DAY 19:KANGKONG WITH CHICKEN.

I have decided that on Sunday, I'm going to be a good Catholic and keep the Sabbath holy , so hence no cooking for the blog, yesterday i was feeling the need for some answers in life and so took my kids and went to Mount Mary's to pray and just ponder, Zeke ,Zene and me bought coloured candles and went and paid our respects,prayed and felt very very blessed, protected and wonderful..
We then went to our favorite haunt "Candies"to stuff our faces with all we love, i was so happy when Zene said ,"mama you make these muffins and i love your muffins"...so in the middle of sandwiches and chocolate tarts, and running for pee pee and she's not sharing etc etc
I decided to go vegetable shopping at Pali Market, i went mad buying Thai spices and then i spotted "morning glory " a veggie that i simply adore, i really felt like "Kylie Kwong" in China, unbelievably happy but still well behaved , very unlike me ha ha ha , did not want to frighten the vendor with overwhelming happiness at the sight of these greens you know ,wanted to scream like a hooligan and do a cartwheel , but did not scream as i have kind of grown out of my hooliganish behavior and i don't yet know how to do a cartwheel, but decided there and then, that that's what I'm making Monday evening, because i like having light dinners....

Kangkong with Chicken
1 clove finely sliced
1 birds eye chili
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 chicken leg
5 tbsp oil
150 g morning glory
50 g mushroom

Mix half the garlic, chili, soy sauce, fish sauce and a little oil and marinate the chicken and keep it aside...
Heat 2tbsp oil in a wok until its smoking, add the chicken and cook it for about 8-10 minutes or till it is cooked but succulent..
Add the remaining oil to the wok, and when it is crazy hot , add the morning glory and cook for about a minute tossing it, add the soy sauce, chili, fish sauce, mushrooms and continue to cook till it is soft and a beautiful edible green, stir in the chicken , add salt and pepper and , have it nice and hot....

I used chili oil in my marinade , because i like it HOT...
This dish tastes fresh and clean and like something you would eat at an exotic diner , also i did not use too much oil , and like the fresh taste of greens infused with the really well-flavoured chicken, basically i love ,love ,love kangkong ha ha ha

So with lotsa love and tender care "Kangkong with Chicken "piping hot from "Maria's Kitchen" !

P.S. Zeke did this photo ... n i'm a proud mama..eat, love,pray ,laugh n hug...good night !

DAY 18:FAST NON GREASY PANEER

When in doubt , i just make Paneer, its wholesome and tasty and really quick and easy, so after we watched Nadira Zaheer Babbar's children's play "Jungle Dhoom.com", which Zeke and Zene enjoyed ,because it had kids dressed like animals and they sang and danced, they were really cute .
So the next thing on the agenda ," food ", its just too hot to eat out ,so i got some paneer from "punjab paneer " on the way home and this is what i made....of course with hazaar instrucions from Zeke and Zene who think they are both chefs, so its really cute and funny, the stuff they come up with, and it always ends with , "good you listened to me na, i know how to make this "

300 g paneer
1 big onion
3 tomatoes grated
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 capsicum
salt to taste

In a non stick i added a little oil , then added the onion that i ran through the mixer, cooked it really well , then added the grated tomatoes and the haldi, coriander powder and the garam masala, added a little salt and cooked this till looked nice and thick and had a lovely orange colour, added cubes of paneer and the capsicum , cooked it for just over 8 minutes and , served it hot and piping with some fresh roti.....
Ok i did put a little home-made ghee over it for that special comfort feeling...
It is all over , which is why the photograph has such a small serving...
I use paneer in pizzas, kheema , pasta ....basically anything that needs a little more homey feel to it..Paneer also reminds me of my friend Jaya's daughter Gia, when i first saw her she looked like this chubby piece of paneer, completely chomp-able ha ha ha
This was the fastest dish i have made in 2 weeks, fresh , hot Paneer , straight from "Maria's Kitchen"

DAY17:WHITE CHOCOLATE WITH ARSHAD AND IAN WRIGHT

Woke yesterday morning with chocolate on my mind, and Zeke and Zene really wanted to have chocolate mousse again ...
And as, Arshad had invited Ian Wright and the Travel and Living crew that has been following him around shooting him,home for dinner, i knew that that i would be like a hurricane in my kitchen ..
So while i was wondering what to make , i decided that if it was mousse ,it had to be white chocolate mousse, because Arshad loves white chocolate.
So i just followed the same recipe but used an imported variety of white chocolate..
We'll to begin with i had to hunt for fresh cream , which i then got from Waterstones which is 45minutes away from home, the chef was sweet enough to let me have some , because the Parsi dairy fresh cream that i normally use was not available that morning...
Then i decided that this White Chocolate Mousse needed pretty long stemmed glasses, so i again left the house to search for that, which i found , but they would be delivered at 2pm...
Sitting in the rick , i knew what i was making for dinner, so the menu is

Starters
Hummus with lavache
Maple syrup and mustard chicken sausages
Beer batter fried prawns

