Overnight oats

I must say this  is very old post backed up in my drafts and let me present you a full on, tummy filling recipe.  As much as i love  baking cooking has always inspired me   and it is evident with the amount of failure i had on my blogging experience i jump right back and start again with more recipe  which will be  included in it. My first and only big break was while moving to India. But i was extremely busy and excited too. The joy was all in the umpty no. of recipes i can  get hold of . Kannur is a food land . A place for just never ending snacks  and  bakes and this time i was this one, who was in a hurry to reach back  . But i love the Arab land i always have a feeling I will return next day back as though i am born to be there.  It's during my stay that i started having simple meals.  Especially living in flats and and a almost no- fun life ...we usually don't cook much . This was a runner recipe for me . I loved it on my first trials itself  As far as I am concerned, it was that tempting!

Oats and fruits  are  a beautiful combo.. i used honey . As i hate sugar in my oats anyway. . Normally i don't add sugar in anything like tea or coffee.  Somehow, I hate the taste of it and so...oats and fruits and honey . That's it.  I feel they are just too artificial! If we add sugar  .. My mom always says have sugarless u will know the real world and also how bland food really taste wonderful.
I thought she was being just scientific but it's true. 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup full fat milk
½ cup old fashioned oats
1 tbsp honey
I cup dry fruits of choice.
Few chopped strawberries.
Pistachio almonds and raisins to top

INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk the milk and oats in a glass bottle. Keep closed in the refrigerator overnight.Next day morning, top with fruits honey, pistachio and raisins and enjoy!
That simple isn't it .

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Chicken mandi

How fast time flies and its just like we had a get together yesterday!which we actually enjoyed last sunday . I didnt feel like cooking today and every time this feeling seeps in me ... i land up in the kitchen making an elaborate and a quick meal for all. Aj wanted fish and i wanted to make chicken mandi !. A recipe i wanted to make for ages . We always order for it . So why bother cook at home . But after settling back home .i craved for this recipe . And it all happened one night .My uncle happened to visit india and he said he got new recipe for mandi .

My uncle who is also a great cook in the kitchen delivered us a casserole filled with mandi . And i was all wow for it. ! It tasted perfect . We usually want lots of masala for our biryani but mandi rice is full of flavour that we can just enjoy it as it is.

Ingredients

For the marination
 1 kilo chicken
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
3 tablespoon chicken masala
1/2 teaspoon  turmeric powder
2 tablespoon curd
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 tablespoon pepper powder
Salt to taste

For the masala

1 kilo ripe tomato , skinned off and paste.
4 big onions
5 green chillie slit
1 teaspoon ginger garlic crushed
1 cup corriander leaves
1 teaspoon mint
A handful curry leaves

For rice 

4 cups rice wash and drain.
Whole garam masala 2 each . ( cardamom , cloves, cinnamon bay leaf )
1/4 cup  oil and ghee

Method 

Soak the washed rice . Marinate the chicken for an hour with the ingredients mentioned above.
Shallow fry the chicken in oil . Cover and cook till done . You can roast a little. Keep aside.
Heat the ghee and oil .
Add the whole garam masala  and ginger garlic paste.  Saute till raw smell disappears.
Add the onions. Saute till wilted.
Add the tomato paste .. i got 3 cups.
Boil and add 5 cups water .
Add the rice  and salt . Boil .
Now add the green chillies . I added 10 green chilies . For the extra spice .
Cover and cook till done . Keep a check on the rice to cook evenly.
Once done add the herbs and place roasted chicken on top .
 Steam for another 5 minutes .
The flavours of the chicken masala and the oil , it was roasted in ,melts through  the rice .
Have it hot .

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Cookies and Cream Cake

I have been wanting to make a cake for the blog and so many varieties to choose from !     There is one thing with me baking a cake has always been so easy but decor is tough if your not prepared . No  cake lasts more than 3 days at home and so much plea from my kids especially Faizan . I have chosen oreo chocolate and butter cream .and thats ..wow in goodness – I love to decorate the cake more than having them actually.  And baking is fun  ! I love my sweet tooth but only limited.I don’t like them overly sweet, so my cakes is absolutely low in sugar most of the time .. only to the minimum.

OK, so coming back to wanting to bake a cake, my faizu wanted a special delicious chocolate cake .  I kept looking for recipes up and down and googled a lot. but most of the cakes had lots of colorful ingredients in it, which was disappointing as i dont like the aspect of giving colors to the cake .   Most of the cakes had a  sugary frosting loaded with it, but that’s not  what I wanted too.  I wanted a cake that is simple but loud on the table thats chocolaty and crunchy in every bite,so i adapted the recipe from here . And this one is exactly like how I wanted it to be…so here we go .

