Bhel Puri

But Salalah did not end with only the visit to Darbat. Before we entered Salalah, we travelled more than 1000 kilometers from Muscat, covering almost 700 kilometers of desert area and witnessing sweltering heat because of the peak summer month. As we were nearing the Dhofar region, we were welcomed by cool breeze even though we were still driving on the highway surrounded by sand dunes and desert on both sides and an infinite sight of only brown land with dry vegetation scattered here and there.

All through the journey, I was wondering how this heat is going to change into shivering cold as we approach Salalah. So we stopped at a famous farm called the Frankincense farm (which Salalah is famous for). This farm is huge and dry with the frankincense tress scattered here and there (hardly a farm's look it had), but it was so windy that we felt as if we will be blown away. A wonderful welcome to the paradise of Oman called Salalah.

Have a look of the pictures of the Frankincense farm. These pictures were shot at almost 4 p.m. The Frankincense is the beads like liquid found on the bark of these trees and it is in the solidified state. It is scrapped and removed and sold in the markets as it produces a beautiful odour when burned. It is widely used in Arabian homes, religious ceremonies etc.

It is more than a year since I toured this lovely place. Now we are almost at the end of the summer season here in Oman. So the heat isn't so bad .

Overall, this time summer really surprised us. We had bad days only in the month of June. The rest of the months was very tolerable and not as bad as the previous years. So we were able to spend a good amount of time outdoors watching sun sets and enjoying nature. Don’t you love the way the sky lights up with the orange-yellow glow while the sun disappears down the horizon? I thoroughly enjoyed the Friday sunsets especially because Friday is the day when the day is all yours and you enjoy the weekend idling away the time and relaxing.

To compliment this post, I should also say that the best way to spend a Friday evening is to have light street food - it can also be ridiculously easily prepared at home by throwing in a few chopped vegetables, spices and puffed rice. Put them in a paper cone and munch it to glory. We call this as the Bhel puri in India. It is a popular street food and we all love it so much. No rolling. No cut-outs. No scraping, No baking and No cooking. Whee! I can tell you this story with some carrots, onions and tomatoes with a dash of chilli - best enjoyed on a cold, rainy winter night. So walk the bar with this smashing appetizer.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups puffed rice
 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup finely chopped onions

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves

1 tbsp. ground green chillis with a handful of coriander leaves(ground coarsely)

2 tbsp. sev

 

 

 

 

HOW TO MAKE:

 

1) Mix all the above ingredients and serve immediately.