Spiced Vietnamese Coffee Shots Recipe

A few months back I'd read somewhere that Vietnamese coffee is made using sweetened condensed milk instead of milk. Since then the idea has stuck in my head because I simply love condensed milk. And that is ironical because I don't like milk much.

Spiced Vietnamese Coffee Shots Recipe

Making Vietnamese coffee has been in my head for some time now. But I've never had a chance to get a tin of condensed milk in a while. It has a lot of condensed milk in it and it gets pretty difficult to finish it all at one go. So when aaji (my grandmother-in-law) made kheer last week, we got a can of condensed milk. And I had enough left over to try out making Vietnamese coffee. 

I first tried the regular version of Vietnamese coffee with plain coffee and condensed milk to come to a basic Vietnamese coffee recipe. Then, being me, I thought of ways to make it interesting, because there's no fun in doing a traditional recipe that you can easily find on the internet. And with that push, I came up with this twist to the traditional Vietnamese coffee recipe: Spiced Vietnamese Coffee Shots Recipe

Spiced Vietnamese Coffee Shots Recipe

 These Spiced Vietnamese Coffee shots combine the full-bodied taste of coffee with hints of aromas from spices and the buttery sweetness (don't tell me you've never noticed this!) of condensed milk. It can be served as a substitute for your afternoon coffee or as a coffee course after a dinner party. Of course, you can have it like Vietnamese people have it: any time of the day... morning, noon and night!

Spiced Vietnamese Coffee Shots Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients: 

1 cup water
1 star anise
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tbsps coffee powder (preferably Vietnamese coffee powder)
1 1/2 tbsps sweetened condensed milk

Method

Combine the water with the star anise and cinnamon powder. Bring to a boil. Simmer on a low flame for 2 minutes.

In the meanwhile pour 1/2 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk in each shot glass.

To make the coffee decoction use a coffee filter if you have one. If not, you can use my method as described here. If you're using instant coffee, just add it into the water itself.

Pour this coffee slowly in a thin trickle over the condensed milk in the glasses. It will form two layers.

Serve hot with a stirrer.

Lemongrass-Gula Melaka Refresher Recipe

More alchemy happened in the kitchen yesterday. I was wondering what to do next with the gula melaka syrup (recipe here) lying around (yes, it's still good to use!) when I remembered that there is some lemongrass left at home too.

I thought since both are South East Asian ingredients, they should pretty much go together. We also have the omnipresent summer. So I made a light and refreshing drink of these two.  Presenting a new beverage straight from my kitchen: Lemongrass Gula Melaka Refresher!

Lemongrass-Gula Melaka Refresher Recipe

This drink is very light in it's flavours. Lemongrass gives it a subtle and fresh lemony fragrance without the sourness. Gula melaka adds a lovely maltiness to the drink. These flavours compliment each other beautifully.

Lemongrass-Gula Melaka Refresher Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Making Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 cups cold water
6 leaves of lemongrass (gavati chaha)
2 tbsps gula melaka syrup
3 cups cold water
5-6 ice cubes

Method:

Cut the lemongrass leaves into small pieces.

Put them in the water and bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil, let it simmer on low gas for about 3 minutes.

Add in the cold water to the lemongrass water.

Take ice cubes in a glass. Pour the gula melaka syrup into it.

Gula Melaka Syrup on Ice

Then pour the lemongrass mixture on top in a thin trickle along the side of a spoon. You'll get two lovely layers.

Serve with a stirrer.

Enjoy! 

Tip: You can always substitute the gula melaka syrup with sugar syrup. Lemongrass goes just as well with both.

Lemon Iced Tea Recipe

Imagine landing at the Mumbai airport at 4:30 am in the morning. You're just back from pleasantly cool weathers of Europe when your pilot announces, "The temperature outside is 31 degrees Celsius." What?!! You land on earth with a thud!

Lemon Iced Tea Recipe

Yes, summer has fully descended on us. The days are hot and the evenings and nights remain warm.Summer brings about a lot of change in our eating patterns. My most favourite one is switching over to iced tea from hot tea in the evenings.

This basic lemon iced tea recipe those is especially for those who have the powdered ones. It is very easy to make, takes just a little bit of time and is healthier and tastier. Try it out!


