Piyush (Gujarati Yogurt Drink)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 
Day 16: P for Piyush
Today I have a creamy and delicious dessert perfect for the summer. It is Gujarati version of lassi and is made with Shrikhand. Initially I had a savory dish planned for P, but then I saw this Piyush recipe on Tarla Dalal.com and since I already had Kesar Shrikhand in the fridge, I made it right away. Also with the sweltering summer heat in India, this is a perfect cooling drink.

Piyush is nothing but jazzed up version of shrikhand. It is mixed with more yogurt (or buttermilk) and thinned out with milk, then flavored with spices. This was one of the easiest and one of the yummiest yogurt based desserts I've ever made. Since I was the only having this at home, I thoroughly enjoyed making and drinking this creamy and rich Piyush.

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Kesar Shrikhand

I would never have imagined myself eating a savory dish with a sweet side. So when we were served Shrikhand with Pooris and Oondhiyu at our Gujarati friend's house, I was almost reluctant to take the plunge. But I took their word for it and tried it anyway. It was a really good combo, not at all like what I was imagining it to be.

So when I planned this Oondhiyu meal, I had to make the Shrikhand too to make it more like the traditional Gujarati way of serving the dish. Good thing is that it takes just a few minutes to make Shrikhand if you are using Greek yogurt, but if you are using regular yogurt, then make sure to place the yogurt in a cheese cloth for a few hours to remove as much excess liquid from it as possible.

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Aam Doi (Bengali Mango-Yogurt Dessert)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 1: A for Aam Doi - Bengali Mango-Yogurt Dessert
It's April 1st and it's time to start another edition of Mega marathon which means that the blogging marathon group is going to blog everyday (well almost, except for Sundays) in April. Our theme this time around is 'Journey through the Cuisines'. We will be posting recipes in alphabetical order from the cuisine/s we picked.

I am going to post recipes from 4 states (1 state/ week) and the first state is 'West Bengal'. Bengali cuisine is so vast and elaborate. I think of Bengalis as true foodies because food is part of their culture and their identity. Here's a lovely post by Ishitaunplugged about Bengali's passion for food.

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Greek Nachos with Tzatziki Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Bring on the Nachos

Dish: Greek Nachos with Tzatziki Sauce

We are starting a brand new blogging marathon today and I picked a very interesting theme. It is 'Bring on your Nachos' and so for the next 3 days, I'm going to post some interesting Nacho recipes -- a little different from the cheese laden ones we are all used to.

These Greek Nachos have been on my mind ever since I watched Kelsey Nixon make them on The Kitchn. I bookmarked the recipe right away, but it took me all this while to get to making it.

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Chocolate Orange Yogurt Panna Cotta (using Agar)

It is very hard to believe that this creamy and chocolaty treat is made with yogurt. I saw Bobby Flay making it on his Cooking Channel show, Brunch at Bobby's and wanted to try it for myself. I actually made this quite a while back along with Chocolate granola, but couldn't post it earlier.

Traditionally panna cotta is made with sweetened cream thickened with gelatine and molded. But this recipe uses low fat milk and Greek yogurt to get the same creaminess. It is a great dish to serve for brunch like Bobby Flay did, but it can also be served for dessert.

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Tzatziki Sauce

Buffet on Table: Week 3 -- Condiments from Countries

Day 16: Greece - Tzatziki Sauce

After yesterday's creamy red pepper walnut dip, today I have a creamy yogurt dip from Greece. Tzatziki sauce needs only 3 main ingredients -- thick yogurt, cucumber, dill and that's it you can make a delicious dip that makes pita or falafel sandwich so much better. I even ate it by the spoonfuls.

My husband has an aversion to yogurt -- he can't tell it's smell, color or texture. I enjoy yogurt based dishes quite a bit but don't make them often. Even though I was tempted to try tzatziki at home, I was never really motivated enough. So this condiments week was the perfect time to make this dip and enjoy it all by myself :-)

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Summer fruit and Yogurt Popsicles

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking from Kid's Books/ TV shows

Dish: Yogurt & Summer fruit Popsicles

For the final day of this week's BM, I made these colorful and delicious fruit & yogurt popsicles. Since this is for Kid's Delight: Cooking from Story books/ TV Shows, being hosted by PJ, this recipe is from one of my son's books, Black Lagoon adventures.

