The proposal cake!

So its been some time since I last blogged but due to circumstances I have been extremely busy and yesterday my boyfriend and of two years proposed to me (smiling like I just won the lottery) so in the even if that my aunt actually made us a beautiful cake! A two tier, fresh cream frosted chocolate cake with strawberries and chocolate! The strawberries were decorated as cute grooms and brides which was an extremely thoughtful touch to my amazing cake! I am so thankful to have family who went out of their way to bake me the most amazing treats! Here are the results of the of my proposal cake

Meat buns hun!

The meat bun is very understated but tastes delicious! This blob of golden hot delicious goodness can be served as a snack or even eaten as a starter or for a high tea. Meat buns are an excellent way to rustle up a quick meal. You can just add it go a soup and you have a cold winters day meal! Meat buns are legend and have been around since the Victoria era so you can imagine how much history this bun packs! Today I was feeling so a steak meat bun and yes I made the dough myself! It's actually quite easy and the result was a moist soft tender meat bun that just leaves you wanting more and more!

Recipe:

2 large potatoes peeled and mashed

2 tbsp butter

1 and a half cup of milk

4 cups cake flour

20 g dry yeast

1 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

Method: sift the dry ingredients and then add all the wet ingredients. Mix till a dough consistency and leave in a warm place for an hour. Mould and bake when done.

The Bunny Chow

For a cold winters dinner a warm spicy curry or comfort food is ideal! Though where I live we are famous for something entirely different! The Bunny Chow! It may have an odd ring to it but let me tell you a little about it. It is basically an unsliced loaf of bread where the middle has been taken out and a curry of your desired flavour is added to it! let me tell you that this is a delectable feast! There is tons of gravy to mop up with the bread and the bread actually acts as a container for the curry but its an edible one! Durban is famous for their bunny chows especially the mutton curry bunny chow! Tonight as I feast on this delectable cuisine I will be in heaven!It is a must try whether you make it yourself or buy it! I made it myself!

Recipe

1 Kg mutton

3 tomatoes
Half an onion
4 potatoes
2 tsp chilli powder
Half a tsp turmeric
2 tsp dhana jeera
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger garlic 
A few cloves and cardamon pods 
enough oil to coat the pot 
Cinnamon stick
Half a tsp whole jeera
Method: Add the onion chopped and the whole spices to the pot with the oil. When the onions have browned add the rest of the spices, tomatoes and meat and let it braise. Add a cup of water and add your potatoes and let it cook.

The Biscuit Baking Begins!

It's that time of year where all the muslim start producing their finest baked goods to eat because eid is just around the corner! So I have decided to diverge a bit and blog about some of the baking that I am doing at the moment and oh my word the smells emanating from the kitchen is soooo grand! The smell of freshly baked biscuits is enough to drive oneself to distraction and the fasting obviously dosent make it any better hey! The 2 biscuits that I am blogging is the most famous ones that you usually see every year and are extremely tasty! They are my moms basic biscuits and are a treat for everyone! I just adore decorating these biscuits it's always so much fun!

Recipe for the flower biscuits:

500g butter

1. 1/2 cups icing sugar

Beat this until creamy and white.

Add 2 cups maizena and beat for another 10 minutes.

Recipe for the elachie sugar biscuit:

250g butter 

3/4 cup castor sugar

Beat until creamy

1/2 cup maizena

almonds

2 tsp elachie powder

3 cups flour

Add this to the first mixture to make a dough. Cut and bake for 15 minutes and when baked dip in castor sugar.

Healthy Rice Dish....That isnt so healthy but absurdly yummy!

This is a healthy rice dish with an unhealthy twist! When I looked it up in the recipe book I wondered how on earth could one dish have so much butter and still be healthy! But let me tell you that this dish is so tasty that you forget that it has so much butter and it's so good to eat on a cold day! It's not spicy and it's quick and easy for that sunday lunch kind of meal. It's a great hearty meal for the family and everyone will enjoy it because it's of everyone's taste for sure! My family enjoys it thoroughly and they always rave out its flavour and yet so little actually goes into making it! Here's the results!

