arabic desserts: January 2011

Any One Can Cook : Series 14

Hi Everyone,
Last week I was happy to see lots of enthusiastic bloggers in Any One can Cook. Thank everyone for participating in Any One Can Cook . The success of this depends upon all the bloggers who come forward to submit your recipes, which will help so many budding cooks from around the world. Looking forward to more enthusiastic support this week.
If you are new reader to this blog you can view the event details 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. If your recipe falls under any of the two categories or all the three categories also you can mention it. When you are linking if you forget to give the short form don't worry, no problem about that.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post.

If you find any trouble in linking your recipe please mail me your recipe link ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com.

Also don't forget to check out my blogging buddies in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Eggless Poha Muffin

Poha is nothing but rice flakes. This is my first trial with poha in muffins and eggless version. I have to say it turned out quite successful . Simple ingredients which can be mixed up in minutes and bake it. This simple and low fat muffin would make an ideal breakfast or snack.
Check our bloggers in marathon here Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.,Usha

Ingredients:
Poha or rice flakes- 50 g
Wholewheat flour- 150 g
Brown Sugar- 70 g
Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
Olive oil- 60 ml
Buttermilk- 150 ml
Banana- 1 mashed
Baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/4 tsp

Method:
Soak the rice flakes in water for 10 minutes until they look soft and mushy. Add all the dry ingredients to the rice flakes.
Mash the banana well, add the buttermilk, vanilla essence and oil, mix it well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius. Grease a muffin tray and line with muffin cases. Spoon the mixture equally among the muffin cases. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Serve the muffin while they are still warm drizzled with some honey or maple syrup.

Note:
Do not overmix the muffin mix, it will result in a stodgy muffin. If you are looking for a light and airy muffin, mix until they are just combined.

This recipe goes to Healthy Recipe Hunt- Poha by Kurinji Kadambam, Dish Name Starts With E, Any One Can Cook and Fast Food Not Fat Food.

Panini All' Olio

Panini All'oli is a Italian bread rolls made with different shapes. Please don't ask me what's the meaning of Panini All'Olio, I definitely don't know. If anybody know the meaning of it I would be glad to know about that. I made this very long time age and it's been sitting in drafts. If you are continuously reading my blog for the past few weeks, you should have notice about the marathon among the bloggers. Since I don't want to miss the marathon, I'm posting this today..
Again don't forget to check our bloggers in marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes+ rising time
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Makes 12 rolls

Ingredients:
Unbleached bread flour- 450 g
Dried yeast- 1 1/2 tsp
Warm water- 250 ml
Olive oil- 60 ml
Salt- 1 tsp

Method:
Sift the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the dried yeast and mix well. Make a well in the center, add the olive oil and warm water little by little to make smooth elastic dough. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes. Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl. Cover with a cling film and allow it to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Take the dough and punch the air back. Divide the dough into 12 equal rolls and make it into shapes as follows.
To make finger shaped rolls:

1. Roll each piece into oval shape.
2. Start twisting the oval shape from the wider end
3. Form it into a finger shaped rolls.

To make twisted spiral rolls:

1. Roll each piece of dough into 30 cm long and 4 cm wide
2. Twist it loosely into spiral shapes and join the edges together

Place the finger shaped rolls and spiral shaped rolls in a baking sheet. For the remaining rolls make them into round balls and place it in a baking sheet. Cover loosely with a cling film and allow it to rise for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.

To make artichoke shaped rolls:

1. Using kitchen scissors make 5 mm deep cuts in the plain round dough.

Bake it in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Serve warm with butter and jam or just with hummus.

This recipe goes to yeastspotting

Please Vote For Me

Hi Everyone,
I'm happy to announce that my recipe Chum Chum is selected in the top 5 in Manjula's Kitchen Cooking Contest. If you think my recipe deserves to win, please vote for me. To vote click here

Also don't forget to check out my blogging buddies in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Biscuit Joconde: Daring Baker's Challenge for January 2011

This month our challenge is given to us by Aesthroshe, she challenged us to make Biscuit Joconde, imprime/entremet. Imprime is a French baking term. Joconde is nothing but a thin flexible cake made with different patterns. This is used in desserts as a base or covering. This flexible cake easily fits in the mould and it retains it's texture even after chilling.

