If it is the tenth of the month, then it surely has to be the Muslim Food Blogger challenge post. Month after month, it does become a challenge to select a theme and put it forward to the ladies in this small group, but Alhamdulillah, they seem to be enjoying the themes and that is what matters. 🙂 This month as per the usual flow, we were supposed to be cooking from a Muslim blog. The chosen blog for the month was “Afelia’s Kitchen“. Afelia happens to be a Bangladeshi UK citizen and shares some interesting recipes on her blog. I found out the blog when I was searching for the Bangladeshi cooking we did a few months ago, where I cooked the Murgir Korma. I had bookmarked to try a few recipes from her blog during that time and thought it was a lovely blog to explore…
Biryani Dejaaj ~ Emirati Chicken Biriyani
If you see, starting from the Khabeesa, I have made it a point to post close to or on the UAE National Day, something that I don’t even do for the Indian Independence Day. 😀 That doesn’t make me any less patriotic, it is just that I belong to a generation of Indians who own an Indian passport, who love every vacation trip planned to India, but since they have been born and/or brought up in some part of the UAE, a part of them is in them. I am sure many of them who are in the same boat of mine can get how I feel. 🙂 This year has been celebrated by the entire country as the “Year of Zayed” as it is his 100th birth anniversary, commemorating the great father of the nation’s visionary outlook for this country. His vision for the country is very…
Low Carb Cauliflower Pizza
This weekend, we had a freak accident. What was supposed to be a relaxed day went a bit berserk. In a very action filled evening, HD’s right eye got hit by the edge of the fly stick and he was immediately writhing in pain. We immediately rushed out but since it was a Friday, most of the clinics didn’t have their ophthalmologists on duty. We did a run to the hospital, and then in one hour, was relieved to know that there was nothing much except a couple of scratches, which will heal slowly. Considering the fact that the hit was quite hard, the diagnosis was very relieving. The comical situation was that since the hit happened from my side, HD commented to the nurse that I had tried to attack him and he is going to take an insurance against me. 😕 Sometimes I wonder why are husbands…
Warm Chicken Salad
Rasha is at a very peculiar age. She is on her way to 12 and sometimes I get jitters thinking that she is growing up so fast. But still, sometimes I see my little girl in her, always excited about anything that comes her way. Last week, we were having a chat as I was driving with the girls to get some grocery. She was talking about her English class. They recently concluded their exams and the paper had an essay to be written about “Kerala Floods”. The teacher commented that many of them just wrote a couple of sentences and ended the “essay”. However, there were a couple of students who missed to see the “l” in the “floods” and wrote very narratively about Kerala Foods. I am not surprised that the teacher said she had a rumbling tummy while correcting the paper during the midnight. 😀 I…
Chicken Curry Pasta
Time for one of my favorite challenges, the Fantastical Food Fight! This month happens to be National Pasta Month and Sarah couldn’t have chosen anything apt that making anything with pasta! Since the theme was quite easy, I had to jump at it. I would have made pasta every week if my folks would eat. 🙁 HD and B likes it, but the girls are always so-so. Pasta is one of the easiest and laziest meals you can make and I wouldn’t be surprised if anybody told me that they made it multiple times a week. This Chicken Curry style pasta has a lot of memories to it. In the UAE, a lot of men live together in bachelor accommodation and they would usually cook their own meals then, unlike now, where they would simply flock the nearby restaurant. Every year, D and B would have an Iftar…
Marghi Na Farcha ~ Parsi Style Fried Chicken
Just back from a long weekend that was quite stress-free… we didn’t go out much, except for some few essentials, otherwise most of the time was spent relaxing at home. B and my sister-in-law went back home and now the house is back to being a lonely place. But still I am happy she will get some time to be with my parents. As we get into the new week, I was welcomed by a nice bang at the back of my vehicle. I am still wondering how it happened. It just seemed to happen from nowhere. The lady of the other vehicle was trying to change her track to mine and missed seeing my vehicle. It resulted in a big bang at the left side. It is my first accident with my present vehicle and I am feeling sad about it. But on one side, I am…
Baked Yogurt Curry Chicken
I love quick fix meals. All of you must be knowing it if you are regular readers of my blog. Anything that just needs a mix and cook qualifies as a super easy meal for me. I found this recipe in the same booklet which had the Malai Chicken recipe. I have been eyeing it for so long, but I have no clue why I didn’t try it earlier. I truly believe now everything has a time, right… 🙂 The beauty of this recipe is that you don’t have to slog in the kitchen for too long. We are having peak summers and standing in the kitchen is becoming a nightmare. I haven’t experienced this kind of heatwave in all these years. I am attributing my hotter-than-usual kitchen to the construction that is happening in the little stretch facing the area. It used to be an open car…
