During our stay at the Taj Dubai in February, we had our daily breakfast from the Tesoro restaurant. Only a day before checking out, I realized it was a Peruvian cuisine restaurant and so wanted to try out their lunch meal. I was so hungry that I skipped soup and salads, went straight to the main course and served myself a big portion of white rice and their Goulash that the Chef recommended. I was so hooked to it and made a mental note to come home and try making it. It was the first time I heard the word Goulash.



Getting back to Yanbu and the usual grind, I saw UmmHamza's post on Smoked Paprika Beef Stew and it looked so much like the Goulash I had. And to top it, she had tagged it as Goulash! I was so relieved that I don't have to spent time searching! Yet, I went on to find out more about goulash and Peruvian in general.

Goulash is a soup or stew of meat and vegetables, seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating from the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, goulash is also a popular meal in Central Europe, Scandinavia and Southern Europe. - Wiki. 

The Peruvian recipes that I came across did not look anywhere close to what we had. So I just searched for Beef Goulash and noticed that most of them require dredging of the beef, which is to pan roast and coat with flour. These recipes required beef broth to bring in the flavour to the stew. So in the absence of broth and not liking the idea of coating with flour, I went with a very Indian method of cooking the beef in Pressure cooker with water, that will give me the broth!


The first time I tried with Kashmiri Chilli powder as I did not have smoked paprika and  I couldn't wait for the weekend to look out for it. But I made them again with Hot Paprika as I had no luck with smoked one yet! Also used a bit of turmeric as our mothers have taught to do that with beef! and used some grated potato to bring in a creamy texture in the absence of flour.

As Halal Home Cooking's Smoked Paprika Beef Stew looked so much like the one we had, I adapted her recipe.

Beef Goulash

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD

1. Pressure cook the contents listed under "Pressure cook" for 4 to 6 whistles on medium flame and let it cool on its own
2. Heat 2 tablespoon olive oil in a large cooking pot
3. Add in the the chopped onions and stir until onions are translucent.
4. Add garlic, bay leaves, chopped tomato and tomato paste, sauté for a few minutes until the fresh tomatoes breaks down
5. Add in the spice powders 
6. Add the chopped carrots and potatoes 
7. Tip in the pressure cooker contents along with additional water
8. Cover and cook for 30 to 40 minutes or longer minutes on low flame. (Do occasionally stir the stew to prevent from sticking or burning) 
9. Add the chopped red bell pepper towards the end of cooking time, to retain its crunchiness. Cook more if you don't like it raw
10. Add the thawed frozen peas about 5 to 10 minutes before the end of cooking. 
11. Garnished with chopped coriander leaves 
12. Serve warm with steamed white rice!

You can add beans too, I didn't have it that time. Like any stew, it tastes better the next day so I made mine in the morning and by dinner we had a flavour packed Beef Goulash!

I am not ashamed to say that I have had a phase when I was so super obsessed with the blog stats and have shamelessly promoted it too to get more readers. That was not me and I didn't feel good doing that though the whole world runs in promoting everything. I want to be in a quiet place and be found and followed only by those true hearts who really care selflessly rather than for like for like or follow for follow, comment for comment etc..

I know a lot of them will not agree with me, but I want to choose who I want to follow or what I want to like. I do play by courtesy and etiquette but I have noticed how some Instagram followers follow me and then unfollow me right after I follow them. Thanks to Unfollow Spy app! It makes me sick in stomach to know people with love for same things are so selfish! Even if it just 10 people who genuinely like my work, I am happy to continue. I am not making a living out of blogging, yet I would want only genuine and real people than ghost, inactive, uninterested followers. It used to bother me to even faintly be acquainted with such people.

