Bulgur Pilaf

I started using  Bulgur often after coming to Germany, since we shop mostly in some Turkish shop. This is a very easy one pot dish with loads of veggies and goodness. I don't know much details about this recipe and since it's the end of the week I'm really not in mood to blabber much, so straight to the recipe.

Serves 2
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients:
Bulgur wheat- 1 cup
Carrot- 1 chopped
Celery- 1 stick sliced
Onion- 1 medium sized ( finely chopped)
Green pepper- 1/2 chopped
Red pepper- 1/2 chopped
Cauliflower- 1/4 cup chopped
Vegetable stock- 1 cup
Garlic- 3 pods finely chopped
Olive oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Prepare the vegetables. Heat the oil in a pan, add garlic , onion and all the vegetables saute in medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the vegetables, stock, bulgur , 1 cup of water, salt and pepper in a rice cooker. Cook until soft and fluffy.
Serve with babaganoush, salad and grilled meat.

This recipe goes to Any One Can Cook and Eat Well live well- heart friendly recipes.

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Mini Apple Croissant

This is buttery but not flaky. After having those soft home made brioche, I really want to make use of that basic recipes and add different flavours. After looking out for few recipes I ended up in making making my own version of apple croissants, It's actually only a touch of apple flavour. It was as soft as the brioche I made earlier.
Anyway this would be great along with your breakfast, not as main. You can simply have this for tea or snack

Makes 30 mini croissants
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes+ rising time- 1 hour

Ingredients:
Dough:
White bread flour- 100 g / 4 oz
Whole wheat flour- 100 g / 4oz ( If you couldn't find whole wheat or white bread flour, you can just replace the both with All Purpose Flour)
Butter- 50 g / 2 oz
Apple Puree- 2 tbsp( recipe follows)
Egg- 1
Dried yeast- 1 1/2 tsp
Warm Milk- 75 ml / 3 oz( adjust accordingly)
Honey- 3 tbsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
For the glaze:
1 egg yolk+ 1 tbsp of milk
For the sprinkle:
Cinnamon powder- 1 tsp
Sugar- 1 tbsp

Method:
To make apple puree:
Peel, core and chop 1 apple. Add the apple along with 1/2 tbsp of honey , 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder and 1 tbsp of water in a pan. Heat it in medium to slow heat. When the apple gets completely soft, switch off the stove. Let it cool down and puree it without adding any water.
Make the dough:
Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the salt and yeast mix well. Make a well in the center, add egg, honey, apple puree, melted butter and the milk little by little to make a smooth and elastic dough. Knead the dough with a electric mixer fitted with dough hook attachment or knead well using your hands. Place the dough in a clean and oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and allow it to rise for 1 hour or until doubled  in size.
Make the croissant:
If you are new to make croissants it might sound and looks difficult but actually it's very easy. Refer the pictures for instructions.
Once the dough has risen, knock back the air. Divide the dough into two equal halves. Roll out each half into a circle of 12 cm diameter. Cut the circle into 12 equal triangles as shown in the picture. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Take 1 triangle and start rolling from the wider end to form a croissant shape. Repeat with remaining dough. Place all the croissants in a baking sheet, spaced well apart. Cover loosely with a cling film and allow it to rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes until it looks well puffed up.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Brush the croissants with the egg glaze and bake it in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until it looks golden brown on top.
Take it out from the oven, leave it to cool in the wire rack. Serve warm with butter and jam for breakfast or tea.

This recipe goes to  Champa's Bake-Off and Yeastspotting. It also goes to Deeba's Fruit in Baking  Monthly Mingle event started by Meeta

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Go Nuts For Doughnuts- Daring Bakers Challenge For October 2010

  


This is my successful third month with Daring Bakers. I never expected I would be able to complete three challenges with Daring Bakers. I know there are some brilliant bakers who have been baking with Daring Bakers for years completing so many delicious challenges but for me three itself makes happy ( Alhamdulillah). 

