Basbousa Recipe I learned via Periscope

Few days back I learned a new recipe for Ramadan via Periscope from Middle East. It’s a traditional Middle Eastern sweet cake and looks quite easy so I give it a try.

Learned new recipe for #Ramadan via #Periscope #AchievementUnlocked

— Farman (@farmansha) May 29, 2017

Ingredients:

2 cups semolina flour

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sugar

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup milk, or as needed

1/4 cup whole almonds

For Syrup:

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square baking dish.
• In a large bowl, mix together the semolina flour, baking powder, 1 cup sugar, coconut and butter. Add the yogurt and milk; mix until moistened but not runny or liquid. If you see that it is too dry, add more milk. Spread into a greased 8 inch square baking dish, smoothing the top as much as possible. Decorate the top with whole almonds.
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. While the basbousa is baking, combine the water, 1 cup of sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook for at least 5 minutes.
• When the basbousa has finished baking, pour the syrup over it as evenly as possible. Place it back in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the syrup has been fully absorbed. Let rest for about 20 minutes before cutting into pieces and serving.

 

Vegetable Tempura Recipe

Tempura is the very popular Japanese dish used with sea food or vegetables.  It is the lighter version of Pakora. The key for perfect tempura is batter and the temperature of oil.

The temperature has to be between 320-356°F (160°C – 180°C) depending on how long it takes to cook through the ingredients.  To check your oil if its perfect for frying just put a pinch of your batter into the oil and after few seconds it has to fry and float on the surface, if its settles down at the bottom then your oil is not ready for frying. Cold batter is absolutely necessary for the unique fluffy and crisp tempura. To keep it cold I put it over the bowl filled with ice cubes.

Tempura Batter

Ingredients:

1 carrot
1 capsicum
1  potato
1/2 eggplant
Oil for deep frying

For tempura batter:

1 cup plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup  ice  water

Vegetable Tempura

Method:

• Heat the oil in a deep skillet until smoking.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add enough water to make a thin batter.
• Cook the vegetables in batches by coating in batter then deep frying in the oil until crisp.
• Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately.

Prawn Biryani Recipe

Among all Biryani recipes, Prawn Biryani is the most easy to made. Now almost every weekend I cook something. Yesterday I made Prawn Biryani for lunch and it turned out awesome.

Ingredients:

• 500gm Prawn
• 400gm Basmati Rice
• 2 tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste
• 1 tablespoon Red chili powder
• Whole garam masala (3 cloves, cinnamon stick, 3 black pepper, 2 green cardamom, 1 black cardamom)
• 1 Onion finely chopped
• 3 tablespoon Yogurt
• Biryani masala (you can use any brand)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped Coriander leaves
• 3-4 finely chopped Mint leaves
• Salt (to taste)
• Food color (optional I used yellow color)
• 4 tablespoon Oil

Method:

• Peal the cover and wash the prawns. Now add red chili powder, 1tsp of ginger-garlic paste and salt to the prawn.
• Heat oil in a pan when oil becomes hot add   prawns batch by batch for frying. Fry them till it turns brown.
• Add chopped onion to the hot oil and fry it till it turns to brown, add rest of ginger-garlic paste and  whole garam masala to the hot oil fry it for a while once it done and fry 3-4 mins.
• Now add the biryani masala and yogurt to this onion masala and mix it well.
• Add the fried prawns to this yogurt mixture and let it cook for a while.
• Take a pan with 2-3 cups of water, when water starts boiling add little oil and washed rice to it.
• Boil the rice till its 90% done.
• Now layer the prawns at bottom then rice on top of it. Sprinkle coriander and mint leaves on the top of rice. Sprinkle food  color on top of the rice and cover it in very low flame for 5 to 6 minutes.
• Now biryani is ready, best served with raita.

Egg in a Hole Recipe

Yesterday I made this super easy Egg in a Hole. If you are in a hurry for your office then this is the perfect recipe for you.

Ingredients:

1 Brown Bread Slice

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg

Salt and Pepper freshly grounded

Method:

Cut a round hole in the center of a slice of bread with a biscuit or cookie cutter. You can also use the rim of a small glass.