Main course
Honey glazed chicken
Vindaloo mutton
Payaa
Dal

Dessert
White chocolate mousse
White mountain chocolate muffins
Mango Tarts

So i got home and turned my kitchen upside down , with my helpers Vijay and Mary, while Baghi kept Zeke and Zene busy and out of my kitchen, it was crazy but great fun, we finished making all the dessert and marinating all the meat...
By 3 it was time to take Zeke and Zene to watch a ' day i met the prince", which a friend Asif is doing and , it was fun and took my mind off the cooking that still had to be done, and the bonus is that you get to meet "The Sashi Kapoor" who exudes so much of calm and niceness , i love his smile and his crooked teeth , and its soooooo wonderful to see him at Prithvi watching budding talent......
Suddenly i realised that i had broken my champagne glasses and needed glasses and did not have long slender spoons for my long slender mousse glasses...ha ha ha yup..
So decided to go shopping again with Zeke and Zene in tow, we got out they were hungry and took the longest time to eat their chocolate croissants, and then fell asleep in the rick ...
Well , to cut a long story short , i got funky pink glasses , found my spoons , bought mangoes and came home and we cooked and finished everything by 8.30 , even the flowers arranged by Chinmaya were beautiful , lit the candles, and my aroma essence pots with lavender ,ran for a bath and was ready just as Arshad opened the door for Ian and his crew..
Ian and Arshad entertained us all ,Phil their camera guy is lovely, met Jessie who used to do sound with me on MTV after eons, Zeke played the "devil's march "on the piano, Zene was cute as a button, Amit took photos(hope i get to see them before the year ends ha ha ha ) and Sandy had us in splits and Sambo giggled, missed MY girls Mini, Jaya and Shaheen......
It was a fun filled and mad evening, but i forgot to shoot the food , so I'm sorry but you are just going to have to believe that i made all this.....
It was a feast that I'm happy i cooked for the ones i love.........in "Maria's Kitchen"

P.S. did not do anything today, but write this blog......too knackered...

DAY16:FRESH SUMMER SALAD WITH A DASH OF SIN

OK , i just want to stop this heat , its so darn hot and humid, my brain is getting COMPLETELY fried, but then we better off in Mumbai ,my friend Gaurav Kapoor in Delhi said that he is feeling like "a piggy on a slow pit fire " ha ha ha
So yup i love my Bombay ,Mumbai whatever you wanna call it, to me its home...
My cousin Penny-Ann who moved to Australia sent me a message asking me to make a salad, so on this hot and humid day , so that's what I'm making...
I know whenever we think of salads , we think ...Oh! My God , I'm dieting , but salads can be a lot of fun , frankly i just put in my favourite leaves my favourite meat and because i dislike heavy dressings and creamy dressings in my salad , i just toss some olive oil and some rock salt , because i love to bite into bits of it while having my salad, peeped into my fridge and found

farfalle
cucumber
tomato
salad leaves
roquette leaves
broccoli
carrots
baby corn
red and yellow peppers
boiled potato
salmon

I very lightly boiled the carrots, baby corn and broccoli and kept it aside to cool.
Then very lightly pan fried a small piece of the salmon and broke up the flakes.
Then diced the tomato,and cucumber and red and yellow peppers.Hand mixed it all in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil some rock salt and a dash of freshly squeezed orange juice, also tossed in some butter fried garlic for a little drama....
And since i love mashed potatoes, i mashed the potato , added butter and cream to it , with rock salt and chili flakes ....and some good old fashioned bacon ....
Grate 1 carrot really fine and deep fry it and use it as garnish on the mashed potatoes..

And voila you have a lovely" Fresh Summer Salad with a dash of Sin" on the side straight from "Maria's Kitchen.

DAY 15: CHOCOLATE SPACESHIP COOKIES

Looks like i am just going the chocolate route, woke up this morning and was wondering what to make in this blistering heat , and since i was feeling really really lazy , i decided to make something fresh for tea , and so chocolate chip cookies it is.
This recipe is from "Nigella express " , i love her , how she cooks, how she talks about food, she has brought "sexy" back into the kitchen , and i love it, its never about how you look but how you feel ,if you don't feel good about yourself inside , you will not be able to put that zingy feeling into what you make, frankly its not what you wear but how you wear it...
But the fact is i am not someone who has to make every meal every day so ya i am the "Queen of my pantry" and the ingredients have to do my bidding or they get chucked into the "dreaded " dust bin ha ha ha ha ..
So now whizzing around , before my troublesome twosome wake up from their afternoon nap, btw they had chocolate mousse for breakfast too...

Chocolate Chip Cookies
125 g dark chocolate
150 g flour
30 g cocoa sieved
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
125 g soft butter
75 g brown sugar
50 g white sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1 cold egg
350 g chocolate to be broken into chips

Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees.
Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler
Mix flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl.
Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl, then add the melted chocolate and mix together.
Beat the vanilla extract and cold egg, then mix in the dry ingredients, mix this with the butter , sugar , chocolate mix and finally add the chocolate chips.
Scoop out equal sized mounds onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to see it comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a baking tray for 4-5 minutes, and let them cool so that they can harden.