As much as obsessed I was with my blog stats, I was equally obsessed with reading endless list of blogs and then fall short in my own to-do tasks! I have neglected my home, taken short cuts to clean and tidy, have not made time for my other hobbies and even stopped my workouts. I am sure other bloggers have life outside their blog, or they only depend on blog for living, but in my case I am seen spending awful lot of time on blogosphere and my priorities are all topsy-turvy. So I reprimanded myself this past week by neglecting the blog and blogosphere and that is the best thing I did! Because I realized I have so much other things to do than the blog. Even then my hands were itching to come over. :-)

The number of blogs that I discover each day just makes me wonder if it is worth all the effort of drafting detailed recipes and selecting best images, writing up etc. Even when I want to cook something, a simple search in google takes away lot of time because there are so many blogs with so many different variations. :-) I get so lost in that ocean of food. How do you bloggers manage time? I think I need to learn that too.

I can’t call my blog as a food blog as I feel it has a personal journal touch to every recipe. Which makes me take a back step when it comes to promoting on any social media. I have been fighting that thought for days now – Do I continue to blog or just stick to Instagram? Do I share recipe or just post links to similar recipes?

It all comes down to one thing – nurture the blog. It becomes what I make of it and it doesn't not really have to be “Promoted”. If I can make a few genuine friends for life – that is and will be the success of my blog.

Algerian Brâdj is traditionally prepared on clay with charcoal but I have used our modern non-stick pan!. The whole process includes sandwiching dates mix between semolina dough and cooking on a flat pan. There is no sugar in this recipe but the sweetness comes from the date paste!

I have tried to explain in detail on how to make Algerian Brâdj without making a mess at the counter.

Adapted from: Algerian Kitchen 

Algerian Brâdj | Diamond Cookies | Dates and Semolina

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup fine semolina
1/3 to 1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water
1/3 to 1/2 cup water (roughly and depends on the kind of semolina you use)

Dates Dough
Roughly 3/4 cup dates paste (if you don't get dates paste, just soak dates overnight and make a paste with very little water and oil)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon butter
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water

METHOD:

1. In a wide mouthed shallow tray add the semolina and the salt. Pour in the melted butter and start to rub the mixture between your hands until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs 
2. Tip in the orange blossom water and give a thorough mix and start adding the water and bring together to form a dough 
3. Divide the dough into two equal balls. - (now your date dough has to be the same size as one half of this semolina dough) 

1. In a small ball mix all the ingredients until you have a soft, non-sticky date paste dough

Roll Semolina Dough Balls

The reason I add "Drive to... " to most of my travel posts title is because it is the drive and the journey that I cherish more than the destination. Primary reason being we don't spend too much time at the destination as one of us don't enjoy the outdoor hot sun of Saudi Arabia. You know which one!


Right after we came back from Madain Saleh drive, Mr. F said lets do a drive every weekend! Now that is something I will hold on to forever and I am sure he regrets making that statement! :-P He also mentioned Umluj during that conversation and so I began my "pestering" him with when are we going to Umulj, Umlaj, Umluj etc. each time getting corrected.


Like always with Mr. F nothing goes with a plan. Can you believe we drove to Umluj right after our grocery shopping on a Saturday morning! It was so capricious that I wanted it to last forever - that feeling of rush of going on a romantic drive or something! Wait, we can't drive away with packs of fresh meat and vegetables! So got back to the apartment to leave all the stuffs and rushed back to hit the road to Umluj.



So off on the road to Umluj that was just a single direct route and approximately 1.5 hours from Yanbu. Throughout the drive I was bewildered with the still water sea on left and totally dry desert on the right! Why do I feel the best scenic nature is always on his side of window that I don't get to capture even while returning as it gets dark by then :-(


Umluj is a small city in the Tabuk province of Saudi Arabia. From stunning beaches and islands and rustic buildings and houses, Umluj is a must visit town for those living in Saudi Arabia. As we reached around noon and on a Saturday, the whole city was indoors! I could spot only a couple of families and a few men on the road. Even the traffic was so laid back that we drove around the town twice and then chose to get off at one of the beaches.

