Summer Sangria

A party is not complete without booze. I still remember the drink I prepared for my first house warming party was a Bellini,  prepared with peach puree and champagne. I was not totally into cooking then but still managed to wow my guests with curry chicken and beef rendang prepared with Prima pre-mixed paste.... it wasn't difficult because most of my friends and colleagues do not cook so any sort of reasonably decent culinary effort was sufficient to impress. As the years went by and as I started to dig deeper into recipes, premixes started to feel like a cheating easy way out... the party dinner preparations became more frentic and tedious as I insisted on making everything from scratch. Drinks took a backseat over the last few years. Most of the time, we would just open up bottles of wine as we ate. This year, in addition to the 6 dishes I prepared, I decided to make 2 drinks to go with them. The non-alcoholic drink is a Lemon Grass/ Pandan drink that is exotic and refreshing. For the booze, I settled on this Summer Sangria taken from an old issue of Donna Hay magazine.

A spin on the traditional sangria, this tastes lighter and fresher. Prepared with a dry white wine and perked up with a splash of homemade lemonade, summery stone fruits and cooling mint, this bright and cheery concoction evokes memories of balmy beaches.... perfect for putting everyone at the party in a happy mood.

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Summer Sangria
Recipe :

Combine 1x750ml bottle dry white wine, 60ml Contreau, 250ml of lemonade in a pitcher or jug. Add sliced lemons and limes, nectarines, strawberries and mint leaves and stir to combine.
Add crushed ice to serve.

Note: an aromatic white wine such as riesling or sauvignon blanc would be great for this sangria.

Lemongrass Jelly

When I was in Bangkok earlier last week for a short business trip, I headed for my favourite supermarket jaunt after my appointment. I love going to this particular supermarket at the basement of the upmarket mall, Paragon - for 2 reasons -
1. the variety of local fast food is a treat, there is so much to eat but so little space in the stomach to hold them.
2. the spread of local fruits, vegetables and Thai cooking ingredients are so complete that I can spend hours wandering up and down the aisle.

As this was a short trip, I did not bring a check in luggage with me, hence, I really had to retrain myself as I browsed. Mangoes are in season now and faced with the plump, juicy fruits, I watched longingly as shoppers buy them by the boxes. Then, there were the pink pomeloes, pomenagrates, biwas... as tempting and colourful as they may be, I am glad I didn't get any of them. I ended up buying, of all things - Lemongrass!

I have always loved lemongrass and I will find ways to add them to different dishes. The scent of Lemongrass calms me and whether it is just sipping a Lemongrass drink or burning the oil in my oil burner, it always evoke an exotic, spa-like atmosphere.
Lemongrass are readily available in Singapore and are not uncommon for us. But the ones that caught my eyes at the Thai supermarket are so clean, white and young - I just couldn't resist. I ended paying S$0.50 for about 15 pieces of  lemongrass. When I worked with them today, I really regretted not getting more, for the fragrance is so much more superior than the ones we get in Singapore.

It has been terribly hot in Singapore for the last 2-3 weeks.  Making a cold treat with the Lemongrass is a no-brainer. I used to serve a drink made by boiling Lemongrass and pandan leaves at my gathering parties. It has somewhat become my signature drink among friends. Improvising on this leads to a jelly recipe I saw in Forest Leong's Thai Cookbook. Forest Leong is local celebrity chef Sam Leong's wife. She is Thai and one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. I have attended one of her cooking classes and her instructions were clear and she was eager to impart knowledge.

The concoction, gelled with gelatine and served with a squirt of lime juice and a dollop of Lime Sorbet is the ultimate chill out dessert for today's hot and humid weather. I thought I could even sense a breeze blowing as I dug into the jello...


Recipe (adapted from Forest Leong's Cooking Classics, Thailand)

Lemon grass           10 stalks, bruised and chopped
Kaffir Lime leaf       4-5
Pandan leaves         3, knotted
Mint leaves             a handful
Water                     3 litre
Gelatine powder     40g
Sugar                      200g (I cut it down by half)
Lime                       1

Method :

1. Bring Lemon grass, kaffir lime leaf, pandan leaves and mint leaves and water to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 1 hour.

2. Remove from heat and strain out the leaves. Continue to heat the strained liquid while adding sugar and gelatine powder. Stir well until sugar is completely dissolved .

