Hey folks hope you all are doing very good. Yet another weekend is here and what's your plan for the weekend? I know it's pretty hot outside to plan something outdoor but Summer is predominant in India so we can't sit at home throughout Summer. However, avoid going in direct Sun and keep yourself hydrated. These two are the basic mantras home Summer apart from eat light and wear comfortable clothes and so on. Being a Banglorean, I haven't seen a deadly Summer in Bangalore in last ten years. Every year by this time Monsoon knocks on the door. This year scattered rain is happening in alternative days but no relief from the heat till now. Instead of soups and fritters this year we are still dealing with the Summer coolers.



Hydration of your body is must during Summer days and these days we often read or heard about detox water. Let's learn more about detox water in this blogpost. I will try to explain in simple language so that it becomes easy for you to understand and correlate it.

What is Detox Water?

Detox water is nothing but water infused with the flavours of fresh fruits, vegetables or herbs. Detox means detoxifying. It is thought that water infused with the flavours of fresh fruits, vegetables or herbs helps your body to get rid of toxins, hence it is named as detoxifying or in short detox water. It is also known as fruit infused water or fruit flavoured water.

What are the health benefits of Detox or infused water?

Detox water is said to have many health benefits though the research is still going. The primary benefits are indicated as weight loss, toxin removal, balancing the pH of the body, improves digestive health, boosts immune function, increases energy levels and many more.

Water consumption helps to keep our body hydrated and rejuvenated. Some people does not like the taste of the normal water and to increase their water consumption they can add fruits or vegetables to add flavour in the water.  Increased consumption of water helps to lose weight. Excess water surely helps to flush out the toxins from your body. Infused water helps to keep your body and mind refreshing.

Watermelon Cucumber Mint Detox Water

Is detox water good for your body?

Detox water is nothing but infused water with fruit. More consumption of water definitely helps to eliminate toxin from the body, improves health and accelerates weight loss process.

In this blogpost, I explained about detox water, its health benefits and how good it is for your body. I am not including all the details in a single post. As we proceed, we will slowly learn more about detox water. If you know something about detox water, I would love to learn from you and include it in my next post.

As we were talking about detox water here I am sharing a simple recipe of Watermelon cucumber mint detox water. Watermelons are now abundant in the market, so I have included this in my detox water. Here you might have noticed I have added the ingredients in my detox water available in Summer, the reason behind this is eat seasonal and all these ingredients are awesome body coolers which will help to keep your body fresh and rejuvenating.

You can prepare a tumbler full of detox water and sip in through out the day to keep the heat at bay during summer days.

Watermelon Cucumber Mint Detox Water

Ingredients
Watermelon - peeled, deseeded and cut into cubes, 1 cup
Cucumber - 3 to 4 roundels
Mint - 1 sprig
Lemon - 1 or 2 roundels
Water - 1/2 litre

Procedure

1. Add watermelon, cucumber, lemon and mint in a mason jar and fill with 1/2 litre of drinking water.
2. Stir it with a glassrod and keep it in the refrigertor for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
3. Take out from refrigerator and sip in.

Dry fruit and nut lassi is an exotic variety of our very popular lassi. Many of you are aware what is lassi especially people from India and neighbouring countries. However if you are not aware what is lassi ---let me tell you, Lassi is a yogurt based traditional summer cooler. This is a popular Summer drink from Northern part of India very specifically from Punjab.

Before the freedom the lassi was a popular drink from undivided Punjab. Now it  has crossed all the boundaries and become popular across the globe. Nowadays you can see lassi retail chains too and these lassi shops are quite doing well especially during Summer. It feels good to see that certain traditional foods have made their own identity in this competitive fast food world and next generations are liking these traditional food habits and hope they will carry on this legacy.



Classic lassi is the most famous version of lassi prepared with thick yogurt without any particular flavour. However, some people prefer to add rose essence into this. Whenever we have our dinner in a Punjabi restaurant, a tall glass of lassi is must with the meal.

