Chicken Tikka

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless chicken breast (cubed)
1 large bulb garlic
1 piece (2 inch) ginger
1 teaspoon cumin (freshly ground)
1 teaspoon coriander (freshly ground)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup heavy cream
a few strands of saffron, toasted and melted in a Tbsp. of milk.
salt to taste
black pepper to taste (freshly ground)
bamboo skewers (soaked well or it will burn on the grill)
clarified butter (for basting)
pastry brush for brushing on the ghee (clarified butter)

Directions:

Peel and clean garlic and ginger. Grind to a fine paste. Keep aside. get the other ingredients ready. In a large glass bowl, place the chicken and the ginger-garlic paste, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, black pepper, yogurt, cream, saffron and salt. Mix until well coated.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 12 hours. An hour before your guests arrive, skewer the pieces of chicken, baste the chicken with ghee (clarified butter) and grill to perfection.

Complements to murgh ka tikka (chicken tikka) are naan (a flat bread that can be found in an asian store) and raita (relish made with cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, serrano peppers and yogurt) or salade (red onions, steamed beets, serrano peppers tossed in lime juice).

This recipe for Chicken Tikka serves/makes 6

Khichda

The origin of this dish 'Khichda' is associated with this story. They say when Noah's arc after experiencing lot of flood and cyclone came to a halt everyone who were there in the arc were very hungry, and they had very little food. So they decided to put everything together and cook. And they put all kinds of dals(lentils), rice, wheat, mutton and vegetables together and cooked. Thats how it got its name 'Khichda' meaning mixture. Now what is cooked is modified according to our taste.

Ingredients:

daliya 100gms
tuar dal 100gms
chana dal 100gms
moong dal 100 gms
masoor dal 100 gms
urad dal 100 gms
rice 100 gms

Boil all these things together in pressure cooker so that they become soft.

mutton 500 gm or 750 gms
onion 2 medium size
ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
red chili powder
turmeric powder
corriander powder
curd 2 Tbsp
lime 1
cloves 4-5
pepper 4-5
Cinnamon stick 3-4 (1 inch each)
cardamom 4-5
green corriander
mint leaves
lemon for garnishing

Method:

Take some oil in pressure cooker add cloves, pepper cinnamon stick, cordamom and allow it to crackle. Then add onion, cook till it turns pink. Add mutton and ginger garlic paste , salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, corriander powder, curd and lime and cook for few minutes. then add water and allow it to pressure cook till mutton becomes soft.
Then, to the boiled mixture of dals and daliya add salt red chilli powder, haldi powder and corriander powder also add garam masala powder, then add this cooked mutton and mix them well with a spoon. Also add water and cook till the mixture starts boiling.
For seasoning, Take a little oil in the pan and add chopped onion to it and fry till it becomes golden brown. Take out the khichda in a serving dish and season it with fried onion, garnish it with chopped green chillies, green corriander and mint leaves and lemon and serve hot.

Poha

I reached Bhopal around 7 in the morning. I was very hungry. This was the first time that I came here after marriage. My husband's friends who came to pick us up at the station, said the dish which is very commonly eaten here in bhopal for breakfast is 'POHA', that was the first time I tasted it. Its a very light dish at the same time very nutritious.

Subsequently, my husband asked me to make it at home. since I had never eaten it before so I just had no idea of how to make. So it was just trial and error method, each time I made it, the dish had a new taste. My poor husband had tough time eating it.

It took almost 2 years for me to learn to make good poha, and now I realise its very easy to make.

Ingredients:

Poha 250 gms
onion finely chopped 1 medium size
green chilli 4-5
curry leaves
mustard seeds(rai )
fennel seeds(saunf)
salt to taste
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
sugar 1/4 tsp
green coriander
lime

Method:

Rinse poha well with water. Soak it in very little water and keep for 10 minutes.
Heat little oil in the pan add mustard seeds , fennel seeds and curry leaves . Then add green chilies finely chopped. and thne finely chopped onions. Let the stove be on simmer.
Add poha to it and salt, turmeric and sugar. Mix well on low flame.Garnish with green coriander and lime and serve hot

Chicken 65

This is quite a famous dish of Hyderabad. I simply love this dish. It is made with boneless chicken. It is usually taken as a starter . If you like to eat dry stuff then you can also have it in main course. Its very popular in our family,amongst all my relatives. Every one who visited Hyderabad from any part of India or from any foreign country we made them taste it, and yes, they liked it. Its just mouth watering dish. Please note down the recipe now.

Ingredients:

Chicken (boneless) 1/2 kg cut into small pieces
Egg 1
ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
red chilli powder
corn flour 1 Tbsp
maida 1 Tbsp

marinate chicken with above masala .

