Eggplants have always been my favourite. And luckily for me, they are used a lot in India cooking. So needless to say, there are tons of Indian eggplant recipes out there to satisfy my palate.

I learnt this dish from one of my close friends when we were both cooking to survive in a hostel. Like me she was crazy about eggplant and ate it atleast once every week. This recipe is so easy, you can’t even guess how great it tastes!

Hariyali Baingan (Eggplant in Corinader Sauce)

Ingredients:

2 cups eggplants diced into cubes
2 cups chopped coriander leaves
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped tomato
Salt, to taste
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2-3 green chilies
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds

Method:

Put coriander leaves and green chilies with a little bit of water into a mixer and grind to a paste.

Fry eggplant cubes in a little oil till brown on all sides and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin and fennel seeds. Add onions and fry till soft and slightly brown.

Add coriander-chili paste, ginger-garlic paste and tomatoes, and cook for 5-6 minutes till tomatoes start to pulp.

Add eggplant and cook for another 5-6 minutes.

Stir in lemon juice and remove from heat.

Biryani is always considered a treat for special ocassions. I’m guessing all the hardwork and not to mention time associated in making this luscious fullfiling aromatic meal has definitely got something to do with it. There are over 30 varieties of Biryani made in India - and I can confess I haven’t tasted them all!

For me, my mom has always been and always will be the Biryani Queen, for only she is fit to wear that crown. Her biryani is well known and loved among all the people we know, and that means every person each member of our family has ever invited into our humble home.

I have never really tried making it, always thinking I just don’t have that much time and patience! But today was different, very different! I came home from work more hungry for a lavish home-cooked meal than tired. And that’s when I got to work.

I knew chicken and lamb would take much longer to cook, so I opted for ground meat instead! Now, honestly, I really don’t think anyone anywhere makes meatball biryani. But I did, and you know what, it tastes just as great with half the time! I think I should be next in line to inherit the crown from Mom!

What say Ma?!

Meatball Biryani

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati rice
2 cups finely chopped onions
2 cups diced ripe tomatoes
1tsp chopped green chillies
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
salt, to taste
a pinch of saffron
7-8 black peppercorns
7-8 cloves
2-3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cumin seeds
Fresh coriander leaves for garnish
Sliced boiled eggs for garnish (optional)

For the meatballs:

1/2 kg minced meat (I used lean ground chicken, but feel free to use any kind of ground meat)
1 beaten egg
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp chopped ginger
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
salt, to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp bread crumbs

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for meatballs in a large bowl. Make mixture into bite-sized balls and fry in a little bit of oil till meatballs are brown on all sides. Set aside.

Par-boil rice and set aside. (You can use about 2-3 cups pf water to cook 2 cups of rice. Just make sure the rice is not fully cooked through, or else the Biryani will turn out mushy.)

Heat oil and add cumin seeds. Add onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies, and fry on medium-low heat till they start to brown a bit. Add cinnamon, bay leaves, pepper corns and cloves, and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes, salt, chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala and cumin powder. Continue to cook on medium heat till it begins to dry up and starts to give out oil. Add meatballs and covercook for 5-6 minutes till it forms a thick, rich and dry gravy base.

In a non-stick deep pan, put a layer of the meatball gravy, without the meatballs. Now add a layer of rice, topped with a layer of meatballs. Alternate layers of gravy, rice and meatball till everything is used up. Make sure that the top most layer is rice.

Crush a pinch of saffron into 2 tablespoons of water and mix with your finger till the water catches colour. Pour the saffron water over the top layer of rice.

Cover cook for 15 minutes on a low flame, without stirring. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and boiled eggs (optional) and serve alongside Minty Yoghurt Chutney!

The weather cooled down a lot today in the evening. It actually got cold enough for us to get out our comforter and cuddle up on the couch while watching TV! The mood was set for something that would warm you up, not just from the outside, but especially from the inside. That’s when I had this sudden craving for soup.