 This month our challenge is by Lori of  Butter Me Up.  She challenged us to make doughnuts. A person with sweet tooth will definitely go nut for doughnuts. We were given two options one with yeast and the other one is old fashioned buttermilk doughnuts. Since I had everything available for yeast doughnuts, I went for the yeast option. We were also given other options to change the flavour and shape of the doughnuts. I just used the traditional one , I dint go for any additional flavours or  shape. Actually I dint have the regular doughnut cutters, so I used a glass for the bigger round and and small cap of the bottle for the small round.

 Since doughnuts are my favourite which I always enjoy from a bakery, these freshly home made doughnuts are simply irresistible. There is something really special when it's fresh and homemade...


Ingredients:
Dough:
White bread flour- 400 g /  16 oz
Wholemeal flour- 250 g / 10 oz
Dried yeast- 14 g/ 6 tsp
Warm water- 80 ml/ 1/3 cup
Milk- 300 ml/ 1.5 cup
Eggs- 2
Sugar- 50 g/ 2 oz
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Butter- 70 g/ 3 oz
Nutmeg- 1/2 tsp grated
For the icing:
For the vanilla glaze:
Icing sugar- 250 g/ 10 oz
Warm water- 1 tbsp
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Pink colouring- a pinch
Sugar sprinkles( optional)
For the chocolate glaze:
Plain chocolate- 50 g / 2 oz
Butter- 1/2 tbsp
Icing Sugar- 150 g / 6 oz
For sugar doughnuts:
Sugar- 1/2 cup
Cinnamon powder- 1 tsp( optional)

Oil for deep frying

Method:
Prepare the dough:
Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the sugar, yeast and salt mix well. Heat the milk, add the butter to the warm milk and mix well until the butter  gets completely melted. Add the eggs to the flour mixture, add the warm water and milk mixture. Beat with the electric beater fixed with dough hook until you get a smooth dough.
 Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl and cover with a cling film allow it to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Prepare the doughnuts:
Once the dough has risen knock the air back. Divide the dough into two equal halves. Roll out the dough into 9mm thickness. Cut the doughnuts using a doughnut cutter. I used a glass and small cap of bottle to cut the circles.

 Place the doughnuts in a tray, cover loosely with a cling film and allow it to rise for another 30 minutes or until it looks puffed up.
 Heat the oil in a skillet or whichever pan you use for deep frying would be good. Drop the doughnuts one by one and deep fry it until reaches a golden brown in colour.

Prepare the glaze:
For the glaze:

Vanilla glaze
Sift the icing sugar in a bowl, add the extract and hot water, mix well. Pour the glaze on top of the doughnuts, or dip the doughnuts in icing.
For colouring, add a drop of colouring to the icing.
Use any sprinkles of your choice.
Chocolate Glaze:
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl sitting on top of pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate and butter gets completely melted.
Remove the bowl from water. Add the sifted icing sugar and mix well without any lumps. Dip the doughnuts in the icing and sprinkle with sugar sprinkles or chocolate or chopped nuts.
For Sugar Doughnuts:

Mix the sugar and cinnamon powder together. Roll the doughnuts in cinnamon sugar.


Have fun in making the doughnuts and enjoy the doughnuts.

If you are interested in Daring bakers and want to join click here.

This recipe goes to Yeastspotting.

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Walnut and Almond Kheer with Sheermal

I love to have kheer not only as a dessert but also simply slurp it up any time, that too if it's badam kheer. It just keeps going for me. I was planning to make walnut kheer, since I was short of walnuts, I mixed both walnuts and almonds.
I'm always a big fan of paal poori or Milk poori's. This sheermal and kheer is something very similar to that. Sheermal is a flat bread made with saffron flavours traditionally made in Iran, Pakistan and also in North of India. You can also make this bread similar to naan shapes and serve with kebabs or a bit small size to serve with kheer.


