Hot Hot Summer & Cold Cold Lychee Juice!!!

Growing up we did not have easy access to a lot of “fancy” fruits back in Guwahati, my hometown! Weather-wise, the place is not the best for growing common fruits like apples, strawberries and it was difficult to import as well. And once they are actually imported, the price was and still is really expensive!

But, we do have a lot of different flavorful exotic local fruits. Especially during summer! Some of them are now memories; I cannot recall when I last ate them and I have no idea when I may get to taste them next! Every summer my heart aches a little bit in nostalgia :-(  Typically summers in Assam are filled with delicious seasonal fruits; Lesu (Lychee), Leteku (Burmese Grape), Paniyal (Flacowtia), Jaamu (Java Plum), Aamlakhi (Indian Gooseberry), Rabab Tenga (Pomelo or Grapefruit), Madhuriam (Guava), different kinds of Mangoes! We even have a small ceremony where “eating seasonal fruits” is the main ritual :-) Unfortunately, apart from Mango, the rest of these fruits are very scarce here! Whenever I do catch a rare sight of these fruits, I try to buy some. Taste wise, it can never compete with the flavor from a fresh fruit that I remember; but it’s still something.

I recall this Lychee juice that my father made for us long long ago. He got some very high quality lychees from a village farmer and obviously he bought a lot. I don’t know if this is scientifically correct but my mother barred us from eating too many lychees constantly as it can upset the stomach! So Deuta (that’s how we call our father :-) ) decided to make juice from the fruits so that it can be preserved for a few days.

I saw some lychees in Jewel Osco last week, and so I got some! They were visually very appealing! But not of supreme quality; they had some blackened bits here and there on the flesh that is attached to the seed and those parts  were bitter to taste.-So I thought, why not make the juice? It is simple, pretty much like most of the recipes I share here on “Discovering Me”. 

Ingredients: Lychee, Sugar or Honey (optional), Water :-)

• Peel off the fruit.
• Wash it.
• Remove the seeds and shred the flesh into smaller pieces.
• Put in a blender and mix it if for a minute.
• Strain out.
• Squeeze with hand or spoon to get the last bit of juice out
• Throw away the left over pulp.
• Add some water depending on the consistency you want for your juice. Mix well.
• Add some honey or sugar. Stir again. Serve. Add Ice (optional). You may garnish it too. 
• Keep refrigerated, and finish within not more than 4 days. 

I know that lychee juice is readily available. But this way, it’s so much fresher and healthier. You can also control the sweetness and thickness you want in your juice. The weather has been absolutely perfect here in the Windy City. Its summer and I am taking in as much of it as possible, while sipping in this PERFECT summer drink. I loved making it and have already prepared two batches and I am definitely making another batch if I can find these again before the summer is gone!

Love,

~Arrru

Sweet and simple "Payox" (Rice Pudding Dessert)

Now that I have started to blog regularly and have been feeling a little less "shy" about sharing my blog in front of my friends and family members, they have started to take notice on the changes that all these years has brought in me! For example, I never cooked much when I was at home in India. Also, I was completely unaware of the wonderful world of makeup and beauty!! The two main focus of my blog :-)

I am now pretty confident in inviting a few guests over and prepare a presentable and somewhat “enjoyable” dinner course. But one thing always scared me; it still does! That “thing” in question is dessert! To be honest, I am not really "crazy" about it either! I have not developed a huge interest in baking, yet! And I don't really know any Indian dessert from Sewai and Suji :-) I guess I thought I will butcher the savoriness in any dessert… :-) 

But a few months ago, I don't remember exactly how but I had to face a situation where I needed to make some dessert and I had some ethnic aromatic rice that I brought from India! So I finally gathered up some courage and decided to make some "Payox" :-) or Kheer as you all may more familiar with!  I picked up my phone and called my father (yes, my father! He is an awesome cook) and he gave me the basic steps for making Payox. Then my mother offered her help and shared some simple but important tips that she follows!

Payox (Rice Pudding/Kheer/Payasam) is a very sweet Indian dessert delicacy! It’s almost always a must have in any auspicious occasion. I remember my mom cooking it utmost sincerity whenever she will offer puja for any holy occasion! Almost every mother that I know back home still makes “payox” for her kid’s birthday; no matter how old she or he is!! It’s something that mothers in Assam do :-) I always perceived it to be a tricky item to cook but when I followed the recipe my parents shared, I realized I never had a reason to be scared of making dessert, at least for "Payox". There is not a lot to be done in the recipe; all you need the ingredients and stir occasionally. I have fallen in love with the simplicity of the recipe and have started to make it at least twice a month these days! I even intend to make it during my long-term hotel stays for my work! It's that simple :-)

Ingredients: Rice (Any aromatic rice is good, I use the scented variety known as Joha Saul in Assam), Bay Leaves, Almond, Raisin, Honey, Cardamom, Milk (I use 2% or whole milk; more fatty is definitely better), Ghee.

• Soak a handful of rice in a bowl of warm water for at least 1 hr.