   The moment I saw this as a challenge for this month in Daring Baker's forum, it was like a wow for me and I planned so much for that. Guess what ! I didn't make anything according to the plan. I was actually planning for some nice filling like blackberry mousse, mango mousse, cheesecake, cold souffle etc...
  Since I left till the last moment, I mean very last minute, I made it only yesterday night. So I ended up making in a simply chocolate mousse, topped with readymade custard mix and jelly. The custard was bit wobbly and it was quite hard to hold it's shape in the mould I made. However the joconde was absolutely amazing. I have decided to make this for all my cold dessert as a base. I have to say millions of thanks for Aesthroshe for this amazing recipe which she has given.

Preparation Time: For Joconde- 1 hrs
   For Filling- 1 hr
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
Joconde Sponge:
Ground Almond- 85 g
Cake flour- 25 g( for every 100 g of plain flour add 1 tbsp of cornflour)
Icing Sugar- 75 g
Eggs- 3
Egg white- 3
White granulate sugar- 1 tbsp
Butter- 30 g( melted)
Joconde decor paste:
Butter- 200 g softened
Cake flour- 170 g
Cocoa powder- 60 g
Icing Sugar- 200 g
Egg whites- 7
Filling:
Chocolate mousse:
Plain chocolate- 225 g
Butter- 30 g diced
Eggs- 3 separated
Sugar- 55g
Water- 4 tbsp
Double cream- 125 ml
Custard Topping:
Vanilla custard powder- 2 tbsp
Milk- 250 ml
Sugar- 2 tbsp
Jelly topping:
I used readymade halal jelly powder according to package instructions

Method:
Prepare the mousse:
Melt the chocolate and water in saucepan over low heat until it melts. Remove from heat beat in the butter. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate mixture and beat well. Meanwhile beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until soft peaks form, slowly sprinkle the sugar little by little and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl beat the cream until soft peaks form.
Fold in the cream and egg white into the chocolate mixture little by little until well combined. Set aside the mousse separately.
Prepare the joconde sponge:
Beat the egg whites and granulated sugar in aclean bowl until it looks firm and glossy. Set it aside. Sift the flour, ground almonds, icing sugar in a large bowl. Slowly start adding the eggs and beat it together. Fold in one third of the egg white into the flour mixture. Gently fold in the remaining egg white until well combined. Finally fold in the melted butter. Keep this separately.
Prepare the patterned joconde paste:
Beat the butter and sugar until it looks light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg white and continue beating until well combined. Fold in the sifted flour and cocoa.
Prepare the pattern:
Spread a thin layer of the joconde paste in a silicon mat. Use a ruler to drawn inclined lines on it. Place the silicon mat on a upside down baking sheet and slide it into the freezer. Let it sit in the freezer for approximately 15 minutes until it looks firm.

Preheat the oven to 250 degree Celsius. Quickly pour the joconde sponge on top of the pattern. Spread it evenly. Bake it in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until springs back.
Take the sponge outside and immediately invert it over a sheet of baking paper sprinkled with icing sugar.
Prepare the moulds:
Take the moulds of your size and shape which you desire. Grease the inside of the moulds with butter and line with cling film or baking parchment. Baking parchment paper holds the filling well.
Cut a strip from the sponge such that it fits your mould. Gently place it inside the mould and press it in the edges.
Spoon the mousse layer inside the mould. Then prepare the custard filling( according to your package instructions) and pour it on top of the mousse. Allow it to set. then prepare the jelly according to package instructions and pour it on top to set.
That's it you have your finished dessert, you can serve it with some fresh selection of fruits.

Sending this recipe to Ally's Delicious desserts

Crispy Popcorn Chicken

I won't say this is the exact recipe from KFC or Mc donald's but something very similar to that. Your kids are going to love you if you make them this crispy chicken. Probably last week sometime I made this recipe, my little one still keeps asking everyday, Ayeesha did u you made the crispy chicken today. Yeah! my both little princess calls me as Ayeesha :-( they never call me as amma or maama. Anyway that's a different story , let's come back to the recipe, this is not only something special with kids, grownups also love to munch this. Before taking this picture I finished almost 5 pieces from the bowl. You can serve these as a snack or as a side to accompany pizza or burger.

