The winter is slowly coming. Or should I say it is coming in slow motion… The mix of warmth and the nip of coolness is actually causing a havoc with the health of majority here. So when the Blogging Marathon #106 themes were declared, I obviously had to choose “Stews and Soups” as one, as all of us will now be looking at warming options for the body and soul. Hehe… So you will find three super easy recipes related to this theme back to back… You can browse the already existing soup recipes here… The first one is a very simple corn soup. I always keep packs of frozen or tinned corn, since my girls love a quick snack with it, most of the time in the form of this buttery pizza corn or this corn chaat. When this theme was declared, I wanted to make use…
Easy Paneer Burji – Scrambled Cottage Cheese
I had a little startle as I looked at the calendar today. We have exactly two months to go in this year. How fast does time fly! I don’t want to judge this year now itself since we have the remaining days to see how things fare up. Just hoping that they get better, or at least stay stagnant, InShaAllah… I always believe that meals need to be quick yet filling and comforting. However, the idea of comforting is not likely the same for all of us in the family, isn’t it? 😀 What I find delicious is totally rejected by the girls. As they grow up into their own little individuals, it is a constant fight for me to see what they like and what they don’t. Unfortunately the latter is more than the former, thereby limiting my options as to what to cook for the girls….
Low Calorie Gajar Halwa | Carrot Sweet
The heart seems so much at peace when it sees that the climate is changing finally! We had a really hot September and October was also not showing much respite, making us wonder if we would have the “beach and barbeque” climate all the UAE residents look forward to. Finally, the last week showed a slight change in the scales. There were rains in some interior parts of the country and that surely affected the temperatures. Early mornings are cozy and the times after sunset are just apt for those long walks. Afternoons are still hot at times but hopefully soon they will become more comfortable. This means that it is nice to do some baking and hogging, and more cups of tea and coffee… 🙂 With the wave of healthy eating all over, it becomes difficult to sometimes control ourselves from not having sweets at all. After…
Karivepilai Sadam ~ Curry Leaves Rice
When I came back from home, I bought a lot of curry leaves. It is not what I had intended. Mattamma – my maternal grandmother – has a lovely curry leaves tree in her plot, and even umma gets her dose from her. She asked me if I wanted some, so I told her, I would but very little. What she sent with my cousin was a big pack with a lot of curry leaves! I simply loathe the curry leaves we get here, they smell so artificial! The ones we get from home – not from the market, but made at home – smells so heavenly that you could sit with it for hours just enjoying the aroma… For this month’s Shh Cooking Challenge which is coordinated by Mayuriji, the state in question was Tamil Nadu – the place of dosas, idlis, vadas, sambars and some awesome…
Aloo Paneer Tikki Chaat
If I say I am still sulking past my vacation, I am not lying to anyone and myself. My mood to cook nor work out has come back to being normal, even though I would say things have got back to routine and is moving well. With my weight snuggling happily upto me, I have to sooner or later get my act together and start pushing as much as I can. My couple of years of working out has made me realize that just workout won’t help you in losing weight. What you feed into your system does make a huge difference to your overall journey. I have been happily eating without much thought these days and that is directly affecting my weight. After having hit my lowest in so many years during Ramadan, I have come back to a level where I must be seriously thinking of…
Spinach Labneh Rolls
Usually when the themes for the Blogging Marathon is declared, my attention always go on what I can make sweet, even though I don’t eat much or avoid eating nowadays. I guess that has been my tendency ever since I have started blogging. After all, what is my blog name? 😉 I have always loved sweets and will always love them, but just that the dimension now is changed from what it used to be before. Even though I still enjoy an occasional sweet indulgence, my focus has moved to have quality over quantity, and if I do love what I make, then I like to eat little of what is there rather than enjoy half the quantity cooked. I hope that makes sense. 😀 So when the Blogging Marathon #101 themes were out, I instantly jumped into selecting “Kid’s Delight: Savory Bakes” as one theme. Ramadan was…
Capsicum Zunka | Shimla Mirch Sabzi
For this week’s Blogging Marathon #101 theme “Cooking with Besan”, after a lot of thought, I decided to make this dish, that has been in my mind for quite some time. Zunka is a dry dish with besan, made on its own or including vegetables, and is a part of the cuisine in Maharashtra and some northern states. I didn’t want to make a gravy on its own, because I was vary of the interest of my folks. So I ended up making it with capsicum. Capsicum is a vegetable that I have been eating almost everyday ever since I have cleaned up my diet. Not that I am diligently sticking to it and being a saint on a daily basis, but if I don’t eat at least a vegetable a day, I feel as though I am missing something. I have become this from a person who…
Besan Dahi Bhalla ~ Gramflour Dumplings in Yogurt Sauce
