Ayurvedic Tea

This is one simple tea that can be helpful in curing cold.

1 drop Ginger extract
1 drop Cinnamon extract
1/2 stalk of Lemongrass

Steep lemongrass stalk in a cup of hot water for 10 min. To this add Ginger extract and Cinnamon extract. Add honey for sweetness if you like.
This tea really tastes delicious. Take this tea 2-3 times a day to relieve cold symptoms and congestion.

Oatmeal Raisin cookies with spices

This summer me and my kids have decided to do lot of baking. Its been just 2 weeks since my kids summer vacation started and we already made Banana bread a couple of times, made cupcakes and 2-3 kinds of cookies :)

Baking with kids is the most enjoyable way to spend summer afternoons.

We recently tried Beth's Oatmeal Raisin cookies recipe. These cookies came out wonderful and my kids loved them.

In my previous post, I mentioned the importance of cloves. This Oatmeal cookie recipe calls for 2 spices (clove & cinnamon) and is an excellent way to introduce kids to spices.

Here is the recipe with my slight variations.

• 1 cup butter, softened ( I know, its lot of butter. The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening. )
  
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3-4 drops of cinnamon extract
  
• 3-4 drops clove extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon extract, clove extract, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
2. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light and golden. Do not over bake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container.
   

This is a good change from the Chocolate chip cookies. These cookies came out chewy and were ready to eat in less that an hour.

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.

Fruits and Spices

Can you guess what heavenly treat could be prepared with some Pears, 3 aromatic spices, 1 Lemon and some sugar?

Difference between Spices and Herbs

A simple answer to this question would be that the leaf of a plant which is used in cooking is referred to as a Herb and any other part of the plant that is used to flavor food is termed as a Spice.
For example - Cloves (bud), ginger & turmeric (roots), fennel, cumin, coriander (seeds), cinnamon (bark), peppercorns (berries).

Herbs are used fresh and spices are generally in dried form.

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.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a pungent spice with stimulating and heating properties. Its circulatory stimulant properties are considered good during the menopause.

Cinnamon tea is considered to ease cold symptoms and improve blood circulation.

To make Cinnamon tea - Just add a drop of Cinnamon extract to your regular cup of tea.

Extracts in Marinades

Have you ever tried using extracts in marinades?

Extracts are perfect in marinades and salad dressings. Since extracts are in liquid form, they are absorbed easily and quickly. The flavor of the spice is absorbed evenly.

Try this very easy Moroccan inspired Marinade with Spice extracts.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 drop of Cinnamon extract
1 drop of Nutmeg extract
1 drop of Clove extract
3-4 drops of Garlic extract
salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients.
This marinade works very well with tofu. Stir fry this marinated tofu with some chopped vegetables. Warm up some of the left over marinade and pour over tofu-vegetable stir fry. Serve with rice.

Also try this marinade for cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms and pineapple chunks.