Also don't forget to check out my blogging buddies in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes( approximately)
Serves: 4 Hungry kids

Ingredients:
Boneless chicken- 1/2 kg
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder- 1 tsp
Plain corn flakes- 100 g
Plain flour- to coat the chicken pieces
Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp
Egg- 1
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt as required
Oil for frying

Method:
Wash the chicken well and cut them into small pieces. Marinate the chicken with ginger garlic paste, chilli, pepper, garam masala, lemon juice and salt for 1 hour. Crush the corn flakes using your finger tips. Beat the egg with turmeric powder and little bit of salt. Coat the chicken pieces in flour and dust of the excess flour. Dip the flour coated chicken in egg and then roll them in cornflakes. Repeat with all the chicken pieces. Place the cornflakes coated chicken in container and keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Heat oil in a pan, shallow fry the chicken pieces in medium to low heat until they look golden brown colour in outside. Serve warm with ketchup.

Note:
You can also avoid frying and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes on each side at 200 degree Celsius.

Haleem with Manakish

Haleem

Haleem is very popular in Hyderabad particularly during Ramadhan. Haleem is a stew or soup prepared using wheat and meat, the speciality of this dish, it's slow cooked for several hours like 6 to hours to make it like a paste. Yes of course we can't spend so many hours in cooking so I have used here pressure cooker method.

You can serve this haleem warm with some bread.

Ingredients:
Lamb with bones- 250 g
Cracked wheat- 75 g
Channa dhal- 1 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala- 1 tsp
Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Green chilli- 2
Garlic- 4 pods chopped
Onion- 2 medium size
Coriander leaves- 4 stalk
Mint leaves- 1 stalk
Vegetable stock cube- 2 ( use the stock without cornstarch or use freshly made)
Ghee or oil- 1 tbsp
Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp
salt as required

Method:

Wash the meat and chop it into very small pieces and marinate with the spices and lemon juice for minimum 2 hours. Pressure cook the wheat and dhal for 4 whistles. Grind it into a paste. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker, add the meat and stir well, then add 1 onion chopped finely and stir well. Add the ground paste along with nearly 700 ml of water. Then add the green chillies slit lenghtway, chopped coriander and mint leaves, chopped garlic and finally stock. Add salt to taste. Pressure cook for 7 whistles. Leave enough water so that it doesn't gets burnt at the bottom of the cooker.

Heat the ghee or oil in a separate pan, add the sliced onions and fry until it looks golden brown in colour. Pour the onion and top of the haleem and garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.

Note :

If the meat doesn't looks shredded after 7 whistles, add some more water and cook it for further 4 whistles.

This recipe goes to Soup Recipes by My Culinary Creations and Show me your soup by Dil Se...

Manakish

Manakish is a Levantine bread made with toppings like meat, cheese or Zaatar. Zaatar is a very popular topping for this bread. This is normally served as a breakfast in Middle east. Zaatar is again a spice mix made with thyme, sesame, sumac. This bread goes well with soup or just with some meat and salad.

Recipe Source: Arabic Food

Ingredients:

Unbleached bread flour- 150 g

Whole wheat flour- 150 g

Dried yeast- 1 1/2 tsp

Yogurt- 1 tbsp

Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Honey- 1/2 tbsp

Warm water- 100 ml( adjust when kneading)

Topping

Zaatar- 1 tbsp

Olive oil- 2 tbsp

Method:

Add the flour , yeast and salt in a large bowl, make a well in the centre, add yogurt, oil and honey. Slowly add the water little by little to make it into a smooth and elastic dough. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and allow it to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 250 degree celsius. Take the dough punch the air back, divide the dough into 4 equal rounds. Roll it out into a circle of 10 cm diameter. Spread the topping on top of the bread. Bake it in the preheated oven for 7 to 8 minutes.

For topping:

Mix the zaatar and olive oil together.

This bread goes to Yeastspotting, Bookmarked recipes by Priya and Aipi.

