Hummus

Hummus is one of the most famous Middle Eastern dip that is well known all across the world now. Hummus in Arabic means Chickpeas. The dip made using chickpeas is also known as hummus.The unique flavour of the hummus comes from the tahini sauce that's simply toasted sesame seeds ground along with olive oil to get a thick smooth paste. It is mainly eaten with Pitta bread, Arabic bread or Khubz, with shawarma etc. It can also be used as dip for many steam cooked vegetables like carrot, as a healthy spread for bread etc. Below given is the basic recipe of hummus. Here, I have used dried peas, You can also substitute it with canned chickpeas and make the work even more easier. Season it with cumin powder, paprika powder etc if you like some variations to the basic hummus. This stays fresh in refrigerator for up to three days.
I normally make Hummus when I roast or grill chicken and have it with Qubz and any salad.

Ingredients:
1 cup dry Chick peas
6 garlic pods
2 tbs lime/lemon juice
2 1/2 tbs Tahini/Tahina (sesame seed paste)
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup water or Just enough water to grind the peas to a smooth thick paste

Preparation:
1. Wash and soak the peas for 6-8 hours or overnight.
2. Pressure cook peas along with water and garlic until peas are thoroughly cooked and is soft.
3. Grind it into smooth paste along with garlic and tahini sauce by adding enough water from the cooked peas or tap water.
4. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. Drizzle with olive oil while serving.

Roasted Tandoori Chicken

Here is a roasted version of Tandoori Chicken. I made this for dinner a couple of days back when I was not much in the mood to cook. Even though I wasn't in mood, I had to cook something delicious for my little picky eater and a Meataholic husband. I wanted to prepare something that's easy and doesn't require stirring and chopping. I thought this was a perfect dish for my mood. Just marinating the chicken and roasting it. I dint even bother chopping the chicken. Made it for the first time and it was too good. It's not my opinion but my hubby's. My little one just had this chicken for his dinner. He didn't even have a piece of bread or salad!!!The chicken was really soft and succulent. I am adding this recipe to my favourite list....a real heart winner and will make this to bribe my husband every time I need something...:). One more thing that I wanted to mention is that I am not sure how well the chicken will turn out if at all if you are frying it in oil, because I had tried one recipe for chicken tikka long back that was to be grilled but I fried in oil instead and it was a disaster.

Ingredients:
1 kg whole chicken
For the marinade:
6 tbs thick curd
2 tbs lime juice
3/4 Tbs Cumin powder
1 1/2 - 2 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp cloves powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
5-6 large cloves of garlic, minced
2" piece ginger,minced
4 tbs vegetable oil
Few drops of orange food colour to get the required orange colour

Preparation:
1. Wash and skin the chicken. Make shallow slits or prick the chicken all over with the fork especially the fleshier part like the breast, legs and thighs to let the marinade permeate through.
2. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade. Marinate the chicken inside and utside and refrigerate it for a minumum of 6 hours or leave it in the fridge overnight.
3. Bring the chicken to room temperature half hour prior to Roasting.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Place the chicken in an oven proof dish, having atleast 2" depth, with the breast side facing upwards. Bake for 30 minutes. Then turn it over using a tongs pouring all the juices in the tray over the chicken. Bake for another 20 minutes until it starts to get browne at the tail tip. Turn it over again; the breast being the top part and again pour all the juices in the tray over the chicken.Bake for another 15- 20 minutes, until the chicken is well cooked. It may take anywhere from 1hr-1 hr 15 minutes for a Kilo of chicken at this given temperature.
We had this Roasted chicken with vegatble salad, curd and Qubz.You can also have it along with Chappathi,poori,naan etc.

Notes:
1. I have used 1 tsp of Kashmiri Chilli powder cos we like it lightly spicy. You can reduce it to 1/2 tsp as per your taste.
2. You can add a mixture of red&yellow food colour if you dont have the orange colour.

Recipe Courtesy : www.about.com

Asabia el Aroos (Brides Fingers)

Filo based pastries are very common in the middle eastern countries. The very common ones are the 'Baklawa' . These are simply filo dough filled with nuts, sometimes with cooked cream,then baked and soaked in a lovely sweet sugar syrup, sometimes flavoured with rose water or orange blossom water. They look quite complicated, but believe me,they are so simple to make if you have the ready-made filo dough. The only difficult part might be handling the filo, since they are so thin;much thinner than a paper. Asabia el Aroos are lovely slender crisps of filo filled with sweetened nuts are as heavenly as baklava, much easier to prepare and to eat, and lower in calories and fat.

