Peanut Butter Swirl Brownie

Love is all around. You just need to open your eyes and your minds to figure it. Universities and political parties boycotting Valentines Day has become the norm of this month year after year in India - just because how misunderstood the whole concept has become. Your perfect Valentine is just about anyone you Love and want to share your time with. Then again - you could have so many valentines too. Love is not limited to this time of the year. It is just a reminder that Love exists in this day of hatred and unrest. And if life turmoils have made you fail in expressing love, this is the day to re-kindle it. Call up your loved ones - express your gratitude and love because you are blessed as can be. To love and to be loved is the greatest gift mankind ever has.

'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.'

The above quote from the Bible sums it all up.

My list of Valentines continue to keep growing from a family I am blessed to have to all my friends who have been there for me - I love you all:)

Happy Valentines Day!

To make the day even more special, I have a dessert for you. Because Chocolate somehow seems to be synonymous with love, here is the recipe for Peanut Butter Swirl Brownie.

Ingredients

1. All Purpose Flour – ½ cup
2. Cocoa Powder – ½ cup
3. Vegetable Oil – ½ cup
4. Brown Sugar – 2/3 cup packed
5. Egg – 2 no.s
6. Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
7. Salt – 1 pinch
8. Chocolate chips – 2 to 3 tbsp
9. Peanut Butter – 3 tbsp

Method

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15 minutes and grease an 8 inch pan
• Sieve together the dry ingredients
• Pour oil into a bowl and beat in the sugar
• Whisk in the eggs along with vanilla essence
• Add the dry ingredients and fold in well. Tip in the chocolate chips and fold into the batter.
• Transfer this to the baking pan.
• Microwave the peanut butter for 30 seconds and drop in diagonally in dots. Using a tooth pick/skewer/fork, draw along the peanut butter creating swirl like patterns
• Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 20 to 25 minutes

Apple French Toast

This Christmas season has been a busy one. Lots of baking , mall hopping to see the Christmas decor, karaoke singing of Christmas carols to watching Christmas movies - we have done it all. With my sister in town to celebrate Christmas with us we have had quite a spike in our December activities.So while I sit down to relax before beginning the Christmas eve preparations, thought of sharing a quick recipe for your Christmas breakfast table.

Apple french toast is simply the addition of Green apples to your normal french toast and getting it baked. Scroll below to the recipe!!

Meanwhile, Have a holly jolly Christmas this year!!

A Joyous Christmas to all!

Ingredients

1. Green Apple – 1 big finely sliced
2. Butter – 2 to 3 tbsp
3. White bread – 10 pieces
4. Milk – 400 ml
5. Egg – 2 large
6. Sugar – 2 to 3 tbsp
7. Salt – ¼ tsp
8. Cinnamon  powder – ¼ tsp

Method

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15 minutes
• Heat butter in a pan. Layer apples in the pan and cook until tender.
• Cut the bread into smaller pieces.
• Break open the eggs into a bowl. Whisk well and add milk, sugar, cinnamon powder and salt. Combine well.
• Layer the bottom of a baking pan with the cooked apple.
• Dip the bread pieces in the egg mix and layer this on top of the apples. Alternatively, layer the top with bread slices and pour the egg mix  on the top till the bread is soaked in the milk.
• Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 30 minutes to 40 minutes or until done.

Cranberry Cobbler Dump Cake

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, 

and behold, 

everything is softer and more beautiful. 

                        

                                     -Norman Vincent Peale

Dump it all together - there you have a dessert on your table!

Cranberry sauce, topped with cake mix and butter drizzled on top - that is the name of the dish deconstructed for you!

This is my first guest post and I am happy I got to do it with thebigsweettooth . Rafeeda of The Big Sweet Tooth is one of first bloggers I got introduced to through blogging. Her blog is a repository of recipes - a go to website for all your recipe needs. I am so glad I could add to her repository. Head over to her blog to check out my recipe for Cranberry Cobbler Dump Cake.

Whole Wheat Honey Oats Bread

Shibin's office shifted about a year back. Earlier, he had to invariably walk through a supermarket twice a day. ( shortcut, instead of having to walk two more blocks and go all the way around the building). Twice a day includes one crawling and the other running - crawling to the office ( everyone crawls in the morning especially during the beginning of the week) and running out of it in the evenings (It is my belief that he ran to meet me :P).

In the process, it is hard to ignore those items that stare at you from the shelves beckoning you to pick them or those that scream out offers  or the ones that flatter you with the lighting .  So atleast once a week, he came home with a treat to my delight. I am still a kid at heart, such treats fascinate me .

Anyways with the shifting of his office to a core business area , there were no more supermarkets to pass through and there went my treats. He comes home empty handed these days!

If you are wondering why I chose to tell this story today, I will not hold you on for long. I have precisely two reasons .

First reason is that, today is Thursday and beginning of the weekend. He is going to be the first person to read my blog !! ( Shibin - this post is a shout out to you that I still love these treats :P)

The second reason is that, it is because of his treats from the supermarket that I tasted honey oats bread for the first time. And ever since then, we have been wanting to make it. We finally did and a whole wheat one too:)

There you go -

Adapted from Bakingdom

Ingredients

1. Wheat flour - 2 and 1/2 cup
2. Oats - 1 cup
3. Warm Milk - 1  cup
4. Honey - 1/2 cup
5. Egg - 1
6. Olive oil - 3 tbsp
7. Instant yeast - 2 tsp
8. Luke warm water - 1/4 cup
9. Salt - 1/4 tsp

Method

• Break open the egg and whisk it well.
• To this, add olive oil, milk and honey. Stir well to combine.  ( Keep aside 2 tbsp of honey)
• Mix together the flour, yeast, oats and salt. ( Keep aside 2 tbsp of oats)
• Add this in batches to the wet ingredients until well combined.
• Either using a dough hook or hands bring together the dough. If it is too sticky, add 1 tbsp of flour at a time and knead for 5 minutes.
• Let the dough rest in an oiled and well covered bowl for 2 hours.
• Knead again, dust the work surface with a little flour while doing this in order to prevent this from sticking.
• Shape it up into a rectangle, roll it over and place in a loaf pan ( 9 inch). Cover and allow it to raise again for an hour.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 180 degree centigrade. Keep a pan filled with water at the bottom rack for steaming.
• Once the dough has doubled, brush the top with honey and sprinkle oats.
• Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 50 minutes to an hour.
• Remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
• Slice and serve with butter or an extra dose of honey.