My intention of signing up for this month’s Blogging Marathon, which is in its edition #101 (wow!) was my usual thought – of pushing myself to cook some dishes and get some motivation to blog. Ramadan is actually a good time to try new recipes, since we have short working time and plenty of sunshine to ensure that we can click in daylight. But then whatever plans I had went totally derailed following the death of my elappa. Somehow, it disturbed my internal peace. It is expected, isn’t it? Somebody who you think is too young to depart from the world is not considered so by the Almighty. That makes me think how vulnerable life is. We plan days and years ahead, when we have no clue if we will even live to see that moment… However, I didn’t want to withdraw. There was enough time to recover…
Spiced Chickpea Burger
There is one thing with life – it never goes as per planned. On Sunday, I went home with a pathetic headache after work. I just wanted to sleep till a little before Iftar time, so that I could just put together something and call it a day. I was planning to skip this month’s Fantastical Food Fight challenge initially – which was to make “Burgers”, but when I saw the reminder email in my inbox, I thought, “Why not? It is easy to put together. I shouldn’t miss it.” I had etched down on my magnet notepad of making some chickpea burgers for dinner. But it was not to be. I did wake up late, but as I finished my prayers, I was in for a rude shock… My youngest paternal uncle had an untimely death at the age of 49. Maybe he dying of natural causes,…
Besan Aloo Mirchi ki Sabzi | Potato Capsicum Curry
I wish I didn’t have to crib. Everyday I have a tough time trying to decide what to cook for dinner. I seem to find that it is getting tougher as the girls grow up. When I started blogging, they were small so they would eat anything that was given to them. But now, they frown and scorn for anything that I make, except pizzas. 😕 Being a mother, this is totally frustrating. With a totally tight schedule these days, I look forward to cooking meals that get done in 30 minutes. Rasha loathes eggs and any dal curry, while Azza is indifferent towards chicken and meat – I wonder if there are kids like that these days! Vegetables are an even big no-no, except for a cucumber daily. My girls don’t even like whole lentils or potatoes. Sometimes, I feel so lost… but then I pull out my…
Easy Palak Paneer
I owe this Palak Paneer recipe to Huma. She shared this recipe with me before she posted it on her blog and made me fall for it head over heels. I never liked making palak paneer before. If you see most of the recipes online, they involve a lot of steps. It makes you feel like making this humble dish is such a pain. But this recipe changed my whole thought process. This recipe is the second one to feature in this week’s theme of “Cooking for 2” in the Blogging Marathon #98. Paneer is something I have been eating every single day since last January, as a part of my protein intake. It is something that we Keralites never eat. I have already mentioned before on the blog that my family shares a mixed relationship with this ingredient. So I don’t cook it frequently. But for myself,…
Dalia Upma | Broken Wheat Upma
There is a reason why I chose this week’s theme when Valli declared it in the Blogging Marathon #98 – “Cooking for Two”. You all know, we aren’t two, we are four. 😀 But most of the time, I end up cooking for two because the other two I have are very fussy that I don’t feel like cooking for them. 😕 HD is forever looking into my food, so for my safety, it is better to cook extra and serve him as well. Do you have husbands who want to eat your food? OK, so jokes apart, dalia or broken wheat is not something that I frequently cook with. But when I got the opportunity to try the ingredient when my mentor included it as a part of my carbs, I fell in love with this upma. Every second day, I was making it for my breakfast…
Easy Pizza Rolls
For this week’s theme of “Kid’s Delight – Snacks and Bites” for the Blogging Marathon #98, I am jumping in with these Pizza Rolls that I baked for Rasha’s class party along with the Brookies. You must be wondering what did I make for Azza then. She came home saying that her teacher asked her to make some “healthy sandwich” and that too only 12 of them. I was a bit concerned. Only 12? And that too sandwich? I asked her again and again, and she kept saying “yes”. I ended up making chicken salad sandwich for her class, which didn’t take much time as Rasha’s goodies took. Anyway… 😀 Rasha actually wanted pizza. But then making mini pizza is a small pain, especially for a class party. So I convinced her that I would make rolls, so that they are easier to carry and eat. After thinking…
Kadumaanga | Malabar Raw Mango Pickle
I don’t know how your relationship with your mom is. We have a totally different wavelength when it comes to thoughts, and can be at loggerheads at times. But does that make me not love her? Definitely not. She is my ticket to paradise, maybe more than my two daughters are. Didn’t the Prophet tell us that our Jannah (paradise) lies under our mother’s feet? This has become a good blackmail dialogue for every Muslim mother, and that includes me too. 😉 And then this hadith: A man came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship? The Prophet said: Your mother. The man said, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man asked again, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your…
Crispy Dosa | Dosa using Poha/ Aval
I always use my idli batter to make my dosas. I make idlis the first day, and then after two days, I add little water to make it slightly thinner, and get the dosas rolling. Everybody does that, isn’t it? It was by accident that I discovered that poha or aval or flattened rice flakes makes a very good replacement when you run out of urad dal. Poha is something that is always available in our home, as it makes a super quick snack or breakfast, either in this way or this. So using it in dosa batter was something I really wanted to try. My girls totally loved how crisp these dosas stayed, even after cooling down. I have a pretty warm kitchen, so my batter ferments well. But getting crisp dosas has been a challenge for me, but not after trying this recipe. The poha…