I don't have great detail about this town or what to do here, where to get what etc. It is a mesmerising drive with beautiful blue one one side and tall old buildings on the other and we drove through the single road gazing at the beauty. Most of the sights reminded me of Goa, I don't know why but it does resemble. I also felt it is far more organised and less populated than Yanbu.

Caramel haters would fall in love with this #saltedcaramel chocolate ice cream! #myfirstattempt ps: I just served him one scoop and he is asking for more !😌 I refused to give...i need to take pictures tomorrow during the day! 😂 how cruel am I!

A photo posted by Famidha Ashraf (@fashfaiz) on May 9, 2016 at 11:28am PDT

Salted Caramel Chocolate No-Churn Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS 

For the Salted Caramel - 1 cup adapted from here. 

1/2 cup sugar
45 grams natural butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup heavy or whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the chocolate ice cream with salted caramel

3 tablespoon cocoa powder (Hershey's 100% cocoa)
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup salted caramel
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

METHOD

Prepare the Salted Caramel

1. Heat sugar in a thick bottomed sauce pan until it melts and starts to brown
2. Add in the butter cubes and stir until melted 
3. Tip in the whipping cream and stir 
4. Let it boil and then wait for a minute - now you will see the mixture rise up
5. Switch off and add salt
6. Stir well and let it cool 

Put together the Ice Cream 

1. In a wide mouthed bowl, sift in the cocoa powder, add in the condensed milk and the salted caramel
2. Whisk the mixture together with a fork or spatula until well incorporated 
3. Fold in the whipped cream into the above mix until well incorporated 
4. Pour the ice cream batter into a freezer box and freeze for 5 to 6 hours or overnight
5. Scoop and serve with salted caramel drizzled and some choice of chopped nuts

My weekend was rather a reminder that married life is a bumpy ride! And the events that seem hurtful and unbearable because the immediate thoughts that flow are all negative and self destructive! It seems so impossible to eschew negativity at the starting point and go through a hell of tears and then talk yourself to embrace the positive! Sounds familiar? And then we build back the bond and this time a stronger bond as now we are little more aware of each other! I love the fact that marriage is a work in progress for lifetime and that which is not monotonous!

As a foodie everything is associated to food or meal time! So here is my weekend events that may be familiar with lot of married couples living alone...

Weekend Chronicle

FRIDAY

BREAKFAST - My bond with Rava dosa is a total disaster every single time I try making it. I can have a post dedicated to "Rava Dosa Trials!" Hehehe.. But that does not let me give up as I love rava dosa and want to make some for him! Each time I tried recipes with different techniques and still it turns out impossible to remove the dosa in one piece from the pan! :-( Today too it is was the same situation and F ate so quietly and went back to his cave. :-( My heart sunk so low that it must have touched the ground and it is not because of the dish gone wrong but his silence. Now that could be for so many other reasons, yet I wanted to believe it is because I am not good enough cook! Woman!

LUNCH - So to make things right I should have cooked up a lip-smacking meal for lunch right? NO! I didn't! Instead I served him this Mango shake! :-P As we were anyways in the Silent treatment zone, I could get away with that! But honestly I wanted to make this a massive indulgent similar to Falooda or Mastani...unfortunately I realized I had no ice cream stock which would have taken this Mango shake up a notch!


TEA TIME - Still no talking! :-( I mean how can he eat what I make and not talk? As I was wee bit guilty of not making any proper lunch that I promised (thanks to rava dosa ordeal) and for the much needed respite from feeling low,  I decided to serve some deep fried goodies with hot cuppa and call off the silence!

A bowl of mashed potatoes was sitting in the fridge which I had prepared to serve with beef burger for lunch. Well, that lunch idea never happened for the known reasons mentioned above. So made some Crispy Mashed Potato Balls with dill leaves. It was super yummy with perfect crunch and soft buttery inside. Also fried some cabbage fritters with methi leaves and served both with ketchup. After a bout of venting for almost for a few long minutes (or it seemed), he had only one question, "What is that you have made?" :-D You really want to be with a person who can bring back the smile! isn't it? The saying "Way to your man's heart is through his stomach" is sooooooooooooooooo TRUE!