Cantucci ( Prato Biscuits)| Italian Almond Cookies

I have already written two parts of our Italy travel ( if you have missed it, you can always find it here). After every travel, as a tradition we publish a recipe from that region. So before moving onto the third segment of our travelogue, we have for you a dish that we learnt as a part of cooking class in Tuscany.

Cantucci is a type of biscuit that is double baked to get the crunchy exterior. However you could also choose to have the softer version by avoiding the second bake and that is totally up to you. It is commonly a dinner dessert in Italy paired with wine. For us, it simply formed our tea time snacks. The recipe isn't all that time consuming and can be whipped up in under an hour or may be even lesser. I have to admit the end product was simply hard to take hands off from - you just end up going back for more.

Here is the recipe for you.
Recipe courtesy - Elizabetta, La Guida Farm House, Sinalunga, Italy

Ingredients

1. All purpose flour - 500 gm
2. Sugar - 200 gm ( +50 gm for more sweetness)
3. Butter - 150 gm 
4. Whole almonds - 200 gm
5. Egg - 3 no.s + 1 egg yolk
6. Baking powder - 1 tsp
7. Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
8. Salt - 1 pinch

Method

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15 minutes.
• Melt the butter. Whisk well 3 eggs and combine this with butter and sugar. 
• Sieve together the dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon powder.
• Combine this with the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, combine the batter well.
• Add the whole almonds and incorporate it well into the batter.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper, divide the dough into three equal parts and place them on the tray. Mold them into cylindrical shape using your hands. Ensure that there is enough space between the three cylinders that you make since it tends to rise and spread a little on baking. It may join together if there is not enough space( like mine did because I left it a little too close.) Since whole almonds have been added, you may have a few sticking out, gently insert them into the surface.
• Brush well the outer surface with egg yolk.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Take it out of the oven and let it cool. Slice them once it has cooled down. You can have it two ways - as is or let it bake for another 5 minutes after it has been sliced to get a crunchy and a bit more harder texture.
• Traditionally in Italy, the Cantucci is dipped in vine and had as a dessert. Well, you can totally have yours with coffee/ tea too:)

You may also note - 

• Ensure all the components are at room temperature.
• Be wise with your oven temperature - may have slight variations depending on the type of oven that you use.
• Also, use medium sized eggs. Larger eggs make the batter a bit runny and would not hold cylindrical shape.

Chocolate Cherry Pudding

There are days when my mind wanders to my home country and my desire to go back there gets stronger. I am sure these thoughts resonate with atleast a few of the expats. Sometimes I busy myself with some work to shut away these thoughts and other days I whine and whine. After some whining, I turn to my laptop to cheer me up. The one show that makes all the worry lines cease to exist is FRIENDS. I just can't have enough of it. I have watched season by season and now go on to youtube to catch some scenes from it. All the characters have become so etched in me that I feel they live around me. Like any other Friends fan, I would love to see that Reunion happening till then I can continue to watch it in a loop. 

Cooking does cheer me up but imagine cooking and watching Friends at the same time :P I do it often these days.( I hate it when I have to turn on the blender, the noise is such a distraction:P) From Monica's jam to Ross' Fajita , Rachel's English Truffle to Joey's sandwich, Phoebe's chocolate chip cookies to Chandler's cheesecake - food becomes an integral part of Friends. Those who have watched Friends can sure co-relate.  Cooking these days is more fun that it used to be ( Hope my Dad doesn't read this - he was very particular that we do one task at a time and not multi task but I can't just help it!)

Over to my recipe, a rarity on my blog - a dessert. I have adapted the recipe from Spinneys magazine - when I read this recipe two months back I knew I simply had to do it. I went hunting for cherries and came back empty handed - Cherries were available nowhere. The recipe lay forgotten until few days back when I saw cherries at a local supermarket - then I knew I had to make this desert. And I am quite pleased with the result:)

There you are - 

Ingredients

1. Butter - 150 gm
2. Semi sweet chocolate - 200 gm
3. Powdered sugar - ½ cup
4. All purpose flour - ¼ cup
5. Cherry - 150 to 200 gm
6. Egg - 2 no.s

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200 degree centigrade.
• Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl placed on top of simmering water. Mix using a spatula and combine well. Let it cool.
• Beat the egg and fold in the powdered sugar and flour.
• Add the chocolate mix to this along with pitted cherries.
• Transfer the mixture into a baking tray and let it bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Serve it warm along with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Pineapple Chiffon Cake with Spiced Pineapples

Happy Easter !!

I did want this post to be done a couple of days early but Easter seems a good enough reason for this cake recipe to go through. I completed two years of blogging this month and if someone told me two years back that this would happen, I would never believe it! Now that I am here, I would just love to say THANK YOU to everyone. 

While I try out my mamma's recipes, she tries some of mine too! My Pappa  religiously clicks away pictures of recipes from newspapers and magazines for me and my sister believes that my blog will make it big some day! My cousins - Vinitha and Neenu - one who diligently gives me ideas and other who meticulously reads them and  questions. My mother in law is the first one to share my recipes on facebook and my bro - in- law and co sister who always read my write ups and provide their comments. My love to all my friends, fellow bloggers and friends who are the reason why I am still in this blogging space and enjoy being here. And to Shibin, well this is our blog so technically it is Thank you from both of us to all of you!

On to my recipe - I wanted to make a pineapple cake and some research led me to this pineapple chiffon cake. So, the next question - what exactly is a chiffon cake? Chiffon cake is simply made with vegetable oil and fluffed up by beating the egg white to form peaks - sort of a cross between a sponge cake and oil cake. With a little bit of tweaking and addition of spiced pineapples - I had my pineapple chiffon cake with spiced pineapples.

