Thanks Fauzia for the amazing Hareesa brunch last week. We went into an Hareesa coma after we got home. And oh the smoothie she made… we were thinking about it all week!

We went out and got a new blender, as our old one croaked a couple months back, and we were just too lazy to get a new one. This smoothie, got our tushes off the couch, and we went shopping, came back with a new blender, and as the title says, lots of fruits (fresh, frozen, canned)

And guess what there is no right or wrong way to do this. You make it however you like. Use all the ingredients listed below, or a few…

So here is Fauzia’s recipe.

Ingredients:

Dole Tropical mixed fruit can,
Dole Pineapple chunks in pineapple juice can,
Cranberry juice,
Mango pulp,
Mixed frozen fruit (mangoes, peaches, grapes, strawberries, etc)
Frozen blueberries (I used a mixed bag of berries; but using only blue berries will make the color darker, and taste sweeter too)

Method:

Put about 1/2 cup each (approximately) of all of the above ingredients in the blender, and blend away. Customize to your preference.

Nice, huh?

In India, street vendors, sell juice, and this smoothie reminded me of the Cocktail juice they make. Dark purply, thick consistency. I actually took a picture of this before we guzzled it all down.

Easiest, quickest, minimum ingredients, extremely delicious, healthy way to eat potatoes….. okay are these not enough reasons for you to try this once at least!

This recipe is by Mumtaaz Aunty (Yasir’s aunt; who is super talented, cooks, bakes, sews, looks gorgeous, hey….almost like this recipe… strictly talking in food language that is :D ) Hi Aunty, miss you all….

Okay back to the recipe. This is made, and I am not exaggerating when I say, in probably every house in India!

I cannot believe everyone I know forgot to give me this recipe, when I started learning to cook!!

Enough talk talk… here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Whole cumin (‘jeera’) about 1 tsp
3 medium size potatoes, washed, leave skin on, diced
couple tbsp oil for cooking
salt, black pepper, red chilli (‘mirchi’) powder as per taste

Method:

First heat the oil, in a shallow pan. Put the cumin in it, after it sizzles, add the chopped potatoes. Mix and then sprinkle the salt and chilli powder. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, till the potatoes are tender.

Done! Hey…that’s it…what do you think? Is it not exactly as I mentioned?

Do you like mango? Do you like pineapple? Then you are in for a real treat, go right now to your nearest Orange Julius (even if its snowing crazy like its here, where I am). Order the light Tropical Sunlight Smoothie. It has only 250 calories! How sweet is that?

It is made of mango, pineapple, fruit juices, non-fat milk, and Splenda! And its large enough to be shared. So what are you still doing here reading my post…go go..

Forgot to mention; it $4 and some change, but totally worth it!

I am not sure, if this is the exact recipe for Waldorf salad, but I made this salad sandwich (you know when I made the mayo; that day). It is so delicious, and so flexible. You can use whatever you have at your disposal. The end result is going to be great.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, roasted, cut in bite size pieces
1 small apple, diced,
handful of grapes, cut in half,
dry cranberries, handful,
celery sticks, chopped handful,
walnuts, chopped, 3 tbsp
celery, chopped, handful
mayonnaise, as much as required,
salt as per taste
Method :

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl. Spread a little mayonnaise on the bread slices, put the filling, and press down the other slice on top.

Enjoy, as your lunch or afternoon snack.

I ran out of the Mayonnaise (store bought) yesterday. And our drive way was covered with snow, so I thought, why not make it at home. One word for making mayonnaise, rather two… Patience, and care*!

I needed it to make a Ina Garten’s Chicken Salad recipe (Do you watch Barefoot Contessa on FOOD NETWORK, its one of my favorite shows – She is pretty awesome)

Anyhow, here is the recipe, I made after looking at lots (I am lazy, I mean a couple :D ..hey..I am allowed to exaggerate at times) of recipes on Google.

The basic science is to make an emulsion, with egg yolk as the emulsifying agent (like in a cake, it mixes the oil and the water)
Ingredients:

1 medium size Egg yolk
1/2 lemon juice,
3/4 cup canola oil ( I read on some websites, you could use light olive oil, or almond or walnut oil for more flavor)
salt for seasoning

Method:

In a small food processor, put the egg yolk and the lemon juice, and pulse a few times. After a minute or so, add a few drops of oil. (If you have a oil dispenser, it will work best, as it can control the flow of the oil). Start the food processor, and let it go for a minute or 2. Then repeat the oil step again (few drops at a time, gradually increase to tablespoons). After about 5-6 minutes, you will see the mix thickening. This is it.

