An Emirati style dessert, made with sago or tapioca pearls, and delicately flavored with saffron, rose water and cardamom… It always feels nice to come back to this little space and write about the country that is our bread and butter. Having lived here since I was born, I have seen the country go through a lot of changes, improvements and diversions. This year has been the most challenging thanks to Covid, but it was a worldwide phenomena and many will agree that UAE has managed this epidemic well. In between, the country had its first Mars mission, which was a first of many kinds. The Expo 2020 may be delayed, but it is a hope of having a better event in place. I sincerely hope that the coming years will be a much better and productive year for this country, which is entering its 50th year of…
Pooram Varuthathu | Poora Podi | Avalose Podi ~ Malabar Roasted Rice Flour Snack
A rustic Malabar tea-time snack, made of roasted rice flour, had on its own or along with it’s favorite friends, a ripe banana or a boiled ripe plantain… When we come back from home, something that we bring without fail is a minimum of two big packs of “pooram varuthath”- also called “poora podi” or “avalose podi”, though the latter is more of a South Keralite name. I haven’t seen this being eaten in HD’s side, so I guess it is more prevalent in the Malappuram side, thanks to its proximity to Thrissur. I store one packet in a container outside and another one in the fridge. It makes a very quick fix breakfast or chai time snack, either on its own along with a cup of sulaimani or with a banana mashed into it. B and Azza loves it a lot, but they have their moods to…
Peanut Butter Cake
Just like Nutella and Biscoff, I have a jar of peanut butter in my pantry at any given point of time. Azza isn’t a fan of it, but Rasha loves peanut butter on her toast and sometimes by the spoonful. Therefore it features in the school lunch box once in a week, though Azza gets Nutella on her toast, so that I can avoid the frown face. Hehe… I am usually not a very accommodating ummi, but sometimes you are forced to put aside your rigidness just for some peace of mind… 😉 I totally love them in this breakfast smoothie, which is an amazing on-the-go breakfast, and these sandwiches as well. If you are wondering why I am starting off with a peanut butter lecture, then that’s because today’s post is for the AtoZ Challenge, hosted by Vidya and Jolly, and the letter of the month is…
Orange Cranberry Scones
There are time when challenges are due and I get excited about it coming up, just like how I felt for the current month for the AtoZ Challenge, hosted by Vidya and Jolly. Even though I haven’t done all alphabets due to many reasons, I love participating in this challenge a lot. You can find all posts related to this challenge in this tag. This month, the alphabet in question is O and the ingredient I have chosen for this challenge is “Orange”. Now, thanks to Covid and all the talks about how good Vit C can be for the virus, oranges and Vit C effervescents have suddenly become in so much demand, and expensive as well. Hehe… I have always loved oranges, just to eat it like that or in desserts, most of the time. Be it this self-saucing pudding, these yogurt popsicles, these yummy biscottis or…
Kalonji Aloo | Potatoes with Nigella Seeds
The current pandemic had put a temporary stop to a few challenges and that included the AtoZ Challenge, that is hosted by Vidya and Jolly. After posting this recipe for the letter “M”, the tough times came through and taking into account the lock-down back home and non-availability of ingredients, the post for the letter “N” was moved. Finally, we had a declaration from Vidya that we could do our posts this month. During this pandemic, I decided I would cook up with what I had in my pantry – “Nigella Seeds” aka kalonji. This ingredient is actually something I rarely use in my cooking. I keep a little stock in my pantry so that I can sprinkle it into my pazhampori. I totally love the little bitterness it gives when you bite through it along with the sweet plantains. My impulse was to try Fami’s banana bread, but…
Broken Glass Pudding | Jelly and Milk Pudding
