The queen of spices and the symbol of love blended together with the nature’s perfect food, and served in a sweetheart cup…

The inspiration for this post is my new “sweetheart cup” which was gifted by my sweetheart on a perfectly casual day. How I adore this cup, it’s cute and cute. I’ve been wanting to introduce my sweetheart cup to everyone the moment I had received it. I wanted to inaugurate this cup by sipping something special from it. While thinking about the hot drinks I could make instantly, hot chocolate was the one that first flashed through my mind. Before my mind got diverted to something different, I started my hot chocolate preparation. Hot chocolate itself is rich and needs no further enhancement. Yet, I decided to add my favorite spice Cardamom to make it even more aromatic and delicious.

It turned out to be a perfect evening to sip this hot cardamom chocolate. It was a foggy and a gloomy evening. I entertained my body and mind with this aromatic, rich and chocolatey hot drink…

Hot Cardamom Chocolate

Ingredients:

• Milk- 2 cups
• Whole cardamom smashed or ground- 2
• Semi-sweet chocolate morsels or chips- 2 ounzes
• Sugar- 2 tsp
• Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp
• Whipped cream- for topping
• Cocoa powder- for garnish (optional)

Preparation

• In a saucepan, combine milk, cardamom, semi-sweet chocolate and sugar in medium heat.

• Stir constantly to melt the chocolate.

• When it heats up, lower the flame and let it simmer for few minutes.

• As soon as the mixture starts to thicken, remove from the heat and stir in vanilla extract.
• Whip the hot chocolate with hand mixer or a whisk to make it creamy.

• Pour into your favorite cup and garnish with whipped topping and cocoa powder.
• Serve hot and sip hot with your sweetheart or your dear ones.

Tips:

• For chilled cardamom chocolate: keep this in the refrigerator and serve chilled.
• You could even try adding different spices like cinnamon, cloves etc.
• Adjust the amount of chocolate and sugar according to your needs.

Sipping a cup of homemade herbal coffee…

If I have a cup of this homemade herbal coffee, I would shy away from any other branded coffee in the market. I have been feeling dizzy and inactive for the last couple of days, only one thing that is keeping me up and running is this homemade herbal coffee. As soon as I take a sip of this, I feel my dead senses are charged and back to life. I must say I had forgotten about this coffee for so many years, and now I feel as if  I found my long lost companion.

My mom and my grandma used to make this all the time. Whenever I fell sick, my mom made sure to brew this and a single cup of this coffee had done instant wonders to me, all of a sudden I would feel uplifted. I am embarrassed to say that I totally forgot about this, which had done so much good to me during my lousy days. It was yesterday, when I was looking for a way to get rid of my headache, my eyes caught on the box of jaggery in the pantry( you would be wondering why am I looking in the pantry for headache remedy:  I always look for natural remedies before I even think of taking a Tylenol and most of the time it works for me)I was reminded of this long lost companion. What a perfect timing! I got what I needed and without even wasting a single second, I started brewing this coffee. I took out almost all the spices from my pantry: cardamom, cloves, dry ginger, whole pepper seeds, along with cumin seeds, coriander seeds. As soon as the  spice rich water started to boil, I put few leaves of basil in to it. I can’t really put in to words, the aroma that developed while brewing this coffee. It penetrated into me and the soreness I was feeling on my head literally vanished. I sat on the couch and with each sipping I cherished those times I had with this coffee.

Today, I brewed this coffee again and thought of sharing this aromatic homemade herbal coffee with everyone.

You could have this coffee any day, especially on days you are feeling low. On a rainy cold day, this coffee would be a good companion.

Ingredients:

• Water-2 cups
• Jaggery or palm sugar- 2 triangles, as shown in the picture or depending upon how sweet you want.
• Whole Cardamom, smashed with the back of the spoon-2
• Whole cloves-2
• Dry Ginger powder- 1tsp
• Whole black pepper or Pepper powder- 1tsp or depending upon your spice level
• Cumin seeds, smashed or ground cumin- 1/2 tsp
• Coriander seeds, smashed( optional)-1/2 tsp
• Basil or Tulsi leaves- 4-5
• Instant coffee- 1 1/2 tsp

Brewing method:

1. In a pot, put all the ingredients in to the water except coffee and boil, let the jaggery dissolve completely  in water.
2. When the water starts to boil, put the instant coffee powder and stir it,  remove from the flame and cover the pot with the lid.
3. Strain the coffee into a coffee mug and have it while it is pipping hot. Smell the aroma of the coffee, this would help to open your senses.

Tips:

• You could adjust the spice and sweet level depending upon your needs.