EVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: MAIN COURSE SALADS RECIPE: VEGGIE PASTA SALAD Veggie Pasta Salad is a warm, healthy, filling and delicious salad that can be enjoyed as a meal on its own. Loaded with veggies, one can use any vegetables of their choice. Addition of your favourite dressing or just lemon juice makes this salad a medley of flavours. What Is A Main Course Salad? Generally, a main course salad is a hearty, filling salad and usually has a protein rich ingredient added to it. It can any meat or sea food. For vegetarian version one can add tofu, paneer, beans, cheese,etc. The salad is enjoyed as a main meal, either for lunch or dinner. Bearing that in mind, I usually add paneer, tofu…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: HEALTHY IDEAS RECIPE: CURRIED CHICKPEA STUFFED SWEET POTATOES Curried Chickpea Stuffed Sweet Potatoes is a healthy, delicious, filling and easy to make healthy, gluten free meal. Enjoy it for lunch or dinner and it is a perfect hot meal for the cold season. Basically, I prepare a thick chickpea curry and stuff baked sweet potato with it and serve with some plain thick yogurt. Actually, I love sweet potatoes whether they are the whitish oriental variety or the orange flesh ones. The Oriental variety is commonly available in Kenya and India. However, sometimes they are quite small and not really ideal to stuff them. Usually, those ones I bake or boil and enjoy with some salt, chilli powder and generous…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: CHRISTMAS PASTA RECIPES RECIPE: PASTA WITH ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce is a versatile, easy to make and delicious recipe. The best part is that the roasted tomato sauce can be prepared well ahead. It stays in the fridge for a week and in the freezer for a month at least. Boil the pasta and keep it ready before the guests arrive. Just before the main meal, toss the pasta with ingredients of your choice, add the sauce and voilà a pasta dish for Christmas party is ready. I remember for one Christmas cum hubby’s birthday party, I prepared homemade ravioli from scratch. Very time consuming. However, after the party had quite a bit of the pasta leftover.…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: 30 MINUTES OR LESS RECIPE: MINESTRONE SOUP Minestrone Soup is a healthy, hearty, easy to make and comforting Italian Soup. This soup is perfect as lunch or dinner. One can add any seasonal vegetables to it along with some pasta or rice or both. Serve it with your favourite bread and some parmesan or cheddar cheese. A Wholesome Meal There’s nothing more comforting on a cold day like a bowl of some hearty wholesome soup. I love minestrone soup as it has everything in it, vegetables, pasta, beans, and cheese if you like. I usually use whatever vegetables are available in the market. Wholesome soups like Minestrone make an excellent meal. Its a good way to get kids to have vegetables.…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: HOLIDAY DINNERS THAT ARE NOT TURKEY OR HAM RECIPE: MUGHLAI EGG CURRY Mughlai Egg Curry is an aromatic, rich, creamy, delectable curry that one can proudly serve during any festival or holiday. Spices, nuts, dried fruit makes this so different from the normal onion tomato curry based versions. What is Mughlai Style Curry? Mughlai Style of cooking or cuisine as it is more popularly known as, makes use of nuts, dry fruit, a variety of spices, dairy products to prepare food. Though a variety of spices are used, the overall flavour of the mixture is aromatic, delicate and not chilli hot. Curries or sauces tend to be thick and creamy. Mughlai Cuisine and India Northern India was ruled by the Mughal…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: EXOTIC BIRYANI AND PULAO RECIPE: TURKISH BULGUR PILAF Turkish Bulgur Pilaf is a healthy, nutritious, tasty, vegan one pot meal that comes together within 30 minutes. Especially popular as a side dish or as a main meal, the main flavour is from the herbs, onion and tomato. As a matter of fact, Bulgur Pilaf is a common Middle Eastern side dish served with kebab, grilled meat. However, many families enjoy it on its own with some plain yogurt or tzatziki. What is Bulgur? Bulgur, Burghul or Bulgar is a wholegrain that contains more fiber and protein. Specifically, it is a staple in the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Cuisine. In fact, it is cracked wheat that is parboiled, dried, and…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: ROMAN OR ITALIAN RECIPES RECIPE: CACIO E PEPE Cacio E Pepe is the easiest, yummiest spaghetti dish and it hardly takes more than 20 minutes to prepare it. Just a few ingredients and a creamy, flavourful meal is ready in a matter of minutes. This pasta dish is not heavily coated with sauce. A creamy sauce just about coats the pasta. What is Cacio E Pepe? Literally when translated to English it means a cheese and pepper pasta. Yup, simple as that. This creamy pasta is very much a part of the Roman Cuisine. However, one cannot use any cheese, it has to be Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano. Why only those cheeses? Well, it is the sharp nutty flavours of…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: SANDWICHES RECIPE: FALAFEL PITA SANDWICH Falafel Pita Sandwich is a quintessential sandwich from the Middle Eastern Cuisine. Falafel along with tomato, cucumber, salad are stuffed in pita pockets and served with either hummus or tahini sauce. Though is has many components or ingredients it is quite easy to put this sandwich together. These days it is easy to find pita bread, falafel, hummus or tahini in most supermarkets. What is a Sandwich? Sandwich is a food item whereby cheese, meat, other fillings are placed between two slices of bread. Having said that, these days sandwiches don’t necessarily come between two slices of bread. One can use wraps, buns, rotis, naans, pita, basically any kind of bread. Fillings vary from vegetables, cheese,…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: MUSHROOMS RECIPE: MUSHROOM MASALA/ MUSHROOM CURRY Mushroom Masala/ Mushroom curry is an Indian style curry made with mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, spice mixture, herbs and a bit of cream or coconut milk. The flavorful, tasty and creamy curry is enjoyed with naan, paratha, roti or rice. What is a Curry? Before I lead you to the Mushroom Masala recipe, let us get one thing cleared and out of the way. Curry is a word coined during the British Rule in India. It originates from the Tamil word kari which means a sauce or relish for usually rice. Curry originates from the Indian Sub Continent. Although curry refers to both a dried or wet version of any dish prepared to enjoy with rice or…
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Continue ReadingMahamri, breakfast from the Kenyan Coastal Region Basically, mahamri is like a doughnut but it is flavoured with coconut and cardamom powder. Doughnuts are ring shaped and more sweet but Mahamri is usually triangular in shape or sometimes round. Generally mahamri is enjoyed as a breakfast item on its own with tea or coffee or with mbaazi (pronounced as mmmbaaazi). Mbaazi is soaked pigeon peas cooked in coconut milk. Though Mahamri is popular as a breakfast option, it is also served along with stews and curries as part of a main meal. We sometimes love to have mahamri with eggs in the morning. Feel a bit hungry, reach out for a mahamri as a snack. There is not enough evidence or proof as to how mahamari, mamri…