3. Pour into container to cool down. Chill in fridge to solidify jelly.

4. Scoop out jelly into serving bowls and top with lime sorbet, lime zest and a squirt of lime juice.

Staying Healthy With Beetroot Juice

Beetroot is seldom featured in Asian cooking...at least I don't remember seeing this in any Chinese dishes.
I do vaguely remember trying to use this in a salad once but, I didn't quite like the way it bled like an open wound making the dish look like someone just had a bloody fight over it...  This is also a vegetable that is not quite readily available at our local supermarkets. The benefits of the beetroot has been gloriously lauded. It is definitely a detox superhero. Reputed to be one of the best liver-cleansing vegetables, it also helps to nourish the nervous system and brain with trace metals and folate. Betacyanin, the pigment responsible for the deep red colour of the vegetable is also a powerful antioxidant.

The more I read about the benefits of beetroot, the more I feel I should find some way to incoporate this into my diet. The easiest option is to turn to my juicer. There are no shortage of recipes for beetroot juice on the internet. The version I have picked is from my little juice book which consists of 2 other power food , the carrot and orange.
The good thing about a beetroot juice is, the natural beet sugar actually makes a pleasantly tasty drink - no dread about gulping down liquid grass.

And oh,... one more tip for friends in Singapore- you can find beetroot in Carefour , Cold Storage but the cheapest beetroot can be found..... at Little India!

So eat beetroot and be healthy!



Recipe :

250 g              Carrot
125g               Beetroot
1                     Orange
125g               Strawberries (optional)

Process:

1. Juice the carrot, beetroot and orange to get juice.
2. If using strawberries, transfer juice from (1) into processor with strawberries and blend until smooth.

Strawberry Rose Lassi

At the recommendation of my vegetarian sister, I have recently started to consult an Indian Ayurvedic doctor for recommendations and remedies to achieve overall general well being. I have always been interested in approaches to attain better health albeit I am not ready to give up meat yet. Since my younger days, I had been exposed to anti oxidants like pine bark extract and evening primrose oil. I confess I used to be somewhat of a supplement junkie but have toned down tremendously over the years. My first introduction to Ayurvedic treatments took place when these weren't even in fashion.  I remember my first experience in doing the Shirodhara treatment almost 20 years ago. They were dripping warm sesame oil on my temple - it was as can be imagined, a greasy, gooey experience - you end up with a whole head of oily hair - but interestingly, the process must have stimulated the right glands somewhere, for my face took on a healthy glow for days after that.

This time, I went into consultation primarily to see if there is anything that can be done to improve my health in a natural manner- I know this is madness - it makes me look like a hypochondriac or a modern day Emperor Qin trying to seek some elixir to longevity or something. Anyway, I do have digestive problem. After taking my pulse, the doctor explained that I have wind problem (which is very true) , categorising my body type as a Vata-Pita combination. (VATA - wind, Pita- fire) I was asked to take some Ayurvedic herbal powder every evening after meals (tastes awful) and was asked to boil water with coriander seed, cumin and caraway seed to drink everyday.... I haven't boiled the seeds in water yet but have been taking the yukky powder every evening. So far, it has been helping in my digestion and I am envisioning myself moving to the realm of higher well being... Oohmmm...

Anyway, instead of boiling water with the spices, I thought I would try to incoporate them into a more palatable drink. Lassi, as most would know is actually a yogurt based drink made with fruits and a variety of spices. I still have some Strawberries left over from my Lollies experiment so I decided to use that for my lassi preparation.  For a little elegance, I added a few drops of Rose Water.

I drank most of it but still managed to pour some of the left over lassi into my lollie molds to make lollies for my neighbour's little girl. For the lollies, I had added additional sugar and honey to sweeten it. The feedback for my previous batch of lollies was that they were not sweet enough for the children. (it was sugar free and 100% fruits) In fact, for this batch, I had to add quite a bit of sugar to sweeten the lollies - I was quite disturbed - it goes to show how much processed sugar the kids are putting into their system nowadays.

Recipe :

400g              Strawberries
300g              Natural unflavoured yogurt
25g                Soft brown sugar
300g              Ice water
A few drops   Rose Water
Dash              Mixed spices (I ground a mixture of coriander, cumin and caraway seeds, you can just add
                      freshly ground pepper if you want this to be easy)

Method:

1. Hull strawberries and cut them up coarsely. Blend this with 150g ice water until smooth.
2. Add yogurt, sugar, Rose water and rest of water to blend until smooth.
3. Pour into chilled glasses and add ground spices.