MOCK TAILS | Saute Fry N Bake

Plum breeze

Preparation time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : nil
Serves : 2 members

Description

When you know a friend is dropping in home after a long time but you are pressed for time to do anything but treat her with a decent mock tail. All I do is run to my refrigerator and see what can be done. Like wise, once I get to see just a couple of plums and nothing else in my refrigerator. I just whipped it up with some sugar, salt and pepper. Went with my gut and made a mock tail.. mixed it . The colour was inviting but was not sure about the taste. I felt I should have peeled the plums and ground it but then if I did so I should have not got the colour and the sour kick to the mock tail. Tasted a bit, l loved its tasty fizz and vibrant colour. My friend with her first sip went ooh… aah about the mock tail. She failed to find out the main ingredient of the mock tail which is when I realised I did make a wonderful invention. We did a cheers again and laughed over this crazy story of the mock tail ..

Plum breeze

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Ripe plums	4
Sugar	to taste
Salt	a pinch
Black pepper powder	a pinch
Sparkling water	as needed ( I used 7 up )
Ice cubes	1 cup
Tall glass	2

Method

Place two tall glasses in the freezer.
Remove the seeds from the plums. Blend it to a smooth purée by adding sugar, black pepper powder and salt.
Place in the refrigerator until needed to be served.
Just before serving, fill the tall glasses from the freezer with the plum purée to 1/4 th.
Top with ice cubes. Pour the sparking water over, mix and serve chilled.

Saudi champagne

Preparation time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : nil
Serves : 4 members

Description

Every country that I travel too, I make sure to get to know their local cuisine and delicacies. I try my best to sample and feed myself with street food, and the local fare. On my last trip to Saudi Arabia, every restaurant we went to my uncle kept asking for Saudi champagne and for the entire two weeks of my stay, I was not served this mock tail even once. This got me even more curious about this drink. Back home.. Like always nothing to do.. The Saudi trip was running in my mind. The Saudi champagne rang a bell. That mock tail that I missed out on, didn’t want to prolong the curiousness, so I googled and got to know it’s such an easy recipe that even a novice can follow and do. Saved the recipe and made on eid. It did flaunt every one with a surprising spark on their festive faces. The whole colourful fruit rounds with the mint floating is a delight to the eyes. The combination of the sparking drink and apple juice with the dash of mint makes you want the drink more. All thanks to my maternal uncle Shahul ( who is younger to me by eight years ) for letting me know there’s some thing like such in the Arabic cuisine. Cheers to you mama.. Now through me its shared with thousands in our sauté, fry n bake family.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Apple	1 cut into thick rounds with skin
Orange	1 cut into thick rounds with skin
Mint leaves	Few
Lemon	1 cut into thick rounds with skin
7 up	600 ml ( 2 cups )
Apple juice ( I used Dabur - Real brand )	600 ml ( 2 cups )
Ice cubes	5 to 6

Method

In a tall water jug mix the apple rounds, orange rounds, lime rounds and mint together.
Pour in the apple juice into the fruit round. Place in the refrigerator until to be served.
Just before serving add ice cubes and 7 up. Mix and serve chilled with the fruit rings.

Avacado mango smoothie

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : nil
Serves : 5 members

Description

I have always had a liking towards this fruit.( oop’s is avocado a fruit or vegetable? Never ever had this doubt before. Googled now and found out it’s a fruit. Not bad I was right ) on my every trip to the hill stations, I would make it a point to buy them. Back home with these beauties, all I used to do was just blend it with milk and sugar and serve it as a smoothie. I was awestruck when I first got to know it’s used for savory dishes in Mexico. My mind took a while to accept that. Now a days it’s ample in all the department stores here at my home time . An opportunity to test more recipes with the mighty avocados. Fed up with the same juices, milk shakes and smoothies served at the rozza ( fasting ) table, I wanted to try something new. I just mixed what I felt might taste good and blended it all together. Tasting was done by my cook as I was fasting. She approved it. Poured it into glasses, it looked too plain so just topped it with a teaspoon of soaked basil seeds I had in hand. Those black seeds gave a popping contrast to the plain looking smoothie. Ifthar table, silent with all of us breaking our fast. After the first five minutes, my boy Afzar who is home on a two week break from London ask’s me what smoothie is this. It tastes really good. My mission accomplished to come up with another rocking recipe that did tickle my boy’s taste buds. Here after every time I get to see or think about avocados, this memory of him and this smoothie will surely flaunt me.

