my column for Exotica magazine | a lime and lavender posset recipe served with lime and lavender butter cookies

I know I am terribly late in sharing about this column I am doing for Exotica magazine. Seeing my interest in unusual ingredients, exploring new recipes with them and also my column at Down to Earth, I was asked by Exotica to do an ingredient based recipe each month for the magazine. The ingredients that we are growing in the country are great quality most of the times but don't get their due respect as most of us are unaware about them.

The biggest shock of my life regarding this lack of awareness about ingredients was when I heard a very senior cardiologist say that flax seeds are imported and not grown in India. This was about 6 years ago and I decided something should be done to correct such a lack of awareness, a lot of us are actually forgetting what our older generations used to grow and eat.

Not only about the traditional and native ingredients, there are many fruits and herbs that were 'introduced' by the settlers all across India and made it's own, so much so that we don't even realise the potatoes, the chillies and even the mango was not native to India once. India being so varied in the terrains all across the country, anyway has a very rich flora and fauna, type of food cultivation and food habits so there is always something new to explore in the far away corners of the country. I am hoping to explore some such native and 'introduced' ingredients and foods through this column of mine at Exotica. Suggestions from you are also welcome, I learn every day interacting with all of you too.

The first ingredient to be highlighted was Lavender, a bright violet that we had once seen growing in Palampur and had experimented with the aromatic flowers a few times, I was developing a Lime and lavender butter cookie recipe for Mittal Teas back then and decided to pair those cookies with a nice refreshing posset. Read my piece (verbatim) that was published in March issue of Exotica.

Lime and Lavender: a fantastic pairing of flavours for a delicate dessert

A mention of lavender brings thoughts of calmness as it is known for inducing sleep and relaxing the nerves. As if Lavender has borrowed it’s colour from Mother Nature to carry on the same vibe through visual senses too. The violet-purple haze of Lavender fields looks heavenly, like connecting the dots with all its beauty of visual, aromatic and flavour profile, the gift of God to soothe the nerves and bring tranquility to the face of Earth.

Adding lime to the mild aromatic flavours of lavender makes the lavender energy zingier, ready to seduce anyone who takes a whiff. Enjoying a dessert made with these flavours would be a perfect foil to wrap a meal with loved ones.

Lavender grows in Himachal Pradesh and is available fairly easily in India now. Many farmers are growing exotic flowers in the foothills of Himalayas to cater to domestic demand and Lavender is grown mostly for essential oils to be used in perfumery and aromatherapy. Recently I was talking to Mr. Vikram Mittal from Mittal Teas who uses Himachal grown Lavender for his tea blends and got to know this locally grown Lavender is as fragrant as imported blossoms. He gave me a fragrant sachet of Lavender to experiment with and I infused these beautiful aromatic blossoms in my tea that day quite predictably. Then I started thinking about some nibbles to be enjoyed with tea and promptly did a trial batch of Lime and Lavender cookies and the resultant flavours seduced everyone who tasted.

Later the same flavour bouquet was used in a simpler easy to cook posset with the same flavours to be served with the cookies. The Lime and Lavender cookies will be available very soon at all Mittal Tea outlets, the posset can be made within 10 minutes at home for a quick but delectable dessert.

Posset is a traditional British drink that was made by mixing hot milk with herbs and ale to curdle it and was served warm. Posset used to be a homemade potion for common colds and to induce good sleep in older days, lavender does absolute justice to that traditional way of having posset before bedtime.

Interestingly, Lady Macbeth used poisoned posset to knock out the guards outside the Duncan’s quarters in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It must have been a much desired drink to be used like this.

Later the posset became popular as an easy yet fancy set dessert to be served warm or chilled. This balmy lime and lavender set posset would definitely induce good sleep and would bring tranquility after a long day.

Ingredients

4-6 servings

Double cream 300 ml

Sugar 40 gm

Lime juice 20 ml

Dry lavender flowers 1 tbsp

Lime peel zested in large curls from one large lime

Method

Simmer the cream along with lavender, lime zest curls and sugar for about 6-7 minutes. Strain it and mix with the lime juice when it is still warm. If you want a creamier posset you can mix the cream with lime juice when completely cold, pour in serving glasses and refrigerate till set.

Adding the lime juice to cream mix while the cream is still warm results in a slightly grainy posset with a little bit of syrup in the bottom.

Serve with plain vanilla butter cookies or lime and lavender cookies to reinforce the flavours in this minimalist dessert. 

This posset is so easy to make you might like to combine rose or other aromatic flowers or herbs to make this, if lavender is not your favourite or not available to you.

April issue of Exotica is out too, will share the next story soon with all of you. Stay tuned please.

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building up the health quotient everyday | being featured on cover story of Good Housekeeping India

All of us are aware about the basic science behind the healthy food and beverages, hydration and maintaining a good basal metabolic rate through food and exercise. It is unfortunate that the science and the knowledge do not translate into practice most of the times in everyday life. We are caught up with so many hassles every single day from traffic snarls to delayed deadlines, from absentee maid to a sick child that we often fall prey to the most convenient plate of food available when hungry or a strong sugared cup of tea or coffee when stressed. We often skip a much required workout when there is a time crunch and feel guilty later.

How do we make provisions to follow small little things to keep ourselves fit and healthy?

