Stir Fried Onion & Zucchini Raita/Dip

Long lazy summer afternoons, cold moisture sweating glass of iced lemonade, carressing sun peeping randomly from behind the curtains, all the while spread lazily on sofa and in hand kindle displaying pages after pages of  lovely fictional historical "whodunit?" mystery book. Yeap, thats me this afternoon, enjoying Patricia B Ryan's new historical series "Still life with Murder", great read in all, with a bit of drama, wit and hints of romance, not to forget a good suspense and nice revelations at good intervals. Clock strikes 3:30 pm and its already time to cook our early dinner, now thats a bit unfair for such a good lazy afternoon isn't it?!! But then I remembered I did'nt have to cook much coz peas pulav was sitting ready in refridgerator along with maa-choleyaan di dal and mix-veg curry, all leftovers from last evening's dinner and quantity more than enough to serve 2 very hungry food loving monsters, P & Me. So I carried on with my lazy affairs and completed the mystery novel at precisely 4:17 pm, happy and elated with the conclusion that it offered, my mind was filled with images of how would this story playout if made into a movie kinda thing, funny but I do that a lot. :)
Being happy enough I decided to whip up something freshly cooked, again remembered the amount of food stored in fridge, I decided to prepare raita which would not levy extra burden on already copious amount of food I had in hand.

I coarsely grated 2 medium sized zucchini, chopped 1 medium sized red onion, chopped two green chillies, heated 1 tbs of canola oil in a pan, added 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds added chopped green chillies and onions and stir & sauteed it for 2 mins. Removed excess water from zucchini and added that to the pan.
Threw in 1/2 tsp of red chilli flakes and salt to taste and sauteed for another 2 mins or so. Turned off the heat and let the mixture cool down. Added 200 to 250 gms yoghurt, mixed well and garnished it with few coriander/cilantro leaves. I knew at this point that this will be a hit with pulav.
Happy with the outcome I again laid on my sofa, going through my beloved kindle in search of another mystery/suspense novel to devour. :)

Wishing you all same happy lazy afternoons too!!!

Foul/Ful - Egyptian Fava Bean Dip

Foul/Ful, pronounced as Fool, is an ancient middle-eastern dish, which I fell head over heals in love with, after coming to Saudi Arabia. This dish is prepared from Fava Beans aka. Broad Beans. This is staple food in Egypt and is equally popular in Saudi Arabia along with Jordan, Syria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia etc. Prepared in various versions using lemon, garlic, sumac, cumin, green chillies, tomatoes, onion and olive oil, there are so many combinations of preparing this dish, some prefer it chunky I on otherhand, prefer it smooth and buttery. In Syria this dish is prepared using special Aleppo pepper and tahini (sesame seed paste).

There is this place in Riyadh which is very popular for its Afghani Foul, P mentioned it many times when I was just new in Riyadh, come next weekend and he brought this heavenly dish called foul (I know I used to get a kick out of it just hearing it, it made me think of something which would be very silly to eat) along with khubz (pita) and hummus for breakfast and I have to admit Foul rocked my world, it has such a lovely taste, texture and flavour that I just couldn't stop licking my plate clean after finishing.

It is said that foul is the dish of Pharoahs and I say Amen. Mentionable quantities of fava beans have been found in Egyptian Tombs. This beans are mentioned not only in Bible but also in other ancient texts, what more can be said about this beans?! Not to forget the lovely nutritional value they provide other than being food for Pharoahs.

So as I said some prefer chunky kinda foul but I prefer smooth and buttery texture which is the way it is prepared in that Riyadh's famous Afghani foul shop, so here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup medium sized Egyptian Fava Beans (dry, overnight soak in water along with 2 pinches of soda-bicarb)
6 tbs olive oil, I used extra virgin.
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin powder
3 cloves of garlic, grated
2 tbs tomato paste, you can used fresh tomatoes too, 2-3 medium sized and skin removed would suffice.
Salt to taste

For garnish:
2-3 tbs lemon juice
chopped onions, tomatoes and/or hard boiled egg chopped finely.
Olive oil.

