White chocolate mocha

Today was a hectic day. I decided to spend time at home.  As i had some cleaning chores to complete , i decided to take the day off. But no sooner than lunch break came, i get the call to go to office for an emergency case ,  .. i groaned at Aj for such situations. When husbands are boss its a  difficult situation . I love my work but i really miss my cooking , being with kids and the reason why I just love harthals and sundays . Its a huge relaxation time for Me and Aj on weekends and we try to be recreational most of the time . But there are days when weekends are just dozzing in beds. Anyways me and zame had lunch together and that was a relief for me . Anyways  zame was complaining its been long since i  had lunch together . With that fulfilled i was content and rushed to work. Sometimes  everything is complicated nowadays. But  i always fight it out and tell my kids if your Imaan is strong then there is nothing to worry as long as we are doing it the right way. 

Actually i am not a chocolate fan. the main reason is baking too much in chocolate cakes make me dizzy by just the smell of it.But my kids love it . recently i had few bars left behind and it wouldn't last for any dessert  . I gave to zamee and he made recipe right away .  

Ingredients

• Milk - 1 cup
• 50 grams Good Quality White Chocolate 
• 1 tablespoon Coffee Granules 
• 1.5 teaspoon  sugar 
• Hot water as needed.

Method

Heat milk in  pan to boiling point  and cook till it is reduced .

Let it simmer for 5 mins.

Add in white chocolate  whisking gently till  melts.

In the serving glass pour the coffee and the granules with hot water

Add while chocolate mix and whisk well

Serve hot.

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Manakeesh,| ARABIC DISHES

I just wish to  jump into a pool. I love swimming . It simply let's you go of everything that just brainstorming.  I have been on  stress, my usual time partner and anxiety that always has a way with me.We are given the best by our master and still we are not able to understand its value . The stress really churns us upsides down in tummy and we end up leaving everything we put be to do further. For me my only  stress reliever is my kitchen and cooking .
I love baking and always have enjoyed it ever since i was young . While I posted chicken mandi recipe  , I had an array of dishes to make for this  month . So far, the process has been slow but steady. I am slowly wakening to try a few new and old dishes that are not yet on my space .  Very dearly you will find a couple of arabian dishes featuring on the blog  in the coming posts . 

I was introduced to Manakeesh by our Egyptian friend  . Actually i didnt like it at first . It was too salty for me .  That was when the bread festival at cornish bakes happened and I got my first bite of this dish. Mashallah it was so delicious  I ended up eating  and bought a whole bunch for dinner that night . That little portion that our friend gave us was a little mistake of overdose of salt . Realized myself then  From then, I had been wanting to make this at home and i found  manakeesh and cheese combo are my favorite. 

Ingredients

• 3 and 1/2 cups all purpose  flour 
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• A pinch salt 
• 1 teaspoon  yeast
• 2 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 and 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• Zatar paste
• 1/2 cup olive oil 
• 1/2 cup zatar

Method 

• Add all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix  well . 
• Add olive oil and water and knead well  to smooth dough . Cover for one hour . 
• Mix zatar and olive to paste. Keep aside.
• After it has risen to  double the size, make small patties gently with hand, size of the inner palm .
• Add a tablespoon of zatar paste to one flattened dough . And spread grated cheese to the other . 
• I made 10 zatar and 10 cheese manakeesh each. 
• Bake for 5 to 10 minutes at 200 degree c.

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Instant white sauce pasta

This year is nearing its end. And my kids are enjoying planning their  coming vacation. And three of them want to go three different places . They are  in their own world of joy.  And as parents we are constantly calculating , changing and .... getting old.  Why am i feeling old  all of a sudden.... well the other day i was on my way to the office . I travel mostly by bus.. Actually I love it . Aj doesn't like it . Only when he is busy i get to travel by bus. . 
Usually the bus is a suffocating crowd and amidst all that its when the conductor calls me 'Amma . .. u may please move aside. !! ' ohh goodness.   First it was sister and now its amma ?!!. I gave him a look that made the poor thing shrink . The whole day i kept looking at the pouch mirror and .. quizing myself.   Am i old .. do i look old.. or was the guy just mistaken someone for me . .. 樂
My family is in full swing after listening to this hilarious story..
My Faizi .. youngest .. he remarked "umma dont get old otherwise you have to wear a nightgown like umama ( grandmom) and you wont look good in it. My heart melted when he said that . Young children always tell their innocent stories honestly.

Ingredients

2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon   Plain flour
1 cup Milk
A pinch of Salt
2 chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon Oregano
 2 cups Pasta (i  used shells)
1/2 cup cream
2 cubes cheese ( cheddar)
1/2 cube maggie.
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon Chilli flakes.

Method

Cook macaroni in salted water as per package directions
Heat butter in a pan, add garlic and saute for a min.
Add in oregano and mix well.
Add flour and mix well.Add milk and cook till it starts to thicken.
Add the cream , cheese and maggi stock.
Add salt to taste.
Add cooked macaroni and mix well.
Serve

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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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