Strawberry Latte

My strawberry Latte is a smooth and rich hot drink..... This luscious drink is perfect for any time a day....




Basically latte is a type of coffee drink made with hot steamed milk....Some time it is made out of fruit also.........Latte is topped with the froth of steamed milk....

I love to drink fresh ice cold strawberry milkshake, That's my all time favorite... But my husband is not a big fan to cold drinks... So I invented this strawberry latte just for him...

The main rocking feature in latte is the milk froth on the top.......I use blender to create this froth.....I want the latte to be nice smooth and silky, for that heavenly texture I use strawberry syrup..... Sometime I also use fresh strawberry puree, but they slightly break the texture for the latte........

So Strawberry Latte is my contribution for this months Monthly Mingle hosted by Meeta of What's For Lunch, Honey?…. for the theme of this month --------"Liquid Dreams"

Ingredients :

Whole Milk - 3 cups
Strawberry Syrup(store bought one - Nisqick) - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
Few fresh strawberry for garnish

Procedure :

1. Boil the milk until it is reduced to 2 cups. (I did it in the microwave)

2. In a blender mix the hot milk, strawberry syrup and vanilla and whip it for 2 mins. (be careful when blending hot liquid) .

3. Pour it into a glass with the froth formed when it was whipped and garnish it with some fresh strawberry and serve it hot.

Awards:

Archana of Tried and tested

Kribha of En samayal pakkam

Pravs of Simply spicy



have given me The Rocking Girl Award.............I am very happy to get them form my dear friends...... I am double happy to tell this in this post as this is my 50Th post...... It was because of the inspiration of u people and Ur kind and sweet comments I was able to come up to this 50Th recipe.......Once again thanks to Archana, Kribha, Pravs for the awards......

Now I would like to pass over this award to some of my friends.........and also to Archana, Kribha and Pravs.......Extremely sorry if I have missed someone...

Richa of As dear as salt
Tbc of The budding cook
Sra of When my soup came alive
Viji of Vcusine
Asha of Foodie's Hope and Aroma
Cynthia of Tastes like home
Sreelu of Sreelu tasty travels
Sharmi of Neivedyam
Roopa of My chow chow bhath
Seena of Simple and delicious
Bharathy of Spicy chilly
Sia of Spice corner
Coffee of The spice cafe
Indosungod of Daily musing
Rachna of Soul food

These are some of my friends those I can remember this time(i have a very poor memory power)..........sure I am missing many more who really deserves it...... Sorry..........

Lycheey Heaven On Meringue Shells

Lycheey Heaven On Meringue Shells is my own invention.... This is a very light dessert suitable for all occasion...




This is my contribution to AFAM - Lychee... Sig of Live To Eat.... is hosting this month's event....All the best Sig.......

My Lycheey Heaven On Meringue Shells is something similar to Pavlova (an meringue dessert).....It is a very simple dessert.....The crunchiness form the meringue and the fluffiness form the whipped cream make it taste like heaven.....

Basically, I make meringue shell and fill them with lychee flavored whipped cream........How does it sounds????????...

Ingredients :

For Leach whipped cream:

Lychee cut into small bits with its own juice - 1/4 cup (I used fresh Lychees)
Heavy whipping cream - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Vanilla - 1/2 teaspoon

For Meringue Shells:

Egg Whites - 3
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Cream Of Tartar - 1/4 teaspoon
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
Food Colour - few drops

Maraschino Cherries - few for garnish

Procedure :

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F

1. Line a large baking sheet with ungreased parchment paper or aluminum foil .

2. Combine egg whites, food colour, vanilla and cream of tartar. Beat until frothy.

3. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until glossy and stiff peaks is formed.

4. Fill this mixture into a large star tipped piping bag and pipe it out on the prepared baking sheet. (try to form a well shape)



5. Bake it for 1 hour 30 mins. Turn off oven, leave meringue in oven with door closed 2 hour for crisper meringue.

6. In the meanwhile freeze a large bowl and the beaters of the hand mixer for 1 hour. Now add cold heavy whipping cream to the cold bowl and start whipping with the cold beaters.

7. When it starts to form little bit, Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, add vanilla and beat until a stiff peak is formed.




8. Next fold in the lyechee bits with it's juices into the whipped cream. (do not over mix it) .

9. Fill this mixture into a large star tipped piping bag and pipe it out on the dried meringue shells. The well shape must me filled with whipped cream. Finally I garnish it with some maraschino cherries.

Tips:

Whipped cream can be added 30 mins before serving, as meringue will become soft with the whipped cream.

Meringue shells can be stored in an air tight container by lining parchment paper in between each layer for 2 weeks.

