Ramadan Preparations-Frozen Almond Paste

Ramadan is on its way -the month of revelation of Quran`; month of fasting and praying; a month of excitement for the muslims. Muslim houses start preparing for this month as early in sha'ban-a month before Ramadan. As Ramadan is to be spent in reciting Quran and lots of salah(prayers) , we do not get much a chance to do our daily responsibilities. So we do a lot of preparations beforehand.

                          

Food plays an important role during Ramadan.We work at daytime ,but can't eat or drink anything then. So we have to have enough food and drink enough water for next day's energy to work . We eat fibre rich foods, lots of fruits and juices. We invite guests for Iftar(breaking fast) too. It is a festive month for us.

 Some of us find it difficult to follow our spiritual plan in Ramadan, despite our true desire for change. We spend a lot of time in cooking and daily chores. Doing some preparations beforehand like freezing Almond paste for almond milk (Badam Juice), freezing some snacks, roast coconut for curries etc.make it easier. I would like to publish few posts on that; let's see whether I can make it or not.

Soaking,blanching and grinding almonds take a lot of time. I've an easy method. make almond puree in bulk and store it in airtight containers in freezer and just scoop out and blend it for few seconds with milk to make delicious smoothies for your Iftar. You can use this otherwise for unexpected guests as well. You can store certain fruits like mangoes, chikkoos ets. in freezers for smoothies as well. Deskin & deseed them, cut into chunks and freeze it on a tray first. When it is frozen, remove and store in freezer bags. This way you can get the fruit chunks separated and could be blend easily with milk and sugar to make smoothies later.

Ingredients:

Almonds/badam 1/2 kg

Milk- enough to blend it and as less as possible

Sugar 3-4 cups

Method:

Soak almonds in warm water for 5-6 hours and deskin them. You can either boil almonds for few seconds and then remove its skin. 

Grind them into paste using minimum measure of milk (considering the type of blender you use)into a smooth paste till the grainy feel disappears . Transfer the paste into an airtight container. Close the lid and let it freeze for half an hour. 

Now, take it out and add the sugar. Do not fold too much as the sugar shoould not be allowed to dissolve. Freeze it again until you use it.

*sugar is the factor which allows easy scooping of the paste. So it should not be dissolved.

*adding too much milk may make it difficuilt to scoop.

BADAM MILK

Ingredients:

1.Frozen paste 2 heaped scoops

2.Milk 2 cups 

3.Cardamom powder a pinch

          or 

vanilla essence few drops

Method:

Take the frozen paste out of the freezer and scoop out 2 tablespoons. If you find difficuilt to scoop, keep it on kitchen counter for 5 minutes and then scoop. You can also scoop it in whole or cut into chunks and store in freezer bag, once frozen, to save space in your freezer.

Blend everything fr few seconds ,adjust sugar and serve chilled. 

Linking this to Foodabulous Event hosted by Saju's Tastes