Keep Your Cool in This Scorching Heat. Great Indian Recipes to Refresh, Rejuvenate and Keep You Healthy in Summers (2020)

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup bitter gourd peels
• 1 cup curd
• ¼ cup besan
• 2 tsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp asafoetida
• 2 tsp finely chopped onions
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander-cumin seeds powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt to taste

Method:

• In a deep bowl, mix besan, curd, and two cups of water. Whisk everything together, and there should be no lumps. Set this aside.
• In a deep pan, heat the oil. Toss cumin seeds and asafoetida. Add garlic and ginger, when the seeds crackle. Saute for a minute on medium flame.
• Add bitter gourd peels, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander-cumin powder, and saute for 1 more minute.
• Now, add the water and curd mixture. Add sugar and salt, and mix well.
• Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, and stir frequently. Serve it hot.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp gram flour
• 4 tbsp curd
• 2 green chillies
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 150 ml water
• 450 ml mango pulp
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 10-12 curry leaves
• 2 tsp grated jaggery
• ½ tsp ginger powder

Method:

• Start with straining the mango pulp.
• Mix water and gram flour in a bowl, and stir everything together.
• In a pan, add mango pulp, curd, and flour. To the pan, add water of 300 ml, and add ginger powder and asafoetida.
• Make a paste of ginger and chillies, and add to this mixture. Season the mixture.
• Cook it till it thickens, and this can take around 15 minutes.
• Heat the oil, add cumin seeds and curry leaves, and stir fry for 6 minutes.
• Add the mango mixture to this, and simmer for ten minutes.
• After 10 minutes, add sugar, and stir well.
• Take off from the heat, and serve.
• This curry is a perfect blend of sweet, sour, and tangy flavours.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup sugar
• 3 cups milk
• 2 paan leaves
• ¾ cup khoya
• 2 meetha paan
• 1 tbsp gulkand
• 1 tbsp crushed fennel seeds
• ¼ tsp powdered green cardamom

Method:

• Boil the milk on low flame. You need to pick a heavy-bottomed pan for this process because it prevents the burning of milk.
• Wait till the milk is reduced to ⅓ of its original quantity. Take off from heat.
• Add khoya, sugar, crushed fennel seeds to the milk. Mix well, and combine thoroughly.
• To this mixture, add gulkand and cardamom powder.
• Wash the paan leaves thoroughly and place them in a strainer.
• Now pour the milk mixture over the paan leaves in the strainer.
• Break the meetha paan, and pour them through the strainer. Mix everything well.
• Pour this mixture into the kulfi cones, and close the lid.
• Store the moulds in the deep freezer, and wait for 6-7 hours. They need to set well.
• Demould them and serve.
• This recipe goes well with any elaborate Indian meal. You can pair this with cool falooda and chopped cashews.

Ingredients:

• 500 gm deseeded jamuns
• 1 lime
• 2 tsp sugar
• A few sprigs of mint

Method:

• In a mixer grinder, blend the jamuns.
• Along with it, blend sugar, mint leaves, and lime juice. Make a juice of these.
• Then pour into the popsicle moulds. While pouring, use a strainer, and pour.
• Then place a stick into the middle of the moulds.
• Leave the moulds in the freezer for 3 hours.
• After 3 hours, de-mould them and enjoy.
• This very easy recipe to make popsicles with an impressive purple colour, is the way to cool you this summer.
• For a different flavour, add chaat masala or black salt over this tasty fruit popsicles.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 tomato
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• 1 cup split toor dal
• 2 cups bottle gourd
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp jaggery
• 1 lemon, juice extracted
• 4 sprig coriander leaves
• 1 tsp amchur
• 1 tsp powdered jaggery
• Sunflower oil

Method:

