March 24, 2009

Beet Treats

Beetroot in my kitchen, is often cooked as a side, for my usual traditional lunch of sambhar, morukootan etc. Sometimes its added along with other veggies prepared for sandwich filling. I came across the beet juice at Tarla Dalal. At the same time, Viji Akka of Vcuisine (private blog) posted the recipe for beet syrup. The syrup recipe interested me and decided to make it. I didn't quite follow Viji Akka's recipe exactly. On searching for the benefits of beets, I found the following info.

Never drink beet juice by itself. Beet juice should always be mixed with other vegetables and/or apple juice. Pure beet juice (from the bulb or greens) can temporarily paralyze your vocal chords, make you break out in hives, increase your heart rate, cause chills or a fever. Consider mixing beets with apples, cucumber, carrots, etc.

Beets are best used in small amounts. Use moderately. Both the roots and greens are powerful cleansers of the body. Beets are said to really cleanse the blood and kidneys and this is why it is suggested you use beets moderately.

Ingredients
Beet roots - 2 big

Medium carrot - 1
Citric acid -1/4 tspn ( can use lime juice instead)
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup (I used damerara sugar)
White sugar -1/4 cup
Water -1/4 cup
Dried ginger powder (Chukku) - 1/2 tspn

Method
Wash, peel and cut beetroot and carrot into cubes. Take juice of beetroot and carrot by adding
water. Strain and keep it aside.
Mix both the sugars with 1/4 cup of water and prepare sugar syrup. Add juice, ginger powder and citric acid. Simmer for 5 minutes. Skim the foam on the top. Bottle it and refrigerate.

Beet Drink

To make beet drink, add 3 parts of cold water to one part of syrup and serve. Makes an excellent summer cooler loaded with vitamins. You can add soda instead of water and you will not for Coke again.



Now some other ways you can make use of the beet syrup.
Carrot cucumber in beet yogurt

Stir in a tablespoon of syrup in a cup of yogurt. Whip well and mix in grated carrot, cucumber and a slit green chilly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh coriander. A yummy salad is ready.


Beet flavoured milk.

Stir in a tablespoon of beet syrup in a glass of cold milk and enjoy. I am not sure if it will curdle when added to warm milk. To this if you add a drop of rose essence, it will make delicious rosemilk.



Beet Lassi

Curds - 1 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Beet syrup - 1 tablespoon
Water - 1/2 cup

Whip all the ingredients with a blender until smooth. Serve Chilled. Adjust water according to how smooth you want your lassi to be. No need to add extra sugar.

All the preparation with beet syrup tasted very delicious. Its very versatile and you can use it according to your creativity. Let me know any other ways, this can be used. I will be glad to try those.

I am sending the three pink treats to FIC: Pink/Rose hosted by Priya, an event started by Sunshinemom.




23 comments:

  1. Everything looks pretty pink and healthy in your blog today

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  2. I like the colour of the raita. Iam too chicken to try out beet syrup, though.

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  3. I love beets in any form, so yummy taste and color too. Great post Jaya! :)

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  4. I never knew about not drinking pure beet juice thankyou for the info, not that i am drinking beet juice.
    Love the colours.

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  5. wow Jayashree so many beet entries..all entries looks very delicious & healthy.

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  6. wow Jayashree so many beet entries..all entries looks very delicious & healthy.

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  7. Great entries for the event..They are healthy n delicious :)

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  8. That is a pinky post. They all look very pretty!

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  9. Lovely entries, Jayasree! Everything looks pretty and pink :)

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  10. nice entries, so many great ways to include healthy beetroot into our diet :)

    vaidehi

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  11. Wow lovely array of pinky entries...thanks a lot Jayashree..amazing work!!

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  12. Love everything with pink. Very healthy indeed.

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  13. Gorgeous pictures. love the color.

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  14. You are on a roll girl! Love the idea of beet syrup, flavored milk and lassi. Very innovative. We usually make raitha, payasam and halwa.

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  15. wow, so many beet treats! Love the colors of all of them. Yum!

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  16. Nice color...so many dishes with beets...Healthy and yum..

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  17. wow nice color and great recipes looks yum i like beets in any form

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  18. beet juice / syrup is new to me. nice idea to use beetroot in this way. I usually use it for subji's.

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  19. Very interesting drinks,i never knew,beet have these avatars too.
    Sounds so healthy and not to forget those pretty colours, simply lovely :-)

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  20. Interesting information about beets, Jayasree. And that pink beet milk has such a lovely color.

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  21. What colors..woah..yummm..:)I love beetroot..esply our good oole' thoran n pachadi..:)

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  22. Love the color, Jayasree! Beautiful.

    I really need to find the time to explore your lovely site. Your comments on my blog serve as a reminder. :-D There's so much I want to try here. I'll be back again and again.

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  23. Great healthy entry for the events. Pretty in pink.

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