Also don't forget to check out my blogging buddies in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Cocoa Idli or Steamed Cocoa Cake

Please read this before you go to the recipe:
I know you might feel weird by reading this title or you might have tried this earlier. If you have tried this earlier it's ok, if not I just want to say a few words about this idli. There is nothing to feel weird about this, after trying out all different idli's, dhoklas from our innovative bloggers, I just want to try some different idli. That's how this cocoa idli is been created. I made a semi sweet and instant version of this idli and served with vanilla custard. Since I made it in a pan and cut them into squares, it doesn't looks like idli, but yes you can make it in idli plates. You can also make these idli's with very little sweet that too in normal idli batter by adding cocoa and nuts. Serve those idli's with spicy chutney or sambhar, I don't think you'll regret. If you regret feel free to mail me, we'll keep it secret sssshhhuuu...

Also don't forget to check out my blogging buddies in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Semolina- 1 cup
Oats- 1 cup
Cocoa powder- 1 tbsp
Brown sugar- 3/4 cup
Dessicated coconut- 1/2 cup
Walnuts- 2 tbsp chopped
Buttermilk- 2 1/2 cup
Bicarbonate of soda- 1 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp

Method:
Powder the oats in a blender. Roast the semolina in a dry pan for 2 minutes. Take it off from heat. Mix all the ingredients to make a thick batter consistency. Pour it in a greased round pan and steam for 10 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean. Serve the idli's warm or cold with vanilla custard.
You can also reduce the sugar to 1 tbsp and make the idli's and serve with spicy chutney.

This recipe goes to Any One Can Cook, CWF- Oats hosted by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes started by Kiran, Twist The Traditional- Idli by My innovative Kitchen .
Along with this recipe I'm sending Broccoli Dhokla and Corn Meal Bread to Fast Food Not fat Food by Now Serving

Any One Can Cook : Series 13

Hi Everyone,
Thank you everyone for participating in Any One Can Cook and making it a successful event. Last week I was able to see few more enthusiastic bloggers support, this week excepting more....
If you are new reader to this blog you can view the event details 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. If your recipe falls under any of the two categories or all the three categories also you can mention it. When you are linking if you forget to give the short form don't worry, no problem about that.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post.

If you find any trouble in linking your recipe please mail me your recipe link ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com.

Also don't forget to check out my blogging buddies in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Chum Chum

Chum Chum the name itself makes me happy. I don't know what exactly the meaning of the word is but it's traditional Bengali sweet. Chum Chums are made with Indian Cottage Cheese( Paneer) which is cooked in sugar syrup . This is something very similar to rasgullas, rasgullas are served with syrup and this without syrup. I know a typical Indian may not need these explanation for this well known popular sweet, I'm just saying these for those who doesn't know what is a chum chum.

You can make these Chum Chum for any special occation, it can be made easily in minutes, that too if you want to make something in bulk, you can definitely go for this. You can also make these as a special gift for your better half instead of regular chocolate box.

  Any way this is a recipe which I adopted from Manjula's Kitchen. I have failed so many times making this rasgullas or rasmalai, but Manjula's recipe was perfect the very first time I got this right. Thank you Manjula for your clear instructions.
Also don't forget to check our bloggers in marathon  Priya Suresh,Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva,Veena, Usha , Srivalli; Soumya.

Ingredients:
Milk- 1 litre
Lemon juice- 2 tbsp mixed with 1 tbsp of water
Sugar- 2 cups
Water- 5 cups
Kalakand- 2 cups( Kalakand recipe here)
Few drops of food colouring
Coco powder- 1 tbsp
Dessicated coconut- 3 tbsp

Method:
Boil the milk and the add the lemon juice slowly. You can see the curd separates from the water. At this stage pour it in a clean muslin cloth and separate the curd from the water. Squeeze the water gently, don't squueze too much, it will dry the paneer. Place a heavy bottomed pan on top of the paneer for 1 hour.
After 1 hour take the paneer and pulse in a food processor until it forms a dough. If it doesn't come together add a few drops of water until it forms a dough.
  Take the dough and knead it again and roll it into small balls. Boil the water and sugar together in a pressure cooker. Add the balls leave enough space to spread. Close the lid and cook in high until you steam on top, once you see steam on top, reduce the heat to medium and cook for further 7 minutes. Switch off the flame and keep the pressure on cold tap water. Let it sit for few minutes. Then open the lid and see if the chum chum looks spongy and big in size. Take it out from the water.
  Add a few drops of food colouring to the dessicated coconut and coat the chum chum in it.
For kalakand coating, add few drops of food colouring or coco powder to the kalakand. Grease your palms with ghee, take a small size ball of kalakand, flatten it. Place a chum chum inside and cover with kalakand.
To make the flour shape and heart shape, I used a cookie cutter to cut those shapes. You can serve it just like this or coat the kalakand with dessicated coconut again. Chill the chum chum in the refrigerator for minimum 5 hours before you serve.

