7/30 Photo a day–Drink

On my Spanish holiday day 3, we went to a cafe called Horchata Daniel which is very famous for a regional drink called "Horchata". It's an ancient drink originated in Valencia at the time of Muslim period, made of tigernuts. The drink was served with crushed ice, a perfect drink one would wish on a warm evening to cool down. Amazing. If you want to read more about my Spanish holiday, then read Spain- Valencia –Day 1, Spain – Morella – Day 2 and Spain – Valencia – Day 3

Wine - Review

Last week I received an email asking if I would like to review some summer wine for the very well known online supermarket Ocado. No points for guessing that I was super exited to read the mail. I didn’t waste any time thinking about it and agreed immediately. I was expecting sample bottles like the small ones you find in the supermarket. Within few days I got the package delivered and when I opened the box, there were not one, not two, instead three 750ml bottles of wine.  

The three bottles I received are

1. Banrock Station Colombard Chardonnay 2010

2. Banrock Station Moscato 2009

3. Kumala Zenith Rose 2010

Let me start with the Chardonnay first. I served the chilled wine with some chicken escalope and chilli garlic squid to go with it. Since it’s a white wine I thought chicken would be a good partner. The first thing that you will feel about this light coloured wine is its very smooth and has got citrus flavours in it. S usually prefers red over white but when he tested this one he actually liked it. He found the wine has a hint of tropical fruits combined with the citrus flavours. He also thought it was smooth wine which has complex oak finish, low in tannin and easy to drink.

I had no problem in believing that it was an easy to drink wine as I saw him how soon he finished his glass. The Australian wine had 12% alcohol by volume which I think is a good percentage for white wines. I would say its a good summer wine to enjoy in your back garden on warm summer afternoon with some food, and friends and family.

This is the wine I was so looking forward to try as I was impressed with its dark pink colour of the wine. This is from South Africa with 12 % alcohol by volume. I loved the colour and the sweet aroma it had but I guess it was bit to sweet for S. It was very fruity for him but from a pure women point of view I liked it. I would say it went very well with the chicken dish and the green leaves salad as it was giving the contrast in taste in all three.

Last but not the least we tried the Moscato which is a dessert wine and has 5.5% alcohol by volume. This one is also from Australia and its suggested that it can go with either desserts or mild cheese platter. We obviously went with the sweet option and tried chilled with warm apple cake. This was bit sweeter compared to the rest of the two wines. It had hints of lemon and pineapple. Light in colour, bit dry but with sweet notes and refreshing finish.

An apology

It’s been ages I have written anything here. I feel so guilty about it. I have been very busy for last couple of months and didn’t have the motivation or energy to write something. Lots of changes and events happened within last few months that I hardly had any time for anything. But anyway here I am, surviving through all those tough months and now hoping for the best to happen. It’s a new beginning and I decided to come back with a double post, one sweet and the other is sour and savoury, covering the basic tastes of life (except bitter)

Chocolate cookies with chocolate glaze

Last weekend I was meeting one of my friends and her family after some time. She has a very cute little daughter who is three years old. The little girl loves people and is very friendly. I usually get to see her only on her birthdays but surprisingly she remembers me every time. I decided to bake Nigella’s chocolate cookies for this little angel. The cookies looked so adorable to me when I saw the video. I have halved (almost!) the quantity mentioned in the recipe but still got 25 cookies out of the cookie dough I made.  

Ingredients:

150gm soft butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

Topping:

4 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup boiling water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Multicolour sugar sprinkles

Method:

Simply add all the ingredients except for butter in a bowl and mix well. Melt the butter and slowly add it to the dry mix. Make a soft dough out of it. You don’t need to kneed the dough a lot jut mix everything well and it’s ready. Now make small walnut size balls out of the dough and place them on an oven tray covered with grease proof baking sheet. Keep some distance between them as they will expand and take the shape of a cookie as the bake in the oven. Bake them at 170 degree C for 15-20 minutes. The top of the cookies will look a bit cracked but that’s fine as you will be topping that with chocolate glaze. Let the cookies cool down for some time. Meanwhile make the chocolate glaze. On medium heat in a saucepan add all the ingredients for the topping except for the sugar sprinkle and give it a good stir. you will end up with a shine chocolate glaze. Remove from heat and now pour a small spoon-full of chocolate glaze on top of each cookie and then sprinkle the multicolour sugar sprinkles on top of it. Leave it to set for some time and then once set place them in an air tight jar and store them.     

Jumbo Chilly Dip

In her own words a “Guilty pleasure”. Another delicious recipe from Nigella’s collection. It was Friday evening, beginning of a weekend, elaborate cooking was definitely not in my mind. Only thing in my mind was to sit back, relax and enjoy some movies with some tortilla chips and a glass of wine. All I needed a nice dip to go with it.

Ingredients:

1 can of roasted red pepper

1 clove of garlic

1 bunch of fresh coriander leaves with stocks

3 green chillies (with seeds)

Jest and juice of one lemon

salt

100 ml oil (plain groundnut oil, nothing fancy)

couple of mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Method:

In a blender put everything together except the garnish and blend them till it forms a smooth paste. That’s it! Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy with your choice of drink. Although Nigella’s suggestion was to  serve it with Americano cocktail (The original James Bond drink!). We just had it with some Pinot Noir.

 

Strawberry Milkshake

This is something I make almost every morning for breakfast. Great way to kick-start your day. It's ready within minutes. Fast, easy, delicious, healthy, filling what else do you need? For a change you can mix different fruits in your milkshake like banana, peach, mango etc. anything you fancy.

Ingredients:
Strawberries 4-5 (or any other fruit you like)
300ml Milk
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Method:


Remove the stalks of the strawberries then place all the ingredients in to a blending container and blend them together. You can also mix different fruits if you like. Serve with few cubes of ice.
  

Mango Lassi

This is probably the easiest thing you can make. Very tasty and refreshing, an ideal drink for summer. Also a must have one!!

Ingredients:


6 Tbsp mango pulp
3 Tbsp yoghurt 
1 Tbsp sugar
1 glass of milk
Some crushed ice


Method:


Blend every thing together, pour it in glasses and serve. Enjoy.