So i did all that is mentioned above and seriously wanted to put the dough in the muffin moulds but did not do that , put them on baking paper as instructed...
The Cadbury chocolate completely melted in the oven , the mounds of cookie dough, flattened out and began to resemble "chocolate space ships" any moment now little chocolate smeared creatures would walk out of my oven and take my ingredients hostage and probably kidnap me as a gift to their "bald 1 eyed king", ok ok im stopping this stupid story...
Back to the cookies , they took 25 minute to cook and flattened out..
But the good part is they still tasted fine, so if you are not someone who judges people by how they look but what they are on the inside, the cookies i made are for you..

Fresh "CHOCOLATE SPACE SHIPS" straight from ''Maria's Kitchen" ....
P.S. My net was down the entire day

Day 14: CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

I remember tasting chocolate mousse the very 1st time from ," Croissants" the shop that sold yummy goodies and the place that i actually worked in, for about a year on and off...
"Chocolate mousse"hmmm... it was chilled, light , gooey and yummy, and remember people would call it "mousie"or "mouse" and i would keep thinking why would you call it a rodent and still want to eat it...
But i love all things chocolate and desperately need some comfort food today, so woke up bright and early with chocolate on my mind...not clothes, not shoes...but simple indulgence CHOCOLATE.
And so doing a recipe i learnt from Chef Vicky on "Do it Sweet", i googled many of the recipe's, but like this because its a good combination of cooked and uncooked ingredients together.And have made it twice before and it was a huge success with all .

Chocolate Mousse
280gm chocolate
50 ml milk
4 egg yolks
100 ml water
400 gm whipped cream

Combine the chocolate and the milk over a double boiler , till the chocolate melts, then keep aside to cool
Combine egg yolks, sugar and water over a double boiler, and cook it while whisking it with an electric beater, till it turns white about 6-7 minutes, remove from the heat and whip till its cool.
Then using a large rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate mix into the egg yolk mix , DO NOT BEAT IT, just with a whole lot of TLC , then fold in the whipped cream...
Put it in bowls and garnish with some chocolate and let it chill in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours before you decide to indulge...

And it did not start off really we'll , because the chocolate i put on to the double boiler is spoilt, so chucked it, jumped into a rick and went in search of cooking chocolate, gosh its too hot , to be searching for chocolate, but since i said that i will do 1 recipe a day , i just could not go back on my word, so i went to Alpha in Vile Parle and found 2 different cooking chocolate , bought both got home and jumped right back into the kitchen , gosh what a girls gotta do for chocolate....
So like Speedy Gonzalez, i whisked and mixed and stuck my fingers into the mix and tasted and and all along, two pairs of brown eyes kept following my every move and as i turned my back , Zeke and Zene stuck their fingers into the bowl and while Zeke was busy laughing at getting caught, Zene just behaved like she is the official taster and said, "I love it mama, i really love it"

Also i used milk chocolate and not the 70% chocolate because that is slightly bitter for the kids and since I'm outnumbered , i just listen to the little chipmunks .
Let me warn all our weight watchers, this is really fatty , but really tasty , so what the hell , do an extra session of cardio.. but have fun..


So today , because i seriously need my comfort food , "Chocolate Mousse" straight from "Maria's Kitchen"

Sunday bonus DAMIEN AND JOANNA FERNANDES

Yup! this is my mum and dad.
And they are the best any kid could ask for, they worked so hard all their life and prayed even harder and that's why we are so blessed today. We did not have a fancy life and yet it was filled with all that is good and wonderful, we had all we needed not what we wanted , and that's why probably i am what i am today.
My parents instilled values and good behavior and too many morals for my own good....
They always told me to "treat everyone like i would want to be treated", and "to do what i want but never dis-respect or hurt your family".
I never got pocket money , and i had to reached home at 12'midnight no matter what time i went for a party, and gosh! it used to make me so maaaad, but today ,i thank them with all my heart for all that they did and continue to do for me ...
I'm blessed that i have 2 guardian angels in my life to look after me..
If i can eat 24/7 today and am still hungry ,its because i got that from my DAD and thank his amazing genes that i do not put on weight very easily and if i can cook today its because my mum is awesome in the kitchen and when i think of her in our kitchen i see her tossing spaghetti , with vegetables , boiled eggs, cheese, butter and ham into a huge plate that we would devour like a pack of hungry wolves, its my favorite childhood transporter , "MY MUMS CHOW"


Mummy's Chow
Spaghetti
Handful of broccoli, baby corn , french beans, peas, carrots and red and yellow peppers,all diced.
Eggs
Chicken sausages /ham/ bacon diced
Salt to taste

Cook the spaghetti and keep it aside
Heat a vessel of water and when it is boiling , dunk the vegetables in ,a bowl at a time, as all cook at different temperatures, do not over cook them .
Then heat a small fry pan , and put a little olive oil and butter in it, put all the vegetables in and let the butter coat them..keep it aside
Do the same to the diced sausages/ham /bacon.
After that warm the spaghetti if it has gone cold, and then add to it some butter and some cheese spread , for this all to melt into it, it actually has to be just about drained , so i time it very well.
Boil eggs for exactly 7 minutes and just cut in 2.
Mix the spaghetti , vegetables eggs and the sausages together and eat it while its still hot.