Lemon Iced Tea Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Making Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 tsps Darjeeling tea/ 2 Darjeeling tea bags
2 tbsps sugar
3 cups cold water
4 tsps lemon juice
5-6 ice cubes

Lemon slices and mint sprigs for garnishing

Method:

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Switch off the gas and add in the Darjeeling tea. Brew for 2 minutes and strain.

Add in the sugar and stir till it dissolves.

Add cold water to the sweetened tea. Now add in the lemon juice once it is cool.

In a tall glass, take some ice cubes. Put in a sprig of mint and a lemon slice.

Lemon Iced Tea Recipe

Pour in the prepared tea.

Relax and sip.

Homemade Jaljeera Recipe

Jaljeera... so many memories! Of childhood summers. Of vacations at Ahmedabad. Of one rupee coins demanded everyday for it. Of carrying so many packets back in our bags. Let me elaborate.

My mother's sister lives in Ahmedabad and we used to go there once every couple of years for summer vacations. I was introduced to jaljeera buy her son, my first cousin. We used to take one rupee coins everyday after lunch from our mothers to buy it. Our mothers at that time would have been relieved from their morning duties and would be free and in a relatively good mood to give us the money.  After some time when the heat lulled them to sleep we would go down in Ahmedabad's blistering afternoon mid-May heat to the shop to buy one packet each of this spice powder. You see, despite their strict warnings that we would fall sick if we went out in the heat, we could not wait till evening to get our daily dose of this yummy, sour, pungent drink. 

Homemade Jaljeera Recipe

We are old enough now to understand why we were asked not to go out in the heat, but we are never too old to crave and love jaljeera! 

Homemade Jaljeera Recipe

Now that I cook, I have tried to make this summer favourite at home from scratch. It turned out great and I have decided not to buy powder any more but make it fresh every time! It hardly takes 10 minutes to do so! 

Homemade Jaljeera Recipe

Jaljeera in Hindi literally means 'cumin water' and refers to this spiced beverage that makes for a great appetizing summer drink. Jaljeera has mint which has a cooling effect on the body during the hot summer months. It is packed with flavour from spices like black salt, asafoetida, dried ginger powder and cumin that also aid digestion. Jaljeera, like masala chaas, can be served at the beginning of a meal or as a drink any time of the day. 

Homemade Jaljeera Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Making Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 cup packed fresh mint leaves

3 tsps cumin powder

2 tsps rock salt

2 tsps red chilly  powder

2 tsps dried mango powder (amchur)

1 1/2 tsps black pepper powder

1 tsp dried ginger powder

1 tsps asafoetida

2 tbsps lemon juice

Salt to taste

4 cups water

Boondi (fried crispy chickpea pearls) to serve

Method

In a grinder, grind together the mint with the dried spice powders

and lemon juice till they form a smooth paste.

Add in the water and stir till the paste dissolves well into the water. Adjust salt if required after adding water.

You can strain the prepared jaljeera if you do not like the ground mint leaves. I like the way they taste, so I did not strain them.

Serve with some boondi in it. 

Masala Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk) Recipe

Mumbai winters are of the 'blink-and-you-miss-it' kind. And we often say that the only season Mumbai has is summer with three months of summer monsoon thrown in. The point being that summer is already in the air and it's barely mid March.

The weather has already reached the summer vacation season level (sigh. vacation!). The levels of mercury are soaring, and so is the humidity. This season comes with decreased appetites and a greater desire for refreshing and thirst-quenching cooling beverages.

Masala Chaas: Spiced Buttermilk

There are a wide variety of beverages available - but for me nothing beats the heat like 'aapdi masala chhas' (our spiced buttermilk)! A light drink of cooling yogurt with a hint of spice from ginger, green chilly and cumin.. ah! 

Chhas can be served in various ways. In the Gujarati tradition of food, chhas is usually served before a meal as it increases appetite and aids digestion. It can also be had as a refreshing beverage any time of the day. It also forms a good accompaniment for khichdi. 

Masala Chaas: Spiced Buttermilk

Masala Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk) Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 cups yogurt

4 cups cold water

2 green chillies

1/2 inch piece of ginger

2 tbsps finely chopped corriander leaves 

1 tsp cumin powder

Salt to taste

Method

Grind together the chillies and ginger to form a fine paste.

Mix together the yogurt and water in a deep vessel.

Add in the salt, the cumin powder and the ginger and green chilly paste. Blend well with a hand blender.

Now add in the chopped corriander leaves.

Serve chilled!

