Dry fruit milk shake

I have a summery recipe lined up for today . I felt it was more appropriate to publish a recipe with a bit more substance that is fit for this weather. Something that’s....mmmm,  classy and juicy.

 

With the temperatures soaring, I’ve been on a major chilled fruit juices kick.  This is just a simple, fun way to forget the weather. With different sweet and sensational fruits, we surely can experiment with flavors, color and shapes all summer long. Yes, ingredients vary little from recipe to recipe depending on the choice of your fruits, yet altering the proportions you can surely create surprising variations in flavor.

I believe milk shakes or smoothies are the quintessence of summer. Equipped with either milk or yogurt, these chilled treats are a breeze to make. You just have to plop your favorite fruit into the blender, work it for a few seconds and sip, sip, sip those scorching hours away.

Ready for a fruity  & a nutty plunge? How about a glass of cheerful explode-in-your-mouth juiciness infused with the exotic flare of fragrant rose water, and with a sweetly tart crunch of the nuts?

 

Here’s my version after a few tweaks to the original recipe.  A few dry fruits can be easily substituted with fresh fruits for an equally delicious taste. Also, try swapping milk with yogurt to vary.

INGREDIENTS:

 

1 cup milk

2 tbsp warm milk mixed with 4 to 5 saffron strands (kesar)

2 tbsp fresh rose petals Or dried rose petals

1 tbsp. sugar

10 almonds peeled

6 cashews 

6-8 pistachio

5 - 6 walnuts

2 tbsp. dates (deseeded)

2 tbsp. basil seed (sabja seed) which are soaked in water for 2 hours

Some ice-cubes

 

HOW TO MAKE:

 

1) Soak basil seeds in water for 2 hours Or until they swell.

 

2) Soak all the dry fruits in hot water for ten minutes. This helps them get blended easily. Remove them from water before popping them into the blender.

 

3) Combine milk, ice-cubes, saffron infused milk, almond, cashew, rose petals, cashews sugar, almond, pistas and dates . Grind all until they all are blended well.

 

4) Now serve into tall glasses with ice cubes. Top it with soaked basil seed.

 

5) Garnish with chopped almonds, dates, figs  and pistas and a few rose petals for a royal drink.

 

 

 

 

Prawn Biryani

Its almost 2 years now since I last visited my home country and this really is a genuine reason for me to feel very home sick. My heart aches when I hear about the pouring rains, the green beauty of nature which we hardly get to see here and I do miss the homely pleasures.

 

Have you heard about this place called Salalah in southern Oman? People call it as the Switzerland of Middle east because of its beauty. It is the only place in the middle east which has rains during the peak summer days. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to this place a year back. Perhaps I was totally in love with the inviting showers and the chilly winds .

I remember the awe with which I used to watch the misty roads where it drizzled all day, the swaying palms and the rains lashing out at them, the clean and fresh look of the greenery that covered the mountains which surrounded us, the luxuriant tropical green foliage at its best, the streets engulfed in rain- these are memories that are worth beholding.

We had rains all through our stay in this heavenly place and sometimes when the sun would pop out weakly in the skies, it still would feel chilly inside our apartment. A truly rejuvenating experience. If you are living in the middle east, you should surely tour this place whenever you get a chance. I can assure you that it definitely be a journey worthwhile

Snapping out of Nostalgia, I am excited to post here a few pictures of Jebel Ittin - it is a place 40 kilometers from Salalah and we visited it on the third day of our 4 days trip to Salalah last year.
 

 

 

 

 

Now lets talk food or to be more precise its sea food today ....

 

Sea food is a surefire way to boost your health and spirits whenever you are under the weather. Besides the challenges with cleaning and shelling, fishes and other crustaceans are a powerhouse of proteins and omega-3 fatty acids which aid in brain development and lead to a healthy heart.

 Recently on one of my supermarket visits, I was very excited to find ready-to-eat frozen prawns while passing the fish counter . Somehow I prefer these ready to eat prawns because they are much less laborious to clean than the fresh ones. Also, ready to eat prawns are plentiful, and that too with no hefty price tags. But most people prefer using the fresh succulent seafood to make simply rustic dishes that are just too scrumptious and finger-licking good.

 
With these prawns, I went on to try the prawn Biryani which is a pleasantly light, fabulously sour and delightfully spicy rice dish with punchy flavors of—sweet, sour, salty, spicy—in every bite.

