Left Over Wow - Layered Methi Biryani!!

A young mom’s biggest tension in life is to get rid of the huge amounts of leftover she gets left with. My child however so I wish, refuses to eat many things that are staple to his growth. But I ain’t one of those moms who is going to quietly make those left overs my own dinner. I spice and spruce it up and make it a bigger than life thing for the full family to enjoy. This post is an idea which pretty much stemmed out of this very emotion.

So I harvest these young fenugreek leaves, about which I wrote in my earlier post- 

Growing Your Greens- Fenugreek!!

My son is extremely happy to have parathas made with fenugreek the first day. The next day too he devoured these bitter microgreens with ease and I was beyond happy. So I sowed the seeds again and this time when I harvested, I decided to try a rice dish instead. I was in a mood to prepare a wow dish, but had a big bowl of left over rice in the fridge with some hard boiled eggs which was very rudely denied by my little guy the previous night. So to serve him something healthy yet fenugreek-y, I took some carrots and ripe pumpkin to make a curry where the spice used was just these fresh microgreens from my balcony. Then I transformed the curry into a layered biryani adding in some hidden flavours. If you are positively curious about the dish now, then you should definitely read on to the next page to get possibly the most amazing yet so very simple- Layered Methi and Subz Biryani. 

Ingredients for making the Fenugreek and Veggie Curry

2 medium carrots cut in ½ inch pieces

150 gms pumpkin cut in big ½ inch pieces

Harvested fenugreek microgreens. I didn’t really weigh or measure it, but it would be approximately 3 big handfuls.

2 tbsp of mustard oil      

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 bay leaf

1 dry red chilly

Salt to taste

A pinch of Turmeric

Sugar to taste

To be ground-

2 to 3 fat cloves of garlic

2 small onions or a big one

3 green chiliies

Handful of cilantro leaves

For layering-

Cooked Rice (stale or not, nothing for guessing what i must have used!)

A boiled egg sliced

A couple of spoonful of mango and chilly pickle with mustard oil (I used a homemade mango and chilly pickle. I had followed Alpana Habib’s method of pickling. She is a famous celebrity chef from Bangladesh, whose food is quintessentially Bengali. But for this recipe, any other hot and sour and sweet pickle would work as well. I love to use the oil mixed with juice of the pickle so it is a good idea if you are buying a pickle, buy the one which is preserved in mustard oil)

A dash of milk

Sliced onion fried- barista (optional)

Chopped cilantro

Now head on to SmartIndianWoman.in for the detailed recipe.

Cheers!!

Note-

I didn’t use fried onions because it’s extremely tedious to cut fry and drain it, just for a weekday lunch to be carried to the office. But if I was to serve it in a party, I would do these extra steps willingly.

To make it completely vegetarian, just omit the egg part and you are good to go.

Growing Your Greens- Fenugreek!!

How many of you guys out there reading me right now have a green something close to u! Nope, tat green cup or a fridge magnet doesn’t count. I mean real living green leaves around you, especially if you have a balcony to spare. When I look out while I write this, I see this view and I feel lucky to have made this green patch in my home today. I have a bigger terrace which has vegetable seedlings growing and another little balcony which has herbs growing. I manage the gardens alone, with whatever help I get from anyone. Nursery visits are satisfying but sowing seeds from a real veggie is still much more filling than that. Mixing manure with soil, feeling the stringy roots forming and marvelling at the growth these little guys go through. Sigh… Container gardening is really a wonderful thing that has changed the way urban living goes! Today, just a bit of these little guys in nooks and corners of your house are gonna brighten your day up, and if you plant edible stuff, then the harvest will brighten your dish up as well.

For some time now, friends in the real and virtual worlds have been marvelling on my social media posts of my little container garden. There have been many requests for tips and tricks to get a green belt going in every house. It’s an inexpensive hobby that I discovered after moving to Gurgaon. And my balconies are turning green faster than I thought, and firmer than I ever imagined. The most satisfying beginner crop that I grow here is methi or fenugreek. And today I am going to pen down the way to plant it in the easiest fashion possible, which worked for me. I have harvested and replanted fenugreek quite many times, and each time I did that, it felt wonderful to eat wat I grew with my own hard work. It was fresh, pungent and so so tasty. I made this layered box for my husband to carry to his office. He was blown over when he opened the box and the aroma of these methi leaves travelled out. Growing your own veggies does guarantee a freshness which cannot be had anywhere else.

