Hey there...

Hi  guys,


     just checking-in to say that I am still alive..lol, sorry for my absence from the blog for such a long long time, a lot was going on in my life so did not blog at all, we moved across the globe and it took forever to pack and unpack and settle down in a new home.So looking forward to share some nice recipes.
See you soon:)

Shaami Kabab

Ramzan Mubarak to all my readers,I owe an apology to you all for my absence from the blogging scene for so long,the only explanation that I can come forth is my laziness more than being busy.
Anyways, the latest update on the kids is that my younger daughter Huda has become the most talkative person in our house, and speaks non-stop and asks questions non-stop, she is the naughty bacha of our house! Sameeha has now become our 'samajhdar' bacha, who remains calm and composed most of the time(mind you,note that it is MOSTLY, NOT always), her latest passion is READING, she LOVES to read, not to mention the innumerous story books she loads in the shopping cart on each visit to Carrefour.She loves to hangout at BORDERS:)

Coming to the main topic FOOD, Shaami is our desi version of burger.
Some interesting facts about shaami kabab from wikipedia..
'Apparently Shami Kabab literally means Syrian Kabab (Sham) in Arabic. Some are of the opinion that these kebabs were introduced to South Asia during the Mughal era by Muslim emigrants from the Middle East. They had employed cooks from all over the Muslim world to serve in the royal kitchens. Some of the cooks were from Syria as well. The Sham refers to either Syria specifically or the Levant in general, and these kebabs literally means Syrian kebabs or Levantine kebabs in Arabic.'


Ingredients:
1) boneless mutton or veal 1 Kg
2) chana dal 2 handfull
3) 5-8 cardamom, 1 stick Cinnamon ,1 tsp of shahzeera.,1 tsp peppercorns. together ground to fine powder(garam masala powder)
4) ginger garlic paste 2 Tbsp
5) red chilly powder 1 tsp(accd to your taste)
6) salt
7) turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
8) cilantro 1/2 cup finely chopped
9) green chilies 4-5
10) phoole chane ki daal 1 Tbsp
11) mint leaves or pudina handful
12) lemon 1
13) badam(almonds) 1/2 cup grounded
14) desiccated coconut 1/4 cup
15) oil for frying



Method:
--Wash and soak the chana daal for about half an hour to an hour.
--set aside 3-5 pieces of meat .
--In a cooker or a saucepan put the rest of the meat,daal,ginger garlic paste,salt,red chilly powder,turmeric powder, green chillies,cilantro,mint leaves,a tbsp of oil and a cup of water.
--Set it on the stove until the meat and the daal are tender,check weather both are cooked well, then cook till all the water is evaporated and the mixture is nice and dry.
-- let it cool
--After cooling,grind the meat and daal mixture in a mixie without adding water,also add the raw pieces of meat which you kept aside,adding this will ensure that the shaami will not disintegrate while frying.
--powder the phoole chane ki daal and mix it with the grounded meat,this will make the shaami crispier.
--now to the grounded mixture add the freshly grounded garam masala powder(#3), dessicated coconut,almond powder and juice of 1 lemon
--Check for the salt and cilly at this point,adjust salt or lemon at this point.
--Now shape these into hmmmm the shape of an eye or you can can make it plain circuar disc,but traditionally it is made like the shape of an eye,by taking the mixture ,the size of a tennis ball, roll it between both the palms and then pinch at both the corners and then press at the center to make it flat, remember to grease your palms with cooking oil ,so that the mixture does not stick to your palms.
--Shape them all and the shallow fry until golden brown.
--If you plan to store it for the next day(can be stored for upto a week,very good food for travel,),you roast the shaamis on a non-stick tawa without oil and,store it in fridge or freezer, and then shallow fry just before serving.
--Enjoy it with Khatti daal and white rice...and if going on travel ,this would be ideal packed home food along with rotis and dry tamatar ki chutney:)

Lemme know how it turns out..