Heat the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the bread and cook until it’s toasted. Flip, adding more butter to the pan.

Crack an egg on a flat surface (for a cleaner break). Drop the egg gently in the hole. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until set but still soft. Serve warm.

Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe

Usually on weekends I picked  one recipe from the internet and made it with little twist. So, last Sunday I searched the recipe of Salsa and made it with some extra added ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 5 tomatoes
• 1 onion (roughly chopped)
• 1 capsicum (seeded and roughly chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (peeled and crushed)
• 1 jalapeño  (seeded and roughly chopped)
• 1 cup chopped cilantro (green coriander)
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder*
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes*
• 1 teaspoon  coriander powder*
• salt to taste

*I added those extra ingredients to give it a little twist

roasted tomatoes

Method:

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes; cook 3 to 4 minutes or until tomatoes begin to blister. Remove from heat.
2. Place the roasted tomatoes into a blender or food processor with the rest of the ingredients and pulse until combined and just slightly chunky, yet fairly smooth.
3. Serve with chips, tortillas, tacos or burritos.

I made Sindhi Biryani!

Hello Everyone  & Eid  Mubarak. I was waiting for  Eid-ul-Azha just to try some recipes with mutton as I didn’t like beef cos  it took  more time to cook.  It’s been  almost 2 years since  I had  good  Sindhi Biryani. So  I search the recipe on the internet and give it a try.

Let’s start with the ingredients, shall we….

• 1.5kg mutton
• 0.5kg potatoes
• 1.5 cups Oil
• 3 medium onions (sliced)
• 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
• 0.5kg chopped tomatoes
• Salt to taste
• 250gm yogurt
• 4 teaspoons  red chili powder
• 8 cloves
• 6 green cardamoms
• 2  cinnamon sticks
• 10 pieces black pepper
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 4 black cardamom pods
• 6 green chilies
• 2 tablespoons coriander leaves
• 2 pinches orange food coloring
• 1 tablespoon mint leaf (chopped)

For Rice:

• 5 cups rice (soaked in water for atleast 1/2 an hour)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 black cardamom pods

This is how it should look like…but how ? Here is the method.

1. Slice the onion and fry it in oil until it is light brown. Take out 1/4 of it and keep aside.
2. Add ginger garlic paste, tomatoes,  salt, red chili powder, cloves, cardamoms, black Pepper, cumin seeds, cinnamon, black cardamom pods and bay leaves to the remaining fried onions.
3. Fry this until the tomatoes are tender and the water is dry.
4. Then add meat, yogurt and water (if desired) and cook on medium heat until the meat is tender and the water has evaporated.
5. On other side boil the potatoes until they’re half cooked.
6. Add green chilies, mint, coriander leaves, and the half boiled potatoes to the meat. Simmer for 3 minutes. Your meat korma is done.
7. Boil the rice with salt, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and black cardamom and drain the water off when the rice is half done.
8. Layer the curry with the rice in a pot in one on one layers. Sprinkle the food color, fried onions, and chopped mint leaves on top of the last layer.
9. Close the lid tightly making sure no steam passes out of the pot and cook on low heat until the rice is done.
10. Gently mix it before serving.

 

 

 

 

 

Very Easy Chocolate and Banana Frozen Yogurt Recipe

I am always searching internet for quick and easy recipes and recently found this easy recipe of Chocolate and Banana Frozen Yogurt on youtube. It has just 5 ingredients and all are usually available in your kitchen. So I thought why don’t I give it a try.

Ingredients

2 frozen medium (2 cups/280g) bananas
2 Tablespoons Honey
¼ cup (60g) Strained yogurt
⅓ cup (40g) Cocoa powder
2 tsp Vanilla extract

Instructions

-Add the frozen bananas, honey, yogurt, cocoa powder and vanilla extract into a blender/food processor.
-Blend it until creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the side of the bowl to make sure there are no lumps left.
-Transfer it to an airtight freezable container and freeze for a minimum 6-8 hours but preferably overnight. Store it in the freezer for up to 1 month.