Hibiscus tea

I saw a recipe for hibiscus tea, and rued the fact that my plant had got infected by a fungus and was no longer flowering. But after shifting here, I see a profusion of hibiscus flowers, and gathering courage, I plucked a couple to make tea. It was so lovely, I'm sure many more flowers will disappear!

2 hibiscus flowers

1/2 inch piece cinnamon

2 tsp palm sugar*

1 lime

Method:

Boil 2 cups of water. 

Tear the petals into inch square pieces. Pour the boiling water over the petals and cinnamon stick. 

Allow it to infuse for 20-30 minutes. 

Squeeze in the lime, and watch the colour turn from pale pink to deep red. 

Add sugar and mix well. 

Can be had hot, or cold. 

*- to taste. Can use honey or regular sugar too. 

Cà Phê Trứng

I stumbled across Cà Phê Trứng quite accidentally, and was quite intrigued by the concept of adding egg yolk to coffee. But I couldn't get the idea out of my mind either, so when I was making omelet for my hubby yesterday, I saved the egg yolk and made the coffee today.
Sweeter than I would like my coffee to be, it was surprisingly good. No "eggy" flavour, much less an "eggy" smell- if I have to describe it, I would say it tastes a lot like tiramisu might in a liquid form.
Definitely making it again- calories be damned!

1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons coffee powder
2 teaspoons of sweetened condensed milk
Boiling water

Method
Brew a small cup of filter coffee.
Put the yolk and the sweetened condensed milk in a small, deep bowl and whisk vigorously until you end up with a frothy, fluffy mixture. Add a tablespoon of the brewed coffee and whisk it in.
In a clear coffee cup, pour in your brewed coffee, then add the fluffy egg mixture on top.
Mix it well, and your cà phê trứng is ready.
In Vietnam, they serve the coffee over a bowl of hot water, so the coffee remains warm longer.

Sukku kaapi

A couple of months back, I was given a bottle containing an ayurvedic mixture that was supposed to help keep colds at bay. While the concoction was effective, it was too exorbitantly priced (not to mention, unavailable locally) for me to make it my 'go to' drink to ward away colds. As the powder was getting depleted, I was getting ready to go back to my regular "Madam Pomfrey's Potion", when I came across a reference to Sukku Malli Kaapi. It seemed to have a lot of ingredients in common with my ayurvedic concoction, so I decided to give it a try.

After having three cups in a single day, I am almost ready to swear that it works. That and lots of rest, and other fluids!

1/2 cup dried ginger powder
1/4 cup coriander seeds (whole)
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
1/2 tsp whole jeera

Method
Dry roast coriander seeds till golden brown.
Dry roast jeera and peppercorns together till nice aroma rises. 
Keep aside, and let them cool down completely.
Grind the roasted coriander seeds, jeera and peppercorn to a fine powder.
Mix with the dry ginger powder, and sieve a few times till well mixed.
Store in an airtight jar.

To make sukku kaapi, bring 11/2 cup water to a boil. Add 1 heaped tsp sukku kaapi powder, and let the concoction boil for 2-3 minutes. Strain the infusion, add panakalkandu (or honey), and drink.

Kauri methi and coffee

When a friend commented on how she poured her coffee powder into a container that had contained kasuri methi, I got thinking. Kasuri methi does have a sensuousness of its own, might it not be able to tango with coffee?

I make a light infusion of kasuri methi, and added it it my decoction. A dash of milk and half a spoon of sugar, and it wasn't half bad.
When you open your mind, the possibilities are endless.

Madam Pomfrey's Magic Potion

I have the Marathon coming up next weekend, and I have a horrible cold. If I want to be sure of gettinr rid of it, I should be on antibiotics, but if I get on them, I can say goodbye to recovering before the race. So I'm overdosing on Madam Pomfrey's magic potion, and hoping the cold will go away.

Take 2 cups of water.
Add a 2 inch piece of ginger roughly sliced, 8-10 peppercorns, 6 cloves, and bring to boil. Lower heat, and let it simmer till the volume becomes half.
Have it hot, but not boiling hot.
Add 1 tsp honey, for taste, if required.