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…
Healthy Chicken Caesar Salad
“Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and righteousness” (Surah Al Baqarah:183) Ramadan is on us, Alhamdulillah… InShaAllah, with the sunset today, it will start – the time when every aspect of our life is looked into and disciplined… Actually, I always feel that we limit our good deeds and discipline only to these 29 or 30 days. It is said that it takes 21 days to create a habit, so in case we sincerely want to create a good sustainable habit in ourselves, this one month should help us with it. After all, there is even a Hadith in this regard: Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Take up good deeds only as much as you are able, for the best deeds are…
Amrood Chaat | Guava Chaat
I discovered this guava chaat when we had gone to visit my cousin’s wife’s parents. She is the one who introduced me to those yummy chicken croquettes. 🙂 We had dinner from there and then her mother bought some huge Vietnamese guavas for us. They weren’t sweet at all, had a thick skin yet soft interior. We weren’t really keen in eating them. Sensing our dislike, her mother immediately took it back, chopped it into pieces and bought it back to our tables with all those sprinklings. Sensing it was red chilli powder on top, I was a bit hesitant. She pestered us to try. The first bite, and oh my goodness! I can’t explain the plethora of flavors that danced in my tongue! Actually, we ended up gobbling down that whole plate shamelessly. 😀 This is the time when the market gets filled with the large guavas….
Omelette in Microwave | Mug Omelette
If you have a microwave in your home, then there is no excuse of missing breakfast, isn’t it? 🙂 When I selected eggs as my “Protein Rich Ingredient” theme in the Blogging Marathon #88 – the other posts being Double Cheese Omelette and Akuri, I really wanted to try the omelette in mug, which has been doing rounds for quite some time. With the microwave oven becoming a part of almost all households, despite what all negative image it may have, we all still use it for something or the other. It makes a lot of cooking quite easy especially when you have some time constraints. I wouldn’t say that this omelette tastes as good as the one you make slowly on a frying pan, but for breakfast on the go, this is such a good option. My only advice if you are trying this is to…
Akuri ~ Parsi Scrambled Eggs
I love umma’s scrambled eggs so much that I have never tried making any other way or even trying to eat it from out. 😀 So when this month’s theme came in for the Blogging Marathon #88 and I decided on choosing egg as my “Protein Rich Ingredient”, my attention went into trying a creamy scrambled eggs, associated with the Parsi community, called “Akuri”. The name of the dish is itself very cute, isn’t it? The difference between the Egg Burji and Akuri lies in it’s basic preparation method and ingredients. The Akuri is quite spicy, with the green chililes and red chilli powder used, so if you can’t take the spice, disregard the green chilli. I actually regretted adding the only one I used. I kept biting into it, and gulping down water to tame my tongue. 😀 The main thing for your Akuri to be…
Double Cheese Omelette with Sauteed Mushrooms
I seriously needed some push and motivation to continue my blogging. Even though you can see posts appearing on my blog, there is a lot of mental struggle behind it happening. When Valli’s post on the Blogging Marathon #88 was up, I decided to let my lack of motivation get a hit and signed up for two weeks. This week, the theme is “Protein Rich Ingredients” and I chose to focus on something that I am having on a daily basis now – eggs. Eggs is one ingredient that wasn’t without a bad name until some time. Eating eggs on a daily basis was taboo, especially considered to be a source of fat and weight gain. When I had my first attempt at losing weight, which happened when Rasha was 2, I was told to eat maximum three eggs a week. When I am repeating my attempt to…
Chickoo Lassi | Sapota Lassi
I was actually planning to leave the blog empty, but two exciting things came up yesterday, that I couldn’t keep quiet about it. 🙂 I had hinted in my Thari Unda post about a recipe testing I did for Mrs. Ummi Abdullah‘s upcoming cookbook. It is exciting that finally the cookbook is taking shape! InShaAllah, it is scheduled to go for publishing by this month end and guess what, this humble blogger is going to be a part of the credits! It is such a humbling experience for me to have my name being featured as a part of a prominent cookbook. Ummitha is considered to be the mother of Malabar cooking and I can’t wait for the book to come out in actual touch. If you would like own this once-in-a-lifetime book, then do click on the link above and order your copy now! Yesterday evening, I…
Wholewheat Buttermilk Waffles
Remember the Secret Recipe Club? I was able to participate only in very limited challenges before the club called it a day. It was a pretty saddening time for almost all participants of this amazing club, since it was a really interesting challenge and everybody who participated in it enjoyed it to the maximum. When Sarah declared on the group FB page that she would be conducting a Reunion Reveal Day for this challenge, I had to jump in, even though I wasn’t sure how I would manage the challenge in between my hectic schedule. However, knowing me, I know I wouldn’t rest till I finish the challenge off. Hehe… So finally the email arrived, I was assigned Amy’s Cooking Adventures. She and I were in different groups during the SRC times so I never got her blog. As soon as the email came, I jumped onto her…
