DAY41: DO MEN "CLAM-UP" HA HA HA

I love going to the fish market, i just love the buzz and the chatter and the colourful fisher folk and all the amazing gifts from the sea, and fortunately because i live in Bombay (yeah that's what i will always call it , because that's what i love it as), i have been introduced to the whole fish buying culture at a very early age, i remember going to buy fish with my dad and his brother my uncle Cashmiro (who fed my mum frog legs , saying they were chicken legs ha ha ha ), and they were completely awesome at getting the best deals in the market, so yup the men in my family went out and bought fish from the market.....

Still remember live crabs in my kitchen basin, prawns being cleaned , lovely pink lobsters with beady eyes looking back at us , pomfret , baby shark also known as "mooshi" and my grandmothers special clams, she was truly gifted and her food was awesome , feel terrible that i never ever learned to cook from her....
If i shut my eyes can still hear my granma and our favorite fisher woman Laxmi, my granma ofcourse haggling in "east-indian" Marathi , which is diff from normal Marathi, and Laxmi in her high pitched but not fighting tone normal Marathi ,and then after lotsa banter and "tumhi kai bolte" and "nako nako" "zaun dya""agga agga" ""bony kara bai"and stuff like that the fish would be bought and many smiles would be exchanged and all would end on a happy note....

We'll today i have done a lot of shopping of various kinds, but want to share with you this clam recipe that i made for my adorable friends inspired by Nigella Lawson who i love and am fully inspired by , i love the way she cooks, the way she looks ,the way she unabashedly eats and is always exited about food, i fully connect with that thought process...

So now back to my clams always remember when you buy clams, they have to be closed, shut tight like a high secret vault and they must be open when they are cooked like you have the pass word and the treasure is now yours, just follow this simple rule and you are in the "clamy business"


1 kg fresh clams
Handfull spring onions
Handfull garlic
250 ml white wine
East-Indian garam masala
Amul cream

The reason i have no quantities is because i just put as much as i wanted into this pot and used East - Indian masala for that special home flavour and voila i was done....

Rinse the clams with ice cold water and throw away any ,that are even slightly opened...
I then put some olive ail and just ever so slightly browned the garlic , i then added the wine (after tasting it ha ha ha ) , the onions , i used a sweet wine because i like my wine fruity and sweet , i let this get to a boil and then added my curry masala to it, after i felt that the masala is cooked , i just dunked all the clams into the pot shut the lid and cooked it on high for just 4 minutes, i then tossed it around with the lid on, and when you open it after 4 minutes , you are greeted with the ever so fresh aroma of freshly cooked clams ooooh i love it,
you then add the cream stir it around and you are ready to serve, hot and steaming really succulent ,yummy clams ,fresh and juicy only from "Maria"s Kitchen"

DAY 40: PEEK-A-BOO FLUFFY PASTRY

The real reason i learnt to actually cook is actually my Little boy Zeke, as a mum it feels really nice to see your kids eat because they enjoy it rather than forcing them to because it's good for them , thank fully most of the time Zeke and Zene eat , because like me they are foodies....In fact we are a family that enjoys eating, cooking and feeding ....yup that's us the Warsi's...
And so every time i learn something new i like to change it around and tweak it and make it mine...
I may not be the best in the world , and I'm fine with that, but the food i make is always infused with love. enthusiasm and my brand of madness and excitement ,so it always comes out yumm.....hmmmm think that's my secret ingredient..

We'll i learnt how to make Danish Pastry at Sophia, so when i had a little spare time, which these days I'm finding very hard to manage, sometimes i feel like i need duplicates of me to look after kids, to go to college, to cook, to meet my friends , to tidy the house, to take the kids to school ,to act mad with them , to sleep , to hang with Arshad , to go shopping, to relax , to go for a run etc etc etc...we'll that will happen too, in the future that is, till then i have to continue with my designation of being "super-hot , super-girl" ha ha ha

Ok ok here's the recipe

Flour- 225 gms
Butter- 70 gms
margarine -15 gms + 10 gms
yeast- 10 gms
milk 50 ml
eggs -1/2
salt to taste

A packet of chicken of pork frankfurters...

Make a smooth dough mixing the flour , yeast with a little sugar (sugar is yeast food), milk salt eggs and the 10 gms margarine and leave aside to prove, make this dough as you would make a bread dough...
Smear the butter and margarine together on a table top with a spatula till it attains a lovely silky texture, and divide into three parts and keep aside...

While this is getting done take chicken or pork frankfurters and toss them in very little olive oil till they absolutely brown and the aroma is driving you mad in your kitchen....leave them to completely cool...

