I love to do guest posts. Somehow, it makes me feel nice that I get requests from some lovely bloggers who want me at their space. It has a feel-good factor to it. But more than that, the nerve-wrecking thought of what to make for them or post for them is another thing! Today, I am pleased to be at Gloria’s space – a chubby Mumbaikar with the zest for baking. Do check out her blog to see all those beautiful bakes that she dishes out day in and day out! I love her collection of buns and cakes that she keeps churning out every now and then. I am especially enthralled by her Turtle Buns that are hiding among the long list of my “to-do”s. I sincerely thank her for having this humble me around in her beautiful space. I was really in a fix as to what to provide Gloria with. Being…
Beetroot Upperi ~ Malabar Beetroot Stir Fry
Sometimes my mind loiters around the restricted corners of the past… wishing for it to come back, wishing that life wouldn’t have been so unpredictable. Immediately the following verse comes to my mind: “Verily! Man is ungrateful to his Lord.” (Surah Al-Aadiyaat:6) Yes, aren’t we ungrateful? I am numbed at how many times Allah tell us how ungrateful we are. This only shows how well He knows us. At times when frustration creeps in and I start to think that I really don’t care, suddenly Alhamdulillah I get a hit reminding me that this is not Jannah. We will be hurt, ripped off, helpless, frustrated… this is a part of this mini life here. Our victory lies in how much we can control our menial desires and remind ourselves how blessed we are. At times when I feel low, I immediately turn my attention to my parents, my spouse,…
Kadala Parippu Pradhaman ~ Kerala Chana Dal Kheer
I guess I have been working on all the challenges this month. I can’t believe it myself! All the other posts, apart from the challenges are pulled from my drafts. When the dip in cooking happens, challenges do boost up your mood. What I do is I print out the recipe challenge and post it on my fridge door based on what to post first. So each time I go up and down the kitchen, my eyes go on it and the date of posting. That helps me to keep a mental calculation of the last date by which I should finish making it. Another thing I do is that most of the time, or almost every time I halve the recipe. You will always see that my posts serve not more than 4. This helps me to control our intake – most of the challenges are unfortunately sweet posts…
Sambaaram ~ Spiced Buttermilk Drink
What a depressing couple of days it has been! The Sydney Seige and the Peshawar school shooting has touched and disturbed a lot of minds world wide. It is a shame to even compare the people behind these barbaric acts to animals! Animals have much more thoughts and emotions than a hard-hearted human being will be having. This is a test of our times… After all, Allah has reminded us in several places in the Holy Qura’an that He will continue to test us in various forms, to differentiate the good from the bad… “And We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, lives and the fruits (of your toil) but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Those who, when misfortune strikes them, say: ‘Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him is our return. Those are the ones upon whom are…
Thakkali Rasam/ Tomato Rasam
Being a working mother with two school going children is indeed hectic. Alhamdulillah, I am fortunate that I have two of them who love to go to school and who are not very fussy (I am choosing the phrase “very fussy” because at times, they are!) with their lunch boxes. Both of them are happy if I put bread sandwich for them everyday, as if I like to give it to them. A little change from that and I will receive back some leftovers. “Why didn’t you finish your box? Didn’t you like the food?” “Ummi, the food is good, but… bread is better.” Darn! So you see, they make my life easy by only demanding bread with anything in it. By this weekend, their schools will close for their two week winter break and I am waiting for it! A good thing is that they get to spend more…
Moru Curry ~ Simple Buttermilk Curry
We all have our share of comfort food, isn’t it? Some food that gives you a lot of memories, or even if there are no memories, the feel of having it is just out of the world. And the best part is – most of these food are just very normal food, nothing out of the world, made with minimal ingredients and in a jiffy. Umma always makes this moru curry to pair with sambaar for rice. More than the sambaar, I prefer this moru curry. Once everybody is done, I would drink up the remaining, just like I do to her tamarind rasam. Most of my Saturdays, I resort to this curry as it just whips up in no time and tastes just too good with rice. My idea of nice cozy lunch has to be some rice with this moru curry, beans stir fry and nice fat…
Paal Payasam ~ Kerala Style Rice Kheer/ Dessert