Walnut and Almond Kheer

Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Walnuts- 50 g/ 2 oz
Almond- 75 g/ 3 oz
Brown or white sugar- 100 g/ 4 oz
Milk- 1/2 litre
Saffron- 1/2 tsp soaked in 1 tbsp of warm milk
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Method:
There are two methods in which you can do this kheer, either you can remove the almonds skin or just leave it . I prefer it with the skin.
Prepare the nuts:
Soak the almonds and walnuts in warm milk( just enough to immerse the nuts)  for 1 hour and grind it along with the milk.
If you prefer without skin, after soaking, boil them twice. Let it cool down for a while, then remove the skin.
Prepare the kheer:
Mix the ground mixture with milk, saffron and sugar. Bring to boil in a pan in medium to low heat. Keep stirring without burning at the bottom. Heat it and mix it up until it reaches a thick consistency. Finally sprinkle with cardamom powder.
Serve warm or cold. You can serve it by itself or with sheermal.

This recipe goes to Celebrate Sweets- Kheer hosted by me started by Nivedita.

Sheermal

Recipe adapted from Fauzia's Pakistani Recipes

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes+ rising time- 1 hour
Makes 20 mini sheermal

Ingredients:
Plain flour- 100 g/ 4 oz
Wholemeal flour- 100 g/ 4 oz
Sugar- 50 g/ 2 oz
Butter- 30 g/ 1 oz/ 1 tbsp
Warm milk- 75 ml / 3 oz
Dried yeast- 1 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Saffron- 1/2 tsp soaked in 1 tbsp of warm milk
Raisins / Sultanas - about 20
Method:
Prepare the dough: 
Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the melted butter and then add the milk little by little to make a smooth elastic dough. Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl. Cover with a cling film and allow it to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Make the Sheermal:
Take the raised dough, punch the air back. Divide the dough into two equal rounds. Roll it out into a rectangle, cut it out into mini squares out of it. Prick with a fork in each square.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree celsius. Brush the Sheermals with saffron milk, press a sultana in the middle and bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Take it out from the oven, allow it cool down in the cooling rack.
Serve the sheermals with kheer.

This recipe goes to Bookmarked recipes by Priya and Aipi, Champa's Bake- off event, Yeastspotting.

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Any One Can Cook : Series 5

This is again another successful fifth series of Any One Can Cook. I thank each and everyone who support this event by constantly sending your recipes, without your help Any One Can Cook couldn't achieve this fifth series.
 If you are new reader to this blog, to view the event details please click here.

To view the previous series of the event click here

I have noticed that there is some problem in the linky tool, sometimes it that appear. If you experience any problem in linking your recipe, mail me your recipe url at ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com  or leave a comment below this post with your recipe url. 

Just remember a few rules before linking your recipe, your recipe should fall under any one of the following categories. When you are linking your recipe here, please give the short form as I have mentioned to make it easy for the readers.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

The link will be opened from Monday- Friday, so common let's make cooking easy....

Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

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Vegetable Soup with Crusty Oats Rolls

As long as I was in  India , I was familiar with very few types of soups like Chinese style soup, which we have only in restaurants. Chicken soup which we make in home for babies or for women after delivery. Finally our very famous Nombu Kanji( a rice based porridge with vegetables or meat and mildly spiced).
  Now with the magic of Internet and few travel experiences have introduced me to so many different types of soup like cold soup,British style soup, French soup, Noodle soup...... the list just keeps going. Once I even saw some chocolate soup made by a celebrity chef , I don't remember his name exactly but I definitely remember it was white chocolate soup with scones.
  Soups are always a comforting and filling food for people of all ages at any time. I always prefer a bowl of soup with some crusty bread  for a light and satisfying meal. This particular soup is a simple English style soup which is prepared with potatoes and stock as base. Just with this basic recipe you can make so many different types of soup. I was actually planning to make some broccoli soup but I ended up adding all the remaining bits of vegetables I had which resulted in this heart warming bowl of vegetable soup.

