Fruit Salad

Today I made a fruit salad from Israel. This is a salad of fresh fruit in Israel. Actually the melon as a bowl is not mentioned in the recipe. It was my idea to make it looks pretty for the photo later. I did all things by myself in making this fruit salad except for when I have to peel the oranges. I am not good in peeling oranges and I always tore them apart in the end. I asked for my mother's help and it turns out well. Actually I use canned peaches because in Indonesia it is very hard to find a fresh peach. Here is the recipe of Israeli Fruit Salad:

Ingredients:
- 3 oranges 

- 2 apples 
lemon juice
- 
1 tbs. sugar 

- 2 fresh peaches
- 
Grapes, melon, pears, or 1 can fruit cocktail

Direction:
Cut the apples and oranges into small pieces. Add lemon juice and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients a short time before serving.

I don't use pears for this fruit salad, because there isn't any pears left in my refrigerator. I also didn't use a fruit cocktail because it is mentioned "or" in the recipe and I think too much fruit will just be a hindrance in decorating my fruit salad. In the end, the fruit salad turned out very well. The taste of the fruit is also sweet. There is no amount mentioned in the recipe about lemon juice. I think if I added a lot of lemon juice the taste will not be sweet so I just added a small amount according to my choice.

Ideas About My Recipe Book

I'm thinking of combining the recipe book with a funny comics made by myself. After doing some research, I found out that people likes to read comics rather than other books because it's entertaining and stuffs. Seeing my interest, I also like to draw and making a simple-funny character. I'm thinking of creating 4 simple character in my recipe books, so the 4 character will be a guide in exploring my books. The plot of the story is the 4 character exploring the country of the origin of the food. They will explain about the history of the food in every food I have in the book with some humor, also with some knowledge in understanding things about food. This way, I think my book will be a unique recipe book and I can achieve my specification which is a unique form of book.

Mango Lassi

I make a mango lassi again because seeing my previous post about mango lassi, I think I have to change some things. First, I will not change the recipe because when i ask people to drink my mango lassi, most of them said that it's too sweet so I better not change the recipe. With water added to my mango lassi, it tastes much better for me. Please forgive my previous post.

Sheer Yakh (Afghan Ice cream)

Yesterday I made a dessert named Sheer Yakh which is an Afghan ice cream. This is the easiest recipe I've found so far. Here is the recipe:


Ingredients
Vanilla Ice Cream
Rose Water
Pistachios (unsalted)

Instructions
Pour 1/2 tsp of Rosewater over 1-2 scoops of Ice Cream and then sprinkle finely chopped pistachios (unsalted) on the top of the Ice Cream.  Enjoy!

I didn't find any struggle while making this recipe, I only chopped the pistachios nuts and sprinkle them on top of vanilla Ice cream. On top of all the recipes I've been making, I only found the struggle on photographic.

Watermelon Ice

Today I make a watermelon Ice which is a cold dessert from China. This is pretty easy, I figured to make the easy one first. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 3 cups Watermelon juice*)
- 1/3 cup Granulated sugar)
- 1/4 cup Lemon juice)
(* In a food processor or blender, process chunks of watermelon until liquified.)

DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, heat watermelon juice, lemon juice and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil!
Cool, then pour mixture into plastic tub. Put into freezer; stir mixture every 20 minutes until frozen, about two hours. Cover. Store in freezer. Spoon the ice into individual serving bowls.

I only find it difficult to record the boiling process. I did all both recording and cooking myself without asking any help. The result turn out to be good but for it only seems delicious for people who likes watermelon.

Mango Lassi

Today I make a mango lassi, a cold dessert from Bangladesh. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of mango pulp
- 1 cup of yogurt
- 3 cup of milk
- 3 cup of water (optional)
- 1 cup of sugar

Directions
Mix and blend them. Done!

I modify the recipe a little, I did not add water because with water the mango lassi will be too watery. Without water the mixing is already suitable to drink and the taste is not too sweet. Maybe it is because people's way of tasting food differ to each other. In the end I put an "optional" to the water part.

I did not face any struggle in making the mango lassi but I think to take a photo of it is quite difficult because I cannot find the right place to produce a good photo. I took the photo in various places and I will choose the best later.

Making mango lassi, is easy basically. Mango pulp is difficult to find but I can make them myself so I can give solution to my problem in this step.

Rasbhari (Milk Balls) First Trial

Today, I try to make Rasbhari which is a classical milk based dessert from Nepal. Here is the recipe:

RASBHARI (MILK BALLS)


 INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups whole milk

- 2 teaspoon of vinegar

- 1.5 cup sugar
 PREPARATION
1. Boil milk and add vinegar to it. The milk should separate into whey (watery part) and solid.

2. Obtain solid part by shifting through a clean piece of cotton (muslin) cloth. Discard as much water as you can.

3. Make paste into a small balls (about inch or less diameter). Add some water if neccessary.

4. Boil water in separate utensil (atleast 3 inches water) in low medium heat.

5. Add sugar gradually to the boiling water to make a light syrup.

6. Gently drop the balls in the boiling syrup and cook for 30-40 minutes.

7. Remove from the heat and serve cold.

8. Rasburi can be stored in container in refrigerate (don't freeze).

STRUGGLE
I followed through the whole recipe, at first it turn out very well, but when it comes to number 6 where I have to boil the milk balls in light syrup, the solid balls started to scatter.

SOLUTION
I changed the recipe by using my own method, I add the number of sugar in order to make the balls sweet and take the balls out of the water before they scattered. At the end I have to build the shape to balls again. After that, to make the balls harder I put them in refrigerator and it seems to turn out pretty well. I will ask my family at home to try them and ask for their feedbacks.

Things That I Have learned
Today I learn that I put too much vinegar, so next time I make Rasbhari, I will decrease the vinegar. I will still use my method to make Rasbhari.

The reason why I have a cooking trial for Rasbhari is because it is a very unusual dessert for me so I figured to try it out and like today, it brings benefits to me because later I can fix my mistakes.