Zaiqa

Zafraani Malai Murgh, Baingan ka Bharta, Tamatar Tuvar dal and Khushka was the dinner today after our second roza الحمد لله. The Iftaar was light~ Khajoor, Aloo Samosa with ketchup and fresh Plums.

Zafraani Malai Murgh – Chicken in Creamy Saffron sauce

Ingredients:

Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Long green chillies – 4, each cut into two
Fried crisp onions – 1/2 cup (store bought)
Chicken/Murgh, with bone – 1150 gms, cut into pieces
Salt – 2 tsp
Yogurt/Dahi – 1/2 cup, lightly whipped
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Half and Half cream – 1/3 cup (you can also use light cream instead)
Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
Saffron threads – one pinch
Slivered almonds – 1 tbsp

Zafraani Malai Murgh

Method:

1. Wash the chicken and pat dry. Keep aside.
2. In a saucepan at medium high heat, pour in oil and as soon as it warms up, add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for a few seconds. Add the green chillies and fried onions. Mix well. Add the chicken pieces and salt and fry until opaque, around 5-8 minutes. Pour in yogurt, red chilli powder and turmeric. Stir gently to mix and close the lid. Let cook for 5 minutes. Pour in half and half and gently mix well. Cover the lid and let cook for 8-10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Let cook uncovered for a further 10 minutes. Serve immediately along with Parathas or Naan or Khushka.

Baingan ka bhartha – Roasted Eggplants in tomato onion sauce ~ I

Brinjal – 4
Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Onion – 1, large, finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 1/2 tsp
Long green chillies – 4, chopped
Tomato – 2, finely chopped
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Salt – 2 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Cilantro+Mint leaves – 1 tbsp, finely chopped

Fresh ingredients for Baingan ka Bhartha

Baingan ka Bhartha

Method:

1. Wash the brinjal and pat dry. Take a rimmed baking sheet and place a large sheet of aluminuim foil on it. Place the brinjal on the foil and place the baking sheet under the broiler-high setting for 15 minutes. Turn the brinjal after 8 minutes. Once the brinjal are evenly black in color, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, peel and discard the skin and finely chop the flesh of the brinjal. Keep aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, add oil and as soon as it warms up, add the onion and fry just until soft. Do not let it brown. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and cumin seeds and fry them along for furthur 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, coriander seed powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix well. Cover the lid and let cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the chopped brinjal flesh and mix well. Cover the lid and let cook for 5 more minutes. Add garam masala and fresh chopped herbs and let cook uncovered for a few minutes. Serve.

Luv,
Mona

Fruit lassi~smoothies are my personal favorite options for iftaar when you break fast during Ramadan, or during the morning rush hours for your breakfast. Full of vitamins and minerals, they help replenish nutrients in the body.

Blueberries

My favorite berry is blueberry among all other berries, I admit, and I just love the gorgeous color of blueberry lassi. This smoothie is loaded with long-term-health boosters. It also contains yogurt, a source of bone-strengthening calcium and immune-supporting probiotics. Blend it for breakfast, or Iftaar during Ramadan, and the vitamins, protein, and fiber will replenish your energy and make you feel blooming.

Blueberry Lassi~Smoothie

Ingredients:

Organic Blueberries – 300 gms
Low-fat Yogurt – 2/3 cup
Honey – 4 tbsp (or you can also use Turbinado sugar or other natural sweetener to taste)
Almond powder (with skin) – 1 tbsp (or you can also use ground flaxseed instead)
Ice cubes – 4

Blueberry Lassi~Smoothie

Method:

Wash the blueberries in surplus water in several changes. Drain and reserve. Combine all ingredients in an electric blender and blend on medium speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Garnish with fresh berries and serve. (Note: For a nondairy alternative, you can substitute cultured soy for the yogurt.) Pour into glasses and serve chilled.

This is my second entry to the ‘Hyderabadi Ramadan Food Festival ’09’ that I am hosting on my blog.
Do send me your entries as soon as possible before Ramadan starts. The deadline is 20th August ‘09.

Luv,
Mona

With the ongoing garbage strikes and the temperatures soaring humid and an intensely cloudy gloomy  weather with no glimpse of sunshine from the past few days added the forecast doesn’t seem to give any good news for the coming days either, there aren’t many things going right for Torontonians. So, to cheer myself and my family, I decided to bake a dessert. The warm fruity aroma that fills the house surely comforts every solace seeking soul.

Cherries

June and July being the cherry season in Toronto, cherries are seen in every store and market, being sold in huge quantities at reasonable rates, which I didnt mind to think a lot about before I picked up a kilo during the last week.

Halved Cherry

This easy french dessert/pudding is what I did with the remaining cherries after gorging upon them in various ways.

Cherry Clafoutis
8 servings

Ingredients:

Ripe red cherries – 1 pound, pitted and halved
All-Purpose flour/Maida – 125 grams
Eggs – 4, large, at room temperature
Vanilla powder – 2 tsp
Almond extract – 1/2 tsp
Finely powdered raw Almonds – 1/2 cup
Milk – 1 1/2 cup
Sugar – 1 cup

Cherry Clafoutis

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Grease a baking dish with about 2 litre capacity generously with ghee or melted butter. Mix the cherries with 2 tbsp sugar and spread in a layer in the dish.
3. In a blender, mix all the remaining ingredients and blend for a minute, until smooth. Pour this mixture into the dish with cherries and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
4. Let cool for 15-20 minutes and serve warm.

