A Ramadan Drink

During the month of Ramadan, on days that I keep fast, I look forward to specific tastes or treats which I remember from my childhood.  Not eating or drinking anything all day, one is left at sunset craving refreshing fruits or juices which will quench your thirst.  Light but flavorful eats which will satisfy your hunger and awaken those dormant taste buds.

As a kid, we used to be given a glass of "Rooh Afza" along with some dates at sunset, to open our fast with.  Rooh Afza is a bright red colored, rose flavored, sugary syrup, which can be added to milk or water or a combination of both.  Many people have different ways of making this refreshing drink, but this Ramadan, I think I found a perfectly delicious concoction!

I tend to make my Rooh Afza in milk or a combination of 3 parts milk to 1 part water.  Using this as the base, I added some "meat" to make it more nourishing.  Lol... don't get grossed out yet, its not actual meat, but sweet meats, like coconut, pistachios and almonds.  I purchased shredded sweet coconut, pistachio (fine ground) and almonds (fine ground).  Adding about a teaspoon of each to every glass of the prepared Rooh Afza.  You can also add some crushed ice, mix well and serve.  It not only quenches your thirst, its very nutritious and will help boost your energy levels after a long day of fasting.

Cooking Delima's

Today I decided to try something I've seen before but never really made myself. You may remember (if you've read previous posts) that I explained some basics on "Desi" cooking. I mentioned that the curries or gravies with meat and vegetables are called "Saalan". Well today I made "saalan" without the meat.

There are some basic ingredients you use to make the gravy for meat curries... I made the same gravy but added only the vegetables...not the meat. I used turnips this time but you can do this with most any vegetable available. Here is what you do:

1 large turnip, peeled and diced (medium dice)
1 medium onion sliced thin
few whole black pepper corns
2 to 3 whole cloves
Very small piece of cinnamon stick
Red or Cayenne pepper (powder) to taste
1/4 tsp Haldi (turmeric powder)
1 tsp ground zeera (cumin)
1 tsp ground dhaniya (coriander seed)
1 tsp crushed garlic or garlic paste
1.5 cups water
2 to 3 tbsp tomato puree or crushed tomato
salt to taste

In a medium (heavy bottom) pot, saute onion in some oil until light brown. Add black pepper, cloves and cinnamon stick. Saute for a few seconds then add the red pepper, zeera, dhaniya and garlic. Mix well and then add the turnip and water. Cover and let cook on medium low heat. Stir a few times in between. When turnips are almost soft, add the tomato and mix well. the water will have reduced a little and the gravy will start to thicken slightly. Let cook until the turnip is completely cooked (soft). You can garnish with some chopped cilantro if you like. Serve with white rice or naan.

Almond Biscotti

Unlike most people these days, I have a habit of always eating "breakfast" with my coffee. This can be anything from cereal, oatmeal, eggs, donuts, pastries, etc. Pretty much anything so that the coffee doesn't go down on an empty stomach. With age, I've become more and more lactose intolerant leading me to avoid cereal on a regular basis. Also, since I've been home (unemployed) for the past 2 years or so, I've not been getting breakfast sandwiches, pasties, donuts, the unhealthy stuff one might normally grab at a deli or on the way to work.

Long story short, I noticed for the past few months that I was having oatmeal raisin granola bars. Now this may sound ok...healthy even, but not so much. Its actually quite a bit of sugar, preservatives and other things along with all the good stuff. So I recently decided to make a batch of almond biscotti to see how it might fit in. Its actually very simple to make, very few ingredients used and no preservative or artificial ingredients. I found this recipe online and made a few changes. The recipe I found also said that it would yield 42 biscotti... I was able to make about 30.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar (I use raw sugar/unrefined)
3 eggs
1 tsp almond extract and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking POWDER
pinch of salt
1/2 cup fine chopped or chunky ground almonds
~2 tsp milk

Preheat your oven to 375F. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a different bowl cream the butter and sugar until light in color. Add the eggs one at a time and mixing well. Add the extracts while stirring the mix and then quickly combine the dry ingredients. Once mixed well, add in the almonds and mix again. Separate the mix into two parts. On a large baking sheet covered with parchment paper, lightly greased...spread 1/2 the batter out into a loaf type shape about 12 inches long and 3 inches wide. Repeat with the other half of the batter. You will have two loafs on one sheet. Lightly brush the tops of each loaf with milk. Bake these for 15 to 20min or until firm to the touch.