DINNER - By now we were in much better state than in the morning. F was getting ready to go out and pick some dinner as I didn't cook any. facepalm! But I stopped him and said that I can make his favourite burger! because for the first time I had made a batch of patties to freeze! Now that the mashed potato is gone, I used some labenh in mine and lots of cheese in his. I hope to share the beef burger patties recipe... InshaAllah. That is how we ended Friday.

SATURDAY

BREAKFAST - Yemeni Malawah with Yemini Shakshouka and Kibdha after two weeks we got back to this tradition. This act of eating one big flat bread in one plate brings out a sense of bonding. O yeah,  I gave up trying to make malawah at home. May be I should wait to have an oven.



LUNCH - By now I was super determined to cook a meal. Enough is Enough! I cannot be running away from cooking and in turn grow sideways. I made quick Ghee rice (forget that I mentioned growing sideways), french beans and carrot stir fry and chicken curry. In the absence of papad, I served some stax! :-P I think this was the only proper meal I cooked this weekend! Good job Famidha!

TEA TIME - Raf's Masala Chai with Haldirams mixture. You need spiced tea to calm your inner soul!

Never let your hubby watch MasterChef Australia with you. The man of few words have began to give me feedback on what I serve on the table that too with Gary's and Matt's words - negative ones like this is overpowering that.. some elements missing...  :-) LOL! Whatever, I am glad he enjoys the show with me and then we laugh out loud as he cannot come up with any more words! Like for today's recipe, Banana Blackberry Home-made No-churn Ice Cream I forgot to add chopped nuts that would have been awesome option, but missed it. some elements missing..


How many of you have seen that One Ingredient Ice Cream video? A week before I made this, I chopped couple of bananas and packed into the freezer to make that which was showing up too many times on my feed. Then I forgot. Totally. That is how my freezer is.. what goes in it is forgotten! A box of blackberries that I kept saving to make muffins was not destined for it either. When it came down to the choice of muffins or smoothies, he chose smoothies, but I went a level up and decided to make the ice cream!

While sorting the blackberries to grind, I remembered the frozen banana!! Sheesh, should have made that instead! I knew if not today, I am going to forget them again. So off went the frozen banana chunks along with the blackberry in the grinder! Now it takes a wee bit more time as its frozen bananas. When I tasted the mixture, it was YUM but it left a slight bitter after taste. But that is normal and don't need to increase sugar or condensed milk, just splash some cardamom powder and you are good to go.

Yields: 4 to 6 scoops? I don't remember!

Banana Blackberry Home-made Ice-cream 

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD: 

How often do you cook a meal for just you? As a stay-at-home wife, I rarely cook lunch for myself because I hate to eat alone, especially during weekdays. Oh! I just realized now why I always open a youtube video and eat! :-D I have sumptuous breakfast and then follow with some short meals every 2 to 3 hours that is usually fruits or nuts or some days even chips and cookies! and in some rare occasions I make this kinda dessert - Raspberry Cream Cheese Parfait! And this, my dear friends, I do not mind having alone! ;-p


I made this quickly with very little raspberry l had for lunch time. As it is getting hotter even with the AC on, I was craving for something really cold. Usually a quick smoothie would have sufficed but when you just did a 30 minute workout, it is a pleasure to whip up a whole cup of cold creamy goodness all for yourself!


I was in a crafty mood trying to make some flowers with tissue paper LOL! Though intentionally placed, the result is more like it photobombed my subject! :-D

This is a quick recipe because I have used the Almarai Cream Cheese Spread instead of the cream cheese cubes.

