Aam Panna ~ Kayree Panha

With the Onset of Summers starts the season of King of Fruits - Aam ~ Mangoes. The sweltering heat of summers consumes lot of your energy and make you go dehydrated. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion are the most serious health illnesses caused by hot environments, and a real danger to people who work outside in the summer.
One such power booster drink comes to the rescue to prevent heat stroke ~ Aam Panna. Aam panna for North Indians and Kayree Panha for Maharashtrians, this drink is a must in our house during summers. It is prepared using raw mangoes, sugar and an assortment of spices. This drink is a wonderful source of vitamin C and prevents the loss of excessive sodium chloride and iron from the body during summer due to sweating. It also prevents summer diarrhoea, colds, piles, morning sickness, indigestion and constipation. The spices used in this drink like Rock salt is cooling, anti-acidic, anti- bilious, anti-phlegmatic, and digestive. It has natural minerals, which are absent in commercial table salt.Cumin helps to prevent flatulence.
With Aam Panna to my rescue in Summers I can happily sing this famous number of Beatles ~ ''Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right"

Ingredients:
2 Raw Mangoes
1 Bowl Sugar
1 Teaspoon Grounded Pepper
2 Teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
2 Kesar / Saffron Strands
Rock Salt to taste
Water
Crushed Ice
1 Tablespoon Chopped Mint Leaves

Method:
1. Peel the skin from the raw mangoes and pressure cook it.
2. Once the mangoes are properly pressure cooked, remove the pulp of the cooked mangoes.
3. Add sugar to the pulp and blend them together with the help of the blender.
4. Now heat on a low flame the raw mango pulp and the sugar mixture and add rock salt, kesar and roasted cumin seed powder to the pulp. Allow the pulp to heat for 2 minutes and remove it from the gas.

5. Allow it to cool. Before serving mix the pulp crushed ice and pour chilled water. Garnish it with chopped mint leaves.
One can even store the mango pulp in a bottle for 4 days and serve with chilled water as and when required.

Here is my entry for Priti's Summer Treat Event

My new friend Lena has shared with me I love your Blog award. Lena! Thanks for considering me for this award.

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Tiranga Juice

India's Independence Day ~ स्वतंत्रता दिवस is celebrated on 15th August, in honour of India's Independence from British Raj and its birth as a sovereign nation. British ruled India from 1858 - 1947. The struggle for Indian independence continued for years basically from the time the East India Company set up its rule. India saw the emergence of some freedom fighters and satyagrahis who with their ideologies and principles sought to achieve independence. Many people participated in the Indian freedom struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhagat Singh, Khudiram Bose, Ramprasad Bismil, Madame Cama, Aurobindo Ghosh, Bagha Jatin, Suhdev, Rajguru are few of the freedom fighters, who sacrificed their lives for us to enjoy the freedom.
After so many years of British rule, India finally won backs its freedom on 15th August, 1947. All the patriotic hearts rejoiced at seeing India becoming a sovereign nation and the triumph of hundreds and thousands of martyred souls. It was a birth of a new nation and a new beginning.
People hoist the national flag through out the country and put them up on the rooftops and the buildings. People only go to offices to attend the flag hoisting ceremony. The Prime Minister addresses the Nation after the flag hoisting.
In India, the term "tricolour" ~ ''Tiranga'' refers to the Indian national flag. Few of us are aware about the fact that Pingali Venkayya designed our Tiranga.The flag is a horizontal tricolour of "deep Saffron" at the top, White in the middle, and Green at the bottom. In the centre, there is a Navy Blue wheel with twenty-four spokes, known as the Ashok Chakra.

The flag's Saffron color symbolizes Courage and Sacrifice, White stands for Peace and Truth, and Green is for Faith and Chivalry, and Blue represents the color of the sky and the ocean. The central motif is a Chakra, or Buddhist spinning wheel. The 24 spokes of the wheel correspond with the 24 hours of the day, implying that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

''Saare jahan se accha Hindustan Hamara'' It makes more sense now. Sixty years after independence, India is beginning to deliver on its promise. Over the past few years the world's biggest and rowdiest democracy has matched its political freedoms with economic ones, unleashing a torrent of growth and wealth creation that is transforming the lives of millions. India's economic clout is beginning to make itself felt on the international stage and with recent achievement of Abhinav Bindra made India proud by claiming Gold Medal in Beijing Olympics in the Men's 10m Air Rifle.

Source: Wikipedia and TIMES

Wishing All Happy Independence Day

I received today from my school friend Sejal Zaveri a beautiful painting of Mahatma Gandhi our Bapu - Father of the Nation. This marvellous Art work is done by using Charcoal and Pencil. I received her mail, when I was drafting this post, so I thought let me use her Art work, which is apt for the post and I seeked her permission to showcase her talent on my blog.

Away from homeland, I truly miss India and I thought best way to celebrate our Independence is by making this Tiranga Juice. Here's my entry for Creative Pooja's Independence Day Event and for EC's WYF'S Colour in Food as colours of India are represented in the Juice

Ingredients:
5 Apples
2 Bananas
8 Oranges
8 Kiwis
2 Tablespoons of Sugar

Method:
1. Wash and clean all the fruits, and then peel off the skin from all the fruits.
2. Extract Orange juice by using citrus juicer extractor and add 1 Tablespoon of Sugar
3. Blend the apples and banana together and keep it aside.
4. In the same Juicer blender, blend the kiwis and add 1 Tablespoon of sugar and keep it aside.
5. For making Tricolour of Indian flag, take a serving glass, with spoon add kiwi juice, then with help of a spoon make layer of Apple and Banana juice and in the end with spoon top it with Orange Juice.

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Virgin Pina Colada - One Month Baby

My baby (Blog) is one month old today:) Hurrayy!!!!!! In this span of one month, I have learned soo many things - Lovely yummy recipes, technicalities which I implemented on my blog and made soo many lovely friends who shares the same interest as mine that's cooking. Thank you foodies for regularly visiting my blog and encouraging me with their comments. Special Thanks to my dear hubby, for encouraging me and also for having patience of clicking photographs first and then having the food :)......Thank you all.....
I simply love Virgin Pina Colada. This is my favourite drink whenever I visit any restaurant. The taste of coconut blends really well with the pineapple. I am sure the way I enjoy this drink, even you will relish this combination.
Here is my entry for Aartee's Summer Splash,



Sia's Monsoon's WBB - Summer Feast




and Easy Craft's WVF'S - Juices and Ice Cream Event




Ingredients:
2 Cups of Pineapple Chunks
11/2 Cup of Coconut milk
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
Pinch of salt
1 Cup of Ice

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients, except ice in a juicer or a blender
2. Sieve the Juice, and remove it in a serving glass and add ice on top.

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Slushy Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Slushy Strawberry Smoothie is one of my favourite smoothie. Strawberries are good source of vitamins and have a good nutritional value. This delicious smoothie is quick and easy to make. And as Strawberries have the ability to fuse with other fruits, they taste good blended with any other fruits of your choice.
This recipe is my entry for Aartee's Summer Splash Event

and for Sia's WBB - Summer Feast




Ingredients:
100g. Strawberries
2 Bananas
1 Cup of whole milk
1/2 Cup of yoghurt (Plain or strawberry flavour)
4 Teaspoons of sugar
1/2 Cup of Ice

Method:
1. Wash Strawberries and clean them. Peel off the bananas.
2. Take all the ingredients in a blender or a juicer and blend it in a thick consistency.
3. Garnish it with chopped Strawberries.

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