Daal-chawal with a capital K

So yesterday we tried Koshary from a restaurant called Koshary an-Neel.

The name conjured some really exotic images for me...I imagined a harmonious commingling of sun-kissed rice and tomatoes with fragrant spices from the Mother of All-Civilisation (Umm Dunya) and some sort of meat (it's an Egyptian dish after all :P).

Imagine my feelings when we unpacked our 'safari' order to encounter daal-chawal with shatta with layers of salty macaroni and spaghetti strings on top, with a few boiled chickpeas strewed on for good measure.

Good, hearty meal all right, but definitely not what I was expecting. Perhaps I get my hopes up too soon?
Anyway here's the recipe (with pictures and a story to go with them) for days when you want to make daal-chaawal by another name. :)

'tis the season to eat/make halwa!

The winter chill seems to say: chuck out the calorie counter and dig out the degchis, it's time to make hot, tastes-best-with-ginger-tea halwa.

Chana, carrot, sooji: take your pick.

PS: Now that I've finally acquired the knack of making halwa, I'm appalled at how easy it is!
I mean all these years I've been thinking that there's this huge subtle art behind it that can only be achieved by a chosen few Cordon-Bleu cooks (or the desi-equivalent thereof), and now I find it's ridiculously easy.

Try it, honestly. It's great calorie-rich food for growing kids (not so good for mums though):P

something's cooking

given that some people in our house are still fasting, not all out feasting, I thought I'd share a recipe of something I'm cooking for the evening today: Chinese Chilli Chicken, via India.

Tastes nice, smells appetising, not too many spices and easy to make.

I love that recipe website too btw, it has scores of desi recipes which magically turn out right if you just follow the instructions on there.

Nice!

coincidence!

Yesterday, I made the season's first saalan.

Today, I was thinking of making the season's first officially Indian iftaar and look what I found...recipes for a complete Indian spread that includes shami kebabs, something called "cheese pops" and "spinach balls" and thandai...all of this on one page.

Even if you're not culinarily inclined, you might want to look up the link if, like me, you're curious about what 'cheese pops' look like.

crisp writing, savoury ideas

A couple of days back I was teaching my son a lesson on different kinds of "occupations" (think "the work a person does to earn his/her living", not Iraq) and in the worksheet that followed, he had to write what was the occupation of his father and mother.

In all 7-year-old seriousness, he wrote: Mother: "Baker"

***

I love food writers who write like this , plus the fact that they are into "goo-free baking" is a bonus (one can only stand so much of whipped cream and frosting on cakes and cookies).

"I don't know about you, but it's double duvet time in our house (cue late-arriving Indian summer between me writing these words and you reading them). Anyway, when the woollies and wellies come out, so do the cake tins and baking trays. And right now they're out and proud.

But I'm not about to overload you with recipes for brownies, muffins and millionaire's shortbread, partly because you've almost certainly got a copy of How To Be A Domestic Goddess, but also because my seasonal baking urge is right now on a distinctly savoury jag. Hard to say why. I guess the chocolate and icing sugar store was uncharacteristically bare a couple of weeks back, and it set me off on a goo-free baking spree. It's a definite advantage that the average store cupboard probably already holds everything you need to cook some very delicious savoury morsels.

River cottage spelt digestive biscuits
We make these in two slightly different ways: follow this recipe for a digestive to serve with cheese, or reduce the sugar to 100g to create a slightly less sweet biscuit for pâtés. Makes about 30.
50g spelt flour

250g medium oatmeal

250g cold, unsalted butter, cubed

125g soft light brown sugara generous pinch of salt

1½ tsp baking powder

10-20ml milk
Put everything except the milk in a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Tip into a bowl, then add just enough milk to bring it together into a firm dough. This uncooked dough will keep in the fridge for several days (as long as the milk in it remains fresh).
This makes a very firm, solid dough and, if it's been in the fridge, it will be rock hard, so let it come to room temperature before rolling. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/gas mark 3 and lightly grease two baking sheets. Put the dough between two sheets of clingfilm or baking parchment, and roll out until 2-3mm thick. Work quickly because it can become sticky as it warms up (return it to the fridge for a bit if this happens). Use a plain round cookie cutter to stamp out the biscuits. Arrange on the baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, until pale golden and just beginning to turn brown around the edges. Leave to cool, then store in an airtight container.