Yields - 1 cup 

Raspberry Cream Cheese Parfait

The weekend is over :-( I really have no clue why I get excited for a weekend when every day is or should be a weekend for me. Coming to think of it, I only look forward to that two full days of living with F - though apparently, it is with his divided attention! :-( The time I detest the invention of a smartphone! Oh! did I offend the apple fans? alrighty..  (rolling my eyes!) iPhone!

This is the age where both mother and daughter have the same complaint about their man being glued to the gadget and missing to actually be in the moment! Yeah, mom and I had a short let out frustration session with the kind of behaviour these days we see because of smartphones. Well ... just pacifying myself thinking that at least he is home.

But this weekend I had a great time... went on drive both the days, got to try some new sweet bread called Ensaymada! had the Pakistani Roghni Naan that was so new to me in shape, taste and texture, and after months got back to binge eating Patchi chocolates!

Today's recipe...


I always used to make stuffed paratha with just one dough ball, but then when F pointed out that there is not enough masala stuffed I resorted to the two dough balls method. That way I could load it with a lot of stuffing and still be able to roll it thin. But that method is not only time consuming but also very indulgent! So today I am sharing the old fashioned one dough ball stuffed and rolled paratha with a humble ingredient - Onion.

I never thought of Onion stuffed paratha but remembered that it used to be served at my ex-office food court. That counter was always packed and had a never-ending long queue for their delicious parathas. I used to have it every single working day for lunch for months until we moved to a different facility. Just tried to recreate that pleasure and memories with some good friends that I earned working there.

So here is my version with of course some dash of Dill Leaves! :-P

Onion Paratha

INGREDIENTS

For the Dough
2 cups of wheat flour
salt to taste
2 teaspoon oil
up to 1 cup of water or as required

For the stuffing 
2 medium or 1 large onion, finely diced
2 to 3 green chillies or as per your taste, slit and chopped finely
a fistful of dill leaves, chopped finely (you can use coriander or even mint leaves)
Chaat masala powder as required, a pinch or two for each paratha
Red chilli powder as required, a pinch or two for each paratha

Melted ghee for roasting the parathas, 1 to 2 teaspoon for each paratha

METHOD:

Prepare the dough

1. In a bowl, mix in the flour, salt, and oil 
2. Add water and start kneading the dough until it forms a smooth and soft dough.
3. Cover and keep aside until needed or at least 10 to 20 minutes.

Prepare the stuffing

1. In a bowl, mix the chopped onions, green chillies, and dill leaves. The spice powders will be sprinkled for each paratha while rolling. This is to avoid the onions from releasing moisture. 

Prepare the onion paratha

1. Knead the rested dough for a few seconds and divide into equal balls 
2. Take one ball and on a flour-dusted board roll it until half the size, about 3-inch diameter disc (size of a poori)
3. Place a tablespoon and little more of the chopped onions mix on the centre
4. Sprinkle one or two pinches of chaat masala powder and red chilli powder 
5. Close the dough by carefully bringing together the edges of the dough in a pleated fashion and join them in the centre and twist it and tug the end to the centre without giving too much pressure. 
6. Prepare all the balls this manner, taking care to cover the prepared ones to prevent from drying 
7. Heat the tawa on medium to high flame and start rolling the parathas to 5 to 6 inches in diameter. TIP: Before you start to roll the paratha, use a fork to punch out the locked air. You will find air bubbles if you lightly press the stuffed dough ball. Doing this will help you to roll the onion paratha neatly.
8. Place the rolled onion paratha on the hot tawa and drizzle about 1 or 2 teaspoons of ghee on both sides and flip and cook till the paratha is evenly cooked all sides. 
9. Serve hot onion paratha with any yoghurt dips, raithas  and pickles

I clicked these images using my Microsoft Windows Phone which was taken late evening just before 6pm with the little natural light available. I am sure iPhone would have given a better result, but waiting for him for his phone means I will have to hurry up with clicking! You know why!

