I am drinking plus eating this muskmelon rasayana right now as a after lunch dessert. But to be honest fruits in cooking is not really my thing meaning I like to eat fruits like real fruit. I find it hard to use them in desserts, curries or anything that will leave me with empty fruit-bowl in the fridge. Buuuut…
There are some exceptions. When I have had enough of fruits till the tummy full or till the fruit no longer inspiring me to gulp over then I would be thinking is there any way I can transform the fruits to something more delicious and magical. Some times the fruits inherently differ the way they actually should taste. Like Alphonso mangoes which suppose to be sweet end up too sour, only to leave me an option of cooking them.
Today it’s a humble and simple Muskmelon rasayana that doesn’t actually involve real COOKING. Peeling the skin off, scooping out the seeds and combining the melon pieces in cococnut milk is all that is done to whip up this feel-good, pleasing, vegan dessert.
Muskmelon is a a fruit whose outer and inner look just resembles the Udupi-Mangaloreans favorite vegetable Mangalore Cucumber. Well ripen muskmelon doesn’t need you to actually chop, it can easily be mashed in your hands to pieces which is how this rasayana is prepared authentically. But being a texture-sensitive foodie, I chopped the melon in to fine pieces. Combined it with fresh home made coconut milk plus jaggery syrup and sprinkled some cardamom powder for flavor.
Muskmelon Rasayana | Muskmelon Recipes
Ingredients
- Medium sized Muskmelon - 1 no.
- Jaggery- 1/2 cup
- Coconut- half or 1 cup if grated
- Cardamom seeds- 3 to 4 nos.
Instructions
Preparation
- Peel off the musk melon and scoop out all the seeds out of it. Chop this melon to fine pieces and set aside.
- De-seed the cardamoms and powder them finely using mortar and pestle.
Method
- Grate the coconut and grind it in a blender adding a cup of water to very fine paste. Strain it on a sieve and squeeze to obtain thick coconut milk.
- Add jaggery and half cup of water in a vessel and cook till jaggery dissolves completely in water. Switch off the flame and let it cool down.
- Next take chopped musk melon pieces in a wide bowl add jaggery syrup and coconut milk. Give a nice stir. Finally sprinkle cardamom powder.
- Musk melon rasayana is ready to serve as a after lunch dessert.
Notes
- The musk melon should be ripe and soft in order to prepare this dessert.
- Chopping the melon to nice, fine pieces so that they get combined well with coconut milk is important to obtain delicious dessert.
- A pinch of salt can also be added to enhance the taste.
