Melon Colada Mocktail Recipe

Our vegetable and fruit market is being flooded with fully ripened melons and cantaloupes these days. I often buy them fresh and we relish juicy melons a lot. Since Malaysia is a tropical country, these fruits are readily available. 

This mocktail recipe was made and relished very much. Mocktails are well, mock, that is minus alcohol. This is such a refreshing mocktail drink for a hot summer evening. Although, you can add alcohol of your choice to spike it and call it cocktail. 

You can use shaker with ice to make this mocktail. I have blended all in a mixer, which is what I have.

As a thumb rule in Pina colada, white rum is added but you can choose any other liquor as well. I have included papaya as well to make it healthy and filling. This is a kid-friendly recipe.

Melon Colada Mocktail Drink Recipe

Recipe requirements (serves-1)

• 2-3 slices of fully ripened Sunlady melon or cantaloupes
• 1 thin slice of fresh papaya
• 12 tsp of fresh coconut milk
•  3 oz. of sprite
•  ½ tsp of honey as sweetener
• Ice cubes and mint leaves for garnishing

Method

• Pick fully ripened and fresh melon and papaya for better flavour. Use freshly made coconut milk for best flavour, otherwise you can use canned one or coconut cream in place of coconut milk.
• Cut and chop melon and papaya into slices. Pick 2-3 slices or wedges from melon and 1 wedge from papaya. Make a mixture with honey and coconut milk in a blender. Now cool it in fridge. At the time of serving take out and mix it with sprite again in mixer. Sprite itself is sugary, so less honey is added. More over the fully ripened melon and papaya gives a nice sweet flavour. Serve chilled with mint leaves.
• Easy and delicious papaya melon colada is ready. You can spike it with alcohol of your choice (rum/vodka/tequila) if you want a nice cocktail.

Happy Cooking Friends and have a relaxing weekend.

Pan Fried Tofu and English Muffin with Chivda Crisp Mix- When East meets West

This recipe, I owe it to my dear daughter. As she is very fond of having her burgers with potato chips- salty and crunchy bites, which she ardently puts in between her chicken patties and burger buns. She herself started eating burgers made this way, when she saw one of her primary school friend spicing up her mundane school lunches with potato crisps, while we were living in UK.
Both kids had their ways to spice up their burgers. Sometimes  even with French fries layered in between. Sometimes with Thousand Island dressing, sometimes with mayonnaise or Ranch dressing and cheddar slices etc but 'Potato chips' also known as potato crisp over there, wins hands down for both of them.

 I know this seems like a circle, and that is how recipes evolve. Although both kids used to love non-vegetarian meals like with chicken burger, this is my attempt to make it little healthy and vegetarian.

I have used sesame oil to pan fry Tofu. I have also used iron skillet to pan-fry tofu instead of normal coated pans.And I must admit, sesame oil imparts a lovely taste to the overall product. I dint go for potato chips, I had my favourite snack – that famous Chivda crisp mix snack you get in packets in India with peanuts, raisins, cashews and corn flakes-‘chivda-crisp mix’ adds the crunch to this burger/muffin recipe.In Bengal while I was staying in Kolkata , I even had with 'Mukhorochak'.

 English muffin is a staple bread in UK and many use it as breakfast bread with jams, marmalade, bacon, ham and cheddarcheese as well. If you don’t get English muffin, then you can also replace it with normal burger buns. I have blogged about a nice home-made bread recipe way back here - Whole-wheat burger .You can make your own burger bun as well. I have omitted mayonnaise to make it  even more lighter. The layering is such a work of joy, olive oil spread, lettuce, pan fried tofu and tomatoes, perfect blend of sweetness, crunchiness and protein.

Here to the recipe

Pan fried tofu with English muffin and Chivda-Crisp mix

Recipe requirements

• 3-4 whole meal English muffin
• 200 Gms of tofu cut into flat square pieces
• 2-3 tsp of sesame oil for pan frying
• ½ tsp of red pepper powder
• Salt as per taste
• 3-4 tbs of Mayonnaise/Olive oil spread
•  3-4 tsp of sesame oil 
• 1-2 tomato cut into slices
• Lettuce leaves

Method
Cut Tofu Pieces and sprinkle red pepper powder and salt over them.Keep aside for 10 mints.
Heat up an iron skillet for pan frying the Tofu pieces. Add in about 1-2 tsp of sesame oil. Now pan-fry the tofu pieces just to get a nice golden-brown layer.

Now assemble English muffin
Cut the bread into half.

Spread olive oil soft spread over English Muffins.

Now place tomato slices, lettuce leaves and pan fried tofu pieces well stacked over one another.

Add in about a handful of Chivda- crisp Mix or spicy corn mix and cover it with another half of English muffin bread. You can add Mayonnaise in place of olive oil spread.
This is a vegetarian version.You can skip Tofu and Olive Oil Spread altogether and replace it with chicken patties or lamb patties and Mayo.Keema Kabab are also nice variations.

Internet reference:

I just love when few fellow bloggers also think like us and writes about it too here-  Finely Chopped..

Happy Cooking Friends and have a great weekend.

French Toast with Strawberry Compote

I have been away from food blogging world for a while now, but that doesn’t mean I was not cooking food or feeding hungry souls in my home. I have tried many local recipes and ingredients during these past days and I have to keep some records for that as well. I may update next couple of blogposts with those ingredients and recipes. But today, I will restrict myself with a delicious breakfast recipe. French toast with strawberry compote. I can’t imagine myself making this on weekdays, as morning is a hurried experience for us. Dear daughter catches her school bus early in the morning and dear husband is also almost rushing through. This scrumptious breakfast needs a relaxing Sunday morning, where one can sit, talk and enjoy the breakfast. Last Sunday made this as our breakfast, thought will share the recipe over here.