The main character in the book starts a popsicle business in his neighborhood during summer vacation. But no one comes to buy them and the popsicles melt away into a puddle. He then decides to start lemonade business instead. I think this is were my son got the idea to start a lemonade stand. He bugged me for a long time to make lemonade, so he can open a lemonade stand in the front yard.

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Rose Shrikhand (Gulab Shrikand)

It's officially summer like in our neck of woods. My son has another week to go before his summer vacation starts -- he can't wait for this week to pass. I'm already worried on how to keep him busy without having to turn on the tv for the whole day. Also bored kids get hungry frequently, so it's better to keep him busy with something that interests him and hopefully we'll survive the summer.

Sorry, I digressed. Coming back to the Rose shrikhand. This is a perfect summer dessert, light, sweet and refreshing. Shrikhand/ Shrikand is a yogurt based dessert and it is traditionally flavored with saffron, cardamom and nuts.

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Mixed Fruit Shrikhand

Here's something different from all the different baking and kid friendly dishes I have been posting all week. A deliciously creamy Indian dessert made with yogurt and flavored with saffron and served with some fruit.
I was never a big fan of Shrikhand growing up and don't remember eating it many times. Even after started liking it, I've never made it at home because straining the yogurt seemed to be a big step and also I didn't want my yogurt-hating husband to find some strange contraption in the fridge and chuck it without telling me (I have done something similar to his stuff, so I'm sure he's probably waiting to take revenge). But once I discovered Greek yogurt, it is now a life changer.

I love Chobani Greek yogurt and buy the plain, either non-fat or 2% quite often. I make salad dressings, raitas and if I am really feeling indulgent then this strawberry shrikhand or this frozen yogurt.

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Borani Banjan (Afghan Layered Eggplant Dish)

For this month's International Food Challenge, we are visiting Afghanistan. Big Thanks to Saraswathi for giving me the opportunity to host this month's event. Researching for recipes and sharing with the group was quite a fun experience. 

Afghani cuisine has many similarities to Indian cuisine especially in the variety of spices that they use in their dishes. Afghanistan is located on the historically important trade route called the Silk route/ Silk Road which meant Afghani cuisine is influenced by the trading communities on that route. Afghani cuisine has the influences of Iran, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and China.

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Mango Lassi

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Mango Mania
Dish: Mango Lassi

This post is possibly the least planned and last minute one in the past couple of months. I didn't have any mango recipes in the drafts and neither had I planned for anything. I was dilly-dallying until the last minute today as if miraculously the post will 'post' itself. But one good thing we did was to buy a case of ripe mangoes from the Indian store this weekend and the yellow beauties inspired me to make one of my kids favorite, Mango Lassi. 

I have never tried making Mango lassi at home mostly because my son orders it every time we are in an Indian restaurant and making it again at home is quite boring. Also my husband being a yogurt-phobic, doesn't drink it -- so I usually make mango juice instead of lassi or smoothie. But today, it was finally time to try my hand at making the classic Mango Lassi.

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Chickpea & Vegetable Salad with Yogurt Tahini Dressing

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Soups & Salads
Dish: Protein Based - Chickpea Salad

We are onto our 2nd week of marathon for this month. My theme for this week is "Soups & Salads" and to add interest and make the theme a little more challenging, Valli wants us to make soups & salads that use one star ingredient for each dish. Today's dish has a "Chickpeas" as the star protein rich ingredient.

I picked this theme because with my husband travelling on business for the past couple weeks I've been cooking for just myself. Salads fit right in since making a single serving salad is much easier than cooking something. 

This salad is full of fresh crunchy vegetables and fruits and the dressing is yogurt & tahini (ground sesame paste) based. I love adding sweetness to my salads in the form of fresh or dry fruits. Blueberries, sliced strawberries, chopped apples, pears, grapes are great in salads and so are dried cranberries, raisins and other not too sweet dry fruits.

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CheeseCake Frozen Yogurt

For the last day of the marathon under the "Calcium Rich dishes" theme I made this decadent cheese cake flavored frozen yogurt. Yogurt and milk are great sources of Calcium. 

Here's the Calcium content of the ingredients used: Greek Yogurt (1 cup - 25% DV), 2% Milk (1 cup - 297mg), Mascarpone cheese (1 oz. - 3% DV).

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