Recipe for Dal Vada
Dav Vadas are a common Mumbai Street Food snack, especially found on the carts during evening. I started eating and enjoying Dal Vadas because they are one of my Husbandās favourite Tea-Time snacks and whenever we went rambling, we would pick up Vada Pao and Dal vada! Here, in Dubai, we terribly miss our Mumbai Street Food,although we get these items at fancy restaurants, but nothing to beat Street Food! Since it was Valentineās week and I hadnāt planned anything this year for Valentineās I decided to cook my Husbandās faves, each day! And Dal Vadas made it to Day 5! This is a combination of various recipes put together. Hereās my version of the recipe.
View Recipe
Recipe for Sabudana(Tapioca Pearls) Vada
I was introduced to Sabudana vadas when we shifted to our new Home. These vadas were and still are a favourite snack at most of our Building Flag Hoisting ceremonies and Building Meetings. The best part about these vadas are that it is fried and served to us on the spot and that is what made this one of my favourite vegetarian snacks! Top Secret: I attend these building meetings and ceremonies ONLY for this. Hahahaha! These vadas are known as āupwasā vadas because they are consumed by the Hindu community on fasting days. Many years ago, I had tried my hand at Sabudana khichdi, butI failed miserably because I didnāt get the Sabudana soaked correctly plus the taste was bla.In short, the recipe and instructions were not upto the mark. So, after that, I thought Iād never get it right so I never really bothered trying.I was happy about attending my building community meetings and ceremonies!Hahaha But very recently my Cousin-in-law who wears many feathers in her hat, CARMELITA FERNANDES, Singer, Writer, Blogger, Banker, Chef, Economist and So much more, posted her Sabudana Vada pictures along with the recipe and I just I knew I would get it right this time because it was so beautifully and specifically explained. And guess what! I wasnāt wrong at all!! This was my second attempt and it was Spot On! Also, With a little bit of Youtube advice, Iāve mentioned how I got the Sabudana soaked perfectly. You can follow Carmelitaās Blog www.carmelitafernandes.com [http://www.carmelitafernandes.com] and explore her journey of Food, Travel, Creative Writing and So much More!
View Recipe
Recipe for Flourless Cookies
This was my very first attempt at making a healthy version of Cookies. It was specially requested by a friend for her 16-month old Son who was in this phase of eating ONLY cookies. So she thought why not give him a healthy version and be guilt free. I made these for her and the little champe njoyed them! Happy Me š With some guidance from my SIL Sophie of Sophieās Kitchen Love and a tip I received from Sascha, a certified Nutritionist in Dubai(Just get rolled oats and make your own flour, she once said. Atleast youāll know you're eating 100% oats and not a mixture. This you can substitute for all your Maida products) So these are Flourless cookies made with Powders of Mixed Nuts and Rolled Oats, which yesss! I ground at home. Do make these super simple and delish cookies for your kiddos and be free off the guilt of them eating junk.
View Recipe
Recipe for Batata Vada & Kandha Batata Bhajjia
If you live or have lived in Mumbai or anywhere in Maharashtra, itās just not possible for you to not have enjoyed Garma GaramVada Pavs and Kandha Batata Bhajjias. You will mostly find Vada Pav stalls at almost every corner of the Streets of Mumbai. For some, it is a meal and for some itās a snack.Being one of the most economical snacks available, it is Mumbaiās specialty and one cannot and should not leave Mumbai without trying out this snack. My Mum prepares these Tea Time snacks at Home very often.But, when you have a cart right next to your building selling these, youāre always tempted to go and purchase it from there. Here in Dubai, with absolutely no street carts available,your best and only option is to make these Hot yummies at Home.. Although in Dubai, we get each and everything available at fancy restaurants, the Street Food emotion is a totally different one. The one thing I miss most about Mumbai is itās Street Food. The recipes for the Batata Vadas and Bhajjias are my Mumās and for the Red chutney, I took some tips from my Maharashtrian friend Shweta Kalkar. The only thing different I did was that I added roasted peanuts to the chutney because I used to see my neighbour doing that.
