Guacamole Recipe | How to make Guacamole From Scratch

Guacamole is a Mexican dip made with ripe Avocados. When the mashed chunks of Avocados are mixed with minced onion, tomato, chopped coriander, seasoning and lemon juice, you get this delicious Mexican dip that is a must-serve in any Mexican meal.

I first tasted avocados when I was living in Dublin. To tell you the truth, I found it a little too bland for my taste to eat it raw. A few pieces here and there in a salad is fine, but not more than that. But, avocados in the form of this dip is delicious. I can have spoonfuls of it and yet want more.

When you are making tortilla chips, making this dip is a must. In India, avocados come under the exotic variety of fruits and it comes pricey. So, whenever I buy it, I make sure that I make the best use of it.

More often than not, I find they are raw when I buy them. so, I keep them wrapped in paper for 2-3 days, till they are ripe enough to be used.

Here is how I make guacamole from scratch - it is an easy, no-cook dip and can be whipped up instantly.

Guacamole Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small tomato, deseeded and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped

1 green chilli, finely minced

Salt to taste

Juice of 1 lemon, about 3 to 4 tbsp (adjust to taste)

Process:

1.       Keep all ingredients chopped and minced before setting out to scoop the flesh of avocado as it has a tendency to get brown.

2.       Slit the avocado from the middle and divide into two parts. Remove the stone and using a spoon scoop out the flesh.

3.       Collect the flesh in a medium bowl and using a fork mash it nicely. Add all the listed ingredients and mix it all together. Adjust salt to taste. Cover the bowl tightly with a cling film until serving time.

4.       Serve chilled with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Some other Mexican recipes you can check here.
Roasted Tomato Salsa
Homemade Tortilla Chips 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#77

Homemade Tortilla Chips Made From Scratch | How to Make Tortilla Chips at Home | Mexican Recipes

Homemade Tortilla Chips Made From Scratch #Recipe

Tortilla Chips is one of the staple dishes in Mexican cuisine. Typically, most of us get that readymade packet of tortilla chips, but today I am going to show you an easy way to make homemade tortilla chips using maize flour.

Past few weeks had been quite busy for me. That is the reason I could not spend any time on this space for more than 2 weeks now.

First DH fell ill and then it was baby M's turn. When both got well, we had to travel for a marriage ceremony. Travelling with a toddler is so exhausting - there are so many little things to pack for every possible situation. After coming back - unpacking, laundry and getting the house in order! Uff.. the list goes on! To top that my regular maids have left and I feel like I am stranded in the middle of no where. You get my point right! But, then that's life. Nothing always go as planned.

Enough of my rants for today, so, lets talk about food now.

Last month I decided to join Srivalli's Blogging Marathon event for the month of June, so that I could be more regular in blogging here. For my first week, I chose the theme - Latin American Cuisine and spent quite some time exploring vegetarian options for various countries that come under the gamut of Latin America. But, in the end, due to time crunch, I decided to stick to some dishes that I have already tasted many times and I could re-create them at home, thus doing some justice to its taste.

Latin America comprises of 19 sovereign states and many other territories and dependencies. Mexico is one of the Latin American countries. So, I chose to post a recipe for tortilla chips - one of the very popular snack to munch on from Mexico.

Today I am sharing a simple recipe for Homemade Tortilla Chips made from scratch using maize flour. This recipe was shared to me by my sister in law. It is her mom's recipe. The only thing I changed was I used whole wheat flour instead of maida as needed in the recipe. When I searched about homemade tortilla chips online, most of the blogs just used ready made corn tortillas to make them. Since, corn tortillas are not readily available in India, anyone wanting to make tortilla chips at home can try this method of using maize flour - our humble makki ka aata. Since, maize flour is gluten free, we have to add wheat flour or maida to the dough, so that it helps in binding.

Without much ado, let's check the recipe for Homemade Tortilla Chips now.

Homemade Tortilla Chips Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup maize flour/ makki ka aata
½ cup whole wheat flour/aata
2 tbsp oil
Lukewarm water for making dough
Oil to deep fry
½ tsp salt

Process:

1. In a bowl take maize flour, whole wheat flour, salt and oil and mix well. Using the lukewarm water make stiff but smooth dough.

2. Cover the dough and set it aside for 15 minutes

3. Divide the dough into 7-8 golf size balls. Using some whole wheat flour roll the balls one at a time into round circles of 5 to 6 inches diameter. Slice them into 6 triangle pieces just like we slice pizza. Pierce the pieces with fork.

4. Take the pieces off gently and place on a clean plate. Repeat the process with rest of the dough balls. When done, heat oil for deep frying.