Vegetable Soup

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
Leeks- 1 small sized roughly chopped
Onion- 1 small sized chopped finely
Potato- 1 small sized chopped finely
Celery- 3 sticks chopped
Carrot- 1 medium sized roughly chopped
Broccoli- 1/2 of 1 broccoli
Olive oil- 3 tsp
Garlic- 3 pods chopped roughly
Vegetable stock/ Chicken stock - 1/2 litre
Milk- 2 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste.
Method:
Prepare the stock:
If  you are using a shop bought stock, prepare according to the instructions. Remember whenever you are using a shop bought one, don't get the one with cornstarch or additional flavours in it, these stocks will completely ruin your soup texture and flavour. A good soup should have a good stock. I have a recipe for chicken stock, you can check that. To make a vegetable stock follow the same instructions without chicken.
Prepare the vegetables:
Chop the vegetables roughly and set aside.
Make the soup:
Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan, which is a bit deeper. Add the garlic, then onion. Don't let them brown. Reduce the heat to medium, quickly add all the vegetables one by one and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Take care not to burn at the bottom. Add the stock, cover the pan and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then finally add the milk. Let it cool down for a while, then blend it in a blender until smooth. Return to the pan again and heat it up. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the soup warm with some crusty rolls.


Crusty Oats Rolls

Serves 2
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 to 25 minutes + rising time

Ingredients:
Dough:
White Bread Flour- 150 g/ 6 oz
Wholemeal flour- 50 g/ 2 oz
Rolled oats- 20 g/ approximately 1 oz
Dried yeast- 1 tsp
Warm water- 120 ml ( adjust accordingly when kneading the dough)
Honey- 2 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Toppings:
Mixed seeds- 1 tbsp( optional)
Milk- 1 tbsp( for glaze)

Method:
Prepare the dough:
Mix all the dough ingredients in a large bowl, make it into a smooth dough by kneading with your hands or a electric mixer.
Place the dough in a clean and oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and allow it to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Make the rolls:
Take the raised dough. Divide the dough in to 5 small rounds. Place it in a baking tray. Cover loosely with a cling film and allow it to rise for another 30 minutes.
Bake the rolls:
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. Take the rolls, brush with milk and sprinkle with the seeds. Bake it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Serve the rolls warm with soup.


The soup and the bread goes to my own event Eat Well, Live Well- Heart Friendly Recipes. The soup goes to  Souper Sundays of Kahakai Kitchen, The Soup event by I-m-not-a-Chef.
The Crusty Oats Rolls goes to Dish Name starts with C by Akila, Bake- Off by Champa and yeastspotting.

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Punjabi Kadhi

Recently I came across this recipe in so many blogs which tempted me a lot to do. Since I already bookmarked this recipe from Chef in you, I tried her version, which came out really good. DK has described this as it's almost similar to South Indian Moor Kulambu which is totally true.
 Punjabi khadi is nothing but a spicy and tangy buttermilk gravy filled with crispy and spicy pakoras. A famous  vegetarian dish of Punjab.
 With the pakoras in the spicy yogurt gravy was a perfect combination with rice and poppadoms. Although my husband felt that if we add chicken pakoras the taste would have doubled :)
Serves 2
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Recipe adapted from DK of Chef In You

Ingredients:
For the Gravy:
Yogurt- 150 ml/ 6 oz
Besan Flour/ Gram flour- 1 tbsp
Ajwain- 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar a pinch
For the pakoras:
Onion- 1 big sized sliced lenghtways
Dried Fenugreek leaves/ Kasoori Methi- 2 tsp crushed
Besan/ Gram flour- 75 g/ 3 oz
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt- to taste
For Seasoning:
Cinnamon stick- 1/4 inch
Whole black peppercorns- 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
Methi seeds- 1/4 tsp
Grated ginger- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- 1 stalk (only leaves)
Dried red chilly- 1
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Oil- 2 tsp
Oil- for frying the pakoras

Method:
Make the pakoras:
First make the pakoras by mixing all the pakora ingredients in a bowl by adding very little water. The mixture should be similar to that of regular or baji mixture or a sticky fritters mixture.
Heat the oil in a kadai for deep frying. Check the oil is hot by dropping a small amount of mixture in the oil. If it pops up immediately and floats on top of the oil, then the temperature of the oil is right.
Drop small teaspoonful of mixture in the oil and deep fry it until golden brown. Drain from the oil and set aside.
Heat some water in a pan, when the water boils, switch it off. Add the pakoras in the boiling water, take it out after 1 minute. Squeeze the water gently without crumbling the pakoras.
Make the gravy:
To make the gravy, mix all the gravy ingredients in bowl with 250 ml of water. It should resemble like a thin buttermilk. Add the mixture to the pan and bring it to heat in a medium flame. Stir continuously, when it gets heated up and just in the boiling point take it off from heat. Add the pakoras to the gravy.
Heat oil in a pan, add all the seasoning ingredients, when the mustard seeds start spluttering and the red chillies turn brown, pour the seasoning on top of the gravy.
Serve with plain rice a and poppadoms.