It always happens while watching the cookery show that I see certain food being prepared, I get tempted and shop all the ingredients needed for that recipe. But as the time goes by, I forget about whole stuff, the ingredients of that particular recipe gets used in my other everyday cooking and some of it just stays there forever without being noticed. Such was this Filo dough that was resting in the freezer for many many months or may be a year. Just made sure that they weren't out dated:) I bought it the other day when I saw one of the chefs preparing my very favourite middle eastern sweet Baklawa on TV. I got so excited and I bought the filo dough and nuts. But since my husband hates baklava (can you believe) I was a bit reluctant to make it because I was sure I will end up eating the whole stuff all by myself. Yet I bought it as I just couldn't resist my temptation to make it. Even though I was tempted, I was very much intimidated to work with the filo reading its fragility from many places. Yes, it is very fragile, but if handled gently and carefully, it is not as difficult as you think.

After making this, I thought it was a bit time consuming. Rolling the filo took me ages. So if you are planning to make this, make sure you get a helping hand. In Baklawa, more and more butter is basted in each layer where as in Brides fingers, I lightly brushed just the top layer with little butter. I would love to make these and present it to someone when I make them next. What a lovely gift that would make, Isn't it?

Ingredients:
Sweet Syrup:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
1 tsp lime juice
4 tbs honey
Filling:
1 cup almonds or pistachios, pulverized in food processor with
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp Cinnamom powder
Glaze:
1 egg, beaten
1 tbs water
Others:
400g frozen filo dough 18" * 12" , completely defrosted
70g unsalted butter, melted

Preparation:
1.For making the syrup: Place a saucepan on moderate heat and add in sugar and water. Bring to boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes until you get a thick syrup. Add lemon juice and turn the flame off. Once the syrup is cooled a bit, add honey and stir well. If desired, you can add 1/2 tsp of rose water to this. Prepare this syrup in advance and chill in the refrigerator.
2.Combine the filling ingredients.

3. Cut the filo in half crosswise making it 9" * 12" and again halve them and make it into 4.5 " * 12. Stack them up and cover them with a damp towel as soon as possible to prevent the dough from drying out.
4. Lay 2 rectangles on your work surface with the shorter sides facing you, and brush lightly with melted butter. (Just brush the top layer. No need to brush the bottom layer).
5. Place a rounded tablespoon of the filling in a line across the shorter side of filo that faces you. Fold the longer edges of the pastry inward, sealing in the sides of the filling, and roll the pastry up from the short side, forming a fat cigar shape. Place on the baking sheet with the cut edge down. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover all the prepared cigars with another wet towel as soon as they are being made.

6.Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Grease 1 or 2 baking sheets.
7. Brush the tops of the pastries lightly with a bit of beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
9. Arrange the warm finger on a serving tray and pour the syrup all over. This way the pastry will absorb all the syrup and will taste almost like Baklawa. If this sounds too sweet for you, just dip the filo fingers in syrup and arrange in a tray. Serve at room temperature.

Recipe Courtesy: www.Sudairy.com

Italian Bean and Pasta Soup

I made this soup to go with garlic bread for dinner last night and we loved it so much that I thought I would share with you all. The soup was light and quite filling. And do you want to know where I got the recipe from? The wrap of willow Butter!!Yeah, I have the habit of collecting the recipes from anywhere and everywhere. I always take the grocery booklets from the groceries everytime because they contain many recipes and I thought they were nice. Now my collection has become so big, and I really dont know what to do! My husband sometimes comment that I'm like a mouse bringing all the mess and waste to home......Aaaah....but I am sure there are many ladies out there like me, crazy about collecting recipes, and keep flipping them over again and again and still never get bored of it, isn't it?!!!

Ingredients:
1 tbs butter
2 medium carrots thinly sliced (1 cup)
1 medium onion sliced thin (1/2 cup)
2 large cloves garlic,chopped
1/2 large tomato (1/3 cup)
1 tsp tomato puree
400 can Red Kidney Beans drained and washed (1 1/3 cup)
3/4 cup frozen green peas
2 chicken Stock cube (I used Maggi)
1500 mls water
75 gms pasta shapes, I used fusilli (1 cup)
salt and pepper to season (I dint add salt, since stock cube is quite salty)

Preparation:
1. Heat a sauce pan, melt butter and add onions, garlic and carrots. Stir and cook gently for about 5 minutes and add tomato and tomato puree and saute until tomato is soft.
2. Add beans, peas and stock cube and boiled water and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Add the pasta shapes and cook for another 7 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Kalathappam/ kalthappam (Unsweetened)

