Daily Prompt : Fragrance

In response to daily prompt : Fragrance

When I think of fragrance, aroma, or a pleasant smell,  I think of my mom’s chicken in yogurt sauce , instantly it awakens my appetite, I cannot  wait to taste it.

Chicken by itself has no pleasing qualities, whether I look at it or smell its flesh, it turns me off. I turn around  to see something more pleasing to my eyes than a body of a chicken. It is so strange when this same animal when it’s smeared with the spices in my mother’s cupboard, cooked by my mom, I forget an hour ago, I disliked it  and now am eager to eat it.

The spices my mother uses are, ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, cardamoms green and brown, cayenne, cinnamon stick and the bay leaf,mixed together with fried onions, clarified butter and yogurt, they give  the most heavenly aroma.  These are the ingredients my mom uses to cook the chicken.

This is the   recipe to cook  chicken in yogurt sauce. It’s flavor is unbelievable and it is very tasty!

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Friday food feature: Chicken Mughal Style and Mixed vegetable

Today’s feature is Chicken Mughal Style and mixed vegetables

When Mughals came to the Indian sub-continent they brought with them fine architecture, music and food.My recipe for chicken is named “Shahi Chicken Qorma”.

The following is the recipe for chicken.

Ingredients:1. Chicken-one medium size

2. red chillies or cayenne- 1 teaspoon

3. ground coriander-2 nteaspoons

4. Salt- to taste

5. Mixed spices or garam masala- 1 teaspoon

6. Yogurt- 2 tablespoons

7.Ghee ( clarified butter) – 6 tablespoons

8.bay leaf-two leaves

9.fresh garlic- two cloves, grind it into a paste

10. Ground fresh ginger-1 tablespoon

11.Onions-three medium size( slice thinly)

Method :

In a medium pot, heat ghee or clarified butter, add two medium onions thinly sliced, fry until the onions are lightly brown. Add garam masala, fry for thirty seconds.Add the chicken pieces, fry them for five minutes.Next add the remaining spices, garlic, ginger, coriander,bay leaf, cayenne, and salt.Add a cup of water, when it dries up add the yogurt, stir and mix it well. continue to cook until the chicken is not raw. Here in North America the chicken gets soft very quickly, so the time depends on where the chicken is bought from. In Bangladesh where I am from a chicken almost takes an hour to soften. This is not the case with the chicken here in North America. Here it takes less time, it is up to the cook to make adjustments. Feel free to add or subtract the spices according to your taste buds. 🙂

Mixed vegetable and Shahi Chicken Qorma

Mixed vegetable recipe: ingredients:

 1.Frozen mixed vegetable- 1 bag

2. curry powder- 2  teaspoons

3. cayenne- 1 teaspoon

4. salt- to taste

5. vegetable oil – 3 tablespoon

6. onion – 1 small diced.

Method: In a medium saucepan , heat the oil in medium heat, add diced onions fry until they are transparent. Add the spices and the salt ,  mix and fry for a minute. Add the bag of vegetables, mix thoroughly with the spices and onion mixture, when the vegetables are coated well turn the heat down to low medium cover and let it cook for five to ten minutes. Pour the vegetables in a serving dish. It’s ready to eat.

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Daily Prompt: Game of Groans

Think of an object, an activity, or a cultural phenomenon you really don’t like. Now write a post(tongue in ….cheek or not…your call)about it’s the best thing ever.

Last week I was invited to attend a graduation party hosted by the parents of the graduate in a  church basement in the city. The hostess went all out, she cooked everything she thought would be appreciated by her guests.

There were three different dishes of chicken, there was beef and salmon fish. Rice was also served with it. We call  pulao or pilaf the English version.

The dessert was Gulab Jamun, our Canadian friends love it. We love it too and I have a recipe in my blog.

At first I was hesitant about going to the party, certain people who were  invited  are seasoned gossippers, I don’t care much about it.

The party went well, I was happy I decided to go. Sometimes I need to see people who speak the same language as me, I don’t mind speaking English ,but I do not want to lose touch with my mother tongue, which my father worked so hard to remind us we must know our own language first, then the ones we learned in school,and  in the neighborhood.

Regardless of where fate puts us it’s always a good thing to remember our roots.

And yes I had a good time speaking my mother tongue with a whole bunch of people. I enjoyed being there and realized I need to keep in touch with some of these people.

 

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365 Writing Prompt: Ripped into the headline

Write about something that happened over the weekend as though it’s the top story on your local paper.

Over the weekend we had a guest for supper. I was the cook, I did not leave any stone unturned to make it a very successful venture.

The menu was fried beef, chicken curry, garbanzo beans cooked with potatoes, matar pilaf and a salad.

For dessert I made Gulab Jamun and served it with sweet yogurt, then the herbal tea.

