Sage & lemon chocolate shots

    Hyderabad is sensing an chilly climate of late.  And, due to ramzan fasting, one could find lots of mirchi bhajji & samosa stalls in evening.  I tasted few and they were awesome :) an real treat with respect to weather, isn't it?  Yet, chilly treats need not be savoury everytime, afterall, what are hot chocolate drinks for?   :)

And this time, hot chocolate shots,  is infused with sage and lemon rind for an additional herbal treat.  Sage added the pungent-ness and stood as an bittersome company with dark chocolate.  Lemon rind, beautifully attributed to flavour, and I must say that this holy combination left me completely speechless.

It is quite an surprise, as my daughter loved it, I was taken back, because though these shots were rich & creamy , their nil-sweet component would make her to resist them.  Fortunately, she liked the bitterness and rich chocolate flavour and gulped down the shots.  :)  Personally, I feel that this is an better way to introduce herbal content in her diet.  So, guys ready for shots?  :)

Lemon salt soda

My unique thirst for Lemon salt soda started, during my pregnancy period, about four years back.  I found them quite relaxing and soothing my taste-buds.  They were too addictive, to resist.  I used to order them during every restaurent visit, and even Shama grew fond of them.  It was like, one day, I thought to myself, 'why can't I make them at home?' When I googled, found that there was not accurate proportion or ratio existing between lime juice, water or plain soda.  The ratio can be experimented according to one's use.  I found following ratio quite adaptable to mine.  :)  And yes, there is no super-difference between lemon salt soda and lemon sugar soda :P , since latter requires addition of few more levels of sugar . 

I have dedicated this drink to lazy sunday afternoons, you get neck-to neck in preparing lunch and hardly there is any dessert left at refrigerator.  So, lemon salt soda comes handy in such cases :)  :)  Beleive me, it also relaxes any intense stomach from heavy sunday lunch :P :P  And, prepartion is sooo easy, that even Varsha can mix  and serve :)  Speaking about Varsha, offlate she is watching me a lot at kitchen, I can presume that she will be an wonderful chef, one day :P

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Serves: one

Ingredients required

• 1 tbspn freshly squeezed lime
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 1 cup of cold water
• 1/2 cup of Kinley's plain soda
• Mint leaves, lemon slices and roasted cumin powder, to garnish

Method

Mix freshly squeezed lime with salt and sugar.  Lateron, add water, soda.  Garnish and serve chilled :P

Happy sundayss............. :)

Lemon glow chiffon cake

   This cake is an part of Baking partner's anniversery challenge! Quite a surprise that  this community has reached almost an year with marvellous output every month they come up with.  Warm anniversery wishes and a great hug for all members!!

 

Though chiffon cake was quite satisfying with its easy-peasy ingredients, making them was of course a complex process!!  I did go through a lot of tuitoricals as suggested by Saraswathi of Sara's kitchen.  And yes thanks to her for such an helping hand.  Click here, here and here for more info.  Chiffon cake is an  light airy cake resembling like sponge cake usually had on bakery.  The only difference is that here egg whites are beaten into stiff peaks and folded into the batter while for the latter entire egg is added.  Also unlike regular cake which is made of butter, this cake is made of oil which retains their soft texture even after they are refrigerated.

Lemon rice

Ingredients required

• 1 cup cooked rice
• 3-4 tsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp haldi/tumeric powder
• 1 tsp salt

To temper

• 4 tsp oil
• 1 tsp rai/mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• 1/2 tsp chana dal
• Few curry leaves
• 3-4 tsp cashewnuts,broken
• 3-4 green chillies, slit lengthwise
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onions

Method

Heat oil and add ingredients for temper one by one.

Add in turmeric powder and salt.  Now, SWITCH OFF THE FLAME and add lime juice.  Add in cooked rice too, mix well and serve hot

To acheive best results, add 1 tsp of sesame oil/gingelly oil/nallennai over the rice before mixing