Remove tray from the oven and reduce oven to 300F, after a few minutes move the loaves (with the parchment paper) on to a wire rack. After 10 to 15 minutes cut the each loaf (at an angle) in to about 1/2 or 3/4 inch biscotti. Lay them cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for 10 min. Flip to the other side (top side down) and bake for another 10 min. Remove and let cool on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container after they've cooled completely.

These will keep for some time in an airtight container... I made these about a week or more ago and they're still pretty fresh tasting. They also go very well with my coffee in the morning! I hope you'll try these...they're great to make and store since it yields a decent quantity and are great on the run as well!

As always, happy baking!!! I will take some snap shots soon and post them.

Tall Tales to Tell! Round I

Happy New Year everyone!!! With the new year, there is promise of renewed effort to this blog. I apologize for the long hiatus and hope that along with my new years resolution to stay better connected, I'll also stay better dedicated to connecting all of you (loyal readers) to the world of all things food related!

Some of you may know, I broke my foot back in July and am some how still catching up on my list of "to-do's". Things have been so hectic in fact that I write this post as I chow down on my very unhealthy lunch of Chef Boyardee ravioli! Mind you, as I share that tid bit with you, I'm compelled to tell you that during my blogging sabbatical, a major events occurred.  I shifted to using only all natural products (which spurred starting my own health and wellness business)!

Needless to say, with this new lifestyle choice has come a daily battle of what groceries to buy, which products to use, what dairy is safe and healthy and how to sustain appetites with little to no meat in the house.  I'm sure you will come across a number of experiments in my upcoming posts, while I try and learn a whole new way of cooking and shopping. Any suggestions, tips, recipes would be greatly appreciated.

Well, I'm off for now to start dinner for this evening. Thus far I've been leaning more and more toward traditional desi (pakistani, indian) cooking, given that much of it is lentils and vegetables. Easier to manage, making what I know so I don't have to think much or spend time learning new things when I'm consumed with other tasks. I'll save some of my tales from the past few months for another post.

Bhindi ki bhujya (Oakra) - Basics III

Even as a child, one of my most favorite vegetables was Bhindi (okra, lady fingers). My mom would make this really quick version with lots of sliced onion and tomato, sautéed with the bhindi and just a few spices. It was delicious and when I was old enough to cook, it was one of the things I often made.

So before I give you the recipe, let me back track and explain the title of this post. Bhindi ki Bhujya, bhindi is okra and bhujya is an Urdu term used to describe any sautéed vegetables. So be it allu (potato), baingan (eggplant), gobi (cauliflower), etc. they can all be made in to bhujya's. If you remember in one of my first posts on cooking basics I explained how sabzi's (vegetables) are made in to "bhujya" or added to meat and form "saalan" (curry's/gravy). I also explained what bhagaar is and how it works as either a base or garnish. You will need these tips make this recipe...

You will need:
1 medium onion sliced
1 tbsp zeera (cumin seeds)
2 to 3 sabuth laal mirch (dried whole red chili)
1 tsp garlic paste
1/4 to 1/2 of a lemon or lime
1 to 2 Roma tomatoes diced
salt (to taste)
1 bag frozen (cut) bhindi or about 4 cups chopped fresh bhindi

In a large skillet, prepare your bhagaar... heat some oil then add the zeera and laal mirch. Wait till the zeera starts to get some color and add in the onion. Over high heat sauté until the onion starts to get translucent. Add in the garlic paste, bhindi, salt and lemon/lime. Sauté for a few minutes until all of the ingredients are mixed well. Add in the tomatoes, stir and cover. Lower the heat to medium or medium low and let cook until the tomato starts dissolving. Turn/stir the bhindi a few times during the process to ensure even cooking. Once the tomatoes have dissolved, uncover and sauté until there is no water/liquid remaining. There should be some juice in the vegetables (onion, bhindi, etc) but the mix should be fairly dry. But be careful! Do not overcook and dry out your vegetables...


That's it! Simple and quick :) Hope you'll enjoy this bhujya as much as I do... it’s very nutritious and tastes good too. Happy cooking!!!

Masoor ki Daal (lentil)

One classic meal in Desi cooking is Daal Chawwal (lentils and rice). Basmati rice(or other long grain rice) and lentils are a staple for almost every meal, everything else is a plus. Usually for dinner in a desi household there will be chawwal, daal, subzi (vegetable) and salaan (meat dish). Growing up, I remember my parents always saying that anytime there wasn't daal chawwal for dinner, they didn't feel they had a complete meal.

