Limits. They should be called restrictors. I realize, I place too many of these little fences around my thoughts. Self-imposed, they are and stifling they can be. But, to grow, these limits need to be pushed away. At first, even pushing the walls down seem hard and daunting. The anticipation of emotions of fear and nervousness about the unknown. Should success be the end goal of every endeavor? I don’t know and I don’t think I will ever have an answer to that but the thought of having attempted brings me comfort. But it also brings me strength, the strength to break down these limits and experience. To make mistakes and learn, isn’t that the true purpose of any venture. For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a little personal photography project, one to learn and grow from. My goal was to try and capture moments during the process of cooking. I’ve also been wanting to step away from focusing more on the final product but depict some of the stages through which ingredients get transformed. Some moments are more exciting than others but even the simpler moments have a story to tell. It could be something as icky as pulling the strings out of a pumpkin or something as delightful as icing a cake. But every step in preparing a meal is special which is why I find preparing food a grace and an even bigger joy to share. I do hope you enjoy this series as I share these moments with you.
I don’t think I could have predicted that I’d be sharing a pumpkin lassi recipe in fall . But here I am, doing just that. Tinged with the brightness of saffron and the sweet flesh of roasted pumpkin purée, this yogurt drink is dreamy. Dreamy with the colors and flavors of fall and one of its golden harvest, the spectacular pumpkin. So drink up and enjoy!
Kitchen Tips
If you want to make your own pumpkin purée at home, you can do what I did. It’s relatively easy and simple to do this and whatever, I don’t use I freeze in airtight ziploc bags until needed. Start with a small pumpkin and cut in half, discard the strings and seeds, place it on a baking sheet at bake in a preheat oven at 400F for about 35-40 minutes or until the flesh is soft and tender. Remove and scoop the flesh out and blend it in a blender until completely smooth. For every 1 cup of puree, I add 1/4 cup of water to keep things moving in the blender. Try to use as little water as possible. The purée should be as smooth as possible. Don’t use greek yogurt, use the regular plain, unsweetened variety. Avoid the temptation to use milk to prepare the drink in place of water. Lassi is traditionally made with chilled water.
Here are some of my favorite reads that I’m drooling over this week,
This apple blackberry and geranium tart by Imen is absolutely gorgeous but so is everything on her blog. This persian broccoli kuku (or koo koo) , think frittata with a lot of lovely flavors. This spectacular salted caramel apple snickers cake. This delicious dessert blog. A buckwheat pizza crust recipe, I need to try this weekend.
pumpkin lassi yields : 2 servings ingredients 4 tablespoons unsweetened pumpkin purée 1 1/2 cups plain unsweetened yogurt (not Greek yogurt) 3/4 cup ice cold water 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, freshly ground 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground 1/2 teaspoon saffron strands soaked in 4 tablespoons boiling water 3-4 tablespoons molasses (you could also use brown sugar or honey, adjust sweetness as needed) chopped nuts or saffron strands to garnish (I used saffron)
- Place all the ingredients together in a blender and pulse for about 1 minute on high speed until smooth and combined. Taste and adjust sweetness if needed.
- Pour into chilled glasses containing ice. Serve immediately and garnish with strands of saffron if desired. Valentina http://valentinaduracinsky.blogspot.com/ Your action shots are stunning. They remind me of a Caravaggio painting. I especially like the second one, where you can see the strands of the pumpkin innards. Anyway, well done Nik! Dena@gathering-flavors. oh and thanks for the shout out! Thank you for the wonderful recipe. Today I am home, sick—and also homesick—and I just got a craving for something I’d never tried before, a pumpkin lassi. I like to create in the kitchen, but I’m low on can-do at the moment, so I decided to gamble on Google, expecting that someone somewhere in the world had probably beaten me to making up a good recipe. Yours was the first link I clicked on, and what a lucky click it was. I’m grateful to have found your food blog. Not only is your pumpkin lassi delicious (the molasses is genius), but the rest of your offerings make me want to stay: meaningful words, joyous food, beautiful hands that make, sensitive photography. Thank you. You seem like a kindred spirit. And somehow, I feel less homesick now. The rest of the ailment I’ll have to sleep off. Cheers to you! Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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