Life 'n' Such

Hasans are visiting from California. We are having a blast! Had been to Niagara, Hershey Town (btw Hershey trolley ride is a rip off!), and Washington DC(beautiful city). We all loved GeorgeTown but couldnt get off the van, guess why, major parking problem! But overall, the trip was great, the weather was pleasant during most of the trip, surprisingly for december.

We took lots of pictures, I will upload some soon.
Well, now you know, why I didnt post anything.
Have a great day!

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Ulfet’s recipe for a basic cake. Baking simple cakes is really simple, I dont understand why bakers make a big deal out of it, and scare the rest of us!

Ingredients:
Flour about 1 and 3/4 cup,
Sugar 1 cup,
3 eggs,
1/2 cup oil,
1/2 cup water
1 tspoon vanilla pdr or extract,
1 tspoon baking pdr

Mix the eggs and the sugar, add the oil and water. Whisk it. Add the vanilla and the baking pdr. And gradually add the flour. (Do not mix the batter for a long time, just couple of mins)

Bake at 350 def F. till the surface is golden brown. Bake in a bundt pan for best results. Or a baking dish size 8X10 inch.

Optional: Add about 3/4 cup of crushed walnuts, or add chopped fresh fruit(sprinkle it with flour, so it doesnt sink to the bottom).

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This recipe is given to me by my good friend Vanessa C. We used to work together, and during the breaks we used to chat sometimes, I had a very nice time, and I learnt a lot from Vanessa, not only recipes, but more. She has two very pretty daughters, Andrea and Sara.

This recipe is one of hers. Its just amazing! I had made this once when my friend Zhonghua and her husband and son Xueyu(they are from China), had come for dinner. At that time, Xueyu was having dental problems, and was having problems biting his food. But this chicken had turned out so tender he could eat it easily, and he kept asking for more

Ingredients:
2 onions sliced,
4 chicken breast cut in strips (boneless),
1 can tomato sauce,
4 oz sour cream,
salt,
pinch of sugar,
pepper,
2 garlic cloves minced,
paprika,
Flour

Mix 1-2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper with 1 cup flour in a ziplock bag. Place a few pieces of chicken in the bag, close and shake to coat.

Put chicken in heated frying pan with a little olive oil; sautee chicken and garlic and onions turning chicken to slightly brown.

Add tomato sauce to the frying pan. Add a pinch of sugar, 2 tsp paprika. Cook covered for 1/2 hour on medium-low heat until chicken is soft.

When chicken is tender, remove from the sauce, and place in a bowl. Turn heat to low and add sour cream stirring until blended. Remove from heat, Pour sauce over the chicken pieces.

Serve over egg noodles.

(It almost tastes like Butter chicken which is cooked in India/Pakistan)

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My cousins wife, Alka wahini(thats what i call her), in India makes this. Its fantastic and fast.

Ingredients:
2-3 potatoes boiled, peeled, smashed
1 onion chopped,
salt as per taste,
yoghurt about 2 cups,
Oil about 2 spoons,
mustard seeds 1/2 spoon,
1-2 green hot peppers (jalapeno kindof hot)

Mix potatoes, onion, and salt. Add yoghurt to it and mix. In a small pan, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and peppers, fry sometime. After its ready add it to the yoghurt and potato mix. Its ready to eat!

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Today all day I was thinking what I could do to make my blog more interesting, more appealing, more global! I am restless, have to ask Yasir’s help. I think all of last nite, I was dreaming about my blog too! I think my head hurts ! too many ideas, too little space !

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Yumm Yumm….perfect steaming bowl of soup for cool winter days! Leyla(in Texas now), Ulfet, and Hacer make this soup.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of rice,
1 cup yoghurt,
2 spoons all purpose flour,
1 egg,
water about 6-8 cups,
dry mint,
red hot pepper flakes (optional),
salt as per taste
2 spoons butter and oil

In a big bowl, start boiling rice in about 3 cups water. Mix the yoghurt, flour, egg and the remaining water in another bowl. When the rice is like overcooked, slowly add the yoghurt mix to the rice while stirring constantly. When the whole thing thickens a bit, taste it, it should lose the flour-y taste. Add the butter to the oil and heat it in a small pan, add the mint (and red pepper). Let it crackle for a few seconds, and add it to the soup carefully (it might splatter if done incorrectly). Thats it, mix and serve.

I think, it will make about 6-8 bowls of soup.

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Extremely easy and delicious and quick, (haa.. for me food should not only be delicious but easy to make too!).
This recipe is from Sabeha bhabi( from Pakistan), she makes excellent tandoori chicken, this recipe is a little bit different, and it turns out great every time.

Ingredients:
Chicken 10-12 pieces,
1 tsp salt,
1 tsp red chilli pdr,
1 tsp black pepper pdr,
2-3 tsp tomato ketchup,
2-3 tsp soya sauce,
1-2 sp lemon juice,
1 1/2 heaped tsp ginger garlic paste
1-2 tbsp oil

Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl, Cut slits in the chicken, and apply the marinade to the chicken. Marinate atleast 30mins -3 hrs, and bake at 400-450 deg F. for about 40 mins.

Garnish with lemons, and onion rings.

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Yasir is very excited today, cos his comment on Zopa got mentioned in Zopa’s blog. How cool. Check out Zopa, this is what I understand; it is especially for people who 1) have a little saving 2) would like to see it grow 3) interested in lower(but comfortable to both parties involved) interest rates than Banks give 4) are not risk takers like business men 5) and last but not the least, help others in a small but a significant way. I lost faith in the Bank system (they always have some catch and its always mentioned in the fine print! ) and so I whole heartedly approve Zopa and the others if out there somewhere on this WWW.

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This is my favorite recipe for making potato salad. My friend, Ulfet from Turkey makes this for me always. It is very healthy and actually can pass off as a snack.

Ingredients:

5-6 medium Potatoes (boiled, peeled, and cubed),
Chopped Parsley or dried parsley few tbsps,
Mint dried,
1 Onion chopped,
Carrot (grated, optional)
Lettuce( chopped, optional)
1/2 tsp Cumin pdr,
Red pepper as much as you want,
salt as per taste,
1 tsp or more black pepper pdr,
Lemon juice about 1 tbsp or as per taste,
Vegetable oil or Canola enough to drizzle over the other ingredients (Try not to use olive oil in this salad, because of the strong smell)

Mix all the above ingredients in a big salad bowl, about half an hour before eating. Done!

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I saw this on Rachael Ray’s ’30 minute meals’ show. Its really as easy as it seems on tv, and its perfect everytime!

Ingredients:
1 can condensed milk,
1-12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips (i always use the Nestle brand),
9 oz (3/4 pack) butterscotch chips (again Nestle brand),
1 spoon vanilla essence,
lots of walnuts/pecans, raisins(optional).

Start with condensed milk in a pan, let it heat up, add the vanilla, mix and then add the chocolate and butterscotch chips. Mix fast, after the chocolate and butterscotch chips have melted almost more than half way, add the nuts. Keep mixing, till all the nuts are coated with the chocolate mixture.

Pour in a greased pan. Set for half an hour in the refrigerator and its ready to eat!

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