This recipe of mine goes out to The hyderabadi ramadan food festival hosted by Mona of Zaiqa

Chugar Gosht

'CHUGAR' are the tender tamarind leaves which hits the market only once a year for about 2-3 months during summer, and that is the time,we make the most of this wonderful,tangy ingredient.
Tender tamarind leaves find their place in a number of recipes,including chutneys,chugar rice,chugar dal,etc. But my personal favourite is Chugar gosht.I think chugar is more popular in the state of Andhra Pradesh than anywhere else,it is also called Chinta Chiguru Pappu in telugu.

During my last visit to Hyderabad,I had chugar to my heart's content. And then my MOM made for me the chugar cakes(blanched the leaves and formed patties and sun-dried,till the moisture is evaporated)which can be eaten during the non-seasonal months.Though the dried leaves look gross,but the end result will make up for it:),so thanks to mom,I am enjoying this after months of my visit to India.

Chugar Gosht is made in a typical Hyderabadi way ,that is, most vegetables are cooked by making a basic 'Handi' which consists of meat(usually mutton),onions,g/g paste,salt,haldi,mirchi,oil. The Handi is the base preparation,the above ingredients are cooked till meat is tender and then,it is bhoonofied and the required vegetables are added along with little water and simmered on low flame till the vegetables are infused with flavours of the spices.
For the best tasting chugar gosht,use the meat from the ribs area,what we call in urdu seene ka gosh or sar seena



Ingredients:
1)onion 3 medium
2)chugar 500 gms
3)mutton with bones 250 gms
4)red chilli powder 1 tsp
5)salt
6)ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
7)turmeric 1/4 tsp
8)oil 2 tbsp
9)cilantro 1 sprig chopped




Method:
--Peel and cut the onion.
--In a pressure cooker put together sliced onion,ginger garlic paste,turmeric,red chilli powder,salt,mutton and oil(this is called handi).
--Let it cook for 3 whistles,or if not using the pressure cooker,cook till the meat is tender.
--At medium flame, bhoonofy the above ingredients till the strings of onions are no longer seen,that is the strings of onion should have turn to paste.
--Now put the chugar leaves in the above mixture along with chopped cilantro,mix well.
--Put about half cup water and again mix well,cook on low flame till all the water is evaporated.
--Enjoy this tangy dish with steamed rice and mithi dal
Steamed rice,chugar gosht and mithi dal is the classic hyderabadi combo,I bet after reading this,every Hyderabadi will crave for this dish:)

This is also an entry to“The Hyderabadi Bakr-Eid Food Festival-’09″hosted by Mona of Zaiqa.net

Tala hua Gosht or Dhajji kabab

This one was, is and will be my favourite! My mom just called it tala hua gosht,but the fancy term to it is 'dhajji kabab', because the meat is cooked till tender and then the meat is shredded like thread with fingers and then fried till crisp brown or soft brown,whichever way you prefer.You can enjoy it with warm parathas or khatti daal and steamed rice,I prefer the latter.

This was a frequent dish enjoyed by all of us after Eid-ul-Adha,to use up the meat lying in the freezer


Ingredients:
1)mutton(with or without bones) 1 Kg
2)ginger garlic paste 2tbsp
3)red chilli powder 1 tsp(accd to ur taste)
4)turmeric 1/2 tsp
5)lemon 2
6)onion 1/2 small for garnishing
7)cilantro chopped 2 sprigs for garnishing
8)oil 1/2 cup
9)salt