Curry leaves
Green chillies 10 (slit along the length)
garlic 5-6 (finely chopped)
ginger 1 inch (finely chopped)
curd 1Tbsp
salt 1 pinch
red colour

Method:

Fry pieces of marinated chicken one by one. then take little oil in the pan and put curry leaves , green chillies ginger and garlic, leave for few seconds. Add curd to it and then stir. Add salt and red colour. Allow it to cook for another few seconds. Then add fried pieces of chicken to the mixture and mix well so that the mixture covers all the pieces of chicken. Allow it to cook for 5 minutes on simmer. Your Chicken Sixty Five is ready.

Recipe for Hyderabadi Biryaani

On the demand of my friends I am posting here the recipe for Hyderabadi biryani recipe. All thanks to my sister's mother-in-law. It was she who gave me this recipe and then subsequently I practiced making it at home, now i have mastered the art of making it.

Ingredients:

Mutton 1 Kg
Basmati rice 1Kg
ginger garlic paste 2 tsp
salt to taste
red chilli powder to taste
turmeric powder 2 tsp
raw papaya paste 1Tbsp ( size of the papaya must be small)
curds 2 Tbsp
lime 1
onion 2 medium size ( fried)
garam masala( cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves)
green chilly 5-6
green corriander and mint leaves.
a pinch of saffron (zafran)


Method:

Marinate mutton with the above masala and keep aside for at least 4-5 hours.
Boil rice with salt , cardomum and cloves till it is half cooked then strain the water and remove the half cooked rice in another pan. In the vessel, put oil or ghee in the base and spread mutton in the pan, then over the mutton put complete half cooked rice. Keep this vessel over pre heated tawa on full flame for 10 minutes and then on simmer for 35-40 minutes.

Mix the rice and mutton well before serving.

Confusion Over My Identity

My identity had always been a mystery for people whether it is with respect to my age, my caste, religion or it be my language. Infact , I think I look like a strange creature to people. They just stare at me wondering who I am.

The problem is, nothing in my personality suggests my exact identity. Starting from my name its very uncommon so it just leaves people thinking, then my way of dressing is also not the usual muslim kind, I dont wear any jewellery which is again a cause of concern in indian society my language also does not leave any clue because more than urdu, I am more comfortable in english. In each case I have many experiences to share right from my childhood till now.

In my school or college when my teachers called my name for attendance first it took some time for them to pronounce it, they they would always wonder what kind of name it is. And as I dont add my sir name it created more confusion. They would ask as to how to pronoounce it and what is the sir name and so on.

When I was in M.Sc my Head of the Department was really surprised to know my religion as with my name she could not make out anything and added to that I always spoke in english, which is not very common, either people talk in hindi or the local language there that is telugu, (that is students amongst themselves). She could not ask me directly but she asked my friend as to who I am. When my friend told her, her reaction was "oh!".

Then , last year sometime in July I was travelling by train to Hyderabad with my brother and aunt. In our coupa there was a family who hailed from Indore, they were elderly couple and they had a teenaged daughter. It was an overnight journey. My aunt started talking to that lady and ofcourse my brother was as usual talking to everyone but I was silent. I did not talk much. But that lady there was constantly noticing me. Then when we were about to reach Hyderabad she ultimately asked me my caste and she tried to justify herself by saying as I was not wearing any jewellery so she could not make out anything. She was also wondering if I am married or not as I had a adaughter with me but no jewellery showing any signs of marriage(like mangalsutra, toe rings...) so all this really created confusion.

Then its yesterday only the lady from whom I buy milk said that I was a sindhi. Infact many people think I am parsi, many think I am christian. Once in my college one of my colleague introduced me to her friend saying she goes to St, George's church. she thought I was christian.

So, I conclude that LOOKS ARE DECEPTIVE------- PLEASE DONT GO BY ANYONES LOOKS.

Yummy food

Nothing gives me more thrill than eating good food. Nice delicious stuff everyday. I don't mind cooking or getting it from faraway.

Apart from the main course, I love to eat 'chatpata' food. The desi junk food, chaat etc.

I had a special dosa at 2 am (Can you believe it?). It was really exquisite.

And I ate the 'Chhola Kulcha'. The kulcha was stuffed with aloo and there were so many chutneys.

The other day I ate the Chholay Bhature from New Market hotel that gives you chutneys, pickles, finely chopped onions in abundance.

Also had 'bun kebabs' and Chaat. As I describe it, my mouth starts watering. Does yours?

Aleena

My daughter is now one year old. She has learnt how to switch on and switch off the computer, which sometimes irritates me as she often does it when I am in the middle of something--work or chat.

