Homemade Roasted Red Peppers

Enjoy the succulent sweetness of a freshly roasted pepper prepared at home. Roasted peppers are a wonderful thing and easy to make. I brought few red peppers this time when I visited my local farmer's market. After drooling over Lisa's Corn and Roast pepper soup , I fumbled upon this link from her post on how to roast peppers at home.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to broiler. I took 3 red peppers, wash the peppers but leave them whole its recommended to use 2 tsps of canola oil for each pepper. They may be rubbed with any cooking oil but not olive oil as it has low smoke point.
   
2. Coat each pepper evenly with oil using your pastry brush or hands and arrange the peppers on a baking sheet and place the sheet on the highest rack of your oven, close to the broiler.
3. Keep a watchful eye on the peppers to ensure that they do not become too scorched. When dark splotches begin to appear on the peppers, remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully turn each pepper over.
4. The peppers will be hot, so use tongs or any other kitchen gadget to turn them and return under the broiler for roasting.
5. When the tops of the pepper appear to begin darken remove from the oven and place them in a large bowl and immediately cover it with a lid or plastic wrap. Let is sit for a while till the peppers are cooked in its own steam for about 15-20 mins or so.
6. Once cool they are easy to handle, gently peel the skin which will be loose by now and remove its stem, core and seeds.
7. Lay flat on the surface and cut into desired stripes and store it in container along with the liquid/juice and also add few tsps of olive oil (optional) . Refrigerate them as shown in the picture and roasted peppers are ready for use in sandwiches, salads, antipasto platter and rest is up to your imagination.
   
8. For pictorial version check here and for more tips on roasting peppers check here and here

Stored in refrigerator

Homemade Orange peel scrub

I know this post is not related to cooking. Its all about giving a breathing spa to your skin. Yeah, I am talking about ex-foliating your skin. Dead skin cells, tanning etc can effectively be got rid off by using ex-foliating scrubs. However, one should not use the scrub daily to ex-foliate. If your skin is oily you may need once a week. For more drier skin once a month is more than enough.

We all know that citrus fruits have some medicinal values either taken internally or used externally on our skin. One such use is making scrubs out of their dried peels. Do not throw away Orange, lemon or lime peels. Dry them out thoroughly until they are brittle but not under direct sunlight, that may reduce its medicinal effects and its natural oils.

You can use any citrus fruit peels in combination for making this scrub at home. Usually I take 10 to 12 orange peels (yields 1 cup of powder) for making this scrub. Remember this homemade scrub is suitable for all skin types. But reduce the usage as per your skin type.

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Homemade Orange peel scrub
Source: My Mother

Ingredients:
1 cup dried orange peels
2 tbsp dry roasted blackgram dal/urad dal/minappapu
1 tbsp dry roasted red gram dal/toor dal/kandi pappu
2 tsp semolina/rava
1 dried rose petals
1 tbps sandal powder/chandan powder

Method:
Make the powder of dried citrus peels until smooth (but little coarse) in advance. Mix all the above ingredients and grind till it attains coarse powder texture. Store it in an air-tight container and ready to use.

Usage:
When you want to ex-foliate your skin, mix above scrub with warm milk, honey and a hint of rose-water to make a coarse paste. Before a bath, rub this all over your neck, arms, body and legs. Use rough circular motions as you go along to ex-foliate the dead skin cells. Bathe normally

For face take the same mixture and dilute with few drops of warm water. Gently scrub in circular motion and rinse with warm water. It's a wonderful scrub and so easy to make and the effects are immediately visible. You can notice squeaky clean feel that leaves behind. For dry skin use full cream or homemade butter instead of milk.

Variation: You can use varitey of citrus peels together viz., lemon, lime, grapefruit, clementine, orange, tangerine etc.

My Mother always used to prepare this scrub powder for me and my sister. She always wants her girls to look best!! Thanks Mommy.....

I am sending this to Jugalbandi for Click-August 2008 event.

Homemade Roasted Red Peppers

Enjoy the succulent sweetness of a freshly roasted pepper prepared at home. Roasted peppers are a wonderful thing and easy to make. I brought few red peppers this time when I visited my local farmer's market. After drooling over Lisa's Corn and Roast pepper soup , I fumbled upon this link from her post on how to roast peppers at home.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to broiler. I took 3 red peppers, wash the peppers but leave them whole its recommended to use 2 tsps of canola oil for each pepper. They may be rubbed with any cooking oil but not olive oil as it has low smoke point.
   
2. Coat each pepper evenly with oil using your pastry brush or hands and arrange the peppers on a baking sheet and place the sheet on the highest rack of your oven, close to the broiler.
3. Keep a watchful eye on the peppers to ensure that they do not become too scorched. When dark splotches begin to appear on the peppers, remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully turn each pepper over.
4. The peppers will be hot, so use tongs or any other kitchen gadget to turn them and return under the broiler for roasting.
5. When the tops of the pepper appear to begin darken remove from the oven and place them in a large bowl and immediately cover it with a lid or plastic wrap. Let is sit for a while till the peppers are cooked in its own steam for about 15-20 mins or so.
6. Once cool they are easy to handle, gently peel the skin which will be loose by now and remove its stem, core and seeds.
7. Lay flat on the surface and cut into desired stripes and store it in container along with the liquid/juice and also add few tsps of olive oil (optional) . Refrigerate them as shown in the picture and roasted peppers are ready for use in sandwiches, salads, antipasto platter and rest is up to your imagination.
   
8. For pictorial version check here and for more tips on roasting peppers check here and here

Stored in refrigerator