This is a unique recipe on my site today. In fact who would have thought I would be giving off recipes to planting seeds in this little corner that I call mine. I didn’t for sure, but if you liked it then do send out a shout to me on any of the mediums. I will then concentrate on making more such posts and giving you more inexpensive tips to get a green belt going in your house.

Now to planting these little guys. A fistful of your methi/fenugreek seeds can be thrown overnight in a bowl of water to soak. In the morning, all you do is take a few disposable salad bowls and with sharp knife or a part of scissors, drill some holes for proper drainage. Fill tat up with some soil mixed with manure and sprinkle the soaked seeds evenly on its surface. Sprinkle some more soil on top to barely cover the seeds. Water the seeds well and pat it down gently but firmly for a good soil to seed contact. Keep it in a draft free dark place and keep sprinkling some water daily for the first leaves to pop i.e. germination. Once there transfer it to a balcony and water it every day to get a good harvest of young Kasuri Methi leaves in 10 to 15 days’ time. When you are ready to harvest, take a bunch and snip off the roots. If you are eating it fresh like I do, then let the stocks remain. If you intend to dry it and make the spice ‘Kasuri Methi’ with it, then pluck the leaves only.

Now I can’t leave you without a proper recipe to go with this post. So keep looking out here, as my next post is going to blow your minds off. I would be making this delectable bowl that I call- METHI BIRYANI. And the best part is, I just used the left over rice to make it. So it is a recipe that you don’t want to miss really. And it’s perfect in fact better as a tiffin/lunch box than served right then and there. So coming really soon is my smart use of left over rice and hard boiled eggs in the making of Methi Biryani!  

Cheers!!

#WIN15 Voting!

It started as a passion, leading on to becoming a profession and now to get this encouraging news has led me on to my belief- THAT I AM MADE FOR FOOD ONLY.. 
A good day spent for me has elements of food in it only. And as if cooking wasn't enough, that now my passion lies in gardening and tending plants which can bear fruits for me to harvest. From onions to potatoes, they have all been seeded and shaag/leafy veggies that have been harvested too.. 

So today when my blog- ZOUQH got nominated for #win15 by BlogAdda.com, I couldn't be more humbled by the thought that so many must have wanted me to stand with such stalwarts of food blogging industry, many of whom have always been an inspiration to me. I surely am quite happy to considered as to 10 indian food bloggers of today, and I sit prettily on top in alphabetic order! So, PLS PLS VOTE FOR ME; as i deserve to be on top non alphabetically as well. :) :D 

Like, comment and tweet to register your vote properly!! :) Cheers!!

Turning 30 With Kochur Loti (Colocasia Stems)

Is age just a number? Or does it signify something… For sure I am getting older! This year I would be celebrating my big 3 with a child who is a big 2. I don’t know if it’s the number, but I surely think it’s a bigger issue here. I chose to settle in matrimony at an early age, and as a result, my life took a fast turn into a calm sunset. Lots of my friends are still living off tinned, packaged food, while I make gourmet domesticated stuff that I grow in my garden. Flirting with fenugreek and spinach is all I do to perk up a boring week evening. And nothing can lift my mood up and beyond than a simple glass of chilled iced scotch coupled with jazz in my ears. Really, I am still in my 20-ies. But these are the things I work hard for, the good luxuries of life.

Why do you think I am ranting about age today? Well, it stemmed out of nowhere literally, but when it did, I was completely flummoxed and out of words. It all started on a fateful evening. I decided to drop in unannounced on a friend who was a birthday girl that day. In the morning when I called to wish her, I heard her recount all amazing plans for the weekend and the birthday; and I severely felt left out as I didn’t fare in any of the plans she recounted out to me. So, after my busy day in the kitchen, I picked up my little guy from school and barged in to her apartment. There I met a girl for the very first time- Miss X. I casually told her my name and she brightened up to tell me that ‘I have heard so much about you, so good to finally meet you.’ Here was Miss X, of whose existence I had no idea at all; though she regularly featured in my friends various parties and get-togethers. But she knew me by my name and I didn’t. That got me thinking, why it is that such a good friend of mine never involved me in her plans, but talked about me to everyone she met. She is still single, has a happening life in the metro. She can go to Agra at a moment’s notice. Somehow I don’t have that luxury anymore. I have matured into a place where I plan each day in the morning, and follow it immaculately all throughout. I cook, I write, I garden, I work and then I drink my favourite and off to sleep to wake up to this very routine again. Boring is it? Don’t know! Am I too busy to notice? Don’t know again! Am I enjoying this? Well, in a very strange fashion, yes I am.