To bring a little discipline into our routine so that we can follow what we know is not that difficult. A little planning, stocking up the desired foods and beverages, keeping them in strategic places and setting alarms if required works really well. Here is what all I try doing and recommend everyone to try for a fortnight and see how it brings change in the attitude towards healthy living.

All these tips were shared in the cover story "Health on a Platter" in Good Housekeeping India (July Issue) and I am glad that Manjira Dutta, the Editorial Director complemented me personally to have made such an exhaustive and practical list for GHI readers. 

Here is the un-edited version I sent to them.The cover story included 7 recipes from me excluding the recipe of the cover picture, whole wheat apple muffins.

Brew a large kettle of green tea infused with fresh herbs and fill in a flask that sits on your work desk. Have it hot or iced as required in between meals, along with meals or after meals. This is a great way to stay refreshed throughout the day. Grow your own herbs in pots if possible and see how tending to them even for 5 minutes a day keeps you sane.

     Stock fruits, salad greens and vegetables weekly, get the portions for the whole day peeled and chopped in the morning and pack them all in convenient containers or ziplock bags to be placed with different meal times and snacks. This is a great way to not forget having your fruit or salad for the day.

      Smoothies are a great way to eat your fruits conveniently combined with soaked nuts. This way the smoothies make a meal and these can replace your breakfast. You can freeze the fruits and soak the nuts overnight and liquidize all of them in the morning for a fresh and filling breakfast.

     Invest in some cast iron pans and skillets and get your food cooked in them so you get more iron available to the system. See how cast iron pans help get more mineral into your system.

      Buy and consume only seasonal and mostly local fresh produce. Although most vegetables and fruits are available throughout the year these days, it is better to choose seasonal as the fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrients in their natural fruiting season. Buying local fruits and vegetables helps us get the freshest  produce that has not been treated with chemicals for longer shelf life, apart from reducing the carbon footprint.

      Include more and more colors in your food, all seasonal fruits and vegetables are nature’s way of telling us what we should eat in the season. The pigments in the plants are packed with antioxidants and minerals. Yellow papayas, oranges and tomatoes and carrots have Lycopene and Carotenoids, red amaranth leaves, beets and Swiss chard have Betalains, red cabbage, aubergines, black currants and grapes, cherries and plums, peaches, black berries and blueberries, cranberries etc have the pigment called Anthocyanins. These natural pigments help us incorporate a wider range of antioxidants along with Vitamin C in our daily diet.

      Fresh greens are essential in everyday diet. Be it leafy greens like spinach, fenugreek leaves or amaranth and purslane or herbs like coriander, mint and basil, all of these provide a wide range of minerals and vitamins. Fresh leafy greens feel like a lot of work but it can be managed well if one buys them weekly or fortnightly in bulk, gets them cleaned and chopped for the weeks to come. The chopped or steamed leafy greens and herbs can be packed in ziplock bags and frozen for 6 months or can be refrigerated for a week easily. Herbs keep well in paper bags for a week, if frozen they can last 6 months too. 

     Whole grains are not over rated. Look out for grains other than wheat and rice and include all of them for everyday meals, find more ways to bake breads and pancakes with them so you enjoy eating them. Dependence on one staple grain is not good, variety is the key for nourishment as well as taste. The grain portion should be small always, fill up your plate with greens and some protein for all meals.

        

     Eat grains in fermented form. Dosa, idli and sourdough breads are the best way to incorporate extra minerals and vitamins for the body. The yeast breaks down the nutrients found in the grains in most digestible form and supplements the batter or dough with more minerals and vitamins because of their own by products during fermentation.

    Allocate 3-4 water bottles of different colors for each family member and see to it that the water is consumed during the day. Everyone will slowly start noticing how less water they were drinking and will be tricked to drink more water. Add mint or lime slices to water bottles to make every sip enjoyable.

      Take care to include good protein source in every meal. Paneer, tofu, mature cheeses, nuts, seeds and beans are great for vegetarians and chicken and fish are great for non vegetarian everyday meals. Red meats and bacon etc can be had occasionally.

      Add flax seeds meal to your bread flour or chapatti flour so you get good quality fiber and some omega 3s in your meals regularly.

      Include yogurt and some fermented drink like carrot kanji or some fermented salads like sauerkraut in everyday meals. The probiotic bacteria found in them make the gut flora healthy and help better absorption of nutrients. Poha, puffed rice and fermented congee are other sources of healthy probiotic bacteria.

      Include more nuts and seeds in everyday diet. Omega 3s take care of the inflammations due to daily wear and tear in the body or due to stress.

      Be cautious when eating out. Strongly colored foods and MSG laden dishes should be avoided at any cost. Freshly cooked simpler foods are always better.

      Listen to some slow soothing music of your choice for at least 10 minutes every day and meditate while you are at it. You will be charged up for the next task of the day.

      Make a niche in your home or office with real green plants or herbs, include a tulsi plant too. Water them every day, pluck a few tulsi leaves and chew on them. It will refuel your spiritual energy, help you connect with yourself better.

      Last but not the least, get up from your work desk almost every hour, stretch your neck, shoulders and legs if possible, drink water or green tea, splash cold water on the eyes and blink several times to refresh the eyes. It helps you not get exhausted easily and enhances work efficiency apart from boosting your health.

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