Mum's Recipe: Hyderabadi Harees

I will cut short to the ingredients this time but just to save you some thinking, this recipe is easy to cook but requires some muscular efforts in the end to mash it up all together!

Ingredients:

1) 1 Kg Chicken
2) 1 and half cup Wheat grains
3) 1 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste
4) 1 Table spoon Garam Masala
5) 1 and half teaspoon Crushed Black Pepper
6) 3/4 cup Yogurt (whipped)
7) 1 Onion
8) A cup of Cashews (Optional)
9) A cup of Oil/Ghee (Split in half)
10)Lots of butter/ghee

Preps:

1) Soak wheat for 2 hours. Then using a pressure cook (That's what I did) cook it until its half done. Keep aside.

Tip: To avoid some hard work, use chopper and chop your half done wheat. DO NOT make a paste just into some pieces.

2) Make Chicken Broth: Dump all your chicken into the boiling water and let it all cook. Separate chicken from broth. And then bones from the meat :D Keep aside the chicken not the bones!

3) Take half of the cashews and make paste with water. ( Optional)


Method:

1) Use pressure cooker. Heat half cup of ghee then throw in your spices, ginger garlic paste and in the end yogurt. Keep stirring! Once you can smell all the aroma add cashew paste. Stir for a while again.

2) Add wheat, chicken and broth all together. Close your cooker now and keep it on low heat.

3) Once your chicken and wheat are blended and you think your wheat is well cooked, get ready for the fun part. Using a heavy wooden hand mixer, mash up everything and keep adding some water and butter. You do not want it to get thicker!

So, this hand mixer is easily available in Pakistani/Indian markets and you can see it in the picture above. We can also use machines but the hand mixing gives it rich and traditional texture. In Urdu we call it "Ghota" .

While mixing/blending, add 1-2 tablespoon at a time and then use some water. Don't worry wheat absorbs both really fast.

4) This is your tardka: In another pot, heat remaining oil/ghee, add your sliced onions and cook until almost brown then add cashews. When onions are brown add this to your Harees mixture and close the lid!

And Tadaaaa you are done!

Do you have some lemons? Serve your Harees with them :D


Blunders & Tips:

Garam masala was way too less in my Harees. So, I used my Maa's advice and added some garam masala to tardka (Oil and onions) and added to my Harees. Doesn't make a difference :)

Ask a male member to do the hand mixing / Ghota, my arms were aching all night. But worth it.

This dish requires a long time, so keep the serving time in mind. 

Serve some butter/ghee along. I did not and my family complained :/

Happy Cooking 

xx

Wooohooo Look What We Have Got In Riyadh : Tim Hortons !

I swear this was my first reaction on spotting the newly OPENED Tim Hortons near Localizer Mall. It was Saudi National Day and we were simply strolling on the streets but who knew what is awaiting to surprise us! *Happy Dance* 

I know Tim Hortons in Garnada Mall is opened since few months now but residing in city center its a bit too far for us. And this Tim Hortons was under construction since ages; atleast it seemed so.

Anyways, thank God it tastes same as the one we had in Dubai. Mostly the franchises in Riyadh tastes nothing like the ones in Emirates, so yeah I was worried :/

This Timmy's have single and family section both with some faux wooden tables and black leather sofas, comfortable but not aesthetic at all! But hey! who cares...we got the coffee and friendly staff :D

Incase, you are new to Tim Hortons, I suggest go with the Coffe from Hot Beverages selection to enjoy the taste of classic coffee with a hint of smoky flavour. And if you are more of a Cold Beverage person than Iced Capp is the most amazing thing you are going to slurp down your throat. I am not a fan of "too-sweet" beverages but if you are then go for French Vanilla, my husband loves it!

P.S: You can also find Cold Stone Creamery inside this Tim Hortons. And yes Canadians you can go all crazy over this new cafe in Riyadh!

The Noodle House - Riyadh

Me and husband have been planning to try out "the noodle house" since long. Its been ages since we had a hearty Asian food, last was P.F. Chang's in Dubai. The noodle house in Riyadh is in this posh Centria Mall on the top floor. We were greeted by some very cheerful fellas, some were at the live station behind the glass and some around the entrance. I was looking for a table with a view to keep my 7 months old son busy, atleast I hoped so!

The restaurant wasn't much crowded and we were seated within few minutes and the baby chair was placed with no delay. Our server was excellent at his job, with the smiling attitude and all the answers regarding dishes and the ingredients (Yes, we ask about the main ingredients sometimes)

Unfortunately, the glass view couldn't keep my son busy and I got very little chance to click pictures of our main course. But here is what we ordered:

Kung boo chicken buns: Nothing more than ordinary, dim sums at Durrat China are far more appetizing. Kung boo, tasted like frozen dim sums straight out of freezer and microwaved! The filling was a bit mushy *sad face* I freaking love dim sums but sigh!

Shanghai Beef Noodles: These noodles are not so dry and do not have any curry! Hence, I liked them! Note: Did not loooovvvee them. The beef was perfectly cooked. There was no need to chew any piece of meat extra hard or spit it out. You know what I mean. The taste was good, seemed like right proportion of Asian sauces (soy sauce, oyster etc)

Chilli Prawns: Damn! These prawns made me happy...I wished for more and more. Perfectly cooked, rightly spiced and the little bit of crispness outside. Only if I wouldn't have to share it with my husband..lol

Egg fried rice: Again Durrat China serves better :/

And my favorite...