Seedy crackers
You can use whichever seeds you like here, though the aniseedy note from the caraway works particularly well with blue cheese. Fennel, dill, sesame or nigella seeds are all good options. Makes about 25.
50g strong white flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp each poppy and caraway seeds

½ tsp salt40ml olive oil

100ml water
Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/gas mark 3 and lightly oil two baking trays. Sieve the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl, then stir in the poppy and caraway seeds and the salt. Add the oil and rub it in with your fingers until the mix comes together with a texture resembling coarse breadcrumbs. Slowly pour in the water, stopping when you have a soft, but not sticky dough.
Roll out the dough to roughly 5mm thick and stamp into 5cm discs. Take each disc of dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to make a long oval shape. The dough should be very thin - only about 1mm. Place the ovals on the baking trays and bake for just five or six minutes, until dry and crisp but barely browned. Leave to cool, then store in an airtight container.

Interestingly, the writer tells us why a digestive isn't really a digestive:

"Digestives, incidentally, are so-called because it was originally claimed the bicarbonate of soda they contained would aid digestion. This is almost certainly nonsense - but I wouldn't for a moment wish to strip them of their badge of wholesomeness."

Next, he proceeds to brag about how easily he can munch through vast quantities of biscuits and pairs them up with all kinds of dips, purées, pâté and preserves.

Definitely my kind of occupation.

the struggle to keep it simple and sunnah

One of the biggest ironies of Ramadhaan is the enormous struggle it involves to keep it simple and sunnah. How difficult it is to be content with a minimum of food on the sufrah, when the supermarket aisles are flooded with food!
How hard it is for the Ummah of the Messengerصلىالله عليه وسلم who broke his fasts with fresh dates (Rutb) or if they were not to be found, three dry dates and some draughts of water, to be satisfied with less than what our senses demand!!

May Allaah makes us of those who follow the best of guides, and the best of guidance...and in doing so, enable us to drink from his fount, Al Kawthar, whose cups are as numerous as stars...whoever drinks from it will feel no thirst after that, ever.

Aameen.

On a (somewhat) related note, I found this relatively simple bunch of regular iftaar fare : salad, shorba, sambousa and chicken-rice on the GulfNews' tabloid! magazine, that looks simple enough to try out on a weekend.
happy feasting...errr, I mean fasting :P

Lemony Chicken pulao
Basmati rice 1 Kg
Diced chicken 1 kg
Onion slices 200 gms
Tomatoes sliced 200 gms
Ginger-garlic paste 100 gms
Whole garam masala 10 gms
Butter / ghee 200 ml
Lemon 4
Salt 30 gms
Green chillies 4
Coriander powder 10 gms
Cumin powder 10 gms
Coriander leaves chopped 50 gms
Brown onions 50 gms
Chopped mint 20 gms
Cinnamon powder 5 gms

Method
Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. In a pot, sauté onions with garam masala till light brown, now add chicken and ginger-garlic paste and sauté for two minutes.
Add coriander powder, cumin powder and green chilli along with tomatoes.
Add 1litre of water and bring to boil. Now add coriander, mint and lemon cut into halves, with skin. Season with salt and bring it to boil for 5 minutes.
Add drained rice and cook on a slow fire with lid covered till the rice is cooked and the water is absorbed. Set on Dum for 10 minutes. Garnish with fried onions and sliced almonds and serve hot along with yoghurt raita.
TIP: SETTING ON DUM CAN BE SIMPLY DONE IF YOU HAVE AN OVEN WHICH CAN TAKE YOUR COOKING VESSEL. SEAL WITH A LID AND PLACE THE WHOLE VESSEL IN AN OVEN PREHEATED TO 350 DEGREES.

