Rizogalo - Greek Rice Pudding

 I tried my hand at making a very traditional rice pudding for my daughter's Greek family. I read a lot of recipes online, but this recipe from themediterraneandish.com rang true and authentic and I am so glad I trusted my instincts. Ruth Bardis is an Australian of Greek ethinicity and I must say that her recipe got me a lot of compliments from all the people who tasted it.

The only effort required for this recipe is to whisk the milk / rice mixture consistently and almost constantly.  It takes around 45 minutes, but the results were awesome. 

Kesari or Semolina Halwa

 Both my husband and daughter love this simple Indian dessert that can be served at weddings or at home.  When it is served at weddings or functions, it is made with ghee and saffron (kesar) - and hence the name Kesari. It is usually made with an orange food colouring but I try to refrain from using food colouring unless it is natural.  So though my kesari looks quite brown, but you can definitely taste the saffron.  It is entirely up to you if you wish to use food colouring and I will include it in the recipe as an option. The beauty about this dessert is that you can make it vegan very easily too.

Basic Chicken Biriyani - Rajam's recipe

 For most Indians, biriyani is an emotion. There are so many different varieties of biriyani in India and the one you had growing up generally ends up being the winner. The reason is obviously it brings back so many fun memories, and secondly, it is a taste that gets embedded in the ridges and grooves of your brain. Nothing anyone makes is even remotely close to that taste that you know is possible and you strive hard to find it everywhere. I found many Indian restaurants in Melbourne cook the rice and the meat seperately and then layer it in and call it biriyani. Of course it made me mad because for me the meat and rice must be cooked together for it to have the status of biriyani.  Yes, biriyani definitely has a status, if the meat and rice are cooked together in a delicious conglomeration, then the status is definitely at the top.

The trick to getting a perfectly cooked rice and meat dish is 1) excellent quality biriyani rice, 2) infinite patience and 3) careful measuring.  I use India Gate "classic basmati rice extra long" because it never fails me. India Gate basmati rice cooks into a fine long grain, fluffy and beautiful and I know the ratio is 1 cup of rice means two cups of liquid. 

My mother used to make biriyani at home for special occassions and that is what I have tried to create today for you. This is not a very hot dish, but by all means reduce the number of green chillies if you feel it might be too hot for you.  The red chilli powder I have used is Kashmiri chilli powder  which is not hot. 

Also, my mother never used to marinate and seal the chicken when she made chicken biriyani.  However, the chicken she used were organic and small sized where as the ones I see here are huge and have very little flavour - even if they are supposedly organic.  So that is a variation that helps with increasing the flavours of this dish. 

Lets get to the recipe without further ado!  This recipe calls for marination of the chicken and I do it the day before I am planning to make the biriyani.

Lamb Shanks

 After a long hiatus of nearly 5 months, I am back again! During the 5 months I had been busy preparing for my daughter's wedding, a cruise, the actual wedding, a trip, visitors and finally back to me and my old phone taking pictures and my familiar lap top...writing up another recipe!  This recipe is dedicated to the wonderful lamb I had in New Zealand, my friends and family at the multi cultural wedding and all the rejoicing and reconnecting that happened in the last half year. It is also dedicated to the wedding and the welcoming of new members of the family and the joyous celebrations associated with it! To my friends and family who have been encouraging me to get back to blogging, this one is for you too.  I love you all.

To the butchers at Preston market and the Publique French Bakery, thank you for the produce and the best olive sour dough baguette!

Let's get down to the recipe - I wanted this to be a relaxing day so I actually put the lamb shanks on the stove and went to the local shopping centre to do my weekly shop and get a coffee before coming back to check on the meat. It was two and a half hours all up but the meat was tender and I didn't need a knife to cut it at all.

Paneer Bhurji - Scrambled Indian Cottage Cheese

 Today was a busy day at home - clearing up my son's room. Then a quick run to the green grocer to get some essentials for the week. I found some lovely yellow capsicums at a great price, so I picked up a few. I also had left over paneer from last week, so it is going to be a quick and easy Sunday night dinner with some Lebanese bread and Paneer Bhurji.

