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…
Sindhi Murg Biriyani | Sindh Style Chicken Biriyani
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…
Easy Haleem | Spicy Wheat Lentil Mash
I am just feeling really blank as I open this post and sit to type something. This Ramadan has been so different, that it had been initially difficult to digest but we took it in and accepted the change. Earlier this week, Lubna had bumped up her guest post on the blog, and as I read through it, I had gone back to some of the earlier posts like this Masala Aleesa I had done for her blog during one of the Ramadans. How much is Ramadan a celebration here, but had gone really sobre this time, thanks to one virus. There are a lot of matters to ponder on this. It just took a miniscule matter, that is not visible to the eye, to topple everything that we had called “normal”. We are slowly but surely adjusting to the new normal. Having said that, there are still…
Creamy Fruit Chaat
We are “eat the fruit as is” category people. My girls and I prefer eating our fruits in its pure form, so does HD. The juice form is reserved for when we go out and want to enjoy something sweet. Rasha literally loathes any dessert which has fruit in it, and that includes the fruit salad and the fruit custard. 😕 I really don’t understand it, however, food is also personal choice, isn’t it? 🙂 Having said that, sometimes I do crave for fruit chat once in a while. But I am not fond of the cutting work that goes into making a fruit chaat. Hehe… I have always been making it this way, till I was introduced to another variety during last Ramadan… I had mentioned previously that HD runs a Pakistani eatery and during Ramadan, they make chaats and pakodas for Iftar time. When the chef…
Aloo Gosht ~ Meat and Potato Curry
After posting the Batata Harra and Aloo Raita, here is the final potato recipe for this week’s Blogging Marathon #106 theme of “Pick one vegetable, cook dishes from three states/countries”. I have moved from Lebanon to India and now to our neighboring Pakistan to select a humble potato dish. In fact, this dish is cooked in Muslim heavy areas of northern India as well. My first tryst with Aloo Gosht was at a nearby Pakistani restaurant, adjacent to the building we used to stay during our school days. We would go there for eating their huge thick oil laden parathas and order sides of dal fry and this aloo gosht. It would look the same all the time – a dark brown color gravy with a couple of inches of oil floating on the top, which we used to pull out by dropping a couple of tissue on…
Be My Guest – Anday Cholay Ka Saalan
Back with another guest post this year… 🙂 Just like I perused Usha for a guest post from last year, Maria was another blogger I have been behind for a guest post for the blog. Do I sound like a stalker? I don’t think I am. Maybe I am nice, well mannered stalker. 😉 Maria is the blogger behind “Foodaholic“. I love her blog for the simple fact that she shares simple Pakistani dishes. I love Pakistani food and have tried a few recipes by myself, though I would like to cook more of it in the coming future, InShaAllah. Her recipes are easy to follow and her pictures are very comforting. There are so many dishes that I have already bookmarked from her blog, like the Dhwan Dahi Ghosht, Pakistani Fish Karahi (to be made after my girls go on vacation this month end 😉 ) and Suji…
Be My Guest – Dahi Boondi
Blogging is quite a funny business. There are many bloggers that I am very good friends with, but there are many more who I have acquaintances with, or some even we occasionally comment on each other’s blog, and that’s about it. “My Ninja Naan” was one of the blogs I discovered fairly early through my blogging journey. I would read the blog but not comment on it. I don’t know why… I just wouldn’t. Fast forward to now, the blog has been renamed as “Chai and Churros” and Henna has become somebody really dear. We keep commenting on each other’s Insta stories and liking each others posts. Hehe… how life turns around, isn’t it? 🙂 I have been thinking of calling her around to be on my blog and I thought this Ramadan was perfect timing for it. She very gladly accepted my invite and even send the post…
Bagara Baingan ~ Hyderabad style Eggplants in Peanut-Coconut Sauce
I guess we all would love to travel some or the other time. I would love to travel, however having a spouse who is not very keen to go around and prefers to be stuck more with his work doesn’t make it a possibility. In turn, B keeps travelling on and off. After an expensive trip to UK last year, he took a break for six months to recoup and then travelled to Hong Kong and Tunisia this year already. My fridge is slowly filling up with his magnets. 😀 My girls keep cribbing that we go nowhere. I just tell them to be patient and InShaAllah, we will go someday. Travelling with a family isn’t cheap though, but with loads of options now, I guess we all must plan in at-least one trip a year, even if it maybe by skipping the trip back home. After having talked…
