Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Merry Christmas.....

Warm wishes to you all for a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year....



Each year Christmas is the time to be making cards and calenders, Shyane was the sole model ..and now...he's got a company..his little brother..Sergie..6 months old now.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Majboos in detail..

Wow! it really felt great to read the comments and to know that some of you still have not forgotten me....really made my day....

As to the queries from some of my fellow bloggers..esp for recipies of the previous post...well, that baking stuff are all there in the links I have given. The dough mentioned is really a quickfix type...and we just need to shape it up the way we need it out to be.



For fatayers, make a small ball of the dough, flatten it using the rolling pin, keep the filling of your choice, be it chicken, meat, veggies, cheese or labnah zatar as i have done..close over the edges and seal by pressing it with the egde of a fork...

Majboos can be prepared in two ways..or rather, this is how I do it....(learned it from my maid who was working in a Kuwaiti home previously..now that is one real advantage, of having run-away maids..we can learn arabic cooking well! )

1. Cook the whole chicken (with the skin) with sufficient water to fill it up..with spices..cinamon, cardamom, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, cumin and salt...till tender.

Then remove the chicken carefully from the stock apply ginger - garlic paste with turmeric slightly in the inner side, and rub tomato paste all over ...both ways..outside and inside..and straight to the oven to brown.

(tip : tomato paste gives a quick brown effect to the chicken)

Rice part : Take 3 cups of rice (1 cup for 2 medium stomachs!)..fry it in 2-3 tbsp of butter for a few minutes, and pour double the quanity of stock to the rice and cook till done. I usually dont take exaclty double the water..say for 3 cups of rice, i would go for 5 cups of liquid to cook it up so that they do not get overcooked. Strain the stock to keep all the spices away from the rice..but its up to you to leave it in or not.

One advantage of this means of cooking majboos is that this is perfectly oil free cooking. The fat from the chicken itself gives a good flavour to the rice...Add a pinch of turmeric and salt too to the stock while the rice is cooked to give it more colour...but again, a disadvantage for the spicy tongue..this will taste kinda bland..so, go for the next technique:

Clean the chicken well, rub it it marinade - paste formed by mixing chillie, turmeric, corriander powder, ginger garlic paste and salt on the in and out, stuff a boiled egg into the chicken for some surprise to your folks, n stitch close the bottom of the chicken with needle n thread.Leave it for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute in little cooking oil, chopped onions, ginger, garlic, and again add the masalas as above with some chicken masala if required, and fry the chicken in the oil till almost done. Transfr the chicken to the baking dish with tomato paste rubbed over it, and brown in the oven at high.

Cook rice in the gravey, but we need to add water here, but keep in mind to add sufficient water depending on the amount of rice taken.

Usmania rice is prepared as the same as above second method, but the only difference is that we use chicken pieces instead of whole chicken..and the rice is more tastier as it is cooked in the masalas.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Long time no see...a dream come true, a disater and a long due regards to all..

Hello all....

It's been long long time since I have made a post here....my blog was almost on the verge of Rest-ing in Peace..while yesterday, was a "Dream-come-true" day for me, and I cant help showing it off!

Yes..I baked my own bread!!!..yeaaahhh...!!!!..eurekaaa

For no God known reason, was I always pulled back from trying it out...but deep within was this serious desire to do it...and going on for months now...and finally yeah...!!!!! (my! I am all still excited about it. )
I know..i know... baking is not a great deal for many out there...but for me, it was a giant leap!
After many search clicks on bakes, buns n breads..in various blog sites, net.. emails n questions to couple of experienced bakers.."why do we use this kind of yeast, why not the other?..should we do like this..why not like that??? and....finally decided on this simple recipe from Arabic Bites, and bingoooo !!!

Am I not really greatful for this less timetaking procedure .... more details here.

I truly recoment this to all new starters and impatient ladies like me, who needs to get "things done now!" ..not patient enough for the dough to rise, then punch it down..then rise...then overnight..hummm.
I made no variation in the quanity mentioned in the recipie..so, it was a big ball of dough after it has risen...and the end-products were.....

....
....

.....

....

...

...

...

..

..
..
...
..