Preparation:

Soak beans overnight in water along with 2 pinches of soda-bicarb, in the morning drain them and wash them with plain water. Pressure cook beans in plain water for upto 8-10 whistles, these beans are bigger than any other usual beans so it takes time for them to get well cooked. Remember we want a very well cooked bean, cooked to a point that its skin is a bit torn and bean itself is mushy.

Drain the beans and reserve the water, it shall be used in cooking later. Let the cooked beans cool off a bit and then start removing their skin, its very easy as we have cooked them to a mushy point, just one pinch and the bean shall pop out.

Using a blender, make a puree of the beans.

In a heavy bottom pan add 1 tbs olive oil and garlic and fry for 10 seconds on medium heat, add beans puree and all other ingredients mentioned above along with olive oil. It is important to add olive oil only after adding puree to the heated pan because we want the flavour of olive oil to stay intact. Add around 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water.
Let this simmer over a low heat for around 30-45 mins. The more this simmers, dish will have more intense flavours. Keep adjusting the consistency of this dish by adding a bit more water if you want as simmer vapourises water and beans puree does have tendency to thicken quite a bit. (I ended up adding 2 1/4 cups of water in all)

Turn off the heat and ladle it into a bowl, garnish it with dash of lemon juice, chopped onions, tomatoes or grated or chopped hard boiled egg.
Serve it with Pita or khubz.

I prefer my foul with a dash of olive oil, a dash of lemon juice and chopped onions on side.

Note:
Soaking beans in soda bicarb water is a must. But remember to cook the beans in plain water after thorough wash.

Enjoy.

Boiled Fruit Cake/Christmas Fruit Cake Cheaters Style

"Here's a big piece for my favourite lill one", with these words heaven descended on a plate and was handed over into my tiny hands, Principal Uncle was the god handing over a piece of heaven to me, a piece of Christmas Fruit Cake. At that tiny age it was hard for me to think beyond eating that cake but Principal Uncle who was my Grandpa's friend and elder to my Grandpa, used to make this wonderful and heavenly Fruit Cake All By Himself. All I knew about him that he was a Christian by religion and was retired principal of Rosary High School, predominantly a boy's school during his term, hence we all kids called him "Principal Uncle". He was a social fixture at my Grandpa's locality and all kids loved him as he bore a cuddly teddy bear exterior and jolly personality beneath. Grandpa and I had a very special bond, I used to tag along with him every time he stepped out of home, we used to visit all of his friends, which was kind of "all male tea party". He too was a teddy bear kinda fellow with a distinct hearty laughter. They all used to talk about their good old days, shared their heroic stories, crack jokes, ponder over political issues & local problems etc while we kids sat munching our Fruit Cakes & Sandwiches. This was almost 24-25 years ago, time passed and people disappeared, I never knew how or when Principal Uncle passed away or what was his real name, now I can't even inquire about it as my Grandpa too passed away in 2006. But since last few days I kept remembering Grandpa and Principal Uncle which made me crave for that Decadent Fruit Cake, so I decided to try my luck making it by myself.

Searching on web I came to a conclusion that authentic Christmas Fruit Cake was a laborious task involving pre-planning, making candied fruit peels and worst of all it involves brushing it with brandy or rum while it ages, now thats the problem, this country being a non-alcoholic I can't find brandy or rum out here and waiting while the cake ages, COME ON, WHO DO YOU THINK P IS?!! His least accessible virtue is patience, especially when it comes to sweet edibles. So I opted a cheat version of Christmas Fruit Cake, Boiled Fruit Cake, adopted from the site www.joyofbaking.com
 
Behold............. the pearly heaven doors have opened and there's a sale, yup, a BOILED FRUIT CAKE SALE. LOL. Kidding aside I just completed my first fruit cake and my home smells like heaven. Right now the cake is duely photographed and done with the taste test, all I can say is its just AAAAWWWESOME and tastes very much like Principal Uncle's Fruit Cake, although not exactly but I can do away with the minor taste differences.
So here's to you Principal Uncle and to you Dada (Grandpa). Christmas has come much much earlier this year for me. :)

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
1 cup light brown sugar or 1 cup refined sugar + 1 tbs molasses
1/4th cup unsalted butter 
1/2 tsp salt (if using salted butter add just 1/4 tsp of salt)
1/2 tsp cloves powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger/ ginger paste
2 cups seedless raisins 

Bring all the above ingredients to a boil and keep boiling them for 5 minutes on a medium to low heat. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down to lukewarm.