That's exactly what i did and Yeah the kids and me loved it, we are now sitting happy and satiated, i think this is a good way to get the kids to eat their vegetables and their eggs ,GOSH ... my mum tricked us into eating veggies ha ha ha
Just like I'm doing now, so i made plates that looked like clowns and it was fun and tasty

So 'Mummys Chow Clown " hot piping and yummy straight from "Maria's Kitchen"...

DAY 13:JUGGIE

We were sitting one day discussing why we don't have pet names and i was reading an Archie comic , so i called her Juggie and she did not have a name for me , and she kept saying "i don't like it , don't call me that " , but the witch elder sister that i am i kept teasing her and today my lovely and darling younger sister is known as "Juggie" by me and all my friends.
We have fought, pulled one anothers hair and screamed and not talked and had a volatile time, but if i had to choose again , i would want "Juliet " to be my sis again , she was always the brave one, nothing and no one frightened her , and i really look up to her, because she has loved me and has been there for me always, she now lives in Dallas , but if i ever need her , she has packed her little munchies , said bye to her darling husband Raj and flown down and just stayed put.
She has had more faith in me than i had in myself and the reason i was ever in MTV is because she pushed me to go , and looked after my puppies Betty-Boo and Ninja , though she was petrified of dogs, she said she knew that i would be brilliant , even though i was clueless.
My sister "Juggie" is like a little tigress , you mess with her family and you will have to leave the jungle, my mad loving and fantastic photographer sister, i love you and Raj and Kyle and Cruz to smithereens , and even though you not here to taste it , i know you will like what I'm making and can imagine the taste, your favorite "lemon cheese cake", actually this is the baked version...

Lemon Cheese Cake
50 gm self rising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
50 gm soft butter
275 gm caster sugar
5 large eggs
400 gm cream cheese softened
400 gm
plain flour
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
75gm kishmish/sultanas
142 ml sour cream

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
Grease and line the base of the pan you are going to bake in.
Sift the self rising flour and baking powder in a bowl, add the butter 50gm of the sugar and 1 egg, mix well then beat for 2-3 minutes.
Spread the mic at the base of the tin.

Separate the remaining eggs. whisk together the remaining egg yolks and sugar till its thick and creamy, add the cream cheese and mix well, fold the plain flour into this mix along with the lemon zest, juice, kishmish and sour cream.

Whisk the egg whites till they are nice and stiff and fold into the cheese mix.
Pour this over the base mix in the yin.
Bake for 1-1 1/4 hours until it is firm yet spongy.
Turn the oven off and leave the cheese cake in for about an hour.
Remove the cheese cake from the oven and leave to cool.
Chill in the fridge . preferably overnight before serving.

We'll i baked the cheese cake before i left for mass, so by the time i came back the kitchen was filled with a subtle but sweet aroma of this delicate cheese cake, as very few people home, used half the amount said in the recipe and it also baked in 45 minutes, and I'm not waiting to cool it over night , so have bitten into it already , its soft , spongy and has a very delicate taste to it and i actually like it warm, so today being Sunday , breakfast with Juggie"s favorite 'Lemon Cheese Cake" only from Maria's Kitchen... have a fun and mad Sunday

love and peace

Am sorry , but not going to be doing any cooking today...
To me food is a celebration and after waking up to the news of the Manglore runway tragedy, i really cannot celebrate.
There is nothing in this world that can make up for the loss of a loved one...
My prayers are with the families who lost their loved ones today...

MY WEEK OF DEDICATIONS

There comes a time in every girl's life when you realise that, the reason you are sane , smiling , laughing and acting like super-woman , is because you are surrounded and protected by them.

And so this week i dedicate to all the wonderful women in my life, who have all given me soooo much.....

For all the wonderful times we have shared together and for all the superlative times ahead ...

Through PMS and neurosis, schizophrenia and paranoia , aches and pains, pimples and bad hair days, OCD's and laziness, babies and weight loss,heart breaks and heart-aches, promises and lies, boy-friends and husbands, wine and dine,crying and yelling, headaches and hang-overs, bitching and hitching, spells and magic, love songs and rock n roll...

Just want to say ,hope we stay as crazy , wonderful and part of each others lives , till the end...
And for some of the wonderful women that i have not mentioned this week , you are and will always be a part of my soul ...

ZEKE 'S FRENCH TOAST

And Zeke decided to make French Toast for Tea , and so he did...