Ingredients

For the Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powders sugar
 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
 1 cup chopped Oreos ( i used three packs)

For the Buttercream:

1 1/2 cup butter 340g, room temp
5 cups confectionary sugar.
 1and  1/3 cups crushed oreos
1/4 cup heavy cream
 a pinch of salt.

For the Ganache

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 200g
200 gms Heavy cream  heated

Method

For the Cake

Butter and flour a  three ,six inch pans.

With the egg beater ,beat butter( at room temperature) until light and fluffy.

In a large bowl , sift dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to butter . Beat well.

Scrape the sides well.

Mix wet ingredients in a bowl .

Add the wet ingredients  and  mix well

Next combine  in crushed Oreos and mix until just combined.

Divide equally  into the cake pans

Bake at 340 for 30minutes or until the centers are just soft  to the touch.

For the Buttercream

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Mix the confectioners' sugar and beat well.

Reserve one cup of the buttercream for the frosting.

Mix in the crushed Oreos  to the buttercream.

For the Ganache

Melt chocolate and cream together on low heat. Whisk together and set aside.

For the Assembly

Oreo buttercream goes between each layer as well as a swirl of chocolate.

Coat outside with buttercream and smooth.

Add a skirt of crushed Oreos at the bottom of the cake
 Smooth top of the cake.
Drip the ganache all through the sides of the cake.

Pipe white buttercream dollops on top.

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Simple butter pudding

I am  looking  to fill up my pudding recipes in this blog as much as possible . But think of it , i do control on having sweets as much as i am not, a big fan of sweets . My family has a diabetic history . So we try to keep a check every month. We are so used to having  dessert  for lunch but that could be anything from sweets snacks or very rarely i cook up something like puddings . Actually this pudding is quite common. This is where i cannot control my health . Need to pull up on my posts for the blog and not eat the wonderful dishes i cook which ofcourse are my favorite when it comes to sweets ..how can i control. I have already started to put on weight as to this regard . I am trying to trim myself .. mmm let's just wait and watch .. 

Coming to today's recipe i am posting  this  butter pudding  which has won best simple pudding in our food group which I am a part of.
Though I have made soo many variety puddings i have never posted a single one.
So i thougt lets start with simple . 

Ingredients 

10 grams chinagrass
1 litre milk
1 tin condensed milk
250 gms butter
4 tablespoon sugar
1 egg beaten
1 tablespoon custard powder
4 slices breads

Method 

Soak the  chinagrass in little water .Boil and keep aside for 5 minutes. And boil the chinagrass again till it melts.
Take 1/2 cup milk, add the egg and custard powder   bread (brown sides  removed) Beat well.
Boil the rest of the milk, butter ,add the milkmaid, bread (brown sides  removed) and sugar.
Add the egg mixture and whisk well .
Cool the whole pudding mixture .
Beat it in a mixer grinder and then set in pudding dish.

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How to cook corn

Some foods are so addictive that we cannot go without it if it comes to season . Corn is one such addiction . I always felt that  grilled corn is really yummy but having them cooked at home is much better . Last time as we had visited my brothers home in banglore and we just went on having corn soups grills patties .Inshahaallah i will be adding  them soon . Alhamdulillah, we had a lovely time. Even though it did rain for just few hours but then we never stopped going out and having fun . , the trip was much wanted by us . We needed a break from work and kids wanted to see cousin Zain.  Banglore always has nice climate and i jsut love the everlasting cold weather there .never dries out . My mom always says who ever visits Banglore will never return home .
Heres the recipe for my corn.
This is for beginners to cooking corn at home .

Ingredients

• 4 corns
• Salt to taste 
• A sprinkle of maggi masala

Method 

• Peel the corns 
• Cook the corns immersed in water in a pressure cooker to 4 whistles. 
• After done serve the corns with salt  and maggi masala powder. 
• You can also add pepper or butter too. All to ones tastes and trials

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Masala chickpea fry

We have a craze and thats for chaats . Mom makes paani poori and all the sides to go for it. Actually my daughter zehna loves chaats  and so we all join in to make to my relief from having to make something for tea time. But normally i never have chaats just tea  and something light as in biscuits and occasional fries. But my kids and Aj are not too much into fried snacks but they would love some tummy filling variety once in a blue moon . But eventually the only thing I used to love is the homemade simple tea munchies. Though i love cooking to the core i do get lazy at times . And chai and kaddis (snacks ) in kerala is a soothing past time . My kids are the most hunger striken at this point of time . No five star hotel would have such kind orders as these three give me their own ways of having tea . Zamee would have a strong 'teabag' tea. Zehna goes for horlicks milk . Faizan loves Hershley milk ..but i dont give it to him everyday ... but he is my angel boy so i fall for all his demands .  So u see i have a hard time to meet all their damands. But chaats is  one  thing they all .... no ... we all have a common admiration to.
So went ahead and made this chaat .