While the mixture is cooling down, take a large bowl and seive in
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour/maida
1 tsp baking soda

Mix 1 cup of chopped candied orange peel and 1 tsp vanilla powder/extract to the flour mixture. 

Lightly beat 2 large eggs or 3 small eggs in a bowl and keep aside.

Preheat the oven at 180 degree C. Lightly dust a bundt cake mould or a rectangular 9" x 5" mould and keep aside.

Once the mixture is lukewarm add it to the bowl of flour mixture along with the lightly beaten eggs. Mix them properly and transfer it into the baking mould/tray.
Bake the cake at 175-180 degree C for 45 to 60 minutes or untill the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Once done let the cake cool in the mould for 10 mins, run a knife along the edge of the mould. Remove the cake carefully and place it on a wire rack to cool it down evenly.

 

After it has cooled thoroughly store this cake in an airtight plastic container.
This cake ages very well, the flavours enhances after a day or two, hence this cake can be prepared in advance and stored for any occasion later on.
This cake can even be frozen and stored for longer terms.
I had prepared candied orange peels a day before, I shall be posting the recipe soon.
You can use candied fruit peels of various other fruits of your choice.
You can half the quantity of raisins and add in equal amounts of other dry fruits like chopped almonds, walnuts, cashew etc. Just make sure all the dry fruits should not add up more than 2 cups in total. I used only raisins becoz that was the only thing available on hand for me. I'm planning my next batch of boiled fruit cake with dry fruit mix of walnuts+almond+raisins all equal amounts.

Verdict:
This recipe is a keeper, although this is my first fruit cake, it turned out pretty well, it has lovely moist texture, nice aroma of all those spices and a nice punch of orange peel candies. A sure surprise with every bite.

Mayonnaise-Easiest Homemade Recipe

Internet is a funny thing to browse, today while searching for a homemade deep conditioning hair pack I came along a website rather a group/forum named long hair community which intrigued me, as I myself have tailbone length hair I had to see what people with long hair do, to take care of their long mane, few of them had mentioned using mayonnaise as deep conditioning hair pack. What, did I read something about food?!! and the foodie spirit rose, so do hell with hair care I was now searching for easy homemade tasty mayonnaise.

Previously P had tried to experiment with Mayo making and had failed drastically, he was following a recipe told by one of a very dear friend of his and somehow, don't know how he blotched it up ... (giggles) and was sad that whole weekend for his experiment gone wrong... (more giggles). By the way Salah, you were right its really easy and P you really did something wrong. So since then we stuck to the store bought Mayo all this time, until today.
Being haunted by the last experiment, this time I watched a few videos before trying out another blotched batch of dreaded mayo.There was a slight fear of embarrasment on "what if P has nice amusement at the cost my failed experiment", but sorry P you won't have that privilege now that my mayo is successful, but ya you can enjoy it with your chips if you want... (many more giggles).
Found some nice YouTube videos to whip up mayonnaise in no time, here is a sample of it.

I wanted to master the basic recipe first then try and learn more about flavoured mayo so tried a very basic version of mayo. Here goes my very simple "how to whip mayo at home" recipe.

Crack two fresh eggs in a deep narrow container, add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 1/2 tsp vinegar, whip it using a hand held/stick blender for about 10 seconds.
Keep the blender running and start pouring 1 cup sunflower oil/vegetable oil/olive oil/mix of those in a very thin steady stream. At no point should you switch off the blender.
And there you go, within no time shall you see the lovely mayo forming with a nice creamy texture. Whip it till you feel the consistency is right.
Add freshly crushed pepper if you like.
Store it in a jar and refrigerate it.


Remember if you like a more thick mayo add a little more oil about 20-30 ml.