But not any soup! The only one that would satisfy and comfort me would me my mom’s special “Mee-hoon Soup” - a Malay spicy noodle soup!I remember having this soup on my trips to Malaysia. My grandma would always make it for us when it used to rain (which was every other day!), to keep us warm and avoid us catching a cold.I still crave for this soup on cold nights, and with the winters being horrid here, this easy to make soup is always a welcome guest!

Malaysian Spicy Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

For the Soup:

2 cups Chicken Stock/Broth
1-inch piece of ginger
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 red chilies
Fresh basil leaves
1 stalk of lemon grass

For Serving and Garnish:

Thin rice noodles or vermicelli
½ cup sliced onions
½ cup fried pieces of chicken or tofu
Freshly chopped coriander leaves
½ cup bean sprouts
1 tbsp chopped peanuts

Method:

Soak noodles in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes and set aside.

Add ginger, garlic, red chilies, basil and lemon grass to chicken stock and bring to a boil. Strain the soup and add to noodles.

Garnish with sliced onions, bean sprouts, chicken or tofu, and coriander leaves.

I spent the first seventeen years of my life in Kuwait, a small country on the Arabian gulf, in the Middle East. Unlike what many people think, Kuwait is not a only desert and no, I did not live in tents and ride on camels!

One of my best memories of living in the Arab region is the exotic food. Just thinking of the luscious kebabs, crispy falafels and yummy melt-in-your- mouth shawarma sandwiches, makes me drool. One thing I never, and I mean NEVER ate during my stay in all those years is Hummus. I never knew why, but whenever my family would relish Hummus, I always thought that something that looked so creamy would obviously taste like, well, cream of course! And needless to say, I dislike cream in the raw.

My first tryst with Hummus was here, in Canada, several years later when I decided to give it a try after my boyfriend (now husband!) looked at me with such suspicion on never eaten something that tasted so good! Well, I did give it a try, and yea, you guessed it…I loved it!

So here’s how I make this delectable dip. And served with Pita Chips, its a great conversation starter!

Hummus

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Put all the ingredients into a blender and grind into a fine paste. Garnish with fresh parsley and a few drops of olive oil.

Put on a good movie and relish with seasoned Pita Chips!

Hello lovely people and welcome to my new blog, a food journal of sorts for all things edible. Here, I will rant, I will rave, I will pull my hair out, but only because I am a perfectionist who needs her food to be just the way she likes it - quick, simple and delicious!

There’s a lot of difference between the way Mom and I come up with our creations. The taste might be very similar, but the way it’s made is not. Mom likes to cook the traditional way, even if it means spending the whole morning to make lunch. And don’t get me started on when we have one of those lavish dinner parties!

I, on the other hand, love to find the shortest and easiest routes to get to my destination! I try to make my life so much simpler by having a food processor in close proximity, instead of pounding the life out of my mortar and pestle. There are many time savers, that when put together, makes cooking a breeze. And if you’re a believer of the old and traditional ways of cooking, I’ll encourage you to try out my recipes my way, and you’ll see that they are loaded with the same flavours.

I think I began cooking when I moved into a hostel about 10 years ago. Living on your own teaches you a lot, and cooking is one of them! The first few months I survived mainly on instant noodles and the cafeteria food. Not long after, I decided that it was time I did something about it. So I called up my mom, and that was the beginning of our regular recipe exchanges over phone (did I mention it was long distance?!).

Every time we would talk, the topic of what each of us had for lunch or dinner was an unavoidable question. With that continued the saga of how it was made, and what other variations could be added to make better. It wasn’t long before I realized I enjoyed cooking, and why not, I was good at it! It was always a proud moment for me when I got a compliment on my culinary skills. And an even bigger one for Mom when they would tell her that I fall right into her footsteps.

So don on those aprons, fire up that stove and allow me to take you on a culinary journey. A journey so satisfyingly good, you’ll be surprised that you haven’t even stepped out of your home. And as every good host is always proud to declare, I say to you, Let the party begin!

Ahem… so… I decided to start my own food blog. Why? Because I spent the last two days drooling over other food blogs instead of getting any work done. And for an intern, I think it’s absolutely amazing how none of my managers have noticed me oggle over food photographs online. As yet.

So before I lose any more sleep over it, let’s give this a try shall we?