..
...
Oooh llaaa llaaaa..I am soo happy..I could do it!!! (please excuse if you feel my excitement silly..but again as I said..this was definitely a giannntt leapp for me!!!)


For the quanity taken here...you get 5 pizzas, 6 fatayers...about 15 rolls and a challah..(not neatly pleated though) all medium sized. But again, when the dough is done..what shape it takes is all up to you. You are the boss..so play around...and mess aound with it.



Fatayer (arabic word for pies)- Labnah-zatar.



Peanut butter-cinamon-jam-roll. All in one!



This is what I felt looked the most cute...looked like flower buds to me...tip of the dough after slicing for the rolls...was in truth, the leftover, but finally came out to look the best.



Making cookies for the first time was also a great accomplishment for me. Did this over the last weekend. That's homemade strawberry jam filled in some of them. Courtesy to all jams goes to Viji of VCuisine. Never knew jams are so easy to prepare unless I saw her posts. thanks Viji.

Assorted vanilla cookies. Recipie adopted from Viji again. Followed the same quantity.


Tiny cookie flowers..this is all that I have got to show...the by-product was right all gone (courtesy : hubbie-bie and junior 1) even before I got to take a snap of the small cute flowers.


Oh well..I am again going back to my yesterday session...this was one sight that I had longed for a looong loong time ... the fatayers blowing up in the oven. It was a heavenly sight for me.

And now for some what was prepared while I was at home...enjoying my 75 days maternity leave.


Chicken majboos....whole chicken cooked in water with various spicesn browned in the oven and rice cooked in the same water used to cook the chicken.


Shrimp Fajita, cooked shrimp with sauted onion and capcicum with my additonal touchings of corm and green peas.


Flower puffs, with spring roll pastry sheets..didnt come out well as you see.


Usmania....chicken here, a single pot meal...rice cooked in the same pot after preparing the curry. Arabic dish.

First trial with puff pastry sheets..had nothing to keep in as filling, so it was just leftover cabbage thoran from afternoon lunch, and hence the name...Cabbage-Thoran puff.

And a few which was taken long back...(while I was carrying, that is) but never got itself up on the blog then...

Paachoru..(sorry I forgot from whose blog I had taken the recipie ) Rice cooked in coconut milk...sorry again, I forgot the exact measurements and what else I had used.



Masala peanuts...done in MW...which you have seen in many of the blogs...



Purple (plum) jam from Viji of VCuisine

And now again...going back to my yesterday experiments...done while the dough was raising...




These white pretty lovely angelic melt-in-the-mouth sweets were my ever favourites from childhood..Meringues....happened to read some recipies which looked like.."aah, this is sooo simple to do...why not give it a try....beat egg white till fluffy, add sugar n essence ..again beat, and bake....easyyyy...was i not happy to get such a simple thing to doo....
and...
...
....
.....
......
.......
look how it turned out to be....
...
......
.......
..........
....
.....
......
......
........
Oooh My dear holy God!!! am I not the least ashamed to be showing it out in public to all the master-chefs reading this post !!!!..naaaeeehhh
aah, well anyways,....every valley has a rise n deeep falll...

later today, did i see this link here.....my! this is not as easy I thought it would be.
Aaaahhh..so much of the cookery side...
.
and now..for all those who had the patience to reach uptill here...
I am posting you the link to my orkut album where I am very much around...and my family....
so, even if this blog reaches its coffin again...you will find me in there, always live!
Thanks and cheers and warm regards,
Lots of lov,
Sona Santhosh - the kitchen scientist

Thursday, March 13, 2008

After a break, from hibernation...

Hi ladies,
.
its been a long time since i have jotted down something here, thanks to all for your regards...it really means so much to me!!
.
Had a nice time in India with parents, in laws and relatives..Shanye had a great time too...
.
Me running 6 months now.....here is a snap of me n kid taken last weekend.
.
Gave myself a new luk with hair cut shortttt. Shayne is turning 3 next month. He's begun to speak more words now, but the "fill-in-the-blanks" kind of way....with just the basics, we need to fill in the connectors.
.
Know what, he manages Sa Re Ga Ma too !!! (to repeat that is..)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Merry Christmas.....

