Mango Mastani (It's seriously addictive)

My memories of enjoying a Mango Mastani go back a long long way, right to the time when I was about 10 years old. I mean today Pune has some fabulous Mastani places where the Mastani is sold in many different flavours but back then my dad used to take us to a small place , a stall actually, located at Saras Baug (readers from Pune will know the location ) . It was called Vasant Cold Drink House . It belonged to a friend of my dad's and he and sold the most awesome Mango Mastani made from fresh Alphonso mangoes and made in a hand turned ice cream maker. Eating this Mastani was a luxury and at a price as low as Rs.10.00 per glass it was practically free considering today's prices. A Mastani today costs around Rs.60.00 to 70.00 at Sujata Mastani in Pune .

So every time I think of Mastani I always remember that small place which gave me my first taste of this beautiful beautiful dessert. No wonder it's also got this royal name . Mastani was a danseuse and wife to Bajirao Peshwa . She was a stunning combination of beauty and bravery that history recollects and it is said that her skin was as smooth and delicate as porcelain. Well our Mastani is just as beautiful, don't you think?

So here's my version of the Mango Mastani:
As it the Mango season I used fresh mangoes but otherwise just go ahead and use canned mango pulp, but preferably Alphonso mango.

To make 2 tall glasses of Mastani you need:
Pulp of 1 large Alphonso Mango or 2 medium ones (or of course the equivalent in canned pulp)
1.5 glasses of cold whole milk,
4 tpns sugar
lots of ice cubes
And good quality mango icecream or mango kulfi (I used kulfi)

Method:
Whizz up the milk ,mango , sugar and ice in a blender until thick and frothy. Pour out into tall glasses upto three quarters. Then put in 2 scoops of mango icecream on the top and decorate with cubed mango and some whipped cream . Put in a straw and a long spoon and serve chilled. Or drink it and go straight to heaven.

Other good variations are :
Rose milkshake and mango icecream,
Rose milkshake and pistacchio icecream,
Strawberry milkshake and vanilla icecream
But of course nothing comes close to the total mango version.

Blushing Pink Raspberry Smoothie

Hey ! Here I am back again so soon . I said I was going to break the bad habit of taking long breaks and I have kept my promise. So what do I have today? Well it's this deliciously refreshing raspberry smoothie that is my son's favourite . And mine too actually although given a choice I really prefer to eat the raspberries just like that . They are so delicious and have sucha heady aroma that I can never have enough. It's very funny actually because believe it or not there was a time when I was not particularly fond of this fruit, but that was because I had yet to taste really great tasting raspberries. I now buy mine from M& S and they are perfect everytime. They are sweet and deliciously tart and I just want to buy them by the kilo. My son and I actually fight over who has eaten more raspberries from the box and who gets the last one. Very often it is I who get to eat more because of course I am snacking on them when the poor guy is in school but then I compensate him by making this yummy smoothie which definitely goes down a treat with him.

Surprisingly he doesn't mind that it is pink in colour, because otherwise he will run miles from anything that even closely resembles the colour pink. He has all these typical (for a 7 year old) ideas of pink is only for girls but this he doesn't mind hmmm!!!!

So we made this yesterday.
This is how:
Ingredients:
Approx 1 cup fresh raspberries (I froze them for an hour before using them)
1/2 cup plain yogurt,
1 cup chilled whole milk,
2 to 3 tspns sugar
5 to 6 ice cubes

Method:
In the blender first put in the milk and yogurt and then put in the frozen raspberries and sugar and ice. Putting the liquids first prevents the raspberries from jamming your blender mechanism.
Give it all a good blitz until nice and frothy and serve.
Raspberries also combine well in taste with mangoes in a smoothie. Try that once too.

Kairicha Panha (Raw Mango Juice Drink)

I am currently experiencing a Mango Mania. I think ,talk ,eat ,breathe Mangoes. And this is the case inspite of the fact that I am in UK not in India. So you can imagine the level of my Mania when I am in India. Why only me , I think everybody in India and particularly from Maharashtra (that's the state I come from) is happily in the clutches of this Mango Mania in the months of April and May. The Alphonso Mango or Haapus Aamba ,which is rightfully called the King of Mangoes makes a very royal entry in the markets at this time of the year and it is THE fruit to be enjoyed. Forget the bananas,apples and all other ordinary fruit. Enjoy Haapus while it is available in tonnes. It is the Pride of Maharashtra. It's this Haapus that makes even the hottest of summer days bearable.