Kulhad Masala Chai

Hot, minty, spicy, and sweet chai that reminds me winters are just around the corner! Pour in a mitti ka kulhad and you can add another level of fun to it's experience!

Kulhad Masala Chai with all the Spices

Kulhad Masala Chai

Ingredients

1/2 cup water
1 tbsp black tea leaves
10 fresh mint leaves
1/4 inch ginger piece crushed
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2-3 green cardamoms opened but with shells
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar

Method

Heat water with the tea leaves, mint leaves, ginger and the spices till it comes to a boil. Lower the flame, cover the utensil and let it simmer for 5 mins at least. The longer you brew it, the tastier your tea will be.

Add in the milk and put on high flame till the milk comes to a boil. Add in the sugar and stir till the sugar dissolves. Lower the flame again and simmer till the desired colour is achieved. I like my tea strong so I brew it for another 7 to 8 minutes. It requires some time and patience, but the end results are totally worth the wait!

Pour into a kulhad and sip hot!

Kulhad Masala Chai

Filter Coffee

I have always loved filter coffee. There is no comparison to its aroma, perfect amount of slight milkiness and 'just-about' sweetness. And who can forget the fun of pouring it from one tumbler to another to make it all frothy! Filter coffee experience is just incomplete without it! Whenever I go to an udipi or the Banana Leaf, I always order one, whatever the time of the day.

Much as I love filter coffee, I have never tried it at home. Yesterday, I saw (rather was led to it by its aroma) a packet of filter coffee grinds from a local Matunga shop at the small grocery shop near my house and I picked it up. Because of the beautiful fragrance coming from it, I thought it's definitely worth a try!
Today morning I finally tried my hand at making filter coffee and I managed to nail it! To keep the theme going, I also made upma with it for breakfast and had a great headstart today!

Filter Coffee

3 tsps filter coffee grinds
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup milk
Sugar to taste

Method

Bring the water to a boil. Take the coffee grinds on a chhalni and put it on your serving cup or mug or steel tumbler. Slowly pour the boiled water in a very thin trickle over it. Traditionally this is done through a brass filter, but I do not have one, so I adapted the method and used a common everyday chhalni definitely found in all kitchens. Please see picture below.

The aroma of a great morning: filter coffee grinds!

Boil the milk in a separate container and add it into the coffee. Add in the sugar.

Take another tumbler or mug and pour the coffee from one to another from a height of about 1/2 a foot to 1 foot in a trickle. Do this till the sugar dissolves and the coffee has a layer of froth on top.

Serve piping hot!

Filter coffee and upma

P.S. This coffee needs real filter coffee grinds that are 100% coffee beans. Instant coffee powders have only 70% coffee beans and the rest are chicory beans. You can easily buy filter coffee grinds in Matunga (Central suburb) near kabootarkhana if you're in Mumbai. At a lot of places otherwise local tea-only shops also carry at least two varieties of filter coffee grinds.

P.S. 2: I have submitted the picture "The aroma of a great morning: filter coffee grinds!" for the The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series  for the September Colour Me Brown Challenge. 

Kashmiri Kahwa

Kashmiri Kahwa... the first time I had this tea was at Dolly's at Kolkata... (yes, not at Kashmir!) and I instantly fell in love with it!

Then I tried this tea at Tea Center at Churchgate and the love affair bloomed... so much so that I brought two packets of the tea bags from there and used up the one I was supposed to a gift a friend myself!

Today, I finally tried making this tea as I remember it from Dolly's and from the ingredients listed on the packet of the tea bags and voila! Kashmiri Kahwa as I remember it.

Disclaimer: this recipe is definitely as far as I know a deviation from the traditional recipe in terms of a couple of spices used or nuts added (like almonds are crushed and added but I personally do not like my tea to be chewed in any way!) but it makes for a wonderful tea!

Kashmiri Kahwa

2-3 green cardamom pods
1/2 inch cinnamon stick
2-3 saffron strands
1 green tea bag (or 1 1/2 spoons if you are using loose tea leaves)
2 cups water
Sugar to taste

Method

Boil the water with the spices in it so that their flavour infuses well in them. Once the water comes to a boil add the tea and let it brew for about 2 minutes. Serve with a bit of sugar for taste!

Tea Tip

The tip to getting the right strength of tea (not too strong or light) when using loose tea leaves is to boil the water, switch off the stove, adding a teaspoon of leaves per cup and letting it brew till the tea leaves settle at the bottom... When they do, it perfect strength tea!