I guess I have already mentioned on the blog that umma used to never cook with potatoes. Not because she didn’t like them, but since they are starchy and not good for her diabetes, she would hardly make them. Once when I was watching “Love Bytes by Joey” on NDTV Good Times, she was cooking up a Kerala meal and demonstrated this particular curry. As soon as I watched it, I noted down the recipe and had to make it, since it reminded me of a curry that umma used to make long back. This is one of the easiest curries that I have made. It comes together in no time and is so delicious that even when you are done with your chapathis, you would want to lick the curry. No, I am not exaggerating… 😀 The coconut milk gives an amazing flavor and yes, do not miss the…
Nenthrapazham Pradhaman ~ Plaintain Jaggery Dessert
It is so rare that two festivals coincide together. Eid and Onam have come one after the other back home. While I was returning back from home, all outlets had boards on “Bakreedashamsakal, Onashamsagal” (Eid Wishes, Onam Wishes). For me, Onam is all about the sadya. I wait for a chance to eat the lavish meal on the leaf, where you get to eat so many varieties of food at the same time. Despite being fully vegetarian, it is a play on your taste buds and will leave you full to the brim and ready to doze off! 😀 Here is a very interesting link I found this time, makes a wonderful read and has some basic knowledge of how to lay the leaf, how to put which dish where, etc…. hopefully something that will help me later when I have the courage to make a whole sadya all…
Chia Oatmeal with Cinnamon Apples
Even though I am not a fan of oats as such, most of the time I resort to it as it is the easiest breakfast that you can make and ensure that you have some. With so many reports emphasizing on how important breakfast as a meal is for our overall health and weight maintenance matters, it becomes imperative to have a filling breakfast, how much every fast life may be. That reminds me how breakfast is a lavish affair back home, and how sometimes meals are divided into two – a glass of sulemani with ripe plantains, boiled eggs and biscuits to begin with and moving onto a spread which can be a full meal in itself. In a fast paced life like that of UAE, we are mostly dependent on quick fixes like cereals and oats. Sharing with you today, a vegan breakfast which is easy…
Tropical Sunrise Muffins ~ Vegan!
Time for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post! To review all my previous posts and read about them, you can check out here. I have enjoyed each and every post that I have been working on and this one was no different. Since I am moving for my vacation back home next month, I wanted to make sure that I participate in this month’s challenge. If you would love to join the challenge – which I would highly recommend! – then do hop on to their page and submit your blog. I am sure that you will enjoy the ride once you hop in… 🙂 This month I was assigned the blog, Cook with Sara. She is a Midwestern American blogger, who has been blogging for the past eight years, so you can imagine how much of a treasure trove her recipe index is! The very first…
Mango Coconut Milk Pistachio Ice-Cream
It is time for this month’s Shhh Cooking Challenge. After taking over the reins from Priyaakka, Mayuriji has been doing a fantastic job at ensuring that the challenge moves forward. This month, the theme was “Mangoes”, as it is the fruit of the season and our partner was supposed to give us two more ingredients to go with the theme. I am paired with Anu this month, and after a brief discussion, she asked me to make something with condensed milk and nuts of my choice. Since I am on a vegan diet and wanted to make something that I could eat too, I requested her if she could change the condensed milk to coconut milk, and I got an instant nod. Wasn’t I a happy soul? 🙂 I was eyeing this ice-cream that Rekha had posted on her blog recently, and what a good time to whip…
Pola | Maida Ottada | Mutta Pathiri ~ Malabar Style Pancake
Today, after the Wholewheat Oats Pancakes and Orange Scotch Pancakes, which are normal pancakes with a little difference in their making, here is the original Malabar style pancake! There are so many names to it, but we call it pola and some parts of North Kerala call it as Mutta Appam or Mutta Pathiri, which just means egg pancakes. 🙂 How strange does it feel when something that you really don’t like is a kid’s favorite? 🙂 My kids love it to the core. In fact when my parents were here, umma would very religiously make this for breakfast every Thursday and Saturday. Rasha would have a couple for her evening snack on Thursday and she would eagerly wait for Saturday morning to have it again. Once they returned back to home to settle, I literally stopped making it even though I had the special chatti that is…