• Wash the toor dal.
• Wash, peel and chop the bottle gourd into small pieces.
• Heat oil, and toss cumin seeds in a pressure cooker.
• To this add, cinnamon, bay leaf, tomatoes and curry leaves.
• Saute and wait till the tomatoes turn mushy.
• Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, washed toor dal, chopped bottle gourd, salt and jaggery.
• Add 2½ cups water. Close the pressure cooker, and leave it for 3 whistles.
• Keep the heat to low, and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat after 3 minutes.
• Wait till the pressure to release on its own.
• Brisk boil and squeeze the juice from the lemon. Add and stir the coriander leaves.
• Serve hot. Enjoy the sweet and tangy taste of this veggie and lentil mixture. It goes well with rice, roti and thepla.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp crush chilli powder
• Chaat masala (as per taste)
• 2 oranges
• Handful of apricots
• 2 peach
• 1 kiwi
• Few chopped pieces of watermelon and muskmelon
• Coconut powder
• Chopped almonds and chopped walnuts

Method:

• Cut up all the fruits into small cube shaped pieces and add them to a bowl.
• Add the crushed chilli powder and chaat masala, and mix well.
• Add the chopped almonds and walnuts.
• In the end, garnish it with some coconut powder which not only adds to the taste but also looks very good while serving.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 large alphonso or 4 kesar mangoes
• ½ tsp cardamom powder
• 1 pinch saffron strands
• Sugar (optional)
• ¼ tsp dry ginger powder (optional)
• Water as per need

Method:

• Rinse the mangoes and remove the skin.
• Chop them into small pieces.
• Blend the chopped mangoes in a blender. Add cardamom powder and saffron strands to this.
• Stir and add water or milk to thin the aam ras.
• Pour in bowls and refrigerate.
• You can serve this with puris and rotis.
• You can also add fried cashew nuts to the aam ras, if you prefer.

Ingredients:

• 500 gm phalsa berries
• 1 tsp black salt
• Few mint leaves
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Ice cubes
• 4 tbsp sugar
• ¾ cup water for the sugar syrup

Method:

• Boil water, and add sugar. Wait till the sugar dissolves.
• Soak the washed phalsa berries into the sugar syrup.
• When cooled, add the soaked berries and the sugar syrup to a blender.
• Add water if required, while blending.
• Strain the juice.
• In a big glass add some ice cubes, and fill with the phalsa juice. Add few crushed mint leaves.
• Garnish with roasted cumin powder.
• This juice is very healthy and helps in preventing dehydration.

Ingredients:

• Few mint (or pudina) leaves
• Few coriander (or dhaniya) leaves
• Ice cubes
• ½ inch grated ginger
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp dry mango (or amchur) powder
• Salt to taste
• 2 glasses of water
• ½ lemon
• ½ tsp crushed pepper

Method:

• Firstly dry roast the cumin seeds. Take it off the gas when it starts to turn black.
• Once they have cooled down you need to ground them into a powder.
• Then take some coriander and mint leaves and blend them in a mixer/blender. It needs to be blended into a paste, add water if needed. Keep this aside.
• Add the ice cubes to a jug. Now add the grated ginger to it.
• Next add the coriander-mint leaf puree and the roasted cumin powder.
• Add some amchur powder and salt as per taste.
• Add 2 glasses of water and some lemon juice.
• In the end, add some crushed pepper in it and mix all the ingredients nicely.
• When serving, add a few ice cubes to the glass.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup basmati rice
• 1½ cup full fat coconut milk
• 1¼ cup water
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• Salt to taste
• Parsley for garnish (optional)

Method:

• Wash and rinse the rice properly then add it into a pressure cooker or in any other utensil of your choice in which you prefer cooking rice.
• Along with it, add coconut milk, water and ground turmeric. Add salt as per your taste.
• Mix them well together and cook it till it comes to a boil.
• When it comes to a boil, reduce the flame and cover the utensil.
• Let the rice cook for another 20-25 minutes.
• Once done, switch off the flame and let it remain untouched for 10 minutes.
• While serving the rice, garnish it with parsley.