As simple as that. Here are a few more snaps of the process.

Its hard to multitask here with blender buzzing in one hand and camera on another, so could not snap the pouring of oil at this stage.

Checking for the right consistency. Could not resist the temptation of licking off the spoon.:)

Potato Rosti with grated Beetroot, Onion and Cheese

Potato Rosti is one of the most versatile recipes that you can find. Primarily made with grated potato alone or in combination with other veggies and meats and herbs. This dish originated in Switzerland and many Swiss consider it as a national dish. Usually there are quiet a variation in techniques and size of rosti itself, they can be pan fried or oven baked, I have selected the latter method. I also added an unusual veggie, beetroot, to make it a health friendly dish.

Preheat the oven on 200 degree C
boil 3 medium sized potatoes for 10 mins, remove skin and grate them
boil 1 medium sized beetroot with 1 cup water + 1 tsp sugar, grate it too. Add a little salt and pepper to it.

take 1 large onion, chop it finely or pulsated in food processor along with 1 green chili and handful of fresh cilantro, jalapeno will be the best but any green chili will do. Add salt, pepper, red chili flakes and garlic powder to it

Take 4 tartlet tins and butter them lightly.
First spread a little grated potato, after that lay grated beetroot, top it with minced onion mixture, lay 1 tbs of shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese and to finish the rosti with another layer of shredded potatoes.

Place it in pre-heated over and bake for 40-50 mins or till the top potato layer turns golden brown.

Tips: As I prefer a lightly brown rosti I have baked it to that extent only, continue baking for few more minutes if you prefer a bit darker brown dish.

Homecooked Pizza Sauce

This weekend I'm planning on preparing veggie pizza with homemade dough and this homemade cooked pizza sauce. This time I'm preparing cooked pizza sauce another way is uncooked pizza sauce in which you just need to add all condiments and little tomato sauce to tomato paste and done, I shall be posting that recipe later
I think there are 3 ways of enjoying pizza,
1. call domino's or pizza hut (which is the easiest) but then you have no idea what goes into your loving lazy pizza or how fresh the ingredients were or how many calories you consume.

2. prepare pizza at home using store bought pizza dough/pizza base along with store bought pizza sauce, you just have to assemble your pizza with your favorite pizza topping and cheese. Now come no one can be fooled here... this is as good as ordering a pizza from any pizzeria, the only satisfaction you have here is that you know how much cheese you've put on top, which I guess shall be much less than the pizzeria one and how much veggies you add to your pizza. Ok so you win 40% battle over ready made pizza but still you don't know what goes in you store bought pizza sauce.... things with complicated name to confuse customers and trick them into eating unhealthy food. Guys I don't have any personal grudge towards those companies but a fact is a fact... cannot be changed. But I should also thank them for making life easier for many who grab the pre-cooked sauce during their crunch time. Going to our last point

3. prepare pizza from scratch, prepare the dough and sauce, select your favorite toppings and cheese. Bake and enjoy. This way, no doubt you shall be eating junk food but at least you shall be sure of what's landing in your body. Who said junk food can't be healthy?!! prepare dough using whole wheat flour instead of white flour, use fresh herbs and fresh tomatoes for sauce, add tons of veggies as toppings and limited quantity of cheese, this way even unhealthy thing as pizza can be made into a satiating healthy junk food.
So coming back to my weekend plan ... I'm preparing this pizza sauce in advance and shall freeze it, this way it becomes handy on weekend ... all I have to do is thaw it and use.

Take 3 medium to large ripe tomatoes... make sure they are bright red, blanch them, remove skin and pulse it few times in a food processor to get a chunky puree.
1 small onion and 2 green chillies pulsated in food processor or mixie / chopped very finely
Heat 1 tbs of EVOO in a heavy bottom pan (don't bring it to smoking point or else all benefits of Olive oil are killed) add 4 big garlic pods grated, chopped onion and chili. Let it work for a few minutes may be 1-2 minutes and then add in chunky tomato puree.
Add 3 tbs tomato paste and 1/3 cup water. Bring it to a boil and simmer it on very low heat for 3-5 minutes.
Now add in 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chili flakes ( I also added 1/2 tsp red chili powder, as I prefer hotter version of pizza sauce)
1/2 tsp crushed black peppercorns
1 tsp sugar
2 tbs tomato sauce

Mix well and let it simmer for another 2 minutes and done.
Store it in an airtight jar and use as required. Can be refrigerated upto 3-5 days depending on weather conditions or can be stored in freezer for upto 30-45 days.