Ingredients

For the cake -

1. All purpose flour - 2 cups
2. Egg - 4 
3. Sugar - 1 cup + 4 tbsp
4. Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
5. Canned pineapple slices with syrup - 450 gms ( about 10 pineapple slices)
6. Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp
7. Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Star anise - 2
9. Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Whipping cream - 2 cups
11. Powdered sugar - 3 tbsp
12. Water - 4 tbsp
13. Ghee/ Clarified butter - 1 tbsp
14. Salt - 1 pinch

Method

Spiced caramelised pineapples

• Heat a frying pan and add 4 tbsp of sugar to it. Let it melt, brown and caramelise. Add 4 tbsp of water to it - initially it would form lumps but let it boil and it would form a thick syrup. 
• Reduce the flame and add sliced pineapple to this along with the star anise and cinnamon powder.  Let it caramelise into a beautiful golden yellow. Flip and move around so that it caramelises uniformly on medium flame. Once done, add a tablespoon of ghee and let it caramelise for another 2 minutes. Switch off and let it cool.

Chiffon cake

• Separate the egg yolks and the egg whites. Beat the egg white stiff.
• Sieve together the flour, baking powder, salt and set aside.
• Bring together the wet ingredients - vegetable oil, egg yolks, 1/2 a cup of pineapple syrup from the canned pineapples and vanilla essence. Add the sugar and using a spatula combine them well.
• Add the flour in batches incorporating them well into the wet ingredients.
• Finally, add the beaten egg whites and fold them in together.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degree centigrade and bake the cake for 35 to 45 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
• Transfer to a cooling tray and let it cool.

Whipping Cream

• Keep a bowl and whisk in the fridge for 20 minutes.
• Add the whipping cream, 1/4 tsp essence and vanilla essence into the bowl and whisk on high speed for 6 to 8 minutes till it forms peak stiffs.
• Refrigerate it until it is time to use.

Combining and decorating

• Slice the cake into two layers. Level the cake by slicing off any uneven surface. 
• Prick the cake randomly with a pin and drizzle 1/2 a cup of pineapple syrup for making the layers moist.
• For the two layer cake, use the layer sliced off from the top as the bottom layer while frosting and keep the bottom of the cake inverted at the top for the top layer. This is done to get a level surface on top.
• Keep one layer on a rotating cake stand. Slather a generous amount of whipped cream on this layer. Chop five of the spiced pineapple slices and spread this on the whipped cream. Spread a little bit more of whipping cream to hold it together.
• Keep the bottom of the cake inverted on the top of this. Press it gently.
• Slather whipping cream on the top of the cake and also on the sides. Decorate the top of the cake with spiced pineapples. Pipe designs on the top for the final touch!

Things to note - 

1. Let the cake cool before starting the frosting.
2.  If you are not into decorating - you could simply have the layers slathered with whipping cream and topped with pineapple leaving the edges bare and no piping as well.
3. If you are using whipping cream for the first time - do not panic! You will find that it has the consistency of nothing but cream first and as you beat it it thickens up and forms peaks. Over beating may result in curdling up.

Herbed Focaccia with caramelised shallots

I am relatively a beginner in bread baking and this is probably the only bread I have baked more than the fingers on my hand! I tasted focaccia only when I came to Dubai and that was the first time I even heard of it. Back in India, I knew 4 types of bread - white bread, brown bread, multigrain bread and fruit bread - that was my extent of bread knowledge.  I would not label bread baking as difficult - it is only time consuming - so if you have the time in hand - Foccacia is definitely worth a try.

Focaccia is an Italian bread with a generous amount of olive oil - topped with herbs, olives, onions, sun-dried tomatoes or any other vegetables that goes along. Focaccia, I realised recntly makes a good sandwich bread too! I have tried topping with olives , tomato and onions but the best for me was the shallots. It is easier to chop them into cute little rounds - it caramelizes well and the looks quite pretty on the bread too. I read an article today by Nandita Iyer from the Saffron Trail in the Hindu where she outlines the need to eat with your senses and we did just that with focaccia!

Ingredients

1. All Purpose Flour - 1½ cup + extra for dusting
2. Water - ½ cup warm
3. Instant yeast - 11 gm sachet
4. Olive oil - ½ cup (¼ +¼ divided)
5. Shallots - ¼ cup
6. Sugar - 3 tbsp
7. Garlic and Herb seasoning - 1½ tsp
8. Semolina - 2 tsp

Method

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Sieve together the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well at the center of the bowl and slowly add the warm water mixing it together using a fork.
• Now add olive oil - ¼ cup in small batches till the dough holds itself together. The dough is going to be sticky at this point.
• Dust your work surface with a little flour and tip the dough over. Knead for roughly 5 to 10 minutes. The dough should not be very hard to knead, it should be smooth and easy to stretch.
• Grease a bowl with a little olive oil - cover with a cling film and let it rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour in a warm place to double itself.
• Meanwhile, chop the shallots into rounds and add a tsp of olive oil to this and give it a good mix.
• Take a baking tray and sprinkle semolina at the base of the tray. 
• The dough in one hour would double itself and would have a very smooth texture. Punch it down and tip it over into the tray and firmly press down with your hand to attain the shape of the tray uniformly. Poke into the dough using your finger tips to create random patterns as you can see on the bread .( Trust me it is superb fun to do that!!)
• Sprinkle the seasoning and spread the shallots over the surface. Give it a light press so that it holds itself to the dough but doesn't insert itself.
• Sprinkle a little bit of salt all over and be generous with you olive oil on the surface.
• Cover it with a cling film and let it stand for 45 minutes.
• Pre-heat your oven to 220 degree centigrade  and place in the tray. Bake for 30 minutes till the top of the bread begins to brown.
• Remove it from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes before you dig in you knife:)
• Focaccia is a breakfast or snack in itself that goes well along with your coffee or tea. The herbs and the olive oil gets infused into the bread and the caramelized shallots give the focaccia a lovely aroma.
• You could also try this with a chilli chutney which I thought was a lovely combo!