View Recipe
Recipe for Bowl Sheera or Restaurant Sheera
Restaurant Sheera or āBowl Sheeraā is something I thought I could only enjoy only at a Restaurant and Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought I would succeed making it at Home! But Iām so Happy &Thanks to COVID, I proved my rubbish assumption totally wrong! Yayyy! Since Iām still not quite comfortable eating out too often during these times, Iām trying my hand at a lot of my āRestaurant Favouritesā at Home, some successful, some not so successful. But this, turned out way above my expectation! As kids, Sheera & Puri used to be my brother and my favourite Sunday breaky. After Mass and Sunday school, we would enjoy our Sheera Puri at a South Indian Restaurant in South Bombay called āAnandAshramā..We loved their Sheera so much that even when we would go to eat a Thali, we would request the waiter to replace the dessert in the thali with Sheera š Also, once a year, the Muslim community would organise an Urs or Urus(like a fair) with so many food stalls late at Night, outside the Darga near where we lived & Mum n Dad would take us to specially eat Halwa Puri at the stalls. Also, when we used to go to Goa for our Summer hols, there would be a day where the Hindu community would organise a Puja on the Volleyball ground near our House and the Puja would go on till late night. After the Puja they would distribute this Super Yummy Sheera to all the Neighbours in the Village and My Brother & I would wait for our share like bukkads! So yeah! We have a Heart to Heart connection with SHEERA! š š Very recently, we enjoyed a bowl of Sheera at a South Indian Restaurant here in Dubai and OMG it took me back to AnandAshram and I was so hellbent on trying to make it at Home. Ever since I participated in a Food show on TV, Iāve learnt and got into the habit of tasting & trying to guess the ingredients in the dish and I try my best to replicate it on my own, with some help from the internet if there's something too complicated or I can't understand. The outcome of Some, Iām super Happy with and Some I feel like laughing and crying at the same time! hahahah What Mum makes at Home is a No Fuss simple Sheera which we cut into pieces and eat like a cake. So for us, in our head, Bowl Sheera could only be enjoyed at Restaurants. Iād be lying if I said that as I kid, I didnāt try my stunts of adding Water and Milk(and lots of it) to Mumās Cake Sheera, to make it like our favourite āBowl Sheeraā but, I never got it right but failed miserably.. So, FINALLYā¦. hereās my tried-tested-failed-tried again-failed a second time-didnāt give up-tried again and succeeded attempt at our favourite Restaurant Style āBowl Sheeraā
View Recipe
Recipe for Sev Puri
Sev Puri or Sev Batata Puri is one of our favourite evening snacks at home. With so many stalls selling these chaats on the Streets of Mumbai, there is no chance that you havenāt enjoyed a delicious Sev Puri in your neighbourhood! And letās admit it, we all have that āfavourite bhaiyyaā and we feel there is nobody who can make Sev Puri or any of our favourite chaats better than him. As I always say in most of my posts that Street Food is something that I miss terribly about Mumbai. And although we get everything available here in Dubai in the most fancy of platings, I still want my Sev puri served in that Magazine paper or a Newspaperā¦itās an unexplainable emotion! When in Mumbai, Mum makes Chaats for Dinner sometimes. And we purchase the puris from a local vendor and all we have to do is prepare the other ingredients. But living in Dubai, Iāve learned to make everything from scratch using Mumās recipe and some tricks and tips by watching some food videos. Hereās my recipe for Sev Puri. Do give it a try! Trust me,if you love to cook, this will take you on a different trip because everything is made from scratch. Surprise your family! These were my Bitter Betterās words āyouāll give the Bhaiyyas and the Big shots a run for the Money! Masterchef material this isā And In my mind this is what I went through āThe lockdown has toned my bugger off so much that heās shooting compliments after compliments or is it that my cooking skills are really improvingā¦..hmmmmmm Food for thoughtā hahahahaa
View Recipe
Recipe for Dubai's Popular Avocado Milkshake
My absolute Favourite Drink at any cafĆ© here in the UAE. Before I came to the UAE, I never thought I would even want to try an Avocado ever, because I had a horrible experience with Avocado during my college days!I was on a GM diet and on the day of the Fruits and Veggies, the fruit vendor said āye lo, isko Avocado bolte hain. Patla hone ke liye bahoot achcha haiā Never ever heard of Acocado in my life (ok! So it was just being introduced in the markets in India then) I ate it with the Skin On! Hahahahahah Gosh! And worse still it was a raw one! And in those years there was no practice of ācheck on Youtubeā either hahahā¦so yeah! This is my Avocado story! So when I first came to the UAE, Mr. Bitter Better introduced me to Avocado Smoothie, at a cafeteria and I LOVEDDDD it! Next day, he bought a ripe Avocado, peeled the skin off(with a lot of laughs and taunts thinking of my GM diet.....Mr.Meano) and sliced it and gave me to eat and I LOVED it! All he and his Mum said "it tastes like Butter, you much be crazy not to like it" and they kept enjoying it as if they were eating fried chicken and kept making the "MMMMMMM" sound at every bite to tempt me to atleast try it!!! And Yeahhhh I went "MMMMMM" too š š From then after, whenever Iām hungry I just make an Avocado smoothie at home or if Iām out I stop by at any cafeteria and enjoy an Avocado Smoothie and Iām sorted! The Best part is that when My Mum came to Dubai, I introduced her to this too at a Cafe. When she heard what I had ordered, She went "Oh God ya baby, you know I don't like to experiment"b and all I told her "wait and watch" and Boy!! she didn't share it with me. She LOVED it too and whenever we went out, She asked for Avocado Milkshake. I remember clicking her pics to send it back to my family members to completely shock them out š š Just for the records: To please my Mum for new foods, is next to impossible!!!! So yeah! This was worth the chance š