Tips:
This Sauce tastes better after refrigeration, that is because the condiments get time to release their flavor as the time passes.
Can also add in parsley, thyme and other herbs, I haven't added it as I was aiming for a specific taste.

Hummus

As everyone knows hummus is a middle eastern dip that is served as an appetizer with pita bread, well know is khuboos out here. This easy to make dip has suble flavors to it.

Take 1 cup boiled chickpeas (remove the outer skin of as many chickpeas as possible, this will make hummus gastrically friendly), toss them in blender or food processor, add 1 small garlic clove, salt to taste, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp of tahina, tahina is sesame/til paste or alternatively make ur own tahina paste-lightly roast sesame seeds and blend them into a fine paste.
Ground this mix into a smooth paste and store in airtight bottle or jar.
Serve it with a sprinkle of paprika and a table spoon of olive oil.

Enjoy.

Quesadilla

Quesadilla, a mexican snack food made of cheese, pronunced in spanish as "kesa diya" or "kesa dia", literally means "cheese tortilla" or "cheese cake".
In this recipe cheese and other ingredients are sandwiched between two flour tortillas and grilled on an oiled griddle, flipped so both sides are cooked and the cheese is melted, finally served after being cut into wedges. This type is often called "sincronizada" in Mexico.

Ingredients :

For flour tortillas:

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsps butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking pwd
approx 1/2 cup mix of warm milk & water, 1:1 ratio


For the vegetable filling:

onions (chopped finely), cabbage (chopped finely), carrots (shredded), capsicum (chopped finely), spring onions (chopped finely, including onion greens), tomatoes (chopped finely) or any vegetables of your choice
salt to taste
red chili flakes
3/4-1 cup grated cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper grounded
1 tbs chili sauce
1/4 tsp chili powder
4 cloves garlic
1 tbs olive oil

Method :

For Tortillas :
Combine all the ingredients except milk in a wide utensil and mix well so that baking powder gets nicely incorporated within the mix. Now slowly add the warm milk & water mix to knead to a soft dough. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 8 equal balls and roll them into thin chapatis of approx 7″-9″ diameter.
Pre-heat a griddle and place each tortilla on the hot griddle for only 3-5 seconds on each side and remove. This step is done to ensure that tortilla don't stick to each other when stacked. Keep aside all the lightly toasted tortillas.

For Veggies :
In heavy bottom pan heat olive oil and saute crushed garlic cloves, once the raw garlic smell is gone add all the veggies.
Remember to keep the flame on medium high. Stir in all the other ingredients like salt, pepper, chili flakes etc and turn off the heat.
Remember veggies should not be raw, neither should they be thoroughly cooked, we need them to hold that crunchiness.
This whole process should not take more than 3-4 minutes.
Prepare this mix before hand so that by the time you prepare quesadilla, veggies would cool down to room temp.



For Quesadilla:
Place a tortilla on a clean surface and spread the veggie mix on it, shred some mozzarella, cheddar or any kind of cheese, run a damp finger around the rim of this tortilla and place another tortilla on it. Seal the rim by pressing these two tortilla together. You can also take a fork and press along the rim.
Pre-heat a griddle and on medium heat roast both sides of the quesadilla flipping over to toast both sides. Ensure that you cook it over medium heat, you want the cheese to melt inside.
Remove quesadilla onto a serving plate, slice into triangles and serve hot with garlicy salsa or tomato ketchup.

Tips:
Adding sweet corn or baby corn enhances the taste.
You can also add in cottage cheese into veggies and top it with mozzarella or cheddar cheese for more creamy quesadilla.
Alternatively we can spread salsa and cheese or salsa and sour cream for that perfect quesadilla.