This recipe goes to Tried and Tasted hosted by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes , organized by Laksmi of Kitchen Chronicles, Flavours Of Punjab hosted by Foodelicious started by Nayna and to Bookmarked Recipes by Priya and Aipi.

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Baba Ganoush With Sfeeha( Meat Pie)

Baba ganoush and Sfeeha are traditional Middle eastern recipes. I know you might wonder by looking at my bread why it looks like this. Actually sfeeha is a meat pie, made in bread dough stuffed with meat, it usually has folds in the side, since I didn't give a proper fold, when the bread raised, stuffed meat became like a topping. So yeah it became a cross between pizza and pie.
Baba Ganoush is also well known Middle eastern dip. You can serve this pitta bread, tortilla or even normal bread. Baba Ganoush is made with mashed eggplant and different seasonings.
Baba Ganoush

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves:2
Ingredients:
Eggplant- 1
Yogurt- 3 tbsp
Tahini- 1 tbsp
Lemon juice- juice of 1 medium sized lemon
Garlic- 3 cloves grated
Olive oil- 2 tbsp
Parsley or coriander leaves- 1 tbsp chopped
Salt as required
Method:
Preheat the oven to 250 degree celsius. Slice the eggplant into half, drizzle with olive oil. Roast it in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the skin looks blackened. Take out the eggplant, scoop the middle out, put it in a blender along with the other ingredients except parsley and blend it to smooth. Serve it in a bowl by sprinkling some parsley and drizzled with olive oil.
You can store the baba ganoush in a clean box for up to 1 week in your refrigerator.

Sfeeha( Meat Pie)

Preparation Time: 45 minutes( for dough and the filling)
Cooking Time: 1 hour( For the bread and the filling)+ rising time for the dough
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
For the dough:
White Bread Flour- 300 g/ 12 oz
Dried yeast- 1 1/2 tsp
Warm water- 120 ml / 5 oz( adjust accordingly when making the dough)
Sugar- 1 tsp
Olive oil- 2 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
For the filling:
Minced meat- 200 g/ 8 oz
Paprika powder- 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Green pepper- 1 chopped
Onion- 1 chopped
Tomato paste- 2 tbsp
Olive oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt as required
Method:
For the dough:
Mix all the dough ingredients to make it into a smooth dough. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl and cover with a cling film, leave it in a warm place to rise for about 1 to 2 hours. Meanwhile prepare the filling.
Prepare the filling or topping:
Heat the oil in a pan, add ginger garlic paste and onion. Fry it till the onion becomes transparent. Then add the meat, paprika powder and salt. Mix it well, cover the pan, keep the heat in medium and cook till the meat is completely cooked. Add the chopped green pepper, keep the pan opened and cook till all the water dries out. Allow the mixture to cool completely.
Prepare the bread:

Take the raised dough, punch the air back. Divide the dough into 7 to 8 balls. Grease a 23 cm loose bottomed round tin. Place the balls in the pan leaving some space, flatten each ball with your fingers. Mix the filling with the tomato paste and keep the filling in the middle of each round. Cover the pan loosely with cling film and allow it to rise for another 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.
Bake the bread for about 30 minutes.
Serve the bread warm with salad, yogurt, babaganoush or hummus.
Sfeeha and Babaganoush goes to Taste Of  Lebanon- Monthly Mingle hosted by Dirty Kitchen Secrets started by Meeta.

Sfeeha goes to Yeast spotting, Babaganoush goes to my own event Any One Can Cook .