SHOOTING STAR FRENCH TOAST
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
3 tsp of milkmaid
2 slices sweet fruity bread

Break an egg into a bowl , add the milk and the milkmaid and whip it...
Drown a slice of the bread in the mix and after it is nice and heavy , fry it in a non stick pan with a little butter, serve it with a little hersheys chocolate syrup.
(If you want to add a little more sin to the recipe, put in a spoonful of cream cheese.....
But dont blame me for the consequences ha ha ha )

This is Zeke's way of making it , i also have a video of him making it , but will release it when he turns 18 and if he decides to go the "Jamie Oliver" way......
Introducing my little chef Zeke only in "Maria's kitchen"
P.S. Hand model's are Zeke and Zene.

DAY 7: ZZ'S FAVORITE LASAGNE...

And on the 7th day when God saw all he had done , He rested....
But since I'm not God i was up at 6am , also because i could not sleep and started making all my preparations for the lasagne, i love Sundays, its family time , good food time and lazying around time, and so decided to make a one dish meal, and so picked up this recipe from my favorite Italian cook book beause Zeke and Zene love this so here's presenting ,

ZZ'S favorite Lasagne in the whooole world

Bechamel sauce (white sauce)
500 ml milk 2 bay leaves
3 cloves
1 small onion
1 tbsp whole wheat flour
full fat cream
a pinch grated nutmeg
butter

Put the milk in a non stick pan over a medium flame and add to it the bay leaves , cloves, onion, well i also added garlic to it and 2 peppercorns because i always do when i make basic white sauce, then after it is well boiled and you can smell the beautiful aroma of the spices , take it off the fire and strain and keep aside, then butter a pan, stir in the flour n cook for a about a minute , then gradually stir in the flavoured milk bit by bit, then put some fresh cream in it (that collects on top of the milk after you boil it or a packet variety ), i always stir in some cheese , but u don't really have to , then take it off the flame and season with salt and nutmeg.

Ragu Sauce
olive oil
2 garlic pods
butter
2 large onions chopped
4 celery sticks
175 gms chicken bacon
500 gms minced lamb
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp flour
400 gms chopped tomatoes
150 ml chicken or meat stock
150 ml red wine
2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg salt and pepper


Heat a little olive oil and butter in a non stick vessel, add the onions and chicken bacon and cook for about 5-7 minutes.
Then stir in the garlic and the mince meat and cook till it loses its colour, then increase the heat a bit add the tomato puree , i always add i dash of ketchup, the flour and cook for 2 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes , stock and wine.
season with oregano and nutmeg, cover and let it simmer for 45 minutes , its now ready to use.

I love the delicate smell of nutmeg , I also add basil leaves , because to me no Italian food is complete without basil.
Then pre heat your oven to 200 degrees for half an hour .
Take a beautiful oven friendly dish and arrange sheets of lasagne at the bottom , then i put a layer of mashed potatoes because the kids love it, over that a generous helping of the ragu sauce , i also add a layer of spinach, some white sauce over it and grated mozzarella cheese, then over it another layer of the lasagne . i do not add any more layers of mashed potato, so lasagne , white sauce,spinach , cheese , ragu sauce.
i finish it with one last layer of lasagne, white sauce ,spinach some basil and then the mozzarella cheese and bake it at 170 degrees for about 40 minutes or till the sauce bubbles and the cheese turns a nice golden brown and dark in some places.

It's always fun to eat a lasagne straight out of the oven, and that's just what we did , put a little mat out on our terrace and sat down and bit into our Sunday "lasagne", it feels so good when the kids eat with huge smiles on their faces and ask for seconds .
Making lasagne is tedious , but the end result is yummy.
So today on the 7th day of my cooking "ZZ'S FAVORITE LASAGNE" from "Maria's kitchen"
P.S. GOD i now want to sleep, stuffed and happy....

DAY 6:CHOCKY-MARSHMALLOWY CHEESE CAKE

Its been a long morning, because I'm making this cheese cake and i needed gelatin for it , and my dear friend Pooja who gets me amazing cooking chocolate , baking stuff , cheese and all things yummmm, from Budapest where she lives, has got me these lovely gelatin sheets that look like the finest and most delicate glass, so pretty that i was feeling bad melting it, but to cut the long story short , the instructions were in Hungarian and since "NON CAPISCA" Hungarian , i woke her up from her sleep and she was sweet enough to tell me what to do, sometimes i feel , good that all my friends do not live close to me , or i would get beaten up most of the times....

Chocky-Marshmallowy Cheese cake:

150 gms chocolate chip biscuits
25 gms desiccated coconut
125 gms melted butter
400 gms cream cheese
50 gms Castor sugar
200 gms chocolate melted
50 ml cream
3 rounded tsp gelatin
150 gms marshmallows halved


Line the base of the cake tin , (which Einstein that i am , i forgot to do, bloody hell...), combine the biscuit crumbs, coconut,butter and peanut butter and press it into the base of the prepared tin , and let it rest in the freezer.
Beat the cream cheese and the Castor sugar until smooth , then add the melted chocolate and the cream , (that i also put 50gms extra....don't know where i am today).
dissolve the gelatin into 125 gms water over a pan of hot water, stir it well into the chocolate mix and add the marshmallows and let it take a "chill-pill"in the fridge for 2-3 hours..
I'm a bit worried today because of my goof ups , but the mix tasted yummm, so in case it does not look like its supposed to , i will still put a picture of my "almost there yummy cheese cake"..
But I'm not worried , i have a feeling , that its gonna be fine, i have songs running in my head and feel like dancing, do you think I'm O-D ing on chocolate ?????? Nah!