INGREDIENTS:

500 gms of ready to eat prawns - cleaned and washed
4 onions  (sliced)
3 big tomatoes chopped
6 Green Chillies

2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tsp Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
Whole Garam masala items - 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf, 1 cardamom, 2 medium sized cinnamon sticks,

Salt - to taste
1/2 cup Oil 
Food coloring/Saffron - a pinch
1/2 kg Basmati rice
1/4 cup Mint leaves (pudina)

Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1/4th cup

HOW TO COOK:

1) In a large pan, heat oil and add the whole garam masala items. Then add onions and Saute them for a while.

2)    Then, add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a min.  Add the washed prawns and saute it and let the water dry up completely till you see the oil  on  the top  so that the raw odour goes. 

 

 

   

3)   Add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder,coriander powder, salt  & fry for a minute.Then add  the tomatoes and little water and cook till you see oil coming up and the prawns are almost done. 

4)  Finally add the coriander leaves, green chillies and the mint leaves and cook for a minute before turning off the stove.

5) Separately cook the basmati rice (make sure the water is more than adequate for the rice to boil well and  ensuring that the rice is not sticky and every grain of rice needs to be seperate when you are draining it. The rice should not be overcooked. 

6) Add a pinch of salt to the rice while boiling it  .  Once the rice is cooked and strained  put in a layer of rice in a large dish. Add some prawn gravy to this Then again add another layer of rice and prawn gravy. Continue this until all of the rice and gravy is exhausted.

 

7)   Toss in  a handful of mint leaves, cover lid and  keep on low flame for about 10 mins for the flavours to blend . I usually keep the vessel on a griddle for the Dum.

 

 

 

Serve hot with onion raita or cucumber raita.

 



RATING NOTES:
              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :  Medium         
             RATING  POINTS         :    7/10

Cottage Cheese & Bread Rolls

I enjoyed the holy month of Ramadhan thoroughly. Working only 6 hours a day and using the afternoons for small naps and spending time with my little one were something I really miss now. And not to forget the new delicacies that we tried almost everyday for our Iftars.

When I look back at the month, I am quite pleased at the number of comfort foods I tried and that too with common ingredients available at home. Planning the menu to include no-fuss recipes for a phenomenal Iftar treat, plating the food, choosing the right combinations and presenting it, basking in the glory of their admiration was something I had been obsessed with.

From refreshing drinks to fast-to-fix fries & salads we were happy to indulge our appetite to a glorious excess. Hugging onto the coolness of the glass after witnessing sweltering heat throughout the day was the most ideal way to chill out and cool down our bodies. A real refreshing and an amazing experience.

 Invariably some of my experiments were a good success and very few did not work out, but yes - gathering this experience has been a truly delightful one and which is motivation enough to keep me going.

I have a downright irresistible fancy appetizer with me which can be snacked on a fun-evening.It’s super healthy minus all the usual hassle of baking. I am talking about Rolls here which can be turned easily in a shallow frying pan and do not take long to get browned. They taste simply moreish and you can savor every bite pretending to be on some exotic location.

Now let us hit the recipe for them.

 

INGREDIENTS:
 

1 cup crumbled cottage cheese

1 small onion, chopped fine

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp powdered cumin

1/2 tsp garam masala (It is a powder of cinnamons, cardamom, cloves & peppercorns)

A small bunch of coriander, chopped fine

1 tsp or a bit more tomato sauce

4 slices of bread

Butter to toast

Salt to taste

HOW TO MAKE:

 

1)  In a bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, chopped coriander, chopped onion, and jeera to this. 

 

2) Then add the tomato sauce and keep aside.

 

3) Remove the crusts from your bread and roll out each slice as thin as you can.

4) Place about 1 tsp or so of filling on one end of the rolled out bread slice. 

5)  Roll up the bread slices this way and butter them as shown in the picture.

6) Shallow fry in a frying pan till lightly browned.

 

 

 

7) Serve them with Tomato Ketchup.

 

 

 

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Sabz Pulao

The last day of our holidays was kind of slumpy for me. A lot of things to do were lined up in the housekeeping department. I also had to catch up on some sleep to look refreshed for the next day at work. The little one's continuous demand for non-stop attention and the expectation of Mr.Hubby for a delicious lunch were the other pressures of the day along with a last few bits and bobs of grocery shopping.

Its hard to come up with what needs to be cooked each and everyday. Balancing a decent menu with the availability of resources is quite a challenging activity for the already strained brain. So I decided for a full fledged Veggie lunch and something with a bit more substance having a grand aroma but still easy to make.

