Grape Juice – home-made

The sweltering heat is here now after the spell of rain and tornadoes. There are a few local shops in Mysore, where I hail from, which sell ice-cold grape juice that’s refreshing to the last drop. I had quite forgotten about it until a batch of sour grapes had me wondering what to do to make them more ‘edible’. Grape juice came to my mind and a quick call to mom to confirm the method had me whipping up grape juice in no time. The method is extremely simple and something you can make with a non-sour batch of grapes too.

Hot summer months back home meant fruit and vegetable juices day in and day out to quench our thirst. We had the luxury of savoring juices, made fresh, unlike now where everything is either canned or bottled.This juice is as fresh as it can get! 

You will need:

1 lb seedless red grapes, washed and drained

Water

½-1 cup Sugar

Place the washed grapes in a deep pan. Add water until the grapes are barely immersed. Bring to a boil on medium heat and simmer until the grapes begin to burst. Don’t overcook. Drain and reserve the liquid. 

Blend the boiled grapes. Strain using a sieve to extract the juice and discard the pulp. Add the reserved liquid and extracted juice to a pan; add sugar to taste. If the grapes are sour they require more sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes, until thickened. This is the grape juice concentrate.Store in an air-tight container, refrigerate.

To serve: Dilute one part concentrate with two parts chilled water. You can add more concentrate to your taste. 

It is important to use seedless grapes to make this juice. Sipping on this juice took me right back to my college days when a lot of us spent hours together chatting over grape juice.

Mejjige Huli - Veggies in Yoghurt: sauce

Mejjige Huli is a lunch staple at most South Indian homes. Typically made with White pumpkin and a yoghurt based sauce, its mildly flavored and goes perfectly with rice. Its made more commonly in the sweltering summer months, to cool off the palate. My hubby shuns pumpkins in any shape, size or color so I improvised on the Mejjige Huli by adding a combination of vegetables and spices. It tasted just as good.

There are many versions to the Mejjige Huli, this is one of them.

You will need:

1/2 cup Carrots, sliced

1/2 cup Green beans, cut into pieces

1 whole Chayote squash (Seemebadnekai) cut into cubes

1/2 onion cubed

To grind into a paste:

1 tbsp Corriander seeds

2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp Turmeric

3 whole black peppercorns

1" piece Ginger, chopped

6 Green chillies

1/2 cup fresh grated coconut

2 tbsp Ground split dalia (hurgadale)

1/2 cup Yoghurt, which is slightly sour

Salt to taste

To season:

2 tsp Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

4 dry red chillies, broken into bits

Few curry leaves

Boil the veggies in water with a little salt. Make a smooth paste of the grinding ingredients. Add the paste to the boiled vegetables, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil on medium heat. Prepare seasoning by heating the oil in a small pan. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry chillies; saute for a few seconds. When the huli begins to boil remove from heat and add seasoning.

Serve with hot rice.