Watermelon and feta salad with ginger dressing
Diced watermelon 300 gms
Feta cheese, diced 150 gms
Lightly toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds 50 gms
Dressing
Peeled and grated
fresh ginger tbsp 1
Honey 2 tbsp
Finely chopped mint 1 tsp
Lemon juice 20 ml
Method:
Dressing: Blend the ingredients in a bowl. Mix the watermelon and feta in a bowl so that they are evenly distributed. Lace the salad with the dressing. Garnish with the mixed seeds.
TIP: THIS SALAD NEEDS TO BE MADE AT THE LAST MINUTE TO KEEP THE FRESHNESS. HOWEVER THE SWEET GINGER DRESSING CAN BE MADE IN LARGER QUANTITY AND KEPT STORED IN THE REFRIGERATOR AND USED WITH OTHER SALADS.

Vegetable soup
Zucchini 100 gms
Carrots 100 gms
Mushroom 50 gms
Baby corn 50 gms
Green beans 100 gms
Potatoes 100 gms
Chopped tomatoes 100 gms
Coriander leaves 50 gms
Garlic 50 gms
Onion 50 gms
Olive oil 50 ml
Chinese thread noodle 50 gms
Saffron threads 2 pinches
Fine semolina 50 gms
Salt and pepper 5 gms
METHOD
Wash zucchini and mushrooms, peel the carrots and potatoes and grate the vegetables finely. Slice and chop the tomatoes. Chop the coriander leaves. Peel and mash the garlic. Chop the onions.
Lightly saute the onion and garlic in a sauce pan in a olive oil. Cut the thread noodles and add them. Also add the grated vegetables.
Fill the pan with 500ml water. Season with salt and pepper. Add saffron threads, coriander leaves. Cook for about 20 minutes.
Add semolina. Stir with a wooden spatula to bind the soup. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and butter. Serve soup in a soup bowl along with garlic bread.
TIP: SUBSTITUTE YOUR FAVOURITE PASTA IN PLACE OF THE THREAD NOODLES AND ENJOY IT JUST THE WAY YOU LIKE IT.

Spicy cheese sambousek
Dough
Refined flour 500 gms
Eggs 1
Melted butter 50 gms
Corn oil 50 ml
Milk 250 ml
Salt 10 gms
Sugar 10 gms

Stuffing
Cottage cheese 100 gms
Feta cheese 100 gms
Chopped ginger 10 gms
Chopped green chilli 10 gms
Cooking oil for frying 300 ml
Chilli powder 2 gms
Oil sunflower refined 10 ml
Roasted cumin powder 5 ml

Method
To make the dough, mix flour ,eggs, butter, corn oil, milk, salt, sugar and knead into soft dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
For stuffing, crumble feta cheese, cottage cheese and mix in chopped coriander, ginger, green chillies, chilli powder and roasted cumin powder.
Roll the dough thin. Cut it into round shapes. Add 1tsp of cheese filling. Close it in a half moon shape, then press on the edges by using a fork. Fry in hot oil. Serve with sliced lemon, tomato, and mint chutney.
TIP: YOU CAN PREPARE THE SANBOUSER IN ADVANCE AND STORE IN A DEEP FREEZER. FRY AS SOON AS YOU REMOVE FROM THE FREEZER. DO NOT ALLOW TO THAW.

ummm...eureka?

I know some of the more seasoned mums and cooks out there will probably go 'duhhh' when I post this, but this is a real discovery for me...(I guess they don't call me culinarily challenged for nothing): Home-Made Chicken Nuggets

All my children love chicken nuggets (including the eats-no-meat-at-all Rasha) but I've only recently discovered the home-made, additive and chemical free alternative...plus this recipe recommends baking and not frying...try it out!

Also tried and tested, easy to make, taste great without frosting old favourites: Vanilla cupcakes

What you need:

8 ounces butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces
2 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour, stir before measuring
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole or 2% milk
What you do:

1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 24 muffin cups, line with muffin papers, or spray with baking oil.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on low speed to soften.
3. Increase speed to medium and beat until smooth.
4. Add sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla; scrape bowl then beat until smooth.
5. Measure the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl; sift once.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture a little at a time, alternating with the milk.
7. Continue beating on medium speed until smooth and well blended, scraping the sides of the bowl once or twice.
8. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until a wooden pick or cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the center of one.