You may also note -

• It is necessary to knead the dough well and leave it for proofing. Ensure that the dough has risen - approximately an hour should do but colder areas may require more time.
• Usual recipes call for 20 minutes bake time - I got mine done in 30 minutes so keep checking yours to ensure the lovely brown color on top.
• Avoid opening the oven too many times to check - check at the 20 minute mark first.

Slow roasted chicken with vegetables

The festive season is incomplete without my favorite dinner - Slow roasted chicken with vegetables.
It's been two years since we moved to Dubai and I have lost count of the number of times of I have made roast chicken. This was one thing that Shibin wanted to have ever since the decision to move to Dubai was made since his Mom made it for him when they were in Al-Ain!

My first attempt at baking a chicken was a total disaster. I marinated the chicken a day in advance and I froze it! I did not thaw it before moving it into the oven. It sat in the oven for 2 hours and never cooked. We had to chop the half cooked chicken and fry it on a pan. Also, I had to throw off the vegetables since it tasted disgusting with the marinade I made. I am talking of our Christmas dinner two years back and we had our dinner finally at 12 am!!

Ever since that episode, I have strived hard to perfect this - Tried different marinades and I stick to my favorite - seasoning of pepper, salt and lime juice.  This recipe would suit the beginners who want to give a shot at roasting whole chicken in the oven just like I began my roasting adventures!

Over to the recipe -


Ingredients

1. Whole Chicken - 1 kg cleaned
2. Potato - 2 large chopped in chunks
3. Carrot - 2 chopped in chunks
4. Red Onion - 2 chopped in chunks
5. Olive oil - 3 tbsp
6. Pepper powder  - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp coarsely ground 
7. Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
8. Garlic crushed - 5 to 6 cloves
9. Salt to taste
10. Mint leaves (optional)

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 220 degree centigrade.
• Clean the whole chicken well inside and out. Remove the giblets and keep the skin of the chicken on. Set it aside to drain off excess water and creates gashes on the chicken with your knife.
• Sprinkle 1 tsp of pepper and salt on the chopped vegetables and give it a good mix. Layer the bottom of baking tray with the vegetables and drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil.
• Rub the chicken with olive oil and season with pepper powder, salt and lemon juice. Stuff the chicken cavities with crushed garlic and mint leaves.
• Place this on the baking tray layered with the veggies.
• Move it into the oven and retain the 220 degree centigrade for the first 20 minutes.
• Reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for 90 minutes, increasing the temperature again for the last 5 minutes to 220 degrees.
• The juice from the chicken seeps onto the layered vegetables which gives it a distinct flavor.
• Remove from the oven and let it rest covered for 15 minutes.

You may also note

• Baste the chicken and vegetables with a brush every 20 minutes while baking to ensure that the moisture stays and does not dry out.
• The baking time varies depending on the oven size and the chicken size. Mine is a larger sized oven and hence takes considerably more time.  
• You may marinate the chicken and refrigerate overnight.
• Ensure that the chicken is completely defrosted before you begin cooking else may take a considerably longer time to cook.  
• I prefer slow roasting the chicken because it gets juicy and the meat just falls apart. That is my idea of a baked chicken:)
• You could tie together the legs of the chicken and another twine holding the wings together. It hold together the shape of the chicken and is believed to make it juicier.

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Muffins

It has been long since I played the game of Secret Santa - I am sure most of you are familiar with this game. It is not the gifts you wrap or unwrap that gives the happiness. It is more about the suspense, the secret letters and the guessing games as to who could be your Santa. I was introduced to this game when I was in hostel where every year we religiously play  - we did have our semester exam during this time of the year but that never dampened our spirits. Nothing could possibly be a hindrance to this game when you have a whole hostel - 100 odd girls playing this game. We had a letter box where we could drop in letters addressed to our secret friend. The thrill of finding a letter addressed to you or small gifts that would mysteriously appear on your bed or a messenger getting it for you. Aah!  Shopping for the gifts weren't easy either. It was always last minute purchases and all the 100 girls end up at the same store every time. We had to dodge our secret friends in the store to get across to buy gifts for them. Aah! Those were the small joys of Christmas.

I wonder as we begin to grow older, do we stop ourselves from enjoying those tiny little things we once enjoyed. So why not this Christmas try to relive your favorite memories - age is after all just a number. May be its a game of Secret Santa or going caroling or baking - let us grow younger this Christmas!

Over to my Christmas recipe - an easy to make muffin with lesser greased utensils. All the combining is done in one bowl - so what are you waiting for - hurry over and try this

Ingredients

(makes 10 muffins)

1. Ripe Banana - 1/4 cup mashed
2. Butter - 1/4 cup melted
3. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
4. Egg - 1
5. Wheat Flour - 1 cup
6. Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
8. Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp heaped
9. Salt 

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree centigrade
• Sieve together the dry ingredients - Wheat Flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt
• Take the mashed banana in a bowl and add the brown sugar and butter
• Break open an egg into this and add the vanilla essence and fold well to combine
• Now incorporate the dry ingredients in batches and mix well as you go
• Line your muffin tray with muffin cups or parchment paper and scoop out the batter into the cups.
• Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 20 minutes or till a pin inserted comes out clean.
• Once done move onto a cooling rack.
• Dust a bit of powdered sugar on the top for the finale.

Ginger Cookies

It is winter, it is Christmas and baking just happens this season! Listening to the carols, there I went baking again.  

My mind began wandering to 'Long time ago in Bethlehem',

In the 'Silent Night'

I envisioned 'Hark the herald, angels sing'.

The bright stars guiding 'We three Kings of Orient are'

Led them to the place where 'Mary's boy child Jesus Christ' lay.

 ' O Come All Ye Faithful' and spread the word.

'Go tell it on the mountain' and spread 'Joy to the world'.

It is a 'Merry Merry Merry Christmas'

And 'Santa Claus is coming to town'

'Dashing through the snow' here he is

With 'Rudolf the red nose reindeer' by his side

and 'Frosty the snowman' to welcome him

I 'Decked my halls with boughs of Holly',

and keep dreaming about a 'White Christmas'.

Looks like an overdose of carols!! Oh Never mind, like Shibin says when Christmas is over we should be tired of listening to carols and I still have 21 days more to go!