Simple Fish Fry
The essence of life is in keeping things simple. How many of you agree to this? With time becoming of essence with every passing day, I can’t but agree to this. There were times when I used to sit for hours deciding what to cook but now that phase has passed. I cook with what is in the fridge and what will help me put dinner on the table in the minimum possible time. I just need to ensure that my folks eat, and it is just simple food, nothing elaborate. Even though I have had that thought before too, it is becoming more of a necessity now. I am a very lazy mother to say the least, and most of the time I have never cooked breakfast. But the next working year, which starts next week, my girls are going to see a change in their timings which…
Vegan Chocolate Beetroot Muffins
Since I had the BM posts scheduled, I haven’t posted any happenings in my life in the past week. 🙂 I wouldn’t talk about the climate, as it makes me sad but let me talk about something else that made me really happy over this week. The last weekend, on Saturday, we all went for a trip to Global Village. A trip of bloggers was in pipeline from last year, but it took time to materialize and finally the last Saturday, we made it happen. Huma was our main guide and Priya, Zerin, Anamika, Jaleelakka, Fajee and our new UAE-ian Prema joined us for a little fun. We roamed for close to five hours, prop hunted, picked up interesting stuff, watched a few shows, chatted and ate through some of the delicacies. I have always gone to GV before but this time, the experience was quite different. Huma is…
Salmoriglio Sauce
After the Mixed Herb Pesto and the Ragu Sauce, this is the third Italian Sauce for the Blogging Marathon #86. I was actually going to make the well known tomato sauce, but I was somehow not comfortable going for it. I thought it was too simple or too common and set searching for more easier, and acceptable versions. That’s when I landed up on this interestingly named sauce. Salmoriglio is a pungent Southern Italian sauce flavored mainly with oregano. The sauce is usually prepared fresh and used for drizzling over fish or grilled meat cuts, though you can use it as marinade for your vegetables or chicken too. The sauce is really so easy to make – all you need to do is to whisk up all ingredients till smooth and use it immediately. I have used dried oregano but you can use fresh if available to you…
Mixed Herb Pesto
While Valli’s post came up for the Blogging Marathon #86 went up, though selecting Scandinavian Cuisine wasn’t tough, the second option really did play around with me. In fact, I had even decided to skip this edition. But then thinking that next month is the mega marathon and after that Ramadan would start (already? :O ) I didn’t want to give too much of a break, so I decided to take up “Italian Sauces You Need to Know”. And I am glad, I somehow pushed myself through to making them and getting the posts ready in time. 😀 The first one I chose to make was a pesto. A pesto is an aromatic green sauce which is a blend of basil and pine nuts, at times walnuts too. I did an instant pesto pizza sometime back and posted a version there. This time, I was thinking how would…
Instant Sambar
I really don’t understand why weekends wear skate boards. Or maybe something faster than that! 😕 They just come and go, with things done half and Saturday nights is for yearning and wishing I had more time. If anybody asks me what did I do over the weekend, I did nothing much but I still did something. Some shopping, sat simply at home working on the old posts on the blog, and then visited a friend of mine – I guess that does sound like a decently packed weekend! I guess I need to learn how to space out my time so that I don’t feel drained… hmm… Coming to today’s recipe… I had already mentioned how crazy my girls are for idlis. Leftover batter is usually loosened out and converted to dosas. Most of the time, my girls need it only with their favorite coconut chutney, but…
Cold Mocha
This week marked the closure of this school term, or rather the school year. The girls have completed their final exams and are now relaxing. It’s almost a whole month of holiday, that umma wished I would send the girls to be with them. Unfortunately, airlines that fly towards our side of the world think that we are minting money and can afford to pay over-the-roof flight ticket charges. 😕 I think I better not get to that point, since it boils my nerves… hehe… Also, the temperatures are slowly soaring. We have hardly had any winter this time. Before we could even get a feel, it came and went. Right now, the mornings are cozy, the nights are breezy and comfortable but the sun is nice and hot. The temperatures may still show in its 20s but standing out for too long does get a tad uncomfortable in…
Daqoos ~ Garlic Tomato Sauce
I don’t know what to name the struggle I am going through. The first few posts of the month came through rather easily but at the moment I am fighting a demon inside me that is growing very rapidly despite my fight. At times, I really feel I am ready to give up on the blog but then I think to myself that it was my solace during my tough times, how could I give it up when I don’t feel like it. A complicated question to the confused soul… hehe… I guess I will keep it at that for now… I had promised to post this recipe for Daqoos when I posted it along side Fami’s Bedouin Rice. I guess it’s time has just come now, hehe… Daqoos is basically a cooked and garlic flavored tomato sauce, which is served along side meat and rice in almost…