recipe

Mango pulp - 1 cup

Tender coconut water and pulp- of 1 tendercoconut

Yogurt- 3/4 cup - 1 cup

Method

Blend /Mix the three ingredients well and serve it at room temperature or cooled, garnished with almond slivers

Now say cheese and relish this drink. Sugar is very much optional.. I chose not to use sugar.

Tender coconut drink

Had some opened up pack of fresh cream and was thinking what to do with it. Usually I use the fresh cream for cakes, waffles and few other recipes... but have no such plans and this pack would expire by that evening ! Hence this product.
 

Ingredients

Tender coconut - one

Fresh cream 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup

Milkmaid - 2 tbspn

Rose water ( optional)

Cardomom powder ( optional)

Method

Blend the fresh cream , milkmaid and tender coconut water and pour into a glass and scrape out the tender coconut meat and add to the drink. You may add a pinch of cardamom powder and a few drops of rose water to enhance the flavour. But it was equally good without these enhancers.. yes you got me .I dint use at all. You may also add a scoop of vanilla ice cream while serving ! I thought about it after finishing the drink. :)

Avocado orange smoothie

I have been always wrong in getting good avocados, either it will be unripe or rotten or ripe and spoilt. I try my luck again and again and voila , I got a nice one this time. I was feeling like a new baby in my hand .. I know it sounds a bit of an exaggeration, but as I said I was super happy !! Knowing the fact the fruit is super nutritious I wanted to use it as an evening snack for the kids. They would happily reject if I would have tried a guacamole with it.
SO i went ahead to try a smoothie and also had few oranges with me. So follow is what I tried!

INgredients
Avacado- one
Oranges - 3 no.s
Sugar - as required
Choco chips - for garnish and fooling :)

Method
Peel the oranges and remove the juice and keep aside.
Half the avacado and remove the seed. Scoop out the flesh of the avacados in a blender and add in the juice to make a smooth paste. You may add in sugar if you feel it is required.
Remove the smoothie to a tumbler or bowl and throw in some choco chips.
Smoothie is ready!

Want to read more about avacadoes ? read this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado

Summer drink II

I really dont know what to name this drink , mostly it would be summer drink II :) Its nothing but mixed fruit juice

Ingredients
Oranges- 2
Apple- 1
Med sized cucumber- 1
Med sized lemon- 1
Salt/ sugar- to your taste
Ginger jam - 1/4 tspn

Method
Remove the juice of the oranges and strain in the large sieve
Blend the apples with the lemon juice and cucumber and mix with the orange juice.
Add salt or sugar to your taste and garnish with either ginger chips or quarter tspn of ginger jam and serve.


Enjoy ! :)
 

Watermelon slush

Watermelon Slush

What more you need in this summer. Try this quick and easy drink and enjoy your summer!

Watermelon - One

Lemon - One

Sugar - 2 tbspn ( use more if you want more sweetness )

Soda - as required. ( For one cup you need 1/4 cup of soda )

Method

Remove the juice of the water melon retaining the pulp of the juice to the possible extent, You may use a wide holed juice strainer. Squeeze in the lemon juice and mix in the sugar.

Take the juice mixture in a flat steel container, cover and freeze for 30 minutes or until edges begin to freeze. Stir and return to freezer. Repeat every 20 minutes or until slushy, about 90 minutes. Spoon 3/4 cup into bowls or glasses; add 1/4 cup soda.

Sweetcorn star fruit drink

Tried out a drink using sweetcorn and star fruit for this summer. Following is the recipe for the same


Ingredients


Sweet corn cobs- 2 no.s
Starfruit - one whole fruit or half a fruit depending on the sourness.
Milk - as required. 
Salt- a pinch.
Sugar- a tspn (optional) 
Ginger juice - a tspn


Method 


Pressure cook the sweetcorn until it is cooked and remove the corn from the cob. Blend in the mixer to remove its juice. You can add some milk while pureeing the corns. Finely chop or grate the starfruit and add to it . Add in the salt/sugar.ginger juice and mix well. 


Note: Check the sweetness of the sweetcorn and sourness of the starfruit to adjust the other flavors accordingly.
You can also puree the starfruit along with the sweetcorn.
Enjoy as a refreshing drink for kids and adults !! 


If you are curious as to what a starfruit  (also called as Carambola) , please check this link from Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carambola  (Courtesy- Wikipedia )