Grape Juice

This is an all time family favorite drink,which i’ve found in a cookery show long time back.You can just have this on a hot summer morning or can be served as a welcome drink in parties.

Ingredients:-

Black Grapes cleaned and washed thoroughly- 1 kg
Sugar – 4 cups
Water – 8 cups
Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
Banana – 1/2 (Optional:-I dont like the flavour of bananas much and so I prefer this without adding bananas.I mentioned it only because it was there in the original recipe.)

Method:-

Combine grapes,sugar,cardamom powder and water in a big vessel and boil it until the skin of the grapes begins to break.

Allow it to cool.Reserve few grapes for garnishing.

Add banana pieces into a blender and mash it well.Now add the cooled grapes along with the juice and blend it for a few seconds without breaking its seeds.Strain it,chill and serve.

Serving suggestions:

1)Serve with a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream and a grape.

2)Seperate the flesh from the reserved boiled grapes by carefully removing the seeds and the skin. Add these flesh to the grape juice,chill and serve.You can add as much grape flesh as you wish.(Some grapes have thin skin and is difficult to remove it from the flesh.Well ripened black grapes with seeds available in India are best for this.I remember grape juice from Bimbis restaurant,Ernakulam ,it tastes great and is full of grape flesh.Try it out if you ever get a chance.I’m not sure how they are seperating the flesh from the grapes,it cannot be a manual process as they serve lots of grape flesh along with the juice. )

Papaya Drink

Papaya,which is considered to be one of the healthiest and nutritious fruit is often ignored by many people.Personally,I too hate this fruit,but on the other hand my kid loves it.This Papaya drink is his new favorite,the recipe is adapted from an old edition of  Vanitha magazine.It goes like..

Ingredients:-

Ripe papaya pulp – 1 cup
Honey – 3 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Cold Milk – 1 small glass

Method:-

Blend all the ingredients together,and transfer it into a  glass.Top it with some whipped cream and serve immediately.
Recipe Source : Ammu Mathew(Vanitha) 

Healthy Cucumber Drink

Vanitha (which means Women) is a popular bi-weekly Malayalam magazine published by Malayala Manorama group.Modelled on the best of women’s magazines of the day, Vanitha had something of interest to every woman.Vanitha was launched in 1975 with Annamma Mathew (Mrs.K.M Mathew ) as its chief editor. Annamma, popularly known as Mrs KM Mathew is a renowned figure and household name in the state of Kerala. She has authored a number of books on cooking and her works have won many awards as well. An article about her can be viewed here. Latest issues of Vanitha Late.Mrs.K.M Mathew I used to read Vanitha,even from my childhood and now i’ve subscribed it here also.It always arrives with new and interesting recipes. And here goes a healthy Cucumber drink recipe from Vanitha – An easy way to finish off cucumber..

Ingredients:-

Salad Cucumber -1 Juice of 1 lime Sugar- 3 tsp Water /Soda- as needed. Cucumber & Lemon

Method:-

Peel the skin and cut the cucumber into small pieces.Blend it together with lime juice ,water& sugar.Strain it and serve. The drink can be made more interesting if soda is used instead of water. Healthy Cucumber Drink Posted by Annita

Butter Shake

Long back,I’ve had a butter fruit shake from Mananchira Square,Calicut which is the Home of Shakes.The drink in its pale green color was just awesome and its flavour had forced me to visit the shake shop again on my next Calicut visit.But I couldn’t have it then,as the fruit was not available at that time.In fact,I didn’t get a chance to taste it after that ,eventhough I’ve made 3 or 4 attempts.I didn’t even know how does this butter fruit looked like.Anyway its divine & deadly taste still stays with me.(See a shake menu below..You can see butter shake in that..I got it from here.) Last week my friend Shuba suggested to try it with Avocado .She got this idea from Mahanandi(Avocado Chapati ),in which Indira had mentioned about Avocado as nature’s butter.Thanks to Indira & Shuba..it did work out with avocado and it tasted exactly the same..I missed it all these years… But I still wonder whether they are using Avocado over there in Kerala,or is there some other fruit called butter fruit !!!!!!Hope to clarify my doubts during next visit.(Next time i’ll take a photograph of Avocado with me and clarify my doubts with the shake shop wala..so that he cannot disappoint me with his usual excuse – the non availability of fruit) Back to the simple Avocado shake recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Avocado Sliced- 1/2 Chilled Milk -3/4 cup Vanilla Essence – 1/2 tsp Sugar – 2 tbsp Water – 2 tbsp Avocado/Butter fruit

Method:-

Blend together avocado,water,sugar and vanilla essence in a mixer to a smooth paste.Then add chilled milk into it and blend for 2 seconds..Serve immediately.. Butter Shake Posted by Annita

Sharjah Shake

Banana Milk Shake with a twist…. “Sharjah” which is famous for its taste as well as its name is considered to be the King of all fruit shakes in Kerala.This is an ideal mini meal at Manachira Square(Calicut) which is the Home of Sharjah Shake.Due to the rising heat of summers,now it is getting popular all over Kerala . Another fruit shake which is famous for its Arabic name is “Saudi”.It is also a milk shake with dates as its main ingredient. My recipe for Sharjah milk shake goes like this…

Ingredients:-

Bananas -2 Chilled Milk – 1 cup (Keep milk in freezer until chilled) Boost or Any Chocolate Flavoured Drink Mix -1/2 tsp Sugar – 2 tbsp Cardamom crushed – 1 Water -1/2 cup.

Method:-

Add Bananas,Sugar,Water,Cardamom and boost to a mixer and blend well .Now add chilled milk and blend for just 2 seconds .Sprinke 1/4 tsp of sugar to the mixture and mix it lightly using spoon.The occasional crunch of chilled milk and sugar makes it more interesting.Serve immediately. Posted by Annita