If you see, starting from the Khabeesa, I have made it a point to post close to or on the UAE National Day, something that I don’t even do for the Indian Independence Day. 😀 That doesn’t make me any less patriotic, it is just that I belong to a generation of Indians who own an Indian passport, who love every vacation trip planned to India, but since they have been born and/or brought up in some part of the UAE, a part of them is in them. I am sure many of them who are in the same boat of mine can get how I feel. 🙂 This year has been celebrated by the entire country as the “Year of Zayed” as it is his 100th birth anniversary, commemorating the great father of the nation’s visionary outlook for this country. His vision for the country is very…
Biryani Samak ~ Emirati Fish Biriyani
Life is back to normal. My parents went back home on Thursday night, so the weekend was very drab without them. Just to cheer up, I attended a small potluck tea party of a very vibrant FB group of homemakers. I thanked myself for doing that. I had a good time and the kids enjoyed themselves in the company of the other kids as well. The night was cold though, so once back home, I started getting jitters and yesterday I was totally low. I had everything except fever. I just managed the day with all leftovers from the fridge and simply stretched myself on the couch most of the day. Today, school has started and the mornings are getting colder and darker. Slowly, traffic will also start picking up once all schools open by early next week. So I am trying to brace myself up for it after…
Baked Rice Casserole
For the Bake-a-thon, I wanted to make sure that I don’t have only sweet bakes being posted. So my eyes fell on this delicious baked rice casserole I had made and clicked sometime back. Usually baked casseroles always involve pasta, like this tuna one and sausage one. As this involves rice instead of pasta but cooked in almost the same style, I had to make it. This recipe was part of a cook-along hosted in a lovely FB group that I am a part of, not only that the recipe was shared by someone who is a good friend too, Nuzha. The other recipe I had posted on the blog after learning from this lovely segment was this jiffy pasta. Anyway, coming back to this dish, it involves a little bit of work, since there is some cooking involved of the layers involved. But the recipe was too…
Bedouin Meat Rice
You will never see me posting on a Friday unless it is for a challenge. And how could I miss a challenge that is so close to my heart? The Muslim Food Bloggers Challenge happened by a whim. A group that is beautifully moderated by Lubna and Huma to bring in Muslimah bloggers from around the world is where this idea was born, and was beautifully accepted by the enthusiastic ladies in the group. It is heartwarming to see that every challenge is met with a lot of interest. We are now in our challenge #12, which means that it is one year old! How fast! From starting with the Mamoul I cooked from Sawsan’s blog till the last one, each recipe has been an interesting journey. I am hoping that we will be able to keep moving along with the challenge as long as possible, InShaAllah… This…
Green Beef Pulao
We don’t make beef frequently at home. Only once in a while, when I get good ones, I get some and stock it. Most of the time, I go ahead and make the beef roast (looks like this post needs an uplift!) because that’s the easiest for me to make and also it is loved by the folks at home. This Green Beef Pulao was born out of the need to use an additional bunch of greens that I had picked up by mistake. Having loved the Green Mutton Masala and the Hara Murg Pulao, I was sure that this one would be well accepted too. After all, a combination of coriander, mint and curry leaves can’t go wrong, unless you screw up the proportions as such! Hehe… The flavors of this dish and aroma is spot on. Moreover, unlike biriyani, you don’t even need multiple pots. You…
Arseeyah ~ Emirati Rice Chicken Gruel
I was ready with the Samak Koufta and Shorbat Adas well before in time, however this dish had to wait till the start of Ramadan to be made. Arseeyah is considered to be one of the Emirate’s comfort food. What is not comfort in it? Rice, chicken and some simple spices amalgamate into a wonderful dish, so very close to Harees. During my casual browsing, I landed up on this blog and it was love at first sight. It was one of the few blogs on the world wide web which had some Emirati recipes. I wish she would have continued blogging since the blog hasn’t been updated since Ramadan 2013. 🙁 Anyway, it is a treasure trove of a lot of simple recipes and I have almost bookmarked the entire blog to try! 😀 The one recipe that did pique my interest instantly was this dish. I did go…
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,…
Hyderabadi Kheema Biriyani
I normally don’t post on Fridays unless they are challenge posts. But this time, thought of giving that rule of mine a little miss. 🙂 Today is our anniversary #13. This is the fourth anniversary we are celebrating on the blog. 😀 At times I really wonder how much effort it takes to make a marriage work. One or the other spouse does a lot of adjustments, forgiving and forgetting the small and large mistakes. Why do we do it? There is something more than love that keeps a marriage going. I have realised that every day of my life. I am quite a moody person and one small thing can push me off a corner. HD is just the opposite. Maybe that’s why we are still together in it despite every odds. He is not a romantic that gives me surprises off the hook, or makes me feel…
Thalassery Chemmeen Biriyani ~ Thalassery Style Prawn Biriyani
The feeling of achievement is immense, isn’t it? I am glad that my little attempt to bring together a small group of bloggers is faring fairly well. We are in the third month of our challenge and I am sincerely hoping that we continue moving forward well, InShaAllah… 🙂 For this month’s Muslim Food Blogger Challenge, the challenge was to make “Biriyani”. Alhamdulillah, after trying so many versions, I can confidently handle a biriyani, though there are times when I conveniently screw it up too. 😀 Those are called “bad biriyani days (BBD)”. 😉 A biriyani is usually a very intimidating dish for many, but let me tell you, once you get a hang of it, it is quite easy to make. One major thing you need to learn is to how much to cook the rice. The rice is never cooked fully in the first stage, it…
Hara Murg Pulao ~ Green Chicken Pilaf
This happens to be HD’s favorite rice recipe. He is normally not someone who showers a lot of praises. I have keep my eyes open to see how much he loves what I serve, with the amount that he eats! 😀 There are so many instances where he has eaten very limited and then tells, “It is good”, giving me all sorts of doubts on whether it is actually good enough. But I have cooked this puloa a few times and each time, I have seen him hog and then literally unable to breath. 😀 Maybe, he really loves it… hehe… The best part about the pulao is the green marinade. It gives a totally lovely flavor to the chicken and the rice as a whole. Try to marinate the chicken for the longest time for maximum flavors. The challenge while making this rice is the water added….
