How’s Ramadan going for all of you? This time, I have consciously taken the effort to post less on the blog. Doesn’t mean I will keep it empty, you will still see posts rolling on, but I clearly don’t want to be in a rat race to be posting what is called as “Ramadan specials”. I am not a person who advocates thoughtless eating during this month, whether it is now when I am taking care of myself, or before when I was negligent of myself. I never liked the concept of eating fried food and heavy meals during this month. When the gyst of the month is to practice restraint and patience, how can we go overboard with our food especially? Somehow that thought defeats my logic. I know many may disagree, but when we think deep, we will understand it. After all, hasn’t our beloved Prophet…
Be My Guest – Dahi Boondi
Blogging is quite a funny business. There are many bloggers that I am very good friends with, but there are many more who I have acquaintances with, or some even we occasionally comment on each other’s blog, and that’s about it. “My Ninja Naan” was one of the blogs I discovered fairly early through my blogging journey. I would read the blog but not comment on it. I don’t know why… I just wouldn’t. Fast forward to now, the blog has been renamed as “Chai and Churros” and Henna has become somebody really dear. We keep commenting on each other’s Insta stories and liking each others posts. Hehe… how life turns around, isn’t it? 🙂 I have been thinking of calling her around to be on my blog and I thought this Ramadan was perfect timing for it. She very gladly accepted my invite and even send the post…
Healthy Chicken Caesar Salad
“Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and righteousness” (Surah Al Baqarah:183) Ramadan is on us, Alhamdulillah… InShaAllah, with the sunset today, it will start – the time when every aspect of our life is looked into and disciplined… Actually, I always feel that we limit our good deeds and discipline only to these 29 or 30 days. It is said that it takes 21 days to create a habit, so in case we sincerely want to create a good sustainable habit in ourselves, this one month should help us with it. After all, there is even a Hadith in this regard: Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Take up good deeds only as much as you are able, for the best deeds are…
Amrood Chaat | Guava Chaat
I discovered this guava chaat when we had gone to visit my cousin’s wife’s parents. She is the one who introduced me to those yummy chicken croquettes. 🙂 We had dinner from there and then her mother bought some huge Vietnamese guavas for us. They weren’t sweet at all, had a thick skin yet soft interior. We weren’t really keen in eating them. Sensing our dislike, her mother immediately took it back, chopped it into pieces and bought it back to our tables with all those sprinklings. Sensing it was red chilli powder on top, I was a bit hesitant. She pestered us to try. The first bite, and oh my goodness! I can’t explain the plethora of flavors that danced in my tongue! Actually, we ended up gobbling down that whole plate shamelessly. 😀 This is the time when the market gets filled with the large guavas….
Mince Puff Tart
While coming to the office in the morning, usually I listen to the Quranic recitation of either Sheikh Sudais or Sheikh Mishary Al Afasi. If you ask me who I prefer, it is the latter, but the Quran is beautiful to listen to in whosoever’s voice it is, especially when recited in the way it should be. 🙂 Some verses tend to hit your heart more, maybe because of the situation you may be in. Off late, the below verse has affected me a lot: “Let a man of wealth spend from his wealth, and he whose provision is restricted – let him spend from what Allah has given him. Allah does not charge a soul except [according to] what He has given it. Allah will bring about, after hardship, ease.” (Surah At-Talaq: 7) Many times, I feel I am not doing enough. Alhamdulillah, I mentally empathize…
Easy Crispy Luqaimat
It’s time for the next Muslim Food Blogger Challenge. The days from the tenth to the tenth just flies as if it’s nobody’s business! This month, choosing the theme wasn’t tough since within the next one week, we are going to be blessed with the beautiful month of Ramadan. “Allahumma Ballighna Ramadan” is the prayer on every Muslim’s tongue, eagerly waiting to reap the immense benefits and rewards that these 30 days hold. May Allah give us the blessing of living to see the dawn of the month as well grant our souls to go through the month with maximum ibaadah and taqwah… Aameen Ya Rubb…. So coming to this month’s challenge, we were supposed to dig into some Ramadan special across the world. There are certain dishes that are specifically cooked for Ramadan, or cooked more during this month than the others. If I talk about my…
Ramadan Drinks and Desserts | Ramadan Recipes
Ramadan is hardly a week away, Alhamdulillah… Days are flying so fast… I am sure most of us must already be totally geared up to welcome the blessed month. This year, I have been really low on my eemaan for many reasons, so I am so looking forward to charge myself up with all the ammunition required for the coming up year. Sometimes, the way life becomes, you loose track of yourself and I feel that Ramadan is Allah’s gift to us to pull back our wayward soul to concentrate on what pleases Him and keep all the worldly matters aside. Since we concentrated on savory snacks in the last post, let’s look at having something sweet! Normally Ramadan is not a time when many have sweet stuff. In fact, in our house sweet is restricted to juices and maybe the sheera like drink we have at the time…
Omelette in Microwave | Mug Omelette
