Time for participating in the two weeks of Blogging Marathon! If there is something I do not want to miss, then it is the interesting themes that Valli comes up with every month to leave us a little bamboozled with choices! Hehe… This month, it is BM #109 and the theme I have selected for these three days for this week is “Rice Dishes”. As Indians, rice is a very important part of our carb eating habits and not even a house doesn’t have their huge stock of rice. Having said that, I do not have a rice loving population in my house. On any given day, we would prefer the chapathi, poori or porotta over the rice. Having grown up in a home where rice is our staple for lunch, there are times when I really want to put up a full platter. My girls are not very…
Lahm Machboos | Majboos ~ Emirati Mutton Rice
I guess it is time to get back to reality after basking in some glory after the Chocolate Mousse Cake. Hehe… This week has been quite busy with guests from HD’s home. My whole schedule has gone for a toss, but for that matter, from November end, nothing has been as per schedule. It is just being twisted and tweaked as per how circumstances are coming and falling in place. But InShaAllah, after they leave on Saturday, I should be able to come back into my routine of everything, especially my workouts, that I am struggling to come back to. I always feel that I eat better the time I workout and vice-versa. I really don’t understand my thought process, when most of the time, it is the way around for many people! So let’s see how it goes… The climate has been kind. It is kind of cozy…
Erachi Cutlet | Malabar Meat Patties
There are some recipes that you really don’t want to change the way you make it. It is all about being in the comfort zone, isn’t it? I learned to make cutlets from umma, and I have been making them that way for a long time now. It’s just not me, even my sister sticks to that recipe, because it is what works and is so much loved. Umma would make such huge batches every Eid and it would literally disappear in seconds. My girls love it a lot and they are devoured as soon as one batch gets out of the hot oil. We have seen others snort because the onion, ginger and chilli are added raw into the chicken and potato, but at the end of it, there would be no complaints and the plate would come back empty. All the cutlet recipes already on the blog…
Kheema Toasties | Minced Meat Sandwich
Are you among those who love to go on picnics? I do love to go for them, but unfortunately HD isn’t very keen on it. I feel his disinterest actually makes me feel jittery if we need to plan a picnic, because my head goes blank regarding the snacks to carry. I don’t have a head that functions immediately when a plan is thrown at me. I suffer from inertia, and then slowly it gets into the mould. I guess it has got worse with age. Hehe… I always feel I need to bake some cake and cookies, make some sandwiches, fill a flask with some hot chai and some hot chocolate, and just move out for a quiet time. But then the lazy me wouldn’t want to bake and take the extra effort to make all and pack, so I would still prefer the prelude of being on…
Aloo Gosht ~ Meat and Potato Curry
After posting the Batata Harra and Aloo Raita, here is the final potato recipe for this week’s Blogging Marathon #106 theme of “Pick one vegetable, cook dishes from three states/countries”. I have moved from Lebanon to India and now to our neighboring Pakistan to select a humble potato dish. In fact, this dish is cooked in Muslim heavy areas of northern India as well. My first tryst with Aloo Gosht was at a nearby Pakistani restaurant, adjacent to the building we used to stay during our school days. We would go there for eating their huge thick oil laden parathas and order sides of dal fry and this aloo gosht. It would look the same all the time – a dark brown color gravy with a couple of inches of oil floating on the top, which we used to pull out by dropping a couple of tissue on…
Aatinkaal Braath | Malabar Mutton Bone Soup
After the Sweet Corn Soup, here is the second recipe for the theme “Stews and Soups” for the Blogging Marathon #106. Mutton is one ingredient which is considered to be healthy, even though on the fatter side. The meat maybe red and not recommended to be eaten too much, but considering the improbability of instilling hormones into a goat when compared to a chicken, the meat is considered to be much healthier. In Malabar area, when a woman delivers, she is supposed to eat one whole goat, from head to whatever, in the 40 days she takes rest. I haven’t had that privilege for either of my deliveries but umma says that they would have it during their times. In fact, my SIL also had a whole goat while she rested after delivering my niece in May this year. The ‘braath’ – the colloquial Malabari term used for…
Safed Maas ~ Rajasthani White Mutton Stew
This month too, I am participating in the Shh Cooking Secretly Challenge. Our state of the month is the largest state of India, Rajasthan, which is located in the northern side. It is home to largest desert in India, as well as many historical monuments and a rich culture. The name of the state when literally translated means “the land of kings” and if you have a look at the history of the state, it surely stays truthful to its name! The state has a robust tourism industry and is a place that is usually on the top end list for destination weddings – the recent famous one being Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, due to the presence of many castles fit for movies. The Jaisalmer Chana and the Panchmel Dal are the Rajasthani recipes already on the blog. The beauty of the cuisine of this state is due…