Potato Kibbeh

Kibbeh is a traditinal Levatine Cuisine, it is also more popular in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran and in Arabian Peninsula. Kibbeh is made with ground bulgur and ground meat stuffed with walnuts and cheese. The most popular shape of this kibbeh is a croquette shape. It can also made in other shapes like in a big pan and cut them into slices.
For vegetarian option of these kibbeh , we can also make these kibbeh with potato and stuffed with walnuts . Serve these kibbeh warm with salad and salsa or with meat.

Also don't forget to check our bloggers in marathon Priya Suresh,Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva,Veena, Usha , Srivalli; Soumya.

Recipe Source: Discover Lebanon
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 to 45 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Mashed potatoes- 1 cup
Bulgur wheat- 1/2 cup
Walnut- 2 tbsp
Onion- 1 small sized finely chopped
Garlic- 3 cloves finely grated
Olive oil- 2 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Wash the bulgur wheat and blend it in a food processor. Fry the onions and chopped walnuts in a pan separately. Mix the bulgur, mashed potatoes, garlic, salt and pepper. Grease a shallow baking dish. Press half of the mixture all over the pan. Spread the onion and walnut on top of that. Spread the remaining potato mixture on top of the walnuts to cover completely. Score the top with diamond shape and pour the oil on top of it.
Bake it in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top looks golden brown in colour. Serve warm with salad and meat or salsa.

This recipe goes to Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Potato hosted by Divya of Dil se originally started by Priya Mitharwal, AWED- Iranian Cuisine hosted by Sweet Artichoke started by DK of Chef in you and Winter Warmers by Veggie Hut

Broccoli Dhokla

Since I was satisfied with my sweet corn dhokla last time, I decided try another version of dhokla, which is almost a very similar recipe. This recipe is also adapted from Tarladala's site. The actual recipe suggested green peas and a bit different combination of ingredients. Yet the idea of doing this dhokla originated from Tarladala's site. Hope you enjoy making this dhokla.
Also don't forget to check our bloggers in marathon Priya Suresh,Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva,Veena, Usha & Soumya.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:
Bulgurwheat- 1 cup
Semolina- 1/2 cup
Broccoli Puree- 1 cup
Yogurt- 2 cups
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp

Method:
To make broccoli puree:
Add 5 to 6 florets of broccoli in boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove it and puree it in a blender by adding little water.
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, until they look well combined. Grease a round pan, pour the batter and steam it in a steamer for 5 to 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Serve the dhoklas warm with tomato chutney. I served it with some beetroot chutney.

This recipe goes to Any One Can Cook , Food palette series- Green and to Breakfast Club hosted by Maison Cup Cake started by Fuss free flavours

Corn meal bread

This is the most simple bread probably I ever made. You don't need any special techniques, or mixers to make this bread. Just a quick mix of the ingredients and put it in the oven for few minutes, you'll end up in a lovely soft bread. May be the soft texture is from the cornmeal, you can serve these breads for breakfast with some syrup or you can serve it with some curries like me : )

Also don't forget to check our bloggers in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Cornmeal- 120 g
Wholewheat flour- 120 g
Olive oil- 50 ml
Milk- 100 ml
Egg-1
Brown sugar- 1/2 tbsp
Baking powder- 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Caraway seeds- 2 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp

Method:
Mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and turmeric powder together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the egg, olive oil and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix it without any lumps. Mix 1 tsp of caraway seeds along with the mixture. Grease a 20 cm square tin and pour the mixture, sprinkle the remaining caraway seeds on top of it. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Serve the bread warm with butter and maple syrup.

This recipe goes to Cooking with seeds- Caraway seeds by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes, Bread Baking Day 36 hosted by Girlichef Originally started by Zorra, Whole Wheat for Breakfast by Lite bites.

