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/
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