I am enjoying being in this routine. We do party, but our parties don’t have night clubs or discos anymore. And somehow, we have grown to like such a quiet elegant life. Merits are plenty too.  We eat healthy each day, and so eating out or ordering in is special and is done to make memories. We spend our days thinking about designs of new furniture or some other thing like a new dish or a new crop to grow. And my little guy, he is in the centre of it all. We have grown old. And it’s good to agree, feel and act like your mental age. After all, I conclude- Age is just a number!

Today’s recipe is nothing else. It’s an ode to mature tastes. As a child everyone hates colocasia. It’s an acquired taste, just like whiskey. A matured palette can differentiate the finer nuances of the taste. The itching fades away as our throat becomes bolder to fathom more calcium oxalate than before. Today I made this dish to be served in a potluck. I packed it in colourful dabbas, and the picture is testimony to that. But really, the dish can’t get simpler than that. Now, I created this curry with colocasia stems, but you can easily substitute it with cauliflower, following exactly the same steps as shown below.

Ingredients

500 gms Colocasia stems, washed peeled and cut in 2 inch size pcs

To be ground to a fine paste

·         2 tbsp of black mustard seeds

·         1.5 tbsp poppy seeds

·         Green chillies to taste

·         Pinch of salt

·         Very little water

P.S. I don’t strain the paste to remove the black shells of the mustard. You can if you so wish to. The old kakimas (aunties) always blamed the shorshe shells for their husband’s poor tummy. Though I feel otherwise, and blame the mustard oil instead.

2 to 3 tbsp of mustard oil (I know it’s quite less, but if you use this efficiently it will give you amazing results)

A pinch of ginger paste (to enhance the mustard flavour)

1 tsp of onion seeds/ nigella seeds

Water as per requirement

Salt, sugar and turmeric as per taste.

Method

Wash and drain the stems well and in a steaming pot, steam it in a microwave/steamer with some water. Steam on high power for 5 minutes. Let cool, strain and discard the water which would now be filled with calcium oxalate- the culprit that causes the itching. Let the stems drain out completely and come back to room temperature.

Once it’s cold to touch, smear on the mustard and poppy seed paste evenly. Mix in the ginger, salt, turmeric and a tbsp. of oil. Marinade in it for 30 minutes or so.

In a non-stick wok, heat a tbsp. of mustard oil till smoking hot. Splutter in the onion seeds and tip over the marinated stems.

Cook it on low to medium flame, stirring it occasionally till its soft and cooked through. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes. To aid it to cook faster, partially cover the wok with a lid, but make sure to toss every now and then to incorporate air. This will help in uniform cooking.

Salt it generously as it would be served dry with steamed rice. As an optional step, do balance the taste and pungency by adding some sugar and mixing it well in the dish. Just 2 big pinches of sugar would do the trick.  

Once you are happy with the texture and taste, switch off the gas and drizzle on a tbsp. or more of raw mustard oil. This is optional, but highly recommended as it takes the dish up to a new height where no one will understand wat exactly hit them. Serve piping hot with steamed rice.

Cheers!

Depression Vs Sandwiched French Toast!!

It took me some time to write this article. In fact my editors mailed me twice saying, 'what happened, where the last instalment of my anti-depressant series is?' That was a fair enough question. I have taken way more time to pen this article down. And the reason- well it’s just that I am in seventh heaven after my ‘Depression Vs One Pot Pasta’ post. Not only was it way too colorful and fancy for warding off depression; but it was also the most liked, read and ‘made’ recipe of mine. I garnered much ado for writing the recipe, in the virtual and real world. And compliments really lifts your spirit high. So, you see; I wasn’t really sure if I would be able to write on being pressed, stressed and depressed; all at the very same time!

But today, it’s different. Today I really feel stressed. My toddler has waded off into a world full of knowledge with strangers around him. As I sit in the reception of the school, typing furiously on my keypad, my insides are churning in tension. I might look composed on top, but only I know how much I feel like a ticking time bomb inside. Every time the reception door opens, I pry to see if I can get a glimpse of my child somewhere. Needless to say, it’s the very first time I have left my child away from me, with strangers, for this long. Today, I sit here checking on his progress, giving myself the satisfaction of being close to him and be on his beck and call. Tomorrow would be a bigger tussle. Tussle more for the mom in me. And so I need something to ward this feeling off. This is the time, I feel I am ready to have my most famous breakfast all day dish- Sandwiched French Toast.

