With life getting so hectic, cooking has taken a back seat. I do a lot of meal prepping for myself and for the family, I settle down with meals that are really easy to cook. I am trying to update some 30 minute meals on this blog and hopefully will try to update my old posts with the tag so that I can feature it on my sidebar for easy review, InShaAllah. There’s a lot of polishing to be done on my old posts, I will slowly work on that part and try to update all the categories and tags by the end of this year. I am hoping I will be able to look into those by slowing down on my blogging. Let’s see… 🙂 Meanwhile, bringing you one of the best easy fix curries I have made… There was this blog called Chef El Dente that…
Light Lemon Curd
I did mention in my last post in July that I would be travelling primarily for my B’s wedding. Alhamdulillah, we had a lovely time. Even though it did rain prior to the wedding, the wedding day was quite dry, with the rain starting at night. The week that followed was when the whole excess raining caused heavy flooding in so many areas of Kerala. It so happened that he and his wife went for their trip to Langkawi, and then had their return tickets cancelled, which in turn end up with them flying into Dubai as it was the best option available in every way. As I type, I have my sister-in-law at home with us, and they leave during this weekend to go home. She has stayed with my parents for only a single day and can’t wait to go back to explore them more. 😉 Her…
Oats Mushroom Soup
When I come back from vacation, I tend to feel emotionally low, at least for a few weeks, till life settles and runs into routine. I guess it’s the same with many of us. This time, due to the floods that some part of Kerala went through, I had a problem with my return. For us, the closest airport is Calicut and I always take my tickets for travel there, but this time, my wish to see Kochi airport overrode and I decided to travel there. For us, Kochi is almost three hours drive during off-peak and I better not hint on how long it can take during peak! But I must tell you, it is such a beautiful airport! I mean, I haven’t seen so much cleanliness back home anywhere, so it did give me a pleasant surprise to see how clean it is. Coming back to the…
Omelette Paneer Roll
Do you see some connection here? While doing the posts for the Blogging Marathon #90 for the theme “Wrap and Rolls”, I unconsciously went with all egg recipes! Whether the Kolkata Egg Rolls or the Egg Toasties and now this one, all are with eggs! 😀 So it feels like I did a theme within the theme! Hehe… I had mentioned earlier that at the moment, I am on a quantified diet, ie. I get to eat limited stuff within my macros. Alhamdulillah, I have been able to steadily lose weight and am very happy with my progress. I now have the last block of weight to lose and I am pretty much sure that my body would not want to let it go. 😉 I am targeting this year end to get to my goal, InShaAllah. Definitely it will need a close watch on my diet plus…
Umma’s Egg Toasties
Food that makes you miss childhood is the best food. Would you agree? While I was brainstorming myself of what to make next for the Blogging Marathon #90 theme of “Wrap and Rolls”, my mind kept loitering around the egg toasties that umma would make almost every second Thursday. Thursday is weekend here, and we would have no madrassa that day, so naturally, we would be hungry around tea time. Umma would make toasties every single Thursday, alternating the filling with eggs, chicken or frozen mixed vegetables. I feel today’s generation is pampered with too many ideas that we are lost as to what to make for our kids, but our mothers had simple ideas and simple dishes, that were cleaned up. I guess many of you would agree to this fact of life. I had some bread sitting in the fridge and I wanted to use it…
Kolkata Egg Roll | Cheat Version
This week, for the Blogging Marathon #90, I chose the theme “Wraps and Rolls”. Most of the time, the themes I choose are easy, but are too easy that I get confused what to make and at the end skittle through my posts! 😀 Having too many ideas is also not a good thing, isn’t it? 🙂 The first one I chose to make were the Kolkatta Egg Rolls. The egg rolls are a famous street food in the lanes of Kolkatta, or formerly called as Calcutta. Freshly made parathas, smothered with an omelette, filled with some vegetables, sometimes even having a sprinkling of shredded chicken. Kolkatta folks literally go gaga over these rolls, as to how delicious they can be and I wanted to test out if they were actually delicious. So I used HD as my guinea pig and got making one roll, albiet a cheat…
3-Ingredient Nutella Brownies
I am working on a few of my last posts before I proceed on my annual leave. Every year, usually I schedule a few posts for my readers and go. I have never left the blog empty in my absence. I have been mentioning from the beginning of the year that I am facing a lag in my blogging mood. Alhamdulillah, I have a lot of drafts and some intermittent cooking that has filled my blog and hasn’t shown up as yet. But you may have noticed that from having posts every day barring the weekends, the frequency has now gone down to three posts a week. It was my way of slowing down, breathing in and breathing out… Of course, the blog did cause me to burnout. I am putting in a lot of efforts in trying out new recipes, clicking and saving them up. Unfortunately, it…
Kai Pathiri/ Orotti ~ Malabar Rice Pancakes
HD is a sucker for anything traditional. As far as food is concerned, he is less fussy – the only requirement he has is the food has to be fresh. But nothing is best for him than a homely meal of rice, curry and fish for lunch, and even better, some pathil with mutta curry (egg curry). In our side of Kerala, it is nice pathiri or the thin rice pancakes. Nope, I still don’t have a recipe on the blog. Such a shame, right? 🙁 I hardly make it, and each time I make it, I want to get done with it! I have received requests to make video of it too… I sincerely hope I can do it soon. My first experience with this thick pathiri was when I got married. My first impression was definitely not good. It was thick and any amount of curry…
