Coconut Burfi with Kesar Milk Masala extract

Coconut Burfi is a very popular dessert in India and requires just 3-4 ingredients. I make it the easy way and do not make any sugar syrup.
Note: You could also use Cardamom extract instead of Kesar Milk masala extract.

Ingredients:

1 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Milk
4-5 drops of Kesar Milk Masala extract

In a pan, add desiccated coconut, milk and sugar. Stir and cook till the mixture becomes thick. Keep stirring to avoid burning coconut at the bottom of the pan. Once the mixture is thick and all the milk has evaporated, add 4-5 drops of Kesar Milk masala extract. Stir and take the pan off the heat. Pour the mixture in a plate, press well and let cool. Once cooled, cut diamond shaped burfis.

Doodhi Halwa with Cardamom extract

I love Doodhi the most when it is served in this sweet and simple Halwa avatar :)

Ingredients:

1 Doodhi (Bottle gourd)
1/2 can condensed milk
3-4 drops of Cardamom extract
( You could also use Kesar Milk masala extract )
Little butter


Peel and grate doodhi. Heat little butter in a pan, add grated doodhi. Cook for about 8 - 10 min . Add condensed milk and let the mixture cook on low flame for another 7-8 min. Take it off the heat. Add Cardamom extract. Stir and serve with some raisins or cashews sprinkled on top.

Another variation is to add Saffron extract to give this humble dessert a royal touch.

Cardamom Lemonade

Have you ever tried Cardamom Lemonade ?

The addition of Cardamom makes this lemonade amazingly refreshing and gives a surprising twist to this plain and simple beverage.

1 glass cold water
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 drop of Cardamom extract
sugar and salt to taste

In a glass of cold water, squeeze lemon juice, add salt and sugar to taste and 1 drop of Cardamom extract. Stir well till sugar dissolves. Garnish with mint leaves.

Adding salt is the Indian way of making lemonade :)
Salt balances the sweetness of sugar and sourness of lemon. Also, most importantly, adding salt replenishes the sodium lost through sweating during summer days.

Coffee Ceremony of Ethiopia

Ethiopia, which is considered the birthplace of Coffee, celebrates and enjoys this beverage with a "Coffee Ceremony".
Its a very elaborate ceremony which begins with roasting of coffee beans with cardamom and cloves ( sometimes with cinnamon too). The room fills with the aroma of freshly roasted coffee and spices. Once roasted to perfection, the beans are then boiled in water, strained and served with little sugar.

Till now I have never been to any Ethiopian restaurant but I might try one soon just to experience this Ethiopian coffee.

A combination of coffee and aromatic spices definitely is something to celebrate.

Caramel Spice Pear Butter

I was just recently introduced to fruit butters. They are very easy to make and require very less number of ingredients. This recipe for Caramel Spice Pear butter is adopted from a early 70's Home Canning book. Here is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients:

7 firm-ripe Bartlett pears
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Cinnamon extract
Ginger extract
Clove extract
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Core pears, do not peel them. Cut them into about 1 inch pieces. Pressure cook. ( If you don't have a pressure cooker then boil pears in water for about 30 min). Let cool and then whirl the cooked pears in a food processor. Place the puree in a pan.

Place 1 cup of sugar in a pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until sugar caramelizes to a medium brown syrup. Immediately pour this syrup over the pan with pear puree. Syrup will sizzle and harden, but will dissolve as the mixture is cooked later)
Add the remaining 1 cup sugar, 1-2 drops of Cinnamon extract, 1 drop of Ginger extract, 1-2 drops of Clove extract. Stir well.
( Note: If you wish, you can use Cardamom extract instead of Clove. )

Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat. Now reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, for about 45 min. The mixture should thicken gradually.
Stir in lemon juice just before removing from heat.

Pour this yummy Caramel Spice Pear Butter in jars. Let stand for 24 hrs at room temperature and then freeze or refrigerate. It stays up to 1 month in refrigerator and 1 year in freezer.

Fruit butters make excellent gifts. Homemade, healthy and very delicious.