Method:
--In a pressure cooker,put the mutton,1 tbsp of the ginger garlic paste,chilli powder,turmeric,salt,half a cup of water and a tablespooon of oil.
--Let it cook for 3-4 whistles(if not using pressure cooker cook till the meat is really tender that it breaks by pressing between two fingers)
--Wash your hands clean,and shred the tenderized meat,like threads, if using meat with bones separate the meat from bones and discard the bones.
--Taste the tenderized meat,you can add the seasoning while frying if you find something missing(like less salt or less chilli).
--Heat oil in a wok,when the oil is hot,out the remaining ginger/garlic paste, fry till fragrant,then add the shredded meat,if required salt and chilli powder, mix well.
--squeeze out the juice of one lemon.
--If you like soft meat,turn off the heat when the meat changes color to brown and if you like crispy mutton fry for some more time.
--Before turning the fire off, sprinkle the squeezed lemon juice all over the meat and mix well.
--After turning off you can drain the oil from the meat by spreading the fried mutton on a paper towel.so that the excess oil is absorbed.
--cut the other lemon into wedges for garnishing.
--garnish with sliced onion or onion rings and cilantro.

This recipe of mine goes to the event “The Hyderabadi Bakr-Eid Food Festival-’09″ hosted by Mona of Zaiqa

Back to pavilion! Chicken samosa!

Hi guys, I am back after a long long break! I was on a nearly two month long vacation in India, first it was Hyderabad and then Tamil Nadu, during the Tamil Nadu stay we also had a magnificent trip to Ooty, loved the scenic beauty as our car started the ascent on the mountain, beautiful mist enveloped the lush green mountains, it was heavenly!


A foodie is a foodie, and I binged everywhere,in Hyderabad I caught up with all the stuff that I craved and missed all these years,nothing in this world can beat 'mummy ke haath ka paka khaana' ! Nearly after 5-6 years I ate 'chugar gosht',a dish made with the tender tamarind leaves with mithi daal and chawal combo,hmmmmmm just loved it ,still the taste lingers on my taste buds...sigh
And in Tamil Nadu I had crispy dosas,idlies,paniyaaram...yum!


So now I am back to pavilion, back in Dubai, sorry for the absence from the blogging scene for quite some time,as was busy with stuff,I wanted to blog about many things during ramzan but the drafts remained drafts and since ramzan is about to end in a week,there is no point in posting it, but heres wishing you all ramadan mubarak,
may Allah bless us all during the holy month and especially during the last ten days of ramzan.
recipe courtesy my friend Fareena,who makes very nice samosas!
Before ramzan started I made a batch of chicken samosas and froze it so that I can just take it out and just fry during ramzan, as it is my husband's favourite.
Half or quarter the ingredients as this recipe yields around 100-125 samosas!

Ingredients:
1)Chicken boneless 2kg
2)Cheddar cheese 100gms grated
3)salt
4)Ginger Garlic paste 2 Tbsp
5)Garam Masala 1 Tsp
6)mirch masala(this masala is made by grinding a cup of whole red chillies along with half cup coriander seeds and 1/4th cup roasted zeera i.e, 1c whole red chillies+1/2ccoriander seeds+ 1/4c zeera)-5-6 Tbsp
7)samosa strips 100 nos
8)cilantro 1 cup finely chopped

Note: since you aare adding cheddar cheese, you add very little salt,less than normal as cheddar cheese is salty therefore to normalize the effect better add very little salt first and then adjust after adding and mixing the cheese, in my samosas the filling was a bit salty as I added normal salt ,but the cheddar made it salty..*sigh*!




Method:
--First prepare the filling by boiling the chicken in a saucepan along with salt,ginger garlic paste,mirch masala,garam masala and a cup of water.
--When all the water has dried out,bhoonofy it till it is completely dry.
--Let it cool down for sometime,then grind it in a grinder to a kheema like consistency.
-- now take the grounded chicken in a bowl and add the grated cheese and chopped cilantro(you can also add chopped green chillies..optional!)and mix well.
--Now in a cup add a tbsp of flour and some water to make a thick paste.
--Take the samosa strip.and from one side twist it into a cone shape,halfway through,then fill in the cone the chicken filling, now press the cone down and cover the remaining samosa strip with the flour paste(for binding)and fold the strip such that the open side of the come is covered and forms a triangle.
--Repeat until you use up the entire filling,or your strips.
--you can deep fry it immediately or,you can freeze the samosas and fry whenever you feel like.
--First lay the samosas on plate and freeze,when it has solidified,take it out and stack it in a box or a ziploc bag!
Enjoy!