I am not a wonderful baker to be honest! I have had my disasters in the oven. There was a time I used to give up if I did not get the recipe right in the first go. Over time, I have learnt that patience has its virtues and I am ready to give several shots before I get it right. The end result has always been worth it for me!  The smell of the freshly baked goodies and the delight on the faces of my food testers:) make every effort worthwhile. I have learnt on the go that oven of different models behave differently, the type of flour that each one uses would have different levels of tolerance to moisture and so on and so forth. At the end of this recipe, I have given a few tips based on my baking experiments.

So here is my recipe - Ginger cookies

Ingredients

1. All Purpose Flour - 1 and 1/2 cup
2. Baking Soda - 1 tsp
3. Ground dry ginger - 2 tsp
4. Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
5. Ground nutmeg - 1/2 tsp
6. Salt - 1/4 tsp
7. Brown Sugar packed - 1/2 cup
8. Butter - 100 gms
9. Egg - 1 medium size
10. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
11. White Sugar for rolling the cookie dough

Method

• Combine the dry ingredients listed from 1 to 6 and sieve them well
• Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Add the brown sugar to a bowl of butter and cream it using a electric beater or a hand whisk
• Break open an egg into this, add the vanilla essence and combine well
• Slowly, add small batches of the sieved ingredients, mixing with a spatula to combine
• Once the dry ingredients have combined with the wet, dig in your hands to do a bit of kneading and bring the dough together
• Let the dough rest for about half an hour
• Meanwhile line your tray with baking parchment and pre-heat your oven
• Wet your hands and pinch off small lemon sized balls from the dough. Roll it in a plate of white sugar until the ball is completed coated in sugar
• Place this on the baking tray and leave sufficient gap between the cookies for it to expand
• You could either bake the cookies as is or press it down with a fork and flatten it slightly
• Bake for 15 minutes at 180 degree centigrade
• Once done, transfer it to a cooling rack
• This cookie goes extremely well your cup of tea. Try it to believe it!

You may also note - 

• Ovens quite often behave differently depending on the brands, capacity and energy source. You may have to do several trials with your oven before you have the perfect cookies or cakes. When I started making cookies- I often used to get the underneath of it burned and the inside still uncooked. Its after quite a few experiments that I started getting the texture right. Patience always pays and the first time need not always be your best!
• If you are using a gas oven that lights up only at the bottom, you could try placing the baking tray at the top most slot and baking it for a while longer than suggested in the recipe.
• In case your cookie dough is a little too soft and you are finding it difficult to roll, just refrigerate the dough for a while.
• Cookies generally seem a little under cooked when you take it out of the oven - let it cool to harden and get its color.

Oven baked fish in indo-chinese sauce

It is never too early Christmas!

The best is always saved for the end of the year - there cannot be anything better to end a wonderful year!

I pray this season passes by slow so that I get to savor every moment of it. So while it lasts - let's get into some cooking , carols, decorating and lots of fun filled moments with family and friends.

I did happen to mention last Christmas that our love for Christmas was one thing that brought Shibin and me close. We are leaving no stone un-turned this year as well. We have put up our tree, our Christmas wreath is in making, cbn radio that plays Christmas songs throughout the year is live on my system while I write this, Christmas movies are up and running in the evenings and I am preparing my December menu!

If you are a person who enjoys this season as much as we do then hurry up - put your tree!! Listen to cbnradio - (http://www1.cbn.com/radio/christmas) if you love the carols and checkout the Hallmark Christmas movie collection on youtube. None of these are sure gonna disappoint you.

 I could go on about Christmas but I do have more recipes I hope to put up this Christmas and hence let me save my stories for later. Here is a recipe you could try out for your December menu - Oven baked fish in indo - chinese sauce.

Ingredients

1. Fish - 1 kg
2. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
3. Red chilly powder - 1 tsp 
4. Onion - 3 large chopped
5. Garlic- 2 tsp chopped
6. Green chilly - 2 chopped
7. Soya sauce - 3 tbsp
8. Tomato sauce - 2 tbsp
9. Water - 3 tbsp
10. Coriander leaves - 1 bunch chopped
11. Salt to taste
12. Oil - 2 tbsp

Method

Clean and pat the fish slices dry. Create slit on the fish to help the flavors seep in.  

Marinate the fish in turmeric powder and salt for about half an hour.

In a bowl, stir in the tomato sauce, soya sauce with water and keep aside.

Meanwhile heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes before adding the green chilies and cook until tender. Add the chilly powder and cook the masala. Add the previously made sauce mix and switch off the flame,

The fish can either be baked in a tray or in an aluminium foil.

Pre heat the oven at 200 degree centigrade.

Line a baking tray and pour spoonful of sauce on to the tray and place the fish on top of this. Pour the remaining sauce onto the fish completely covering the fish. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until done.

Alternatively, place your fish on an aluminium foil and bring the edges of the foil together. Add in the sauce and bring together the edges of the foil , press it together and roll it prevent the steam from escaping. Bake for about 20 minutes or until done.

You may also note - 

1. I used 2 big Pomfrets and hence my baking time would be on higher side. You may adjust according to the fish you are using.

Zaatar Manakish - Middle eastern flat bread

The fun part of staying in a place like Dubai is the possible avenues for trying out different cuisines and if you have a foodie in you the rest is history. I had a hidden foodie in me and marriage brought out the foodie. The reason being - I got married to a person who loves food, eats anything on his plate, who never wastes food and if he does trust me the food is beyond edible. Name any food program on television and he has watched it and if not, he will make sure he watches it . That got me addicted as well  - Food Network is the most popular channel at our place now:) So let us just say we bonded over food and food shows!!

Shibin used to get these flat breads for breakfast from Spinneys - sometimes with zaatar topping, sometimes with cheese or else a combination of both. It is only recently I learnt the name and I had the desire to make it myself. On the first try I got it a little crispier and the second time round I managed to get the texture right. 