Kozhi Musuman | Whole Chicken in Chana Dal Sauce
Let me be frank here. I wanted to make a totally new curry for this Blogging Marathon #88 – Dazzling Dal series, so that I could leave my drafts untouched. I even made cholar dal once, but it didn’t turn out well, so I skipped clicking it. Then something happened, that whole thought of wanting to cook and click a totally new dish, really puts me off these days. If you see my camera now, my clicks are so wide spread. I cook new dishes and click them only if I am really in a mood for it. Otherwise, I just leave it at that. I feel glad that my drafts are feeding my blog without me having to worry about the next dish to post. During those times, I used to wonder why am I in a hurry to cook and click, and now I clearly understand the…
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…
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…
Kurumulaku Kozhi Roast | Pepper Chicken Roast
I have to say that my quest for easy recipes never end, especially if it means that you hardly use anything in your pantry. 😀 I think after the Shinwari Karahi, this may be the dish that I cooked and loved that has very minimal ingredients. I have previously cooked from “The Suriani Kitchen” and have loved the three recipes already tried and posted. The book surely deserves a review, but why amn’t I doing it? The book I have is in Malayalam, since I couldn’t catch hold of the English version and I was just too impatient. 🙁 I am planning to order the new reprint of this book, but just giving myself time for it, since I have no space and my mission #1 is to create some space for future cookbooks. 😉 So InShaAllah, once I get my hands on the English version, I will…
Caril De Galinha ~ Goan Chicken Curry
It’s been a real long time since I participated in the Sshh Cooking Challenge. Recently, to make it interesting, the challenge had started exploring state wise and started from A. Though I would have loved to be a part of it, my family isn’t very receptive to all kind of foods and also, my time is becoming really tight of late, so I decided to give the challenge a break. Mayuriji was very understanding, and I did mention that when I felt like it, I would be part of the challenge. This month, it was Goa and I was in two minds. I hadn’t signed up initially but then it happened that there was one extra participant without a partner, and without thinking two times, I jumped in. I am glad that I did! 😀 Like I mentioned, this month, we are exploring Goan cuisine. Goa needs no…
Murgir Khorma ~ Bangladeshi Chicken Korma
One tenth to the next tenth just flies, I feel. 😀 I feel like I posted my last MFB post yesterday… hehe… This month, the theme was cooking from a country, and the chosen country was Bangladesh, which happens to be the third largest Muslim country in case of percentage. There is a lot of similarity between the food from this country and West Bengal, which is a state in India that shares its borders with Bangladesh. I kept searching up and down, as I wanted to make sure I cook up something easy and do not miss the challenge at all. A little peak into history and we will know that Bangladesh once belonged to the Mughal dynasty. It was a part of the India when the Britishers ruled it and then went to Pakistan when the declaration of independence was made in August 1947, when the…
Kukul Mas Curry ~ Sri Lankan Chicken Curry
When the themes for the Blogging Marathon #84 were declared, I didn’t think twice about the second theme to choose. It had to be “Sinhalese Cuisine”. There was a little confusion when I started with it. We know Sri Lanka as a country, but a little digging indicated that Sinhalese are the largest portion of people in Sri Lanka, and they are Buddhist. Their food reigns majority in the country. There are then the Tamils and the Muslims who have slightly varied ways of cooking. Sounds similar to how it is in Kerala too! So having cleared up the confusion of what cuisine I can look for, I ended up getting so confused with what I should be trying. Somehow the first to catch my attention was their chicken curry and I had to make it. Though the curry feels so much like our style, it is different in…
Samosa Cups
The climate we have here in the UAE now is just apt for fried goods – anything that is deep fried and can be had hot with a cup of hot chai! The craving keeps hitting every now and then, but most of the time you have to tame your inner beast, taking out the “bad” word CALORIES on it and not giving into it! Hehe… one of those “bad” foods is indeed samosas – deep fried, and sometimes you will get a pot of oil coming out of it when pressed with a tissue. 😉 If you crave samosas but don’t want to deep fry, then here is a baked version! The inspiration came from a contributor called Nizwa, who had shared this on a group. She had basically prepared the cups separately and filled it up with a creamy prawns filling. That is how forgiving this…