[courtesy: SouthernCuisine ]

My children have been down with awful end-of-season coughs and colds, and they've all become very picky and listless about eating ...but one thing that makes everyone's day (including abu rr, who's a bit of a no-sugar, no-white flour puritan) is cupcakes... soft, sweet, just-like- mummy-made cupcakes...I'm off to make some!

the newest R in our life

...is called Rohu :)

I've resisted fish (cooking/eating) from the time I was a growing child in a place where Koli fisherfolk gathered the sea's riches and emptied them at local markets twice a day... to the place where fishermen rowed dingy, wooden boats to the centre of a lake amidst green water-chestnut wreaths, to catch silver-grey dinners from the blue green water.

When we moved to a place by the sea, friendly patients would give Abu-RR a bag full of the day's freshest catch, which he brought home to a wife who wouldn't know what to do with it.

Another move brought us close to a Giant Store, which obligingly conjured fresh fish fingers with chips or baked fish in huge infrared ovens or fried hamour filets from fish one could choose fresh off the counter, while one shopped for groceries.

However, the move that really brought us out of our fish-less state was when one of Abu-RR's colleagues moved closer to our place, and his wife served us a variety of delectable fried fish one day. It looked like fish and tasted like fish -- but it didn't smell like fish. Turns out it's a variety of fresh water fish so exotic and well loved that it qualifies as a *gift item* in some parts of the world.

For now, I have a stash of fish in my 'fridge; my family (except for Rasha who's a pucca vegetarian) has their supply of omega-3 fatty acids, high protein and minerals that promises brighter eyes and hair, stronger bones and better brains, and protection from everything from asthma to cancer.

PS: I found this delicious site while looking online for fried fish recipes -- complete with amazing pictures, authentic recipes and a really original name...look it up!

top 10 winter foods

DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying these are the healthiest foods you can eat in winter...they're just simple, easy-to-make, nutritious foods that I find myself cooking and the kids eating/craving a lot, when it gets chilly around here ...

1. Cakes (homemade, we've recently outgrown Betty Crocker's)



Rasha has this absolutely de.li.ci.ous recipe for date cake in her iqtisaad al-manzilee book which turned out really nice, maa shaa Allaah when she made it ...*all* by herself.

Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising/all-purpose flour or wholewheat flour if you want ma'moul tasting cake
2 tsps baking powder
4 eggs
1/2 tsp powdered cloves/cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup dates
4 tbsps butter/vegetable oil
Pinch of salt

Method:
Pit the dates and chop into very small squares. Follow the regular recipe to bake a cake, add chopped dates at the very end.

2. Pasta bechamel...actually that's a year-round favourite

There's a really good, easy to follow recipe here, submitted by someone called 'muslimmomma'...subhaanallaah..

3. Parathas/Muttabbaq

Muttabbaq is basically street food, and it's tough to replicate the exact flavour at home... but you do get muttabaq sheets at some supermarkets...all one has to do is to take the sheets and slather them with egg and minced meat.

Here's an authentic muttabbaq recipe from Honey&Onions: The cook would throw a small ball of dough on a marble slab until it was tissue thin, place a thin rectangle of bread in the center and pile on ground meat, chopped greens, spices and finally a raw egg to bind it all together. After folding the thin dough over the filling, he would toss it onto a hot oiled grill where it would immediately puff up and brown. Turned once, it was then cut into six pieces with a flourish of what appeared to be a pair of putty knives. A sweet version, made with bananas and sugar and egg was a perfect dessert and we would order batches of both. We took them away heaped on a huge enamel tray, garnished with whole lemons and tomatoes...

4. Rajma Chawal

This is a nice recipe, although everyone I know has their own way of cooking rajma and it ends up tasting different in different places even though the basic ingredients are the same. I use pureed onions and tomatoes only, and v. little chilli/turmeric.

5. Khichri
I love bland food...ergo, I *love* khichri and all the under-5s like it too. Abu R-R has this family tradition where they'd have black daal khichri with dollops of asli ghee for suhoor in Ramadhaan.

