Strawberry Lassi (smoothie)

I cant believe I'm actually posting a recipe for a lassi, when I don't even like it that much. I'm not a big fan of smoothies and breakfast drinks...I don't even like fruity milk shakes for that matter, except the occasional mango lassi I share with Ro when we head to any Indian restaurant. 

Picked up strawberries thinking I'd make strawberry cupcakes and then changed my mind since it was too much work. I am also not craving any cake now, because I bought the awesomest banana loaf from Respect Organics and cant stop eating it. So, so, so moist, I cant stop at one slice. I can easily finish off the entire loaf but I'm struggling not to. (In my defence, its a really tiny loaf OK!)

I made the lassi thinking I'd force it down Ro's throat, but even the non-fussy Ro didn't want it. So I had to force it down my throat and it was actually not that bad. I added loads of sugar and it did come close to my taste. I still had one glass left, but after rotting in the fridge for a day, I threw it out :(

I have to STOP making things I don't like, or things that have failed to come out well. Like the chiffon cake, for example,..I made it again yesterday and it was a disaster. Losing 3 eggs was sad, not to mention half a cup of honey and the other ingredients...sigh! 

The strawberry lassi recipe is a no-brain recipe and why am I blogging it still..because I woke up this morn, completely enthu to write a post only to realize I didn't have anything interesting. Since I couldn't let my enthu-ness fizzle out, here's a brainless post from my end, with very lethargic pictures.

Fresh strawberries- 1/2 a pound (227gms), cleaned, hulled and halved

Sugar- 1/4 cup or as per taste

Honey- 2 tbsp (I loved how sweet it was)

Cold strawberry yoghurt- 1 cup (use plain yoghurt as substitute)

Salt- a pinch (optional)

Puree the strawberries along with the sugar, honey and salt using an immersion blender.

Add the yoghurt and give it one more whizz, just to mix it all in.

Pour into individual glasses and top with a strawberry. I got about 3 medium size glasses full.

Notes: Add milk instead of yoghurt if you don't want it too thick

I read somewhere that a pinch of cardamom will give it a nice flavour. Go on improvise.
Use ice cubes if you yoghurt isn't cold enough

Salsa de mango

I am no expert when it comes to selecting the perfect mango or even knowing the difference between varieties. I eat any mango I get -raw or ripe- and savour it no matter what. I know that we don't get the gorgeous Indian ones here, but it doesn't seem to bother us and since I don't particularly crave for it, anything works....

..except this one time I was at the Chinese store and they had raw mangoes which I couldn't resist. I wanted to have mango chammanthi (chutney) and rice....yummm! Came back home with one green mango and was busy googling for easy recipes. Found one and when I cut into it, it was actually not that raw....and I realized it wouldn't be nice as a chutney. So what do I do, cut it up, take some salt, start dipping and eating like one mad woman who's been mango deprived. I even called up Ro while eating to say I was sorry he couldn't devour the raw mango and salt. His exact words were...'I hope you get sick after eating all that..' I laughed it off then, but after I ate the entire mango, boy did I feel sick..drinking water didn't help and the entire evening was spent with a horrid stomach ache and blaming Ro for jinxing me :O

I thought the mango mania for this season was over after that episode, but no. A couple of days later we'd invited some friends over for brunch and I decided to try out a mango salsa recipe my cousin Miri had posted on her blog long back. It turned out extremely nice, that I had to try it out again. So I got around to making it a couple of days back and even managed a few pics. It pairs well with meat dishes, filling for tacos or even better on its own as a salad kinda thing. I have adapted her recipe more or less, with a few tweaks here and there. Enjoy!

Mango- 1 large or about 2 cups, peeled and cut into cubes

Tomato- half of one large, cut into small pieces

English shallot- 1, thinly sliced

Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp, finely chopped

Celery- 1 tbsp, finely chopped (optional)

Green chilli- 1 small, finely chopped (de seeded if you cant handle the heat)

Lime juice- a few drops (I was pretty generous with this)

Salt- to taste

It cant get easier than this...mix all the ingredients together in a salad bowl. 

Add lime juice and salt as per requirement, toss again and place it in the refrigerator covered until you use it.

Toss again just before serving. 

You can choose to serve in individual glasses (if you want to go all fancy) or in the salad bowl itself.

Notes: A Thai option would be to add some fish sauce, grated ginger and basil and top with some chopped peanuts.

Sending this to Reva of Kaarasaaram who is hosting this months Healing foods: Mango event, brain child of Siri.

