There weren't too many recipe trials for the past months and had not blogged either. Nevertheless, I was in the happiest zone. Alhamdulillah!
April brought me back to the passion of trying new dishes. Now, some may think that I have all the time in the world and so I can try new dishes often... I know several of my friends and family believe that and are also offended when I don't respond to their texts immediately. Some question my new avatar, hijab, some think that I am lucky to be at home and do nothing, some ask me blatantly, "what keeps you busy all day?" I have also realized that even if I engage in conversation, it starts and ends with "when are you coming to India?" "been long" etc. I don't blame them. Some friendships are meant to be for a certain period and I don't want to fake a "keeping in touch". I am happy with the very few real friends who treat me like I am with them. I usually don't rant, but this feeling doesn't sit well and I would like to know if you feel the same?
Alrighty, now to this month's highlights and events, which is quite a lot I must say! Warning: This will be a long post.
Honestly, I never imagined this pic would get such great attention. My dm was flooded with questions and recipe requests. I made again in a few weeks and shared the step by step recipe on IG Stories and is also on the Highlights. InshaAllah, I will share the recipe here too.
The speculated and rumoured history with no substantial proof on why this dish is called after the man should be a major reason for you to try these meatballs in tomato sauce Lebanese way!!! At least it was for me.
Phew... April has been too kind to me. Alhamdulillah.
Do let me know if you want me to share any of the recipes. I hope to keep it shorter for the coming months but this exercise of collating monthly peaks itself feels so good!
April brought me back to the passion of trying new dishes. Now, some may think that I have all the time in the world and so I can try new dishes often... I know several of my friends and family believe that and are also offended when I don't respond to their texts immediately. Some question my new avatar, hijab, some think that I am lucky to be at home and do nothing, some ask me blatantly, "what keeps you busy all day?" I have also realized that even if I engage in conversation, it starts and ends with "when are you coming to India?" "been long" etc. I don't blame them. Some friendships are meant to be for a certain period and I don't want to fake a "keeping in touch". I am happy with the very few real friends who treat me like I am with them. I usually don't rant, but this feeling doesn't sit well and I would like to know if you feel the same?
Alrighty, now to this month's highlights and events, which is quite a lot I must say! Warning: This will be a long post.
Kerala style Chicken Cutlets
Made a batch of Chicken Cutlets on the fool's day! :-)A post shared by Famidha Ashraf (@fashfaiz) on
Honestly, I never imagined this pic would get such great attention. My dm was flooded with questions and recipe requests. I made again in a few weeks and shared the step by step recipe on IG Stories and is also on the Highlights. InshaAllah, I will share the recipe here too.
Fully Pregnant Masha
A post shared by Masha (@masha_the_feral) on
Biscoff Truffles with the White chocolate coat
Yes, still on truffle making fever and this ain't going off any time! I am so in love with these portion controlled dessert bites that makes me feel less guilty while eating and yet have it often. :-) This batch though gave me a panic attack as I never worked with white chocolate and didn't think it is any different from the usual one. I was so wrong. It was a mess. I had to fix it somehow, and all I could do was pour over the truffles! :-D Despite the mess, it tasted too good, well what can go wrong with biscoff? I shared some with my neighbour though!
This one was an inspired version of none other than Laura in the Kitchen's Cookie Truffles.
Aval Milk
Beaten rice with milk and fruits. This has stuck to our dinner routine for a long period of time. Truth. I was the happiest as dinner was a breeze then. Stack up some cut fruits, roasted aval or even granola, pour milk or flavoured laban and you are set for a light dinner. Simple, easy and satiating. So many of my followers on IG made and loved it.
A post shared by Famidha Ashraf (@fashfaiz) on
Chai Time
F comes home early these days so we have our evening tea together. Like many of you our there, I love to click pictures of chai and food we eat and it just takes hardly 30 seconds. This is not to be taken as an addiction because every picture I click is a practice for my photography skills. So if you are one of them who consider taking food pics as lame, I have nothing to say. Just let us be the weirdos. LOL. So chai,
In this picture, I have served chai with Makati Plain Rice Crackers brand that we get here. F loves this with a sprinkle of Sambar powder. Yes! Please do try it if you get these.
DIY Plant Bottle
Confession time. I hoard glass bottles. of every size and shape. I just can't seem to throw them away even if I have dozens of empty ones. Every single thing in my pantry is in a glass bottle that was repurposed after a jar of jam or cream cheese or tomato paste... There are some that are "not so favourite" and usually I try to get rid of them asap. So far only Nutella jars are in that category. They are shaped so inconveniently, don't you think? There was this one large Nutella jar that we got when we saw it on sale, but honestly took more than a year to finish... (we have grown out of love for it!)
So the only one big Nutella jar that was taking up space because I had no heart to trash it, finally went into the trash bin. Only to be picked up right after because I got this genius idea of using up some coir threads and a crochet rose to make it pretty. All those hours of Pinterest scrolling I must say! Isn't it pretty? My money plant has never been happier.. :-P
Lemon Rice
The first time when F had Lemon rice...
Veggie Pasta in Cheesy Bechamel Sauce
Like Truffles, I was in a pasta making phase... it is easy, versatile, and filling. But what surprised me was... I ditched the tomato based sauces which were my favourite and started having this love affair with white sauces... I feel bad for doing this to the ripe fresh tomatoes... but cheese wins.