I have used zaatar as the topping - you could replace this with cheese, meat or as your creativity clicks. Here is the recipe - 

Ingredients

1. All Purpose Flour - 2 and 1/2 cup
2. Olive oil
3. Dry Yeast - 1 tsp
4. Warm water - 3/4 cup
5. Sugar - 1 tsp
6. Olive oil - 1/4  cup + more for greasing
7. salt to taste

For the topping -

1. Zaatar - 6 tbsp ( a spice and herb blend from the middle east)
2. Olive oil - 12 tbsp

Method

• Soak the yeast in half a cup of luke warm water along with sugar till it is frothy.
• Take a bowl with the flour and add salt to this. Pour in the soaked dry yeast and knead the dough. Incorporate olive oil to further combine the dough till it becomes elastic. Knead for about 5 minutes.
• Place the dough covered with cling film in bowl smeared with oil for an hour. Let it rise.
• Preheat the oven at 180 degree centigrade.
• After an hour, make 6 smaller balls out of the dough.
• Flatten out using a roller and dust more flour to prevent this from sticking to your roller.
• Brush the surface with olive oil and transfer to a baking pan.
• Meanwhile, combine the zaatar and olive oil to form a paste.
• Apply this onto the rolled out dough evenly.
• Bake it for 6-7 minutes at 180 degree centigrade or until the bottom just begins to brown

You may also note -

1. Baking for about 7 minutes makes it soft and fluffy, if you need it crisp you could bake it for 9 minutes.
2. For those who are curious about what zaatar is - it is a spice blend of thyme, toasted sesame seeds, ground sumac and salt.

Baked Sesame Chicken Wings

I do have the habit of omitting certain words or sentences when I read up on something. Be it book, article or a recipe, which is probably why I finish reading quite fast. Pick up a book and if it really interests me - I could finish it in under a day but then, there is a catch to it - in my hurry to reach the fag bottom of the book - I miss names of certain characters, places and trust me at times even events that unfold. As the book progresses, if a reference is made to the part I unknowingly omitted (God forbid that happen), I am at total loss. 

Now, my husband knows why I finish reading books in half the time he takes!

I wouldn't say this is a great habit of mine because as the saying goes Half knowledge is dangerous. I have got into my own trouble with this. That set aside, when it comes to reading recipes I have had my good days and bad days. Good ones are when despite not following the recipe word by word - I end up with a recipe I created and the taste delights and the tragic ones which no where bears resemblance to the original recipe or the image that I had in mind.

This is one recipe that has been adapted and re-adapted over a period of time and now I call it mine. 

Here it goes for you - 

Ingredients

(serves 4)

For baking

1. Chicken wings - 800 gms 
2. Chilly powder - 2 tbsp
3. Pepper powder - 1/2 tbp
4. Olive oil - 1 tbsp
5. Garlic cloves - 6 whole crushed

For Sauce

1. Garlic cloves - 6-7 chopped
2. Olive oil - 1 tbsp
3. Soya sauce - 3 tbsp
4. White sesame seeds - 2 tsp
5. Coriander leaves - 1 bunch finely chopped
6. Honey - 2 tbsp
7. Salt to taste

Method

• Clean the frozen chicken wings thoroughly and set aside to drain off any excess water.
• Prepare the marinade by mixing together the chilly powder, pepper powder, salt and olive oil.
• Marinate the chicken and let it rest for an hour. Meanwhile pre - heat the oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15 minutes.
• Transfer the wings onto a baking tray and randomly toss in the crushed garlic cloves  and bake it at 180 degree for first 35 minutes and rest 10 minutes at 200 degree centigrade for a crispier outside.
• Remove from the oven and keep the tray covered with aluminium foil for 15 minutes.
• Dry roast the sesame seeds and set aside.
• In a pan, heat the oil and saute the garlic until cooked. Pour in the soya sauce and turn off the flame. Add the honey and mix this sauce well.
• Add the baked wings along with the juice oozed out on baking to the pan and coat the wings well with the sauce.
• For the final touches, add the roasted sesame seeds and finely chopped corriander leaves.

You may also note -

1. The oven timings and temperature are apt for the one I use, you may need to manipulate it as per your oven settings. Just cut open a piece and check if it has been cooked to the bone.
2. You need not add in the entire juice of the chicken into the sauce - only as much required for the sauce to form a good coating

Bread Kai Pola - Malabar Iftar recipe

It is simply amazing how simple ingredients come together to form a perfect cuisine. This Pola recipe combines egg with bread and plantain to form a delectable snack. It was only recently that I was introduced to Malabar cuisines and I am loving them. I definitely intend to try more of the Malabar flavors.

Quite co-incidentally, during my recent visit to India, my aunt, in order to save overripe plantains from rotting away introduced me to this recipe. I liked the combination and ventured to add bread also into the recipe to make it a wholesome dish.

Here is the recipe - a simple quick win snack.

Ingredients

1. Eggs - 5 no.s
2. Plantain - 4 medium size
3. Bread - 6 slices
4. Sugar - 2 tbsp
5. Milk - 1/4 cup
6. Salt - 1 pinch
7. Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Ghee - 2 - 3 tbsp
9. Cashewnuts - 2 tbsp chopped
10. Raisins - 2 tbsp

Method

Cut the plantain into cubes and shallow fry them in ghee until the yellow color of the plantain begins to turn brown. Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in the same ghee and keep aside.

Chop the bread into small squares. I used brown bread as the healthier option, you could substitute with white bread as well.

Break open the eggs and beat it well along with the milk, salt, sugar and cinnamon powder.

Add the fried plantains and the bread squares into the beaten eggs.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet and grease it with ghee. Pour in the mixture to the pan, top it with raisins and cashew and heat on low flame covered for 5 minutes. 

Pre-heat the oven for ten minutes at 180 degree centigrade and transfer the skillet to the oven at the same temperature.

Bake it uncovered until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Remove it from the oven and keep it covered with a aluminium foil for ten minutes before slicing and serving it.

You may also note - 

1. The riper the plantains you use, the better the taste
2. You could try a combination of fried and fresh plantains for better flavors
3. Once you add the bread squares, transfer to skillet immediately in order to prevent the bread from absorbing the entire mixture.

Lemon Cake with Honey Lemon drizzle

And it is a year already!