Mango Pineapple Colada
I was wondering why I haven’t posted anything about the weather as such. Hmm… We have had very dicey weather over the past two weeks. We had a day with heavy rains during the evening, and that too on a morning which showed no signs of it! Following the rain, the temperatures went up from below 20s to above it and afternoons have started clocking close to 30 degrees. Even though it is a very pleasant climate with breeze, the temperatures are showing towards summer slowly approaching. Normally, March sees an upsurge in barbeque gatherings and beach outings, which I am sure will be the same this year too, before April gets a bit too much to handle in the outdoors. When Muslimah Bloggers mentioned that the prompt for this month is “colors“, I thought, why not share some of the splashing colors that the sky has been exhibiting…
Daal (Lentil) Coconut Milk Curry
A little reminder for the day… Nothing needs to accompany this already heavy wordings, I think so… 🙂 I have learned it the hard way and Alhamdulillah, I don’t compel myself now to understand why certain things happen, because Allah has no need to explain to us what is happening in our life at the moment. He loves us more when we wait patiently for things to unfold by itself and come up with an answer, InShaAllah… 🙂 Daal or lentils would have featured every other day in my house if the folks were fond of it. 🙁 I love lentils, whole or split, in any form – curries, soups or salads! They are filling and can be tricky to make them appetizing but somehow I am finding ways to make it appetising. Love daals? Then check out this link for various options! This is one variation of daal…
Muringayila Thengapaal Soup ~ Drumstick Leaves (Moringa) Coconut Milk Soup
I have already written a long post when I had posted umma’s style of making muringayila, aka drumstick leaves. Once umma went back to stay for good, I never attempted to get any muringayila, or never got the chance to get them as well. They are never sold on supermarket aisles. At the end of last year, we had gone to a cousin’s wife’s house, where there are two big drumstick trees, so I pulled up some so that I could cook it up. The same day Azza went down with vomitting and fever, so we came back home soon and I was feeling totally mood off as she was sleeping and Rasha was spending her time watching her favorite “My Little Pony”. Not being in a mood to cook anything elaborate, I got down to making this soup and I must say that this is the best way…
Hyderabadi Chicken Masala
Life is back to routine today. Schools have opened after three weeks of winter vacation, yet winter is not here as such! Hehe… Even when we were in school, winter would actually come only after school reopens, so I am hoping for the best. 😉 Though the climate is amazing, it is still 17 – 19 degrees in the mornings with a light breeze, not enough to be wrapping a shawl around or wearing a sweater! Today was a struggle after three weeks of having lazy mornings, that the girls almost missed their bus! Alhamdulillah, I have two who have no qualms of waking up in the morning, therefore makes my struggle much lesser. Hope to get back into it very soon… As I am typing the intro for this recipe, I was wondering from where did I refer for this recipe. I suppose it was from a…
Chia Mango Pudding
Being a food blogger means getting excited while seeing new ingredients online. Just like I got excited about kale, I got excited about chia seeds as well. The whole net went blah-blah about how wonderful and nutritious this seed is. During a casual visit to Spinneys – a supermarket chain I go to only if I want to pick up some expensive “can’t find anywhere else” stuff that catch my fancy! (so that means I don’t frequent them much, fearing my wallet! 😉 ) – I was picking up a box of milled flax seed, when my eyes fell on the box of chia seeds right next to it. My heart bounced with happiness – yaay, I get to try it! I was so excited that I didn’t even check the price. With my prized found, I went to the counter for paying the cash and once the cashier…
Meatball (Kofta) Curry
I am a watcher, to say the least. I keep my eyes wide open to absorb any type of beauty I get to see – it may be a baby, a lovely dress worn by a pretty woman, that dazzling abaya, somebody’s ring, nicely presented food, a frothy cup of coffee, a well made cup of chai… That’s not the only thing I watch! The sun, moon, stars, trees, wind… everything related to nature amazes me. When I catch the moon in the daylight, it amuses me. The sun sinking in between the tall buildings, creating a lovely silhouette excites me irrespective of how many times I see it. Last week, I happened to see two bright stars in the early morning sky. At around 5:50 am, I had just opened the balcony door to feel the day and a glance up showed me two stars shining so bright,…