Drinks

Here in India, eggnog’s have never been an in-thing! While in the west, they are a treasured delicacy and one of the most preferred ingredients for a whole lot of baked treats including all the Christmas specials. I had eggnog for the first time a few years back during a class trial with one of the chefs and I was blown away! Being a vegetarian and someone who has specific preferences for eating eggs, I had always dreaded sampling it because of the extreme eggy taste I had perceived in my mind (the major ingredient of eggnog is egg) but of course, being in this field I have to go outside my set boundaries. I enjoy eggs but not as scrambled eggs, poached eggs, omelets or boiled eggs. I enjoy them in baked goods.

But I still remember as the chef laid down shots of specially prepared eggnog by him in the class, I gladly picked up two for myself, as if they were tequila shots! And, of course, I didn’t gulp them down but as I had the first taste of them, I couldn’t stop cursing myself for why I had avoided this simple yet flavorful eggnog for such a long time!

I always feel the best part of an egg-based recipe is when you don’t get a bad aftertaste of the egg and a rightly prepared eggnog is just that! And as long as you have milk, cream, eggs, sugar in your kitchen and just a little patience, you can make that great eggnog just when the craving hits!

Egg and Eggnog

Traditionally, eggnog is meant to made and aged with liquor for several weeks or even months and is known to develop the best taste as it keeps untouched for this long time. The liquor acts as a sterilizer and a preservative both and it helps to enhance the taste and manifold it many times as it is rested.

Aged eggnog was also a way adopted by the Victorians to keep the seasonal bounty in check. Milk and cream were in abundance in the summer months, and as the eggnog was prepared and aged to be relished in the winters, it made for a perfect winter treat being full of strong spices and alcohol to keep the chills at bay. There are many ways in which eggnog can be made and folding egg whites also help to make the eggnog smoother and frothier but I did still prefer this method of making the eggnog where the egg yolks are cooked with the spices, milk, and cream as it helps to give a certain richness to the recipe.

Always remember to use fresh and organic eggs if possible. Sometimes old eggs can lead to  bad taste and aroma. Adding alcohol helps to bring another dimension to the recipe and helps to up the flavor many times. But since I have made a fruit-based eggnog I wouldn’t recommend it with a full heart!

Combining Mango

I have grown up on mangoes. My grandfather had a huge farm, so huge that we could never see the boundary. He had many people employed on the farm who used to take care of the farm along with him and made sure that we kids always enjoyed buckets of mangoes sitting under the shade of the mango trees when we visited our grandfather. I was the naughtiest and my sweet voice always left me blackmailing all of his employees for more and more of those mangoes. I remember sitting on my grandfather’s huge tummy and relishing those mangoes with my little hands as he made sure the ripest ones were always left for me 🙂

Living in Delhi, I remember every school summer vacation meant hogging on those mangoes as my grandfather sent endless cartons of them to us. We used to have 6-10 mangoes daily and not missing on those morning and evening milkshakes as well. A perfectly ripe mango I feel is pure bliss, it’s like that first sip of water that you have after hours of quenching thirst on a hot summer day!

In this recipe, make sure you are using a perfectly ripened mango because the taste comes from that faultless ripe! Mango helps to give such a unique addition to that age-old eggnog and I am personally so proud of this recipe and glad that I decided to combine mango in the eggnog. It’s like I know it’s the one drink I would love to enjoy when I am in a cozy mood watching movies in my room because nothing else would make for a great accompaniment than a chilled glass of mango eggnog on a hot day of this summer.

Precautions to be taken

The combination of dairy and proteins is a delicate blend especially when you are cooking it on the stove top. You need to make sure that you are continuously stirring the mix at all times and not keeping the flame too high. Keep it a little low and stir it at all the times till the mix begins to thicken. If you don’t do this, it might lead to the mixture curdling, and your entire eggnog will be spoiled.