View Recipe
Recipe for Dubai's Popular Avocado Milkshake
My absolute Favourite Drink at any cafĆ© here in the UAE. Before I came to the UAE, I never thought I would even want to try an Avocado ever, because I had a horrible experience with Avocado during my college days!I was on a GM diet and on the day of the Fruits and Veggies, the fruit vendor said āye lo, isko Avocado bolte hain. Patla hone ke liye bahoot achcha haiā Never ever heard of Acocado in my life (ok! So it was just being introduced in the markets in India then) I ate it with the Skin On! Hahahahahah Gosh! And worse still it was a raw one! And in those years there was no practice of ācheck on Youtubeā either hahahā¦so yeah! This is my Avocado story! So when I first came to the UAE, Mr. Bitter Better introduced me to Avocado Smoothie, at a cafeteria and I LOVEDDDD it! Next day, he bought a ripe Avocado, peeled the skin off(with a lot of laughs and taunts thinking of my GM diet.....Mr.Meano) and sliced it and gave me to eat and I LOVED it! All he and his Mum said "it tastes like Butter, you much be crazy not to like it" and they kept enjoying it as if they were eating fried chicken and kept making the "MMMMMMM" sound at every bite to tempt me to atleast try it!!! And Yeahhhh I went "MMMMMM" too š š From then after, whenever Iām hungry I just make an Avocado smoothie at home or if Iām out I stop by at any cafeteria and enjoy an Avocado Smoothie and Iām sorted! The Best part is that when My Mum came to Dubai, I introduced her to this too at a Cafe. When she heard what I had ordered, She went "Oh God ya baby, you know I don't like to experiment"b and all I told her "wait and watch" and Boy!! she didn't share it with me. She LOVED it too and whenever we went out, She asked for Avocado Milkshake. I remember clicking her pics to send it back to my family members to completely shock them out š š Just for the records: To please my Mum for new foods, is next to impossible!!!! So yeah! This was worth the chance š
View Recipe
Recipe for Flourless Cookies
This was my very first attempt at making a healthy version of Cookies. It was specially requested by a friend for her 16-month old Son who was in this phase of eating ONLY cookies. So she thought why not give him a healthy version and be guilt free. I made these for her and the little champe njoyed them! Happy Me š With some guidance from my SIL Sophie of Sophieās Kitchen Love and a tip I received from Sascha, a certified Nutritionist in Dubai(Just get rolled oats and make your own flour, she once said. Atleast youāll know you're eating 100% oats and not a mixture. This you can substitute for all your Maida products) So these are Flourless cookies made with Powders of Mixed Nuts and Rolled Oats, which yesss! I ground at home. Do make these super simple and delish cookies for your kiddos and be free off the guilt of them eating junk.
View Recipe
Recipe for Dubai's Popular Avocado Milkshake
My absolute Favourite Drink at any cafĆ© here in the UAE. Before I came to the UAE, I never thought I would even want to try an Avocado ever, because I had a horrible experience with Avocado during my college days!I was on a GM diet and on the day of the Fruits and Veggies, the fruit vendor said āye lo, isko Avocado bolte hain. Patla hone ke liye bahoot achcha haiā Never ever heard of Acocado in my life (ok! So it was just being introduced in the markets in India then) I ate it with the Skin On! Hahahahahah Gosh! And worse still it was a raw one! And in those years there was no practice of ācheck on Youtubeā either hahahā¦so yeah! This is my Avocado story! So when I first came to the UAE, Mr. Bitter Better introduced me to Avocado Smoothie, at a cafeteria and I LOVEDDDD it! Next day, he bought a ripe Avocado, peeled the skin off(with a lot of laughs and taunts thinking of my GM diet.....Mr.Meano) and sliced it and gave me to eat and I LOVED it! All he and his Mum said "it tastes like Butter, you much be crazy not to like it" and they kept enjoying it as if they were eating fried chicken and kept making the "MMMMMMM" sound at every bite to tempt me to atleast try it!!! And Yeahhhh I went "MMMMMM" too š š From then after, whenever Iām hungry I just make an Avocado smoothie at home or if Iām out I stop by at any cafeteria and enjoy an Avocado Smoothie and Iām sorted! The Best part is that when My Mum came to Dubai, I introduced her to this too at a Cafe. When she heard what I had ordered, She went "Oh God ya baby, you know I don't like to experiment"b and all I told her "wait and watch" and Boy!! she didn't share it with me. She LOVED it too and whenever we went out, She asked for Avocado Milkshake. I remember clicking her pics to send it back to my family members to completely shock them out š š Just for the records: To please my Mum for new foods, is next to impossible!!!! So yeah! This was worth the chance š
View Recipe