My favorite daal among the many available is Masoor ki daal. Now there are two kinds of Masoor available, red and black or green. The more common one is laal (red) daal and one of the easiest to make. People from different parts of Pakistan and India make daal in a number of different ways. The method I will share here is the traditional Dehli/UP (Utthar Pradesh) way of making lentils, by boiling it with some simple masaala's and then adding bhagaar at the end.

1 cup laal daal, picked over and rinsed
~2 cups water
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp laal mirch (red chili powder) or to taste
1/3 tsp haaldi (powder)
1/2 tsp garlic paste

In a medium heavy bottom sauce pan, add your rinsed lentils, water and all of the other ingredients. Bring to a boil and then lower stove to medium/low to low. Simmer the lentils until all the water is dry. The lentils should be soft and a pale yellow color (no whitish middles, that means they're still undercooked and will not mash. If this happens, add a little water and simmer again until there is no whitish middle). Take a large spoon and mash the lentils until they become like a thick paste...kind of like watery mashed potatoes. Then turn the stove back on to low and add water while stirring until it reaches a thick soupy consistency.

Simmer the daal until it is near boiling. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. You want to heat it to mix in the water well but do not boil, just simmer. On the side prepare a bhagaar of onions and zeera (cumin seeds). Add the bhagaar to your daal just before turning off the stove. Serve with white rice.

Sweets for My Sweetie

This past weekend was Valentines Day and I decided to do something cute but low cost for my hubby. Gifts, candy, stuffed toys...all the cheesy Valentines paraphernalia is nice but impractical. Those things are nice when you get them but by the next day you're over it, the candy rarely gets eaten and the stuffed toys become pet hair collectors! So I decided to be practical and do what I do best...


With the kitchen as my playground and pantry full of goodies, I went to work. Before I continue, I should clarify that we went to NYC for the long weekend so we (I) celebrated Valentines the night before. I decided to make a nice dinner to go with a themed dessert I already had semi-planned. My husband and I both looove cream cheese frosting and since it was kind of late in the day, I decided to do fudge brownies (from a box) with cream cheese frosting. I had heart shaped muffin trays (the planned part, since I picked them up a few days before) and I added food coloring to make the frosting pink! I'll share what I made for dinner in another post but give you my cream cheese frosting recipe here.

Now I don't like things very sweet, so I'm not a big fan of frosting and like to keep the cream cheese flavor pretty noticeable in this recipe. You can add coconut flakes, thin sliced almonds and a variety of other items to this frosting and use as a layering cream.

8oz cream cheese softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter room temp
3/4 cup to 1cup powdered/confectioners sugar (depending on taste)
1/2 tspn vanilla (optional)
1 drop food coloring (for festive occasions, otherwise leave plain)

Combine the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl, beat with electric mixer until well blended. Add the vanilla and then sugar (in two parts) and continue to mix with mixer until light and fluffy. Fold in additional ingredients (coconut, almonds, etc) if you choose. Spread and refrigerate until ready to serve. Frosting will spread easy when prepared but should be kept in the refrigerator otherwise it can turn sour. If you prepare it before hand, you can keep it in the fridge but then bring to room temp before spreading.

Easy Guacamole

Sitting around this evening, waiting for the chicken to thaw out, I started to feel really hungry. It snowed here for the first time this winter, hence I felt like having something warm and yummy... Nachos, cream cheese puffs, crab rangoon, hot and sour soup...you get the idea! Anyway, long story short there was nothing in the fridge or pantry to fill any of the above cravings. What I did have was a bag of corn chips, avocados and tomatoes. Perfect!

Depending on who you talk to, people have a variety of beliefs what guacamole should and shouldn't have, develop your own recipe. You're going to eat it so enjoy it how you like it... just follow these basics.

Avocado mashed or crushed
Tomato, diced small (optional)
Onion, diced small (optional)
Lime juice (fresh or bottle)
Garlic Salt (you can also use garlic powder + salt separately)
Sour Cream (if your avocado isn't completely ripe)

Simply crush or mash the avocado, add the garlic, lime juice, and sour cream if needed. Mix well then gently fold in the onions and tomato. Serve immediately with chips or bread, otherwise refrigerate until ready to eat. I used sour cream to help with the consistency since the avocado I had wasn't quite ripe. Also, I don't like onion so I don't add it. Some people feel that guacamole should be only the avocado itself, nothing else. In that case just add the lime juice and salt... you can also use garlic but thats up to you.

Hope you enjoy this healthy snack as much as I did!

