I really don’t understand why weekends wear skate boards. Or maybe something faster than that! 😕 They just come and go, with things done half and Saturday nights is for yearning and wishing I had more time. If anybody asks me what did I do over the weekend, I did nothing much but I still did something. Some shopping, sat simply at home working on the old posts on the blog, and then visited a friend of mine – I guess that does sound like a decently packed weekend! I guess I need to learn how to space out my time so that I don’t feel drained… hmm… Coming to today’s recipe… I had already mentioned how crazy my girls are for idlis. Leftover batter is usually loosened out and converted to dosas. Most of the time, my girls need it only with their favorite coconut chutney, but…
Jaisalmer Chana ~ Black Chickpeas Yogurt Curry
I have never known cooking black chickpeas rather than in this way that we make for puttu. This curry was a perfect discovery for my lazy bone. Apart from the cooking time of the chick peas, the whole curry comes through in hardly any time. Jaisalmer is a small town in the northern state of Rajasthan. I have read that Rajasthanis love using chickpea flour, known as besan, in many of their dishes they cook. It is no surprise that yogurt is added to this curry, since Rajasthan is a hot place with high temperatures – boasts of India’s largest dessert too – and yogurt is one calming, cooling food for sure. Apart from the soaking time for the black chick peas, there is hardly any cooking involved. There is no onion or tomatoes in this recipe, so you don’t need to do any chopping. The spices and…
Panchmel Dal/ Panchratna Dal ~ Mixed Lentil Gravy
At times, when I am typing my posts, I really wonder if anybody reads blogs these days. Unless and until you know the ways of getting the blog into public eye, usually it feels like a very hidden and protected section in the world wide web. The WWW is also a deep pit, so in between all the floating blogs, everybody is fighting for the same space and similar audience. It really makes me wonder why I am still blogging. The readership doesn’t improve and nobody seems to be interested in commenting too, and that includes bloggers! When I had started blogging, the blogging community used to comment on my posts and there are times when I had so many comments to respond back to, but now it is quite countable. I don’t know if it is a point to feel low on, but definitely blogging is not what…
Parippu Vevichathu ~ Malabar Lentil Fry
I actually didn’t know what to name this dish. Umma makes a thick parippu (lentil) side dish to go with Neychor, Koonthal Chor or Thenga Chor all the time. If it is one of these three for lunch on Fridays, then by default, this parippu has to be on the table. It is so ingrained into our minds, that if I go with these for lunch and this parippu is not there, then I get all sorts of questions regarding its absence from B and the girls. I haven’t seen this being prepared in HD’s side but in our side of Tirur, this dish is very common. I had already included it in the Koonthal chor post, but I wanted to give it a separate post, since it is eaten not only with it. I just named it “vevichathu”, which means “cooked” or “boiled”, but if any of…
Thakkali Chutney ~ Malabar Tomato Relish
Somehow I am hating my night pictures, but I have no option. I still click at night if the dish turns out to be really good, but whatever said and done, it sometimes just doesn’t help. This Thakkali Chutney aka Tomato Dip is something we love to have along with any flatbread for a simple dinner. I admit tomatoes are really pricey now and even for the price we pay, we get such lousy tomatoes. But still, once in a while, it is OK to “indulge” in tomatoes! 😉 Rasha hates tomatoes and pulls out even the skin that she sees in her curries, so this chutney is the best way to make her eat her tomatoes without really bothering about it. Even then she says, “Ummi, this is tasting tomatoes!” =D Hehe… This chutney goes well along with dosas, which I normally make with leftover idli batter…
Parippu Thalichathu ~ Malabar Lentil Curry
I was wondering it would not be proper for me if I don’t feature a Malabar recipe in the theme “Lentils and Sides” for the Blogging Marathon #81. Let me make it clear that we don’t make lentil very often. At least not in my house… 🙂 The only way I know of umma making lentils is in this brinjal curry and mostly as side for ghee rice. So you can understand my excitement when I saw this recipe in the book “Malabar Cuisine” (you can read the review here). This lentil curry is so easy to make plus we have not given up on the coconut here as well. 😉 Somehow, most of our gravies have to have coconut used up in some form or the other. I was really not sure how the curry would turn out but we all loved it with our rice. The…
Kollu Rasam ~ Horsegram Soup
I love horse-gram or “muthira” as we call it and I have already shared how umma has taught me to make it. It was by chance I discovered that this super lentil can be made into rasam as well! So, for the theme of “Lentil Sides” of this week’s Blogging Marathon #81, I decided to share this delicious soup that I adapted from here. My favorite rasam is how umma makes it, and this one comes a close second. Somehow, I always tell that blogging has helped me widen my horizon to try new foods and get more creative, as well as experimental. Since we always have horse-gram in our pantry, I thought why not make this rasam and I am glad I did! This is a little bit of work, but so flavorful that I finished the remaining just as is! Rasam usually acts as a…
Dal Tadka ~ Tempered Lentil Stew
After a little break, it is good to come to the participating in the Blogging Marathon, in its edition #81. Last month, the group had done a mega marathon over the theme “Protein Based Dishes” and there were some amazing recipes that came up in the process. I am still happy to keep going with doing two BM themes per month, since I find it much easier to manage and keep blogging at peace. 🙂 For this week, the theme I have chosen is “Lentil Sides”. Lentils are a major source of proteins as far as vegetarians are concerned, and otherwise a source of some comfort food for many! A simple meal of lentils and rice can give you a feeling that no lavish meal can provide! I am sure many will agree to this. 🙂 One of the most prepared lentil curries in India is called “Dal…