If you have a microwave in your home, then there is no excuse of missing breakfast, isn’t it? 🙂 When I selected eggs as my “Protein Rich Ingredient” theme in the Blogging Marathon #88 – the other posts being Double Cheese Omelette and Akuri, I really wanted to try the omelette in mug, which has been doing rounds for quite some time. With the microwave oven becoming a part of almost all households, despite what all negative image it may have, we all still use it for something or the other. It makes a lot of cooking quite easy especially when you have some time constraints. I wouldn’t say that this omelette tastes as good as the one you make slowly on a frying pan, but for breakfast on the go, this is such a good option. My only advice if you are trying this is to…
Akuri ~ Parsi Scrambled Eggs
I love umma’s scrambled eggs so much that I have never tried making any other way or even trying to eat it from out. 😀 So when this month’s theme came in for the Blogging Marathon #88 and I decided on choosing egg as my “Protein Rich Ingredient”, my attention went into trying a creamy scrambled eggs, associated with the Parsi community, called “Akuri”. The name of the dish is itself very cute, isn’t it? The difference between the Egg Burji and Akuri lies in it’s basic preparation method and ingredients. The Akuri is quite spicy, with the green chililes and red chilli powder used, so if you can’t take the spice, disregard the green chilli. I actually regretted adding the only one I used. I kept biting into it, and gulping down water to tame my tongue. 😀 The main thing for your Akuri to be…
Double Cheese Omelette with Sauteed Mushrooms
I seriously needed some push and motivation to continue my blogging. Even though you can see posts appearing on my blog, there is a lot of mental struggle behind it happening. When Valli’s post on the Blogging Marathon #88 was up, I decided to let my lack of motivation get a hit and signed up for two weeks. This week, the theme is “Protein Rich Ingredients” and I chose to focus on something that I am having on a daily basis now – eggs. Eggs is one ingredient that wasn’t without a bad name until some time. Eating eggs on a daily basis was taboo, especially considered to be a source of fat and weight gain. When I had my first attempt at losing weight, which happened when Rasha was 2, I was told to eat maximum three eggs a week. When I am repeating my attempt to…
Ramadan Iftar Snack Ideas | Ramadan Recipes
As I start this post, I am in two minds. For me, Ramadan is a month of introspection – about my life, about my discipline, about my relationship with the Almighty… I am not bothered too much about the food. Last year, I had done a post on Suhoor and Iftar. I usually never load my fridge or freezer with frozen snacks. My grocery list stays very much the same, except for going a bit heavier on fruits, since we gorge on them quite a lot, when compared to the other months of the year. But being a food blogger, I can’t ignore the requests that come to make a series of recipes at one place. I surely understand – we would like to be more ready with our choice of food so that we don’t spend time thinking too much on those lines. I still know of…
Marrag Samak ~ Emirati Fish Stew
I have had a slightly messed up April. From the beginning of this year, I have been following a schedule to ensure that I work on my postings and used to stick to it. I did the same thing for April as well, but in between, I had a slag in my mood. Somehow, all of a sudden, I really didn’t want to blog or do anything related to the blog. That converted me who is such a stickler to my plans to somebody who didn’t really bother about it. But then it is people who go through the same stress as yours who understand how it feels to blog and to not blog. A little chat with Shanaz literally pepped me up to continue with my blogging. I am hoping that the mood does hold on for some time at least! 🙂 It’s been sometime since I…
Mango Mastani | Thick Mango Milkshake
Here’s is the third in the 3-back-to-back simple mango desserts, after the Mango Cream and Mango Muhallabiah. When anybody hears Mastani, I think the first impression that comes into the head is Deepika Padukone in the golden dress and that big head gear, singing, “Deewani Ho Gai”. 😀 I guess that was a bad joke… 😉 Jokes apart, Mango Mastani is said to have originated from Pune. Actually while trying to read through how this drink got named, I did find that it is named after Mastani, whom Bajirao fell for in Maratha history. I am not going to write in so much of history now in this post, but they say that this drink was named as Mastani, since it was so pretty to look at, that the shop fellow thought it looked as pretty as Mastani, considered an epitome of beauty! So what is…
Mango Muhallabiah
After the Mango Cream, another creamy dessert using mangoes but with more oriental flavors! I love a good muhallabieh and have even made a chocolate version of it. But if I tell you that this one is the best I have tried, then wouldn’t you believe me? 🙂 You should… I got this recipe from my cut-outs. But it wasn’t this. The recipe was plain muhallabieh with bites of mangoes and the crunch of pistachios. I gave it my own twist by pulping in the mango. The first time I made it, I wasn’t in a mood to click them, so we just enjoyed the whole batch. I made it again the second time only to click it first, and then enjoy it! 😉 If you are doubtful whether the flavors of rose water and orange blossom water gel along with the mango, then I would…
Mango Cream
Isn’t it mango season? Mango is easily one of the most favorite fruits of many. Since April is officially the month of mangoes, I thought of doing this month’s three-back-to-back series with the theme of “Simple Mango Desserts”. Even last April, I had done a similar series featuring the Mango Custard Verrines, Aamras and Semolina Mango Cake. This time, I am here with some more mango goodness, but really simple recipes with a heart-filling capabilities… 😉 Ready? 🙂 The first one is like you have seen in the name – Mango Cream. Fruit creams are very well received these days. Most of the cafes that serve fresh fruit varieties will definitely have a set of fruit creams. Haji Ali is very well known for the same. We have one outlet right next to our office and we used to keep ordering their delicious cheesy sandwiches. I never ordered…