As a kid, I just loved French toast. I had a Master for Arabic and religious studies who would come every evening for an hour, but on Sundays, it was every morning and as much as it would never excite a 7 year old, it still had to be done and now I realize how important it was then. Anyways, my teacher or Maulana was always served a good breakfast every Sunday morning. My mom would mostly make the awesome French toast, or omelette or sunny fried egg with parantha for my teacher. My teacher was very found of his Sunday breakfast at our house, I could always make that out with the way he ate and I mom also made sure that the teacher was well fed… Something that we all have lost with time. Today’s time is so busy that feeling that way for a teacher or even the guests.
Now comes the fun part, my mom had a clear breakfast designed for us daily. It was a done deal and my mother wasn’t those who would cater our demands on daily basis. My Sunday class would be at 7 AM and I would usually have my breakfast after the class. the funny thing was that every time my mom would make French toast, I would ask my teacher to excuse me and run to the kitchen to ask my mom to make the same thing for me, because I always felt that if she can make it for him, she will gladly make it for me too, and she did. But now that I am all grown up, my mom laughs at the fact that she always knew that she will find me in the kitchen 5 minutes after the breakfast was served to my teacher. I guess some memories from childhood might be a little embarrassing to share, but almost all childhood memories are sweet and always bring a smile to your face.
This is one of my two types of French toast and my boys like both kinds. French Toasts are easy to make with bread slices dipped in egg, milk and white sugar mixed together. If you are a little more experimental like me, add a little cocoa powder and cardamom powder to it. My boys like me serving this French toast with chocolate sauce. You can always make a little change to it to suit your taste.
As a kid, I just loved French toast. I had a Master for Arabic and religious studies who would come every evening for an hour, but on Sundays, it was every morning and as much as it would never excite a 7 year old, it still had to be done and now I realize how important it was then. Anyways, my teacher or Maulana was always served a good breakfast every Sunday morning. My mom would mostly make the awesome French toast, or omelette or sunny fried egg with parantha for my teacher. My teacher was very found of his Sunday breakfast at our house, I could always make that out with the way he ate and I mom also made sure that the teacher was well fed… Something that we all have lost with time. Today’s time is so busy that feeling that way for a teacher or even the guests.
Now comes the fun part, my mom had a clear breakfast designed for us daily. It was a done deal and my mother wasn’t those who would cater our demands on daily basis. My Sunday class would be at 7 AM and I would usually have my breakfast after the class. the funny thing was that every time my mom would make French toast, I would ask my teacher to excuse me and run to the kitchen to ask my mom to make the same thing for me, because I always felt that if she can make it for him, she will gladly make it for me too, and she did. But now that I am all grown up, my mom laughs at the fact that she always knew that she will find me in the kitchen 5 minutes after the breakfast was served to my teacher. I guess some memories from childhood might be a little embarrassing to share, but almost all childhood memories are sweet and always bring a smile to your face.
French Toasts are easy to make with bread slices dipped in egg, milk and brown sugar mixed together. If you are a little more experimental like me, add a little cinnamon powder and cardamom powder to it and sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar to it. My boys like me serving the French toast with maple syrup and chocolate chips. You can always make a little change to it to suit your taste.
I like Fish, in fact love Fish but, I usually prefer them fried, grilled, baked, but never a curry. I think it might be due to the fact that growing up, my mom wasn’t used to making a variety when it comes to fish curry. My hometown never has more than one kind of fish and of course one way of making it, so there was no way it impressed me.
Every time, we traveled to Delhi or Mumbai, we tried prawns and different fish, fried or grilled, but I still could never bring myself to trying the curry. And, that continued well after Mr. Parveez and I got married. He is a big fan of fish curry and it was clear that I was neither going to share it nor I was good at making it. So, from me never attempting to cook a fish curry to enjoying it has been a long and funny journey.
One day, we happened to be at a fancy restaurant with some friends. The restaurant was popular for its seafood. When asked for their signature dish, they suggested some Dry Anchovy curry. I thought I would just stick to the grilled and fried stuff, but you know when you go out with people and they insist that you try something, and even though you don’t like it, its hard to convince people who are eating something extra ordinarily delicious and believe firmly that it would be a dish loving and flavor changing experience for you, and you just have to take some, and so I did. Trust me, that bite was so good that it changed my idea about fish curry altogether.
