Chocolate-Coffee Frappe

The weather here has changed,days are pleasant and cloudy,nights are cold and breezy! This beautiful weather is best enjoyed with a cup of coffee, So each evening called for a cup of coffee,in the pleasant evening breeze,but one day my taste buds yearned for something different,So I set about experimenting in my kitchen with the ingredients available in my fridge...and voila,I am so glad that I tried this,because this is a really yummy beverage,being a coffee lover,I have fallen deeper in love with coffee.....
Ingredients:
1)Vanilla ice cream-6 scoops
2)Instant coffee powder 1 tsp
3)Nesquik chocolate -1 tsp
4)Milk 1 Cup
5)Sugar 2 Tbsp(adjust to your taste)

Method:
--Heat milk in a saucepan,put coffee powder and sugar,mix untikl dissolved,turn off the flame and let it come to room temperature.
--In a blender put the coffee,milk ,sugar mixture and 4 scoops of Vanilla icecream and nesquik chocolate powder(or any cocoa powder),blend at high speed,till the mixture becomes frothy.
--Transfer in tall glasses(this recipe makes 2 tall glasses),add a scoop of ice cream on the frappe and sprinkle some cocoa powder.
Enjoy!!

Rambling about Sameeha...

I love the small conversations that take place between me and Sameeha,she has started speaking logical, like elders,but still with the innocence of a child.
Everyday I go down to send her off the school bus, and everyday she says,
'Mumma aapki yaad aayegi na school mein' so I say,
'aap jaao,mein peeche se taxi mein aaungi'.
Then one day when we were waiting for the school bus,a helicopter flew over us, Sameeha was very excited, and said
'mumma hum us mein baithenge na,kaise hamara pair utni oopar jaayega?'
I said'hamara pair oopar nahin jaayega,wo helicopter neeche aata hai tho usme log baith the hain'.
So this topic ended there,and we started talking about something else,then her bus came and again as always she said
'mumma school mein aapki yaad aayi tho?'
I said as always'mein aaungi peeche se taxi mein baith kar'

so she said'mumma taxi mein math aao,helicopter mein aao:)'
I said'Oh OK!'
27th Nov is her sports day, she is supposed to be doing march past and drill:-)
Its really amazing to see how enthusiastic she is about her homework, because as far as I have seen, and even I HATED home work, but when I say 'come Sameeha lets do home work'...and she is like 'Yahoooooooooo', by home work I mean she has to trace alphabets and numbers on dots!
She assists me in her own small and special way,by bringing or putting away things,cleaning the dastarqaan,or just co-operating with me during her younger sister's tantrum session:-)(these days,its fun to watch the Tom and Jerry LIVE,Sameeha is suppposed to be Tom and Huda is supposed to be jerry).
But Love and soft talk is the only way by which she listens,sometimes when I am bugged by something ,and then ask Sameeha to do something with an angry tone, she sulks and becomes her stubborn best,but again if I change my tone and say'Beta..plz kardo na...plz bebu'...and BAM its done!
She will be four in March,it seems as if,it was just yesterday, we brought her home from hospital...time just flies... with the same speed ,time will fly and she will be a Big girl!Inshallah!

May Allah give her a happy and successful life and a rewarding Hereafter...Aameen

Ras Malaai....from milk powder

Remember,I made Gulab Jamun sometime back? And I said Ras Malai is just similar to that,well here I am with the recipe of Ras Malai,a MUST TRY for all those with a sweet tooth!

This is my Husband's favourite,I learnt this recently from my MIL, but whenever we go out to Karachi Darbar,my husband always finishes his meal with Ras Malai.
Now this tastes so good that,it was over within a single day,eceybody helped themselves with double servings,before learning this method I followed the shortcut method from IFR,but this one is not that difficult at all!

Some fellow bloggers have used ricotta cheese,havent tried that though,but if anybody does do let me know how does turn out, here are some links
this is by AF of My recipe
Now this one is very good with step by step pictures,it looks good!