The chocolate cake here was made for iftar, and the icing is made of whipped cream with a chocolate flavour ,it was made made half by me and the rest by my better half, this is the first time that my whipped cream has formed peaks, and so my husband got excited and decided to carry on further so he completed the whipped cream icing,I halved the cake horizontally and my husband did the frosting and then I grated chocolate over the cake, it looked awesome and tasted delicious!
I just have to disagree with the saying'too many cooks spoil the broth!':)


And this picture is of the iftar spread in a pakistani restaurant called Ibrahimi in AbuDhabi, where we decided to break our fast on a friday!
Notice the huuuuge tawa on which the iftar is arranged,food was also great,but I did not get a chance to take a picture!
The food was awesome,and not to mention the desserts, They had a huge variety of dessert,I loved the chocolate mousse, and I am gonna make some myself soon!

Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate pudding is a rich velvety dessert which, I bet,any chocolate lover can't let go off so easily. For those people who have tasted the 'Danette' chocolate pudding(it's a ready made one found in stores in Dubai)this recipe would let you make exactly the same,I promise.I was really skeptical about it initially,but then, one fine evening I gave in to my strong cravings for a chocolaty treat, the best part of this dessert is that,most of its ingredients are readily available in most households,so no pre-planning required!

I found it's recipe in GoodHousekeeping magazine, further searches gave me few other recipes, some used dutch cocoa powder,and some other recipe required unsweetened cocoa powder. I decided to go with Cadbury cocoa powder,you may increase the amount of sugar in this recipe if dominant sweet taste satisfies your taste buds else go with chocolate for a cocoa-dominated pudding.
Also Check out the Goodhousekeeping site,for really good housekeeping tricks,I mean a beautiful site for any woman trying to master her domestic management skills,after all, which woman does not want to become a domestic diva,like Monica of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, but sadly enough,it will take a lot of time for me to become a diva!

Seriously,the only thing that most aunts(domestic divas) say, is that "Don't clutter,clean as you go,I mean wash and put away the plates or dishes as soon as the work is over, don't put it into the sink !! thinking you would wash it later, you would end up piling up the dishes,you will have to extend another half an hour to complete the washing !!!", but then you know sometimes I do sometimes I dont,hmmmmmmmm long way to go !:-)

So here is the recipe.
Ingredients:

1)cocoa powder-1/3 cup
2)egg yolk-4 large
3)corn flour-1/4 cup
4)sugar-2/3 cup
5)vanilla extract-1 tsp
6)unsalted butter-2 tbsp
7)milk-2.5 cup
8)salt-1/4 tsp

Method:

--In a thick bottomed saucepan put sugar,cornflour,cocoa powder,egg yolks,warm milk and salt,mix well using a whisk,such that all the powdered ingredients are well dissolved in it,without any lumps.
--Put a sieve on a bowl and keep aside.
--After mixing,put the saucepan on heat and keep stirring with a whisk,when it starts bubbling,lower the flame, and whisk scraping the sides and the bottom,it takes seconds for it to to turn from liquid to a thick consistancy, so just see that,when the mixture starts getting thick,turn off the flame and,put the mixture in the sieve,pass it through the sieve,and collect it in the bowl below it,to ensure no lumps are formed.
--Finally,add the vanilla essence and the unsalted butter(@ room temperature)to the sieved mixture and mix well, till butter is melted and mixed well in the pudding.
--Cover the bowl with a cling wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least two hours,it tastes best when it is chilled!
--You can also add chopped toasted cashews or almonds,or any nuts of your choice!
--So enjoy the chocolate pudding,lick your spoon clean!lol(I cleaned my bowl:))