Ambur Chicken Biriyani
As Ramadan draws to the end and Eid gets closer, many households slowly start the preparation for the festivities. InShaAllah, we are looking forward to a wonderful Eid, with the whole family in place and I guess we are having it this way after many years, so you can imagine the excitement. 🙂 Once we are done with our Eid prayers, we all gather at my aunt’s place to gorge on ela adas, cutlets, continuous cups of tea and unlimited chatter. This is followed by quick trips to my cousin’s place and then we come back to biriyani (mostly this one) and some paal pizhinjathu. We also catch up on some sleep since the previous night is always hectic and we wake up really early to get going to the Eidgah, the big ground where the special Eid prayers happen. The first day of Eid is always within the…
Meen Choru ~ Malabar Style Fish Rice
Including more fish into my family’s diet is something that I am struggling with, just like how I struggle to include vegetables! Even though I have a carnivorous bunch, they are more bend towards chicken, and then comes mutton and beef. But fish is not something they like. 🙁 I prefer fish more than the other non-veg but I don’t like to make it alone for me, so find ways to incorporate them somehow and make them eat. Today’s recipe is the Malabar style fish pilaf – I have already shared two versions of this rice: one with meat and the other with chicken. So this is the last version available, till I hopefully discover more such similar rice recipes. 😀 I have tried this rice with fresh fish and frozen fish fillets for ease, and I must say that fresh fish wins the battle hands down. It…
Kozhi Choru ~ Malabar Chicken Rice
Last week has been difficult. My hands and legs have been constantly stiff and it was really draining off my energy. A drive to the office would leave me with stiff legs and back that I would require at least a couple of minutes to start moving. Waking up in the mornings were becoming a pain since my neck would just have a catch, so on and so forth. Being close to mid 30s cannot be counted as “old”, right? 😉 Blaming it on time and on my hectic schedule, I just left myself like that till I couldn’t take my lack of energy any more and decided to pay a visit to the doctor. He asked me to go on empty stomach yesterday morning. Since the treatment mode is Ayurveda, I have to now go on a full vegan diet – no non-veg, no diary, no eggs – till the…
Pakistani Chicken Pulao
Remember about a rice that I had mentioned in the Sambaar Saadam recipe? It was this one! I hated the initial picture I had taken for this delicious dish. After contemplating for quite long, I decided to put this recipe on hold till I cook it again and take decent enough pictures to accompany the post. So here I am with better enough pictures – this is only my opinion, I hope you share the same too! 🙂 As soon as I saw this recipe here, I had to make it. It was the first time I was cooking with black cardamoms so I was pretty much excited about it. It looks and smells different from the normal green cardamom that I so extensively use in my cooking. I then came to learn that this spice is extensively used in Pakistani and North Indian cooking. Hoping to use…
Malabar Chemmeen (Prawn) Biriyani
It has been more than a week since my vacation ended and still I get questions like, “You must be still in that hangover!” Being a working mother who arrived the previous day before the school opens, I do not have the option to stay in the hangover for too long! The most interesting fact is that kids get adjusted to their life much faster than we adults do. We tend to sulk a lot when our situation changes. Yes, it did take me a couple of days to sink into reality but the four days I had before the start of work helped me a lot to get back to work much faster than I expected, Alhamdulillah. Yes, I still go into the hangover at times, thinking how alone my parents must be feeling and getting that pinch that every grown-up child must be facing thinking of that situation….