Apart from classic flavour of lassi I also like fruit flavours of lassi. For example: mango lassi, strawberry lassi.

Recently I tried chocolate lassi, but I didn't like it. I don't know where I went wrong. I think I would try this once again to check whether this combo of yogurt and chocolate really works or not!



These days my life is busy as my professional commitment has increased so I hardly get ample time to devote  for my passion of food blogging. After the failure of chocolate lassi I tried another new flavour of dry fruits and nuts lassi. This time it was total hit. This is a filling drink and will help you energise during Summer days. I have used dates, raisins, cashews and almonds in my dry fruit and nut lassi. You can use your choice of fruit starting from walnut, pistachios, black raisins or any dry fruits and nuts you like.

Dry Fruit and Nut Lassi

Ingredients

Thick curd / yogurt - 1 cup, chilled
Dates - 2 or 3, seedless
Cashew nuts - 4 to 5, few for garnishing
Almonds - 3 to 4
Raisins - 8 to 10, few for garnishing
Sugar - 11/2 teaspoon
Milk - 2 tablespoon
Tutti Frutti - 1 tablespoon for garnishing

Procedure

1. Soak the almonds in Luke warm water for 10 to 15 minutes and peel the outer skin.
2. Take cashew, raisins, sugar, dates in a blender jar and blend until smooth.
3. Next add peeled almonds and blend once again.
4. Now beat the curd and add it to blender. Blend smooth.
5. Next add milk and blend a smooth mixture.
6. Pour it in a tall glass and garnish with raisins, chopped nuts and tutti-frutti and serve immediately.



Notes

Rajma tikkis are easy to make snack for your evening tea. Rajma tikkis are also called rajma patties or kidney bean patties. This is a healthy and nutritious snack. Kidney bean are packed with protein, hence they are good protein source especially for vegetarians population.

Rajma Tikki

What do you often prepare with kidney beans or rajma?

If someone would have asked this question to me, without giving a pause my answer would be Rajma chawal. We all love rajma masala with plain basmati rice or jeera rice. This is one of our favourite combination for lunchbox or meal on any weekends. Being Bengali we are not grown eating rajma chawal instead we had our favourite fish curry rice. As we became adult and came to another city to explore our life we started adopting food and culture from all parts of India and incorporating them into our life. Many people prefer to stay at their own state (no, I am not at all criticizing the fact) however some of them get the opportunity to see the world beyond their boundary and then they are enriched with cultures, foods and so many things. And slowly rajma chawal became our favourite like many other Indian foods.

Kidney Bean Patties

When can I serve these rajma tikkis or kidney bean patties?

Rajma tikkis are good with your evening tea or coffee. You can also pack kidney bean patties for kid's snack box. They are healthy, nutritious and filling snacks with less oil.
I always keep on thinking what shall I prepare for evening snacks which is healthy and tasty too. I keep exploring the opportunities. Other day when I soaked rajma for rajma masala. After soaking changed my plan and thought of preparing these patties instead of rajma masala. They were total hit in my house. I remember during our childhood ma used to prepare aloo tikkis quite often as evening snacks. I think this kind of tikkis or patties are great option for after school snacks or evening snacks.

How can I easily make Rajma Tikkis at home?

 I often get queries like how can I prepare quick snacks for kids. There are plenty quick snack options however, if you prepare well ahead you can prepare rajma tikkis quickly at home.

Though the procedure of making rajma tikki is easy but you need preparation for it. If you are planning this rajma tikki for your kiddo's snack box then soak  the beans previous day and after soaking boil them until they are soft. You can keep the boiled beans in the refrigerator and continue the remaining steps next day. You can also make your job easy by keeping the patties ready and next day take out the patties from refrigerator and shallow fry them.

Is Rajma tikki Vegan?

 Yes. Rajma tikki or kidney bean patties are absolutely vegan. Rajma or kidney bean are plant based protein.