Almond Pesto

I love pasta, especially those with a lot of sauce. I'm a big fan of Pesto, given that basil is one of my favorite ingredients! Last night I was wanting to use up a lot of basil which had been sitting in the fridge for some time. I didn't have any pine nuts at home and needed to make dinner quickly. I decided to improvise by using almonds instead. It worked well and turned out pretty delicious too. Of course the purpose of substitution is always to use what we have in the pantry, but be careful to use blanched or regular almonds with the skin removed and try to avoid salted almonds so that you can salt your sauce or pasta to taste. (If you have plain almonds at home with skin, you can soak them in hot water for 10 min and then easily remove the skin)

1/2 bunch fresh basil, stems trimmed

~ 5 to 10 sprigs cilantro (optional)

~ 12 to 15 almonds

~ 1 tbsp crushed garlic or paste

salt to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup grated cheese

To make the pesto, just rinse the basil and place in a blender or food processor. Add the almonds, garlic, salt and fresh cilantro or parsley (if you want). I used a little cilantro just to add some flavor but this is up to your taste if you want to add anything in with your basil. Add in a few drops of water and puree. When the almonds seem to be almost dissolved, add in olive oil and continue to puree for a minute. Your mixture should look smooth and creamy, not too dry or lumpy. You can add water or olive oil as necessary to reach a good consistency.

Traditionally, pesto has Parmesan cheese added to it. I made this pesto and added it to a cream sauce which had Asiago cheese, so I didn't add any cheese when making the pesto itself. If you are going to have pesto on its own then please add Parmesan, Romano or any other cheese you want before the olive oil step in this mix.

Is something missing?

We recently had some friends come stay with us. One of them is a vegetarian and I made dinner for them one night. Now, I have to preface this post by saying I AM A HUGE MEAT EATER... I love meat, especially red meat!

Don't get me wrong, I love vegetables too; but for me a meal isn't really complete until there is a meat component involved. Most of my vegetable recipes include some form of meat, for eg. when I make a vegetable or potato pulao I add chicken stock for flavor and nutrients.

So here I was standing in the kitchen trying to put together a meal (not just a single dish) with no time to head to the grocery store. Make do with what I have and about an hour to have it all ready and serve! I managed to pull it off but constantly felt as though something was missing or that I didn't add everything necessary.

Moral of the story: think creatively. I made a potato pulao but instead of chicken stock I added extra salt and extra green chili's. I made a Mulligatawny soup (lentil soup) which usually has not only chicken stock but actual chicken in it. Instead of adding the chicken stock, I pureed some onion, tomato and garlic in to it for flavor. I also made some okra on the side, which mind you was the only true vegetarian dish. It all worked, even despite my feeling that something was missing.

Something a little different - Pumpkin Sabzi

Back in the early 90's I was fortunate enough to live overseas. In Karachi (Pakistan), people visit weekly outdoor bazaars where they can purchase fresh produce directly from farmers or their representative. In a sense this is an old school version of a farmers market, usually being the only place one can purchase fruits and vegetables. Grocery stores and delis are few and far between.

Thanks to the nature of this system, I was exposed to eating fresh vegetables and fruits IN SEASON! No flash frozen, cold storage or manufactured fruits and veggies. This in turn exposed me to some foods I had never thought of trying or even ever seen before. This brings me to a recipe you pumpkin lovers might enjoy!

Pumpkin Curry (vegetarian)

1/4 of a medium/large sized pumpkin- peeled, cleaned and diced into 1" pieces
2-3 tbspns cooking oil
1 medium sized onion, sliced
1 tspn cumin seeds
1/2 a cinnamon stick
1 tbspn salt
1 tspn crushed red pepper
1/2 tspn crushed garlic (optional)
1 Roma tomato diced (optional)
1/4 cup water

In a large skillet add cooking oil (what ever you use regularly). When warm but not hot add the cumin, crushed red pepper and cinnamon. Let the cumin brown slightly (do not burn). Add the onion and stir. Let onion cook till they wilt or start to become translucent...do not brown. Add the pumpkin, garlic and salt. Stir well and add some water, just enough to steam, then cover. Let cook for about 10min stirring a few times in between.

After 10-12 minutes, add the diced tomatoes and re-cover. Cook the curry, stirring occasionally, until the pumpkin is soft and somewhat translucent. Tomato should be completely dissolved and pumpkin so soft that it melts in your mouth (it should not be chewy but soft enough to mush with your tongue).

Its simple, quick and delicious! The optional ingredients make this more of a curry, but you can keep it simple and more fresh tasting without the garlic and tomato. I hope you enjoy it.