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"

Spicy Lemon Rice: Meals from Leftovers:2

Lemon Rice, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.

Hallo people! The rice you see in the pic is made from leftover rice and the easiest and tastiest thing to russle up for a quick and filling breakfast. The recipe below is for 2 cups of leftover rice. All you need is:

2 cups leftover rice, 1 onion finely chopped, 6/7 curry leaves, 1tspn mustard seeds, 1/2 tspn cumin seeds, a pinch of asafoetida(hing), 1tblspn urad dal(split black lentils), 2tspn peanuts, 2 tblspn green peas(optional), 2 green chillies slit lengthwise, 1/4 tspn turmeric, 2 to 3 tblspns lemon juice, 3 tblspn oil, coriander to decorate.

Procedure:

Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds begin to pop add the hing, cumin seeds , curry leaves,green chilies, urad dal , peanuts ,green peas ,turmeric powder and the onions and saute for a few minutes until the onions are soft.

Next add the rice and the lemon juice and stir everything well. Add salt to taste. Decorate with chopped coriander. Serve hot