Berry green tea: A recipe

So refreshing. So good. So simple. A simple twist to the boring green tea - a glass of berry green tea on a spring day!

Ingredients

• Green tea bags
• Water
• Sugar
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Lemon juice

Preparation

Boil the water. Place the tea bags in a pitcher and pour the boiling water into it.

While the tea steeps, wash the berries by putting them in a bow of water and gently swishing them so that the dirt settles on the bottom. 

Scoop them out one by one once clean and put them on a kitchen towel. Hull the strawberries.

Put the berries in a blender jar along with sugar and lemon juice. I did not add too much sugar as I wanted to balance the drink with the berry dip for the french toast but you can be as liberal with the sugar as you want!

Blend the berries till smooth with some strawberry chunks in it.

Remove the tea bags and pour the berry puree into the green tea pitcher.

Mix well.

Serve immediately or chilled!

Presentation makes all the difference!

Presentation surely does make all the difference! It can make humble smoked cheese, grapes and olives look really appealing; everyday pancakes seem exotic; an ordinary pear unique and make a mundane activity like tea drinking, exciting!

Do share your thoughts and tips on presentation! What are the tricks and tools you use to make your food look fancy and appealing?

Breakfast!

This is my favourite breakfast. I really like this picture. I just had to post it!

Hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes with olive oil and parsley, multigrain bread.

Makes for a healthy, wholesome and filling breakfast!

What do you enjoy breaking your fast with the most? Please share some ideas! :)

Collaborative cooking

Over the weekend, a friend and I decided to make a fusion dinner at home while the husband was at work. My friend, a great cook, decided to tackle the baba ghanoush with sun dried tomatoes bread while I went with the tomato bruschetta, spaghetti aglio olio and stir fry vegetables. And all this was ready in under 90 minutes!

It is suffice to say that the husband was pleasantly surprised and the dinner a great success! :)

What do you 'rustle up' when time is short? What is your favourite go-to recipe? I would love to know!

Recipe: Orange icecream in orange

Some of my happiest childhood memories are associated with this orange ice cream in orange peel. My sister and I would look forward to these post dinner treats with great anticipation and clean out the orange shells while watching DD.

I tried my hand at my mother's recipe a few months back and am happy to report that it tasted just like I remembered it. And it is oh-so-easy to make!

Here's the recipe (with my mother's permission and consent) for those of you who like nothing more than the sweet sour tang of an orange!

Ingredients:
1 litre milk
Sugar, as per your taste
4 oranges, preferably the ones with the slightly lose peel

Preparation:
Put the milk to boil and thicken on low heat
Once the milk is nice and creamy, add sugar to taste
Take the milk off the heat and let cool
In the meantime, cut a small hole on the top of the orange and gently yet firmly, scoop out all the pulp using a knife and spoon. Do not discard the part you've cut out, it'll serve as a 'cover'.

Make sure that the orange peel doesn't tear much
Once you've separated the peel from the pulp, put the empty orange shells in the freezer

Add sugar and juice the pulp using a blender. While adding sugar, remember that you have already added sugar to the milk as well.

Once the milk is cooled, add the juice to the milk

Take out the empty shells from the freezer and pour the milk and juice mixture into each shell. Cover each shell with the top which was kept aside earlier.

Arrange the oranges on a plate and freeze for 4-5 hours.

You can either serve each orange as a whole (my favourite!)

Or, you can cut each orange into slices and serve 

Add in some berries and you're ready! 

Infact, if you think this is too much work, just scoop out the pulp, juice it with sugar, add it to milk and refrigerate. Have it like you would kheer or any cold liquidy dessert! It tastes great too! ;-)

Do let me know if you liked this recipe. Leave any queries in the comments below and I shall be happy to answer them at the earliest!

Happy cooking!! :)

Recipe: Flan again.. and again!!

Flan. Flan. Flan. I love you flan. Flannity, flan. flan.

As is probably evident to many by now, I am a major fan of flan. Like I could have it every day, day after day and still ask for more. Friends who have visited Parsee restaurants with me in Mumbai know that my meal shall end with flan, flan, flan. :)

So a couple of months back when I found out that it's the husband's favourite-est dessert too, I decided to try my hand at the humble yet delicious caramel custard. I got the recipe for the best flan in the world, my mother's recipe, and decided to MAKE it.

This is an incredible dessert for those last minute dinner plans as it can be made with ingredients lying around in any average household.

On popular demand, the recipe has been reproduced below with a few tweaks.

Portions: Serves four
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Time to set: At least two hours

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 glasses regular milk (full cream milk for a creamier texture but that packs in a lot of calories)
Sugar to taste
Water
1 tsp vanilla essence

Tip: Milk should be in proportion to number of eggs, two glass milk for two eggs etc.

Directions:
For custard:
Bring the milk to a boil and add sugar. Stir. The sugar should melt in the hot milk.
Thicken the milk on a low flame till almost half
Take off the flame and cool
Take eggs in a bowl, add vanilla essence
Beat eggs well, for about 2-3 minutes
Add eggs to the cooled milk
Mix well.

For caramel:
Take 4-5 tablespoons of sugar and mix with little water
Put the water and sugar mixture in a heavy, flat bottomed vessel on medium flame
Keep stirring with short breaks till the sugar dissolves in the water
*Once it starts bubbling and turns dark brown in colour, take it off the flame
Swirl it around the vessel to cover the sides, if using the same vessel to set the flan OR transfer to another cook-friendly vessel and swirl.
Do this quickly as caramel cools very fast.
Cool completely.

Combining:
Once cooled, pour the mixture into the vessel with the caramel.
Pour some water in a large vessel, like a kadhai and place the container with the mixture inside it.
Close both tightly and place on low flame.
Steam for 35-40 minutes.
Make sure the water from the larger vessel does not enter the flan container, especially once it starts boiling.
#Take off the flame and cool.
Once cooled completely, cover and keep in fridge.
Un mould right before serving.

Enjoy! :D

And, DO send me pictures once made and let me know how it turns out. :)

Notes:
*Caramel can be a little tricky as it tends to burn very fast. Keep a watchful eye on it once the sugar starts changing colour.

#Insert a knife into the custard to check if cooked properly. The knife should come out clean if ready to be taken off heat.