Its now 5pm, 4 hrs since i saw my choco-marshmallowy cheese cake , i have just woken up and headed straight for my fridge , we'll it looks inviting , so sliced a piece on to my plate took a bite ........ummmmmm it melts in my mouth and has a lovely silken feel to it and the pieces of marshmallow add to the drama , also like the crunchiness of the base , but cannot really taste any coconut, it is gooey and very sinful, next time will add a little extra gelatin so that it forms better, it looks like a melting mountain of chocolate sin in the heat of my Mumbai kitchen. SO I'M GOING FOR IT, will run for my sins in the morning ...
And this was my melting "chocky-marshmallowy cheese cake " straight from me to you from "Maria's Kitchen"....

I Love Italian...

Now that i started cooking,just could not stop at just one dish ,so also made spaghetti with meat balls in a tomato sauce, which has come out pretty yumm...

Spaghetti and Meatballs
125 gms bread crumbs
125ml full fat milk
1 tsp butter
1 tablespoon wheat flour
2oo ml home-made chicken stock
5 large tomatoes, boiled , mashed and strained
1 tsp sugar
1 large onion
250 gms minced lamb
1 tsp paprika
olive oil
250 gms spaghetti
salt and pepper

The aroma of the fried meat balls were really something,i was going mad and jumping in my kitchen and my taste buds were running riot, though i added a very little flavouring to the mix....

To make the meatballs ,I put the milk into the bread crumbs and kept them for some time then added the mince and and onion and added Keya all purpose seasoning to it,did not add paprika because my kids were going to have it, added a little salt, made them into little balls and fried them with little oil.

The 1st batch of meatballs kind of broke when i was trying to turn them over not all of them but a few, so for the next batch , i did what my mum does , i dipped each meatball into an egg batter then rolled them onto the bread crumbs and fried them, this batch of meatballs , behaved themselves and came out roly poly and beautiful brown.

I then added the spaghetti to boiling water with rock salt and a little olive oil, and after it was cooked ,I drained the water and tossed it with a little olive oil over a full flame, and kept it aside.

Made very basic sauce , put butter in a pan added onion and garlic because i love the aroma of garlic ,and like a little textue to my sauce, i then added the flour to it, cooked it for a bit , added homemade chicken stock to it boiled it , then added the pre boiled tomatoes that i put through a strainer, added basil , salt a dash or oregano and a tablespoon of ketchup and a spoon full of sugar n have fresh basil aroma wafting through my hot kitchen.Yes i did not stick to the recipe because i like yo do my little thing and make it mine...

Then put spaghetti on my plate, and spooned the meatballs over it and then the piping hot tomato sauce....

Risotto Style Fusilli
200 gms fusilli
1 big onion
1tsp olive oil
1tsp
butter
500 ml home-made chicken stock
1/4 cup squared carrots
1/4 cup broken florets of broccoli

Even the fusilli turned out fine, added butter and olive oil to the pan then onions and then the fusilli, cooked it dry for a minute and added home-made chicken stock ladle by ladle till it was all absorbed by the fusilli and well cooked, so it looks glossy and the stock makes it taste very yummy and this risotto style of cooking gives it a different texture.

Put the vegetables in boiling water so that they get a bit cooked , i then made them dive into ice water to stop them from cooking any further and to retain their colour , then heated the pan added a little butter and tossed them in ...ok ok i also added a little Parmesan cheese because Mr. Parmesan was yelling at me from my fridge ha ha ha , i then added the vegetables to the fusilli and mama mia lunch is ready..

(Please say whats written below in an Italian accent)

Risotto Style Fusilli and Meatballs in Red Sauce only from "Maria's Kitchen".....

DAY 5:RISOTTO STYLED FUSILLI WITH BUTTERED VEGETABLES

Today I'm not yet ready to cook , feeling Monday morning blues on a Friday, guess it will all change,and,

"Dear GOD, if you are reading my blog, please send me some help , summer camp gets over today, i love my kids but i need a little ME time if you please ''.

Off to the kitchen with my imaginary band of elves, leprechauns and chocolate fairies....