I am somebody who has a lot of pricks. It is a good thing to feel those pricks, especially when you do something wrong! At least, it shows that you have some conscience in you! During Onam, one of our Hindu colleagues in the head office distributed paayasam – the Malayalam word for “kheer” – to everybody in the office. In fact, this was the first time she was doing it. As we were enjoying the payasam, I got a call from a colleague in another department. I have always mentioned that I keep baking or cooking and bringing them to office, but the distribution is always limited to the little bunch in my department. Very rarely, I have distributed to all, in fact on two instances, one time when I baked the Coffee Cardamom Marble Cake and the other time was with the Carrot Rice Kheer. Cooking…
Carrot Nurukku Gothambu Payasam/ Carrot Daliya Kheer
It is Onam today… we normally don’t celebrate Onam towards our side. However, the long banana plantains adorned with innumerable varieties of vegetarian delicacies, that is to be washed down with a small banana, some sharakara varatti and a couple of payasams are too good to ignore. That is why every Onam we make sure to get a couple of “Onasadyas” from the nearby restaurant and devour them to the fullest. Not to mention the sleep that comes after having such a heavy meal… I so clearly remember the Onam when I was carrying Azza. It fell during Ramadan, I wasn’t fasting due to my physical condition. A friend of mine was also carrying at that time as well, so we always shared each other’s pregnancy depressions and ups-downs during that time. I tracked down a restaurant near to my office that was arranging parcelled Onasadya and booked two meals…
Quick Semiya Payasam/ Vermicelli Kheer
When I got an email from Sarah regarding the link-in party for Eid, I was all game for it. Sharing with you a little slide regarding the Sunnah of Eid before going ahead with the recipe: I have already shared a few of our normal Eid recipes last year – Ela Ada and Chicken Cutlets for breakfast along with a hot cup of chai, followed by biriyani for lunch, polished off with some Paal Pizhinjathu. Close to Asr prayers, in order to settle down the heaviness, we even go for a serving of Mint Sulaimani. Every year, as it is, we have a defined set of relatives who are always there for lunch. Sometimes, we have guests out of the blue moon, who decide to come in during their rounds. For our unexpected guest, we always have stock of some semiya payasam with us. Just like how in…
Tamarind Rasam | Easy Rasam
Monu is one of the sweetest bloggers I have come to know of late. One thing I love about her is that she never hesitates to leave her long lovely comments on each and every post that she reads of mine, filled in with plenty of smilies… which is enough to pep up anybody’s bad day for sure! I find her to be really zesty and outgoing, always ready to bring a smile on the face of the person she is interacting with. I literally feel Monu’s blog shows her feisty nature and the way she writes is really youthful. Being a big fan of Pakistani food – by the way, this happens to be my third guest post for my neighbors, which is such an honour! – I have already bookmarked the Qubooli and Khoya Gajrella, which I am sure will be among one of the meals that I will…
French Beans Upperi/ Stir Fry
Two quotes that influenced me over the week, sharing it with all of you… “Inner peace comes from accepting everything in your life as a divine plan, being content with what you have and having a strong connection with your creator.” – Dr. Haleh Banani “When someone shows you their heart, their past, their wounds, they have entrusted you with the deepest part of themselves. It is the part of themselves that makes them uniquely beautiful. To be trusted in this way is a great honor. Guard that trust with your life.” – Yasmin Mogahed Today, I am sharing with you another favorite side dish of mine with rice. Or do I need rice to go with it? Absolutely no!!! I would be so happy to have it as a meal in itself. In fact, whenever french beans are cooked, umma makes sure she keeps majority of it for me…
Pachakkaaya Upperi – Raw Banana Stir Fry
How many of us like to hear advice? I know many of us don’t really appreciate people poking their nose into our personal matters, or telling us how our lives are to be. Especially when we were small – that includes me too! – how much we hated when anybody tells us what to do, that includes our parents, right? But then as we grow up to be become older and wiser (really? 🙂 ), we realize the value of the many advice that had come our way. In a world like today, where people are all into themselves, I personally believe that if somebody advises you, it is because they think good of you. I don’t know how many of you would agree with me regarding this, but it is only my personal opinion. It is so rare these days that people tell you on matters that concern you,…