Gajrela ~ Pakistani Carrot Rice Pudding
I am trying to get back to regular blogging and I am feeling quite rusty. Having said that, when it is the tenth of the month, I have to make sure that I don’t miss out on a challenge that I nurture and manage – the Muslim Food Blogger Challenge! It has been an amazing journey so far and each challenge has been accepted by my fellow bloggers with a lot of enthusiasm. It is this support that makes me want to keep the challenge going on. I am pretty excited by the fact that the challenge is approaching one year in November. Definitely another pointer to keep continuing, InShaAllah… This month, we are exploring Pakistani cuisine. We had done Indonesian cuisine a few months ago, and as per statistics, Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in the world. Pakistani food is very similar to the Muslim…
Pakistani Mint Cumin Raita
Each time you go to a Pakistani eatery here, there is something standard that will come with everything that you order. The best part about it is that you can dip all your food in it, pour it over your curry to mellow down the heat, or have it just like that. It is my favorite thing to have whenever I go to any eatery. Just try dunking your kebabs in them – they taste amazing. During my initial days of blogging, I had received a request from a fellow blogger asking if I knew how to make the raita we get from Karachi Darbar. This chain of restaurants is one of the most well known Pakistani food chains here. We used to absolutely enjoy the food, but off late, I have not been liking their food, so it’s been a long time since we hopped in. 🙁…
Lahori Chargha ~ Lahori Style Chicken Roast
I never hinted on the blog that HD has a small restaurant that serves Pakistani food. It is close to our house. But no, I don’t get food from there all the time. He does tell me to order if I feel lazy but I try my maximum to keep it to bare minimum as possible. Also, I am not really keen in being known to his staff. Also clarifying, I have absolutely no involvement whatsoever in that business of his. 😀 The first time I had Lahori Chargha was when he bought a whole fried chicken as a tester when he hired a new cook. The man was quite old but he was really impressed with his cooking. The chicken he bought was amazing. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with generous sprinkle of chaat masala over it, it was amazing to dip it into the…
Chukandar Ghosht ~ Beetroot Mutton Curry
Something I like about our neighboring country’s cuisine is that they include vegetables in their meat curries. You will find spinach in their mutton curry, methi in their chicken curry, etc. I guess some of the influences are found in some of our North side states as well, though I am not very well aware of the same. I found “Chukandar Ghosht” in a group mainly of Pakistani members. The color and the recipe allured me. I am sure all of you agree how beautiful the color of beetroot makes any dish look. Just giving you some examples, like the Beetroot Raita and the Eggless Red Velvet Muffins. I had to make it somehow, since my kids are very fond of beetroot. This is such an easy-to-put-together curry, with no tough ingredients and tastes amazing with some hot naans or simple steamed rice. Try to use tender mutton…
Fruit Chaat
“O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may ward off (evil);” (Surah Al-Baqarah:183) This happens to be my fourth Ramadan blogging, Alhamdulillah. Each time the month comes, it gives me an opportunity to let my readers know about the importance of the month. We as Muslims, celebrate this month as a gift from the Almighty, however difficult it may be taking into account the climatic conditions. But it is His Mercy that this month comes across all seasons as years pass by. So during a lifetime of a person, he fasts easily during winters and with a little bit of difficulty during the summers, however with all the benefits of the month. I have already touched upon the month’s benefits in my posts from the previous years, which you can refer to the archives, if you…
Tarka Gajar Ka Halwa – Tempered Carrot Sweet
I was just having a run-down on my recent posts and I was surprised to see that a lot of sweet posts that I have done recently had a lot of fruits and sometime vegetable in it! Hehe… I somehow seem to have discovered a liking towards including each and every fruits and vegetables into sweet stuff, since I have a sweet tooth just like my blog name is… (Duh!) So I am just adding one more to the list and InShaAllah, many of fruity and “vegetably” (if there is a word like that! 😀 ) sweet dishes will come your way as time passes… 🙂 As I scroll my eyes towards the numbers, this happens to be post #800 on the blog. Sometimes, I still can’t believe that I am the one who has done all these posts on the blog. I consider myself as lazy –…
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…