Sunday 26 October 2014

Sesame Meatballs + Real Chips + Adventures in Honeycomb: 18 October - 24 October 2014

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful






I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet.
I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.
 Saturday: Sometimes my Dad buys chickens direct from a farm itself.
Farm chicken, as we call them, always take a lot longer to cook than usual. Today Mum cooked them into a simple curry in the pressure cooker to speed up the process.
Mum also made another version of one her favourites - Stuffed Chicken Breast. The last time she cooked it was back in June.
Today, she first marinaded them in yoghurt, red chilli powder, salt, dried fenugreek and curry powder.
They were then stuffed with cream cheese, fresh coriander, red chilli powder, ground coriander, ground cumin and salt. After baking in a hot oven, they were ready. And, they produced the most wonderful gravy.
To serve with them, I roasted a few different vegetables.
Potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli ..
... tossed with salt, pepper and olive oil ..
.. in a single layer on a lined baking tray, and roasted for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees.
Until they were tender and crispy!
Slice up the chicken and surround with the roasted veg for a delicious Saturday night roast dinner.
Sunday: Sunday morning with Dad's scrambled eggs, candles, coffee and cookbooks.
Ingredients lined up for a rainy Sunday bake.
This is the recipe I chose.
Here is the full photo recipe!
For dinner, I made Sesame-Spiced Chicken Meatballs with a Smashed Chickpea Salad.
We ate them with sliced cucumber, tomato, lettuce and pickled peppers.
Plain yoghurt flavoured with mint sauce and salt.
And, pitta bread!
It was honestly one of the best meals I've had in a long time.
The sesame seeds added a real crunch to the meatballs almost as if they had a crispy batter around them - I will definitely try and share the recipe with you all.
Monday: No pictures today so here are a few of my favourite posts from my Instagram feed.
 
Tuesday: I helped Mum cook a few dishes today. First, a lamb curry. Here are lamb chops being browned in oil and garam masala on a high heat.
 Once browned, a puree of onions was added.
On the other cooker, a chicken stock was being made for the Chicken Pulao.
Spices were added to the lamb ...
... along with blended, fresh tomatoes.
 In a separate pan, onions were gently cooking for the rice.
 For a pulao, the colour of the onions will determine the colour of the finished rice.
And, here is the finished rice - ready to eat!
Along with the Lamb Chop Curry. The recipe was adapted from here.
I had a few ripe bananas lying around ...
... so decided to bake a Nutella Banana Bread. The recipe I used can be found here. It didn't turn out that good though. I have this thing where I'm very critical of myself and everything I bake or cook. Like, it has to be perfect especially if I'm going to share it with you guys. And, this banana bread did not pass my test. But I took pictures so I'll share them with you anyway.

I roasted a few hazelnuts in a hot oven.
 By rubbing them in a tea towel, I removed the skins and roughly chopped them.

I peeled and mashed up those bananas.
 Into a stand mixer went brown sugar ...
Milk
Two eggs
 Melted butter
 And, vanilla.
 Everything was mixed together.
 Then, a blend of plain flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda was added.
 Along with the mashed bananas.
 And, the chopped hazelnuts.
 The batter was ready - I should have realised that something was wrong here as it was quite thick.

Anyway, it was time for the Nutella.
 Nutella should make everything better right?
It was swirled into the batter as the recipe had said.
 More Nutella was swirled on top, and flaked almonds were added to one of the loaves as per the mothers request.
 Once baked, I have to admit they looked pretty good.
 

 Once sliced, it didn't live up to my expectation of what banana bread should taste like. And, I've baked a few in my time.
Wednesday: Today was cold, really cold. Like, there was an actual bite in the air, if that makes sense. We had been gifted quite a large amount of Cyprus potatoes, and so decided to make chips - real, deep-fried chips.
We gathered the traditional accompaniments.
And, had a delicious and very filling lunch treat to ward off all that cold outside.
 
Thursday: Last night, I marinaded a chicken breast with a paste made with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and Ras al Hanout. I steamed the chicken and then shredded it and popped it onto a soft tortilla. 
My tub of Ras al Hanout (which I bought from here) is nearly finished and I was thinking that I should make my own next time. Coincidentally, the lovely This Muslimah Cooks posted her easy recipe for it on Instagram. All you do, is stir the above spices together and store in an airtight container. 
I topped the chicken with shredded lettuce, sliced cucumber, tomato and mint yoghurt, and wrapped the whole thing up. And, it was really good. Like, really good.
The recipe was adapted from here.
Friday: I have wanted to make Honeycomb for a long time.
Today, I finally did.
It takes a while to get started but once you add the bicarbonate, everything happens at once. 
It goes into a prepared tin to cool.

Before being used in something which I have had the idea to make for ages - and I'll tell you about it next week.
It does involve a bit of milk, vanilla pod and egg yolks.
And, a ball of doughnut dough.

Recipes Posted on the blog This Week:


Butter Chicken - there's a million recipes out there for this classic curry, but this is my mother's recipe, and it's pretty good.


Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies - a perfect sweet and salty treat for a grey autumn morning.



My favourite links from around the web this week:

1. Aspects and principles about the modern Islamic home.
2. 10 most common cooking mistakes
3. Ever wanted to bake a pumpkin pie?
4. An easy and delicious dinner idea. 
5. Baked fried chicken anyone?
6. Use up all your veggies odds and ends with this soup.
7. These granola bars!
8. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip - enough said.
9. This chicken and rice dish looks so good!
10. For anyone with a cold - you're welcome, and get well soon!



I hope you all have a wonderful week. Keep warm - it's cold out there!

Wasalaam!


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