Memoni Mutton Biriyani with Chutney
It’s been so long since I have done a book review. In fact, I was planning to put up this post during the last week of January. Somehow, it fizzled down in between and I couldn’t schedule it. Happens, isn’t it? 🙂 Somehow, I restarted my guest post series last month, so hoping that I will be able to keep the book reviews and guest posts every alternate month, InShaAllah… I thought of treading the path carefully and slowly and concentrate on one at a time. Let’s see how it goes… 🙂 I chose this book truly by chance, not knowing what to expect from it. The name “Spice Sorcery” did do some sort of sorcery on me, that I ended up picking it through Amazon.in a couple of years ago. 😀 The book written by Husna Rahaman and published by Harper Collins, concentrates on sharing recipes of…
Easy Moussakka | Eggplant Meat Casserole
Even though I have always mentioned that my kids are picky, I am grateful for the men that I have in my life. Whether it’s HD or B, they love to eat experimented dishes. I don’t need to worry about them not eating if I am upto making something different. I know many women don’t have that liberty. If the man of the house won’t eat, naturally you won’t be inclined to make dishes as such. Whether it’s the Baked Rice Casserole or the Fish Pie, which don’t even have any remote Indian tastes, it was accepted wholeheartedly and finished in my house, Alhamdulillah. But yes, the girls crimp their foreheads and eat a little – they love naadan food, but I really don’t care. They need to get used to have a maverick ummi who likes to experiment at times. 😀 Moussakka was something that I had…
Emirati Lamb White Bean Stew
Aren’t there times when you buy ingredients that you have never cooked with just because a recipe looked so tempting to you? That is how I first picked up white beans. The pack lay in my pantry for quite some time before I used part of it to make the hummus and this delicious filling Greek soup (yum!) The rest of the pack went into this delicious stew that I am sharing with you today. I can’t vouch how much authentic this recipe is. I have adapted the recipe from “A Taste of Arabia” which I have already reviewed in my Majboos post. I have already mentioned in my review that the book doesn’t have any Arabic names for the dish. Usually, I try to search on Google for a name, however while trying to search a name for this one, I couldn’t land on any. In fact,…
Beef Burger
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…
Ragù Sauce
After the pesto, the second one I chose for the Italian Sauces theme for the Blogging Marathon #86 is this delicious Ragù Sauce. I had never heard of Ragù till I used to constantly read about it on Jehanne’s posts, as topping for her spaghetti and pasta. It did intrigue me to cook it but it didn’t seem to happen till this theme was declared. Like I mentioned, I took it up because I didn’t find myself with more choices, and then when searching, discovered that Ragù was indeed an Italian sauce and I could make it a part of this theme! 🙂 Ragù is said to be a meat sauce commonly served with pasta, especially spaghetti and created in the 18th century. The main base of the Ragù sauce is one part of meat and some amount of liquid along with some basic ingredients that make it…
Swedish Meat Balls
As soon as I saw “Scandinavian Cuisine” for the Blogging Marathon #86, the first thing my head said is “Swedish Meat Balls”. Anybody who has access to an IKEA nearby will agree with me. The girls and I go for dinner there at least once a month. It’s not that the food matches our taste buds, but we really love the feel of the place. We sit on the high chairs, while I eat and sip my coffee looking into the merchandise, the girls will be busy chit-chatting and eating from each other’s plate. Most of the time, the menu is fixed, Rasha has the meat balls with rice and Azza has the kid’s meal nuggets. I keep moving around with whichever option is available, but if I am undecided, then I also go for the meat balls since it is cheap and filling too. I always have a…
Meat Olive Pita Pizza
The tenth of the month is always exciting for me. I love to participate in the Muslim Food Blogger Challenge as much as I can. True, I am the one who is moderating it, but sometimes planning and cooking does get a little tough in between all things that are happening! Alhamdulillah, till now I have been able to manage and hope to keep it going… This month, the theme was “Cooking with Olives”. Olives, known as Zaitoon, is one of the fruits mentioned in the Quran. Here are some articles you could read to educate yourself – here, here and here. I have an olive loving family. A big pack of olives can disappear off my counter-top within an hour of opening. Even though I had finalized in my mind what to cook for this challenge, my main task was to hide some quantity required to make…
Light Meatball Soup
The last post of the year is the toughest to write. It is like racking your brain to go ahead 365 days and think how the whole year fared for you – in all aspects. Life is a multifaceted drama that gets hit from all sides, so thinking from one angle doesn’t really give a full picture of how the whole year looked like. As I think about the year, all I can think about is: We as a family got older by a year, whether by age or by togetherness…. hehe… I took a tiny step of incorporating one hour of activity into my weekday schedule, which was broken during Ramadan, my vacation in August and now… but InShaAllah, hoping to keep it on continuity in the coming year and the years that follow InShaAllah… We hoped that the year would be better, but that was not…