Ingredients	Quantity
Ripe Avocado	1 small flesh scooped out
Ripe mango	1 cheek flesh scooped out
Thick Curd	2 tablespoons
Honey	2 tablespoons
Sugar	to taste
Ice Water	as needed
Ice cubes	10
Basil seeds	1/4 teaspoon soaked in water for one hour

Method

Blend together the ingredients together except for the basil seeds to a smooth running consistency smoothie.
Taste and adjust sweetness. Add more water if required and mix well.
Chill until to be served. Serve chilled topped with a teaspoon of soaked basil seeds.

Guava Pear Mock – Tini

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : 5 minutes
Serves : 4 members

Description

The on going summer heat just wants me to have more and more liquid’s alone. My mind for sure is working wonders with mock tails which is so perfect to beat the hot heat. All I had in my refrigerator was one guava and one pear. I had to come up with a mock tail with theses two fruits. I love incorporating every day flavors into a mock tail. It brings a surprise element yet the taste is familiar and comforting. This mock tail combines two of my favorite fruits guava and pear. It couldn’t get better right? I bought in the trademark Indian twist by an addiction of jaggery and spices which suits me as I love bold flavors. This reflects my love for using our Indian every day ingredients in a really interesting way bringing a new challenge to find ways to use them, leaving way for a journey of a thousand dishes….. Coming to the mock tail.. Its brilliant coolness and thirst – slaking qualities helps replenish all the energy lost in the sweltering heat and instantly restores all the energy lost in the heat. Takes little time to make and even less time to polish it off. Happy mock tini to all…

Ingredients	Quantity
Guava	1 big chopped
Jaggery	1 /2 cup
Whole crushed coriander seeds	2 tablespoons
Whole crushed pepper corns	1 teaspoon
Salt	a pinch
Pink food colour	few drops
Pear	1 chopped

Method

Boil jaggery with 1 cup of water. Once it dissolves add crushed coriander seeds and pepper seeds.
Boil for five minutes. Remove from heat. Cool completely.
Grind guava with 2 glasses of water to a smooth running paste.
Strain the jaggery syrup into the guava juice. Add salt and food colour. Mix well.
Taste and adjust sweetness, consistency and colour of the mock – tini. Chill in the refrigerator until serving time.
Pour into glasses, top with chopped pears and serve chilled.

Kokum bonkers

Preparation time : 10 minutes + soaking of basil seeds for one hour
Cooking time : 10 minutes
Serves : more than ten helpings

Description

Summer is back with the sun shining bright with us getting dehydrated often. So I made up my mind to make a mock tail. I check my refrigerator and find nothing at all. Take a walk into my pantry and find basil seeds.. I dig further to see a packet of Kokum. The bulb moment happened when I saw the Kokum which reminded me of having a rasam sort of a drink in goa made with Kokum and coconut milk. Not wanting a heavy drink, I omitted the coconut milk and went ahead with what I thought would pair well with Kokum. I was expecting a pale pink colour drink but it was a pitch dark brown colour instead. The final result was a pungent, flavourful drink that was tangy, sour, sweet and salty in one shot. I took it as a surprise treat to my fellow Zumba class mates. Every one enjoyed their glass of this cooler going on to say they feel so energetic and cool. I made sure to google and see the health benefits of Kokum and that’s when I got to know it’s a cooling agent and has so many other healing benefits too. A new recipe tried and learnt with awesome results and a bonus of knowing more about an ingredient. Now isn’t that a wow factor for a day well spent.