We always have a frozen chickpeas and peas for the breakfast process to go easy .
So if  you freeze up boiled peas  its very likely you would end up making chaats quite often  . I love eating raw cooked chickpeas and when i had this chaat i just loved it . It is very spicy and strong tea is a perfect match.. Do try it out.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup  chickpeas 
• 1/4 teaspoon   masala powder 
• 1 green chilli slit 
• 1/4 tsp pepper powder 
•   1 tblspn Onions 
•  1 small sized chopped finelyCoriander leaves  Salt – as required

Method

• Soak chickpeas  overnight for atleast 6-8 hours.Pressure cook chickpeas   until done.
• In a pan, add a tablespoon of oil .
• Add  chickpeas combine it with masala powder, chilli powder, salt,   and mix well.Just toss and cook the masala till done. Remove to serving dish .
•  Finally add onions and garnish with coriander leaves on top.

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White promfret biryani

We had our getogether yesterday . We had our oldies to a corner to catch up with their petite talk of yester years  Just to cheer up, we had to bring all the 50 members of family together , still many couldn't make it . We went bonkers with the fun and noise . Music and dance that filled the beach hotel with night getting colder, all had a fun night . But the next morning was a little  tiring . Hehe i lost my mind last night thinking who cares how old i am ,we get to be kids only in such times . Body was aching but thats it .. I just managed the day with leftover home chores and light lunch prepared  in 1/2 hour. Having a harthal is cool as we get to catch up on home and kids . Schools have  started and the mornings are getting busier and   InShaAllah, I am hoping to get back to my blogging routine from today as well. Thinking about everything is making me excited  but I have to get my anxiety levels low  guess I take it as it comes…

Food has a lot of nostalgia associated with it. So is this fish biriyani that Aj loves the most .  SubhanAllah, life is moving really fast and so is our changing appetite for the taste of fishes here …alhamdullillah fish is also cheap here.... after eons we have started getting fresh ones   we have really spicy masala but if  the spice level doesnt satify do add more . So you can add some chilli powder while preparing the masala if you need a little bit of spice there. Its difficult to grab the complete satisfaction  from Aj ..But he enjoyed it and said he would pack some to office ! Off to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

FOR MARINATION:

• 500 gm avolli fish ,cleaned
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp coconut oil for fry

FOR MASALA:

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 4 large onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoon chillies, paste 
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 4 tbsp chopped mint leaves
• 4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 2 strands curry leaves 
• Salt and pepper to taste

FOR RICE:

• 2 tbsp ghee
• 3 cardamom, split
• 1 pc cinnamon3 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise
• 1 tbsp peppercorn
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cups waterSalt to taste
• 2½ cup ghee rice, soaked for 15 minutes, washed and drained

FOR DUM:

• 3 tbsp ghee
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 15 cashews
• 15-20 raisins
• 1 tbsp garam masala powder
• 4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 4 tbsp chopped mint leaves.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Combine all ingredients except oil in the "for marination" section till well combined. Allow to marinate for at least one hour
• .Fry the marinated fish in the coconut oil flipping the sides, till browned and almost 75% cooked. Set aside.
• In a saucepan,  start making the masala by heating the coconut oil. 
• Add the onions and few curry leaves  and saute till the onions are soft.
• Add the ginger garlic crushed  and cook till the raw smell goes away .
• Add in the turmeric and saute well. Continue to cook till the tomatoes are totally cooked.
• .Add in the fried fish and cook for a few more minutes. Sprinkle in some water if the masala looks too dry.Add in the garam masala powder, mint leaves, coriander leaves and seasoning. Mix well and switch off.
• While the masala is getting cooked, make the rice. 
• Heat the ghee and fry the whole spices.
• Add the curry leaves and onion and saute till witled.
• Add the water and bring it to boil. 
• Add salt.
• Add in the drained rice and keep on high flame till the water comes to a rolling boil.Keep it on the lowest flame possible and cook on closed lid till the water is absorbed and the rice is almost cooked .
• Switch off
• .For the garnish ingredients, heat the coconut oil and ghee in a deep frying pan
• .Add the sliced onions with a sprinkle of salt and fry till browned. 
• Drain and set aside.
• Fry the cashews and then the raisins and set aside. Keep the frying oil aside.
• Now for the dum ..
• Spread one layer of rice . Transfer the fishes on a plate and layer only  masala on top. Sprinkle half fried onions, cashewnuts, raisins, chopped mint and coriander leaves and garam masala.Layer the remaining rice over the masala. 
• Layer the fishes on top .
• Sprinkle the remaining dum ingredients, the leftover fried oil .
• Cover with foil and close the lid tightly. 
• Keep on high flame for 5 minutes, then reduce to the lowest and keep it for 20 minutes. Switch off.Open the lid and remove the foil at the time of serving. Mix well and serve hot with raita and pickle.

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