How to make Khichri: By TOI columnist Jug Suraiya:

"Khichri? Yuck. That's the standard response to the most maligned dish in the subcontinent. Its mention evokes images of invalids and upset stomachs. It's a synonym for an inelegant mish-mash, an unappetising jumble...

Come to dinner; we'll have khichri, says Bunny. The recipients of the offer look dismayed and offended, displaying a veritable khichri of emotions. Do we look ill to you? We've never felt fitter, they protest.

Bunny tries to explain that a khichri chez Suraiya is not an aid to convalescence, like extract of wheatgerm or extra virgin karela juice, but a legitimate, and indeed desirable, comestible. Our guests-to-be remain unconvinced. Maybe you'd like us to bring some light pre-dinner snacks, they suggest. Like a couple of tandoori chickens. Or an armload of family-size pizzas.

But Bunny hasn't made a career in advertising for nothing. Softly softly catchee consumer. Our guests turn up on the appointed day, though in some trepidation. Will there be dessert afterwards? they ask, stoking up on the preprandial peanuts and cheese straws. Bunny assures them that they'll all get their just desserts -- if they have space left after the khichri. And to a silent fanfare playing in the background, she uncovers the vessel.

Ta ra. A scented melody rises from the dekchi, an aromatic arpeggio alchemically commingling the fragrance of basmati, and cinnamon, and cloves, and cardamom, and peppercorns, and bay leaves. From a bed of fluffy rice flushed pale gold with dal peep whole onions translucent as pearls, peas green and sensual as parrots, carrots in an exuberance of crimson, chunks of potatoes hearty as friendship, and florets of cauliflower crisp and tender as a caress of winter sun. It's not to die for. It's to be born again for.

Does this Suraiya have no shame? you'll ask. Blowing his own trumpet -- or rather, that of his wretched khichri -- so brazenly? But that's just it, you see. It's not my khichri. Nor is it Bunny's. For neither of us can make it.It was the invention of dear old Pingles, our much-loved major domoress who ran the household for us for some 30-odd years before departing, much missed, to that Ultimate Rasoighar Where the LPG Never Runs Out and the Dal Never Burns...

Then came Mukesh...Mukesh one day confided to Bunny that he could cook. Cook what? asked Bunny. Khichri, replied Mukesh. Describe your khichri to me, said Bunny. He did. And it was as though Pingles had returned, in the improbable epiphany of a chubby 26-year-old dog-boy. I still don't believe in the transmigration of souls. But the transmigration of khichri is a different matter. The proof of the khichri, however, is in the eating.

So here's the recipe for Pingles' khichri, as reprised by Mukesh. Two cups rice; 1 cup dhuli moong; 1 medium sized cauliflower cut into florets; 100 gm Safal peas; 4 medium potatoes peeled and sliced; 2 tbsp tomato puree; 4 medium onions chopped fine, plus 4 small onions peeled whole; cinnamon sticks; cloves; peppercorns and bay leaves; 1 tsp dhania; 1 tsp jeera; 1/2 tsp Kashmiri mirch; 1/2 tsp haldi; 1 tsp ginger paste. Mix together in a bowl with a little dahi to make a thick paste. Put all the prepared veggies into a big pot, add 1/2 tsp haldi. Bring to boil. Simmer till done. Drain and set aside. Boil dal. Heat 2 tbsp oil in pot. Add chopped onions. Fry till brown. Add masala paste and whole masalas and cook well. Add tomato puree. Stir well till cooked. Add rice and stir. Add boiled veggies and boiled dal and stir very well. Salt to taste. Bring to the boil. Simmer till rice is cooked. Serve hot."

6. Carrot Halwa

confession: I've never really managed to make carrot halwa like my father/abu r-r's father used to make.

Here's a no-fuss recipe: 'no-fuss' being the key word.

7. Foul Tamees from Qarmoushi
Foul = mashed fava beans, topped with olive oil/butter and a tomato-garlic-green chillies paste called shatta.

Tamees = crunchy, springy, enormous Afghan bread cooked in circular clay ovens.