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Any One Can Cook : Series 4

Hi Dear readers and food bloggers,
I can't believe it's been four weeks since I started this event. This is another successful fourth series. Thank you all dear food bloggers who support this event every week by sending your lovely recipes. I hope I'll get the same support  from you all in the oncoming series too.
If you are new reader to this blog, to view the event details please click here.
To view the previous series of the event click here

Just remember a few rules before linking your recipe, your recipe should fall under any one of the following categories. When you are linking your recipe here, please give the short form as I have mentioned to make it easy for the readers.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

The link will be opened from Monday- Friday, so common let's make cooking easy....

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Eat Well Live Well, New Monthly event with a giveaway offer from CSN

I'm very happy to announce my new monthly event Eat Well Live Well with a giveaway offer from CSN stores. Before going to in about the event details let me first start with a giveaway. CSN stores is a very popular online shopping site which has more than 200 online stores. You can find anything whatever you need like a royal looking dinner set, stylish handbags or a nice barstool, bakeware, cookware, home decor, lighting etc...
All in one place with different price ranges, CSN offers a very good quality of products.
Looking for some stylish looking barstool check these out

or a nice breakfast bar chair in your kitchen to chat with your family and do the cooking, check these out.

CSN stores also has some classic dinnerware collections

Some stunning  collection of chandeliers

You can find everything in one place from kitchen utensils, dinnerware, bags and suitcase, home decor, furniture's etc.... To see all the products from CSN click here.


To enter the giveaway:
1. You have to submit a recipe for the event, you can see the details of the event below. Along with the recipe post, check the CSN site and give a link of the product which you like the most.
2. The giveaway is open to visitors only from US, Canada, Germany and UK, the event is open to everyone around the world.
3.One lucky winner will be chosen to receive $ 50 gift certificate for US or Canada, £ 35 gift voucher for UK or 40 euros gift voucher for Germany.
4. The event starts from Oct 17th and ends by Nov 30th

Next coming to the event..
EAT WELL LIVE WELL: Heart Friendly Recipes

I'm happy to announce this new  Eat Well Live Well event. This is not going to be every month, it might be every two months or 45 days once, it just depends upon my time constraints. I know there are lots and lots of event going on, sometimes I miss a few events. What I think is more events, more fun, more good food. This event is particularly aimed at healthy eating. Almost all the events which we have are aimed at healthy life style of food, but for this one I have decided to take some health related theme for each series. As long as we have something we always take it from granted, and once the moments we start loosing them we deeply regret for not taking care. This happens with everything like in our relationship, any thing, job, food, house, health etc....
 Technology has improved so much and the disease are also keep increasing inspite of all healthy life style which we try to adapt.
When we lose our health we lose almost everything, there is nothing can be more stressful when we are unable to do our own basic needs. The key or main important thing to maintain a good health is food.... Not just food, what we eat, when we eat are the most important. If you have a very good, perfect and healthy lunch and skip your breakfast and dinner doesn't help you maintain a good health.
Along with good food you should also have proper eating habits without skipping any of your meals. No matter how busy you are, take time to sit, relax and enjoy your every meal. I know it may not be possible if you are overloaded with work, but still you can try. If you have to spend some extra money for your good food, if it's affordable for you, without having a second thought, spend the money and have good food.
Right now coming to our first series of  Eat Well Live Well, I have chosen Heart Friendly Recipes as the theme.To keep your heart healthy along with good eating habit, you should also have good exercise and stress free.
To have a good diet you should know about the food groups, some of the foods you need more and some very less.
Fruits and vegetables has to be your first third of your diet.
Starchy Food has to be next third like rice, bread, pasta etc... use wholemeal as much as possible.
Protein should be the final third like meat, eggs, fish and other dairy products
High fat and sugar should be in very less amount.


Eat atleast two portions of oily fish every week to maintain a healthy heart.
Cut down the saturated fats like butter, margarine, coconut oil etc and replace it with unsaturated fats like olive oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil or soya oil, doesn't mean that you can eat chicken deep fried in olive oil.
Try to grill instead of frying.
Salt is one of the major cause of heart disease, cut down your salt level as much as possible.


Prevention is always better than cure, make a few changes to your life style to maintain a health heart. So come join with me and cook heart friendly recipes to care for you and your family, and share it with this event to help others to maintain a healthy diet.


The above all information regarding heart healthy diet is from British Heart Foundation, read more from here.