Ingredients to boil and grind

Ingredients	Quantity
Kokum	1/4 cup
Green chillies	2 chopped
Water	1 litter
Salt	1/2 teaspoon
Cumin powder	1 teaspoon
Black salt	1/4 teaspoon
Asafoetida	1/4 teaspoon
Mint stem	5
Sugar	to taste

Method

Mix all the above ingredients together and boil for ten minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Strain and grind the Kokomo and other ingredients together adding little of the strained water to a smooth paste.
Mix the paste to the reserved boiled water and mix well.
pour this mix into clean bottles and store in the refrigerator for further use as a crush when needed. Keeps well for two weeks.

Other ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Mint leaves	2 tablespoons chopped
Coriander leaves	2 tablespoons chopped
Sugar powder	1 cup
Whole coriander crushed	2 tablespoons coarsely
Red chilli flakes	2 tablespoons
Chat masala powder	1 teaspoon
Basil seeds ( sabja seeds )	3 tablespoons soaked in water for one hour.

How to proceed

Place two tall clean glasses in the refrigerator.
Mix chopped mint leaves, coriander leaves, powdered sugar, coarsely crushed whole coriander seeds and red chilli flakes together in a flat tray.
Fill a flat shallow tray with 1 1/2 cups of water and keep aside.
Remove the tall glass from the refrigerator. Dip the top mouth of the glass into the flat shallow tray with water, wetting the rim of the glass all around.
Remove the glass in a inverted way and press over the sugar mix tray, making sure the sugar mix forms a border on the rim of the glass. Do the same with the other tall glass as well.
Add chilled water, sugar, chat masala powder, the remaining mint – coriander – sugar mix used to rim the glasses and salt to taste to 1 cup of Kokum juice. Taste and adjust sweetness.
Care fully pour in equal amounts of the Kokum juice into the two tall glasses making sure the sugar border does not get disturbed using a funnel 3/4 way full.
Top with 2 tablespoons of soaked basil seeds and serve chilled.

Kashmiri noon chai

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : 45-50 minutes
Serves : 2-3 members

Description
Kashmir…. I always remember seeing this place in my parents honeymoon pictures… Resulting with me being born there after ….every third person there did mention saying I look like a Kashmiri which made me blush for sure as to me kashimiris are the best looking people on earth. Those days of watching doordharshan programs as a kid. I remember watching a documentary where they showed how a meat based dish was made in Kashmir with a white thin butter milk based gravy but the name of the dish didn’t register in my mind. I got to by heart the name just recently. All I knew about Kashmiri cuisine was just that and later the rogan josh and dum aloo. It was a dream come true to visit Kashmir for me. On one tedious day while traveling to gulmargh from Sri nagar we stopped for tea. Me not being a tea person just was wondering around the place. My son-in-law enquire if they serve noon chai. I was like.. What’s that? He explained to me saying its a salty tea that’s made only in Kashmir and Ladakh. The foodie in me just wanted to give a try and I ordered one too. The first sip I took.. Just hit the right spot and was very much to my liking, like a light watery soup. From then on the entire week I drank only noon chai in Kashmir where ever I went getting me addicted to it with each place having its own version with slight changes of the same chai. The Kashmiri guide did mention saying that noon chai helps to give a glow to the skin. Do I need any more reasons not to get addicted to this noon chai!!
Made sure to get the chai dust and here I am in the opposite tip of Kashmir, near kanyakumari sipping away noon chai soothing my soul every now and then like the Kashmiris do…

Indgredients	Quantity
Green tea leaves	2 tablespoons (authentically a special tea leaf is used but green tea is close to it as well)
Cardamom	5 pods crushed
Salt	1 teaspoon
Soda salt	1 teaspoon
Cinnamon	1 inch stick
Star anise	1
Milk	2 cups
Sugar	1 tablespoons
Pistachios	5 peeled and chopped
Almonds	2 peeled and chopped
Water	2 cups

Method

Heat 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Add cardamom, cinnamon and star anise. Boil for two minutes.
Add the green tea leaves, salt, sugar and soda salt. (be careful while adding the Soda salt as the water arises and over flows out of the pot).
Boil in low flame for 30-40 minutes.
Add milk and bring to boil. Strain. Serve hot with chopped nuts.