Storing the Eggnog

Alcohol-based eggnogs can be stored for a long time in the refrigerator. But this mango eggnog is best consumed in one day. Also, remember to keep it refrigerated before you consume it, its best enjoyed chilled in summers until and unless its winters of course!

RECIPE:

Thick, creamy, smooth, and flavorful this eggnog is the best thing you will have when you are in the mood for a unique summer drink. The addition of mango helps to uplift the flavor and brings more freshness to the recipe. Mangoes and those spices are a deathly combo in this one!

Ingredients:

1 1/4  tsp Allspice powder (A mixture of green cardamom, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon powder, and nutmeg)

2 Egg Yolks

1/3 cup Sugar

1 1/4 cup Milk

3/4 cup Cream

1/2 cup Mango puree

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:

• Take egg yolk in a bowl, add sugar and mango puree. Whisk till pale and frothy.
• Take a saucepan and pour milk and cream into it. Add allspice powder as well and keep stirring till it comes to a simmer.
• Now add some of the cream mix into the mango and egg mix. Keep whisking continuously as you do this.
• Pour the mango mix back to the remaining mix in the saucepan and cook on very low heat till it thickens. Make sure you keep stirring it continuously otherwise the mix may begin curdling.
• Once the mix has thickened, take it off the gas and let it cool down. Add in some vanilla and mix well.

• Chill for 4 to 6 hours. Pour it into serving glass and enjoy.

I really wonder if there exists a world without Coffee and Hazelnut. The woman that I am, I did have varied combinations of these two everyday! Hazelnuts are simply the most consistently rewarding nuts. Lay your hands on them during autumn and you’ll experience them when they are youthfully mild and juicy. As hazelnuts dry out or are dried for storage, their persona emerges, one that can make other nuts seem dull.

Bake them gently, and that haunting taste deepens and becomes utterly seductive. Without hazelnuts, French praline is just a pile of caramel. Take hazelnuts down the savory route, and they give you world-class dips…..Ah well, in this slush, the hazelnut butter helps to add the much needed mild nuttiness!

As for the Bananas – they are mushy and everyone’s forever love. This is one fruit we all love to eat, any time of the day. Here banana goes extremely well with the coffee and becomes the base item of this crush.

The white chocolate combines well with all the ingredients. You don’t have to worry about getting the white chocolate syrup from the market. Simply take some cream, heat it and add the white chocolate to it. Mix well and whoa, it’s ready to be added to the crush! The same goes for hazelnut butter here, no fancy market-bought item. Simply grind the hazelnuts till it becomes a smooth silky paste (for about two minutes).

I like this crush strong. For me, it’s no honey in the recipe, really! I just add the honey as a topping when its finally in the glass and enjoy it. You can do without honey as well if you don’t prefer the other way. The little sweetness comes from the bananas and the white chocolate that has been added.

It’s kind of a healthier option when you are in the mood to indulge for something really cooling. It works way better to give you that extra kick than your favorite cold coffee crush or the frappuccino! If the icy thing doesn’t excite you, simply enjoy it as a super cold blend by adding less ice and more milk…I tell you, this works almost like a shot of tequila on a bad summer day!

Easy, weasy, smooth and silky….this crush will simply have you crushing all over it!

RECIPE:

Wonderfully creamy banana crush that is infused with coffee, hazelnut, and white chocolate. An indulgent drink for coffee lovers that is way healthier than your all-time favorite branded coffee! It is refined sugar-free, and SO delicious.

Ingredients:

3tsp Nescafe

50 ml milk

1-1/2 tbsp Hazelnut butter

2 tbsp White chocolate syrup

1 Full banana + small slices for garnishing

3 tbsp + 1 tsp Honey

2 digestive biscuits crushed

10-15 Ice Cubes

Method:

• Put all the ingredients except the honey, extra banana slices and crumbled cookie in a blender

• Blend all the ingredients together for a minute or two, until the mixture is thick and smooth
• Carefully pour the mix into a serving glass
• Garnish with the honey, crumbled biscuits, banana slices and enjoy!