Warm wishes to you all for a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year....



Each year Christmas is the time to be making cards and calenders, Shyane was the sole model ..and now...he's got a company..his little brother..Sergie..6 months old now.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Majboos in detail..

Wow! it really felt great to read the comments and to know that some of you still have not forgotten me....really made my day....

As to the queries from some of my fellow bloggers..esp for recipies of the previous post...well, that baking stuff are all there in the links I have given. The dough mentioned is really a quickfix type...and we just need to shape it up the way we need it out to be.



For fatayers, make a small ball of the dough, flatten it using the rolling pin, keep the filling of your choice, be it chicken, meat, veggies, cheese or labnah zatar as i have done..close over the edges and seal by pressing it with the egde of a fork...

Majboos can be prepared in two ways..or rather, this is how I do it....(learned it from my maid who was working in a Kuwaiti home previously..now that is one real advantage, of having run-away maids..we can learn arabic cooking well! )

1. Cook the whole chicken (with the skin) with sufficient water to fill it up..with spices..cinamon, cardamom, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, cumin and salt...till tender.

Then remove the chicken carefully from the stock apply ginger - garlic paste with turmeric slightly in the inner side, and rub tomato paste all over ...both ways..outside and inside..and straight to the oven to brown.

(tip : tomato paste gives a quick brown effect to the chicken)

Rice part : Take 3 cups of rice (1 cup for 2 medium stomachs!)..fry it in 2-3 tbsp of butter for a few minutes, and pour double the quanity of stock to the rice and cook till done. I usually dont take exaclty double the water..say for 3 cups of rice, i would go for 5 cups of liquid to cook it up so that they do not get overcooked. Strain the stock to keep all the spices away from the rice..but its up to you to leave it in or not.

One advantage of this means of cooking majboos is that this is perfectly oil free cooking. The fat from the chicken itself gives a good flavour to the rice...Add a pinch of turmeric and salt too to the stock while the rice is cooked to give it more colour...but again, a disadvantage for the spicy tongue..this will taste kinda bland..so, go for the next technique:

Clean the chicken well, rub it it marinade - paste formed by mixing chillie, turmeric, corriander powder, ginger garlic paste and salt on the in and out, stuff a boiled egg into the chicken for some surprise to your folks, n stitch close the bottom of the chicken with needle n thread.Leave it for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute in little cooking oil, chopped onions, ginger, garlic, and again add the masalas as above with some chicken masala if required, and fry the chicken in the oil till almost done. Transfr the chicken to the baking dish with tomato paste rubbed over it, and brown in the oven at high.

Cook rice in the gravey, but we need to add water here, but keep in mind to add sufficient water depending on the amount of rice taken.

Usmania rice is prepared as the same as above second method, but the only difference is that we use chicken pieces instead of whole chicken..and the rice is more tastier as it is cooked in the masalas.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Long time no see...a dream come true, a disater and a long due regards to all..

Hello all....

It's been long long time since I have made a post here....my blog was almost on the verge of Rest-ing in Peace..while yesterday, was a "Dream-come-true" day for me, and I cant help showing it off!

Yes..I baked my own bread!!!..yeaaahhh...!!!!..eurekaaa

For no God known reason, was I always pulled back from trying it out...but deep within was this serious desire to do it...and going on for months now...and finally yeah...!!!!! (my! I am all still excited about it. )
I know..i know... baking is not a great deal for many out there...but for me, it was a giant leap!
After many search clicks on bakes, buns n breads..in various blog sites, net.. emails n questions to couple of experienced bakers.."why do we use this kind of yeast, why not the other?..should we do like this..why not like that??? and....finally decided on this simple recipe from Arabic Bites, and bingoooo !!!

Am I not really greatful for this less timetaking procedure .... more details here.

I truly recoment this to all new starters and impatient ladies like me, who needs to get "things done now!" ..not patient enough for the dough to rise, then punch it down..then rise...then overnight..hummm.
I made no variation in the quanity mentioned in the recipie..so, it was a big ball of dough after it has risen...and the end-products were.....

....
....

.....

....

...

...

...

..

..
..
...
..

