It’s been ages since I have done a book review. I haven’t been really in a mood for cooking for a long while now and I am constantly fighting my moods. I am actually trying to protect my drafts by doing more themes and trying new recipes, though to complete those have also been a struggle. As has been the practise for the past two years, I have been slowing down and not posting when I am really not in a mood, because then it seems to reflect on the blog as well. 🙂 This book review has been moved at least four times this year. I started off by scheduling it in January and finally, Alhamdulillah, this month it appears! I am just hoping that this start will put in forth a little push to dig in through my cookbooks and start trying something from them. I am…
Banana Caramel Muffins
I have been lagging behind on book reviews of late. The main reason has been I have been extremely lazy to cook my normal meals, forget about cooking from the cookbooks I have. I would really like to get back on track but I am in no hurry. I want to give myself my own time and get slowly onto my schedule as my routine eases out and things look better, InShaAllah… However, this is one book review I have been wanting to work on from the beginning of the year. There is one reason for it. When a fellow blogger launches her own cookbook, then it is up to us as her little circle to support her for the same. Moreover if she hands over the privilege of the first sale, then I guess it becomes an even bigger excitement. 🙂 As I do this post, the…
Meen Kakkathil ~ Malabar Thick Fish Curry
This is one book review I have been wanting to work on ever since my hands landed up on the book. There is a special reason for it. Ummi Abdullah is considered to be the all-in-all of Malabar cooking. My first tryst with her was when I ordered “Malabar Muslim Cookbook” online years back and ever since it has been like a bible for me. The book was particularly helpful in giving measurements when umma couldn’t give it. I hope you get what I mean… 🙂 A lot of the Malabar recipes on the blog have been referred to the book . So when I saw an announcement on her FB page inviting people for trying the recipes for her new cookbook, I pounced onto it. In fact I saw the post quite late that I didn’t get a chance to try recipes that I would have loved…
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…
Tamatar Moonge Ki Phalli Ka Salan ~ Tomato Drumstick Stir Fry
By now, you may know I am a very impulsive cookbook buyer. Anything that catches my attention makes its way to my book collection. Most of the time I buy them through online sources, so usually it’s the reviews that get me through to the books. I must say that it has landed me into trouble by getting my hands onto really useless cookbooks. That’s a totally different matter… “The Jewels of Nizams” was one of my online purchases last year. I loved the way the book looked from the out, and then the phrase, “Recipes from the Khansamas of Hydrebad” really pushed me to get it through. The book is authored by Geeta Devi, whose other popular book is “Dastarkhan-e-Mughlai: 101 Easy to Cook Hyderabadi Recipes“. The book is done by Roopa Publications and the first edition released in 2013. In the introduction, the author does say…
Mary Berry’s Marble Loaf
Sometimes I forget about the last Saturday of the month, and then all of a sudden, it hits me that it is time for the book review! This time, I decided to choose a baking book that was purchased due to my admiration of the pretty woman in “The Great British Bake Off”. I don’t know if I sound lame but I never knew there was a program by that name till the news that Nadia won the title in 2015. It just kept making rounds on Facebook so I got down to watching the show on YouTube and I so loved it. It now comes under the list of programs that I binge watch when I just want to be crawled up on the couch! My eyes constantly went onto the warm and calm looking Mary Berry and I started searching more about her, only to know how…
Easy Rasam
The last Saturday of the month means it is time for a book review! Starting this series has been making me keep myself on my toes and go through the cookbooks I have with me to cook something and review about it too. Just this month, when my parents came, they lugged along in their baggage five more that I added to my collection, despite promising to myself that I wouldn’t get more. 🙁 So much so for promises… My girls, especially Rasha, keeps cribbing on how many cookbooks I have. Rasha gets irritated because I turn down her requests for more books and don’t allow HD to get her, even though they always manage to get things done through my back. I keep telling her that ummi is buying the books from my hard earned money, and at your age, you should be thinking more of borrowing and…
Cook Book Review – “Bake it Sweet” by The Cooking Doctor
This review has been overdue since long. Those who have been reading my blog since long may know about my admiration for Jehanne, who is more known as “The Cooking Doctor”. She was one of my first guest bloggers when my blog was hardly anything and I also had the chance of being a guest on her space, not one but two times. Unfortunately, with time, she never resurrected her blog for reasons best known to her. I must say that I dearly miss her space but I respect her decision and wish her all the best. Earlier, she had done four mini cookbooks, which I had reviewed it here. We would chat occasionally and have shared a lot of talks between us. I was aware that she was working on a cookbook and was having her own problems related to it. After having been with her through…
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
I am excited to be doing the review for a very cute and interesting upcoming cookbook! Miranda Couse, who blogs at “Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt” is releasing her cookbook called “The Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook”, which is up for release on October 31 and up for pre-booking on Amazon. Since I am a pretty lazy cookie maker but a lover of cookbook reviews, I decided to jump at the opportunity and get it going. The book is published by Rockbridge Press and contains more than 150 recipes of classics, occasion special and other American favorites. The book starts off with a lovely introduction about how Miranda started the whole process of working on the cookbook and she dedicates it to the two cookie monsters in her family – her husband and little boy. The book then moves on to mentioning the essentials required for baking, and…
Cauliflower Gashi ~ Mangalore Cauliflower Curry
It’s the last Saturday of the month and time for the book review! This is one segment I am trying to ensure that I continue with it, so that I get a chance to touch all my cookbooks. 😉 I hope you are all enjoying the book reviews, since I do get a lot of questions about the cookbooks I own and my opinions about them. I guess this answers a lot of those queries. 🙂 This month, I thought I will come back to a book that is one of the early cookbooks I bought. “50 Great Curries of India” by Camelia Punjabi doesn’t need much introduction. Like the name suggests, the book includes fifty recipes from various parts of India. The book is published by Motivate Publishing, which is based in UAE. I bought this book during the Sharjah Book Fair way back in 2012. It…
Baked Custard (and a Giveaway!)
