Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Neem flowers




A while back i blogged about the neem tree or the azhadirachta indicahi; yesterday for the first time, i saw its flowers! Each flower is no more than the size of your fingernail, is white and really pretty!








Traditionally, people in tamilnadu (one of the southern most states of india, where i currently live) make a neem flower dish on new year's day. The recipe is as follows:


Prepare the neem flowers: choose on ly the petals, fry the neem flowers to a dark red color.

In a little oil, fry about a teaspoon of mustard seeds, a red chilli, asafoetida and curry leaves.
Make a juice of tamarind by mixing a lemon size lump of tamarind with water and pour it into the oil.
Add salt and a lemon size lump of  jaggery. Let the mixture boil.
Add 2 teaspoons of rice flour to give the mixture consistency.
Once everything mixes up, remove from the flame and then add fried neem flowers.



I am determined to try this out! I have no clue what a flower will taste like!

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