Dreams ...realized. Now what?

For years I had saved up my cash, bonus money, well any money in general and then spent it on things which I "ought to" spend it on. I had registered for courses which I didn't want to do, but thought I ought to do with very little persuasion to finish them. 

The thing about being in your thirties is this, you need to get off your bum, and do the things you spoke of, otherwise you are going to have a real monkey on your bag, growing and aptly whispering in your ear, " regret...regret...regret". 

This is by no means a philosophical piece or opinion one. But while buying the thing I really wanted, I felt something gnaw at me, and not a sexy nibble but more a feeling of discomfort. 

It made me think, of how often, we are not kind to ourselves. We are taught to be kind to everyone else, but to ourselves, we should hide, shy away...Ware afraid to say something nice of ourselves to others because what if others think we think highly of ourselves? It's a female thing and before this turns into a feminist piece, I say, buy things that make you happy. It's your hard earned money so stop feeling you need to validate your purchases. 

Mine was a Iced Rasberry Kitchen Aid (KA)  which is modeling with My Gingerbread Man. Also, is a pic of the cookbook,  of the fabulous deli in Woodstock, the Kitchen. I tested my KA, by making a Ginger and Yoghurt  Loaf, which turned out deliciously. 

I had lamented and fought furiously with myself convincing me that a cheaper and equally good mixer would do the same job. But it's not about just getting the job done, it's the romance,  it's the feeling of awesomeness when I glimpse at my deep metallic pink machine sparking in the distance, whispering, "Turn me on and together we can bake amazing things". She has not disappointed to date:)

The Pink Mermaid

Ajooba

As a child, Sunday mornings were occupied by three kids earnestly watching an outdated Bollywood movie with the utmost concentration and diligence.

A movie that was recorded on a VHS tape, but was watched repeatedly enough to damage the quality so that intermittently it was covered with lines, scratches and snowy effects. The irony was, that none of these kids could even understand Hindi and relied heavily on the inaccurate and poorly translated subtitles.

I won't even bother elaborating on the storyline. It includes an evil advisor who coincidently happens to be a satanist. There is a dapper prince who must save the day, a princess needing saving, and of course flying carpets and lots and lots of songs replacing any potential love scenes.

My 4 year old brother pretended to be Ajooba, a cheap Zoro type masked hero who had the dance moves of Justin Bieber.

My sister chose the fair, straight haired delicate princess.

I chose Rukshana, the unruly haired fiery puppeteer, from the city of Hind, in search of her father who was a magician and falsely accused of murdering the royal family.

We watched the movie till it was so damaged that it eventually went into the pile of VHS tapes, that were half recorded with episodes of Pound Puppies and Mrs Pepperpot, all now obsolete.

Over the weekend, my brother on route to get a chicken tikka at the local Pakistaani chicken stand, sees Ajooba's masked face peek behind the latest Bollywood hits. He had to get a copy.

He had passed it onto me after he had watched it. I had to watch it in batches over the space of three evenings.

It's five hours long, but the memory of Ajooba will linger in my mind, forever.

Ajooba Zindabaad*!

* long live Ajooba

Quick apple and cinnamon muffins on a busy Thursday eve

I tasted a A&C muffin for the first time a few weeks ago and it was soo yummy. So I have been searching the website to get the exact same one. With a soft centre and a crunchy sticky topping.

Firstly, I had no eggs, so I will give you the improvised version which turned out quite fine! Actually, I might even compliment myself and say that they turned out bloody good considering...

I also managed to get three Jamie Oliver magazines for the price of one, CNA has a special one. I love his stuff, so this weekend I will try his tray bake, stay tuned!

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/2 tspn ginger fine ( I just added mixed spice)
2 tspn baking powder

Sift all of the above in a bowl

2 tablespoons oil ( I used olive)
2 tablespoons butter ( I substituted this with olive oil)
1 cup milk ( I had no milk, so used about 1 1/2 cups Greek youghurt
1 tspn vanilla essence

Mix by hand in a separate bowl

4 apples , use 3 peel, core and cut up

Then add bowl 2 to bowl 1. Mix. Add the apples.
Mix again.
Fill a cupcake tin with casings and fill it all up. Fill the batter up about 3/4 up of the cup cake casings
Then slice the remaining apple up, into thin slices.
Place one slice on each muffin.
Take 1/4 cup brown sugar ( treacle) and mix it with some cinnamon(1/2 tspn). Place a bit on each muffin.