A few rules for the event:
1. Prepare a heart friendly food from now till Nov 30th and post it in your blog. Avoid red meat, saturated fats completely. As always recipes using pork and alcohol are not allowed. 
2. To enter the giveaway give a link about the product from CSN in your post.
3. If you are not from US, Canada, UK or Germany you don't have to give a link.
4. You can also send some informative articles regarding heart disease or diet along with the source of the article.
5. Give a link about this event announcement along with the logo in your post. You can send as many recipes as you wish. Archived entries are also more than welcome.
6.Email me recipe at ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com with the following details:
Name:
Recipe name and Url:
Picture of the dish:
Country:
7. Non bloggers mail me your full recipe along with the picture to the above mail id.


The deadline is December 15th, hurry and send me your recipes soon to win the giveaway.


Any suggestions, concerns or comments are more than welcome. So come let's cook some heart healthy food and share it with our friend's and family. I hope I get a good response from all dear bloggers as always..

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Hazelnut Bread For World Bread Day

As we all know about Bread Baking Day started by Zorra which is very popular among all bread lovers. Every month a specific theme is given to bake a bread which I enjoy a lot to take part and wait for all the fresh roundup. World Bread Day is like an annual event by Zorra in which you can bake any bread with or without yeast and submit your entry for the event here.
 Till last every year every time I just look at the roundup of this event with some amazing collection of bread from all over the world, first time I take part in this event and I really wanted to make something good, when I think like this it always get messed up. The Bread I made today was supposed to be Hazelnut Twist Bread, but twist disappeared after baking, the shape of the bread disappointed me but the flavours didn't, the filling and the soft textured bread was simply irresistible....

Recipe adapted from the book The Bread by Christine Ingram.


Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes + rising time : 1 1/2 hrs
Serves 8 to 10


Ingredients:
White Bread Flour- 450 g
Butter- 75 g
Milk- 200 ml
Yeast- 7 g
Egg- 1
Sugar- 75 g
Salt- 1 tsp
Finely grated zest of orange- 1 tsp
For the filling:
Ground Hazelnut or almonds- 75 g
Egg white- 1
Brown Sugar- 50 g
Grated Nutmeg- 1 tsp
For the topping:
Egg yolk- 1
Milk- 1 tbsp
Mixed crushed nuts- 1 tbsp
Icing Sugar- 3 tbsp
Hot water- 1/2 tbsp

Method:
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl. Heat the butter and milk in a pan until the butter gets completely melted. Make a well in the center of flour mixture, add the orange zest, egg and little by little the milk mixture to make a smooth dough. Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl and cover it with a cling film. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Take the dough and the knock down the air back and divide the dough into two equal halves. Roll out each dough into a rectangle. Mix all the filling ingredients together and spread it on top of two rectangles. Roll each dough like a swiss roll. Join the two rolls and twist it up. Join both the ends to form a loop.
Grease a 23 cm round baking tray, place the loop in the pan and place a bowl in the middle of the loop. Cover the pan loosely with a cling film and allow it to rise for another 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. Take the raised dough and remove the bowl from the middle. Beat the egg yolk and milk lightly, brush it on top of the bread and sprinkle with nuts. Bake it in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown on top.
For the icing, sift the icing sugar in a bowl and mix it with hot water, drizzle over the warm bread.

This bread goes straight to World Bread Day 2010.

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Blackberry Pudding : Eggless

If  you are looking  for some  pudding, which is very easy to make and without egg then you definitely have to go for agar agar or china grass. Agar agar is derived from a red algae. Agar means jelly in Malay( Malaysian language). This is something which is very popularly used in Asian countries for desserts. There are so many flavours you can introduce to this agar agar like coconut milk, different fruity flavours, chocolate, almonds and other nuts. You can also just make with water and sugar, pour it in different jelly mould to attract your kids.
To buy agar agar click here.