This blog was born with little or no idea how long it would sustain but here we are - Our first milestone!
And we intend to attain many more.
It has been a tremendous learning experience all along. We confess that we are not the experts, we experiment, trial and errors along the way and happy successes too.
We have presented our successes to you and learnt from our failures to better the food we present to you in every way.

My gratitude to all my family, friends and everyone of you for the encouragement through your constant likes and comments!

Cheers to one year of happiness through food blogging!

Lemon Cake with Honey Lemon Drizzle - that is our latest fad.

Here is the recipe for you -

Ingredients

For the cake - 

1. All Purpose Flour - 2 cups
2. Sugar - 1 cup
3. Vegetable Oil - 1 cup
4. Egg - 3 no.s
5. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
6. Baking powder - 1 tsp
7. Lemon zest - 2 lemons
8. Lemon juice - 2 lemons
9. salt - 1/4 tsp

For the drizzle - 

1. Honey - 1/4 cup
2. Water - 1/4 cup
3. Lemon juice - 1 lemon
4. Sugar - 2 tbsp

Method

Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15 minutes. Keep your baking tray ready by greasing it. Sieve together the flour and baking powder and keep aside.

Take the oil and sugar in a bowl. Break open the eggs into the same bowl and whisk the ingredients together. Pour in a tsp of vanilla essence and once the ingredients have combined well, add the sieved dry ingredients along with salt and fold in the cake mix. 

Zest in two lemons (ensuring that you don't go in too deep) into the batter. Add the lemon juice taken from two lemons and fold this into the cake mix.

Transfer this to the greased cake tray.  Bake it for at 180 degrees till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Baking time varies depending on the size of your oven so keep a tab.

In the meantime, bring together the ingredients for the drizzle - sugar, lemon juice, honey and water. Ensure that the water you use is warm. Mix well to form a syrup.

Prick your cake roughly to form holes for the syrup to seep in. Gently pour the syrup on the cake and let the cake absorb it. Keep the cake covered in a cling film for a day.

Add topping of your choice! We chose to have streaks of whipping cream across the cake as you can see in the photographs.

Happy Baking!

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

I have been wanting to bake cookies for quite sometime. The last two attempts of mine was futile and I decided to give it a go once again. This time around I was lucky. I managed to get the heat and the texture somewhere close to what me and those who ate my cookie would call it RIGHT!

Peanut Butter and banana are my favorite combination any day and any time. I had ripe bananas with me and I made my own peanut butter - so then that was decided. It is going to be a banana peanut butter cookie.

Here is my recipe for those who would like to try out the same.

Ingredients

1. All Purpose Flour - 1 and half cup
2. Banana - 4-5 small ones or one big
3. Creamy Peanut butter - 1/4 cup
4. Butter - 1/8 cup
5. Sugar - 1/2 cup
6. Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
7. Egg - 1
8. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
9. salt - 1 pinch

Method

Preheat the oven for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, mash the bananas. The riper the bananas, the easier it is to mash. Add in the peanut butter and butter along with the sugar. Stir it in well using a spatula.

Beat in the egg and vanilla essence. Once this has combined well. Sieve the flour into the bowl along with salt and baking soda. Fold it in.

Roll out into balls -sizes of your choice. Line a baking tray with butter paper and place the dough balls a little apart from each other.

Press down it down using a fork first horizontally and then vertically. That was my choice of design, you may bring in variations.

Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, rotating the tray half way through.

Once done transfer this to a cooling rack. You may store it in an air tight container and should last you a good two weeks.

You may also note - 

1. You may have questions over the consistency of the batter, it should not be too runny neither too thick. In case it is runny, add in a little more flour to adjust the consistency.
2. Sometimes, you may not be able to make rolls from the dough, which being the case you may scoop it out using a spoon and set it on the tray.
3. The baking time may vary depending on the size of your oven. So count somewhere between 12 - 20 minutes as the ideal bake time. Keep checking!!

Christmas Fruit Cake

Christmas is fast approaching and I am so excited. It is vacation time, a wedding in the family and a lovely festive get together. It is the best time of the year in so many ways this year and I have begun my countdown! 5 days to go for Christmas and 5 days for me to shop, pack and catch the flight. 

It is another wonderful season and like I said in my previous blog entry, I hope you are enjoying the season to the full. If not here are some perfect movies to watch this week - 

• Santa Claus trilogy, a perfect family entertainer to watch with your family.
• 12 gifts for Christmas, reminds you that festive season is the time for your loved ones.
• Deck the halls - a comedy that keeps up the spirit of Christmas.

Have you put up your tree yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Hurry, put up your tree and star. hang your stockings, adorn your door with wreath, finish your Christmas shopping, let the baking begin and let the carol bells chime all the day through - because it is the best time of the year again.

I finally baked my own Christmas fruit cake this year :)

No more buying cakes for Christmas because I have already baked 4!

Here is the recipe for you - 

Ingredients 

For soaking - 

1. Cashewnuts
2. Almonds
3. Prunes
4. Raisins
5. Apricot
6. Candied fruits/tutti frutti
7. Cherry
8. Dates
9. Red wine - 500 ml

I have not specified the specific quantity since you could use any number as you like. One cake would require 1 cup of dried fruits.

For the Cake - 

1. All purpose flour - 2 cups + 1/4 cup for the soaked fruits
2. Baking powder - 2 tsp
3. Nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Cinnamon powder - 3/4 tsp
5. Clove powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Sugar - 1 and 3/4 cups + 1/4 cup for caramel
7. Water - 1/8 cup
8. Butter - 400 gms unsalted
9. Strawberry Jam - 5 tbsp
10. Egg - 4 no.s
11. Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

