Spring is finally here When we arrived in Montreal a few weeks ago it was cold and rainy. Suddenly a few days ago the weather changed. It was sunny and bright over the Mother’s Day weekend and yesterday the temperatures were around 18°C. Ice cream places were busy and hot tea and coffee was replaced by cold coffee, iced tea, fresh juices etc. A few weeks ago, leaves and buds on trees and plants still appeared tightly folded and suddenly a spurt of sunshine and they are unfolding into beauties. Ferns, pansies, daffodils appear bright as the sunshine. However, today the weather has changed back to a dull grey but plants are dancing in the slight breeze. Mother’s Day and sunshine…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIE’S REDOING OLD POSTS RECIPE: CASSAVA IN COCONUT MILK/MUHOGO WA NAZI Cassava In Coconut Milk/Muhogo Wa Nazi is a very simple but very flavourful dish from the coastal region of East Africa. Also known as muhogo, mogo, tapioca or yucca. In fact, this dish is cooked in thin coconut milk with salt, green chilli and a bit of ginger. That is all it needs. When the cassava is done, thick coconut milk or cream is added. Add a bit of lemon juice or not, this dish is usually enjoyed on its own. Sometimes it is served as a side along with meat dishes. Muhogo is cassava and nazi is coconut. In the Gujarati language tui is coconut milk so it is also called tui…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIES_REDOING OLD POSTS RECIPE: QUINOA TABBOULEH SALAD Quinoa Tabbouleh is a different version of the famous Classic Middle Eastern Salad. Bulgur wheat is replaced by protein rich quinoa which adds a lovely nutty kind of flavour to the salad. A healthy, filling, gluten free, vegan salad that is perfect served with pita bread or enjoyed on its own as a light meal. What is Tabbouleh? Also known as Tabouli, it a famous Levantine Salad made with basic ingredients like bulgur, tomato, spring onion and loads of parsley. Some add mint for extra freshness. Many also add chopped cucumber. The dressing is refreshingly simple..virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. My Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad I’ve replaced the bulgur with cooked quinoa, making this salad…
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Continue ReadingAnother Ekadashi delight It always baffles me how for an Ekadashi fasting we tend to make so much variety of food. Well, I really am not complaining as I love Ekadashi or farali food. No wonder, I find it difficult to fast on just fruits. But perhaps one day I will be able to. Perhaps I should make the farali food the previous day and have it so on the actual day temptation is not playing havoc in my mind. I recently made some pattis that Nunu use to make for Ekadashi. The filling is made from grated cucumber and fresh grated coconut. Unlikely combination but the patties is a delight to have with any chutney of your choice. Filling the potato outer…
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Continue Readingsimply delicious Cassava is known by many names like yuca, tapioca, mogo, manioc root etc. The rains at the coastal region means that the mogo as its called in kiswahili is fresh and when cooked very powdery. My kaki makes this yummy simple mogo and she really doesn’t have a name for this dish. I took the liberty of calling it Mogo chaat because that’s what it is “chatpatta”. I have not eaten this dish at anyone’s home here in Kenya or as a street food. Yes mogo cooked in coconut milk is common but not this dish. I think my kaki learnt it from Tanzania where she had lived many years ago. Slight changes have been made to the dish to make it more…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIE’S REDOING OLD POSTS #8 RECIPE : SAMO/MORIYO KHEER Samo/Moriyo Kheer is a milk based pudding made using samo/moriyo or what’s commonly called in English as Barnyard Millet. Samo/ Moriyo is one of the most widely used ‘grain’ for fasting days like Ekadashi, Navratri, Ram Navmi, Janmashtami, etc. What is Kheer? Kheer is a pudding. Its usually made using milk and rice, its like a rice pudding. However, other grains, some vegetables too are used to make kheer. Here, I’ve used barnyard millet or samo to make kheer. You may want to check out the following kheer recipes: Carrot Coconut Kheer Makhana and Dry Fruit Kheer Sabudana Kheer/ Tapioca Pearl Pudding Renu’s traditional Rice Kheer What is Samo or Moriyo? Samo, moriyo,…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIES_ REDOING OLD POSTS #10 What is the advantage of this theme? For the 10th week on Foodies_Redoing Old Posts, marble barfi got a new look.Old posts just get lost in the wide wide wide web unless they are very popular. Renu who blog’s at Cook with Renu has started a Facebook Group called Foodies_ Redoing Old Posts where every two weeks we can redo our old posts and share it on the group. What’s the advantage of doing this? Well, it gives us the opportunity to improve the write up, update photos and get comments. I’ve got so many old posts that need updating especially where the photos are concerned. This group definitely gives me the ‘push’ to prepare the dishes again for better…
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Continue ReadingOn Ekadashi Day It has been a while since I have blogged any exciting recipes specially for Ekadashi day. The usual fare is samo (moriyo) and a potato shaak (curry). I saw that raw bananas are in abundance at the market and decided to try out this recipe which I had noted down from can’t remember where but left untried for eons. As they say there is a right place and right time for everything so perhaps I was meant to try out the recipe yesterday. I am glad I did and we had a filling, yummy dinner. I don’t use raw bananas in my cooking so I was really surprised at how easily they get boiled and don’t taste bad at all. These pattis…
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Continue ReadingHappy Independence Day It is said that one will come across an Indian in any part of the world so rest assured if you ever get invited to their home, you will be served some form of Indian cuisine. Where ever they may be living, Indians do become very nostalgic about their own country India, especially during Independence day. Today while I was cooking, I got to listen to a lot of patriotic songs on our local hindi station and was really amazed at the talent India has. I know of many Indians born and brought up outside India and do not have a strong connection with India. However our story is different. My husband studied in Manipal and Mangalore, I did my secondary education…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIES_ REDOING OLD POSTS #19 What is Mogo? Usually pronounced and spelt as Mogo by most Indians from East Africa, its actually called Mhogo (pronounced as M-hogo). Mogo, cassava, tapioca or yuca, call it what you want. A root tuber which originated in Paraguay and Brazil, was brought to Africa during the slave trade era. Its a staple diet for the poor as its cheap and high in starch. Filling and cooks easily, mogo is added to stews, cooked with coconut milk, fried, boiled or roasted. Mombasa and Mogo Cassava or mogo is grown in abundance in the surrounding areas of Mombasa. A visit to the famous Mama Ngina Drive or Lighthouse as most Kenyans call it, is not complete without having some mogo…