Ingredients:
1)milk powder(Nido)-1 cup
2)Ghee 1 Tbsp
3)egg white-of 2 eggs
4)Maida-1 Tbsp
5)Milk 1 Litre
6)sugar 1/2 cup(adjust accd to ur taste)
7)condensed milk-1/2 cup
8)pistachios 1 handful(half chopped and half slivered)
9)Baking powder-1/2 tsp heapful



Method:

--In a large bowl put milk powder,baking powder,egg white,maida and mix until a sticky cohesive mass is formed,like dough,but sticky,now grease your hands with oil or butter and bring togeather the milk dough and knead with your knuckles for 2-3 minutes.keep aside(this dough gets hard,so work fast with it)covered.
--In a saucepan put milk,sugar chopped pistachios and condensed milk and bring to boil on high temparature,then lower the flame
--Meanwhile from the milk dough take small portion and make ball and then press it so that it forms the shape of a disc,because,to absorb the milk evenly,it needs large surface area,coz if it is round ,the inside part might not absorb the flavoured milk and will be dry! The disc should be the size of a coin,because when it is mistened it swells up,and if u make big discs then the ones made will be Humongous,so be careful!
--Repeat this untill you use up the entire dough,now immerse these discs in the milk on low flame one by one,so that they dont overlap,shut the lid of the saucepan for 1-2 minutes ,and then turn off the flame.
--Let it cool down,dont handle these at this point since there are chances that these discs might break,so let it cool.
after sometime,transfer them in the serving dish,very gently one by one and then pour the milk of the saucepan over the discs and garnish with slivered pistochios and chill in the fridge, Its is best served chilled!



Enjoy!!!

Its MeMe time ......and award time

Hi,I have been tagged by Yasmeen of Healthnut and Lubna of KitchenFlavour for this 7 Meme,so here goes..
I am also tagged by Hema of Adlak's tiny world for this memd

7 Things I Say More Often:
1)AllahuAkbar
2)Sameehaaaaaa....Hudduuuuuuuu..kya, kar kya rahe ho tum log(what are u guys doing?)
3)OK,OK fine, Its OK
4)Maafi Mushkil, Mushkil nahi,Masla nahi,koi baat nahi
5)Thank you soooooooooo much
6)I am soooo sorry
7)Alhamdulillah

7 Things I Did Before:
1)Did my Engineering in Electronics and Communication
2)Had the time of my life during the four years of my engineeing with my friends
3)Had the time of my life visiting the DISNEY(Magic kingdom,epcot,MGM) and Univarsal Studios ORLANDO
4)Streaked my hair secretly(but after coloring it wasnt secret anymore and I got a good spanking lol)
5)Spoke endlessly on phone with my best friend Sanober.. who is now in Australia
6)Ate very cautiously(no desserts,very little rice,very little oil)
7)Lived in Hyderabad for a major part of life,Bangalore,Tamil Nadu,Lybertiville and now Dubai

7 Things I Do Now:
1)Cook,Clean,Wash,Laundry...
2)Blog and Browse
3)Play and chill out with Sam and Hud
4)Drop and PIck Sameeha(to school bus not to school,I have to get license ..)
5)Try and cook new things
6)Shop or window shop at shopping Malls(Love MOE)
7)Daydream

7 Things I Want to Do:
1)See the holy Kaba,cave Hira, all the places with Islamic history !
2)I want to stop eating all the desserts and stuff and start excercising and get back to pre-marriage looks :-(
3)Be more efficient and improve on my time management
4)Start my career
5)Give a good islamic,ethical,disciplined upbringing to my kids
6)Do endless shopping(high hopes,or u can call this a fantasy)
7)Move to US

7 Things That Attract me About Opposite Sex:
1)Understanding
2)trusting
3)caring
4)protective
5)committed
6)loving
7)Humorous
After sometime looks wont matter...that helps only in the initial phase..my point of view!