Recipe:

half a red pepper

half to 3/4 cup of mixed veg

1 whole chicken

1 tsp crushed red chillies

1 tsp crushed green chillies

1 tsp ginger garlic

1 tsp salt

1 tsp aromat

3 tblsp butter

2 cups rice

a pinch of saffron

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

marinate your chicken with the ginger garlic,salt,chillies and aromat. Fry your chicken in a pot with the butter. add the veggies to the pot and let it all cook adding some salt and pepper and a little more butter if desired. boil the rice and strain it. add a rice layer to the top of the cooked veggies and chicken and top of the rice with some saffron and blobs of butter. steam it in the oven till its abit golden brown.

Sweetcorn Lagan

When I was little my mom used to make this all the time as it's the most easiest recipe to follow and to make! It a great plate to take to someone's house for dinner or as a snack and everyone is sure to enjoy it! It is not too spicy but it packs some mighty flavour. It is an understated that is rarely given the chance to show off its flavour! But I love it and it makes a nice afternoon snack with a bit of sauce and some tea. ...A delectable treat indeed!

Recipe:

3 tblsp mealie meal 
3 eggs
1 cup milk
Quarter pound of butter 
1 tsp salt
2 tblsp ground green chillies
1 tin cream style sweet corn
Half a bunch of chopped dhaniya
1 cup self raising flour 
Method:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and make sure there is no flour lumps in the batter. Grease a baking tin and pour in the mixture and add sesame seeds to garnish. Bake in a hot oven at 180 degrees until golden brown.

Moms custard tart!

So when I'm in the mood for something sweet my moms custard tart is a real treat and so easy to make! It's very similar to the milk tart which I adore but the colouring is different! Today was the 1st time I baked a proper tart and I must say it was very simple! The one thing I learnt is that you have to grease the baking tins! Otherwise your tart will stick to the baking tin and won't budge! Luckily mom was there to remind me to grease it otherwise I would have had very brown tarts stuck to the baking tin!

Recipe:

Base :

3 cups of flour

1 egg

3/4 cup castor sugar

250g magerine

1.1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tblsp oil

 Method for base: beat butter, sugar and oil. add the egg and then beat again. then add the baking powder and flour and mix till it forms a dough. roll the dough thin so that you can layer the dough as a base in your baking tin making sure to grease the baking tins 1st!

Egg custard:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tblsp sugar

Method: beat the above ingredients and add it to the baking tin with you base. sprinkle some cinnamon powder and bake.

Gool Goola Lagan!

Today in an epic battle while rushing to and from shopping to home I was extremely exhausted so I decided to make something simple and easy yet delicious! Gool Goola Lagan! An Indian dish that is simple and easy to make! No mess no fuss! Simple and easy and the flavours are great! A dish served in one casserole so that it can be eaten quite simply! 
Recipe:
Batter:
2 cups flour
125g butter or margarine
1 cup milk
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 eggs

Filling:
Cook 1/2 kg steak with 1/2 tsp ginger garlic, salt and pepper. When cooked, add 1 tblsp tomato sauce and 1 tblsp chilli sauce.
Method:
Sift dry ingredients. Rub butter into flour. Beat eggs and milk together and add to flour, adding more milk if necessary. Dough must be a pouring batter.Pour more than half the batter into a greased pan. Add steak filling . Garnish with tomato, pepper and onion slices. Then add the rest of the batter over (it wont completely cover) and bake at 180 degrees till done

Classic Spicy Chicken curry

Today as my mom left the house she said I needed to cook something for dinner as she will be back very late! So I decided today to make a classic indian dish...A chicken curry! You can no go wrong with a classic curry that is a staple in many indian homes across the world! A curry is blend or many aromatic spices and the red colour is mainly from the spicy chillies used to give the curry a bit of a spark! The classic indian curry I cooked is very simple yet extremely delicious and full of flavour bursting in your mouth! It is a good wholesome dish that can be made very well!     Recipe:1 whole chicken cut into pieces                             1 onion finely chopped                                        2 tomatoes grated                                                    3 potatoes peeled and cut into quarters              1 cinnamon stick                                                      4 cardamon pods                                                     1 tsp whole jeera                                                     1.1/2 tsp dhana jeera                                             2 tsp chilli powder                                                  1/2 tsp crushed chillies                                          1/2 tsp turmeric                                                        1 tsp salt                                                                    1 tsp ginger & garlic                                                2 tblsp of oil                        

Method: 

Add the onions, whole jeera,  cinnamon sticks with 2 tablespoons of oil to a hot pot. Let the onions and the spices cook till golden brown. Then add in the tomatoes and the rest of the spices with the chicken and like it cook for 10 minutes or so till the chicken is cooked through. Add about a half a cup of water and add in your potatoes to the chicken and let it simmer in a low heat for half an hour till the potatoes are well cooked through and there is a gravy. Then garnish with a few sprigs of coriander and serve on a bed of rice.