Bake in the oven for a 20-25 minutes at 190 degrees cel.

It's yummy warm cause the sugar caramelizes and is gooey!

Savory muffins on a lazy Sunday morning

So I discovered this recipe by accident, not wanting to let a packet of button mushrooms go to waste. It's actually a sort of weigh less recipe, but it really doesn't taste like one. I added some more veggies to make it more breakfasty and substantial.

The recipe

2 cups of cake flour
1tablespoon of baking powder
1tspn salt
Pepper to your liking
1tspn thyme
1/2 tspn chilie powder
1egg
350ml milk
60ml olive oil
1/2 punnet ie125g mushrooms
Cheddar cheese cut in teensy blocks, I used about 70g
1/2 red onion diced into small pieces
1tin sweet corn

Method
1. Sift dry ingredients together.
2. Mix milk and egg and oil
3. Add chopped veggies to dry ingredients, and then add the sweet corn.
4. Mix well. Then dish into muffin trays with cupcake casings.
Bake for 20- 25 minutes, at 200 degrees

When they are warm, the muffin sticks to the cupcake casings, so rather wait for it cool, or better still just eat it with a spoon ( which is what I did).

It's healthy without trying to be. Next time I would make it without the cheese w I hardly taste it unless its hot and the cheese melts.

I find it to be a good savory snack too.

Something you can munch on before dinner time.

Enjoy

The pink mermaid

Chicken/prawn chaat

So lots of friends have been asking me for my chicken chaat recipe. You can make this with prawns if you so wish. Instead of mustard seeds, use methi seeds with the prawn.

And I'm terrible at remembering to do so. On my blog seems to be a more permanent and easier way of actually keeping my promise.

I've replaced my butter chicken with chicken chaat, mostly because its so much easier and takes up a lot less time and less pots and cleaning required. It's just as good if not better.

You need

1kg prawns/chicken
1lemons worth of juice
2tspns garlic

Marinate this for a few hours, the longer the better, I even do it overnight. But you can also do it immediately too.

Quick stir fry the chicken/prawn in some olive oil. Its a not deep fried, you basically coat the pan with a bit of oil. so its like 2 tablespoons of oil. Do it in batches. you don't want to overcrowd the pan. The prawns go pink within minutes. If you doing chicken, I suggest getting the chicken browned a bit, not burned though.

Now for the sauce
1/2 tsp methi (fenureek) seeds ( for prawn) and mustard seeds for chicken
3/4 tspn Koljana
3/4 tspn jeera
1 and a 1/2 tspn chilli powder
1tspn paprika
About 1/2 tsp salt ( depend on you and how much salt you want to use)
1cup double cream Greek youghurt
Small tin tomatoe paste
2tablespoons sugar, but add more or less as per your preference
Dhansay chopped
Curry leaves
Whole chillie
70 ml cream

Once the chicken/ prawn has been fried, take it out of the pan, and keep it in a bowl. The chicken as is, is quite yummy.

Same pot, no need to wash it add your dry spices. It will sizzle, but we are making a vagaries, ie dry spices cooked. This releases the flavors. Takes about a minute. Then add the yougurt, and the tomato paste. It will turn a beautiful orange color. Add your chicken/prawn mixture.

Then add your sugar, curry leaves, and sugar. Let it heat up and bubble a bit. Lastly add the dhanya and then the cream.

You can make this the night before and it tastes better the next day as most curries do. I've also kept this in the fridge for at least 3 to 4 days.

Serve with basmati rice, naan or rotisserie (which I suggest you buy, why make life difficult?)



Tips

Fenugreek seeds have a mustard color, I've attached a picture.

Mustard seeds are little tiny black seeds, I use the black one. Pics attached

I get my spices from Fargos in Salt River but any spice shop will do.



Enjoy!