Since then I have started trying making dry fish curries with different fishes mixing in veggies and the outcome has always been lovely. I still haven’t come down to eating the regular fish curry, but its definitely better than before and you never know, a mind blowing fish curry might make me fall in love with fish curry too. This dish is made with Tilapia boneless fillet, but you can even opt for Sea Bass or striped bass. Try and stick to fish fillet and a fish that does not over power the flavor of veggies and blends in well.
This sandwich is a popular Italian-American fast food. Its not one of those signature Italian dishes like a bowl of pasta, but more of the Americanized Italian dish, which is basically a combination of fried chicken with spiced up marinara sauce, cheesed up between a Hot dog bun or sliced baguette. Adding a few sliced onions is always great, but its a personal preference.
Now, we cannot eat chicken outside and every time I went for a Hero Sandwich, it was always with shrimp and I was always curious of how amazing the chicken one would taste. So, when I thought I hacked the taste and could make my own, I decided to try them with chicken.
Marinating the chicken with eggs and milk, make it stay moist and adds a little tangy flavor because of the lemon. That ways when you coat the chicken and fry it, the chicken inside isn’t bland, tasteless and dry.
The chicken after frying can be mixed in with the marinara to make it juicy and increase the flavor. Chicken once cooked this way can also be served with pasta, but since I am a big fan of sandwich and its always easier for my kids to eat a sandwich, I usually prefer it this way.
Making of Marinara sauce at home is pretty simple too. Being from India, I tend to make my marinara sauce a little spicier, but you can always turn it down if you are following my recipe for making marinara sauce at home. Secondly, a store bought marinara sauce is equally good, all you need to do is add a little onion powder and garlic powder to it, and if daring enough, a few chili flakes.
This recipe is great for kids lunch boxes and makes a great weekend lunch/brunch too. Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do.
Christmas always bring so much happiness. I just love this part of the year, which spreads wonderful positive feelings around, everyone is so busy shopping for their loved ones or people like me love their favorite brands going on sale. its just a great festive time.
I still like believing in Santa and as a season tradition, my kids always get a picture with him every year. The decorations around, the special cakes in Bake shop, the special food being served in restaurants that’s mentioned as holiday special make the season even more fancier.
My Christian friends in India always made something called “Plum Cake” and that was also a Christmas special in Bakeries in India. I usually make that at home, since it isn’t an American Holiday special, but considering an american special, and something that my kids like, I baked a Chocolate walnut cake for the holidays.
I have put some generous amount of chocolate sauce on it, since cakes with nuts are better when decently moist and since this cake has no icing. A little sprinkle of confectioner’s sugar give it a more holiday special look, which is completely optional and a little border of red and green m&m’s add to the season color.
Its always an instant hit, loved by people of all ages and just so delicious that honestly, you don’t need a reason to bake it, you just do.
Milkshakes are always so popular in people. Mango, Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana, Oreo and of course so many more. As a kid, I always loved going to this juice shop with my father. In India, before this super age of these fancy cafes, small pizza places, restaurants and ice cream parlors, we had juice corners. Fresh juices made on demand were always full of flavor and nutrition.
Those juice corners still exist, but since the competition is tough and they take pressure of making fruits available without season too these days, which of course means more canned fruit and more sugar syrup and less natural fruit with natural sugar. As much as these juice stations were fun and nutritious before, they aren’t as much anymore.
I believe eating fruits as per season and eating local fruit is better than eating something not in the season. So, whenever we visit juice shops, we try and have things meant for the season. Getting back to Pineapple Milkshake, I always loved it and the canned fruit used these days makes it taste stale and that made me want to try making it at home. There were few trials and errors before I came up with this recipe that is worth teaching and sharing. I think when they say that best things in life are simple, this is what they mean. While trying to master the flavors from my childhood, I tried all things that made the drink fancier, forgetting that things were never this fancy when I was a kid. Once realized, that, I started taking baby steps towards what was available then and I was able to create what I always loved.
The milkshake is simple, easy to make and definitely pleases the crowd and popular between kids.
Pancake makes one of the best breakfasts ever made, specially when it comes to kids. The name is enough for them to drool and look forward to an amazing morning meal. My boys love pancakes, any given day. They will take it and be super happy taking Pancakes than anything else.
When the days are special, the regular pancakes need to look a little more fancy and this pancake is for those super special days. This isn’t taking too much of your time, almost the same time as a regular pancake and the fancy decorations are basically just whipped cream, sprinkle and some candies.
Its amazing how something as simple as a Pancake can be made so fancy and the delight that it brings to the hearts, which makes these little addition look so special.