It's the stuff that causes pre-iftaar traffic jams here.

8. Chicken Broast with garlic sauce
If you don't like Shan Chicken Broast Masala, this could be an option.

9. Homemade Pulao/Chicken Kabsa from Al-Taazaj
Pulao is a variety of chicken-rice that inspires food columnists to write cheesy lines like: "Breathes there a man with a palate so dead/ who doesn't prefer the pulao/ over the daintiest bread?" It's virtually the same thing as the Central Asian pilaf, brought to the subcontinent by the descendants of Timur Lane and Chengiz Khan.

Al-Tazaj Chicken Kabsa = convenience (it's a freshly made chicken and rice dish)+ great taste at less than SR 15. What more could one ask for?

10. Hot, crunchy toast and Tea (with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves) or milky cocoa.

The Kitchen Diaries: Stories of Serendipity

I'm in awe of women who cook well and alhamdulillaah, by a quirk of qadr, I've always been surrounded by them..

...my mum is one such (she can whip up walnut cakes and biryaanis with equal expertise and ease) ...my mother-in-law too (she made the most exquisite nargisi koftaas and delicate saalans and crisp kabaabs and meethi tikiyaas) ..my sisters-in-law (USP: fingerlickin' butter chicken; lighter than air, perfectly circular, lightly toasted rotis) ..
..the Egyptian doctor's wife who invited us for iftaar is the latest in line (think an array of perfectly frosted meltinthemouth desserts, chicken pizza and shorbaa, knafaah, basbousaa and baclaava, samboosas stuffed with moloukhiaa, topped off with roasted chicken on rice and peach sherbet, all made at home...maa shaAllaah)

Even though I regularly hyperventilate on the ramadaan-is-about-fasting-not-feasting theme to captive audiences i.e all those hapless folk who invite us to iftaar; there are times when I'm awed into silence (punctuated by chomping sounds) when confronted with culinary genius .

In a world where everyone loves food just-like-mummy-made, I fret over the kind of memories I'm giving my children. Where other kids rate mum's cooking: fantabulous, my kids could in all honesty rate my culinary skills (or lack thereof) as ...serendipitous.

In other words, let's just say I *surprise* them at the sufraa...the cupcakes that seemed to be doing fine when I last checked have been known to deflate and crumble the minute my back's turned, the patty won't turn plump or the pizza crust will turn black, not brown on occasion.

Which is why, this Ramadhaan I've bucked the parathas-for-suhoor-and-pakoras-for-iftaar tradition and decided to invest my time and energy in food that can't go wrong be idhnillaah: grilled chicken and cheese burgers, homemadepizza (with a readymade crust), 15-minute marble cake, boiled egg patties and pasta in bechamel sauce...supplies the same calories and saves on the heartache (and heartburn) of an elaborate meal that came undone.

PS: This post is inspired by The Kitchen Diaries, of which reviewer Cathy Pryor writes:
IF there’s one thing you don’t find in the pages of the average cookery book, it’s admissions of failure. How often do you catch the Jamies, Nigellas or Gordons of this world saying something along the lines of: “Well, of course, the first time I made this I set the curtains on fire and it was a complete bloody mess”? You won’t find Elizabeth David ruminating on how she always tended to overcook the paupiettes of sole, or Jane Grigson letting slip that she found Mrs. Raffold’s Pie dreadfully tricky at first.

On the contrary: Most cookery writers make it sound so effortless that it’s daunting. And you get the feeling that they mean it to be. So Nigel Slater’s willingness to include the occasional cock-up in The Kitchen Diaries comes across as refreshingly frank.

Take the entry for Jan. 30: “The warm smell of baking pastry wafts into the rest of the house. Heaven. Halfway through baking, I check the tart’s progress, only to find the pastry case empty and the citrus filling forming a lemon-colored pool on the baking sheet. I pile the whole damn failure into a basin (and later eat it in secret after everyone has gone home) and start again.”

Or Aug. 2: “Ruined a perfectly good salad today... For some reason I decided to add a bit of blue cheese I had in the fridge. Don’t know what I was thinking of.”

....sounds like someone I know..*wry smile*