Homemade Date Cardamom Almond Milk Recipe

Makes about 4 cups

Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds
1-2 cardamom pods
4-6 seeded dates
4 saffron strands. Optional

Method
1.Soak the almonds in plenty of water over night, about 8 hours.
2. Drain the soaked almonds, and put them into a blender (I used my Vitamix), along with 3 cups of water. Add the cardamom and dates to the blender.
3. Blend on medium-high speed till all the almonds are well blended into a homogenous puree, about 2 minutes.
4. Line a fine mesh strainer with two layers of cheese cloth. Place a bowl under the strainer. Pour the pureed almonds into the strainer, gather up the cheese cloth into a ball, and gently squeeze till all the almond milk comes out.
5. This first extract of almond will be thick. Add more water to it to dilute it to your preferred consistency.
6. If you wish, you can make a second extract – scoop the almond meal in the strainer and put it back in the blender. Pour 1-2 cups water and blend. Strain the second extract of almond milk through the strainer. This extract will be thinner. You could also use this thinner second extract to dilute the thicker first extract.
7. Sprinkle saffron strands, if using, on top of the almond milk.
8. Home made almond milk will keep in the fridge, in an air tight container for about 5 days.

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Spiced, salted buttermilk drink, also called mor, sambaram, majjige or chaas, is a popular thirst quencher in India. At its humblest form, this drink can simply be buttermilk served with a pinch of salt. I’ve added a little twist by using some refreshing, crunchy bits of cucumber in this recipe. With all the ginger, cumin and asafoetida in this drink, its also a great digestive.

If you dont have buttermilk, you could use 1 part yogurt and 1 part water. Or just thin out yogurt to your liking.

Similar spiced buttermilk recipes:

Sambharam, majjige or mor recipe on Edible Garden
Spiced buttermilk recipe on Vegetable Platter
Majjiga or salted yogurt drink recipe on Sailu’s Kitchen
Spicy buttermilk on Aayis Recipes

Spiced Buttermilk Drink with Cucumber (chaas, mor, moru, majjige, sambaram) Recipe

serves about 2

2 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup yogurt diluted with 1 cup water)
1/8th teaspoon cumin  seeds
4-6 curry leaves
1 teaspoon sized knob of ginger, peeled
1 small green chilli or according to taste, optional
2 sprigs of cilantro
a pinch of asafoetida
salt

2 tablespoons finely chopped cucumber

Pour the buttermilk into a bowl and set aside. In a mortar and pestle, roughly pound the cumin seeds, curry leaf, ginger, chilli, cilantro and asafoetida. Add the pounded spices to the buttermilk and add salt. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour so the flavors marry. Strain before serving and garnish with chopped cucumbers.

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This is a sweet, refreshing lemonade with a touch of heat from jalapenos that will be great for a summer barbecue. Serve it ice cold, or spike it with some tequila! Dont be afraid of the jalapenos in this recipe, they add a mild, and very pleasant flavor. And you can make the lemonade as hot or mild as you like.

In case you are curious about this jalapeno water splash photo, here is the exif info:

Shutter speed: 1/1250
Aperture: f/18
ISO: 800
Exposure: manual
Lens: Canon 60mm macro

Setup: A bowl of water by a window. Camera on tripod, set to ‘continuous shooting’ mode. I dropped jalapeno slices into the water while continuously shooting. I think I took about 100 photos to get to this one.  

In order to capture the splash, you need to set your shutter speed very high (1/1250 in this case). Because the shutter speed was high, the camera lets less light in; to compensate for this I had to bump up the ISo to 800.

Squeezing a few lemons and mixing with water and sugar is so easy, I really dont know why we buy lemonade in the store!

What does jalapeno lemonade taste like? When you first sip it, its just like regular lemonade. When you swallow, the mild spice will hit your throat. This recipe is very mild. Use 2 jalapenos if you want it spicier.