Lemon Curd
UmmHamza of Halal Home Cooking is the sole blogger who instilled in me the love for lemony dessert even without having tasted much of them. At the hotel in Makkah where we stayed during Umrah, we had lemon tart that was out of this world. It was the last piece on the buffet and so we had to share. When the waiter asked if we would like something, we quickly asked for the lemon tart and we waited patiently for it to arrive...I was blown away... it was the best lemon tart I ever had. I resolved to try the first step - Lemon Curd.
The internet was divided on the recipe for lemon curd... either add butter in the beginning or at the end. I chose to go with the end so I can control how much goes into it. I followed Sallys Baking Addiction recipe and it came out so good that I am scared to try again! lol. I only heard failed stories and I believe mine was beginner's luck :-D
We couldn't stop licking and almost finished the jar as is... and towards the end, I made a dessert to be fair to my first jar of Lemond Curd.
Daoud Basha
#DaoudBasha or #dawoodpasha is the most wanted #lebaneserecipe of #arabicmeatballs 🤪The speculated and rumoured history with no substantial proof on why this dish is called after the man should be a major reason for you to try these meatballs in tomato sauce Lebanese way!!! At least it was for me.
Thenga varutha aracha chicken curry
Very rarely I make Kerala style curries because I hate the chore of grinding grated coconut. When I plan to make, I always end up short of some important ingredients like shallots or curry leaves. This one was my first attempt of roasted coconut paste chicken curry. It is better to check the internet than ask my mom as she may be a good cook but not all are great at sharing recipes :-) This one was adapted from Veena's Curry world.
Homemade Fig Jam
When fresh figs come to the market, I am so drawn to pick them but always step back after I notice some bugs inside the packs. This year, I picked it anyway hoping to transfer the fruits out of that pack to clear off the bugs. Little did I know, the fruit itself could house some bugs too. It was a lot for us to finish in a short time, as advised by my IG followers. I think I got almost more than a kilo. So we had some fresh and the rest I converted into this jam! It was the best Jam I ever made or had! Not exaggerating at all...
Lemon Curd Tiramisu
The last bit of lemon curd went in as the main flavour of this Tiramisu. Citrusy. his Tiramisu is all lemony! I keep hoping to blog and share the recipe but never happens... 🤭 Anyways, this is the easiest recipe because it is #nobake and #eggless 😎You will need lemon curd of course! 😎 Should we call it #lemoncream tiramisu? The #ladyfingers aka #savoiardibiscuits are dipped in sugar syrup spiked with lemon zest. The cheese cream has lemon curd folded in and voila... layer and let it sit in the fridge! Super delicious #makeahead #dessert 🤤Tahini Pistachio Dates Balls
Truffles, balls,... I am still with it. Lol. This was my creation because I love Tahini and I love Pistachio even though they are bloody expensive. Super easy with very few ingredients. Recipe included in the caption.
Fatteh Hummus
I own just two cookbooks! Everyday Lebanese Food by Mona Hamadeh and Betty Crocker's collection which I have hardly checked or tried any. I love Lebanese food as the ingredients list is never overwhelming. Simple yet rich and tasty! Like making truffles, making fatteh hummus was also a phase... I made once every week and I am so glad F also loves it. I can never rely on his tastebud and serve another dish, as he will surprise me and outright reject for a lame reason. He is a foodie but prefers fat burgers and juicy meatballs... so if such a palette can love a meatless fatteh then you should too try!
Hummus means chickpeas and not the dip. The dip gets its name from the ingredient used. Hummus. But now it has become a synonym to any dip made with any bean or legume. For this dish, all you need is yoghurt and boiled warm chickpeas and few other flavours like tahini and garlic.
Hummus means chickpeas and not the dip. The dip gets its name from the ingredient used. Hummus. But now it has become a synonym to any dip made with any bean or legume. For this dish, all you need is yoghurt and boiled warm chickpeas and few other flavours like tahini and garlic.
A post shared by Famidha Ashraf (@fashfaiz) on
Poached Egg Curry
Whenever I make this, I don't stop the tears. I miss home, my mom, my sick grandmom and all my loved ones there. InshaAllah, I should be going soon. Find the recipe for this with orotti on my blog here.
IKEA Day
Remeber the Swedish Meatballs I made sometime back based on Laura in the Kitchen's recipe? I have been wanting to visit Jeddah IKEA to taste their signature dish. I convinced F and we planned on a weekend to drive down to Jeddah!
We would be the only customers who straight walked into the Food section ignoring all the displays. I did glance and make mental note of what to check... :-) The Swedish Meatballs on the poster was looking so good that my expectation skyrocketed. What came on my plate was nothing short of trash. I was so disappointed that we had a huge carrot cake to wash off the bad taste!
Then we drove around the city, picked some good crochet yarns for some unplanned project that I am yet to look for! Lol.
Around maghrib time, F parked outside what seemed to me like a restaurant and I was not even hungry... but he told me it is the Turkish place Z was recommending, I jumped out all excited! :-D
We then went to Lulu hypermarket to get my stash of plantains and grated coconuts! Plantains are for pazhampori. My mom's ripe plantains fritters recipe is here if you want to try!
Avocado Egg Pasta
The pasta phase is still one and this one was again inspired by Laura in the Kitchen's Creamy Avocado Pasta.
Phew... April has been too kind to me. Alhamdulillah.
Do let me know if you want me to share any of the recipes. I hope to keep it shorter for the coming months but this exercise of collating monthly peaks itself feels so good!