7 Favorite Foods:
1)Mummy's Biryani
2)Basket Noodle from Chung Hua,Hyderabad
3)Shawarma plate of Al-Reef Dubai
4)Pizza Hut's Cheezy bites(droooool)
5)Mummy's tamate methi gosht,khatti daal,tala hua gosht,pasinde,chugar gosht.....
6)irani/persion food ,Lebanese food
7)coffee lovers only(cold stone),mocha almond fudge(London dairy), and 1 I dont remember its name, there was one ice cream in dairy queen with oreo cookies,gajar ka halwa


wow I love talkin about myself ;-)
I would like to tag Mallugirl of Malabar Spices,
Maimoona of mammus kitchen,
armina of live life my size,
zee of like deja vu all over again!
Enjoy

Best buddy award was given to me by Yasmeen of health nut and Malar Gandhi.thank u so much,I would like to pass it on to zee , armina ,anjum and mallugirl!



Some more awards..I think it is awards season everywhere,everybody in the blogosphere is getting and giving awards,
Adlak's tiny world's Hema has honored me with the following awards




Thank you so much Hema

Malar Gandhi of Kitchen Tantra
shared these awards with me



Thank you so much Malar

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

The name biscotti is derived from 'bis' meaning twice in Italian and 'cotto' meaning baked or cooked.
Biscotti is said to have originated during Columbus's time and credited to an Italian baker . They became so popular that every province developed their own flavored version. Because of their long storage ability they were an ideal food for sailors, soldiers, and fisherman.

Most European countries have adopted their own version of biscotti: English - rusks, French - biscotte and croquets de carcassonne, Germans - zwieback, Greeks - biskota and paxemadia, Jewish - mandelbrot, and Russians - sukhariki
The sticky dough is first shaped into a 12 inch (30cm) log and baked until firm. After a short cooling period, the log is sliced into diagonal slices and baked again to draw out the moisture thus producing a crisp, dry textured cookie that has a long shelf life. Recipes containing butter or oil will have a softer texture and will not keep as long as the traditional recipes that only use eggs to bind the ingredients together.

-----Joy Of Baking

Finally I made a bakery item from scratch!It is so easy that I wonder why people go and buy it from Starbucks spending 7 Dirhams for each piece!!! I think you can make about 16-20 biscottis at home,with the amount with which u can buy 2 pieces at Starbucks!

Since India was ruled by English,we better know it as Rusk,I ate the most original in shape and taste(the most original has aniseed in it for flavouring) in Delhi, Chandni Chauk, when I went there I was expecting 'kabhi khushi kabhi ghum' type of place,with kajol type gals dancing in it....'banno ki saheli........'
Hey can anybody say this tongue twister in a single go.."Chandu ke chacha ne chandu ki chachi ko,chandni raat mein,chandni chauk mein,chaandi ke chammach se chaashni chataai"

uff.. bollywood has influenced me a lot,much to my husband's chagrin..lol

OK back to the rusk,when we were visiting Delhi, we liked it so much that we brought back dozens of it home,and due to its long shelf life enjoyed it for days..
I made it from the recipe here

You can read on for a novice baker's version:)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 bar milk chocolate(galaxy,dairy milk,hersheys)chopped or chocolate chips

Method:
--blanch and chop the almonds
--chop the chocolate bar into small pieces.
-- preheat oven to 350 F, place the chopped almonds in a baking sheet and toast in oven for about 10 mins(I did not blanch jus chopped it)
--Line the baking sheet with a parchment paper.
--Now in a bowl or tray sift togeather flour,baking powder and salt
-- In bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and eggs on high speed until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 5 minutes). (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.)
--Slowly add the flour in it,beat till it is mixed well
--Then fold in the chopped almonds and chopped chocolate .
--After a good mixing the mixture will be a sticky cohesive mass,grease ur hands with oil, or better what I did is filled a bowl of water,dipped my hand in the water and brought togeather the dough to a log shape,
--Transfer it to a baking sheet and place in oven at 350F,let it bake till it is firm on touch it will take around 20-30 mins,
--Then take it out and let it cool for sometime,Then slice the log horizontally into thin slices using a serrated knife.
--Now place the slices on the baking sheet and bake for 10-15 mins, then take out and turn over the slices and again bake for another 10 mins or until crisp and golden in color

Enjoy!!!