Fruit fusion (salad)

You know what I realised, I have never posted a salad recipe here, in spite of eating them on a regular basis. It probably is because I very rarely make a salad from scratch. As in I pick up the mixed salad packet from the supermarket and then just add some dressing (whatever it is I feel, to be precise) and I'm good to go. Ro usually ruins the salad by adding enormous quantities of Italian or ranch dressing and makes is as unhealthy as you can imagine. Like that's not enough, he comes up with smart-ass things like, 'oh my god I'm eating an entire tree for dinner.' And then I stopped making salads for him, but when I eat, he'd dig into it and then not finish what's on his plate, ending up in arguments about whether to keep them back in the fridge and then throw it out after a couple of days or just spare me the time and effort and throw it out now itself. Its like having a frikkin 3 year old at home (ironic because he refers to me that way).

So this 3 year old that I'm talking about, has been bugging me to make fruit salad at home. I keep putting it off giving lame excuses like 'what??? fruit salad? weren't you sick of eating it back in India at all the Christian mallu weddings.' And then when we have invited people over and I'm thinking out loud about the menu Ro would sweetly chime in, 'please make fruit salad and custard or ice-cream for dessert.' My are-you-kidding-me look would stop him from further interactions. Oh yes, I'm a mean, mean wife, to say the least! I know wives who bend backwards to serve the husbands, especially their food needs. Me, not one of them. In fact I'm so damn selfish that I never buy things I don't like (fish tops the list).

Today also, this happened by fluke. I would never make fruit salad. For one, I think its an absolute waste of fruits. Why would you want to put them all together when you have the privilege of delving into each and every one of them separately and enjoying it a whole lot more? Two, if you don't eat it immediately after you make it, it becomes the most horrid thing to devour..the fruits start fermenting and you have no choice but to throw it out. 

I was out galavanting and on my way back stopped at the supermarket cos I was out of milk. Instead of just going straight to the particular isle and picking it up, I get carried away to the fruit section. Saw these pretty clementines still with the leaves and such, strawberries on a roll back, mangoes (not yet in season though) and pink grapefruit (something I was totally intrigued by) and picked it all up. What was supposed to be a one pound bill, ended up being a tenner...all for Ro, if ever he asks me why I do grocery shopping every day (for just the 2 of us), and sometimes even twice a day (like today because obviously i forgot to buy important things like coffee and eggs, and then Ro had to make a trip at 8.30pm).

The grapefruit was a bit of a disaster since I had no clue how to peel it or chop it or whatever, but managed somehow. They are the prettiest pink ever :). But on the whole, it was a breeze to put together and I added some zing to it with a few other ingredients which made it yummy. 

Mango- 1, sliced into cubes

Strawberries- 1 cup- hulled, halved and then quartered

Pink grapefruit- 1, peeled, chopped (please google for instructions on how to do this)

Clementines- 2, small, peeled 

Coriander leaves- 1 tbsp (finely chopped)

Caster sugar- 2 tbsp (or more if you want it really sweet)

Lime juice- 1 tsp (or more is you please)

Salt- a generous pinch

Put all the ingredients in a salad bowl and toss well to combine. 

Refrigerate for a while and then serve in individual glasses as it is, or with some chilled Greek/flavoured yogurt.

Notes: The addition of salt was such a brilliant idea. I mean I loved it so so much. Avoid if you are not too sure.

PS: OMG I cant believe I wrote all this shit for one fruit salad. Ro loved it nonetheless. Not that mean a wife after all huh? (please say yes)

Eton Mess (Strawberries & Cream, the English Way)

Since Valentines day is of absolutely no significance to me (the fact that Ro even wished me was a big surprise), it went on like any other day. My birthday on the other hand was eventful. I was moping around most of the day feeling horrible at having turned a year older and then in the evening Ro completely surprises me with my favourite cake from Hummingbird Bakery and then a fancy dinner followed by Champagne celebrations. The highlight however will be my big gift over the weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and if it works out I shall tell you guys about it later.

However, I had this craving for strawberries and cream and couldn't resist the urge to whip up this easy peacy dessert, also known as Eton Mess. Well, since strawberries are an aphrodisiac (huge grin), I thought I'll post this as an epilogue of Valentines day....you know...just to get the magic going.

Apparently this dish was served at the Eton College (a very famous, and oldest prep school in England) during their famous cricket matches and the students used to mix together the cream, strawberries and meringue together and create a mess, and hence the name Eton Mess for this simple but gorgeous summer dessert. Talking about summer..I have started seeing flip flops and swim wear in stores and that is like a ray of hope..although its about 3 to 4 months till we get to wear them, it still makes me smile. 