Andhra Punugulu | Idli Batter Bonda
There are certain things in life that make you happy. They may necessarily not be something that makes you spend millions. Just the simple things in life… I haven’t shared any slides on this blog for so long. I thought I have to save this one up, since it has a list that really excites me, though for sure, more can go into this list… There are times when I end up with extra idli batter, that the kids don’t want it to be made into more idlis or loosened up for making dosas. That is when I discovered this fantastic street snack, so famous in our neighboring Andhra Pradesh, called “Punugulu”. Cute name, right? 🙂 Punugulus are basically made of freshly prepared or fermented rice batter, with some spices and extra ingredients added and then deep fried into fluffy and crispy fritters. Instead of…
Banana Cocoa Waffles
The feeling of emptiness is a real tough one. After having a chirping noisy house for the past one month, and a back breaking crazy sessions over the past 12 days, my house is empty. Yesterday afternoon, my kids left for their vacation along with my parents and then at night, my sister and her son bid farewell. It felt all too soon… The house looked so deserted, with everything just left as it is. Today, I have to slowly start putting things in place and make the house look like how it did before. I am looking at the whole thing positively. Last year, my kids and I were apart for more than 5 weeks, but this time, it is shorter. I will be travelling by month end, and it’s not that far away. Moreover, it’s a good time to get back to my routine. The past…
Thengapaal Meen Curry | Malabar Fish Curry with Coconut Milk
Love for fish is engrained into a Malabari’s blood, at least majority of them. I am not an ardent fan of fish, but if you ask me to select between chicken and fish, I would go for fish. Fish is lean meat, so much more healthier to eat and far more delicious too! So when the theme for the Fantastical Food Fight was declared for this month as “Seafood”, I “fished” out from my drafts this delicious fish curry that is a regular in our home. Sarah says that June is the National Seafood Month in the US. I am not aware if we have anything like that back home. 🙂 For us, seafood is a must everyday. Umma needs a fish fry to go with her lunch, or else she feels totally incomplete. My sister has taken behind her with regards to her love for fish. She can have…
Ghorayeba ~ Arab Shortbread Cookies
I can’t mention how relieved I am. My blogging mojo has just not picked up as much as I would have loved. Last year Ramadan, if I filled my drafts with as much as clicks I could take before the sunshine vanishes, this year, I have done nothing. My blog is moving with drafts that I had clicked last Ramadan – I am being very honest here! This Ramadan, I have been time tight and locked. Over and above that, I have no mood to click anything new or cook anything new. I am sure, this too shall pass… So when I put up the Muslim Food Blogger challenge post for this month, which is based on the theme “Eid Specials from Around the World”, I searched up a bit and pinned up on my kitchen notice board the easiest cookie recipe in the world! But I procrastinated…
Mohabbat Ka Sharbat | Watermelon Roohafza Drink
When I signed up for the Blogging Marathon this month, I had totally forgotten that in my schedule, I had placed to do the 3B2B series on the blog too. While trying to fit through my schedule, it popped up and I had to do it. The theme I had chosen was “Cold Drinks for Ramadan”. Most of the countries are having summer during this blessed month and all you need at the time of Iftar, is something cold to wash down your throat. Even though there is no substitute as good as timid water to elevate your thirst, we always look out something sweet to get going. Even if somebody tells it is unhealthy, we would prefer to have something sweet to go down. Watermelon is something that gets eaten by a tonne in our house daily during Ramadan. How much ever is cut, it is never…
Mughlai Dal Kabila | Urad Dal Tadka
After the Muringakaya Parippu Curry, here’s the second recipe under “Dazzling Dals” for the Blogging Marathon #88. I don’t have a single recipe on the blog which features urad dal as its main ingredient, so I am glad finally it is being featured! For us, urad dal is for idli batters. Period… I never knew it was used in curries till I was wondering what to have for lunch one day in the office, and our Pakistani office boy mentioned, “Aapi, mash ki daal order karoo?” (Can I order “Mash Ki Dal”?) I had no clue what it was, but since it was “daal”, I told him OK. When he got it with a roti, I was shocked to find urad dal. Mash Ki Dal is what it is called in Urdu. I was like, “Esse curry bhi banaathe hai?” (Oh, we make curry of this?), he gave…
Beef Burger
How’s Ramadan going for all of you? This time, I have consciously taken the effort to post less on the blog. Doesn’t mean I will keep it empty, you will still see posts rolling on, but I clearly don’t want to be in a rat race to be posting what is called as “Ramadan specials”. I am not a person who advocates thoughtless eating during this month, whether it is now when I am taking care of myself, or before when I was negligent of myself. I never liked the concept of eating fried food and heavy meals during this month. When the gyst of the month is to practice restraint and patience, how can we go overboard with our food especially? Somehow that thought defeats my logic. I know many may disagree, but when we think deep, we will understand it. After all, hasn’t our beloved Prophet…