One fine morning, I received a message from Papatia, who runs Djaribi Books, which specializes in Islamic books for kids and adults in the USA. They have launched a new book called “Halal Comfort Foods” and she asked if I would be interested in reviewing it. I was more than happy to do it and hence responded back with a “yes”. Couple of weeks later, I received a pretty parcel which actually had more than the book itself! It came with some nibbles, which were thoroughly enjoyed by ourselves over tea. 🙂 Why the book? USA is said to have the most number of reverts into Islam. More than the inclination to the Shahadah (the Oneness of Allah and accepting that Prophet Muhammad SAW is His messenger), it entails a total change in lifestyle for reverts. That change includes in food as well. Food as a total is…
Bangala Dumpa Kurma ~ Andhra Potato Curry
It is the last Saturday of the month, and here we are with the book review! Since I have quite a lot of cookbooks – small and big – it is a task to select one for the month. This time, I decided to review “Southern Flavors – The Best of South Indian Cuisine” by Chandra Padmanabhan. The reason why I went for this particular book was some very favorable feedbacks from vegetarian food bloggers. They swear by her books for authentic south Indian cuisine. Apart from my own cuisine – which I am still learning! – I do not know much of our neighboring state food apart from the masala dosas, vadas, idlis and sambar, which we have adopted into our eating habits. It was this quest that made me buy this book and make it my own. I purchased the book through Amazon India and got…
Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake
Last month, I decided to give the book review segment a miss as the last Saturday coincided with the starting of Ramadan. We are almost ending Ramadan now, and looking forward to Eid – which basically means the morning prayers, the get-togethers, the family meetings and lots of good food. 🙂 While we look forward to it, I thought let me leave you all with the review for this month, while InShaAllah, will come back with more recipes after our little break. We all love small treats once in a while, don’t we? Especially when we crave for a cake, but don’t want to make a whole cake or share it with anybody else, then we do prefer going for mug cakes. They are really quick to make, satiate your cravings without tempting you to go for more again, which isn’t the case if you make a whole…
Majboos Dejaaj | Machboos ~ Emirati Chicken Rice
Did you miss the book review last month? Or you haven’t? If it’s the second case, then you haven’t been reading the blog properly. 😛 Jokes apart, last month, I gave this segment a miss since the Blogging Marathon post collided with the last Saturday. Since I had to choose BM over the book review, I let it go for the month. Here I am this month, making sure that I don’t miss it. 🙂 I am pretty much excited about the post I am doing today. As you know, I am on a mission to collect as much as local cuisine as possible. Having resided in the UAE my whole life, I feel ashamed that I haven’t been accustomed to local cuisine as much as I would have wanted to. But those who have come here would agree to me that local food is not readily available,…
Hummingbird Bakery Blueberry Muffins
It is already the last Saturday of the month! Wow! I thought doing once a month would be a cake walk, but coming to see, the one month itself passes off in a jiffy! 😀 You can see the previous book reviews here. Most of the book adorning my shelf seems to be baking book, and that too with a majority of sweet bakes. I don’t know if it is a matter of pride or shame. Hehe… Today, I chose to review this little book that I have in my collection. Everybody must be familiar with Hummingbird Bakery, which is like a must-go for cake treats in London and how famous their bakes are known to me. I have gone to their outlet in Mall of the Emirates sometime back with the kids. While the kids enjoyed their cupcakes, I gorged down on their pistachio loaf along with…