Sometimes we make certain recipes mainly because it looks pretty. The taste comes secondary in such cases. But when beauty means tastes (not brains in this case 😉 ), then it does make a difference. That is what I have always felt about this recipe that I am sharing with you today. This post also becomes a part of the AtoZ Cooking Challenge hosted by Vidya and Jolly. The letter for this month is “M” and I chose “milk” as the ingredient. Since a huge part of this pudding is milk, there is nothing better that I would want to share! This is one of the first recipes that I had tried when the cooking bug hit me, apart from the Malai Chicken, of course! I was actually intrigued about how the medley of jelly and milk pudding would taste like. Ramadan is usually considered to be the…
Tadka Dal Khichdi ~ Spiced Lentil and Rice Mash
This month, again I am back at participating in the A to Z challenge hosted by Vidya and Jolly. The letter for the month is “L” and I was tempted to go simple. My initial idea was to use limes, which are in abundance now, and make a limeade or maybe even bake a cake. However, I ditched the idea. I don’t know why but I just did. Sometimes, you have no explanations to sudden cancellations to the initial plans, isn’it it? It was when I was reminded of this kichdi which has become my staple almost every weekday as dinner. It features a lot of lentils, but I was doubtful if it would be acceptable. A couple of messages to Vidya and she confirmed it is OK, provided I place the emphasis on the lentils. It was a “yay” moment, since I was sharing it a lot on…
Honey Kiwi Walnut Salad
I literally feel like I finished an assignment right before the deadline. Hehe… Before that, a quick look into the scenes out here. We have had an awesomely wet weekend, with heavy rains, that caused total water clogging in most of the parts of the city. On Friday, we took a drive towards the outskirts and seriously enjoyed the rains. However, on Saturday, it caused a lot of trouble, but that comes with the enjoyment, isn’t it? The girls had their madrassa closed yesterday, and have their schools off today, so they are pretty excited about what the rains have offered them. 🙂 The rains are expected to be on and off for this whole week. Thankfully, slowly it is feeling like winter, and I hope this chill stays well till March or April. It’s been long since I have participated in the AtoZ Recipe Challenge hosted by…
Honey Labneh Pannacotta with Honey Walnut Sauce
If you think I am going overboard with challenges these days, then please feel free to think so! 🙂 Next month, I am travelling home, so I am going to leave an empty blog behind for you, but making sure that there is plenty to read and explore for all of you out there. I am participating in the AtoZ challenge this month. The challenge is hosted by Vidya and Jolly, and happens every two months, where we follow the alphabets, cook with an ingredient that is supposed to be the star of the dish. You can find the challenge posts done previously here. This month, the letter is “H” and the ingredient I chose to cook with is nothing but “Honey”. I am sure there is no home that doesn’t have a bottle of honey hiding somewhere in the pantry. Apart from being a natural sweetener, it…
Vellulli Achaar | Malabar Garlic Pickle
This month, I decided to participate in the AtoZ Challenge, hosted by Vidya and Jolly. I have been planning the post since long and made sure I had cooked and shot for it in advance. Since we are in Ramadan, I didn’t want to be bothered with more cooking, at the same time didn’t want to miss participating in this challenge. My first entry was this simple stir fry with eggplant, since that month we were cooking with ingredients starting with “E”. I decided to give “F” a miss though it was quite easy to have done a post with it. This month, the alphabet is “G” and I chose garlic to be the main ingredient. Garlic needs no introduction in Indian cooking especially. It is used in almost every non-vegetarian dish that can be thought of. Vegetarians do use it with a little bit of restraint since…
Vazhuthananga Upperi/ Mezhukupuratti ~ Malabar Eggplant Stir Fry
This month, I am joining up with a new challenge. I have joined it up more to push myself to blog. Every time, I feel that my creative juices are getting stuck, so such challenges are good enough to get me thinking out of the box. The posts I am scheduling this month seem to be majorly challenge posts too, hehe… Vidya and Jolly jointly conduct the A-Z Recipe Challenge, where the members cook from an alphabet every alternate month. The beauty of this challenge is you pick up an ingredient which starts with the concerned alphabet and cook with it. I had become a part of the group in October but waited till I would feel fine to join in. When the alphabet “E” was declared for January, I gave my name but I had forgotten that I would have my whole entourage at home and that would…