In my parents house and at my in-laws too Haapus is always bought in huge boxes. This box is called a Peti and one peti contains approx 5 dozen mangoes . One peti is followed by the next in quick succession and the next one is bought before the earlier one is completely polished off. You can't risk getting withdrawal symptoms, can you? Yeah and you do need to buy them in large quantities when you are practically surviving on them. What I mean by this is:

• At Breakfast we have them just sliced or cubed and sprinkled generously over cereal.
• At Lunch we have Aamras , which is fresh mango pulp with our chapatis or puris if it's a special occasion. Not a single day passes without this for lunch.
• At teatime we either have it simply sliced or have chilled Kairicha Panha which is a heavenly juice drink made from raw mangoes which I am going to share with you now
• At Dinner the rules are same as Lunch. Aamras is a must.
• And last but definitely not the least have a thick Mango Milkshake as a nightcap and you are aassured of a great night's sleep.

In addition to this there are other peripherals that are equally delectable like mango pickle, mango jam, mango lassi, and of course fresh mango icecream. Have I forgotten any item? Feel free to remind me of it. So do you also experience the Mango Mania and behave similarly? I would love to know.

So what I have for you today is Kairicha Panha. It's a sweet and tart drink made from raw mangoes. An excellent coolant and the best welcome drink any guest would love to have.

Ingredients to make approx 10 glasses of Panha:

1 large green raw mango (when buying raw mangoes always go for the firm ones),

At least 20 tspns of sugar,

10 to 12 glasses of cold water,

2 to 3 tspns salt,

a generous pinch of saffron,

pulp of 1 ripe alphonso mango (optional)

Method:

Peel and cook the raw mango in a pressure cooker or in a large open saucepan till soft and pulpy,

Remove all the pulp from the stone after the mango has cooled a bit

Add one glass of water and the pulp of one ripe alphonso mango to it and give it a wizz with a hand blender or in an ordinary blender to make it smooth,

Next add the rest of the water , sugar and salt and stir until completely dissolved. Lastly add the saffron. Give it a taste. Quantity of sugar depends on how sour the mango is. So adjust accordingly. Also increase the quantity of water if you want a thinner consistency. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Go on enjoy your summer now.

Anjeer (Dry Fig) Milkshake

Whenever we go to the foodstore we have to stop at Whole Foods section. Hubby being a great fan of pumpkin and sunflower seeds ,it is neccessary to top up the supply of seeds in the pantry every 2 weeks at least. I am not much of a seed eater (read: I can't stand them) but I do occassionally like to eat dried berries and nuts in a combo. So while buying those a few weeks back I don't know why I picked up a packet of organic dry figs. I really don't know why I bought them because I never ever liked the stuff . I enjoy fresh figs but dried figs are a completely different story. It is as if it's a totally different fruit. But they were beautifully packed and the word "Organic" probably lured me into buying them.

Well after that they just lay in the pantry cupboard being moved this way and that way whenever I wanted to get something else from the cupboard. I put some in my son's lunch box but they came back half nibbled. I guess he takes after me where dry figs are concerned. Every few days I would just open the pack to see whether they were still in good condition or ready to be thrown away but surprisingly nothing happened to them. I kept saying to myself "You bought them , now do something with them." Than I remembered my mom saying that fig icecream and fig milkshake had to be made from dry figs as the fresh ones tasted bitter when blended.

So I soaked the figs in cold milk for 3 to 4 hrs. They absorbed a little of the milk and got quite plump and soft. I knew I was on the right track now and the milkshake turned out really well. A bit thick but really yum. And I was happy that I had put the figs to good use.

Here's what all I used:
6/7 figs soaked in 1 glass of cold milk for 4 hrs,
2 glasses whole milk,
2/3 tspns sugar (can be omitted)
some crushed ice or simply 3 to 4 icecubes.