If its too thick, add a couple tsp of water, if too thin, then you got it wrong. But dont discard, add another yolk, and start the process again. (You will need more oil, and maybe more lemon juice).

That’s it. A dash of salt, and its done. You can store this for upto 5-6 days. Use it for sandwiches, salads, etc etc
I have taken a picture of this. I will upload it soon :D
Note: ( I tried to whisk it first, but it takes a loooooooooong (no exaggeration here) time, so I switched to a food proc.)
* Handle raw eggs very carefully. It may lead to salmonella etc.

Hey, its February already and its my big bro’s birthday, and Nurhan’s bday. Hi guys…Miss you..And Happy birthday to you guys!
The white part of a boiled egg I can tolerate, but not the yellow. But this recipe by my brother for Boiled egg sandwich is so yummy, I love it.

Here it goes:

Ingredients For 1 sandwich:

1 boiled egg, sliced
salt, black pepper, butter, any jam (orange, apricot would be my choice)
2 whole grain bread slices

Method:

Butter the bread slices, on side put jam, lay the sliced egg over it, sprinkle salt and pepper. Then put it in a sandwich maker, and toast till its golden. Done!

I know it kind of sounds weird, but trust me…its excellent!!!!!!!!! Try it, you wont regret it!
Note: If you dont have a sandwich maker, and you have George foreman grill, use that. Same effect, but you wont the diagonal cut.

Kylie, is Yasir’s colleague’s young daughter, and she had asked for some Indian bread recipe, so Yasir emailed her the link to making Puris/parathas from my blog.

She made puris, and I am super impressed!! They took a picture, I will post it, they look perfect!

So, I remembered the short cut I used to take to make puris, when I started cooking. I dont know who had given me this tip, but it was great! Pillsbury biscuit dough, available in almost all grocery stores here in US, can be used to making a different variety of Puris made in India, they are called Bhature (eaten usually with Chole).

Ingredients:

Pillsbury biscuit dough,
oil for frying,
all purpose flour for dipping
Method:

Divide the biscuit dough in half, and roll them in your palms, and then flatten them into discs. Dip in a little all purpose flour, and then roll out little circles with a rolling pin. Fry as per the instructions listed in the Puri recipe.

Puri recipe: http://www.lifensuch.com/puris.htm

Chole recipe: http://www.lifensuch.com/chole-chick-peas-cooked-in-indian-spices-super-simple-recipe.htm

Here guys, another recipe (an easy and quick one) for making Hareesa. My dear friend Summaiya (now in Hyderabad), emailed me this recipe. She and husband, Aamir while they were in Cleveland, Ohio, had invited us for brunch and made this. We ate so much, we were stuffed and couldnt move.
We tried the recipe, and guess what…it turned out really really good!

Without further delay, here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Goat meat (or lamb) 2 lb
3 cloves of garlic (paste)
2 onions (chopped in big chunks)
5 peppercorn (kali mirch whole)
1 and a half teaspoonful fennel seeds (saunf)
4 cloves (laung)
1 inch stick cinnamon (daalchini)
4 brown (big) cardamom (badi elaichi)
8-9 green cardamoms (choti elaichi)
1 teaspoonful black cumin (I had regular cumin, I used that) (jeera)
1 teaspoonful turmeric (haldi)
Salt to taste
¼ cup wheat flour ( *** I used 1 wheat pita, tore it up in small pieces, and then microwaved it with water for 2 minutes, and 1/2 cup regular oats and cooked it as per the instructions on the box using the meat broth instead of water)
Oil (for frying onions; we use Canola Oil, because of less saturated fat, and more Omega-3 in it)
Spanish Onions (I used the ready made fried onions, but the recipe calls onions specially found in Kashmir, or in US use Spanish onions)

Method:

Add all the ingredients in the list except the last two; that is the wheat flour and oil in a pressure cooker, and fill with water, until everything is soaked in it. Cook on Medium high heat, and turn down the heat to simmer after 2 whistles. Let it simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. Turn off the heat and leave it like that till all the pressure is released.