The beef,chicken, garbanzo beans, rice pilaf with peas and the salad were all winners.

The dessert took the second spot because I forgot one ingredient and ended up making it again. The remake was okay but could have been better. Sometimes I fail to understand why there has to be one dish which has failure written all over it.

We had a grand time, our guest was a  nice person , he enjoyed the food and we were delighted.

This was my weekend and I wouldn’t doubt it was good enough to make the headline on our local paper!

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Daily Prompt: It’s My Party

You’re throwing a party —for you ! tell us about the food, drink,events, and party favours you’ll have for your event of a lifetime.Use any theme you like— It’s *your* party!

For my party I’ll make sure to  invite all my good friends. There is Dilruba in Montreal, Evelyn in Whitby, Valerie in St.John’s, and a few others.

The foods will be my favorite and fortunately my friends like them too. I’ll do the cooking to make sure they taste good. I know all about the catering service we have here in my neck of the woods, they are not I’d call tasty.

There will be a variety of foods on the menu:

Rice pilaf, Chicken korma, spicy beef, lamb sheesh kebab.

Then I’ll prepare mixed vegetables, cauliflower with cheese, and bagharay baingan it’s an eggplant dish.

Salad : yoghurt salad, mixed vegetable salad with tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, sprinkled with lime juice.

Drinks: plain water or coke and pepsi for those who prefer them.

Dessert : Pineapple upside down cake.

Beverage: tea  and coffee.

Dinner time : 6.30  pm.

After dinner the guest will be entertained with some videos of popular singers.

Each guest will receive a small gift of a variety of chocolates .

I wanted to write the recipes of the foods but it will take too much time, since I’m the only one who’ll have to write it.

Wikipedia image of chicken korma and kabab

This is my plan, I hope you’ll enjoy reading it!

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Writing 101, Day Ten Happy( Eid-al-Fitr meal)

Today’s prompt: Tell us something about your favorite childhood meal— the one that was always a treat,that meant”Celebration” or that comforted you and has deep roots in your memory.

Free free to focus on any aspect of the meal, from the food you ate to the people who were there to the event it marked.

Today’s twist: Tell the story in your own distinct voice.

Every year after a long fasting month, we celebrated “Eid-al-Fitr.” My mom was a good cook and my Dad was a fussy eater. We the kids, all twelve of us anxiously waited for the day which meant new clothes and delicious food.

On this day Mom cooked Chicken Korma, Spicy Mutton, heavenly Pilaf and Salad. The salad was prepared with sliced tomatoes, cucumber, thinly sliced onions and hot green chillies, mom took special care for making this one, she’d slice the vegetables, combined them and sprinkled lime juice in the end.

For my mom cooking was a pleasure, the chicken she cooked was not spicy, she used onions, garlic, ginger, salt, a dash of sugar, ground coriander, cumin, clarified butter and little pieces of cinnamon sticks, green and brown cardamom.When she had all the ingredients ready she’d put it on the stove, while the chicken was simmering, she’d turn her attention to mutton.

Mutton was the dish we all loved, it had all the hot spices, when it was nearly cooked, she’d add some sliced potatoes and tomatoes. All the dishes she cooked she always used yoghurt, let me tell you this ingredient  was the reason why the food tasted so good.

The last thing she cooked was pilaf, she used a special rice named Basmati.

My mom was an expert, she always completed her cooking in an hour. When all the food was cooked, the table was set and we all sat down to eat.This was a special meal for a special day for us it was heavenly and when the day was over we’d look forward to the next ‘Eid-al fitr!

Kindly leave your feedback, it will be greatly appreciated.

Food Image from wikipedia

DP Daily Prompt: Shaken and Stirred

What’s the most elaborate,complicated meal you’ve ever cooked? Was it a triumph for the ages, or a colossal fiasco? Give us the behind the- scenes story( pictures are welcome, of course).

Call it elaborate or not it was certainly time consuming, It happens to be my first attempt to cook ‘Pad Thai’.

I got the recipe from the internet. Out of eighteen ingredients I did not have one,it was the peanuts, I let it go thinking if I didn’t have it, it was fine, one less ingredient.

It wasn’t difficult to understand the method but it was a long and arduous task.

There were so many things I had to do step by step before I could put it together.

I had to brown the chicken in batches, it took a while to get that done, then slicing the fresh carrots was a bit tough, the carrots were so hard I thought I might slice my fingers with the carrots, I thank the Lord it didn’t happen, making the sauce with so many ingredients was another thing that took long.

After investing more than two hours I was able to put it together. Why did I take so long, you may be curious, it was my first attempt, I never cooked ‘Pad Thai,’ before. I know if I try it second time it will not take this long.

My first attempt I’d say was successful, it was not a colossal fiasco!