I like coffee. A lot. Mostly all the high-calorie ones you get at Starbucks and other glorious coffee chains though even cold brews sometimes entice me much.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve ordered anything other than that, or an Americano, when at a coffee shop. Specialty drinks lean too far on the sweet side, filled with highly processed syrups and such. At home is a different story though! Much like food, I enjoy the chance to be creative and have control over the quality of ingredients going into the recipe.

Which is where this Cardamom and Coco Iced Coffee comes in. Smooth, bold, and chocolaty. A caffeinated boost and deliciously refreshing.

The cardamom here helps to give a new dimension to the coffee. It also helps to uplift your mood instantly and hits like a good bolt of lightning here! Remember to keep it mild so that you can enjoy a strong taste of all three- coffee, chocolate, and the cardamom.

Just keep the cubes in the freezer and whenever you are in the mood, just pop out those cubes into a glass, pour over the flavored milk, stir a bit and hola!!! this intoxicating yet mild and delectable drink is ready to be had anytime during the summers!

RECIPE:

Half brew, half chocolate milk, 100% delicious. A wholesome indulgence, no need for syrups here. Say yes to caffeine fueled chocolate milk.  You won’t regret it!

Ingredients:

12 gms Nescafe or any other coffee

250 ml warm water

250 ml Fresh milk

50 gms Chocolate powder

Method:

• Prepare the coffee ice cubes; mix the coffee with 250 ml of warm water along with cardamom powder and pour it into an ice cube tray. Then leave in the freezer.

• Pour the milk and chocolate powder into a milk pitcher. Use the steamer to steam the mixture.  If you don’t have a milk pitcher simply warm the milk a little and add the chocolate powder to it and mix well. If you are using a chocolate powder that doesn’t have sugar, then you can add sugar or honey separately according to taste.

• Be careful not to heat the milk above 40°C.
• In a glass put in 4 or 5 of the coffee ice cubes or more.
• Pour the chocolate milk over and garnish with chocolate flakes and enjoy!

Serve this chilled Pumpkin Spiced Latte over the next Thanksgiving party and notice how your friends go gaga over this. It also makes for a lovely drink on any given day. Why wait for any occasion? Just get the pumpkin and whip up the latte this weekend.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk or unsweetened soy milk

1 cup brewed Or Espresso Coffee

2 tbsp Pumpkin puree

I prefer making a fresh puree from a real pumpkin. For 2 tbsp of the pumpkin puree cut a big piece of the pumpkin (l/4 piece of a 2lb pumpkin), peel it off, take the seeds out and put it to boil. When it’s cooked, cool it down and blend. The puree is ready)

2 tbsp brown sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon powder

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

¼ tsp cloves (grind it to a paste)

¼ tsp black pepper powder

¼ tsp ginger

Vanilla Essence – not more than 8 drops. If you are taking vanilla extract, just a pinch of that is enough

Method:

• Take the puree, add all the spices and put it in a saucepan. Cook this on medium heat for about 3 minutes and then simmer and cook for another 2-3 minutes, till the mixture is fragrant and you get a strong aroma. While doing this, keep continuously stirring with a spatula.
• Then, add milk to the mixture and cook on medium heat. When the first boil starts coming up, bring to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes till the mixture is a little smoother.
• Take off from the heat and put the mixture in a blender along with coffee, vanilla, and sugar. Blend on high until the mixture is thick and frothy (1-2 minutes).

Serve your warm homemade Pumpkin spiced Latte with a dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle some cocoa powder on top or just a spoonful of caramel sauce and whoa!!! You have already experienced heaven with the first sip!

You can also put the Pumpkin spiced latte in the refrigerator for some time (after cooling it down to room temperature). Then add a dollop of vanilla ice-cream on top. Sprinkle with a bit of cocoa or cut small pieces of canned pumpkin and put as a topping.