EVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #269 NAVRATRI NAVRAS RECIPE: FARALI PAPDI CHAAT What is Farali Papdi Chaat? Farali papdi chaat is an Indian Snack which is served with chutneys. Chaats are also served with basics likes boiled potatoes and chickpeas. In this case, Papdi is a small fried disc made from flour. Furthermore, toppings are added on the papdi, drizzled with chutneys and served. Usually, chaats are considered as famous street food in India. More About Farali Papdi Chaat Farali means any food that is allowed during Hindu Fasting days or month. Usually during the festival of Navratri, many follow the farali diet. This means: grains, beans, pulses, lentils not allowed refrain from onion, garlic, peas, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, eggplants, and many other vegetables no meat,…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: MEXICAN FOOD RECIPE: MEXICAN MOLLETE What is Mexican Mollete? Before we go into any other details let’s get the explanation of what is a Mexican Mollete out of the way. Basically, we all know that Mexico was colonized by the Spanish. So technically the word Mollete is Spanish word for a type of bread. However, in the Mexican Cuisine its an open faced sandwich. As we all know that the Spanish do not pronounce ‘LL’ as we do in ball. Double LL becomes Y. Therefore Mollete is pronounced as Mo – ya -te. Traditional Mexican Cuisine Authentic Mexican Cuisine followed by the Mayan Indians was healthy and nutritious as they believed in living off the land. Using naturally found ingredients…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Ram Ladoo Ram Ladoo is a famous Delhi chaat that is made of moong and chana dal pakoras, topped with chutneys and grated fresh radish. Easy to prepare, this chaat is quite unusual from the normal chaats that we are familiar with. I decided to make a healthier version of Ram Ladoo. Traditionally, the pakora or vada are deep fried. I have used a paniyaram (appe, aebleskiver pan). Also I decided to add grated beetroot and carrots along with the radish. Adding pomegranate is optional but definitely makes the chaat very colourful and appealing. Chaats And India Summer time in India equates to not only mangoes but also Chaats and loads of it. And every year several new chaats appear on the scene.…
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Continue ReadingDay 1 in South Mumbai I’ve made countless trips to Mumbai but never really got to see some of the sights of Mumbai like a tourist would. Most of our time would be spent in Juhu, Vile Parle and occasionally would reach up till Andheri West or Santacruz for shopping. Not saying that those areas are not fun or don’t have places of entertainment. They do. Our trip to South Mumbai would be to our bank in Nariman Point and back without stopping anywhere in between. During a recent trip that took us to Mumbai for a wedding, insisted that hubby and I stay in Colaba to catch some of sights of Mumbai. Before I get into what we did in Sobo as South Mumbai…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: UTTAR PRADESH CUISINE Where is Uttar Pradesh? Formerly known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, presently Uttar Pradesh is state in North India. One of the most populace states about 200 million, the capital city is Lucknow. Its north neighbors are the state of Uttarakhand and Nepal, Bihar to the east, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to the south east, Madhya Pradesh to the south and Rajasthan, Haryana and the National Capital territory Delhi to the west. Uttar literally means north so literally means north state. Mention Beneras, Ganges, Taj Mahal and almost everyone knows that these famous tourist places are in Uttar Pradesh also known as UP in short. Allahabad in UP is famous for hosting the most visited…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #222 MYSTIQUE MEDITERRANEAN What are Vegetarian Chickpea Gyros? Vegetarian Chickpea Gyros, so delicious, healthy and unbelievably easy to make at home from scratch. Usually Gyros have a meat filling. In fact, these Vegetarian Chickpea Gyros are a great alternate for vegetarians, are filling and perfect for picnics, garden parties or as a main meal any time of the day. What Are Gyros? Gyros, pronounced as ‘eeyros’ is a Greek popular street food which is like a sandwich but served on a flat pita bread. The fillings range from chicken, lamb to vegetables. For a vegetarian version, roasted vegetables, chickpeas, pulled jackfruit are used. Actually, let your imagination run riot and use any of your favorite filling. Meat or veggie is usually…
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Continue Reading11th April 2019 As sad as I felt leaving family behind, hubby and I were looking forward to our next destination. With mixed feeling we moved forward. Originally we were booked to fly out to Chiang Mai, the land of misty mountains in north Thailand. However plans changed as the pollution level in the area had reached a critical high. The AQI (air quality index) reached 230 at one point, which indicates very unhealthy air quality. It is believed that natural forest fires, intentionally set forest fires and crop burning attribute to this smog every year around Feb, March and April. We were not planning to stay on in Phuket so didn’t really look into making any plans in that area. It was back to…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Viazi Karai | Viazi Karanga Viazi Karai, Pack Potatoes or Viazi Karanga is a popular street food in Mombasa. Karai here refers to a basin or huge bowl or wok. Viazi in Kiswahili means potato. Boiled potato pieces are dipped in a batter of chickpea and plain flour, deep fried and enjoyed either with coconut chutney or tamarind chutney also known as ukwaju sauce/chutney. A Bit About Viazi Karai Come evening time and you’ll find women in the old parts of Mombasa or the slum areas sitting at their doorsteps preparing viazi karai, dal bhajia, for people to buy them as a snack before returning home after a hard day’s work. When I was teaching at Coast Academy, Mombasa, we hasd a littler…
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Continue ReadingEVENT:FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME:#172 INTERNATIONAL FEAST When it comes to choosing themes for FoodieMonday/Bloghop, the task can be a little difficult as we try to make it a bit challenging and yet feasible for all, with members living in different parts of the world and availability of ingredients. For quite sometime our themes were more or less based on Indian cooking. So to give that a rest and to make something different this week, I challenged the members to identify a country beginning with the first letter of their name and then cook a dish from that country. By this theme hoping that we’ll get a variety of different dishes from different parts of the world and hence the theme name #InternationalFeast. For me the choices were…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: BREAD BAKERS THEME : MIDDLE EASTERN BREADS RECIPE: MANAKEESH Manakeesh, Manakish, Manaeesh, Manaqish or in singular form Manousheh is the Middle East’s version of a pizza. It is usually topped with herbs, cheese or minced meat and can be served for breakfast or lunch. Very popular in Syria, Lebanon and the Arab Peninsula. Traditionally, the women would bake them in a communal oven early in the morning in time for breakfast. Manaqish is the plural word of the Arabic word manqūshah which means to crave out or sculpt. The dough is rolled into a flat shape and then pressed by fingertips to create dips in which the topping lies in. The cheese usually used for the topping is a soft white cheese called Akawi.…