Meringue nests- 5 or 6 (I used store bought meringues)

Double cream- 1/2 cup

Strawberries-  about 200 to 250 gms, cleaned, hulled and sliced into four

Castor sugar- 1 tbsp

Lime juice/ port wine- a dash

Mix together the chopped up strawberries, sugar and lime juice/ port and keep covered in the refrigerator for a while...just so the flavours mix. Lightly bruise them with a fork to get the juices flowing.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream till it forms soft peaks. There is no need to sweeten the cream.

Break the meringues into 1/2 inch pieces and throw them into the bowl with the whipped cream. Throw in the bruised strawberries as well. Fold carefully and you can see streaks of red being mixed into the fluffy whites...well a mess really.

Serve in martini glasses or leave it in a fancy bowl, so people can serve how much ever they want. Garnish with whole strawberries and mint leaves if you please.

I wanted to do a fancier version or lets just say a less messier version of it and so I did it individually.

I arranged one meringue on a plate, added a generous dash of cream and arranged a few of those sliced, marinated strawberries on top. Layered with another meringue shell and then finished it off with cream and strawberries. It just looked much prettier this way :)

Notes: You can more or less use any fruit of your choice here.

Storing them in the refrigerator leave s a weird kinda smell after a while, so id say eat it up as fast as you can...even better..prepare it just before you need to serve...i mean c'mon its a mess anyway!

Oh and also, if you have been trying to learn how to make meringues and they are a disaster, don't worry, just crush them and make an Eton mess:)
Sending this to A.W.E.D- British, hosted by Reva, brainchild of Chef in You

Spiced pumpkin mini loaves

Happy Halloween peeps! So were you dressed up as the slutty nurse or the horny devil???  ;)

I had quite an eventful weekend with all the pub hopping and partying leaving me absolutely hung over and a wee bit bummed that my lovely cousins headed back to the US this evening. It was a really wild week and lemme just leave it at that.

With regard to the pumpkin, it was eventful as well. I had never ever tasted pumpkins and this time I decided to pick a small one and carve. Ended up with indeed a teeny tiny one and had no choice but to just stare at it and say how darn cute it looked. And then Ro got me all worked up to carve and I decided to head to the grocery store at 8 in the night. A trip that would have taken me 15 mins in total took over half an hour..talk about my absent mindedness. I was still unusually excited about the carving even after that long chakkar and so went ahead and did it anyway..well drew it all out and then got Ro to do it (that's really the trick you know). We were mighty pleased with the outcome and here's a pic...

Now I couldn't throw away the pumpkin so after googling quite a bit and when I put this question on FB, my brothers friend H who also happens to be a grad. from The Culinary Inst. of America suggested pumpkin bread and I knew that was it. So here goes:

Recipe halved from here

Pumpkin purée- 1 cup

Granulated sugar- 1 1/2 cups

Water- 1/2 cup

Vegetable oil- 1/2 cup

Eggs- 2

Plain flour- 1 1/2 cups

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Cinnamon powder- 1 tsp

Nutmeg- 1/4 tsp

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Ground cloves- 1/4 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

I had no clue how to make pumpkin puree and so blindly followed DK's version from here

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spice powders

In another large bowl, using a spatula or wire whisk, mix together the pumpkin purée, sugar, water, oil and eggs till well combined.

Mix in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients bit by bit and mix till well combined and lump free.

Pour into a greased loaf tin or mini loaves and bake in an oven pre-heated at 176C for 60 to 70 minutes and if it is in mini loaf tins then for about 30 to 40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Once done cool on wire racks and store in an air tight container for up to a week.

It was an incredibly moist cake and im in love with the flavours. Dab some cream cheese frosting on it and its a perfect Autumn tea-time snack.

Sending this to Monthly Mingle event hosted by Deeba, brainchild of Meeta, and the theme this month is Fruit in baking. 

Spiced apple loaf

Is it apple time or what??? I can see them on trees and even worse, squashed on the road side and I think its now a hindrance more than a 'pretty sight'. Last year we went to an apple orchard, well it was actually a cider tasting trip, and honestly, I've never seen so many apples in my life!!! If you don't believe me, take a look at these...