Banana Bread with Cardamom

I am one of those lazy bakers who bakes her breads from store bought bread mix :)
But I do give my breads some personality by adding nuts and raisins to it.

My kids love Banana bread and I very often buy this Banana bread mix from Trader Joe's.
I add some raisins or cranberries, some nuts to this mix. Then I add 4-5 drops of Cardamom extract ( Tea Masala extract works well too).
Bake according to the instructions given on the package. In about 1 hr you have a really yummy banana bread.
Serve it with a cup of hot tea.

Ayurveda and Spices

I have some very interesting books on Ayurveda and I like to browse through them when I have some time. Yesterday, I was reading about some Classical Ayurvedic formulas and found it interesting that a lot of them had one or more than one spice in its list of ingredients.
For example -

Hingashtak Churna - made of Asafoetida
Eladi Churna - Top 3 ingredients are Cardamom, cloves and Saffron
Lavangadi Churna - contains cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger.
Lashunadi Bati - contains garlic, cumin, asafoetida
Trisugandhi Churna - Cinnamon, cardamom

And the list goes on .
This just shows how spices play a important role in Ayurvedic medicine.

Spice up your Oatmeal

My daughter hates Oatmeal.
Me too :)

The other day, I added a few drops of Kesar Milk Masala extract to my daughter's Oatmeal and Ginger extract to mine. And it was amazing. For the first time, my daughter finished her Oatmeal without complaining.

Give it a try. Add 1-2 drops of Ginger, Cardamom, Kesar Milk or Cinnamon to your Oatmeal.

Shrikhand with Kesar Milk Masala

Happy Gudi Padwa to you all.

We celebrated our New Year with a yummy feast of Shrikhand -Poori.

I added 2-3 drops of Kesar Milk Masala extract to my Shrikhand. Kesar Milk Masala extract is a very aromatic blend of Saffron, Cardamom, Nutmeg and Curcumin. Just few drops of this extract was enough to make my simple Shrikhand into a very royal treat.

Tea Lovers Gift Box

Tea Lovers Gift Box

This gift box comes with 3 extracts -
1 Cardamom extract, 1 Tea Masala extract and 1 Ginger extract.

Give your regular cup of tea a Spicy Makeover.
Anytime , Anywhere.

Coffee with Cardamom

I recently read that adding Cardamom to coffee can reduce the effects of caffeine.
Hmm.. I think that's why they use Cardamom in Turkish Coffee - to tone down the intensity of the brew.

Gift ideas for the Chef in your family

Chef Pack

We now have added Gift sets to our website. The Chef Pack is perfect for someone who enjoys and appreciates the exotic taste and flavor of Saffron and Cardamom. This gift set comes with 3 extracts. Saffron extract, Cardamom extract and Kesar Milk Masala extract.

This gift set is beautifully packaged in a box with a festive ribbon.
Shipping is free for all gift sets.

Rice pudding with Cardamom extract by Chef Hari

Extracts in my kitchen

Lot of people ask me whether I use extracts in my own kitchen. And my answer to them is "Everyday in every meal"
The extracts that I use very often are - Ginger, Tea Masala, Cardamom, Garlic, Green Chilli, Asafoetida, Turmeric. And, of course, Tulsi. I have hot Tulsi water at least 4-5 times a week.

Every afternoon I have either Masala chai, Cardamom chai or Ginger chai. Depends on my mood.
My husband loves the Green Chilli extract. This extract gives him full control over how hot and spicy his curry should be :)

Now that festival season is coming close, I will use my Kesar Milk and Saffron extracts more.

Ganesh Chaturthi

Filling for Modak

Modak

Modak - A must-have for Ganesh Chaturthi.
I make the filling for the modak with coconut, jaggery, Cardamom extract, Nutmeg extract and a little Saffron extract. The extracts make my job a bit easy. No peeling cardamom pods or grating nutmeg :)

Cardamom extract

I love cardamom tea. Just add 1-2 drops of cardamom extract to your cup of regular tea and enjoy!

Also, have you tried coffee with cardamom extract?