                                 

Experimental chicken kalya!

Last night I decided I wanted to eat one of my all time favourites that my mom usually makes....chicken kalya! It is a vibrant mauritian dish with tantalising spices that burst in your mouth! The chicken kalya tastes like a mild indian dish so if you are not into spicy food then this dish is perfect! It has an array of many different aromatic spices and also a yoghurt is used to marinate it so that when the chicken  cook's it is tender and juicy! My naani ( grandmother) dosent use any recipes! No no no! She cooks from memory! So yesterday she showed me exactly how to cook the perfect chicken kalya which also can changed to a mutton kalya If preferred.  The chicken kalya was a complete success! I got a thumbs up from the entire family!
Recipe:                                                           Method:
1 full chicken                                                 add the onions, jeera, cardamon pods, cinnamon 
2 tsp ginger garlic                                        stick and the oil and butter ghee to the pot and let
4 potatoes                                                     it all fry till onions are golden brown. Add the 
2 grated tomatoes                                       potatoes and let it all fry together.Marinate the meat
2 whole green chillies                                the chicken with the rest of the ingredients and let it
half a cup of plain yoghurt                        marinate for at least 3 hours. Add the marinated 
2 tblsp of tomato puree                             meat to the same pot with the onions and potatoes
1 tsp crushed chillies                                  and let it all cook together. Add some water and let it
1 tsp tandoori masala                                simmer on the stove on a low heat to make a gravy.
1 and a half tsp salt                                     serve with garnishes of fresh coriander. 
1 tblsp desicated coconut
1 tblsp crushed almonds
pinch of saffron powder
couple strands of saffron
1/4 tsp garam masala
pepper to taste
2 onions chopped
half a tsp lemon juice
1 tsp jeera
3 whole cardamon pods
1 cinnamon stick 
quarter cup oil
2 tblsp butter ghee

Tantalising Indian delicacies

Deciding what to cook is always the hard part but when it comes to naani (grandmother) she always knows what to cook! As soon as I woke up she called me to come cook...It was only 10 am!!! But being an Indian grandmother she was set in her ways...and 10 am it was! Today we cooked one of my favourite indian sweet treats! Dahi waras! They are these delectable syrupy bubbles of goodness! They are usually eaten as a starter or a snack to any meal....naani is old so me being the young granddaughter she made me do all the hard work of rolling the dough till it was thin for frying. ...The end result was worth all that hard work and sweat! Sweet little delectable treats!
Recipe:

Begin by making a syrup:
Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups hot water to a heavy based pot. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add in 2 pieces is cinnamon sticks. Boil till the mixture is thick and syrupy.  Leave on a low heat.

Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
11/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 cup buttermilk
Extra ghee

Method:
1. Add all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Stir to combine.

2. Add the buttermilk and form a soft dough.

3. Roll out the dough, brush a little ghee on the dough, fold into thirds & roll out. (Repeat 3 times in total).

4. Roll to about 3mm thick. Cut with a cookie cutter. Fry in hot oil. Dip into syrup & sprinkle with coconut. Serve hot

My first attempt at a meal!

Every indian kid grows up eating butter chicken...I mean you ain't indian if you haven't eaten butter chicken! So I started off with my favourite and one of the most loved indian dish in my house....The butter chicken I definitely conquered this chicken and for my first attempt I'd say it isn't quite bad actually...Under the supervision of my naani (grandmother) I made the dish and sides being baby potatoes and naan bread (indian flat bread)....The results? Some pretty damn good food if I may say so myself!

The beginning of new adventures

Being an Indian girl in a modern world has its ups and downs. All Indian parents expect their daughters to know how to cook! No such luck for my parents! When I started learning how to cook i almost burnt the house down...trust me to add some drama and spice when learning how to cook! I love eating as much as the next person does and that is why i have created this blog. Four years later, I am 20 and on the verge of getting proposed and my grandmother has decided its high time I learn how to cook! Follow me through my weird and wonderful journey of learning how to cook (cringe) and blogging my latest foodie adventures wherever life takes me! Life always needs a bit of spice!