We were done eating so many varieties of apples, not to mention the amount of cider we drank:)

I have never made an apple pie or strudel or galette or anything because we get so many yummliscious pies at the super market...pop it in the oven for 15 mins and there you have amazing hot pie, with custard and cream on the side. It was a fav of ours when we had just moved to UK...and Pub lunches are never ever complete without apple pie and custard. Also, I'm very wary when it comes to working with dough, which has actually put me off pies and tarts. The next best thing to make with apple was a cake and that, I'm always game to do. So a spiced apple cake it was and boy it came out super duper moist and majestic with bits of apple slices and the cinnamon-nutmeg-clove flavour nicely blended in. So here is another dessert or tea time snack to welcome Autumn.

All purpose flour- 200 gms

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Baking soda- 1/2 tsp

Salt- a pinch

Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp

Ground cloves- a pinch

Ground nutmeg- a pinch

Granulated Sugar- 100 gms

Brown sugar- 50 gms

Butter- 45 gms

Egg- 1 large

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Bramley apple- 1 cup, cored, peeled and diced

Apple sauce- 3/4 cup

In a large bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Keep aside.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter and sugars (brown and white) with a hand held electric mixer or using a whisk till light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix again till well combined.

Now fold in the dry ingredients, alternating with the apple sauce*..starting and ending with the flour mix.

Fold in the diced apples as well.

Get a loaf pan ready, do the buttering, lining and the works and pour the batter into it. Its not really runny, so you'd have to smoothen it out to the edges a bit.

Pop it into an oven pre heated at 180C and bake for about 1 hr or till a skewer comes out clean.

Take it out and after about 5 mins, insert on to a cooling rack. 

Serve with a dab of vanilla ice cream.

Notes: *Now I didn't have apple sauce and I wasn't really in the mood to make it, so used flavourless oil instead...super moist it turned out to be.

Bramley apples can be substituted with Granny Smith if you prefer that

I used self raising flour, so omitted the soda bicarb.

You can make the same in muffin cases as well..you'd probably yield about 12.

Apricot- vanilla Cake

Its been a while since I baked a cake and I terribly miss it. We have been gorging on fresh fruit as dessert since summer started and suddenly two days back, I realized I hadn't baked in a while and was craving some nice upside down cake. Had some canned apricots and strangely all the ingredients for a plain vanilla cake. Ro was playing badminton that night and I knew he'd be late, so I decided to go ahead and bake instead of making dinner (which was leftover mince meat and chapathi). 

I am such a sucker for vanilla or rather plain cakes, that I was floored with the first bite I took. The apricots added that grandeur to an otherwise plain cake and half way through I decided I didn't want to do an upside down cake, but just incorporate the apricots into the cake. Keep it for one more day, and I'd say it tasted even better.

Recipe halved from here

Plain flour- 1 cup + 1 tbsp

Self raising flour- 1 1/4 cups 

Baking powder- 1 1/4 tsp

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Sugar- 1 cup

Butter- 1/2 cup

Eggs- 2

Vanilla extract- 2 tsp

Evaporated milk- 1/2 cup

Canned apricots- 400 gms

Sift together all the dry ingredients- both the flour, baking powder and salt. Keep aside.

In a mixer with paddle attachment or with a hand beater, cream together till fluffy the sugar and butter.

Add the eggs one after the other, beating well after each addition.

Pour in the vanilla extract and then fold in dry ingredients, alternating with the evaporated milk making sure you start and end with the dry ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 160C, butter and line a 9" square spring form pan with baking paper.

Pour the cake batter into the pan and line the apricot halves hollow side down in whichever way you fancy.

Bake for about 40 to 50 minutes or till the skewer test comes out positive.

Let it stay in the pan for about 5 minutes, before turning it out onto a cooling rack.

Dab some cream or ice cream and serve with a smile.

Notes: I halved the recipe, you can double it and make a layer cake, adding the apricots sliced and mixed with the cream frosting.
You can skip the salt and baking powder if using self raising flour. The original recipe calls for cake flour.

The cake was super duper soft and yumm is all i can say.

Cherry Muffins

Its been quite some time since I posted something sweet here. Well, its not because I haven't been making any at home, its just because they all have a specific recipe and measurements I follow and can be checked any time, whereas the savoury stuff is all from here and there and if I don't pen it down as soon as possible, I completely forget and it just stays in my drafts forever. I have quite a few of those still lying around.

We went over to a friends place for dinner about 2 weeks back and after brainstorming on what to take, I decided on cherry muffins because the cherries at the supermarket were too good and in plenty to resist, needless to mention, I kinda ended up eating quite a bit while pitting.

Since I've seen loadsa cherry recipes on blogs, I thought I'd join the bandwagon and share a cherry recipe myself.