Sorry there are no pictures, I didn’t think of it. If I took pictures the two and a half would be three and a half, which is too long to cook one dish!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/dp-daily-prompt-6/

 

365 Writing Prompts: Food for the soul(and the stomach)

Tell us about your favorite meal, either to eat or to prepare. Does it just taste great, or does it have other associations?

My favorite meal is the one my mom cooked for our special celebration of “Eid al Fitr,” it’s a day after one month of Ramadhan, there was a lot of things about this day which made us happy, we wore new clothes,my Dad gave us money and my mom cooked the most delicious meal for us.

Now when I think about  those days it makes me sad , because our parents have passed away and we the siblings live in different cities.

I try to cook the same meal Mom cooked, it’s probably not as good as my mother’s but I do try.

Rice is our staple food, so the menu will always have rice, because it’s a special day I cook rice pilaf.

Recipe for rice pilaf:

Ingredients:

1. Rice–2 cups basmati rice( wash and drain the water an hour before cooking)

2. onion –1 small( slice small pieces)

3. Clarified butter– half cup

4. salt — one and a half teaspoon

5.peas fresh or frozen — 3/4 cup

6.water– 3 cups(boil before pouring on the rice)

Spices:

1. cinnamon stick– one, half inch long

2. whole cardamom– 4

Method:

In a saucepan pour the clarified butter, onion, cinnamon,cardamom, salt , fry the spices and onion until the onion is transparent. Pour the two cups of washed rice for about two to three minutes to fry it in the same saucepan. Pour three cups of water and let the ingredients come to a boil, finally add the peas and continue to boil for another minute. Lower the heat to simmer , cover the saucepan and let the rice simmer for twenty minutes.Turn the heat off  remove the saucepan and place it on a mat for five minutes. Then serve.

Next is chicken korma recipe the way my Mom cooked it.

Ingredients:

1. One whole chicken—cut in small pieces

2. Yoghurt– half cup

3.Onion– two medium size(blend into a paste)

4. ginger fresh— two tablespoons

5. fresh garlic paste — two teaspoons

6.ground coriander–one teaspoon

7. ground cumin—one teaspoon

8. salt to taste

9.clarified butter or oil—quarter cup

10. sugar– one and a half teaspoon

11. cinnamon stick–1 inch long ( break it into smaller pieces).

Method:

Heat the oil or clarified  butter in a wide pot on top of the stove, put the onion paste, garlic and ginger, fry for five minutes, add the cumin , coriander , cinnamon sticks  and salt , fry two to three minutes more, gradually pour half cup yoghurt stir gently while pouring, next put the chicken pieces, stir until the pieces are coated with the onion mixture. Cook it in medium heat for twenty minutes, uncover and sprinkle the sugar, turn down the heat to minimum and cook about ten minutes more.Serve it in a dish.

My mom cooked chicken and rice, it was our favorite meal, she also cooked beef which was hot and spicy, for salad she used cucumber, tomatoes, onion, salt and lime juice and a few hot green chillies. they were sliced and tossed in a bowl . We enjoyed the meal with our family and always looked forward to next year.

p://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/365-writing-pr…nd-the-stomach/

 

 

 

 

365 Writing Prompts: Party animals?

After spending time with a group of people, do you feel energized and ready for anything or do you want to hide in the corner with a good book?

The parties I’m invited to attend are not crazy or noisy, they are meant to be a get together of friends and family. Main attraction is food, the hostess displays her culinary skills and wants her guests to appreciate the time she spent cooking in preparation of the grand event.

The guests come dressed in their latest Sari and jewelry, some of us admire, others do more, they actually inquire where they bought the awesome dress. Men wear suits, which doesn’t attract any conversation.

Meal is usually served to the children and the male guests first, the female guests are lucky to be served after 10 pm. If you are wondering why that is so, I can only say it is the custom.

The food is always delicious, chicken, beef, and fish is on the menu, rice is the primary food, bread is served very seldom. There are salads and other vegetable dishes served also.

After the meal dessert is served with tea or coffee.

Mothers of younger kids leave before, others wait another few minutes and make their exit.

This is the kind of party we have. I don’t feel any pressure to go home and hide in the corner with a book!

Letter K

Kalamata,Kebab, and Kale 

Are types of food I know

Kalamata is an olive

You put in your salad

Kale is a type of cabbage

 

Kebabs are tasty meats

Cooked on a grill

You can use 

Beef ,chicken ,lamb 

Or any meat you have!

 

Kaleidoscope is a tube 

Containing mirrors

And pieces of  colored glass

When you rotate it

It quickly changes patterns!

 

Kick is something you must not do

It will come back much harder

You should always be careful 

I thought I need to warn you

Kick is something you must not do!

 

Kindness you must show 

To everyone you know

Be it friends or strangers

Treat them all alike

It is a good deed to follow all your life!

 

http://www.a-to-zchallenge/

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/letter-k