5. Deep fry them in batches till they are light brown.

Notes:

You need to be extra careful while rolling the dough. If you roll it too thin it might break. Use flour for dusting as and when needed.

You can also check out my guacamole and roasted tomato salsa recipe to serve with these homemade tortilla chips.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#77

Purple Delight Recipe | Black Grapes and Pomegranate Cooler Recipe | Summer Cool Drinks

Purple Delight Recipe
 Black Grapes and Pomegranate Cooler #Recipe

Purple Delight is a summer cooler drink made with fresh grapes and pomegranate juice. It is spiced with pepper powder, roasted cumin powder and black salt. Fresh and tangy, it is just perfect to keep you cool during summers.

Colours are an important spice of life.  Imagine your life without colours – boring right? I believe it is the same with our food – it should be colourful and pleasing to eyes. When I was thinking about all the cool drinks I was indulging in this summer, I realized they were all of the different colours. My Kairi Panna is a soothing shade of green as I use a lot of mint in it; the Masala Chaas is, as usual, white, my Herbal Iced Tea was a bright shade between orange and brown. That’s when I thought of creating a different coloured drink to sip on.

I had lots of black grapes and pomegranate in my refrigerator and with these two star ingredients; I set on to make a drink. When I was done, I was pleased with the result at hand, so much so that I took it to a friend’s place for her to taste. She has become my unannounced official taster for most experiments in my kitchen. When she okay-ed it, I made it again the next day and while sipping on it, this name – Purple Delight came to my mind.

The other day when I met her and amidst our usual banter, I told her I have named the drink – Purple Delight and she was into a riot of laughter.... which reminds me of another spice of life - laughter. Laugh as often as you can and be with friends who can make you laugh out loud.

The pomegranate juice typically has a slightly bitter note in the end which compliments beautifully with grapes juice which is sweeter. A dash of lemon juice adds a subtle tang to the overall flavour and the spices add some earthiness. If you want to try something different from your regular lemonade, try it for sure.

Purple Delight Recipe | Black Grapes and Pomegranate Cooler 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup black grapes

1/2 cup pomegranate pearls

2 tbsp sugar syrup (optional)

1/4 tsp black salt

1/4 tsp black pepper powder

1/4 tsp roasted jeera powder

Soda water to top up

Lots of Ice cubes

2 tbsp Chopped grapes and pomegranate pearls for garnishing

Process:

1. In a blender jar add the grapes and pomegranate pearls and churn till pulpy. Sieve the mixture to extract the juice.

2. Add the juice to a large jar; add sugar syrup, black salt, black pepper and jeera powder. Stir well. Add this to 4 medium glasses.

3. Add some ice cubes to each glass. Top up with soda water. Garnish with chopped grapes and pomegranate pearls. Serve chilled.

Notes:

1. The black grapes I used were quite sweet. If you are using grapes that are tart, adjust sugar syrup quantity accordingly.

2. It is best to consume it fresh and chilled.

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!

Virgin Orange Mojito Recipe | How to Make Virgin Orange Mojito from Scratch | Non-Alcoholic Party Drink Ideas

Virgin Orange Mojito #Recipe

Virgin Orange Mojito is a perfect non-alcoholic party drink. With orange juice, a dash of ginger juice and aerated drink, this is simple, fuss-free recipe. Just mix certain ingredients, pour and serve. This virgin orange mojito recipe can easily be made for large parties without much issue.

Both I and DH love oranges. When these fruits are in season, having fresh orange juice almost every day is a norm. But, one fine day, after we bid adieu to the Indian Nagpur Oranges, DH spotted some imported variety in the supermarket and bought a bagful home. While they looked inviting, one sip of its juice made me cringe – they turned out to be very-very sour. So, I was left with no option but to make a mocktail out of it.

We all know the classic mojito in its virgin form is made of mint, lemon, little sugar and aerated water. Often sprite and ginger ale are also used. I have seen many flavoured mojito drinks doing rounds on the internet and so, I decided to use those sour oranges in making a virgin orange mojito. I like to add a bit of ginger juice in my mojitos – it adds a depth to the overall flavour.

Oranges are out of season now. But, you can use packaged orange juice if you fancy to try this out.

Virgin Orange Mojito

Ingredients:

¼ cup fresh mint leaves

2 cups orange juice (I used freshly squeezed orange juice)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp simple sugar syrup (sugar syrup prepared by mixing and boiling an equal quantity of sugar and water till the sugar is dissolved)

1 tsp fresh ginger juice

Sprite as needed

Ice cubes as needed

Orange slices, lemon slices and fresh mint leaves for garnishing

Process:

In a jar add fresh mint leaves, sugar syrup and muddle it with a spoon. Add lemon juice, followed by orange juice and ginger juice. Stir it nicely.

