I would really call sambar as the ultimate comfort food of a South Indian. Why not? We would have sambar with everything. Recently, I discovered that sambar went amazingly well with porottas too! If you are wondering what a “sambar” is, it is a South Indian stew made with lentils, mixed vegetables and lots of spices. I had mentioned in this post that I am not fond of store bought sambar powders. Each brand tastes different and somehow I don’t seem to like any. I prefer to make my own little batch each time I make my sambar. When I discovered that we had our own version of making sambaar using roasted coconut paste, my joy had no bounds. Umma was never aware of a version like this, so I never grew up with one. I have adapted this recipe from many sources so can’t pinpoint just one….
Gothambu Kanji ~ Broken Wheat Gruel/ Konji
Season of flu is here! As much as I love the winters, I dread the illness which comes with it. Alhamdullillah, so far, I have never had any drastic issues as such at home and I sincerely hope it continues the same way, InShaAllah. “Kanji” or gruel is a dish made very frequently if you have illness loitering in the house. It is calm on the tummy, digests very fast and keeps your system clean. Mostly we make it with broken rice, and I have already shared this version previously. But at home,umma makes kanji with broken wheat as she is diabetic. The kids are so used to it that they love this version more than the original one. For umma, it’s an easy dinner, when she gets bored of eating chapathis. I was never fond of this earlier, but now I have gone to liking it, thanks to…
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…
Muringayila Parippu Upperi ~ Drumstick (Moringa) Leaves with Lentils
Allah has His own ways. Each time, my blogging enthusiasm starts taking a downturn, He immediately surprises me with something that helps me take the U-turn, Alhamdulillah. 😀 I have had two things happening over the weekend, the smaller one is winning a gift voucher from Siri’s space and the big one was a mighty surprise: a feature on Manorama Online as one of the six Malayalee foodie accounts to follow on Instagram! It was a real surprise, since I feel I pushed behind a lot of well deserving foodie accounts, but it made me a stronger believer on His Will that may have caused me to be in that list in between all top shots! So rest assured, I am not stopping my blogging in the near future, InShaAllah… 😉 I did a little story on “Muringayila” or drumstick leaves when I had done this post. Drumsticks…
Hearty Bean Barley Soup
Time for the Secret Recipe Club reveal day! I must admit this is one challenge I am so happy to be in! Every month, once our reveal is done, I eagerly wait to see which blog is assigned for the coming month. A food blogger never gets tired of going through another food blog. The only issue is that it gives a feeling that there is still so much to try! 😀 I don’t think that is bad at all. As long as we realize that cooking is a continuous learning process, it will make you feel fine. 😉 The blog assigned to me for this month was “Our Eating Habits“. The owner of the blog, Jamie is the mother of three lovely kids, who are home-schooled, and she absolutely enjoys cooking for them. It is so well evident on her blog. The range of recipes on the blog is…
DIY: Dulche De Leche in Pressure Cooker & DDL Coffee
I have written about DDL in detail in the previous posts. Dulche De Leche is nothing but condensed milk cooked to make it caramel like. This is one of the best discoveries when I fell in love with cooking. Adding DDL to a dessert just lifts it to another level. A few recipes on the blog that already use up this wonder ingredient: Mexican Flan Banoffee Pie DDL Ice Cream DDL Bundt Cake DDL Brownies – my absolute favorite! DDL Baked Cheesecake Making DDL from scratch is actually a tedious process. It is no fun cooking the tin for a few hours – 3 to 4 hours – soaked up in hot water on low flame. Instead, I use my trusted pressure cooker to do the job for me. It gets done so easily and you just need to leave it overnight to cool completely, to make it…
Lauki Chana Dal ~ Bottlegourd Chickpea Lentil Stew