Notes

I always follow the recipe up to the third point in large amounts. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator for a month or so. When needed I add milk and boil. This way it’s more easy.

Hibiscus tulsi sharbet

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes + setting aside for two hours

Serving : 7-8 glasses

Description

In the recent have been seeing a lot of dishes being made with the hibiscus flower. First a master class by chef sanjeev kapoor in master chef India and followed by many fellow foodie bloggers posting recipes. Having lots of these flowers at my in- laws place, came up with an idea of making a sharbet using the hibiscus flower which will be of good use during the month of Ramadan. Went with what ever my inner instincts told me.made the sharbat and it was aromatic, thick, slippery, sticky and syrupy having all that takes to look like a store brought sharbet syrup. The addition of tulsi leaves did help to take the sharbat to another level. The natural light hue from the hibiscus flower was so inviting but when diluted with water the colour did look a bit faded. So I was forced to add a few drops of pink food colour. I was surprised as there is so much we can do with our every day local produce where even with in a 100 km radius of a city subtle variations can occur. A sure eye opening experience that has widened my culinary journey for sure.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Tulsi leaves	1/2 cup
Hibiscus flowers	10 -15 remove the middle stock of the flower
Water	10 cups
Sugar	6 cups
Cardamom powder	1 teaspoon
Dry ginger ( chukku in Tamil )	1/4 inch piece powdered
Salt	a pinch
pink food colour	a few drops (optional)

Method

Boil tulsi leaves, cleaned and washed hibiscus flowers and 5 cups of water together until reduced to half and the fragrance of the flower and tulsi has been infused into the water.
Remove and mix in cardamom powder and dry ginger powder. Mix well and cool completely.
Boil sugar and remaining water together until sugar dissolves and gets to a slightly thick syrup. Cool completely.
Remove scum from cooled sugar syrup. Mix sugar syrup with drained hibiscus- tulsi water and mix well with a pinch of salt.
Strain after two hours . Store in the refrigerator and use when needed. Keeps well for a month when refrigerated.

To serve

Mix 1/2 teaspoon lime juice with sharbat syrup to taste, ice cubes and one glass of chilled water. Mix well. Garnish with chopped tulsi leaves and serve.

Go green kiwi punch

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : nil

Serving : 2 members

Description

By gone are the days when I used to droll at pictures of exotic fruits in magazines, the television and else where as most of the fruits are available in my home town now a days. Like wise kiwi was one fruit that made me ponder a lot from the taste to the colour of the fruit. A fruit that’s lovely green in colour with a splash of black seeds in an even more beautiful pattern. The first time I got to eat it with sheer excitement… didn’t last long though as the The after taste of eating a kiwi fruit really put me off leaving behind an acquired taste. From then till date, I use kiwis only for decoration purpose or to add more colour to a fruit spread. Going through sauté, fry n bakes web site, took note of the drinks category having the least recipes. Made up my mind to come up with a mock tail. Went strait to the refrigerator,opened and was gazing at things in it that would be of use to my idea of creating a mock tail. I found 3 kiwis in one corner. Took it out and started with a flow of what was going on in my mind. The finished product was a visual treat. Now it has to be a mouth full of treat as well. Had a sip… Tasted like 7 up with sugar crystals.oops… Dum me didn’t even mix the mock tail before tasting. Mixed and tasted it, tasted nice but I was worried about the after taste of a kiwi fruit that I hate. Some how the after taste of the kiwi fruit didn’t exist in the mock tail. To my surprise this mock tail was a stunner as it brought with it a melange of flavours and visually very impressive too. Exotic,yet simple and delicious. It only requires some quick assembling to be done that leads to up lift the summer time sprit in style.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Kiwi	3 peeled and chopped + 1 peeled and sliced to 1/2 inch thick pieces to decorate
Green food colour	a few drops ( optional )
Sugar	1/4 cup to decorate the glass + 3 tablespoons or to taste
Ice cubes	1/2 cup crushed
Ice cold Sparkling water / 7 up / sprite	2 glasses ( I used 7 up )