Method:
Just blend the figs, milk, sugar and ice till creamy and frothy. Pour out into glasses and enjoy .

Next time I am going to try out making fig icecream. If it turns out well You know you will see it here on Food-n-More .

Black Grape Lassi (Delights of blogging)

Although England is still in the grips of cold spring weather people back home in India are probably already in the depths of a hot summer. Pune my hometown used to be a city with moderate summers till about 10 to 12 years back but no more. Summers of Pune are something to reckon with these days . The sun starts blazing down on you practically from eight in the morning and relief in the form of a cool breeze can be experienced only late in evening after sunset. So how to do you make your summer tolerable ?

Easy! Concentrate on the delicious produce that summer has to offer.

The item that is and always will be at the top of the list is Haapus Aamba or Alphonso Mango, then comes Neera which is my favourite drink which I used to drink in gallons when I was in Pune. Have you tried it? Do give it a try. It's awesome! Then of course is Usacha Ras or Sugarcane juice . I love it so much that I can never ever walk past a sugarcane juice stall or Gurhaal (as we call it in marathi) without having atleast 1/2 a glass of the delicious stuff. Other delicious thirst quenching options to be enjoyed are watermelons, grapes, pineapples,coconut water. Just writing about all these is making me wish I was in Pune.

Well what I have for all of you today is also a very delicious fruity summery concoction that looks awesome and tastes divine. I read this recipe a very long time back on Vaishali's blog Happyburp and was completely zapped by the colour that the lassi had taken because of the black grapes . Purple is such a rare colour where food is concerned and I just loved it. Secondly it's so quick to make .

So here's what you need for 1 glass of black grape lassi:

10 black grapes,
1/2 cup yoghurt,
1/4 cup water,
1/4 cup milk (or cream if you are in an indulgent mood),
1 tspn sugar (more if you prefer),
a pinch of salt,
couple of ice-cubes.

Procedure:
Blend all the ingredients in a blender until nice and frothy.
Strain the lassi to remove all the grape skin bits .
Serve chilled .

That's it ! Enjoy this cold treat on a hot afternoon and enjoy summer!!

More summer drink recipes coming up on Food-n-More

A Delicious Summer Cooler

Hi everyone !!! I am back as I promised with the recipe for this cool drink . Actually calling it a recipe feels like an exaggeration because there's hardly anything to it. I also feel I should have posted this a month earlier as that is when summer was in full swing in India. As an Indian I associate summer mostly with the months of March ,April and May. So I sometimes still find it very strange to experience summer from June to August in England. Like I alway say "You can take an Indian out of India,but you cannot take India out of an Indian.

So according to me its important to share such recipes at the right time of the year. But I think my indian bloggo-buddies will forgive me for posting it so late because they can still enjoy it as it is quite warm in India even now. (Actualy its quite warm all throughout the year these days ,isn't it? ).

You could say this combination of ingredients was discovered quite by chance by my mother one day as she set about making the ordinary nimbu pani or serbat as we call it in Marathi.

So the ingredients to make 2 glasses full of this drink are:

1.5 glasses of chilled water,

1/2 glass orange juice (this can be freshly squeezed which tastes best or it can be juice from a carton but please use the one which has "no added sugar")

Juice of 1 lemon,

5 tspns sugar,

1tspn salt,

1 inch piece of ginger coarsely grated

Procedure:

Just mix all the above and stir till sugar dissolves. Give it a taste and adjust sugar and salt as per your requirements though the quantities I have mentioned are just right. Strain the drink and serve in tall glasses. Decorate with sprig of fresh mint.

It sounds quite ordinary but believe me it tastes awesome. The ginger is the magical ingredient here. That combined with the lemon and the orange juice is so good that once you have a taste of this you will never want to have ordinary nimbu pani again and that's a promise. The combo of ginger and lemon is also excellent soother for your digestive system and works wonders for those who suffer from acidity.

Try it and let me know what you think. I always love all your comments. Oh ! I almost forgot I do need a name for this drink . Sherbat sounds too ordinary . Could all of you suggest names please? Thank you!

This is my entry to Marta's event "Fresh Produce of the Month"