Wanderberry Tales

When the rest of the world battles with Monday morning blues, we over here in the gulf battle the very same blues but on a Sunday instead ( Yeah, well our weekends are Friday and Saturday). I took quite a while to get used to this fact when we moved here from India. Even now I end up mixing the days - Friday for a Saturday and Saturday for a Sunday! Nevertheless The beginning of the week is hard and energy peaks as you move towards the next weekend. Alas, we are humans ! We know work is worship but nothing can take away those lazy weekends idling on a couch with family or those fun get together, shopping and more that can happen only on weekends. The theory that would apply to most of us for the beginning of the week is the one propagated by Newton - A body at rest tends to stay at rest unless and until acted upon by an external force which is why I had to drag myself out of bed this morning to Yoga class and post the class sit down to publish this post. Looks like I need a lot of ...

With the MENA cooking club giving a free reign to cook something traditional to any of the MENA countries, the ball was completely in our court this month! I kept mulling on it for a few days and then my husband decided to ask one of his Egyptian friend from office - he gave us a list of popular items that included Kousa mahshi, Cabbage mahshi, Koshari and Hamam Mahshi which were popular during Ramadan. The same friend had once suggested a restaurant to try out the Egyptian cuisine. We had feasted on Koshari, Fattayer and kebabs that day. So when this came about, we only thought it was fitting to try out Koshari - an Egyptian dish; as traditional as it can get! Koshari is a popular Egyptian folk food and a look at the dish will definitely reveal the way it has come. Koshari comprises of lentils, rice, pasta, chickpea, crispy fried onions and a tomato based sauce. The influence of rice and lentils is believed to be from Indian cuisine. The pasta and the sauce reflect Italian in...

 The first year of your married life is no doubt the most enthralling one. I don't mean to dishearten the ones who after years of marriage still feel the magic of marriage. I am somewhere in the same place too even after being married for over three years. But it is just that, there is still some force in me that makes me wanna go back to that first year! Some interesting anecdotes too... As is usual,my proof reader is gonna read this blog and I am just wondering what his response is gonna be seeing the dig at him:P As is normal for an Indian married woman, a week after we settled down in Bangalore - I religiously began cooking all the three meals a day and as a dutiful wife asked him what he wants for lunch in his dabba. His response was spontaneous - Oh No! Carrying a dabba is so typical of a married man. Get married and then carry a dabba to office. I am good without one, you do not have to make lunch for me on weekdays . I was ecstatic, I only needed to cook for myself as ...

Biriyani is a feast in itself for most Indians but when it came to our PG gang ( running into the pre-wedding days for a while), biriyani was the solution to depression as well. Every emotion we could think of was followed by ordering biriyani from Mughal Empire in AECS Layout. We got a hike - its biriyani, we are tired - its biriyani, we got reprimanded by parents - its biriyani, manager gave us a earful - biriyani again, had a tiff with friends - biriyani all over again. Every emotion had a solution - Mughal Empire Biriyani. The guy taking the order at Mughal Empire need not be reminded of the address and the quantity - the only thing that varied was the type between chicken and fish. We lost count of the times we have ordered it but washed and kept intact all the 'white dabbas' they came in, only to be thrown out during every cleaning session! This is how biriyani became part of my life - we tried making biriyani couple of times when in the PG - none too succes...

Just like the place, Kashmiri Cuisine can also leave you spellbound. While generally known for the rich lamb dishes, Kashmiris pride in their vegetarian delicacies like the Kashmiri Dum Aloo, Kashmiri Rajma and the Lotus stem curry. One such cuisine that is very popular and eaten with equal frenzy across the country is Kashmiri Pulao. What makes Kashmiri Pulao different from the rest is the use of dried fruits and fresh fruits in addition to the vegetables cooked in milk and saffron. Raitha alone is an excellent accompaniment or you may chose to have this with any gravy. It took me two years after my visit to Kashmir to finally try this out and I was lucky enough the very first time. The flavor filled aroma was more than what I could possibly ask for. There you go - Ingredients Basmati Rice - 1 cup Milk - 1 cup Water - 1 cup Saffron Strands - 3-4 Cardamom - 3 Cinnamon - 2 inch stick Cloves - 3 Pepper Corns Cumin seeds Bay leaf - 2 Mint Leaves - 5-6 Gi...

Every alternate Wednesday was reserved for our dinner outings to our favorite restaurant. I had two reasons to wait for this day - I did not have to study that day and I could have my favorite Fried Rice. I have tried to make Fried Rice several times but never quite liked it as much as this recipe. Easy to make with easily available ingredients and hence a must try for everyone. As always its a family favorite because it is easy to make. Ingredients Basmati Rice - 2 cups Cardamom - 2 Cinnamon - 1 inch piece Bay Leaves - 2 Cloves - 2 Onion - 3 sliced thinly Garlic - 4-5 cloves chopped Cashewnut - a handful Raisins - a handful Soya sauce - 2 tsp Pepper powder Sugar - 1 tbsp Spring Onions  Oil Salt Method Boil water along with salt and ingredients listed from 2 to 5. Add washed Basmati rice to this and cook. Make sure you do not overcook it. Drain off excess water and remove the whole garam masala added.  In a skillet, heat oil and f...