I remember a scene in Bollywood film ‘Queen’, where the main lead actress makes French toast for her roommates while holidaying in Amsterdam. And one of them being French himself tells her, well, what she has made has nothing French in it. I know where that was coming from as, French never make their French toast savoury compared to us Indian. French toast for an Indian is mostly savoury served with dollops of tomato ketchup!!  This made me all curious to know the origin of French toast and how it got its name. After many google searches, I came to know that in France it’s known as ‘’ Pain perdu’’ or ‘’Lost bread’’ which is eaten as desserts. This can be accompanied with afternoon tea or an English term for that is ‘High Tea’ snack, but is never made as breakfast. We are grateful to Roman Empire for Colosseum, Pantheon, Spanish steps and Latin language. And to countless inspiration for many Chariot races in Hollywood films ‘ Ben Hur’ for entertainment purposes. I may also like to add French toast to that list as well, as Romans had gigantic appetite for food, three course meal is very Roman. They used to make something very similar dessert with a day old bread or left-over high quality white bread. The first mention about French toast was in a 4^th century Roman cook book written in Latin by Apicius.

From those days to its present form French toast has travelled far across, crossed Atlantic Ocean as well. French Immigrants brought their French toast recipes to America and American coined its name ‘French toast’ and from there no looking back.

Now to the sweet recipe for French toast

French Toast with Strawberry compote

Recipe requirements

For French toast

4-5 whole meal bread slices

1 cup of milk

1 egg

1 tsp of cinnamon powder

2-3 tbs of sugar

Cooking oil to pan –fry toast

Method

Mix in egg, milk, cinnamon powder and sugar in a mixing bowl. Put the bread slices in the mixture and let it sit for 5-10 mints.

Put an iron skillet on flame, add about 2-3 tsp of cooking oil over hot iron skillet. Put bread slices and fry them each side for 3-4 mints at medium flame.

Take out and drain over kitchen towels.

For Strawberry compote

300 Gms of fresh strawberry

3-4 tbs of sugar

½ tsp of lemon juice

2 tsp of olive oil spread

Method

Peel the outer skin of strawberries to get rid of small seeds. Chop strawberry roughly into small pieces.

Now put strawberry and sugar in a pot and keep on cooking. After about 7-8 mints at medium flame, strawberry will start to cook .Take off from the flame when sugar dissolves properly.

Add in lemon juice and olive oil spread and mix well. Let it cool.

Assemble French toast with strawberry compote and ice cream on sides. This is heavenly delicious.

and since its Poila Baishak this weekend ....let me wish all my readers ' Shobho Poila Baishaak'

শুভ পয়লা বৈশাখ। .অনেক শুভেচ্ছা সবাইকে। ...

Coffee Timeout - Pulp By Papa Palheta KL

One lazy Friday afternoon we decided to go for a cup of coffee near our vicinity. This café went unnoticed for a while. Pulp by Papa Palheta in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur is very near to us. 

This designer café is tucked away in a residential neighbourhood, away from hum-drums of crazy shopping malls here. 

The crowd is mostly locals and some from the adjoining industrial area or the office going public. Most of them like to come and unwind after a day’s work in office during weekdays. 

And on weekend the general Instagram public will make a beeline for their coffee. Actually you can find them on weekdays as well. So, yes it’s a very lively and sought after place for coffee lovers and shutterbug crazy people.

I and dear husband were not expecting something out of the world there, but a nice and cosy atmosphere was a welcome change to our mundane routine. 

We got our share of coffee latte, flat white and hot chocolate with a brownie and banana cake slice.

We were satisfied with their blend of coffee. We are not very picky about our coffee either, so yeah for us it was just perfect.Dear daughter also liked her cup of hot chocolate.

We spent almost an hour there sitting, chatting and enjoying our cup of coffee and dear daughter with her share of hot chocolate, also kept both of us entertained with her enticing banters thrown in between.

They also serve big bites aka main entree and breakfast options, in case you have a very hungry and growling tummy. I haven’t tried any of those, so can’t elaborate on their taste and freshness. 

But I was impressed with their range of desserts to go with our coffee. They also house various varieties of coffee that you can buy from them. 

They also serve cold brews in case you like cold things. I was intrigued with their cold brew coffee latte, spiked with hazelnut milk, maybe next time it’s due for me.

The brownie was moist and soft, kind of melt in mouth and the banana cake slice was also fresh and soft. Their desserts scored well for me. In fact, I liked the brownie way better than the banana slice.

The inside of the coffee house reminded us about the old art printing press there.There were some apertures for brewing fresh coffee.

They have remoulded it into a café in the same art printing press premise about four years ago. The décor is nice. Although, it hasn’t got much of seating space as compared to the Instagram and hash-tagged public it receives day in and out. 

Pic Credit- dear daughter

I would suggest to go on weekdays, where you still can enjoy their freshly brewed coffee and sit with your favourite book without interruptions. Another issue is parking which on weekends seems a hassle. 

They also run coffee workshops on many days just in case you need to know all the details of coffee making procedures and coffee beans.

Picture Credit- Dear Daughter

Overall a nice place to spend some time with a cup of coffee with your friends and family in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.All pictures are captured with our smartphones.

Picture Credit- Dear Daughter

Please stay tuned for my best place to eat list in Kuala Lumpur for a family in coming weeks.