Here is a similar recipe for jalapeno lemonade on serious eats inspired by Crate & Barrels jalapeno lemonade mix. My recipe is slightly different – i used a pinch of salt, which brings out the sweet and hot flavors in the lemonade; I also made my jalapeno lemonade less sweet. Here is another jalapeno lemonade recipe on kalamazoo gourmet that doesnt require boiling the jalapenos in simple syrup.

Jalapeno Lemonade Recipe

makes about 8 cups

for jalapeno sugar syrup
1 jalapeno, cut into 4 pieces (remove seeds for a milder lemonade)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/8th teaspoon salt

other ingredients
1 cup lemon juice (juice of about 6 large lemons), strained
6 cups water

Place the chopped jalapeno and 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Continue boiling till about half the water has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Then add sugar and salt and stir. Reduce heat to low and simmer just until sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes.  Let the syrup cool for about 5 minutes.

Place a strainer over a pitcher. Pour the jalapeno sugar syrup, lemon juice and 6 cups water through the strainer into the pitcher. Stir well. Serve chilled over ice cubes.

For tequila spiked jalapeno lemonade recipe: follow the recipe above, but instead of 6 cups water use 5 cups water + 1/2 cup (or more!) tequila. Serve on ice.

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Lets kick off the summer with a sweet, refreshing, berry sangria, shall we? This is a red lobster copy cat recipe — there isnt much vegetarian food at Red Lobster restaurants (not that im expecting any!), but I can eat their buttery biscuits and drink their triple berry sangria all day long.

The berries soak up the vodka and wine, and get all boozy and yummy. But dont let the berries sit in the wine too long, they can discolor. You must serve the sangria as soon as youve made it.

La Grange Winery, VA

Virginia’s wine country is nearby; so our summers are filled with wine tasting, winery hopping, and picnics at the vineyards. We bring home lots of wine when we go on there day trips. But I dont use the good wine for sangria. Whatever wine is on sale at the grocery will do.

We collect wines from around the world, but our local favorite is Narmada Winery, VA  which has an Indian touch

 If you prefer, you can use white wine in this sangria recipe. Also, change up the ingredients as you like – orange juice instead of blueberry juice, triple sec or brandy instead of vodka, club soda instead of ginger ale..the possibilities are endless.

Summer Triple Berry Sangria with a hint of Ginger Recipe

makes 1 large pitcher

1 cup strawberries hulled
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 teaspoon sized knob of fresh ginger, peeled and lightly crushed
1 1/2 cups berry flavored vodka (I used Absolut raspberry)
1 1/2 cups berry flavored juice (I used Ocean spray blueberry juice)
1/2 cup sugar or to taste
one 750 ml bottle of red wine (I used Barefoot Merlot)
1-2 cups gingerale
ice cubes
mint sprigs for garnish

In a large pitcher, place the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, ginger, vodka, fruit juice, and sugar. Mix well. Cover the pitcher and let the berries macerate in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Fish out and discard the ginger piece. Just before serving, stir in the wine, gingerale and ice cubes.

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I almost feel bad giving you a recipe for lemonade. I mean, its a no brainer right? Just mix up sugar, lemon juice, and water, thats it. So, to spruce up the humble lemonade, I added some blueberries (and vodka!). The extra tang and brilliant color were fantastic! We loved eating the lemonade soaked blueberies in the end of each glass!

The lemonade will become a stronger color if you let the blueberries sit in the lemonade for a few hours. Use either fresh or frozen blueberries. Other berries would work well too — strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries..yum!  If you are using something with lots of seeds (like raspberries), you may want to puree the fruit and strain the puree before adding it to the lemonade.  

Alcoholic version - Spiked Blueberry Lemonade:  add vodka to this lemonade. You will not be sorry you did!

Blueberry Lemonade Recipe

makes about 8 cups

1 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice (I used bottled)
6 cups water
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Place all ingredients in a pitcher and stir till sugar dissolves. Muddle the blueberries a little using the back of a wooden spoon to release their juices and color. Taste and adjust sugar if needed. Serve chilled.

For spiked lemonade – add 1 to 2 cups of vodka (preferably citron flavor) to above recipe.

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