food

Aate Ka Halwa / Wholemeal Flour Halwa

~ Huma ~ 1 Comment
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Aate Ka Halwa/ wholemeal flour halwa is Indian winter  dessert loaded with nuts.

Aate Ka Halwa/ wholemeal flour halwa

The horn of the milkman in the early morning was the call to get up and take the freshly squeezed cow milk. Our milkman patel kaka supplied the best cow milk. No mixing of water just pure milk. Once the milk was boiled, cooled and rested in fridge for few hours, it would form a  half inch coat of balai aka cream. Balai would be removed and stored in a separate container. This process would continue for fifteen days to make ghee or sometime butter for cakes. Mostly ammi used to tell me to make ghee. The remaining brown crumbs after straining ghee were also kept. Ammi used to add it to different kinds of halwa. Specially aate ka halwa or a mix of sooji aur aate ka halwa.  Continue reading →

II Edition of Ramadan An Event to Share – Chapter 17

~ Huma ~ 2 Comments
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Bidding farewell to Ramadan with special post from lands of God’s own country – Kerala, today we have Sherien from Sherienscookbook with a special Malabari recipe. Lets check over what she has to say.
This is my first guest post for Huma Kalim and extremely honoured to share my Ramadan experiences with her. As everyone know Huma Kalim is extremely talented and many of her recipes are out of the world. Here I am sharing my Ramadan experience and a simple recipe that everyone can try during Ramadan.  Let me introduce myself. I am Sherien Mohamed Ramzan, owner of the blog www.sherienscookbook.co. I live in Kerala (a small state in India) popularly known as ‘God’s own country’
In Kerala, the month of Ramadan is welcomed with so much fervor and faith. During this auspicious month, Muslim community offers sincere prayers with long hours of fasting dedicated to the Almighty as common in any other place. Also gatherings of women for prayers at convenient place and Ifthar gatherings are common. Now we have come to the last ten days of Ramdan.
  The last ten days of Ramadan is considered to be auspicious and very important in the life of Muslims. These are the most blessed days in the blessed month of Ramadan, For Muslims, the last ten days is the time for giving charity, settling disputes and forgiving each other.It is also the time for evaluation of one’s life, and asking forgiveness to the Almighty and time for drawing more closer to the Almighty. Let Allah forgive all our sins…
A little bit about the Ramadan cuisine of Kerala…..the cuisine is completely different during this month predominated by the dishes from North Kerala that includes semolina, plantains, poultry and eggs. With these ingredients umpteen varieties of recipes are available. As a food blogger, I would like to introduce to some of the dishes made in my house during Ramadan. The simplest and most preferred in the place where I live is rice porridge (Nombu kanji) that is prepared different spices and herbs.  Tapioca and fish curry ,Sweet semolina porridge , biriyanis, ghee rice with non-vegetarian side dishes, mutton samosas are also common.
Here I am sharing the recipe of Super quick low fat mutton pulao that is a real good treat during Ramadan…..


Recipe for Super Quick Mutton Pulao


Ingredients required
Mutton – ¾ kg(cut into big pieces with bones)
Basmathi rice/Kaima rice/Jeerakasala rice / Bangladeshi biriyani rice – ½ kg
Onion  – 5 medium sized(sliced)+ 1 (sliced for frying)
Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp
Tomato – 2 no.s (chopped)
Garlic paste – 3 tbsp
Ginger paste – 3 tbsp
Green chillies – 5-6 no.s
Garam masala – 1 tbsp
Salt –  As per requirement
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder – ½ tsp
Poppy seeds – 2 tbsp (soaked)
Coriander leaves – ¼ cup(chopped)
Mint leaves – ¼ cup (chopped)
Raisins and cashewnuts – Handful
Method of Preparation
Grind poppy seeds to a paste.
In a pressure cooker add mutton,onion ,green chillies, tomatoes,garlic paste,ginger paste ,Garam masala, Salt, turmeric powder and kashmiri chilli powder, poppy seed paste and coriander leaves and mint leaves. Add ¼ cup water.Cook for 4-5 whistles or till meat is tender.  
Cook rice separately by adding 1 tbsp oil and double the quantity of water in a pot by closing with a lid.
Add cooked mutton mix to the rice and mix well and let it cook in low flame for 10 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t get burned. Saute onion in remaining oil till brown and saute raisins and cashewnuts . Add it to pulao.The super-quick low fat mutton pulao is ready to be served.