Fried Ice cream: I am going back to this house just for their fried ice cream, beside chilli prawns. This was the best dessert I ever had (maybe exaggerating a bit). But oh my! Vanilla ice cream, coated with nuts and then vermicelli, fried until golden! Splashed with a bit of caramel not much just little. From hot and crispy outer shell to creamy cold inside. Yum yum!

Well for the drinks I do not remember exactly but I ordered something with lychee and it was an excellent blend to enjoy with our food.

Location: Centria Mall, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Food: 5/10

Service: 9/10

Ambiance: 8/10

Price range: 59-120

Our bill was around 400 Riyals!

Vote for me! 3 days to go!

So, finally the time is here and I am a bit late. Virgin Mobile Saudi selected me as top two finalists to compete for the position of Virgin Foodie.
I was really curious who am I competing with?! Unfortunately, they selected presenter of Sufrati to do so.
Now this doesn't satisfies me at all. First of all, the guideline stated to keep the video to 90 seconds, 
her professional and perfect video also made by SUFRATI is of more than 4minutes! Ha! 

Well, well, well instead of being all disappointed I will compete and lets see what it holds for me.

But certainly did not expect this to happen.

Anyways fellas, here is the link :

http://www.virginmobile.sa/vote/candidate/aisha_khanam/

And keep the fingers crossed!

Red Velvet Hearts

I baked red velvet 7 years back, and they were everything but red! Haha, I remember the disastrous color and texture. I wouldn't dare to bake red velvet again, I thought then. But every wound heals with time, doesn't it? So did my foodie pride! Too sentimental ... lol :p

So, here is my success story of red velvet cake! By the way, let me make this clear, I got silicon heart molds and that's why I wanted to bake red velvet cake. My inner girl was being cheesy.

I used my all time favorite Joy of Baking recipe but I had to make my own buttermilk, cake flour and substitute baking soda. Follow the links below and make your baking easy easier!

Red Velvet Cake Recipe by Joy of Baking

How to make buttermilk at home?

I used, white vinegar!

How to substitute baking soda?

I used the first method, replacing it by baking powder and instead I used 3 teaspoon baking powder and I felt absolutely no bad effect in the taste :D

How to make your own cake flour?

eh no link? Its as easy as 1,2,3!

1) Get one cup of the usual flour.

2) Throw 2 tablespoon of flour back into the canister.

3) Replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch / cornflour 

And VOILA!

Cake flour is ready to use.

Use your commonsense and do it for every cup mentioned in the recipe.

Umm what if some Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips surprise you with the bite of velvety cake???!!!

Yup! The hard to see little thing in there is the chocolate chips effect! Pour the cake batter half way through, throw in some chocolate chips, pour rest of the batter and nomnomnomnom!

That's it for now, finding almost no time to blog :( I am busy running after my little one with his food in hands and all over me to make sure he eats enough! 

No complaints <3 

Motherhood is awesome :D

Red Plum Chutney

Last weekend my hubby got few red plums for the salad but then he discovered (after 2 years) that I don't like red plums at all! These little red babies were resting in my fridge since almost a week now and before they go to waste I decided to make a chutney, something out of ordinary. In our homes we usually make dried plum chutney but I thought this time we will make fresh plum chutney *YAYY* . Time for an experiment :D

I browsed through alot of recipes on internet and found out that the one at CHOW seemed really good and spicy and tangy and yumm! (http://www.chow.com/recipes/11048-spicy-plum-chutney)

I made few changes though, used only 6 plums and 4 garlic cloves (I love garlic). I also added a stick of cinnamon for some extra kick and red paper flakes to make it spicy.

First let it all boil in 2 cups of water, keep stirring from the bottom of the saucepan after every few minutes as this chutney is very stubborn and likes to burn alot. I added more water afterwards until everything was mixed up really well. Once you like the texture and chutney turns into syrup, you may consider it done and bring it off the the heat. As they have mentioned on their page, consume it within a week.

Personally, I don't like any chunks in my chutney, so I removed the cinnamon stick and decided to blend the chutney in the blender ofcourse. And hey we are done! Its that easy....its sweet, tangy, spicy and with the kick of cinnamon!

We usually enjoy it over the deep fried and very unhealthy but delicious snacks like samosas, spring rolls etc. I believe it will go best along grilled chicken and fish or maybe in a lamb curry! We will do some experiments with that later on ..... Bon appétit!

My first fondant cake!

We all see those creative, cute and beautiful fondant cakes and they are best to order/make for a loved one to mirror their lives, personality, relationship etc. I wanted to give it a try too! =D
So, perfect time was here; my husband's 26th birthday was coming up and I thought to give him a birthday surprise. Now it wasn't easy to decide the theme of the cake as he is not a very easy-to-understand human being (that he is). My ideas flowed from one to another:

1) Minion cake with One in a minion tag.

2) Music note cake.

3) A cake to represent his current life! (yes that was it)

"Saen Tou Saen", is a saying in my husband's native language, Sindhi. "Saen" mean "sir", so the whole phrase can loosely be translate to "Sir is Sir". Sindhi men are known for their mustache and this explains the idea pretty much.
Ring is to celebrate our relationship and feeder to cherish our newly bestowed parenthood.
Yalla enough with my blabber, I will now share links I used to put up this cake together.

Make your fondant first, I made it a week before:

Make chocolate mousse a day ahead:

Recipe of Chocolate Pound Cake

These are some basic recipes I followed and for figures just use your imagination or find a tutorial online.


- Don't forget to crumb coat your cake with some whipped cream or butter cream before applying your fondant.

- Let the cake cool completely before doing anything with it at all!


That's it! Now go make a grocery list for your upcoming baking adventure :D