Pot Chimes

                           Place a bunch of mint leaves in a jar of water on your kitchen windowsill  Mint has been long known as an excellent  herbal remedy  for numerous health issues: easing gas, indigestion, or any other problems in the stomach, calming stress and anxiety, and promoting restful sleep. Making peppermint tea is so easy; you just need to take a few mint leaves on your palm and crush them lightly, drop them into a glass.  Then add boiling water in and wait for 5mins and sip it slowly to feel the difference!  Its rapid reaction in soothing the stomach in the event of food indigestion or inflammation is amazing!  After a heavy meal at night, drinking a cup of mint tea will give you instant relief and undisturbed sleep. Also, place a bunch of mint in a jar of water on the kitchen window sill.  After meals, just grab a few leaves, give them a quick wash and pop them into your mouth, and munch them slowly.  You will instantly feel lighter in the tummy and your mouth will be

An assortment of vegetables in vibrant colours, stir-fried mushrooms and a couple of fried fish fillets or a boiled egg to go with them, has the culinary potential to be a favourite choice for a complete and healthy dinner. Rather than boiling veggies, they are steamed here to keep their natural goodness intact.  Also, mushrooms are stir-fried lightly in soy sauce so that they enhance the taste of this platter. I have introduced garlic into this, because of its invaluable health benefits as a cholesterol buster and a purifier of the whole system of internal organs. Vegetables for Steaming Carrots Beetroots Broccoli and Cauliflower Green Beans Mushrooms Garlic cloves Cabbage Now prepare the veggies Take any choice of veggies, wash and cut them into any shape you prefer. Just peel the garlic cloves. (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green beans, Carrots, Peas, Okra, Cabbage or any other of your favourite vegetable will go just right with this platter) Place all the veggies and garlic cloves in the

Make these crisp, golden-brown hash browns for your supper tonight, and watch the happy smiles around the table with pride! Shop-bought Hash Browns could be in great shape and colour but just read the list of ingredients on the back of the pack and you will be appalled by the length of it.  Too many artificial taste enhancers and ingredients could make them taste good but it could do more harm than good to our system.   Make these at home using natural ingredients which are easily found in your kitchen cupboards and everybody will marvel at the taste of homemade hash browns. What you'll need;  Ingredients      Quantities Potatoes                          3 Onions                           1 Green chillies                2 Plain flour                  4tbsp Corn flour                  4tbsp Egg                                  1 Pepper powder        1/4tsp Let’s make it; Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes and chop the onion very thinly Wrap grated potatoes in a tea towel and squee

Now that the summer is at its peak, blackberries are bursting on every bush, basking in golden sunshine, looking plump and juicy, trailing along, arching to the paths.  On our daily walks on tiny paths running through shady woods, I cannot resist picking handfuls of juicy blackberries with my little son in tow; we both end up gobbling them up.  Afterwards, it is all giggles and sticking our tongues out to check whose is the more purplish!! The other day, I picked a basket of blackberries from the brambles and made this beautiful jam. I mentioned ‘beautiful’ because of its rich blend of purple and magenta colours.  You can either pick them yourself for free or just buy a punnet or two from the supermarket to make this jam.  Not many complications, not many ingredients, and as easy as it sounds, this is a real treat for this summer!! All you need are; 350 g Plump and juicy blackberries 350 g caster sugar 1/4 lemon Let’s make it; Place blackberries in a heavy bottom pan so that they won&#

Beautiful round hoppers, soft in the middle, crispy, and golden at the edges are a real culinary delight indeed! Never get discouraged by a couple of failures! Although our mums and grandmothers are quite efficient in making hoppers, the new generation finds it quite a challenge to get the right proportions of ingredients to ferment the dough to perfection.  They easily give up after a couple of attempts of trying to make perfect hoppers as it could be very disappointing and frustrating.  Do not worry or easily give up.  I share this perfect recipe with you which was passed on to me by a dear friend, concentrating more on those who are living abroad, with a promise that you will be making such beautiful hoppers following this recipe to impress everyone in the family. How to ferment the batter in cold climates So, good luck friends! Enjoy your perfect hoppers with a spicy chicken or fish curry, not forgetting a tongue-burning ‘lunu miris’ (chilli chutney) So, let’s make hoppers for supp

  T hese savoury prawn balls with their crusty outer cover are a very tempting snack with a dollop of ketchup on the side.  You can even pack these in school lunch boxes as they will stay crispy and crunchy for hours and  taste even better.  Busy mums can store the prepared prawn balls in the freezer and deep-fry, them whenever needed. You will need only a few regular ingredients for this.  So, let's get ready to fry them up! Gather the following ingredients; Ingredients                    Quantities Cooked prawns    1 cup Slices of bread      2 Onion     1 Green chilli     1 Salt and pepper  Eggs    2   Golden bread crumbs   1/2 cup Let’s make; Crush cooked prawns using a hand blender or a heavy spoon.  You can use your fingers and crush them easily Grate two slices of bread.  You can use the leftover sides of the bread slices after making sandwiches. Store them in the fridge in  a zip-lock bag and use them whenever needed Mix onion, green chili, salt, and pepper with grated bread