In two tall glasses, add lots of ice cubes and pour the prepared concoction equally. Top it up with chilled sprite. Garnish with orange slice, lemon slice and a mint sprig. Enjoy!

Don't forget to check out some more party drink ideas here.

Purple Delight
Sweet Lime Soda
Strawberry Lemonade 

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Paan Ice Cream Recipe | How to Make Paan Flavoured Ice Cream at Home | Ice Cream Recipes

Paan Ice Cream #Recipe

Paan Ice Cream, as the name says is an ice cream flavoured with the Indian meetha paan. This ice cream has the unique flavour of freshly ground betel leaves and an assortment of flavouring spices. If you love Indian Meetha Paan, you are going to love this Paan Ice Cream.

When it comes to cooking, the greatest satisfaction for me comes when I am able to create a flavour in a particular dish exactly the way I wanted. So, when I tasted my paan (betel leaves) flavoured ice cream, I did my little happy dance.

"Meetha Paan" is one of those after-food treats I don't mind indulging in, whenever I get a chance. I remember when I was in my early teens back in my hometown, savouring on a meetha paan was a rare indulgence. But, whenever I had the chance, my special instructions to the 'paanwala bhaiya' were - extra gulkand and no supari (betel nut). The paan vendor had a tiny shop with a number of people flocking in at any point in time. Fresh paan leaves would be kept under a wet red muslin cloth, and there would be an assortment of fillings in various jars kept in a particular order to be folded inside the paan leaf, The vendor would take a fresh paan leaf, slather little 'kattha' and would ask how would you like it filled. A request for extra gulkand would often raise his eyebrow. But, in the end, everyone could have a customized meetha pan to savour on.

A meetha pan is a perfect palate cleanser for me - I always put the whole of it in my mouth and my jaws are in for some extra work. Juice from the betel leaves, gulkand, fennel seeds and the various filling creates an explosion of flavours which any Indian paan loving human will vouch for. Here in Pune, we do get good meetha paan, but most of the times they are already prepared and kept in a cool ice box. When you buy one, the vendors typically dip it in rose syrup and lightly coat in desiccated coconut and serve it to you.

Paan Ice Cream

Sometimes back when I spotted paan ice cream at a very popular ice cream joint in the city, I ordered one. But, it didn't live up to my expectations - it had less flavour of paan and more of mint flavoured mouth freshener. So, I decided to try to make paan ice cream at home. After reading various recipes online, I realized this ice-cream is very much customizable. You can flavour with a blend of things - just like the way you would want to flavour your customized meetha paan.

I stuck with my fresh cream and condensed milk combination for this ice cream. Do read the notes for some extra tips.

Paan Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

250 ml fresh cream
200 g condensed milk
200 ml full-fat milk
10 medium size maghai paan leaves, divided.
1/4 cup gulkand
1 tbsp green cardamom
3 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp mithi supari (optional, I used it to impart a note of mint flavour in the ice cream. Mithi supari is a mint flavoured sweetened betel nut-based mouth freshener easily available in India)

Process:

1. In a small blender jar, add 5 paan leaves, gulkand, green cardamom, fennel seeds and mithi supari. Blend it to a paste using as little water as possible. Using a strainer, strain it to get the extract.
2. In a large blender jar, add the extract, rest of the 5 paan and cream. Blend until smooth. The paan leaves should be finely blended.
3. Add the milk and condensed milk to the mixture in the blender and blend again till smooth.
4. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze for 2 hours.
5. Take out the half set ice cream and tip it into the blender jar and blend it until smooth. Freeze it again till frozen. It will take anywhere between 4 to 6 hours.
6. Take it out 5 minutes before serving. Serve scoops of it chilled. You can relish it with or without a topping.

Notes:

1. I like my paan ice cream to be smooth. So, I strained the mixture of paan leaves, gulkand, green cardamom, fennel seeds and mithi supari to get an extract. If you like coarse bits of it in your ice cream, you may skip the step of straining.
2. For topping, you can use, rose syrup, tutti fruity or even tiny bit of gulkand.
3. Churning it before the final freezing if ice cream helps to reduce ice crystals in the ice cream. So, don't skip the step. You may churn it 2-3 times if you like.
4. Another way of making this ice cream is - get 3-4 meetha pan from the vendor and churn it with milk, cream and condensed milk in the quantity mentioned in the recipe.

You can also check out my recipes for

Chikkoo Ice cream
Cardamom Kulfi
Thandai Kulfi

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!