She has also learnt to press some keys on the keyboard and then stares at me for my reaction. She knows that I will get angry. She is cautious when it comes to walking, does walk a few steps and then sits down. Most of my time is spent with her.

My Birthday: February 28

I was born today. Yes. That's my birthday. I turn 89. Ya I am thinking in future--2066, when I will be that old. By that time the world will have changed a lot. I wonder what it will be like.

I saw the newspaper and in the column, 'Today you share your B'day with' found Steven Chu and a pop icon born today. Chu is a physicist who won Nobel Prize in 1997. It was an eventful today. My old neighbours came to meet us. Sravani brought a nice recipe book for me.

My brother journeyed this long to reach to my city for the occasion. Though he left by evening train. My husband took his off today. And my daughter remained busy in learning new words and playing with papers, utensils and whatever she could lay her hands upon.

I have learnt that astronomers, embryologists, physicists and similar experts in science either were born or died today. Cooper and Pauling, I share my saalgirah with. Even Blondin, the legednary acrobat, was born today. On February 28, Egypt regained Independence from Britain in 1922. Of course, nothing great in this but I feel it is good to know the happenings on your saalgirah (b'day).

Gotta change house & latest news

I am too occupied with the thought of changing the house. The lanlord has asked us to shift as he has to sell the house urgently. The urgency came suddenly!

Anyway. What's the use to fight? We have decided to search a house and pack our bags at the earliest. Inshallah we will get a good house soon. I haven't posted for a longtime here. Was really busy with so many things.

My Tin Tin has now learned to Clap and so many other things. She runs in her walker and even otherwise manages to stand up. Inshallah, she will be walkng soon. Once she starts talking, we will be great friends [already we are friends :) and talk, I in Urdu and English, she is her own zabaan, with lots of mama, ta, da and cute sounding words that elate and enchant me.]

That's the pix of just a house....I found on internet.

Honest People Do Exist

During my recent tour to Lucknow and Hyderabad in connection with my brother's marriage one very important incident took place. Infact I was very much shaken by it.

What happened is, On the wedding day, as we all got ready to go to my brother's marriage we came down from the hotel rooms to get into the cars I sat in the hotel lobby for few minutes. There as I sat, I just took out my hand bag and kept it beside me on the sofa. Then everybody hurried to get into the cars to go and even I got up and left for the function hall.

After reaching the function hall I realised that my hand bag was missing. I searched around if I had kept it somewhere and forgotten but couldn't find. Then I thought may be I forgot it in the hotel room itself. So I just kept quiet.

That bag contained very important things like Aleena's milk, her pampers apart from that my ATM card, money and some jewllery. I was growing panicky as time was passing and praying that I must find it in the hotel room. I did not tell anyone thinking that it may cause unnecessary commotion and the whole joy of marriage and the party atmosphere may be spoilt. But surely I was not able to involve myself into the whole ceremony.

Then soon after everything was over, I hurried my husband to get back to the hotel. The moment we entered the hotel room I first searched for my bag but to my surprise I did not find it . It was not there ! ! Oh, God ! I was shattered .

Then my husband asked me to trace back where all I stopped before getting into the car. It's then I remembered that I sat in the lobby for few minutes and I must have forgotten my bag there. But getting it back from there as it was a public place , chances were almost next to impossible that too after so many hours (must be around 5 hrs). But we thought lets take a chance and ask at the reception. that time it was midnight 12 O'clock. So we rushed there and asked, that receptionist started shooting questions on us regarding the contents in the bag.

Let me be very frank, I did not expect at all to get back the bag. But the person on the counter who initially appeared rude was actually testing us whether we were real owners of the handbag. The elderly man later told us that how anxious they were on seeing the bag containing jewellery and other valuables. The entire staff sat together and made a list of the contents that was signed by them and kept at a safe place.

We were told to come back in the morning when the lady with whom it was kept, would be back. I can't tell my feelings then. I was so tensed earlier but felt very light after we got the handbag. They were really honest people who looked concerned. My husband later wrote a letter of appreciation for the staff of this state government's hotel. Even today when I think of that dreadful hour when I had forgotten the handbag, I shudder. Thanks Nooruddin Sahab! (He was at the counter of the hotel).

Yasir's Marriage

I was out on a holiday for around fifteen days. I was busy in my brother Yasir's marriage. It was quite a hectic tour, as first we went to Lucknow where the marriage was performed(as the girl is from Lucknow) then we flew to Hyderabad where we hosted a reception. Now I am back home in Bhopal.

Every thing went on well there. Almost all my relatives came to attend the marriage. So it was like a family reunion. Infact, one of my uncle gave us a surprise as he flew over from USA just to attend the marriage, another Aunt came from Sweden. It was really nice to see them almost after a decade.