When cooled, remove the bones off the meat, and all the cardamoms, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and cloves. Separate the broth from the pieces.

Using a Food Processor preferably (or a blender, if you do not have a Food Pro), grind the mixture coarsely, using broth as needed.(I have a 7 cup Food Pro, I did half of the meat at a time).

If using wheat flour add it to a cup of the meat broth and boil it. Grind this with the meat mixture. (I did not use wheat flour, I was being lazy, instead I used oats and wheat pita ***).

Now put all the meat mixture, in a cooking pot (preferably non-stick, so you do not have to stir constantly). Cook it on medium high heat, stirring every 5 minutes (if needed add the meat broth to this) until you get the desired consistency. We cooked for about 45 minutes.

While serving (for the whole hareesa), heat about 1 1/2 cup oil (we used canola oil), fry the onions till they are crunchy golden brown, and mix this in the meat mixture, along with all the oil. :) (Since I used the store bought fried onions, I needed to just fry only for a minute to get them hot)

Serve with naan (Indian tandoori bread, found at Indian restaurants) or just plain pita bread. In Kashmir, they serve Sheesh kebabs with this, and at the end, they have Noon chai.

Usually this is made in winter, and had as brunch.

Enjoy. And if you try this, let me know how it turns out for you (also, if you made your own substitutions).

P.S. Thanks Summaiya for this recipe. I have been thinking of Hareesa for a month. Also, lots of Kisses to baby Suleiman.

I hate the smell of egg these days. So, I remembered my Mother-in-laws burji; she makes it with garlic and spices. It is so good. I made it a couple days back, I made some extra, because I had run of out fried onions, and since I was going to stand in the kitchen and fry chopped onions anyway, I made a bit extra. In Kashmir, we would have this burji with Whole wheat parathas. Yumm Yumm. I wish I was there now.
Ingredients:

Eggs 4 medium sized
2 onions (medium or large size)
2 tomatoes (large size); if you want to use tomato paste instead, about 1 1/2 tsp
1 tsp garlic paste,
salt, 2 tsp red chilli powder, sprinkle of black pepper, 1/2 tsp garam masala or corriander (dhania) powder (1/2 tsp),
oil for cooking

Method:

Start by frying onions, until translucent. Then add chopped tomatoes to it, and cook till oil seperates out. Add the garlic and spices, and a little salt. Fry for a minute, and add beaten eggs to this, and cook this on sim or low flame, until the eggs are fully cooked. Ta-da Done.

I could eat this for breakfast or lunch. Anytime it would be just great!

Note: If you want to make it more presentable, add fresh chopped cilantro, and green hot peppers towards the end.

Do you eat only vegetarian when you are out, then you know in western countries like US, its really hard to find vegetarian dishes on the menu!

Yesterday I bumped on this really delicious vegetarian sandwich at our Bruegger’s bagels bakery. I, if you know anything about me by now, am a very very picky person, so when it comes to ordering food, it is the same way. I am sure I drive the person taking my order crazy!
But anyhow! The point is, I ordered the most delicious and satisfying sandwich ever and that too with no animal product in it!! Yeah…. victory atlast!

Okay, here is what happened at the bakery.

I wanted to order the Leonardo Da veggie (Light herb garlic cream cheese, roasted red peppers, muenster cheese, lettuce, tomato & red onion) from their menu, which is on asigo softwich.

But they had run out of asiago softwich, I have never eaten this kind of bread before, and hence was wanting to try it. So they suggested the asiago bagel. I was in no mood for eating a bagel at 3 in the afternoon, so I asked for different bread. They had plain ol’ white bread and wheat bread. So I picked wheat.

Then, I didnt want the garlic cream cheese, so I asked for hot jalapeno cream cheese. Then I wanted to eat it hot, so they suggested they would Panini it for me. For that they had to leave the lettuce out.

But boy oh boy, did this turn out great!!!!!!! The Bruegger guys should pay me for inventing this sandwich combination, and name it in my honor, ok I know I am kind of getting carried away.

So please give this a try, when you want to eat out, definitely try the Leonarda Da Veggie my style! (or the way they have it sounds great too)
To find a Brueggers near you, click here: http://www.brueggers.com/