Bimbli /Averrhoa bilimbi & Lemon Grass Juice

 I have tried a juice with lemon grass used bimbli/ bilimbi with jaggery. The juice is so yummy and I thought I should share it here.

Bimbli is a fruit which is used widely in South Canara. It is very sour taste and people use it for preparing pickle or use it cooking instead of tamarind or lemon.
Bimbli is commonly known as bilimbi or Averrhoa bilimbi.  

Let us see some benefits of having Bimbli in our diet.
Bimbli /Bilimbi is a sour fruit which has natural sour taste. It is full of Vitamin B, Vitamin C, Iron, phosphorus and antioxidants. They help in curing cough, itches, pimples and skin irritations.They help to fight cholesterol and inflammation. It is rich in anti diabetic and anti- bacterial properties.
Bimli is used in cooking varieties of dishes. It is one of the favourite fruit of many people.
I have used Dry Lemon Grass, Dry Bimbli which I got from Subramanya Kordale and his wife Ragini. They do have a Bimbli tree in their garden and they dried the fruit and brought it.

This Juice recipe started after seeing Sadashiva Rao Mailankody's post, Majjige hullina Panaka in Foodie blog. He is the admini for that blog and do try varieties of food and put it. The lemon grass juice had the green mirchi and lemon. It is a spicy one of course. After seeing the post actually I wanted to try the sweet version using jaggery. But some how after remembering this dried bimbli I thought of using bimbli instead of lemon. That the way Bimbli - Lemon Grass Juice arrived.
The bimbli's savoury taste and jaggery's sweet taste mixes well and gives out yummy taste. It can be relished so well and helps you to keep your mind and body cool.
Let us see the recipe now:

Things Needed :

Dry Lemon Grass : One handful : 4 to 5 sticks.
Dried Bimbli : 2 to 3 Tablespoons /8 to 10 pieces
Jaggery : 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Salt :   A little
Dried Ginger : 1/2 Tsp.
Kamakasturi / Sabja seeds : 1/2 Tsp. (Optional)

Method :

1. Wash and boil lemon grass in 1 cup of water for  6 to 8 minutes. Let it cool. Sieve it in a strainer. Keep it aside.

2. Wash and soak bimbli in hot water for 10 minutes and Grind it till paste.

3. Now put cooled lemon grass water in a big bowl. Add jaggery and ground bimbli mixture.

4. Add dry ginger and salt. Mix all the ingredients nicely. Add 2 to 3 glasses of water.

5.  Let jaggery dissolve nicely in that mixture. Stir nicely and sieve this panaka to a separate bowl.
    Add Kamakasturi seeds.

5. Bimbli - Lemon Grass Panaka is ready to serve. Pour Panaka to glasses. Adding Ice cubes is optional.

6. Serve Bimbli - Lemon Grass Panaka.

Note : 

Soaking bimbli in hot water helps the bimbli to get soft. Let it cool then you grind it. Use as you like. (Quantity). Use of jaggery /sugar/honey is optional.

Fresh bimbli fruits can be used and fresh lemon grass too. Adding ginger helps to avoid cold. You can use crushed pepper pods instead of ginger. Check the taste and add water according to your taste. Adjust sour and sweet. I added 1/2 tsp of Kamakasturi seeds which is grown in our garden.
Time : 15 to 20 Minutes.
Serves : 3 to 4 Glasses. 

Simple Sweet Potato Patty

Having an Evening Snack is fun. You feel like having some thing spicy, yummy, quick and healthy snack. Lets try this yummy, easy, quick and simple " Simple Sweet Potato Patty " and Njoy our snack.
Try and Enjoy...

Some time dosa, idli or some street food like pani poori, vada pav. paneer pav baaji, so many lovely dishes arise in front of eyes and starts to dance. I mean you feel like having them.
Here is some thing which is very easy, quick and very very simple patties that can be prepared at home and enjoy eating them.
Here comes SWEET POTATO - WHEAT BREAD PATTY and it is so yummy that one should enjoy after preparing this.

All you need is Sweet Potatoes and Wheat bread with simple spices like garam masala, chilly powder and some cumin seeds.
All I said is to do it quick and gulp it leisurely.
NO Onion OR NO Garlic is added to these " Sweet Potato Patty ".

Ingredients :

Boiled Sweet Potatoes : 2 Medium size
Wheat Bread : 5 to 6 slices.
Salt : As required
Jeera / Cumin Seeds : 1/2 Teaspoon
Garam Masala : 1/2 Teaspoon
Chilly Powder : 1/2 Teaspoon
Oil : 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Toppings : ( Optional )
Curd : 1 Cup
Onion : 2
Ketch Up

Method :

1. Take a big bowl and add cooked sweet potatoes.  (Better remove the outer layer).
2. Take the bread slices and powder it by hand or make in to pieces. No need to remove the edges.
3. Add garam masala, chilly powder, jeera and salt.
4. Mix all the ingredients nicely. Do not add any water.  Make it as a dough.
5. Divide them in to small portions.
6. Keep a pan on the fire. Heat the pan. Add a teaspoon of oil on the pan.
7. Take small portion of the patty dough and make as a ball shape and press it and give the shape you desired. Square or round or Oval. Prepare at least 4 at time.
8. Place them on the tava and put some oil on it. Let it cook on low flame. Let it cook till it turns golden brown.
9. Turn the other side and cook. You can add little oil while its cooking.

10 Take it out from the pan and serve with the choice of your side dip.

11. Repeat the same and complete all the patties.
12. We had it with cut onions, curd and ketch up as sides or dip.

Note :

Do not over boil sweet potatoes. You can powder bread in mixi jar. No need to dip the patty in rava or bread crumbs. Directly add bread pieces to sweet potatoes while mixing. No need to add any water.
Adding more spice or oil is optional. You can even fry. But it is not healthy. You can also add more spices or spices of your choice.  Remember having mild spice is always good for health. Cooking on low flame helps the patty to be tasty. Use of onions or garlic to patties is optional. I have not added to patties.  Served the onion pieces.
Time : 30 Minutes.
Serves : 3 to 4

Patties with with Ketchup

Patty served with Curd 

Patties served with curd and onion