Tiffin Sambar
If you are a reader of my blog, you will know about my fixation with making sambar from scratch. I absolutely loathe store bought sambar powders. Each powder tastes different and somehow most of it don’t appeal to my taste. I hope I can discover a good enough home made sambar powder recipe that will help me fix up sambar as easily as can be done with store bought. Hehe… You can find two absolutely flavorful sambar recipes on the blog, Malabar style Varutharacha Sambar and Arachuvitta Vengaaya Sambar. Here is one more adding to the list… I saw this recipe on one of my blogger bestie Meena’s blog. I kept wondering why it is called “tiffin sambar”. I then discovered that it is called so since this sambar is specifically served with tiffin items, like idlis, dosas, ven pongal, etc. The sambar is slightly more watered down…
White Bean Hummus
I love hummus a lot, even if there are no sides to go with it. Hummus is just perfect to dip and eat your chips, your cucumber and carrot sticks, or even better, just like that! There are times when I run out of dried chickpeas since I forget I had used up all what I had to make a box of hummus. 😀 If you are thinking, “Why can’t she use canned chickpeas?”, then my answer is, I simply don’t like it. It tastes no way close to cooked dried chickpeas. It may be just my thought… During these times, the “innovated” hummus comes into play, like this one with green peas. Here is another one for you using white beans or cannelloni beans. These beans look just like rajma, but white in color. I picked up a small pack since it interested me. The first thing…
Chana Pulao ~ Chickpea Pilaf
The first weekend without the kids passed by, and I must say I managed well, though it was a bit overwhelming at times. Since HD is mostly busy with his work, my company are the girls and I tag them along wherever I go. So driving without them in the passenger seat on Thursday night and at home on Friday evening when HD had gone to finish off some important work, was a little emotional for me. But at the back of my mind, I told myself that this may be something that will happen every summer vacation from now on, as long as I will be working, so I better get used to it. Yesterday, we had a lovely get together at Huma‘s place for lunch. Ria, Priya (your names seem to rhyme! 😀 ) and Zerin were able to join us. We had so much fun chatting,…
Kaala Chana Chaat ~ Black Chickpeas Chaat
HD has this annoying habit of bringing in fried snacks from the nearby restaurant just before Iftar time. His intention is good – to give me relief from having to make something for tea time. But normally, I never do unless there is a request from the girls for something. They are not too much into fried snacks, and their liking is very limited to a small variety. When he buys, he brings in quite a lot and you end up over eating without even realizing it. 😕 The only thing I used to like of what he brings was this simple Kala Chana Chaat, which I now end up making it at home when I crave for it. This year, after so much coaxing, he has almost stopped bringing in snacks – such a relief! – though a couple of times he decided he must get some. 😀 …
Shorbath Adas ~ Emirati Lentil Soup
I have this habit of buying food magazines that get released during the month of Ramadan. Every year, magazines like BBC Good Food, Spinneys Food and Gourmet release special Ramadan editions, containing very interesting meal ideas and recipes for the month of Ramadan. For the last three years, they have been including a small section of local recipes contributed by home chefs, bloggers and restaurant owners, and I have been marking them up to make. One recipe that I had tried previously was this delicious Emirati falooda, which also happens to be a drink that features frequently during this month. This comforting soup that I am sharing today is likewise adapted from a recipe that appeared in the BBC Good Food Ramadan 2015 issue. Every Arab country calls their lentil soup “Shorbath Adas”. “Shorba” is soup, and “adas” is lentil. Even though the base ingredients may be the same, the…
Lefki Fasolada ~ Greek White Bean Soup
Starting the next round of the Blogging Marathon #76… This time, I chose to explore Greek cuisine, under the theme “Flavors of Greece”. The only Greek recipe I have is an obvious Greek Salad! If you go through their food, the flavors are so similar to the Mediterranean cuisine that I was very sure I would have an accepting bunch at home for the food that I would cook from this cuisine. Considering my lack of time as I mentioned in this post, I decided to go for some very easy recipes to try. My pins kept growing since there were quite a lot of simple and straightforward recipes in this cuisine. Do search around for yourself for some amazing ideas! The first recipe I chose to cook was this flavorful white bean soup, which I adapted from here. As I ran through the ingredients, I was wondering…
Musaara Varakiyathu ~ Malabar Wheat and Bengal Gram Pudding
The Muslim Food Blogger’s Challenge is 6 months old! Alhamdulillah… it feels great to be going on. The group maybe small but we have a really enthusiastic bunch, that keeps the challenge alive. I am sure you will all agree that enthusiasm and interest is what drives everything ahead, and I thank Him for this little bunch of bloggers who make my life so easier to go on… 🙂 This month, we reverted back to trying from a blog and we chose to cook from “Shab’s Cuisine“. This blog is one of them that I started following when the cooking bug hit me around 7 years ago – yes, my cooking passion is pretty young, you see! 😉 I totally love her blog since she had some very simple recipes plus her blog was a treasure of Malabar recipes. I guess I don’t need to mention the amazing…