Method

Place two tall clean glasses in the refrigerator.
Grind chopped kiwi,sugar to taste and few drops of green food colour to a smooth paste.
place the 1/4 cup sugar over a flat small plate. Do the same with another small plate of the same size but fill it with 1 1/2 cups of water.
Remove the tall glass from the refrigerator. Dip the top mouth of the glass into the flat plate with water, wetting the rim all around.
Remove the glass in a inverted way and press over the sugar plate, making sure the sugar forms a border on the rim of the glass. Do the same with the other tall glass as well.
Care fully spoon in equal amounts of the puréed kiwi into the two tall glasses making sure the sugar border does not get disturbed.
Add equal amounts of crushed ice care fully over the kiwi purée layer in the two glasses.
pour sparkling water gently with the help of an inverted spoon into the two tall glass once again making sure not to disturb the sugar border and the kiwi purée.
Garnish with a slice of kiwi on the side of the glass making a small cut in one corner to hold on to the glass and stand.
Serve immediately with a straw or a mock tail mix. Mix before drinking and indulge.

pineapple peel wine

Preparation Time : 20 minutes + 21 days

Cooking Time : nil

Serving : 4 members

Description

Wine has always mesmerised me as a kid wondering what it would taste like to the colour and smell of it. Studying in a Christian boarding school, I used to attend the mass every Sunday as I was in the school choir. Seeing others have round corn chips dipped in to wine, made me wonder even more. I used to ask all my fellow Christian mates about the taste. Our head mistress mrs. Elsama Thomas would make wine at home and have seen her serve it to some staffs as well. All I knew was wine was made from grapes and has a deep redish thick purple colour. Later when my class mate Liju told me he had pineapple wine in Germany on a holiday which was deep golden yellow in colour. I just fell for the way he described it to me. My crazy little mind just stored this for keeps.. Not sure why ? A few months Back I came across a recipe of home made pineapple wine in Nisahomy.com – cooking is easy. A blog that I have been following for quite some time. I jumped up with joy and gave a try to the recipe. Waited for nearly a month to see the results and as Liju had described to me it had a deep golden yellow colour . As we are not supposed to have wine for religious reasons , I packed the wine for my moms friend suganthi aunties family. As I was packing it, gave 1/4 glass to my live in help to taste and let me know about the wine . She happily drank it and said it had a fruity flavour and was sweet. As she was finishing the wine she told me she was feeling a bit dizzy. I laughed it off thinking a home made wine can’t get you toxic and that too .. one made by me . Poor thing she really did mean it as she dozed off to sleep in a few minutes and woke up late night by eleven . I still have my doubts if she played a prank over me for some extra rest :-)). The wine did reach suganthi aunty and their entire family enjoyed the wine. Aunty did let me know that it was quite toxic but the flavours and colour was addictive. Well the golden oldie drink did make a mark. From playing an integral part in religious rituals to being hailed as an elixir, wine has enjoyed its glory days from a thousand years before. But is it really as virtuous as its touted to be ?? Still keeps me questioned about ??

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Pineapple skin	of 2 pineapples
Pineapple slices	2-4 chopped
Water	1 1/2 cup
Sugar	1 3/4 cup
Beaten egg white	1
Dry Ginger / chukku-	1 tablespoon crushed
Cloves	6
Cinnamon	2 sticks
Yeast	1/2 teaspoon

Method

In a ceramic jar, put all the ingredients one after the other . Mix with a wooden spatula.
close with the lid. Cover the lid with a piece of cloth and tie it tightly with a string.
place the jar in a dark place for 10 days . The next 11 th day , strain the wine.
pour into a clean sun dried bottles and place in a dark place for another 21 days to mature.
In case you can’t wait, have it after five days of bottling.