Mint Yogurt Smoothie

So, wife and kids are in India and I am bored with not knowing what to do in the evening. I made this great Mint Yogurt Smoothie and I immediately thought I should share it.

This is isnpired from Giada's Basil Smoothie Recipe.

Ingredients

Fresh Mint Leaves - about 15 to 20 of them
Yogurt - 1 Cup
Sugar, Lemon Syrup - 1 cup

Making the Sugar Lemon Syrup

Take 1 cup fo water, 1 cup of SUgar, Lemon Zest to taste and boil them together. Let it cool and you can use it for other smoothies also.

Making the Smoothie - real simple
Few cubes of Ice and mix all the other ingredients and blend it.

This tastes great, looks great and feels really good for Summer.

Mint Mango Mazaa

Ask anyone from India and they will tell you how crazy they are about mangoes. I love mangoes and I enjoy the mango season in summer. As a child, we went to our Grand Parents house and always wanted to eat lot of mangoes. However, my Grandmother had a ration of mangoes and would give we were allowed to eat mangoes only at 3:00 PM after our lunch.

I have not lost the love for mangoes but I experiment to find different ways to eat a mango. Here is the recipe for mint mango mazaa (mazaa means delicious)

Preparation time – 15 mins

Serves – 4

Ingredients
Champagne Mangoes – 4
Corn Kernel from 1 Corn
¼ sweet onion
Bunch of mint leaves
Sweet Belpeppers- 2 each of orange and yellow
Sweet cucumbers – 2
Lime – 1
Salt to taste
Fennel seeds – 1 table spoon
All purpose herbs – ½ tea spoon
Process
Peel and cut the mangoes into small cubes, add the corn kernel from fresh sweet corn, cut the onions into small cubes, cut mint leaves into small pieces and cut cucumber and bell peppers together. Add Salt, lime juice and herbs and it is ready to eat.

Cool Maharaja Sandwich

I guess my creative juices are flowing. My wife and I were thinking about what we should make for a quick dinner and experimented with a sandwich. Pavani does not like raw vegetables or Salad or a sandwich but she ended up eating this sandwich twice.

Ingredients

Lettuce

Carrots -1

Cucumber -1

Onion – ½

Tomato – 1

Ginger Mango Pickle (you will get this in any grocery store like Giant or Harris Teeter) – 2 table spoons

Tomato Pudina sauce (you will find this in Indian store)- 2 table spoons

Spicy pepper oil – ¼ table spoon

Pepper Jack Cheese

All purpose Herbs

Ranch Dressing

Process

Apply 1 tablespoon of ginger mango pickle to one slice of bread. The ginger mango pickle is sweet and sour and gives it a unique taste to the sandwich. On the other slice apply the tomato pudina sauce. Peel the carrots, Cucumber and cut the carrots, onion, cucumber into small circles. Put slices of lettuce, all the other vegetables, add a pinch of spicy pepper oil on top, add the all purpose herbs. On top of it all pour ½ table spoon of ranch dressing, add slices of Pepper Jack Cheese and it is ready to eat. This sandwich is a little spicy, little sweet and has all the great ingredients. Enjoy..

Best Dad on Earth

I have been in the US for almost 9 years the one thing I will miss beyond everything is My Dad, My mom and all the family members back home. Yes, I made the choice to come here. Yes, I continue to choose to stay here but there is no dispute to the fact that I miss my country, I miss my family and most of all I miss my Dad. I have been a father only for 3 years but I am not sure I can in anyway replicate or even come close to what my dad has done for the family. There is only one area where I can beat him maybe 2 – 1) I am positive I will grow grey and loose hair faster than him 2) I am sure I will put on more weight than he did in his early years.

You thought us to live life to the maximum and enjoy it with family – I still remember the first major vacation when the 5 of us went out to Bangalore and Mysore trip. It was right after my 10^th grade exams. We all took the train from Hyderabad to Bangalore. You would buy everything that came our way from the vendors passing by from the veg cutlets to the spiced peanuts to the ice cream. There were many more trips after that and many more before that but this trip to Bangalore was the best trip ever.

I remember the Diwali's I spent with you, the favorite of all the Indian festivals. I remember being woken up the day before diwali early in the morning at 5:00 AM to light up crackers and burst Narakasura. I remember standing on the steps waiting for you to return from your Bosses house after wishing him Diwali wishes. I still wish you did stayed away from going to you bosses house but work came before anything else. It has been 9 years since I celebrated Diwali with you but I am sure I will do it soon in the next few years and this time it will be a Grand celebration.

I remember all the fuss I created when I fell sick, all the hungama at home to make me take that stupid medicine. I wanted you to come and give me the medicine or I would not take it. Dad – I have a confession to make, I threw some of these medicines out of the window and never took them. I have grown up since then but I still miss you when I am sick.

I still remember the first Cassette Player and the first Cassette of the Gharshana movie you brought for me from Nellore in 1992 and the umpteen number of times I played the cassette.

I remember the struggles you had to go through for arranging the finance for my brother to come to US, I remember the struggles and the pain we had to go through to arrange for the last installment for our first flat in Ameerpet. I remember the hardships you had to go through in the final leg of his professional career working for an employer.

All through the years dad, you have been a role model for me. As a person who showered all his love, as a person who worked long arduous hours, as a person who thought us a lot about work ethics, work culture by sharing your day to day experiences at work. As a person who thought us a lot about managing financials just by being open to us about the financial situation at home. As a friend who we could walk with hands on your shoulder, as a person who thought us how to love our wife and how to bring up family.

We stand where we are today due to all that you and amma have done. Dad, I miss you. Hope you will have a wonderful Birthday.