Can I use them as burger patties?

Yes definitely you can. If you are looking for little more heavy snacks you can use these kidney bean patties as burger patties and serve a good protein rich vegetarian  rather vegan burger.

How can I serve this Rajma tikkis or Kidney bean patties?

You can serve them with ketchup or any Indian style chutney or any of your favourite dip. If you do not like ketchup or any chutney, it can be paired with simple mayonnaise too. You can also serve them with a cup of tea.

If you love eating tikkis and looking for recipes, please don't forget to check these below recipes:

Arbi Tikki
Oats Tikki
Alu Tikki
Soya Tikki

Let's  learn how to make rajma tikki or kidney bean patties.

Preparation time: 6 to 7 hours / overnight
Cooking time: 1 hr
Yields: 15 to 16


Rajma Tikki or Kidney Bean Patties

Ingredients

Kidney Beans or Rajma - 11/2 cups
Potato - 2 medium size
Onion - 1 medium, chopped
Salt to taste
Green Chilli - chopped, 1 teaspoon
Coriander Leaves - chopped, 2 tablespoon
Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Chaat Masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Dry Ginger Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup (use as required)
Oil - 1/4 cup (use as required for shallow frying)

 Procedure
1. Soak the kidney beans overnight and later clean it and allow to boil in a pressure cooker with little salt for at least 5 to 6 whistles or till it becomes tender and little mushy in texture.
2. Drain the water and allow to cool. In the mean while, peel the potatoes and boil them.
3. When both kidney beans and potatoes are cooled down, take them in a plate and mash them together.
4. Next add chopped onions, coriander leaves, and green chillies into the mashed mixture.
5. After that add all the spices including salt, dry ginger powder, red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, chaat masala and mix them well.
6. Next add the all purpose flower for binding and make a dough.
7. Apply oil on your palm and take lemon size balls and flatten them using your palm.
8. Heat a skillet and brush it with oil and fry the kidney bean patties under slow flame until both the sides are golden brown.
9. Serve them hot with ketchup or your favourite dip.

Rice is a staple food in many Asian countries including India, China, Japan and many others. Rice plays a versatile role in our food menu and using rice we prepare starter to dessert! Today I am sharing a popular rice recipe which we often order at restaurant. I am talking about Jeera Rice. This is a classic example how spice can make your daily rice more exotic and flavourful. I think this is the reason Indian cooking is famous for the spices used in it. Do you agree?


Recently I bought a rice cooker for my kitchen. Yes I am a bit fond of kitchen appliances though I like the traditional methods as well. However, sometimes I feel wherever possible we can take the help of gadgets to make life more simpler. Coming back to the recipe-- I have used rice cooker to prepare Jeera Rice however you can prepare on stove top also.

Jeera Rice
Ingredients

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Cumin Seeds/Jeera - 11/2 to 2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Ghee - 2 tablespoon
Cinnamon Stick - 1 inch
Clove - 2
Cardamom - 1

Procedure

1. Clean and soak the rice for 20 minutes and later drain the water.
2. Now heat a large pan and add ghee.
3. Next add cinnamon stick, cardamom and clove into the ghee. Add jeera and wait foe them to crackle and change the colour into dark brown.
4. Finally add rice into the pan and coat properly with ghee.


Rice Cooker Method (Electric)

5. Now add the rice along with spices into the rice cooker pot and add water as required. I have added 2 cups water for each cup of rice.  Add salt at this time. Cover it with lid and switch on the plug and put on Cook function. Once it is cooked the Cook function automatically goes up to the warm function. Then switch off it and serve hot.

Stove Top Method

5. Add water as required. Normally 2 to 21/2 cup of water is enough for 1 cup of rice. Add salt at this time.  Cover it with a lid and wait till the rice cooks and bubble arrive on the top creating holes on the rice. At this time water in the pan should be dried up completely. Serve hot with your favourite side dish.