I will take the left overs for lunch tomorrow in my sandwich and toast it. Very versatile dish, and the capsicum is my own addition -which you do not normally find in Paneer Bhurji. I added it in as I have so many of them! Back to the grind tomorrow!

Falooda

Indian Summers are oppressively hot and humid. And kids and adults would do anything to keep cool. Falooda is sold as THE thing to cool your body down and it is freely avilable in all the iceream shops, bakeries and street food vendors. It was introduced to India by the Moghuls - so it is a Middle Eastern dish except the Indians added their own twist to it.  The twist is the secret syrup - called Roohafza that you will find in all sorts of soft drinks, lemonade, fizzy sherbet drinks and so on. I tend to use Roohafza very sparingly as it is extremely sweet. But it has an amazing smell of roses and a bright pink colour that looks great on desserts.

To explain the Falooda to Aussies - it is like an Eton Mess - a jumble of things put together with different textures and flavours. I made this for my birthday last week but the pictures taken at night were not particularly good.  Luckily I had the ingredients so I could make it again for the photograph.

Ajvar - roasted capsicum and eggplant dip

 I got introduced to Ajvar a while ago by a Macedonian colleague. Her husband grew bell peppers at home and he would preserve them after harvesting them. The smoky peppers, the vibrant colour, the smooth and tangy after taste - these were all the things that made sure I got addicted to it. For several years I just bought a jar of Ajvar - it was so convenient.  But today I decided to try to make it - and as expected, it tastes so much better when it is home made!

The cherry on top was a Macedonian friend of my son's - I heard him saying to my son "Is your mum making Ajvar? I can smell it!" I must have done something right!

Onam 2023

 Another Onam marked off in my calendar! This one was special because we had a non traditional "Thums Up" drink with our meal. Kind of like Indian Cocacola - that the kids found in the Indian store in Melbourne.  

The day started off with setting up some floral arrangements inside the home - the all important Atha Poovu or flower carpet:

Normally this is actually done on the floor of the home - but I do not find the time to devote for elaborate floral decorations on the floor - not to mention the cleaning up after!

Makki Ki Roti - Cornmeal flat bread

 Sadda Pind is a cultural museum in Amritsar, India. On our recent visit we got to experience some amazing rustic food in the museum. Sadda Pind means "My Village".  The museum is set up amongst beautiful mud cottages, colourful artwork across the walls - artisans busy working on their craft and women of the village gathering together to cook food.  yes, its true, I did not see any men of the village cooking!  But anyway, I got to experience life in a village all in one day, tried my hand at weaving, embroidery, listened to music, saw dances - and tasted some amazing food.  As you walk into Sadda Pind you are welcomed with a glass of lassi and as you go past each mud hut there is something new to taste in each home.

One of the things I tried was Sarson Ka Saag and Makki ki Roti. Mustard greens with cornmeal flatbread.This is an iconic Punjabi dish - and its essence is to take you to the lush fields and farmlands of Punjab and remind you of the hardworking farmers and the delicious food from the fields to your plate, literally. 

A couple of years back I actually grew mustard in my back yard so I could experience the authentic flavour of the leaves. At that time, I did not make the cornmeal rotis. I used tortillas instead.  This time I thought I would try my hand at making the rotis because the ladies in the Pind (village) showed me how to do it. This recipe is completely vegetarian and gluten free.  If you want to make it vegan, just use oil instead of butter.

The ladies in the Pind simply used the palm of their hand to get the dough into shape - but I was not able to do it as well as them.  So I have used a rolling pin instead.

Broken Glass Pudding

 Have you walked into an old church and gazed at the stained glass windows? Have you wondered how many hours the people spent drawing the intricate shapes, amazing colours, cutting glass to shape, soldering the outlines....and creating the picture? Its hard work, I tell you! Just reading about it tells you that this job is not for the faint of heart.

Unlike this dessert which is kind of the same - as in it has beautiful colours, patterns and what's more you can eat it too! 

I wanted to make my inner child happy - and jelly as a kid was a much looked forward to dessert. This recipe makes use of 4 colours of jelly and it is a very simple and light dessert, enough to make the child in you happy. It is visually appealing and is very light after a big meal.