• Crush the rice using your hands after it’s soaked. You will see them breaking into smaller pieces. Crushed rice pieces makes the dish look aesthetically pleasing, at least to my eyes! :-)

• Meanwhile, warm up the milk in "medium heat". I love my payox to be a little runny, so I use a lot of milk (Almost half a gallon for a handful of rice; around 2 litre). You will need to keep stirring occasionally; otherwise the milk may get adhered to the bottom of the pan!

• After 10-15 minutes when the milk is a bit warm, add the rice and keep stirring from time to time.

• After a while add the raisin, bay leave and almond. 
  

• Remove the seed from the cardamom and crash it as small as you can. Add it into the mixture. All these ingredients will start feeling up your kitchen with a lovely aroma.

• I use both honey and sugar in 3:1 proportion for bringing in the sweetness. I believe using more honey gives me a little bit of peace of mind. (You know, you gotta think about your calorie intake ;-)

• After around 30-45 minutes, you can see the rice getting boiled and soaking up/puffing up.

• Keep stirring, the milk will start getting condensed. Depending on the consistency or thickness of the Payox you want, you might need to add more milk!

• I believe one of the key points in making the perfect payox is to allow the milk to get condensed and cook slowly for a longer time. Boiled and condensed milk has a different kind of taste itself.

• I love to add a few more almond pieces just for garnishing. 

• Payox surprisingly tastes good when served hot as well as when keep refrigerated overnight. I prefer the later :-)

This is one very simple but very popular dessert in India. And I am happy that I finally learnt to make it. I hope you also enjoyed it! I would love to hear back.

Love,
~Arrru

Home made simple and quick Momo Chutney!

Starting the month of August with a quick and easy chutney recipe. A while back I wrote a blog post on momos (steamed buns with or without filling, and originated in Nepal). If you have already read that post you know how much I love momos! And every time I try dumplings, wontons or momos in any restaurant or even the frozen variety available in grocery stores, I miss the "chutney" SO MUCH. I am referring to the chutney that is offered in restaurants back home in Assam :-) It is spicy, savory and has a certain kick to it. That's the best way I can describe it :-) Because Assamese food is not at all spicy in nature, I think this chutney takes the momo to a whole different level!

Ingredients: Dry Red Chilies, Tomato, Garlic, Ginger, Green Chili, Coriander leaves, Sugar

• Cut the tomato into big chunks and boil it for around 10 minutes with the dry red chilies.

• With one or two tomatoes I use 2-3 dry chilies and 4-5 green chilies. You can also use more red chilies, but I personally prefer fresh green ones over dry chilies. I feel they are relatively better for my health. :-)

• Take the boiled tomato and chilies from the water; mix all ingredients and blend them together in a blender.

• That's it :-) 

After I learned how to prepare momos at home, I googled "momo chutney" and altered the recipes to get the outcome I wanted. So there goes my disclaimer; I have not invented the recipe :-) I just changed a few ingredients from 2-3 recipes google provided and mixed into one :-)

I totally enjoyed my homemade momos with my homemade mouth-watering chutney! It's not the same YUMMY and mouth-watering that would make me nostalgic...but I am getting there :-)

Love

~Arrru

জিকা-মাছৰ জোল (Fish Curry with Ridge Gourd)

This was a staple in our household back home, and now it has firmly taken a place in my kitchen too. I religiously prepare this fish-curry at least twice a month. I know, I know it’s not a BIG number but you may already know, I am a lazy cook; for the most part :-), so I end up cooking only every other day. That and between my work tours, I think twice a month is frequent enough.

Let me talk about the main vegetable of this curry, Ridge Gourd. In my mother tongue (Assamese), we call it "Jikaa (জিকা)". I am not really sure if this is a familiar vegetable outside India, but it's definitely popular in India. It has thick dark green skin which you need to remove and spongy white flesh with seeds inside. Don't worry, the seeds are not much of a problem. You can see in the picture that there are some spikes on the outer skin :-) ; I remember my grandfather teaching my mom that if the total number of spikes is odd, the taste is going to be bitter. Bitter jikaa is not desirable :-) I am not sure how to describe the taste of this vegetable though! From childhood, I have enjoying jikaa prepared this way, so for me "jikaa" exclusively relates to this curry. I love exploring different recipes and flavors but I am not sure if I would ever want to try 'jikaa' in any other way :-), This recipe is typically made as a Fish curry but you can of course make it without the fish as well. And yeah, any kind of fish should work. Back home, we get very small freshwater fishes, with which this recipe is simply delicious!

Anyway, let's discuss the recipe. It's pretty simple, quick and easy. It also needs very less supervision; which means it's one of those recipes that is very hard to mess up :-) The great thing is that once you get the hang of this recipe, you can simply replace jikaa with vegetable like Pumpkin (Rongalao), Bottle Gourd (Panilao), tomato etc. Recipe remains exactly the same, but you get to taste very distinguished flavors with each of the different vegetables. This is one of the reasons I love authentic Assamese food. We use minimal oil and spices, and the taste of the vegetable stands out very distinctly rather than being masked by hundred different spices!