My boys prefer home lunches and also love varieties for their lunch. When I use the word variety, I mean that they would not want a dish to be repeated in 2-3 weeks and believe it or not, its a lot of pressure to make something that tastes great and that they would love it as well.
These chicken buns are easy to make and can be easily made by beginners as well. The chicken does not have to marinated for too long and even the process of marination is with pretty simple ingredients. This is great dish if you have boneless chicken available and haven’t thought of anything in mind, and need to get things ready in a rush.
My boys prefer this in the hot dog bun Sandwich, but this chicken would taste great even with a tortilla and Roti wrap too. I have tried them with ciabatta, french long bread and croissants as well.
I usually make this and serve it with a different spicy sauce . The recipe for the spicy sauce is in the sauce section. A blend of mayo, ketchup, hot sauce and mustard sauce goes perfectly with this spicy shredded chicken to give that kick to this sandwich.
When I was new in USA, Middle Eastern food was one of the first cuisines I was comfortable eating outside, besides Pizza, of course…Lolzzz. The restaurant that we went to those days shut down for renovation after a few years and eventually the owner decided to sell off his restaurant, which is sad when one really enjoys the food at a restaurant.
The food the restaurant had typical Afghani food. Chicken, Meat or fish served with Rice. The Rice pilaf would be White Rice with cashews and Raisins, which I wasn’t really a big fan off and spent the first 5 minutes taking raisins and cashews off my rice. I am one of those weirdos who don’t like sweet flavors with my main dish, specially something as sweet as Raisin. But, something more than this great Afghani Rice Pilaf with Chicken, what I actually loved and enjoyed most was the Afghaan Noni.
Afghaan Noni is an Afghaani Bread, made with Refined Flour or Whole wheat flour, which is then formed into a dough after mixing egg yolk and yeast. You will have to let the dough rise in a warm space until it doubles. The Afghaan Noni requires some egg white to be brushed on top for glaze and you also have to sprinkle some Nigella seeds on top, though its optional.
The dough needs to be left to rise for at least 1 hour, more if you are living in a colder region or baking during the winters. The dough can be kept in the freezer for up to 2 months and in the Refrigerator for 3 days.
I usually serve it with another Afghaani vegetarian dish “Bourani banigan”, which is eggplants cooked with tomato gravy and Garlic and served with sweet Yogurt. It makes an excellent appetizer or even a light lunch. These actually even taste great with a cup of tea. Bread so simple that this recipe is great for beginners as well.
The family that loves fish, finds each and every way possible to get their fish on their dish….Yeah!!! Please ignore my not so funny sense of humor rhyming the words…LOLzzz. My boys love the fish rolls or wraps for school. Making Salmon Tortilla roll is one of their favorite school lunches.
The Salmon needs to be lightly marinated and can be pan fried till crunchy. The marination is simple with garlic powder, black pepper, turmeric [optional, I prefer it], salt, lemon juice and dry parsley. I like my marinade to be simple, since Salmon has a very strong itself. The light marinade helps Salmon have its own flavor and the other spices help enhance it more.
I have people always question me as to why I never try making my Salmon like my other recipes for Indian style fish fry. Believe it or not, just like fishes come in different flavors, adding same spices to 2 different fishes while makes one taste amazingly delicious, makes the other one lose its flavor. Fishes like Mackerel have a very strong fishy flavor. Adding strong spices to a Mackerel and deep frying it after rolling it in refined flour makes it a scrumptious appetizer, where as if I try the same style of cooking on Salmon, which also has a very strong fishy taste would not taste that good. I have been to a few restaurants that serve Salmon cooking it like a fritter/ Pakoda or rolling salmon fillet in flour and serve it as a patty for Burger. I strongly felt that Salmon in such styles loses its taste. Salmon has a wonderful outer texture that makes it super crunchy when you shallow fry it and its best this way.
I always throw in some veggies like shredded cabbage, or chopped lettuce with sliced Onions and sliced tomatoes. Pair the crispy Salmon with the fresh and chopped veggies and sauces makes it flavorful and if you are making them for your kids, its always a great way to sneak in those veggies.
I added corn, that I had boiled and then saute’ed them till slightly crispy. My corn kernels were fresh. I took them off the cob after boiling the corn. It just gets a little easier to get the kernels off. You can always simply saute’e them in a pan by adding a tsp of butter/oil. You can also add a little garlic powder and chili flakes and add that zing to it.
Sauce can always be changed according to your taste. I added the mayo-garlic sauce and hot sauce, but I think mustard sauce or green chili sauce would be good too.