..
...
Oooh llaaa llaaaa..I am soo happy..I could do it!!! (please excuse if you feel my excitement silly..but again as I said..this was definitely a giannntt leapp for me!!!)


For the quanity taken here...you get 5 pizzas, 6 fatayers...about 15 rolls and a challah..(not neatly pleated though) all medium sized. But again, when the dough is done..what shape it takes is all up to you. You are the boss..so play around...and mess aound with it.



Fatayer (arabic word for pies)- Labnah-zatar.



Peanut butter-cinamon-jam-roll. All in one!



This is what I felt looked the most cute...looked like flower buds to me...tip of the dough after slicing for the rolls...was in truth, the leftover, but finally came out to look the best.



Making cookies for the first time was also a great accomplishment for me. Did this over the last weekend. That's homemade strawberry jam filled in some of them. Courtesy to all jams goes to Viji of VCuisine. Never knew jams are so easy to prepare unless I saw her posts. thanks Viji.

Assorted vanilla cookies. Recipie adopted from Viji again. Followed the same quantity.


Tiny cookie flowers..this is all that I have got to show...the by-product was right all gone (courtesy : hubbie-bie and junior 1) even before I got to take a snap of the small cute flowers.


Oh well..I am again going back to my yesterday session...this was one sight that I had longed for a looong loong time ... the fatayers blowing up in the oven. It was a heavenly sight for me.

And now for some what was prepared while I was at home...enjoying my 75 days maternity leave.


Chicken majboos....whole chicken cooked in water with various spicesn browned in the oven and rice cooked in the same water used to cook the chicken.


Shrimp Fajita, cooked shrimp with sauted onion and capcicum with my additonal touchings of corm and green peas.


Flower puffs, with spring roll pastry sheets..didnt come out well as you see.


Usmania....chicken here, a single pot meal...rice cooked in the same pot after preparing the curry. Arabic dish.

First trial with puff pastry sheets..had nothing to keep in as filling, so it was just leftover cabbage thoran from afternoon lunch, and hence the name...Cabbage-Thoran puff.

And a few which was taken long back...(while I was carrying, that is) but never got itself up on the blog then...

Paachoru..(sorry I forgot from whose blog I had taken the recipie ) Rice cooked in coconut milk...sorry again, I forgot the exact measurements and what else I had used.



Masala peanuts...done in MW...which you have seen in many of the blogs...



Purple (plum) jam from Viji of VCuisine

And now again...going back to my yesterday experiments...done while the dough was raising...




These white pretty lovely angelic melt-in-the-mouth sweets were my ever favourites from childhood..Meringues....happened to read some recipies which looked like.."aah, this is sooo simple to do...why not give it a try....beat egg white till fluffy, add sugar n essence ..again beat, and bake....easyyyy...was i not happy to get such a simple thing to doo....
and...
...
....
.....
......
.......
look how it turned out to be....
...
......
.......
..........
....
.....
......
......
........
Oooh My dear holy God!!! am I not the least ashamed to be showing it out in public to all the master-chefs reading this post !!!!..naaaeeehhh
aah, well anyways,....every valley has a rise n deeep falll...

later today, did i see this link here.....my! this is not as easy I thought it would be.
Aaaahhh..so much of the cookery side...
.
and now..for all those who had the patience to reach uptill here...
I am posting you the link to my orkut album where I am very much around...and my family....
so, even if this blog reaches its coffin again...you will find me in there, always live!
Thanks and cheers and warm regards,
Lots of lov,
Sona Santhosh - the kitchen scientist

Thursday, March 13, 2008

After a break, from hibernation...

Hi ladies,
.
its been a long time since i have jotted down something here, thanks to all for your regards...it really means so much to me!!
.
Had a nice time in India with parents, in laws and relatives..Shanye had a great time too...
.
Me running 6 months now.....here is a snap of me n kid taken last weekend.
.
Gave myself a new luk with hair cut shortttt. Shayne is turning 3 next month. He's begun to speak more words now, but the "fill-in-the-blanks" kind of way....with just the basics, we need to fill in the connectors.
.
Know what, he manages Sa Re Ga Ma too !!! (to repeat that is..)