Watermelon Granita

When I first saw this slush-type drink/dessert, I thought it was crushed ice colored in red with some flavoring. But when I tasted it, I got to know that it was made from watermelon. So I couldn't wait to try it at home.

Granita is an Italian semi-frozen dessert made with sugar, water and fruit. I used watermelon as it's my favourite summer fruit. As the name indicates, watermelon is 92% filled with water. Here is a hint on how to select a ripe melon:

To pick the perfect watermelon, use the hand to thump the watermelon. The sound will either be solid, like thumping a piece of wood, hollow like tapping a water jug, or thick like tapping a water balloon. If the watermelon is not ripe enough, it will sound solid. If it is too ripe, it will sound thick. A perfect watermelon will sound hollow.

Ingredients:

1. Seedless Watermelon chunks - 4 cups
2. Sugar - 1/2 cup (or depending on the taste of the melon)
3. Water - 1/4 cup
4. Lemon/Lime - 1 no. (extract juice)

Instructions:

1. Boil Sugar with water until sugar has dissolved and the solution becomes clear. Cool it completely.
2. Grind the watermelon chunks along with lemon juice and sugar syrup prepared above. Check for sweetness and add sugar if required, as the dessert is less sweet after it's frozen.
3. Pour into a shallow, wide pan and freeze for 1 hour. Rake the mixture with fork and freeze for another hour. Rake and freeze for one more hour.
4. Rake and serve in cups.

Sri Rama Navami

We celebrate Rama Navami on the 9th day from Ugadi.

"Sri Rama Rama Rameti, Rame Rame Manorame
Sahasranama Tattulyam, Rama Nama Varanane." - Chanting the name of 'Sri Rama' is equal to reciting the entire thousand names of Lord Vishnu.

The highlights of this festival are Paanakam and Vadapappu, the favourites of Lord Rama.

Here is the simple recipe to make Paanakam -

Ingredients:

Water - 1 cup

Jaggery - 2-3 tsps

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Cardamom seeds - 1 (powdered)

• Dissolve jaggery in water, add pepper powder and cardamom powder.
• Filter to remove the large particulates.

Vadapappu is nothing but split Moong dal soaked in water for 4-5 hours.

This festival takes me back to my childhood days in my village, when Sita-Rama kalyanam was performed at the village's Rama temple. And I remember my grand mother giving me the prasadam even before it was offered to God :)). The kalyanam used to involve the whole village. The ladies used to prepare prasadam on the back side of the temple, while the men made arrangements for the pooja and the community lunch. We kids used to have a good time running around the mandapam. In the night, there used to be a movie screening in the center of the village (open air theatre) using the old film projectors, where somebody has to change the reel everytime. Good old days!

Banana Lassi

Ingredients:

Bananas - 2 (ripe, peeled and sliced)

Plain Curd/Yogurt - 1 cup

Honey - 3 table spoons (or as required)

Water - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts - to garnish (optional)

• Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If your blender has a whip option, whip it for 5 min.s
• Garnish with nuts and serve immediately.

Carrot Milk (Carrot Juice)

This is my favourite carrot juice recipe learnt from my Mom, takes about 30min.s of my time every week. It's a must have item in my fridge. Cooked carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, a good source of potassium, and contain vitamin B6, copper, folic acid, and magnesium. Cashew nuts are significant sources of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. Cashew nuts also contain significant amounts of phytochemicals with antioxidant properties that protects the body from cancer and heart disease. Almonds are rich in vitamin E and are a useful source of calcium.

I was always afraid of using nuts as I heard from someone that they increase body fat but eating limited amounts of nuts will do good rather bad, learnt it from my favourite show (Good Eats by Alton Brown).

Ingredients:

Carrots - 8 medium in size

Almonds - 10

Cashews - handful

Milk and Sugar - as required (or substitute sugar with honey)

• Pressure cook the carrots, nuts with water.
• Peel off the almonds and grind the cooked carrots and nuts.
• You can store this puree for 1 week in freezer.
• For 1 cup of milk, add 3 tablespoons of the carrot puree and sufficient sugar.