Cooking Time: 20 minutes
To set: Takes about 1 to 2 hours

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Agar agar- 2 tbsp of strands
Milk- 1/2 litre
Sugar- 4 tbsp( adjust according to your taste)
Pureed Blueberries or blackberries- 3 tbsp
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
For the sauce:
Fresh Blueberries or blackberries- 100 g
Maple syrup- 2 tbsp

Method:
To puree the blueberries, take some fresh blueberries or blackberries, wash well and  puree it in a blender by adding little water and set it aside.
Then mix the agar agar and milk in a pan, bring to boil in a medium heat. Keep stirring continously so that it doesn't burn at the bottom.
When the agar agar looks completely dissolved in the milk, add the sugar and stir well. When the sugar gets dissolved, add the extract and switch it off from flame. Let it cool down for a while about 10 minutes.
Then add the pureed blackberries and mix well. Pour the mixture in a individual serving dish and let it set down or pour it in a big square dish, let it set and cut it into squares.
To make the sauce:
Add the fresh blueberries and maple syrup in a pan, heat it in a medium to low heat. Stir every now and then, once the fruit looks softened and mashed take it off from heat.
Just before serving, pour the sauce on top of the pudding and serve.
This recipe goes to Healing Foods : Agar Agar hosted by Kitchen Samraj started by Siri's corner.To my own event Any One Can Cook , Only Festive event hosted by Khaugiri started by Pari, CFK : Festive Food hosted by Veggie Platter started by Sharmi.

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Cinnamon Fantans

These fantail rolls look stylish and are so versatile that they can be good as a simple snack, for a weekend breakfast or even for gourmet dinner party. With the addition of buttermilk this bread is soft , you'll never stop munching this....

As usual this bread is also a recipe adapted from my book, The Bread.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes+ rising time 1 hour + 30 minutes

Makes 9 rolls
Ingredients:
White Bread Flour- 375 g / 13 oz
Butter- 65 g / 2 1/2 oz / 5 tbsp
Buttermilk- 75 ml / 5 tbsp at room temperature
Milk- 75 ml / 5 tbsp
Caster Sugar- 2 tsp
Dried yeast- 3/ 4 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
1 egg lightly beaten
Method:
Sift the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast and sugar, mix it up. Heat the 3 tbsp of  butter and milk in a pan until the butter is completely melted. Allow it cool down lukewarm.
Make a well in the center of flour mixture, add the buttermilk, egg and melted butter and milk. Knead the dough using a dough tool or hand until you get a smooth and elastic dough.
Place the dough in a clean and oiled bowl, cover with a cling film. Allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Turn the dough to a floured work surface , knock the air and knead it until smooth and elastic. Roll it out into a rectangle of 45* 30 cm and 1/4 inch thickness.

Melt the remaining butter and brush it on top of the dough, sprinkle with cinnamon powder.. Cut the dough into 5 equal strips lengthways. Stack the strips on top each other and cut it into 9 equal 5 cm strips.
Grease a muffin tray.
Pinch one side of the layered strip together and then place the pinched side down in the muffin tray. Repeat with the remaining strips. Cover the tray with a lightly oiled cling film and allow it to rise in a warm place for 30  minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden.
Turn it out to a wire rack to cool, dust it with icing sugar.

This recipe goes to yeastspotting, Champa's Bake- Off and to Hearth and Soul. This recipe also goes to Dish Name Starts With C by Akila.

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Turkish Lentil Rice

My first impression for this recipe was during Iftar, I had this in the mosque for the very first time, it was packed with full of flavours, although it contains very simple and less ingredients. I immediately asked my friend about this recipe, she said it's just rice and pasta( risi). I seriously have know idea where does the flavour for this rice comes from, but I simply love it.
Serves 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
Turkish white rice or parboiled rice- 2 cups
Brown Lentils- 1/2 cup
Risi- 3 tbsp( a types of pasta, looks slightly bigger than rice)
Butter- 1 tbsp
Salt as required
Method:
Cook the lentils until they are just cooked, don't let them change their shape or get mashed. Heat the butter in a pan, add the risi and fry until are light brown in colour. Add the washed rice, lentils and the pasta in a rice cooker along with salt and water. Cook until the rice is done.
Serve the rice with green chicken curry or any curry of your choice along with salad.

This recipe goes to Kids Lunch Box Treat by Taste Buds, Just another meatless monday and Any One Can Cook.

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