DAY 4: TAGINE MUTTON AND CHOCO MUFFINS

Today is a great food day, actually the reason I'm making what I'm making today is because my friend Sambo who has been my fashion stylist since MTV told me she is coming for lunch and she loves red meat , so i have taken my tagine out and am making some Moroccan style meat , and am also making brownies because my mad friend sandy has moved into her newly done up beautiful apartment and has called us friends for "chai" that i don't drink ha ha ha....
U know, I am in love with my tagine that looks so beautiful ,its glossy black and looks like like an elegant woman in a satin gown ... and i love all my baking stuff that i have collected over the years every time i travelled with Arshad.
I don't know if its a good or bad thing , but I'm very happy eating my own cooking and sometimes kiss my own shoulder as a sign of appreciation and well done to me...
Am i nuts , yeeessss, why else would i be cooking 1 dish a day when i have no help and the kids home on holidays...
I also have the crew of "People" magazine coming into my kitchen ,i think they want to check whether i am really cooking ha ha ha so will be busy looking like a glam doll while i effortlessly cook and have fun in my kitchen.

The pancakes are devoured

Zeke, Zene and Burzin were driving me mad , one wanted to break the egg , one wanted to add sugar and Zene just wanted to taste the blueberries and be served , she was not interested in helping ,working or any mundane kitchen activity...

Here's the recipe: Fluffy Pancakes
1 cup flour
1 tbsp grainy sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup full ft milk
1/5 cup unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder1/4 tsp soda bi-carb
1 large egg
Mix the flour , sugar,salt,baking powder and soda bicarbonate in a bowl.
Beat together buttermilk,full fat milk,egg yolk and melted butter.
Then mix the dry ingredients to the wet ones.
beat the egg white till it is nice and fluffy and stiff.
Heat a flat pan , smear it with very little vegetable oil and take spoon fulls of batter and cook either side till golden brown .

So yes i did all of the above but also added some orange rind and the juice of 1/2 an orange and some cinnamon, also because i used Amul butter ,i put slightly less salt and added a little more sugar, it had a very nice but subtle aroma of orange and cinnamon, and they turned out fluffy and soft.
Now i picked up a can of blueberries because no blueberries in the market naturally, and heated them with a little butter and little maple syrup till , yes it tasted different but nice different.
I ate the stack that is in the photograph above and Zeke and Zene had theirs with maple syrup and Hershey's chocolate syrup and while eating Zeke said, 'Why did you have to make pancakes, we could have made something else" , well what can i say , "Ghar ki murgi dal barabar".
My boy Friday Vijay, Burzins maid and me thought they were tasty fluffy and yummy and so they finished the rest of the plate and all the toppings , so I'm happy !

DAY 3: PANCAKES WITH BLUEBERRY SAUCE

I woke up this morning, thinking of these two beautiful plates that i had picked up years ago from New York but never really used, because firstly i did not know what to put in because the design was so pretty and secondly was not wanting to use them in case they broke...
I am extremely partial to heart shapes and wings and the colour red ...
So here goes , today I'm making pancakes for breakfast with blueberry sauce and also got maple syrup in case the kids don't like the slight sourness of the blueberry's.
I went through two recipes, one by Roopa Gulati who i used to religiously follow years ago ,who was really sweet and spoke so calmly and made cooking look so easy and the other is Nigella Lawson who i completely LOOOVE....
But both the recipe's were nearly identical to how my mum made pancakes, so i googled pancakes and found a little twist with the same recipe with buttermilk added to it...
So that's the one I'm making, we'll the kids are up, so will make them help with the pancakes and the blueberry sauce today, which means "a lot more love " for "Breakfast from Maria's Kitchen'

getting sentimental

The reason i made burritos today is because i love Mexican food and frankly its so close to Indian cuisine , i love the red in the burritos and the thick sauciness of all the ingredients put together and the graininess of the minced chicken , the basic recipe was olive oil ,onions . tomatoes , cumin, cayenne pepper , garlic,chili powder, paprika, sugar, white wine vinegar, water and salt...
No rocket science there but as soon as i added the chicken the flavours and texture changed , also since this is being fed to kids i could not make it as spicy as i would have liked it to be, the white wine vinegar adds a nice bite to the food , i used these ingredients to my discretion and that's the best way to cook according to me, have the basics in place and then make it yours...and my mum used to say that in all food her secret ingredient is a spoonful of sugar and making the dish with love...
so LOVE FILLED BURRITOS FOR TODAY., dedicated to my mad sister Juliet who introduced me to it...
The picture of the strawberry tart at the bottom of the page ,brings back great memories , it is something i made in my kitchen from scratch, in fact i cooked a lot on that particular day 31st Dec 2009, and broke bread with my girl friends and all our kids, the photo is done by Arshad who is a very talented photographer also, the menu that day was , mixed lentils , penne, grilled chicken,home-made biscuits, strawberry tarts and gooey chocolate brownies,and home-made pop-corn that disappeared in less than 10 minutes.
Well this was our way of saying that we will stay friends and family always....
I really do love all of you Mini, Jaya,Sandy,Shaheen ,Anusha,Tapur and Sambo and all our collective monsters.....