Kalathappam is a rice cake and is one of the famous speciality of Muslim cuisines in Kerala. There are two kinds of Kalthappam. One is sweet version which uses sugar or jaggery to sweeten, and the other one is unsweetened one which is normally eaten with curries. It is commonly made in Malabar regions (Im not sure about other regions of Kerala,sorry) as an evening snack (sweet one) or for dinner or breakfast with any spicy curries. I was googling for the recipe of kalthappam without sugar and I found none!!! The other day I soaked some rice to make Neypathal or neypathiri which are fried rice pan cakes which requires quite lot of time and effort. And since my little one was sick, I prepared this kalthapam which just takes few minutes to prepare. We just have to pour the whole batter in the sauce pan and cook them. The cooking time may differ depending on the saucepan and the heat used. Anyways, here is a tasty recipe for the Kalthappam(unsweetened one), that would make an easy dinner or breakfast.


Ingredients:
2 cups long grain rice (pachari)
1 cup Cooked rice (same rice as above)
2 cups water
1/2 tbs salt
1 tsp Fennel seeds (perumjeerakam)
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 large onion, cut in chunks
2 tbs thinly sliced and chopped onion
1/2 medium size onion chopped
4 tbs oil

Preparation:
1. Soak rice for about 4-6 hours.
2. Grind it along with cooked rice, fennel seeds and 1 large onion by adding 2 cups of water into a smooth grainless batter.You might need to do this in two batches.
3. Add salt,coconut,1/2 chopped onion and mix well using a spatula until well combined.
4. Heat a medium size saucepan (I used a nonstick sauce pan of 9" Diameter, you can use one with 10" as well) to a medium low heat. Add oil and add in the 2 tbs chopped onion. When the onions starts turning golden, add the batter prepared earlier to this slowly. You can see all the oil and onions has moved to the top.
5.COVER and cook the kalthappam until the batter is set completely. It will take about 45 minutes-1 hour depending on the heat and the kind of saucepan used. Let it cool slightly. Flip the kalthappam over. For that, place any plate on top of the dish and holding the plate firmly, tip the kalthappam on it. Slide it back into the saucepan with the upper white part of the kalthappam to go facing down and the lower golden part facing up. Cook for another 10-15 minutes until you get a golden and crispy coating . This flipping is just done to get a golden crispy layer all over the kalthappam. You don't have to flip it over,if you dont want the crispy layer. It will be cooked if the batter is set completely.
This can be had along with or Malabar fish curry, Chemmeen Muringavaal curry, Malabar chicken curry etc for dinner or even with sugar. Some times we have it for brunch along with the above said curries or sugar.

Notes:

The addition of chopped onions and coconut is really optional. It really enhances the taste, But you dont have to add, if you dont like them.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

This recipe was sent to me by one of my relatives and it just tempted me so much especially becaue it was just a 3 minutes dessert!!!A 3 minute cake!!Can you imagine? In the beginning I had a doubt if it would come out good mainly I have never made a cake that contains plain flour and has no baking powder or baking soda in it. But since the dessert had small amount of ingredients, I just went ahead and tried the next moment I got this recipe and it was so yummy. Guys, I couldnt just believe it. I forwarded the recipe to all my friends. And now Im sharing with this recipe with my readers here. And what most tempted me was the quote that was written at the end of the mail- " And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night! Let me know who got tempted like me, went ahead and made it....This is an ideal sweet to serve to guests who come home with late notice, or even as snack!

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons plain flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 medium egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) (I used Chocolate cut into chunks)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Preparation:
1. Rub cold butter inside the Mug completely to prevent the cake from sticking to the mug. Add dry ingredients to a dish, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
2. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Pour it in the mug prepared earlier.
3. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. (Since my Microwave was 700W, I cooked it for 4 minutes).
4. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! (It really did rise about 3 inches on top of the mug, And I though it would spill all over the microwave, but it dint, So go ahead,Dont be alarmed ).
5.Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. Serve with vanilla ice cream, whip cream, toffee sauce, caramel or simply icing sugar.
6. I used icing sugar for garnishing. For that, use 3 tbs icing sugar mixed with few drops of water/milk to make a paste of dropping consistency. Drizzle it all over. Serve warm.

Isn't that So simple?

Update: One of my friends tried this cake and she told me it wasn't sweet enough. Please Increase the amount of sugar as per taste. As I had it with Icing sugar drizzled, I dint realise that.