Appam With Mutton Korma

Appam With Mutton Korma is my contribution to JFI for Rice. Sharmi from Neivedyam.... is the host for this months event.....All the best Sharmi!...




Appam is a very healthy dish....Basically it is a steamed dish, so not much oil is involved in this cooking...This is my family's favorite breakfast or dinner(yes we have it for both).....

Appam is a dish made mostly out of rice....They have very less Dal in them...So I thought of contributing it for JFI - Rice.....

Traditionally appam is served with coconut milk....But I like to spice it up by serving appam with mutton korma....They both pair amazing...

Ingredients :

For Appam

Parboiled Rice - 1 cup
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 2 tablespoon
Fenugreek - 1 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - As required

Procedure :

1. Soak both the rice, urad dal along with fenugreek for 3 hours or more.

2. Now add enough water and grind the mixture into a fine liquid. It should be little watery than regular dosa batter.

3. Now add salt and ferment it for over night.

4. Add baking soda and mix well, now the batter is ready for making appams.




5. Appam can be made in appam pan or in a small size skillet.

6. Pour a ladle of appam batter and swirl it around the skillet and cover it with a lid and wait for 2 mins and remove form pan.

Ingredients :

For Mutton Korma:

Mutton(goat) pieces - 1 lb
Onions - 2 big
Tomatoes - 1 big
Green chillies - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tablespoon
Garam masala powder - 2 teaspoon
Red chili powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Cinnamon - 2" piece
Cardamom - 4
Clove - 3
Anistar - 1
Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Oil - 2 tablespoon
Salt - As per taste

Procedure :

1. In a pressure cooker heat the oil add cinnamon, cardamom, clove, anistar, fennel seeds.

2. When the fennel seeds start to change the colour add the chopped onions and green chills and fry for 2 mins.

3. Then add cut tomato and saute for 1 min, Then add the mutton pieces, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, chili powder and mix well.

4. Add enough water and cook the mutton until done.

5. Then add garam masala and coconut milk and cook not more than 5 mins. Sprinkle with some chopped coriander leaves.

Butter Chicken

Any non-veg lovers will like my version of butter chicken as they are more creamy than the usual one....




Butter chicken is an favorite side dish in my family.....It pairs well with both fried rice and chapati.....

I temper the oil and cook onions and tomato puree with some flavoring and then add the chicken pieces and cook then in the gravy. And for some richness and thickness of the gravy I also add ground almond and cashew paste. Then for a special creamy texture....I add Sour Cream.....Usually plain yogurt is used in the butter chicken to make it creamy....But I add sour cream to make it really..really..creamy.... finally to give more flavour I also add some Kastoori Methi.

Ingredients :

Chicken - 1 lb (boneless) Cut into small cubes
Onion - one chopped
Tomato puree - 1/2 cup
Cashew & almond paste - 1/4 cup
Ginger & garlic paste - 2 tablespoon
Chilly powder - 2 teaspoon
Coriander powder- 1 teaspoon
Sour cream - 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder- 1/4 teaspoon
Cinnamon- 2" pcs
Clove - 4-5
Cardamon - 3
Bay leaf - 1
Salt - to taste
Orange colour - 1/4 teaspoon
Kastoori Methi - 2 tablespoon
Butter - 3 tablespoon
Oil - 2 tablespoon

Procedure :

1. Heat oil in a pan and add Cinnamon, Clove, Cardamon, Bay leaf. Let it turn light brown.

2. Now add finely chopped onions and fry in oil till transparent.

3. Then add ginger & garlic paste and fry till u get nice aroma out of it.

4. Then add turmeric, chilly, coriander powder with salt and colour powder....mix well.

5. Pour in tomato puree, cashew & almond paste - mix well with water.

6. When it starts to boil add the chicken and add sufficient water for the chicken to boil.

7. When the chicken is cooked, Stir in the butter and sour cream. Little bit of water can be added if needed.

8. Before removing the gravy form heat, Crush the Kastoori Methi leaves and add to the gravy.

Chiku Milk Shake

Chiku milk shake is my all time favorite......Thought it is high calorie fruit...no compromise for it right?




Chiku is a very sweet fruit....Though it can be taken as a fruit...I love to make it as milkshake.....They taste great with milk.....

Chiku milk shake is very simple to make......I just blend in all the ingredients in the blender and top it with whipping cream and cinnamon powder.

Ingredients :

Chiku - 2 pealed and seeded
Whole milk - 2 cups
Sugar - as per taste
Ice cubes - 1 cup
Whipped cream - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon powder for decoration.

Procedure :

Blend in chiku, milk and sugar in a blender until smooth....Then add ice cubes and crush them. Then pour into glasses and top it with whipping cream and cinnamon powder...