Have a great weekend peeps.

Cherry muffins (yields 12)

loosely adapted from Smitten Kitchen's peach cupcakes

Plain flour- 1 1/2 cups

Baking powder- 1 1/4 tsp

Baking soda- 1 1/4 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Nutmeg- a pinch (optional)

Butter- 3 oz

Granulated white sugar- 3 oz

Packed dark brown sugar- 3 oz

Eggs- 2

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp1 1/4 cup

Buttermilk

Cherries- 1/2 to 3/4th cup (pitted)

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Keep aside.

Cream the butter and both the sugars together in a free standing mixer, using a hand blender or with a wire whisk, till light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla and then buttermilk bit by bit.

Fold in the dry ingredients, making sure no lumps are seen.

Add the pitted cherries and mix again, lightly.

Line a cup cake tray and pour in about one ladle full of batter into each (about 3/4th full) and bake in a pre-heated oven (176C) for 25 to 30 minutes or till golden brown on top and after the skewer test comes out right.

Take them out and cool on a wire rack after about five minutes.

Notes: I have halved the recipe here, double it for 28 muffins.

They were perfectly sweet with the slight tartness of the cherries, which were perfect for me, but if you need it sweeter, you can add some more sugar.

Pound Cake- two ways

OK I'm obsessed with TasteSpotting and Foodgawker. I'm adamant, I want my photos accepted. I think it totally boosts my self confidence when a photo gets published. Its so weird that the pics i think look nice, actually get rejected, but the ones i submit just for the heck of it gets accepted...some are not even that great. I have managed to rectify my first error of 'what i want in focus,' but the composition (rule of thirds), i just don get it. I always end up getting frustrated and no wonder TS and FG rejects it (well, FG more than TS). The use of natural lighting...well living in a place like UK doesn't help much...its either gloomy or raining or both. I am however making maximum use of the summer longer days which need not necessarily be brilliant with sunshine all the time, but somethings better than nothing right?

Anyhoo, I have created a TS page (FG shall follow) just to keep track of how many pics get accepted and whether I'm making any progress.

I'm a big fan of plain cakes and pound cakes in particular are an all time fav. No icing, no filling, no flavouring...just plain ol pound cakes. I had bookmarked this recipe long back, thinking i should try it and yesterday seemed like the perfect day....why because i was pissed off and i thought baking, since it is therapeutic, would help me..instead it tired me out even more and I would have been incredibly bitchy if the cakes hadn't turned out decent.

I first thought of just baking it in a loaf tin, but half way through i decided to incorporate some fruits and take it down to my neighbour...whom I met after living here for close to a year. She was really sweet and brought me a nice flower pot..so i obviously had to return that gesture and so i thought I'd bake a cake..since i pretty much suck at everything else. But after i baked it, i cut a slice to check how it was and then Ro bit into it and so we decided to chuck the idea and be selfish instead.

Condensed milk pound cake

Butter- 120 gms

Sugar- 45 gms

Vanilla extract- 1 1/2 tsp

Condensed milk- 1/2 cup

Plain flour- 120 gms

Baking powder- 3/4 tsp

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Eggs- 2

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Keep aside

In a free standing mixer (paddle attachment), or using your hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and mix well.

Pour in the condensed milk and keep beating till they are all combined well.

Reduce the speed to about 1 (or minimum) and add the flour mix bit by bit. Scrape the sides and make sure the batter is well combined and that no lumps are visible...it should be smooth.

Next, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition..i increased the speed a bit here. The batter should be nice and fluffy.

Grease a 9 inch cake pan or line a cupcake tray and pour the batter till 3/4th full.

Bake in a preheated oven (175C) for 30 to 35 minutes if its for cupcake and about 50 to 55 minutes otherwise. Also insert a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean, you're good to go.

Cool on a wire rack and serve warm...drizzle some condensed milk on top, to make it more gooey and moist.

Raspberry pound cake drizzled with a raspberry compote

Raspberries- 200gms (i used canned ones, because the fresh ones always are a bit sour sometimes)

Butter- 3 tbsp

Sugar- 2 tbsp (or more if you are using fresh ones)

Butter a 9 inch cake pan and layer the bottom with parchment paper. If its a spring form pan, its even better. 

If using canned raspberries, drain the syrup into a glass. Keep aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter and sugar.

When it starts to slightly bubble, add the raspberries and on medium heat stir, till the berries are coated  well and becomes lightly mushy. Its ok, if it doesn't hold its shape. The mix shouldn't be too watery, it should be slightly thick in consistency. Keep aside to cool a bit.