P.S: Sorry for the unclear pictures,the pictures are taken from my mobile, as my camera has gone on a business trip with my husband to Finland,on his way back he is going to stop over at Zurich :(
I asked him to get a cowbell from there, the one Kajol buys from ZUrich in DDLJ....oh again see what bollywood has done to me!

Bird's Nest

This appetizer looks like the nest of a bird,therefore it is named bird's nest, a must try for people with kids,they will love it,my kids loved it:)
Of late I have become a nostalgic soul,I miss my old days so much that I keep thinking of it all the time,is there a problem in me or is everyone like that?
College days were fun! I miss all my friends, everybody is dispersed in one or the other corner of the globe,I just wish those days never ended, those were days filled with fun and mischief.

If only life had a rewind button! We could go back to the days where life was so simple without any responsiblities or commitments and bloody expectations from everyone,days spent pampered by everyone...

But life in reality is hard like rock without any rewind button.lol.
Ok bored you all with extra special 'gyan'.This avtaar of mine appears every now and then,when I feel that, why did we ever grow.... life should have been the way it was. but no we have to face the reality..
Sometimes looking at Huda I feel how blissful she is,so innocently ignorant with this world and its politics...you know sometimes ignorance is a form of bliss...seriously!
Ok ,sorry I will go on and on..with my nonsense...so better get going with the recipe

Ingredients:
1)chicken boneless-500 gms
2)potatp-3 medium
3)ginger garlic paste-2 Tbsp
4)salt
5)pepper-1 tsp
6)egg-2
7)shredded mozarella cheese-1/2 cup
8)zeera powder-1 tsp
9)garam masala- 1 tsp
10)Seviyan(sheerqorme waali)-1 cup (crushed)



Method:

--Wash the chicken pieces and put it in a pressure cooker along with ginger garlic paste,salt,pepper and some water and cook till the chicken is very soft,if there is any water remaining cook till all the water is absorbed.
--separately boil the potatoes,then peel and mash and keep aside.
--Now shred the chicken pieces,add to it the mashed potatoes,zeera powder,garam masala,check for salt and pepper if it is less you can add now,if you want you can add chopped cilantro,but thats optional, then add some lemon juice.
--Mix everything nicely such that a homogeneous mixture is formed.
--Now take portions of the chicken mixture,grease your hands with oil and form a ball of the mixture, now make a well in it using your index finger,add about a teaspoon of the mozarella cheese in the well,now press the mixture on top of the well such that the cheese is enclosed in it, make a ball, and repeat this with the rest of the mixture, you will be able to make aroun 25-30 balls with the mixture, the size should be that of a tennis ball.
--You can freeze this at this point if you want this to be used later,but first freeze it on a plate for a couple of hours and then when it has frozen,take it out from the plate and put it in a freezer bag and freeze.
--Put the frying pan on heat with some oil in it to shallow fry.
--Now break the eggs a in a bowl and whip a little ,such that the egg yolk and egg white mix well.Dip the chicken ball in the egg ,such that it is coated with it on all sides.
--Put the crushed seviyan in a shallow plate,roll the checken ball coated with egg in seviyan such that the crushed seviyan get stuck on the chicken ball.
--Now shallow fry this ball in frying pan till all the sides turn golden brown, repeat with rest of the mixture.
--Enjoy it warm...
Weather in Dubai is changing,its not hot at all, not cold, I enjoy this pleasant weather in our balcony,with my coffee mug and the Bird's Nest, watching the trafffic jam on the road from Dubai to Sharjah or Sharjah to Dubai :-)