Indian-style cappuccino

 This Indian-style cappuccino is a hand-beaten coffee topped with hot steamy milk redefining the aroma of a milky coffee. Make your own with this recipe and have a lovely cuppa.

That coffee to wake you up in the morning is the main time most Indian women get to carve out as me time before the next two hours of organised chaos that rules the house. To be honest, more than coffee wakes me up I have to say I wake up for that coffee. That 10 minutes to myself, helps me set the day in my head. Guess what! Coffee ran out yesterday!!

Dawn!! What can I say?
Well that we joyfully coped with it, though the husband, the kids and the cat madly searching the pantry to see if I accidentally hid a pack of that filter coffee powder somewhere. Well, nothing emerged! So, in the evening we bought that essential ingredient we have stopped keeping in our pantry- instant coffee. Needless to say, today began with the beaten coffee or Indian-style cappuccino.

What’s special about Indian-style cappuccino?

In India you will find people are either tea people or coffee people. For some, the masala chai wakes them up and others are woken up by the aroma of coffee. Even in this, we have filter coffee lovers and instant coffee admirers. Since coffee machines and cafes have not taken over the best idea is these beaten coffees or fitti coffee. The frothy base with that steaming milk creates a smooth coffee with sweet notes from the added sugar.

Why is aeration important to coffee?

One of the easiest ways to improve the coffee is to aerate it. This is one of the first learnings of making coffee. Aeration is the process is adding air to the liquid. When coffee is percolated the gentle effervescent and the fine particles that together form the frothy mix heightened the coffee effect. This is not present in compressed instant coffee. Hence the beating to create the froth helps to flavour the roundedness without the bitter strength of the coffee.

Ingredient for beaten coffee

Instant coffee: a medium roast instant coffee powder or granules makes the best fitti coffee. it will not work with brewed coffee as there is a lot more liquid in it than needed. 
Sugar: Sweet coffee is a feature of Indian coffee. The sugar helps to stabilize the froth too.
Milk: Full cream milk add the body to this coffee. The true flavour of the coffee is when you boil the milk.

Let’s make beaten coffee

As the name suggests, it is not enough to pour and mix in this coffee. The beaten effect is what makes this fitti coffee unique. The first step is to get the coffee base fixed. So into the cup, it is instant coffee powder, sugar and a teaspoon of water. This can be beaten or fluffed using a whisk, a frother or just a simple fork. Once you work up the foam, stream the hot milk into the mix. That’s it, your coffee is ready. The detailed quantities and step-by-step photos are in this recipe card below. Hope you will like to make some. 

What to serve with Indian-style cappuccino?

The morning cuppa with a dosa, some upma or an idly platter makes it a filling option before work. Sometimes, a piece of steamed plantain and coffee is a great option too.
The afternoon tea is sometimes replaced with coffee. This means we get snacks with it. Often a small sweet and something salty are served as a combo. This can be a cookie, a slice of cake, or a small bit of halwa with some chivda, a simple nipattu chaat or matri making that evening pick-up perfect.

Some Indian-style warm drinks for the winter

Marundu karupatti paal

Tulsi chai 

Jeera milagu kashayam paal

Nimbu chai

Stay connected

Though an acquired taste, coffee creates that sense of satisfaction in your mind making you want the cup every day. Try out this way of easily making a cuppa at home rather than simply adding the coffee powder to milk or water and let us know the difference you felt. Rate this recipe and leave us a review in the comments.

See you in the next post.

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