Coconut rice (for ricecooker)

This is a great rice to serve as a side dish with spicy indian food. It will make a great combination of flavours.

Ingredients: 

290 gr basmati rice

240 ml coconut milk

480 ml water

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 tbsp shredded coconut

If you don't have coconut milk, don't worry, it's very easy to do at home. You need 225 gr desiccated coconut and 450 ml boiling water. Put the coconut in a food processor and pour the over the boiling water. Process for 20-30 seconds, then cool. 

Place a cloth over, bring the ends together and twist it to extract the liquid. You can keep the coconut milk in the fridge 1-2 days or it can be frozen until you need it.

To prepare the coconut rice, put all the ingredients in a rice cooker and stir well. Cover and set to cook. Stir once or twice while it's cooking. Serve with some indian curry or with the food you prefer, but I think it's the best way to balance the flavours with very spicy food. 

Fried zucchini flowers

Summer is the perfect season for zucchini at my home and besides the vegetables, also the flowers are edible and very tasty! Here is a very simple recipe for deep fried zucchini flowers. 

 Ingredients:

zucchini flowers (12-15)
150 gr flour
250 ml water
pinch of salt
1 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
1 tsp sweet chili powder (optional)
oil for deep frying





Put the flour and the salt with the spices in a bowl. Slowly add the water and stir until you have a smooth dough. Heat the oil in a pan and when it's hot enough put the flowers, you've put in the mixture before. Fry until ready and let them cool a little bit.
You can serve them with some fresh vegetables and it will make a perfect summer dinner.

Banana & Pistachio Lassi

What about a cool drink for these hot summer days?
My suggestion is to have a cold indian drink called lassi. In India they drink it with the spicy food (it helps to digest it), but you can actually have it whenever you want to. :)

This recipe serves 4 people.

 Ingredients:
300 ml natural low fat yogurt
1 tsp sugar (optional or according to your taste)
300 ml milk
30 ml puréed banana
1 tbsp crushed pistachio nuts, to decorate

The preparation of this drink is very easy. Put the yogurt in a pitcher and whisk it until frothy. Pour in the milk and the fruit and continue to whisk 2 minutes. Serve in long glasses and decorate with some pistachio nuts on the top.