Now, in all fairness you don’t have to stuff just sweet fillings or a store bought Nutella in a jar. Obviously a homemade nut butter is preferred, which can be jazzed up with some cocoa powder and icing sugar. But this dish will taste awesome with anything really. And it’s hardly a recipe too. You can make your own spin and follow these simple steps to get a savory or sweet snack/breakfast ready in a moment’s notice. I will give you many filling options but my hubby likes the one with Nutella and that is what I make mostly. But any day I prefer a cheesy sharp French toast to this dessert like Nutella filled ones.

Ingredients

3 eggs

3 tbsp of milk

Sliced bread

Oil/butter

Filling

Savoury

Grated cheese mix with Gouda and/or cheddar mixed with parmeggiano

Finely chopped green chilies to taste

Finely chopped roasted garlic to taste

Finely chopped spring onion to taste

Sweet

A dollop of nut butter and/or jams

For the way to make it with added tips and tricks, Click Here- SmartIndianWomen.com



The Rest in the Series-

• Depression Vs One Pot Penne, Indianized!!
• Depression Vs Strawberry Oats Bars!!

Cheers!!

Attention! Attention! Attention!!

A quick media post to inform all my readers that this humble blog was chosen to be amongst the top 6 Indian Food Blogs. And I cant stop beaming at that!! :) :D

Read for yourself....

Link To Baggout Article- http://blog.baggout.com/2015/07/31/top-15-food-and-drink-blog-post-of-last-month-june-2015/

Excerpt...

6. Zouqh

Antara roy has shared a pasta recipe which she is confident can cure depression. She has shared a vegetarian version of it while it can be converted into a non-vegetarian one also. From this we can be assured of the power of Indian food and spices. If you want to look at such a powerful preparation, you must look at this post.

Weekend Trail- Bread Baking and Sartori!!!

Social experiments truly pave way to new beginnings. And since I relocated, I have been constantly testing myself in kitchen with projects that are equal parts exciting and enterprising. In my quest to quench my ever increasing appetite of testing and tasting, I conducted a small exercise this weekend which took a deliciously divine turn and led me to try my hands on bulk baking. It started as a small discussion on 2 popular forums, where we were talking about home-made, preservative free breads made with whole grains like whole-wheat and finger millet. Everyone seemed quite excited about the idea, and urged me to deliver it to their houses. And I did so. Sunday evening, I went over to each house to deliver a freshly baked bread and I was greeted with smiles and encouragements. I already received a few e-mails urging me to continue as the quality, texture and feel of the bread suited the buyer’s expectations. I too enjoyed myself in this whole exercise. The smell of fresh bread permeated through my house and both my boys were beside themselves tasting hot soft breads out of the oven. The only part I need to figure out is the delivery, as every weekend, as much as I wish, I really can’t travel around the city delivering breads. So thanks everyone for such an amazing response. I truly loved every bit of this weekend and the nice drive that it ended with. I would be most obliged to get your feedbacks so that I can come out stronger than this! Thanks a ton!! 

And my companion for this baking time was this new find- a bottled cocktail made with vodka and absinthe, named 'Sartori Absinthe Classic'. As a review to the drink, well, it was quite sweet yet had a kick to it. I felt it was a good breezer substitute, but for me it lacked the oomph of the green fairy. 

A Honey Diet to be Remembered!!

Diet/dieting is such a misleading word with a wrong interpretation. In our day to day parlance we have started using the word to talk about a restriction of food in order to loose weight. But really, the father of the English when made this word, all he intended it to mean was the usual amount of food and drink of a living being, including an animal or an insect. It was not to take a drastic makeover of such heights. Alas, he might be turning in his grave quite violently; but today all we associate while hearing this word is restriction of food. And it’s only when we add 'balanced' to the 'diet' that we mean what it was supposed to be meant!!

Oh, I am with you. I know it’s confusing. But before you get very stressed and pressed about the word, I have got you covered. However, whatever it means, you just need to mean one thing while eating- HEALTHY EATING. It doesn’t have to be only about salads, trust me you need that elusive carbohydrates too. And sugar isn't your enemy. Your body needs everything that nature provides to you and the habits you have grown up eating with. It just means you move around those things and have a healthier option instead. Like if you love bread, and can’t live without it; restricting yourself of this treat would be much more harmful. In the absence of it, you would start craving it more and hence 1 fine day you would end up eating a whole loaf of it, rather than a slice. Similarly, if you have sweet tooth, eat something sweet twice to thrice a week. Don’t completely devoid yourself of it, rather opt for lesser sweet and more fibrous wholesome sweeteners like natural honey, jaggery, brown sugar etc.  