Ingredients: Red chili, Bay leaves, Pas furon (five spices mix), Oil, Salt, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Cumin powder, Turmeric powder, Ridge Gourd (jikaa), Fish (optional), Potato (optional), Coriander (optional), Green chili (optional)

1. First you will need to clean the vegetables. It is easier if the spikes are peeled off first, you can then easily peel off the rest of the outer skin. 
2. Once you get all the hard dark skin out of your way, chop the inner spongy flesh into really small pieces. Smaller the pieces less time it needs for cooking.
3. Make a paste of ginger, chili and garlic. Chop some onions.
4. Marinate the fish pieces with salt and turmeric for few minutes. Fry in your choice of oil, make sure it is well fried or alternatively, you can oven-boil it too! (Confession: I used the remainder of the frying oil for the preparing the curry as well).
5. Heat up oil in a pan. I use olive oil when I am trying to eat extra healthy and for the days when I want a more authentic flavor I use my beloved mustard oil. 
6. Once the oil is well heated, add dry red chilies, bay leaves, pas furon (careful with the splattering!) and chopped onions. 
7. Add potatoes at this time, I don’t know why, but potatoes here take much longer time to cook. So it needs to go into the pan before the jikaa.
8. Add the jikaa when the onion turns golden in color. Keep stirring and after few minutes add the ginger-garlic paste with green chili and salt.
9. Continue stirring from time to time. You will see the pieces losing shape and melting to a gravy-like consistency. 
10. When the potato is cooked, add water and bring the gravy to boil. Although potato is optional, I like how it helps making the consistency better, every time.
11. Add the fish pieces; boil for some more minutes so that the flavor from fish blends in with the gravy. You can add coriander at this point. 
12. Your curry is ready.

This is one of my extremely favorite foods and I love it with rice. It's actually best served with rice. But have it with roti, with rice or simply the curry; however you may like it :-)

Hope you it was helpful! 

Love,

~Arrru

:::ধনিয়াৰ চাটনী (Coriander Chutney):::

This is going to be the simplest and shortest recipe I have posted till date :) This is definitely one of the most widely used and well-loved Indian chutney. 

For those who do not know what is chutney, it is a flavoured condiment, mostly spicy which can be paired up with almost anything to oomph up the taste of your food. 

We, Indians, have been pairing up coriander chutney with samosa, tandoori chicken, tandoori drumstick, paranthas or with a simple daal-rice meal :) It goes with almost anything.

Also, there are a lot of variations of this chutney. You can change up few ingredients and it will be different flavour of the same chutney. Today, I will be sharing the simplest of all the variations and a few pictures showing how I used it :)

Ingredients: Chopped coriander (one bunch, large stem may be removed), salt, green chillies, very few coves of garlic and same amount of ginger, a little bit of jeera (cumin) powder, few spoons of lemon juice depending on your taste.

1. Mix all the ingredients and grind it together till it appears smooth. That's it. You are all done :)

Also, you can refrigerate it in an airtight container and this will last you for at least 5-6 days. Simple, super easy to make and long-lasting, do we need anything more ?
:)

Love,

~Aru 

:::Tandoori style oven-broiled Chicken Drumsticks:::

So, it was a Sunday and as always I did not have much excitement going on for me! And because I already had some chicken drumsticks in my refrigerator, I decided to prepare some tandoori drumsticks or should I just name it oven-broiled chicken drumsticks. :)

First and foremost, this, again is a borrowed recipe. I always thought tandoori anything is a very terrifying recipe. I did not believe that I have the courage and patience to actually prepare such a long recipe. But, thanks to one of my friends, I finally realized this is actually pretty simple if I can manage the patience. A hat tip to her :). Lets go to the recipe straightforward. 

Ingredients: Chicken drumsticks, curd (aka plain yogurt), salt, garlic, ginger, paste, green chillies (optional, but I love the fresh smell of it), red chili powder, lemon juice, tandoori masala.

Important Note: From my few experiments, I can assure that the key to the success to this recipe is marination. I have succumbed to the temptation and prepared this dish when I did not have sufficient time. I have to accept that it did not turn out good.

1. Remove the skin from the drumsticks, make few deep slits. There are two rounds of marination involved. I used the following proportions for 8 pieces of drumsticks.
2. For First Round, mix juice from one small lemon, salt to your taste, 2 tablespoons of both ginger and garlic paste, red chili powder. Put the chicken pieces and marinate well so that the salty flavour can penetrate deep into the slits. Keep it for 30-45 minutes. 
3. For Second Round, mix few tablespoons (I put 4) of curd with almost half amount of tandoori masala. Put the chicken pieces from the first marinade to this paste. 
4. Keep this marination for as long as you want. I kept it around 10 hrs. But, at least 3-4 hrs is needed. 
5. Broil it at 450° F in a conventional oven. Keep checking and turning the sides of the chicken pieces from time to time. When you put your fork into the pieces, you can gauge if it's properly cooked or not. Once you get a feel that it is cooked, and outer crust is a bit crisp, it should be done. It generally needs around an hour.
6. Serve it as a snack or as a side dish to your meal. If you want a quick and easy recipe  of coriander chutney to go with the tandoori drumsticks, please click here :)

I enjoyed my crisp and well done drumsticks. I hope you will too :) 

Love,

~Aru