Hot Chocolate with Cinnamon and Chili Peppers

After reading this delicious post about real hot chocolate on Simply Recipes, I had to make it! Rich, very satisfying, warms you up [or down...] all the way to your toe tips. I recommend reading the whole article about making excellent hot chocolate with different flavour variations on Simply Recipes.

For one HUGE cup of hot chocolate: 1 huge cup of whole milk ~75 g of dark chocolate, finely chopped 1 cinnamon stick a pinch of red chili powder sugar to taste a drop of dark rum (optional, but recommended =)) 1. Pour the milk into a pot, bring it to a gentle simmer and add the cinnamon stick. Whisk it once in a while and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove it from the heat and let it stand covered for another 10 minutes. 2. Bring it back to a gentle simmer and mix in the chopped chocolate. Add the sugar and red chili powder and keep stirring it until the chocolate melts completely. 3. Heat it for another moment and add the dark rum (optional). Whisk it once again and it is ready to be served! Perfect an a long winter night. Enjoy!

Spiked Kairi Panna - Raw Mango Cocktail

The first time I tried Kairi Panna - a Maharashtran drink made out of raw mangoes - which was bought from a store, I was left very disappointed. Later I was offered a glass of homemade panna at a dinner party and hoping for the best, I took it. It was much much much better. Now that I tried making it at home, I absolutely love it - so refreshing, simple, yet satisfying with a nice flavour of cardamon and sourness of raw mangoes. Knowing us, we just had to try making a cocktail out of it later at night ;o) So have it plain or with some vodka and fiery chillies - it's a perfect drink either way! You can make as much as you want of this and keep it refrigerated for up to a month.

I used: 4 raw mangoes seeds of 8-10 cardamon pods, crushed ~1/2 cup of sugar or jaggery, which adds nice taste to the drink a pinch of safron (optional), soaked in a little bit of hot water ~1/2 tsp of salt Just before serving: chilled water and ice cubes 50 ml of vodka per drink (optional) a small pinch of red Kashmiri chilli powder (optional) 1. First you will need to cook the mangoes. Add them whole with skin into a pot with boiling water and cook them for about 30 minutes or until they are completely soft (check with a fork). When they are ready, take them out of the pot and let them cool down. 2. Peel the mangoes and remove all the pulp into a blender. 3. Add the sugar, cardamon, safron, salt and blend it all together. The amount of sugar will depend on the sourness of the mango, so add a little bit at a time and taste it. 4. When you are ready to serve it, put 3 tablespoons of this flavoured raw mango pure into a glass and fill it up with chilled water. Mix it well and add ice cubes. 5. For a spiked version, add vodka and a pinch of red Kashmiri chilli powder. Cheers!

Instead of red Kashmiri chilli powder, you can spice it up with ground balck pepper or roasted cumin powder, or have it plain.

Orange-Ginger Martini

This cocktail is inspired by Bonobo - a bar that serves really nice drinks and some good food just off Linking road in Mumbai - and recreated by Ranjit. Very simple, yet a great combination of flavours that make this a delighful drink =)

You will need: 100 ml of fresh/natural orange juice a small piece of ginger, peeled and smashed 50 ml of vodka lots of ice cubes orange rind or mint leaf for garnishing 1. Fill martini glass with ice cubes and let it stand while you are preparing the cocktail (optional). 2. Mix smashed ginger with orange juice in a cocktail shaker. Add vodka and ice and shake it well. 3. Empty ice cubes out of the martini glass and strain the cocktail into it. 4. Garnish with orange rind or mint leaf. Cheers!

Lemongrass, Ginger and Red Chili Make a Refreshing Drink!

Iced lemongrass-ginger-red chili infusion (tisane) for a hot summer day! This combination of ice and fire is very cooling and refreshing. Sip on it slowly and you will feel your energy coming back.

Here is what you'll need: 1 lemongrass stalk, use only white part, bruised and  sliced ~3-4 cm ginger piece, sliced 1-2 red chili peppers (I use bird's eye chilies), sliced lengthwise, seeds removed juice of 2 limes 4-5 tbsp of sugar (or according to taste, you can always add sugar syrup before serving) 1 litre of boiling water lots of ice cubes, soda and a few fresh mint leaves 1. Put the lemongrass, ginger and chilies into a jag and pour boiling water over it. Add sugar and squeeze lime juice, mix it well till sugar dissolves. Cover and let it cool down to room temperature. 2. Chill it in the fridge before serving. For a milder version, strain it before chilling in the fridge. It can stay in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (but it will get over long before that). 3. Serve with lots of ice, topped up with soda (optional) and a few lightly bruised mint leaves. Pssssss: works very well in a cocktail with vodka ;)

Enjoy!


Source: Easy Everyday

Mango-Kaffir Lime Leaf & Rum Smoothie

As my mango obsession continues, here is another quick and yummylicious sinful mango treat rated RRRRR for RUM :o) Kaffir lime leaves make this smoothie very fresh and delicious with spicy-lemon-lime flavour. I can still taste the fresh flavour of lime leaves after the drink is long over. So aromatic and satisfying!

For two portions: 2 mangoes (Alphonso, if you can get it) ~1 tsp of sugar (or per your taste) 3-4 fresh Kaffir lime leaves (the younger the better) ~60 ml of Bacardi rum (or per your taste) ice Cut the mango and scoop out the pulp into a blender, add Kaffir lime leaves, and sugar and blend it until you get a smooth paste. Add Bacardi and ice and blend it for another moment until it mixes well. That's it! Enjoy!

Depending on the consistency, you can make it into a simple dessert -- nothing is better than fresh mango -- or a drink by just adding fresh orange juice and more ice.

Dried Kaffir Lime leaves won't work for this recipe.

Hot Mulled Wine (Gluhwein)

I borrowed this picture from Stone Hill Winery website.

This post is more than a month overdue. I started writing it in December, but never got to publishing it. Since February is the coldest month of the winter, it can still warm you up on a long night.

I spent a lot of time searching for a good recipe for hot mulled wine to make it for the last Xmas party. It ended up being an experiment based on all recipes I looked at. It tasted just like the one I have had in cold European countries around Christmas time.

First, I prepared an extract 2 days in advance. I like a strong masala taste, but you can reduce the amount of spices per your taste.

For the extract: 8-10 ~5 cm cinnamon stick pieces 10 cloves 5-7 cardamon pods 1 star anise, broken into smaller pieces 2.5 cm piece of ginger, sliced juice of 2 limes 2 oranges, sliced ~1 cup of sugar 1. Bring 1 liter of water to a boil and add sliced oranges, all of the spices, sugar, and squeeze lime juice into the mix. Boil it for ~5 minutes and then let it cool down in a covered pot. 2. Remove the orange slices, but leave the rest of the spices in for a couple of days. You can taste and see if any flavour is getting too strong and remove that spice later. I did that with ginger after one day. Keep it refrigerated. 3. After two days, drain the extract and keep back in the fridge. Your extract is ready.

For hot mulled wine: 1 bottle of red wine 1/4 liter of extract ~100 ml of port or brandy or dark rum or cherry wine Just before you are ready to serve, pour one bottle of red wine, ~1/4 of the extract and 100 ml of port/brandy/rum into a big sauce pan. When it's warm, taste it and if you'd like it sweeter, you can add more sugar at this point. Slowly warm it up to a simmer without ever bringing it to a boil. It's done! Serve it hot.

Even though it was more than +30C degrees outside that night, just having this hot mulled wine created an illusion of white Christmas for a moment. I call that a success! =)