Last week saw some awesome movement on the blog. All I did was share the Chocolate Biscuit Pudding on a few FB groups and what happened was the least that I expected! The day it was posted and the next day showed some really good hits on the blog, in fact last Wednesday showed the highest hits ever since I started the blog. The other time I got close to it was when I shared the Fluffy Biscuit Pudding. I get asked by all as to how to keep a blog running. In fact, there is no formula for it. If you are ready to spent a lot of time looking at ways to emaciate your blog in the way of social networking and otherwise, and if you are lucky, you will get in a healthy amount of hits. It is a lot of work. But more than work,…
Malabar Chemmeen Roast ~ Malabar Prawns Stir Fry
The feeling of wanting to go on leave has never been so high in many years. Even though it is hot here during summers, I am fine with the weather, however this year has been the height. With summers coming late, only by early June, we thought it should be fine but it has been really unbearable. The humidity is at its sticky best, the air is thick with dust and standing in the kitchen or moving out in the mornings is a literal nightmare. While I hear that it is heavily raining back home with some respite here and there, I can’t but wait to go back and have my lazy days. However, past experience has shown that the rains tend to run away by the time I reach home. 😕 Today’s call to D only aggravated my fears of seeing minimal rains. But still, as long as…
Ethapazham Madhuracurry ~ Ripe Plantain Lentil Sweet Curry
As we roll into the last days of this precious month, it is a two fold feeling – the sadness that Ramadan is leaving us this time and the excitement that Eid is coming. Eid-ul-Fitr is Allah’s way of giving us relief from the tough days of Ramadan that we have had, at the same time, for some serious stock taking of how much we have learned from the month and how much of it can we move forward with during the rest of our life. It is a festival where we thank Him for giving us the strength, perseverence and willpower to submit to His Will. However, just like I stated, it is also a time for us to consider continuing the work that we carried out during Ramadan till the next Ramadan, InShaAllah… How easy it is to do, is totally upto us but with His help,…
Irachi Varattiyathu ~ Roast Meat with Coconut Peices
Last Thursday, my parents arrived. Alhamdulillah, the feeling of having them back even though for a little time is priceless. There is a little extra joy coming ahead as my sister and her boy will join us this Thursday evening for a couple of weeks, InShaAllah… Looking forward to a fun filled Eid… 🙂 Ramadan is moving at a dizzying pace and somehow I am not able to keep up the pace. No wonder it is said, that “Ramadan is like a rare flower, that blossoms once a year. Just when you begin to smell its fragrance, it disappears for another year.” Whoever said this, has said it so true… 🙁 As I was going through the posts over the past few weeks, I have not posted any “serious” recipes as such. They have all been quick fixes – like juices, and snacks. I must say that when…
Creamy Mushroom Soup
Last week, I had the opportunity to host a week long of recipe sharing for a very dynamic group. The UAE Food Guide has been active on Facebook for the past three years and now they have moved to having their own page to promote their activities. It is a group of enthusiastic people, who have bound on the common love for food and bring in more interest in the name of food. From being a small group, it has grown to a strong 9K+ member community. The group committee is now into recipes, restaurant reviews and discussions related to food. To make Ramadan interesting, the committee decided to invite four foodies to host a week each, sharing their recipes to the group, giving ideas to the group members for Iftar and Suhoor. I am glad to have taken up the opportunity and interacted with the members of the…
Harees ~ Emirati Wholewheat Mash
Ramadan is incomplete in this part of the world without a regular supply of “Harees”. I bet anybody who has been here will agree. “Harees” is nothing that whole wheat slow cooked along with mutton and bones till nicely mashed. Umma would say that in those days (early 80s), she has seen the maids at the Arab houses would have a huge pot outside the house kept on a makeshift stove, with fire from dried date palm or wood and they would stir in once in a while to ensure it doesn’t stick. The harees would be cooked for hours till you are unable to distinguish the whole wheat nor the mutton. The bones that would be floating on top would be fished out and then the harees would be packed in casseroles with a generous topping of ghee, called as “smen”. These are then distributed to the…
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