A peek in my refrigerator confirmed my choice. I had some fresh beans with some carrots and a pack of frozen garden peas. So what was I waiting for? I dashed off to the counter, grabbed my cutting board and began to chop the veggies. I had the salad ready to be dished in the next 10 minutes.

The main course chosen was Veg Pulao -Vegs & long grained rice cooked with whole spices and pasted garlic along with a dash of ginger.

The main thing to watch out for is the garlic and the whole spices you use in the rice as the taste can be a bit overpowering. Otherwise it is a guaranteed crowd pleaser for vegetarians and surely a party dish.

INGREDIENTS:

 10-12 beans chopped into 1 inch pieces
Half a carrot sliced
1 small potato diced
1 tbsp. peas
2 Onions  sliced
2 Tomatoes  chopped
6 Green Chillies  cut slanted and seeds removed
100 gms Curd  
1 tbsp. Ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tbsp. Chilli powder 
1 tsp Coriander powder
Whole Garam masala items - 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf, 1 cardamom, 1 medium sized cinnamon stick
Salt - to taste
1/2 cup Oil
1 cup Basmati rice
Mint leaves (pudina) -1/4 cup
Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1/4th cup

HOW TO COOK:

1) In a large pan, heat oil and add the whole garam masala items.

2) Add onions and Saute them for a while.

 

3)   Then, add the ginger garlic paste and sauté for a min.

4)  Add the red chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt and fry for a minute.Then add the curds and the tomatoes and little water and cook till you see oil coming up and then add the vegetables and cook for 5 minutes or till they look soft.

  5)  Finally add the coriander leaves, green chillies and the mint leaves and cook for a minute .

6) Pour in 2 cups of water and bring the mixture to boil.

 7)   Add washed and soaked(for 5 minutes) Basmati rice and stir in so that the gravy is mixed with the rice. Cover the dish at this stage.

8)  Allow it to cook covered on low flame till the rice softens but does not stick to each other.

9) Once the rice is cooked you can garnish the Pulao with deeply fried onion slices and fresh chopped coriander leaves.

10) Serve hot with onion raita or cucumber raita.

 

Spicy Seekh Pizza

We have decided to go in for a new Electric Oven. I have already started to shortlist the brands of my choice and checking out if they fall in my budget range. I still don't have the heart to settle for anything which doesn't suit my requirements after seeing the last 2 years of disastrous baking results in my kitchen. I am excited over our decision and cant wait to see one on my Kitchen counter. I have a whole list of recipes shortlisted for this and yes, they are sure to make their way soon into this space.

We are just done with our Eid accompanied with ten full days of relaxing holidays. I am still trying my best to come out of the holiday hangover that has struck me since yesterday. Life had been so lovely over the past week with late breakfasts, beach picnics and shopping. But they say that all good things come to an end very soon and that exactly has happened here - the days did pass by very quickly and again we are back to work, to the same old life of rush and chaos and the same mantra of busy busy busy.....

Talking about baking, I have a recipe sitting in my drafts since more than a year. I thought to share it soon before I get my new oven and another bunch of tried recipes gather in my drafts. So Pizza lovers, now you can do more than the trusty classic pepperonis and chicken Supremes. These oven-baked Pizzas are an easy way to feed a crowd. You can practically taste the summer sun in this top-rated Sausage-Pizza Recipe. A platter of these refreshing bites can be prepared in a jiffy.

INGREDIENTS:

2 ready made chicken seekhs(sausages) cut into 1/4 " thick slices and mix with 1 1/2 tbsp oil
2 ready made pizza bases
1 1/2 cup mozarella cheese grated
1 small capsicum chopped
1 tomato chopped
 1/2 onion chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chilli flakes

For the Tomato spread

4 flakes crushed garlic
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 cup tomato puree

HOW TO MAKE:

For the tomato spread

1) Heat  2 tbsp oil add garlic, sauce, tomato puree, salt, pepper ,red chilli powder, oregano and cook till thick.

2) Mix onion, capsicum, tomato, salt, pepper, oregano in a bowl.

For the Pizza

1) Spread tomato spread on each pizza base.

2) Spread 1/2 the chopped vegetables on each base. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese on each base.

3) Top each with half of the seekh slices. Sprinkle red chilli flakes on the seekh.

4) Preheat the oven for 180 degrees celsius and bake the pizzas for 12-15 minutes or till lightly browned.

RATING NOTES:
              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   Easy             
             RATING  POINTS         :    9/10