Have a wonderful working week! :-P

Is it just me? When I see some posts on FB about Friday meal, Weekend Meal, I wonder how do they manage to put up a meal, that too rich and indulgent food when all I want to do is NOT COOK! Even though I blog more about food, and no doubt I do enjoy cooking but somehow cooking takes a back seat when it is a weekend!  I guess it is because I make elaborate dinner all week, so by weekend I am exhausted and either want to eat clean (don't laugh) or make something to just please the tummy.

With the onset of Summer, along with my usual weekend meal hacks (hehehehe!) I have introduced Smoothies that will sustain us until the next meal time by when I could talk myself into cooking something or anything at all!  :-D

Smoothies - Today I am sharing a Mixed Fruit Smoothie which is a result of cleaning my stock in the fridge over weekend. I had all kinds of berries that I usually add to overnight oats and had kept saving some of them to try some new dessert. But lazy I am, thought it is best to finish it off in a smoothie. So guess you must have figured by now that I served this mixed fruit smoothie for lunch on a Saturday! Yeah!



Yields: 4.5 cups 

Mixed Fruit Smoothie 

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

As part of the MENA Cooking Club, this month we are sharing Yemeni food! The dishes included in the challenge were:

• Jabeez
• Red Bean Stew (Fasoulia)
• Khaliat al nahl

I was really hoping to see Malawah, my favourite Yemeni flat-bread that we have most of the Fridays for breakfast on the list. I have mentioned about it a few times in my blog and am still trying to master it healthily as it uses loads of butter! But for this challenge, I chose to go with Jabeez as Red Bean Stew or Fasoulia didn't really make me want to do it.. and the dessert, Khaliat al nahl is a honeycomb type cake that I wouldn't be able to pull off without an oven. So Jabeez it is!


I kept postponing making Jabeez hoping to find more recipes on the internet that will help me get an idea. Unfortunately, I did not find much about Jabeez so went with the only blog that had this recipe and adapted with a few changes. The original recipe reminded me of Adai, a south Indian savoury pancake. It is similar to Adai but here we use legume instead of lentil and here there is yeast which is not added for Adai.

According to the author of Yemeniyah blog, Dr Lamya Almas, Jabeez is eaten in Aden, and nowhere else in Yemen. Guess that answers why this recipe is not well known. Honestly, I was apprehensive to make Jabeez as F did not relish Adai and also it was a green colour which kinda does not appeal to him at all. So I made less than the original recipe but added the whole egg and also yoghurt hoping to avoid too much yeast odour which can be a put off the early morning!  :-|


I made this on a Friday morning instead of our usual Malawah, but had dosa batter as a backup plan! :-P But when I served one jabeez fresh out of the pan he loved it and we both were surprised. I got 8 pancakes sized Jabeez that I served with yoghurt sauce. It was all over in no time. This recipe is a keeper and I am sure this can be made with other similar legumes too.

Jabeez | Yemeni Savoury Pancake

Adapted from Yemeniyah
Yields: 8 Jabeez

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup black-eyed peas bean soaked overnight
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 green chillies, finely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons of finely diced green pepper/capsicum
1 egg
fistful coriander leaves
1 tablespoon thick yoghurt
1 cup lukewarm water (more or less)
salt to taste
a few teaspoons of olive oil for frying ( or any cooking oil)

METHOD:

For the batter: 

Prepare Jabeez

1. Heat a non-stick pan or any tawa and grease it with olive oil or any cooking oil
2. Pour one ladle of batter in the centre of the pan and lightly spread it using the same ladle to reduce the thickness 
3. Cover and cook until you see the top is dried and bottom starts to brown
4. Open, flip and cook the other side until done and transfer to plate
5. Serve with yoghurt sauce and more onions

Yoghurt and yeast together in a batter gives really soft and fluffy bread and I was surprised it acted just like pancakes while it was getting cooked. Had to click pictures in a jiffy as a hangry man was waiting and didn't even realize the iPhone was set on Square! Has been happening to me quite often these days.. :-(

Now, let's check out what my fellow #menacookingclub members have brought to the table...