Maaheqaliya and Khadi daal

Maaheqaliya is a typical Hyderabadi dish,but not a very common one,when I got married and did not know cooking,I missed this a lot, and searched for the recipe on net,books...but without any luck, finally I got this recipe from my Mom,and a bunch of other recipes too, during her visit.
Sameeha liked this a lot and had it for lunch,then for dinner and then again next day,she asked if she can eat that again:-).
Recently Sameeha got infected by conjunctivitis, she suffered with it for almost a week,from high temperature and 'Lalita Pawar' type of eye, and vomiting.
Then Alhamdulillah she got better,but now her infection has passed on to Huda,and now mypoor baby is sick,Sameeha was co-operative in the matter of medicines and eye drops,but a little bit fussy with suppositives, but Huda is impossible with medicines,drops,suppositives....everything! Today MashAllah I can see little improvement in her condition,her temperature has subsided,but still she is little cranky.
So here goes the recipe,
The basic recipe of Maheeqaliya is similar to that of Bagaare baingan
Ingredients for Maaheqaliya

1)Mutton 300 gms
2)peanuts 3 Tbsp
3)sesame(thil) 3Tbsp
4)dessicated coconut 1/2 cup(usage of kacha naaryal makes it all the more tasty)
5)dhanya powder 1 Tsp
6)zeera pdr 1 Tsp
7)onion 3 medium
8)ginger garlic paste 2 tbsp
9)salt
10)red chilli powder 1.5 tsp
11)turmeric 1/2 tsp
12)curry leaves 2 sprig
13)green chillies 2-3
14)cilantro
15)tamarind pulp 1 cup
16)oil
17)methi,zeera and mustard seeds for tempering
Method:

--In a frying pan,heat oil and fry the sliced onions,till it starts getting golden brown,chill,you don't need to worry about it getting crispy,as anyhow you have to grind it.
--Dry roast peanuts,sesame and coconut.Grind all this together,I grind sesame first ,when it is grounded to fine powder I add the rest(peanuts,coconut,onion).
--Take this grounded masala and to it add red chilli powder,turmeric,salt,dhanya powder,zeera powder and keep it aside.
--Soak the tamarind in warm water.
--After some time squeeze out the pulp and strain,reserve the tamarind pulp.
--In a saucepan,heat oil add methi,zeera and mustard seeds,when it starts spluttering,slip in the mutton,fry for some time and then add ginger garlic paste,fry till you get the pleasant aroma of fried g/g,then add the grounded masala, and bhoonofy(fry)really well,till the color of the mixture is golden,stirring constantly,this masala has the tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan,so keep scraping the bottom and the sides,while you stir,you need to fry(bhoono) it good,otherwise you will be able to find the presence of peanuts VERY prominent.
--After frying,slowly add the tamarind pulp into the mixture and then add curry leaves ,cilantro and slitted green chillies ,wait till the mixture starts bubbling,add water if necessary.
--Lower the flame,and cover the saucepan and let it cook on low flame till the mutton is tender, stir it constantly,scraping the bottom, at this point you can taste and check if salt,dhanya powder or zeera powder is ok, if not u can add now.
--After the mutton is tender,check the consistency of the curry,and if necessary add water and let simmer for additional five minuites turn off the stove,but let it stand for a while.
--Serve hot with Khadi daal and chawal. great with roti as well!

Khadi dal:
Masoor dal 1 cup
Onion 1
g/g paste 1 tsp
turmeric 1/4 tsp
red chilli powder 1 tsp
salt
cilantro
green chillies 3 slitted
oil
water

Method:

--Heat oil in a saucepan,add onion and fry till onion is translucent,then add g/g paste,red chilli powder,turmeric,salt ,fry and then put 1 cup water(some people like it whole and some cooked mushy,I like itwhole so less water,you can alter your way:)) into it.
--to the water add chopped cilantro and slitted green chillies, taste a drop of the water,if it tastes like tear then the salt is right(yeah wierd this tip was shown to me by my sis)!
--Now when this water starts boiling,put the washed masoor dal in the boiling water,wait till it starts boiling again, and then lower the flame cover the saucepan and let it cook,keep checking,it is cooked really fast.
--After it is done garnish it with chopped cilantro.