Whole Wheat Porridge

This is more like a bowl of cereal, bit watery in consistency. I discovered this healthy glass of breakfast from Taste Of Beirut. This is a Lebanese style of pudding enriched with whole wheat and nuts. You can also substitute wheat with barley or quinoa also. Also the original recipe suggested aniseed flavour, I used cardamom and nutmeg. Try twisting the flavours and grains of your choice and have a healthy breakfast.

Recipe Source: Taste Of Beirut
Preparation Time: 3 to 4 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
Whole wheat- 1/2 cup
Almonds and walnuts- 2 tbsp chopped
Cardamom powder- 1/4 tsp
Grated nutmeg- 1/4 tsp
Brown sugar or honey- 1 tbsp( adjust according to your taste)
Milk- 2 tbsp

Method:
Wash the wheat well and add 2 cups of water and flavouring. Pressure cook for 6 to 7 whistles. Then add the milk and nuts, pressure cook for 2 whistles. Serve warm with honey or sugar.

Also don't forget to check our bloggers in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

This recipe goes to Any One Can Cook, Bookmarked recipes by Priya and Aipi, Whole wheat for breakfast by Lite Bites

Dates and Walnut Squares

I always adore the Middle Eastern Cuisine especially when it comes to desserts and sweets. This is something very similar to mamoul cookies which I made earlier. The thing which I love the most about these squares, it's mildly sweetened, it gets the natural sweetness from the dates and a crunchy bit of walnut in the middle will be perfect with a mint tea after dinner or even during evening tea. I made a few alterations in the mamoul cookie which I made earlier, I absolutely enjoyed these squares a lot. Hope you guys enjoy baking it too.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes 25 to 30 squares

Ingredients:
Fine semolina( semolina flour)- 150 g
Plain flour- 150 g
Baking Powder- 3/4 tsp
Butter-150 g
Icing sugar- 1/2 tbsp
Milk- 3 to 4 tbsp
Pitted dates- 500 g
Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Walnuts- 2 tbsp( finely chopped)

Method:
Prepare the filling first by steaming the dates in a steamer for 10 minutes. Mash it well until it looks like a paste, add cinnamon and cardamom powder mix it well. Set it aside.
Prepare the pastry by sifting the flour, semolina, baking powder and icing sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and start working with your hands until it looks like bread crumbs. Add cold milk little by little until the mixture looks crumbly, don't knead it like a dough.

Grease a 20cm square cake tine, line with baking parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius. Divide the dough into half. Roll one half of the dough in the middle of two clingfilm. Peel the top layer of cling film and carefully invert the pastry inside the cake tin and press it all around to fit the tin. Now roll the dates paste in the middle of two cling film and place it on top of the pastry and press it to spread all through the pastry. Spread the chopped walnuts on top of the dates paste. Now roll the other half of the dough in the middle of two cling film and place it on top of the dates paste. Take a butter knife , with a blunt side of the knife score on top of the pastry, then with a sharp knife cut it into squares, don't cut it completely, just make an insertion. Bake it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Take it out from the oven and allow it cool in the tin completely. then cut it into squares and dust it with icing sugar and cinnamon powder.

Also don't forget to check our bloggers in the marathon Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.

This recipe goes to AWED- Iranian Cuisine hosted by Sweet Artichoke originally started by DK of Chef in You.

Tried and Tasted

Hi Friends,
  Everyone in food blogging must be familiar with this event Tried and Tasted event started by Zlamuskha. Everyone will have inspiration from our fellow bloggers to try new recipes from their blog. This event was also started to try recipes from other fellow bloggers and blog about it.
   This event is been always special to me since this the first event I participated after I started blogging. I'm happy to announce that my blog is been chosen for this month for Tried and Tasted. When I first participated in this event I never thought my blog also will be selected one day. I have been blogging continuously only for the past 10 months may be, I have a collection of over 300 recipes, mostly breads, cakes and cookies. Some of them are from my cookbook, some from our creative bloggers and few of my own recipes too.
  Hope everybody will have fun cooking from my blog this month, if you have any doubts regarding my recipes feel free to leave a comment below the recipe or mail me at ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com.
  I would also like to thank Denny who has chosen my blog for this month. Please visit Oh Taste N See for the event details.

Also don't forget to check our bloggers in the marathon   Srivalli, Reva, Monika, Priya Suresh, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Jay, Azeema , Soumya.and Gayathri.