Savvy shoot and burritos done

THE savvy crew has just left and i finished making my wrap filling, we'll i wanted to do a basic sauce and separate chicken filling, but like the devious mum that i am i realised that the kids would pull out the pieces and eat just the wrap n cheese, so turned it all around , added chicken mince and chicken ham , and also added a little of my mum's garam masala, added more tomatoes and a dash of nutmeg, and voila its ready , now will fill it in the wraps , toast it up with an added filling of cabbage and a generous portion of GO cheese and lunch is ready with BURRITOS from Maria's Kitchen...yummilicious
P.S will upload pic as soon as i figure out how to add more than 1

DAY 2:BURRITOS

Day 2: Good morning! And today jumped out of bed because i realised that i also have to shoot for the Savvy Cook Book at 10.30am , make lunch, drop the kids to summer camp and look glamorous in the kitchen while making burritos.
So i first googled the recipe and as usual cannot get my darn printer to print, is it my touch or does the printer know that im short on time and is just trying all it can to spend some extra time with me....ok,ok,ok im just not good with technical stuff and so shut him off took a piece of paper and just wrote down the recipe and ingredients the old fashioned way...
Now knowing me i may loose that piece of paper many times before i get down to cooking.
I have bought ready made corn wraps , but am making the filling completely on my own, basic sauce , chicken that im going to marinate and stir fry and paneer incase my friend Jaya really does come over for lunch

DAY 1:EUREKA THIS IS IT

I actually have loved food all my life, sometimes i feel that in my past life i must have been born in a country that had no food , because frankly I'm eternally hungry and my near and dear ones will vouch for that.
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My granny on my dads side was an utterly awesome cook and i still can smell the aromas from her kitchen if i close my eyes and my gran on my mums side was a darling in the kitchen , and her fish curry rice is something that i would love to have just one more time, unfortunately I never learned any cooking from them because I was just not interested in the whole cooking process but very focused on the eating process, so much so that my mom actually thought I had worms because I ate a lot but never put on any weight, so yes have had all the worm medicines possible, anyway to cut to the chase, about 4 years ago i was again pregnant with my little Zene and frankly had nothing much to do or anywhere to go and so spent my time watching Travel and Living and BBC Food, and started writing down recipe's and trying them out, so while i expanded during my pregnancy not nearly reaching a beached whale size, i started experimenting in the kitchen , fortunately i was travelling with Arshad for the shooting of Goal and were living in those lovely St.James apartments and so had plenty of time to shop in great weather and cook for the cast and crew that came over pretty often, in the beginning I used to not be quite sure if they really loved the food or were just being nice, but pretty soon , they came very often and really looked forward to a tasty meal so i realised that somewhere somehow both my granny's , granma Agnes and granma Rosemary were sprinkling their magic dust on me...
And my Mum Joanna, GOD! I love the food she makes, at the moment she is on holiday in Dallas , so i call her and make her tell me what to do next if i get stuck, she is like a Speedy Gonzalez in the kitchen , never there too long but still comes up with amazing drool worthy finger-liking yummy food.
When my friend Mini saw the film 'Julie and Julia', she called me and told me that i had to go and watch it and that's that, so i did , booked one ticket and went to see the film alone, ya i know that's kinda weird and whatever but then that's me i go for films alone sometimes, and when the film began i knew why because Julie was like me she loves to cook and feed her friends, by the way my sister's name is Juliet, and Jaya and Mini have been after me to do this cook-out for the longest time, in fact i did a one week cooking thing for Grazia which turned out lovely and yummy.
Yesterday was 'Mother's Day' and my maids told me they were leaving and as I'm someone who never will stop someone who does not want to stay , because that's their free will and in my experience on earth(ha ha ha) i have realised if you do stop someone who basically does not want to stay they may stay for a bit but make you feel like "burnt toast that nobody wants" so ya i said bye and ta ta and sat in my bathroom and decided that I'm going to COOK.
And that's how this whole thing is coming along, i want to do 1 dish a day , but with two kids home with summer vacation on, this is a feat , but then i have never wanted to do stuff like everyone else and like to walk on a path that very few people would take.
I woke up this morning, and after i settled my kids, i went shopping, but by the time i came back it was time for lunch , so made my mum's tried and tested prawn curry rice that my kids stuffed their tummy's with and then i put on my new apron and felt like the most awesome and gorgeous chick to ever cook ha ha ha and then realised that i did not have the damn fish sauce, so had to wait and wait and tweeted because i needed to get my mind off the sauce that i did not have...
It came after an hour and after tipping the delivery guy , i got my new ikea wok out , and my new wooden ladle's all the ingredients and it was all over in 15 mins...
from my normal kitchen i was actually in Bangkok on the streets with the aromas, and because i actually got it right from the making of the red chili paste to the final coconut cream with coriander dressing , it looked and smelt awesome...if i may say so myself..
The only thing is it was tea-time and though I'm not a regular tea drinker , i sat down in my hot kitchen made a biiiig mug of green tea and had this amazing chocolate cake...
Ya ya i know what you thinking ,the dreaded C word 'CALORIES' well i 'THINK THIN' and it works .
So I'm happy and will be making Mexican BURRITOS tom ... Ciao ...Maria