REMA'S RECIPES

The Reviver,

Here's something people can make without a prolonged hunt for ingredients! The 'Reviver' ginger, cinnamon, lime drink for one is an infusion and a concentrate - to be mixed like a large drink, with chilled soda or water .

 Ingredients:

  3 glasses water

  3 glasses sugar 

  1 glass freshly squeezed lime juice 

  Thick 4 inch piece of fresh ginger and an equal quantity of cinnamon sticks. 

Scrape the skin off the ginger and crush it with the cinnamon sticks. Tie the crushed mix in a piece of fine cotton/muslin. 

Bring water to boil, drop in the spice bundle, simmer together for about 20 to 30 minutes  till you have a dark amber infusion (and the house is also redolent with the fragrance of the spices!). Add the sugar and stir to dissolve it into the infusion

Take it off the heat and cool. Now add the glass of lime juice. Bottle.

This has no preservative and must be kept in the refrigerator and used up in two weeks.

Vegetable stew

The secret to this is fresh coconut milk.This is made from combining gratings from half a coconut and I cup warm water, running it in a food processor for a minute. Strain and keep the thick milky extract.  Add one and a half cups more warm water to the  dregs and repeat the process to get the weaker second extract.

The coconut cream/powder you can buy there should be almost as good!

Beans chopped, carrots and potatoes cubed, cauliflowers..well...flowerlet-ed(!), peas etc all together about one and a half - 2 cups

One onion sliced thin

A small piece of fresh ginger julienned

2 Green chillies split (or more to your taste)

About 5 whole peppercorns crushed

4 cardamoms

6 cloves

1stick of cinnamon

A sprig of curry leaves if possible

A tablespoon of oil and salt to taste.

Heat the oil in a pan/wok,(add curry leaves first) add the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and pepper. Then add the chillies, onions and ginger and cook till the onions start browning. Add the vegetables and sauté for a minute till everything is well blended. Sprinkle the salt and add the second extract of coconut milk. Simmer till the pieces are cooked. Now add the thicker first extraction of milk, stir and remove from the fire immediately. Goes well with bread etc