Method

1. Soaking fruits for cake is a tradition at most places and experts say that the longer you soak the fruits the better the cake tastes. Now that we do not have months to soak it, overnight would just be fine. Chop the nuts and fruits roughly and soak it in wine and keep it closed in an air tight container. If you have longer time to soak, make sure to shake the bottle every other day. Pour just enough wine to cover the fruits that you have chopped. Also make sure that you do not layer the fruits till the top of the jar as the fruits tend to swell up and would require space.
2. Grease a round baking tray(8'') and keep aside. Pre - heat your oven for 15 minutes at 180 degree. 
3. Meanwhile sift together the dry ingredients - the flour, baking powder, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder and clove powder.
4. Prepare the caramel syrup by heating the sugar in a hot pan with constant stirring till it begins to form bubbles. Switch off the flame and add water to this constantly stirring. Switch on the flame again and bring this syrup to a boil still stirring and let it cool.
5. Removed the soaked fruits from the jar and let the excess wine drain. Toss these fruits in the flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Sieve this and set aside to remove the excess flour.
6. Break open the eggs, separating the whites and yolk. Whisk the whites till it forms peaks.
7. Add the softened butter and sugar in a bowl and fold them together. To this add the egg yolk and vanilla essence. Fold them together using a whisk or a spatula. 
8. Add the sifted dry ingredients and once this is combined well, add the whisked egg whites. Avoid stirring too much once the egg whites are added. 
9. Add the caramel syrup that renders the color to the cake and fold it again.
10. Add the jam scoops, fold in once again and finally add the flour tossed dry fruits and just give a stir with the spatula.
11. Transfer this to the greased baking pan. Bake it at 200 degrees for first 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 170 degree till it is almost done and then increase the temperature again for the last 10 minutes.
12. Transfer it to a cooling rack and brush it with the wine used for soaking fruits. Keep it covered  with a cling film and keep brushing it with wine for 2- 3 days to get the most delicious fruit cake.

My Christmas Cake is ready!

Merry Christmas to all around.

Cinnamon Rolls

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Just the right season for baking and celebrating.  Latest addition to the baking list - Cinnamon roll!

I am not sure how the idea of baking a cinnamon roll crossed my mind, but I enjoyed every moment of this baking session. Seeing the dough rise to folding it over and over again, it was amazing. The roll looks complicated, however the baking process is not as complicated as the roll itself.

So here is another recipe to celebrate Christmas this year.

Ingredients

For the dough

1. All purpose Flour - 2 cups + 3 tbsp
2. Yeast - 3 tsp
3. Water as required
4. Salt - 1 pinch
5. Sugar - 2 tbsp

For the filling

1. Cinnamon powder - 1/8 cup
2. Sugar - 1/4 cup
3. Raisins - a handful
4. Butter - 2-3 tbsp

Method

Soak the yeast and 2 tbsp sugar in 1/4 cup of warm water and keep it covered for half an hour till it turns frothy.

Take sifted flour into a big vessel, add salt to this and mix well. Tip it onto the kitchen slab and create a well in between and slowly pour in the yeast water. Now using your hands, fold in the dough. Slowly add water as required and bring in the remaining flour and keep mixing. Pour water as required till well combined. Knead the dough for ten minutes to make it airy. Keep it covered in a vessel using a cling film. Let it rest for half an hour and the dough slowly rises.

Punch in the dough and knead it again for another 10 minutes. Place it back in the vessel and keep it covered for another half an hour. 

Meanwhile bring together the cinnamon powder and sugar and set aside.

Take the dough and make 3 or 4 smaller balls. Flatten out the dough, sprinkle a little of the flour and roll into an approximate rectangle shape. Apply a little butter on the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture as needed on this. Spread raisins over. Carefully roll this tightly and seal the ends with a little water.

Cut into approximately 8 cm  length pieces and place it in a baking tray lined with butter paper.

Place the rolls with a little space in between to give space for it to rise. Cover and set it aside for half an hour before placing in the oven which has been pre- heated for 20 minutes at 220 degree. Let the roll bake at 180 degree for 45-50 minutes. 

Brush it lightly with butter for a glaze and let it cool. Cut into rolls and serve.

You may also note - 

• Sprinkle enough flour while rolling out the dough, lest it stick to the bottom.
• You may choose to add other dry fruits.
• Make sure you seal the end of the rolls well else the on baking it may open up.

Tavas - Cypriotic Lamb Stew

There is lot in common between Shibin and I.We love to travel and we love to try out new cuisines. The traditional gastronomy of the places enthuse us and we make sure we study it before we head out there. Our travel to Cyprus was no less. We came across an exciting array of cuisines primarily comprising of meat and potato.

If you go to Cyprus and you are not sure what to eat,head into a traditional Taverna and order the Meze. The Meze like the Kashmiri Wazwan consists of several small dishes starting with the salad and course by course servings of pita bread and Tahina, Pastitsio, Souvla, Sheftalia, Kleftiko, Aflia, Tavas and may be even grilled Halloumi cheese. If you are baffled by the number of dishes in Meze, you will be even more baffled by the huge portions they serve.

I definitely had to try out one of the dishes and I chose Tavas. The original recipe is from Mr.Xenios' wife-the owner of the cottage where we were staying. She had prepared this for us on our last night in Cyprus and it was simply adorable.

Tavas is more like a cypriotic version of the Indian curry with cumin seeds and pepper as the spices slow cooked in the oven.  The traditional preparation uses Oregano, however I have not used it here. To give it an Indian touch , I have added 1 tbsp of chilly powder.

Ingredients

1. Lamb - 1 kg
2. Baby Potato - 1 kg
3. Tomato - 1/2 kg
4. Onion - 2 big
5. Parsley - 1 bunch
6. Cumin seeds - 4 tsp
7. Pepper powder - 4 tsp
8. Herbs - 2 tsp(optional)
9. Olive oil - 2 tbsp
10. Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
11. Water - 1 cup
12. Salt

Method

In a deep baking dish, bring together the lamb, potatoes and onions. All of these need to be chopped in big chunks. To this, add crushed cumin seeds, pepper powder, chilly powder, herbs and salt. Drizzle olive oil and toss it well.

Pour in 1 cup water into this (add more water if you need more gravy).Then, layer the dish with chopped parsley and  top it with tomatoes cut in rounds. Pre-heat the oven for 20 minutes and cover this cooked at 200 degrees for 2 hours .Uncover it after two hour, stir it and cover uncooked for another 1 hour at 180 degrees.

Once done, let it rest for a while covered. Then serve it with Pita bread/ Roti or bread.

Enjoy every bite as you dig into the succulent lamb and potatoes.