Summer Special – Cucumber Corn Salad

This is a simple and one of my favorite summer salads. Inspired from the Raw Corn salad on Food and wine but I have changed the ingredients and added a touch of Indian spices

Time Taken – 15 mins

Ingredients

Fresh raw sweet corn Kernel from 2 sweet corn

Orange Bell Pepper – 1 small

Red Bell Pepper – 1 small

Cucumber – 2 small (small cucumbers are tasty)

Cilantro – ½ bunch

Fennel Seeds – 1 table spoon

Cumin Seeds – ½ table spoon

White Onion – ¼

Lime Juice – 2 tea spoons

Chat Masala - 1 Teaspoon

Salt to taste

Process

Cut the onions, cucumber into small pieces. Mix the cucumber, Onion, sweet corn and add the lime juice to it. Add the fennel seeds and cumin seeds, salt and serve it. The fennel seeds give it a fresh aroma and taste.

East meets West - Panner Pasta

So, I guess I took a couple of days break from our blog already. Today, I will try to give you recipe for a recipe combining the recipes of East and West.

Paneer Pasta
Making time – Active – 30 mins, preparation 30 mins
Serves - 4

Ingredients
For Pasta
Bow Tie Pasta – ½ box
Green Bell Pepper – ½
Red Bell Pepper – ½
Yellow Bell Pepper – ½
Zucchini -1
Carrots – 2
Panner – ½ pack (similar to Cottage cheese and you will find this in the freezer section of Indian stores)
Olive Oil – 2 Table spoons
All purpose Herbs – 2 Tea Spoons
Butter – ¼ stick

For Sauce
Tomatoes – 6 Large Plum tomatoes
Onion – ½ Large White onion
1 tin of Vegetable Starch

Process

Making the Sauce
Cut the Onions and tomatoes, take Olive oil in a pan, fry the onions till they are golden brown. Now add the sliced tomatoes and fry them along with the onions. Let it cool for about 5 mins and grind the onions, tomatoes and salt to taste and then add the vegetable stock to it and grind it for 2 mins.

Pasta
Bring 6 large cups of water to boil, add the bow tie pasta to it and cook the pasta for about 12-15 mins. Drain the water out of the pasta and keep it aside.
Peel the carrots and cut them into long thin slices , cut the other vegetables into long thin slices. Cook all the vegetables together after adding the butter. Once the vegetables are tender, add cubes of panner, the sauce to the mix and let it boil for about 5 mins. Now add the pasta to the sauce and serve it hot.

You can add any other vegetables like Green beans, Mushroom, Potato etc.

Enjoy the Paneer Pasta

On the eve of world cup T20 final

I thought I would post one more recipe tonight. However, one of my friends pointed out to me that of the 3 topics I have covered in my post – Cricket, food, 67% of my posts related to food. Well being a numbers guy that he is from my college days, I did not expect anything more from him. However, that lead to a change in my thought. In this day and age, I cannot ignore the feedback from my viewers- so here goes the article on cricket.

I guess my observations on this might be a little old but as usual, I have 3 things to write about
1) England’s exit from WT20 and why on earth do people think England is still learning
2) My reaction to Cricinfo’s article on T20 final being a Triumph on Human spirit
3) Why my expectations are low for the India WI ODI

Engalnd’s exit from WT20: When England lost their match against WI and lost the spot in semi finals, in the post match interview, Naseer Hussain asked Collingwood if he was proud of his bowlers. That was the first statement / comment Naseer Hussain had made and almost lead Collingwood into a positive spin. I know Naseer is British and it is natural for him to support England. I also know that England beat India in the earlier match but I do not think I would have asked Collingwood the same question. A more natural and unbiased question would have been – How does Collingwood feel about the exit. All through the match, several commentators thought and said England is quickly learning more and more about the format!!! Andrew Miller even wrote an article in Cricinfo about England’s Honourable exit. Now, in their Super Eight’s England won only one match against India and lost against South Africa and West Indies. In the Group matches they lost against Ireland. Now thinking about that way – Ireland are also learning from the format. They have made huge progress in the world cup. I think it is fair to say that Ireland is learning but it is absolutely unfair to say England is learning. By this time, they should have well gone past beyond the learning curve. To me, England did well to beat India but I think they are well past the learning curve. It would be gracious of Collingwood and other English men to accept that they are still an inconsistent team. Oh well – these are just views of a whining Indian.

T20 final a Triumph of Human spirit? In my previous article – one wish for world T20 – I had wished Pakistan should not win the world cup. However, since then my views have changed a bit and the one article responsible for change is again an article by Andrew Miller and you can read it here. I will have to agree for the sake of humanity that a win for Pakistan will be a well deserved celebration for their country. The headlines for Pakistan are anything but encouraging and it seems like people of the country need a cause for celebration. Will Pakistani’s come out on the streets like Indian’s in 2007 if Pakistan win tomorrow? That is to be seen but I wish them well. I will not be yelling for Pakistan as I just cannot but will not be disappointed if they win. My bet though is on Sri Lanka. Not because of their form but I truly think they have bought innovation into the game – be it the slow bouncer by Malinga, the “Dilscoop” by Dilshan or the bowling by Murali and Mendis. The final will be a final of Innovation , Determination, Passion and team cricket vs Determination, Passion and team spirit. By this time tomorrow we will know if innovation can trump everything else in the long run.

My expectations for India’s ODI series in WI: Last but not the least, my expectations for India win in WI ODI series is very low. I think we have a very young team and a lot of members of this team have not visited WI. We deserved a longer break and I am skeptical about our performance as a team. Dhoni can deny the fatigue from overplaying but that is a fact. If we were to win again 3 things have to happen 1) we have to start seeing the team spirit 2) Dhnoi’s own form with batting has to change 3) we have raise our standards for fielding and create chances out of nothing (as if that is new)