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THINGS YOU LOVE TO HAVE DURING WINTERS:

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by

Gulmeena Hamid
in

Winters bring happiness in so many ways and food is one of the way. Most of the people wait to have the winter’s favorite hot beverages and starters anxiously. Well, who doesn’t like a change?

Here are some of your winter’s favorite along with their recipes. Now, you don’t have to wait in a long a queue or in the waiting area to enjoy the quality time with our favorite hot beverage.

KASHMIRI CHAI:

Kashmiri chai, mostly knows as pink tea is almost everybody’s favorite hot beverage to have in the winter’s chilled evenings.

Here is the recipe, if you want a restaurant type pink tea at home.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Cups of water (2 cups of cold water)
  • 2 to 3 tsp green tea leaves
  • Salt and/or sugar (according to your taste)
  • 4 green cardamoms
  • 2 cups milk
  • A pinch of baking soda or saffron (for the beautiful pink hue)
  • Crushed dry fruits (almonds and pistachios preferably)
  • Cream (optional)

METHOD:

Pour two cups water in a pot and make sure that the pot you are using has a broad base. Crush green cardamoms in your hand until seeds come out. Add both the seeds and shell in the water. Add the green tea leaves. Add baking soda or saffron; it will give the pink color to the tea.

Let the mixture simmer and boil for about 20 minutes until the water is reduced to half. Now add two cups of cold water while it’s boiling and stir the mixture. After adding water, let it simmer for five to 10 minutes. While it simmers, boil the milk in another pot (you can add more cardamoms to milk, if you want). Keep stirring the mixture.

Add the tea mixture to the milk. Then add salt or sugar or both, according to your preference. Keep boiling the tea; the more you boil, the stronger the tea will be. Now finally pour tea in cups, add crushed dry fruits and enjoy a hot cup of pink tea.

CAPPUCCINO:

Cappuccino is almost everybody’s favorite hot beverage to enjoy winters, right?  Everybody likes to have the foamy, creamy layer in the first sip, but why to spend hundreds when you can make the cappuccino at home? Here is how you can make café type coffee at home

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup or mug with handle.
  • 1 teaspoon of instant coffee.
  • 1 teaspoon sugar.
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 microwave

METHOD:

  • Pour 1 cup of milk into any cup that has a handle
  • Set your microwave to 900w for 1:20
  • It should be nice and foamy when finished
  • Take the cup and pour 1 or more teaspoons of coffee powder.
  • Pour 1 or more teaspoons of sugar
  • Stir well for about 10 seconds
  • Take small coffee bits and sprinkle them on top for a nice effect
  • And there you go, Cappuccino style coffee in less than 2 minutes

CHICKEN CORN SOUP:

I know, having chicken corn soup is much more fun, when it at the road side stalls. Winters make us lazy and clumsy that we are not in a mood to dress up and go out to enjoy the chilly winter nights and to have soup. For that, here is a simple recipe to enjoy your favorite chicken corn soup at home.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 6 cups chicken stock.
  • 1 cup shredded chicken.
  • 300 gm canned or fresh corns
  • 1 tablespoon corn flour (corn starch)
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • Salt according to taste
  • Black and white pepper according to taste

METHOD:

  • Bring the stock to the boil in a large saucepan (depending on your taste or needs you may wish to substitute some of the stock for water).
  • Add chicken breast fillet to the stock, turn the heat off and cover the pain with a lid for 15 minutes.
  • Remove chicken breast from the stock and leave to cool for a few minutes then shred.
  • Add corn to stock and bring to the boil over a medium heat.
  • Combine soy sauce and corn flour into a paste then stir into the soup to thicken slightly.
  • Add shredded chicken to soup.
  • Slowly pour beaten eggs into the soup in a steady stream, stirring constantly with a fork.