Today, I write for Dabur, who has recently launched a campaign called Honey Diet. And I have a few recipes that I have made with honey, replacing the sugar and gaining a more earthy flavour out of it. These three are my favourites, and all I want is for you to try this healthy recipes.

First up is my whole-wheat bread/pizza dough. This is a great alternative for white bread in your breakfast and has potential of being overly addictive.

Recipe- http://antaras-zouqh.blogspot.in/2012/05/pizza-i-have-theory-indians-like-and.html

Next in line is my Baked Apples. Another great breakfast option as well as a healthy dessert snack to satisfy the sweet craving.

Recipe- http://antaras-zouqh.blogspot.in/2012/08/my-rustic-self-baked-apples.html

And to end this lovely honey diet, try making my Whole-wheat Honey and Banana Muffins.

Recipe- http://antaras-zouqh.blogspot.in/2012/06/whole-wheat-and-honey-muffins-with.html

Hope these Recipes gave you a great idea to start with this new diet. In case you need more gyaan on healthy eating, follow the link here-http://antaras-zouqh.blogspot.in/2015/06/equality-dinner-plate.html 

For more information Dabur's Honey diet, follow the link here- http://www.daburhoney.com

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Work and food dilemmas!!

It’s not a new story... age old!! I have work to do so I can’t cook, lets order in today!! And this kind of becomes a repeated story for months on it. Yeah there is an easy Indian option to hire a cook. But that comes with its own pair of strings, not to mention the cost. And then, you don’t have strict office timings, when do you ask the cook to come in?? So the easy home-made solution to these woes- Maggi and others of its kind. It’s unhealthy, and hence you decide to put it off for the next New Year resolution to start eating healthy. If this is you and you have read till this point, you might want to continue on as I have figured out a great solution to these woes...

First of all, let’s look at the problem.

•         Time: You never seem to have enough of it to look for pots and masalas on the kitchen counter.

•     Energy: always tired to go in the kitchen... Really!!

•     Now Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver both did some inspiring work on this front. But we dont get their food. We want our desi stuff!!

So here are the solutions to all these problems, in THREE words- PLANNING, MARINATING & REFRIGERATING!!

To read more, and I know you do want to as there are many tips and tricks that you cant forgo; click here- http://www.smartindianwomen.com .

I See UC Browser!!

Internet woes are the worst to overcome. A bad connection coupled with a broken un-updated browser, and you are in for the most irritated ride in the world. I live by the internet and for me, a fast healthy connection is of utmost importance. Wifi helps to some extent, but the rest is gauged by the browser I use. Till now I was content with chrome. Firefox had lost its sheen long time back, and chrome had taken its place beautifully. But since a few days now, a faster squirrel of a browser is spreading its magical tail on internet, claiming to be the fastest till now.

A tech illiterate like me was asked to review it. I mean yes, the company had its reasons. I am pretty much all day on the internet, browsing through innumerable numbers of videos and sites and blogs. I use a smart phone too, and the chrome browser doesn’t connect my phone to laptop screen. So basically I am the perfect target for UC browser to seek. And hence, I started trying it out yesterday. It’s faster than chrome no doubt. And I am in love with its feature of connecting my mobile to the laptop. It’s so hassle free and I keep reading the particular blog, in and out, switching the devices. But I have saved the best for the last. You cannot even imagine how fast it downloads, and gives me an option to check up all my downloaded history, including…. Shh… don’t quote me ever… but really including torrents. I am no cricket fan, but Yuvi claims that he has a cricket corner especially for you guys who live and eat cricket. After so many good things, I feel it’s definitely worth a try. I haven’t yet managed to find a flaw, but well I have just used it for 2 days yet. So try and let me know if u feel there are things to be changed and features to be banned. I would most definitely try to connect you or convey your comments to the right ears. I am still a tech illiterate, but the cute colourful squirrel with its walnut is killing me with acute cuteness.

For downloading the browser, follow the link here- http://www.ucweb.com/

And for the cricket lover like you, here I throw in a small surprise where Yuvi talks to you directly. Do check it out on the UC Browser.

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