To know more about Sherien visit her @ blog, facebook
 

II Edition of Ramadan An Event to Share – Chapter 16

~ Huma ~ 2 Comments
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Welcome to second last post of this event. Yesterday was the  last friday of Ramadan known as Juma tul Vidah. Its kind farewell to Ramadan signalling that eid is just about to come.Now all the muslim households will be gearing up for the eid celebration. And when there is celebration Biryani is the first dish that comes up before setting the menu. Our todays guest Razina from RaaZzzfoodlove is sharing with us Biryani from Awadh. Lets see what she has to say about Ramadan & Eid. Over to you Razina.

First of all Eid wishes to all the readers of this page. I’m Razina who blogs at RaaaZzzfoodlove, living in Bangalore with my family. When Huma requested me for a guest post on the occassion of Ramadan/Eid festiviites, there was no way that I could have said no. I immediately agreed for it, and zeroed in for an Eid recipe. Eid in our part of the world is synonymous with new dress, henna, morning Eid Prayer, zakat or mandatory charity, giving eid greetings to our relatives and friends, loads of sweets and exotic spicy dishes all prepared at home to mark the end of month long fasting. 


The Eid dish that I have brought in for the readers is Awadhi Gosht Biryani or Lucknowi Mutton Biryani. This biryani is a kind of pakki biryani and includes 3 steps, the first being making of the yakhni, second the cooking of the rice and finally the assembly and dum. Look below for the detailed recipe…..



Ingredients:

For preparation of gravy

Mutton – 750 gms

Onions – 2 large, finely sliced

Green cardamom – 5

Cloves – 5

Bay leaves – 2

Cinnamon stick – 1″

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp

Red chilli powder – 2 tsp

Green chillies – 5-6, chopped into chunks

Yoghurt – 200 gms

Salt – to taste

Oil – 1/2 cup

Ghee – 1 tsp

For Preparation of rice

Rice – 1/2 kg basmati, washed and soaked for 30 minutes

Cloves – 3

Salt – 4 tsp, adjust it on slightly higher side

Oil – 2 tbsp

Vinegar – few drops

Saffron – few strands, mixed with 2 tbsp of milk

Coriander leaves – for garnishing

Method:

In a pressure cooker, heat oil and ghee and fry the onions till golden brown. Remove and keep aside

In the same oil, add the whole spices and let it crackle

Now add the mutton pieces and fry on high flame for few minutes

Add salt and ginger garlic paste and fry for 3 minutes or till the raw smell fades away

Add 3/4th of the fried and crushed onions, red chilli powder, green chillies and yoghurt and cook till oil separates

Add just enough water and pressure cook till mutton is done and no water is left. If any water is left just cook on high flame till it dries up

In a separate pot, takes lots of water and bring it to a boil

Add cloves and salt

Add rice and once it starts boiling, add oil and vinegar.Stir

Once the rice is 90% done, switch off the flame and strain the rice

Now take a pot and grease it with oil/ghee

Layer it with rice and mutton. Repeat the process till all the rice and mutton is used up

Drizzle ghee and milk infused with saffron on top. 

Garnish with brown onions and coriander leaves, cover the lid and place any heavy item on it and simmer for 20 minutes

Yummy biryani is ready!!!

Notes: 

You can add few drops of kewra or rose water at the end, I personally don’t like it so I have not used it

You can use dough to seal the pot while giving dum, I just keep some heavy utensil over it for making my work easy

To give the recipe more authentic touch you can cook the mutton on slow cooker method, it may take an hour or so. I generally pressure cook to speed up the process

Hope you liked it as much as I did, thanks for giving me this opportunity and have a blessed Eid!!!


To know more about Razina visit her @ blog, facebook