Tip: To pit the cherries, you can buy yourselves a good quality cherry pitter from the market, you improvise using a chopstick. Just push the pit out of the cherry with a chopstick.

Luv,
Mona

Simple, healthy, cooling, smooth and a delicious indulgence, Chawal ki Kheer or Phirni , similar to rice pudding ~ the dessert which every Hyderabadi immensely enjoys. Today I share with you my family’s recipe for it.

Chawal ki Kheer served along with Poori

Rice is first soaked for a little while in cool water, and then powdered to a semolina texture. This powdered rice is used to prepare the Kheer. Be careful when you add the rice powder to the milk. Always soak it in water and add it to the cooking milk to avoid any lumps. Do not substitute the powdered rice with the rice flour that is available in the market. Chawal ki Kheer is enjoyed cold, on its own. It is also served along with Pooris.

Chawal Ki Kheer – Rice Pudding
Makes – 4 or 5 servings

Ingredients:

Basmati rice – 1/3 cup
Milk – 3/4 litre
Sugar – 1 cup
Finely powdered cardamom seeds – 1/4 tsp
Finely sliced Pistachios – for garnish
Finely Sliced Almonds – for garnish

Chawal ki Kheer served in individual cups

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice in cool surplus water for about 2 hours. Later, drain the water and spread the rice overnight on a cloth so that the rice air-dries.
2. The next day, add the dry rice grains in a grinder and powder it, not too coarse, not too fine, the texture of the rice should be similar to that of semolina/rawa.
3. Pour milk into a saucepan at medium high heat and let it come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook the milk for 3 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, add the powdered rice, and about 3/4 cup of cool water. Mix well and slowly add this to the boiling milk while stirring continously but gently. Stirring the milk continously while adding the coarse rice powder soaked in water is vital, or else you will end up with lumps of rice powder in the milk. Keep stirring and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add sugar and let it cook for about 10 minutes more. During this time you will observe that the pudding has started to thicken up and the rice powder is thoroughly cooked. Do not cook for too long, as the pudding will thicken more once it is cold. Remove from heat, when the consistency is just slightly thick.
5. In the last few seconds, add the cardamom seeds powder and mix well. Remove from heat and keep side to cool. Once cool, refrigerate the pudding until cold. Serve in individual cups garnished with the sliced nuts.

Note: For best flavor, serve this dessert in small unglazed terracotta pots(called as ‘katori’ in Hyderabad). The earthern pots absorb all the moisture and impart a delicate flavor to the dessert which is out of the world.

Luv,
Mona

Hot Indian summers are taken full advantage of by preparing many kinds of sun-dried products by women which last whole year long. Sukhi Dahi Mirch is one such preperation where the green chillies are allowed to ferment in yogurt and salt mixture for a while and then sun-dried until they have absorbed all the yogurt and dried with a changed light yellowish skin color. This sun-dried chilli is then enjoyed as a condiment along with food.

Long Green chillies soaking in Yogurt+Salt mixture

With summer here in Toronto in full swing officially, I decided to prepare a few of these when I spotted some beautiful long green chillies at a store here. Unfortulately sunshine for continous week, even in summers, with no cloudy/rainy day is a little unimaginable here. Nevertheless I was lucky enough with some strong Toronto summer sunshine for my mirchi’s to sun dry and satisfy our cravings.

Soaked chillies sun drying

Chillies with changed color on day-3

The below recipe prepares a small batch, if you would like to prepare a large stock to last a whole year, just double/triple the amounts of ingredients and continue accordingly.

Sukhi Dahi Mirch – Sun dried Yogurt Chillies

Ingredients:

Long fresh Green chillies – 30 no.s
Sour Yogurt – 1 1/2 cup
Salt – 1 tsp

Deep fried Dahi Mirch   ~  Sun-dried Dahi Mirch

Method:

1. In a stainless steel bowl, lightly whip yogurt with salt and keep aside.
2. Wash and pat dry the chillies thoroughly. Slit the green chillies carefully, keeping the stalk intact, and remove and discard the seeds. Wash your hands immediately with warm soapy water immediately, or else there are chances that your hands will burn later on.
3. Using a spoon add all the slit green chillies into yogurt+salt mixture and let them sit at room temperature uncovered for 3 to 4 hours.
4. Line a baking sheet with wax paper/aluminium foil, or a few layers of newspaper and lay the soaked green chillies one by one on the wax paper, leaving a small space between each of them. Discard the left over yogurt.
5. Place the baking sheet with the chillies in an area where you get maximum sun light from morning till evening for 4 to 5 days. Keep bringing the baking sheet back from outdoors to indoors every evening and place it back in sun the next day in the morning. Turn the chillies once in a while so that the other sides are also exposed to the sun. The color of the chillies change from green to light beige or yellowish in color and their skin dries up.
6. Once they are dry and their color has changed after 5 days of sun drying, store them in an air tight container. To consume them, deep fry the sun-dried chillies once the oil is completely hot for a few seconds and enjoy them as a condiment along with food. Be careful when you fry them, the right temperature of the oil is essential, as they might burn quickly when deep frying.

Other Amazing sun dried Indian food products from this series are:
1. Dal ki Badiyan – Sun Dried Lentil Nuggets
2. Dhoop Nimbu ~ Sun Preserved Lemons

Luv,
Mona