Have the plain pound cake batter ready. Gently fold the berry syrup into the batter and pour into the baking tin.

If you want to do an upside down cake..then layer the bottom of the cake pan with this berry mix and scoop the batter on top. In this case, the berry mix should not be runny at all.

If you want to do a fancy looking cake, then layer the berry first and then the batter and twirl the batter 

with a fork, like how you do for a marble cake..Make sure you evenly distribute it though.

Place the cake tin on a baking tray (just to catch any syrup that oozes out)

Bake in the centre of a preheated oven (175C) for 1 hr or when a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Take it out of the oven, and after about 10 minutes, insert a knife around the edges and insert onto a serving plate and let it cool. 

Berry compote

In a sauce pan, mix the syrup (what you kept aside from the can) and 1/4 cup fresh raspberries on medium heat, till they start to bubble and become a little thick..not too much since it needs to be drizzled. Add some warm water if its too thick though.

Cut the cake into huge wedges,warm it a bit in the microwave, drizzle some compote on top and serve with a huge smile :)

edited to add: peeps...this pic got tastespotted yaaaay :)

Notes: When you cut out the parchment paper, make sure its a little bigger than the bottom pan, because the syrup might seep through and this reduce the damage or can prevent it.

You can keep some of the berry mix fr the cake aside and use that for the compote as well.

You can substitute the berry compote with fresh cream or ice cream or even raspberry coulis. The cake has more of a pudding consistency..yes extremely soft and moist.

Its really not that hard at all, if such a long post made you feel so.


Even though id say summer hasnt really set in our side of the world, Raspberries sure bring that colour and brightness summer is all about. Submitting this dessert recipe to the Sizzling Summer Contest over at spicytasty.com.

Mango Lassi

I really didn't have to post this, and I have quite a few other posts from my drafts I can actually post, but laziness has caught on so much that I now think i bragged a lil too much on my previous post about not losing interest. I have been so busy whole of last week with a sick (literally) Ro to take care of. Yeah he's allergic to pollen and he was working from home which meant lunch, tea and dinner in succession, not to mention cleaning up which Ro would very nicely offer to do but I felt really bad and didn't let him. Well complaining about all that and rubbing it in that I am such an awesome wife kinda over powered the good i did, but anyways... ;)

Oh and also, right now I am brooding about a 46 quid haircut (I'm still crying here). I mean how difficult is it to find a salon in bloody zone 1 and 2 in London that doesn't charge you for your head also? I saw the bill and had to hold on to the railings to not faint (making a mental note: hide this months credit card bill). I'm still incredibly upset about that and i think il have to trek up to Wembley or some desi area to get a 20 quid haircut...sigh! what all a woman has to do to look good eh?

So coming to this post, its such a lame thing to put on a blog, but if i ignored the space, I will forever be lazy to do something about it. I made this some 2 weeks back when I got over excited after seeing mango pulp at the local grocers. I decided to buy the really really large can only to find out I didn't know how to make anything with mango pulp other than the panna cotta which, since id tried once already, didn't appeal to me any more. Story of my life...yes!

I made some mango ice cream and lost interest after the first two mixing intervals. Its still in my freezer. Then i thought id bake a mango cheesecake. I get better ones at Waitrose, so why bother? I was just left with the lassi option and in fact I actually forced it down Ro's throat saying its healthy (ya rt!). I still have loadsa mango puree left...anyone? any ideas?

Mango pulp- 1 cup

Chilled plain yoghurt- 1 1/2 cups

Water- just enough to loosen it a bit, say 1/4 cup

Condensed milk- 2 tbsp (oh ya baby, I went all the way out)

Sugar/ Honey- to taste/ optional (i added a bit cos i thought it wasn't sweet enough)

Mix everything together in a blender, serve cold with some ice cubes or chill in the refrigerator till you serve.

How boring was that post? No please dont answer..I know!

I picked up some juicy apricots the other day with the intention of baking an upside down cake. We ended up eating it just like that and I made the cake with canned ones instead; which was in a way good because it would have been a lil tarty if id used the fresh ones. Followed the same recipe as this. Served it as a dessert when we had friends over on Sat night, and as my luck would have it, it was more like a pudding than a cake..utterly moist and warm right outta the oven with the apricots adding that lil extra richness. Liked the pic i took, so thought id post it for TasteSpotting and foodgawker sake.

See ya later ladies.

PS: Don't they look like cute lil baby bums :)