Knock down the dough after it has proved and then roll it out into a rectangle with a rolling pin....
Apply 1 part of the margarine-butter mix onto 2/3 of the dough, and fold the un-buttered part onto 1/2 the buttered portion and fold again over so you get three distinct layers,

if you don't quite understand this , take a piece of paper and try it...its pretty simple actually , but you do not want to mess your dough...

This procedure has to be done twice more with intervals of keeping the dough into the fridge for at least an hour in between each butter application.... after this is all done you roll out the dough one last time and cut it into 6 equal squares or then triangles....

All you have to do is roll the cut dough around the frankfurter and place it on an oiled tray and leave it till it doubles in size....
And then bake it for 20 minutes exactly at 220 degrees...

They came out piping hot and beautifully browned and were eaten within 15 minutes while they were still warm, Zeke said , "its the most amazing food ever" and my little Zene said "its awesome mama".... now tell me why wont i learn how to be better when these kids love it, and frankly they are so pure and sweet and don't have to say nice things to please me , so yes i value their opinion on the food that i make, Zeke devoured 3 pieces and Zene 1 1/2 , I'm a happy mommy...
This is a tedious recipe but really yummy , but not for someone who is on a diet , as for me i "think THIN" so I'm haaaapppy cooking , feeding and eating, ...
So here's presenting, 'PEEK-A-BOO FLUFFY PASTRY" warm ,yummy ,soft and fresh only from "Maria's Kitchen"

ARSHAD N ME

And shot with Arshad after very very very long, and yup it hit the stands about a week ago, this is our 2nd cover shoot together.....
What can i say....
Its always fun.....
Funnily i can never address Arshad as my husband, its just too cheesy ,he will forever stay "my boy-friend".......

Day 38:HA HA HA SWEET RAVANA

Woke up this morning knowing fully we'll that its going to be high octane, fun , mad and well....a day we'll lived.....
So i was to make a cake and it had to be a Ravan cake for Dassera, so i got all my ingredients together , made my batter in a jiffy and baked it....now this really was a piece of cake ha ha ha ....looking at that round piece of chocolate sponge, i had absolutely no clue how to make it look like Ravan, so i did what i do best, googled ravan photographs and picked 1 that i liked, oh before i forget , the recipe for the cake before i forget...

3 cups maida
1 1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

line 2 greased and floured 9-inch round baking pans with waxed paper and grease the paper and set aside...
In a large bowl combine the 1st 5 ingredients...
In another bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, water and vanilla until smooth, stir into dry ingredients until well blended and transfer into prepared pans and bake at 170 degrees for 30 minutes, sool it a bit and then transfer onto wire racks to cool completely...

and then for the frosting...

Frosting
1 cup nutralite butter
1 cup margarine
8 cups icing sugar
5-6 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla

in a large bowl , beat the butter and margarine, till it is wonderfully fluffy, add the icing sugar, milk and vanilla and continue beating till you get the consistency you like, i always adjust the consistency , depending on whether the frosting is being used inside to layer the cake or then to cover the cake up or then to decorate it.....

Well must say that the whole experience of dong something when you have no clue where and how in a pretty daunting task after you have shot your mouth off saying , "I'll make a Ravan cake"....but slowly slowly my Sweet tasting Ravan came to life, with expert advice from Zeke , who was guiding me on colours and combinations as he is the expert....hmmmm...

We were to reach Mini's place at 3 which did not happen, but we finally did reach her place by 4 which was bustling with activity, Kabir was getting the skeleton done, Jaye and aunty Leela were helping the kids with Ravans face, Mini was multi-tasking, i went into the kitchen and decided to make a variation of Danish pastry with a chicken sausage and Anusha...we'll we found her sleeping..smart girl i say...
The kids Vivaan , Sairah, Kabir, Gia, Seher, Zeke , Zene, Arsalan and Ayatal were busy cutting, pasting painting and making the 10 faces of Ravan....
And suddenly after a bit , we found all the girls had left their masks to dance to the songs of"Dabang" so Jaya and me also joined in, we also caught Aunty Leela burning the dance floor ha ha ha she is going to kill me for this ..or then she may not ,after all she is a Sagittarian ...

Mini in the mean time, was getting food ready for a whole country, there were tuna, nutella, cheese and peanut-butter sandwiches, huge plates of chaat, juices and our hot favourite "Maggi"

We all ate non stop, till we were ready to burst and then settled with some very lovely Earl grey tea served in tea-cups that Kabir's dad bought from Russia..

We , and by that i mean the kids and all us adults , thankfully Shaheen and Roshan had also come by then, we all said ha ha ha ha in our best villainous voice and i had to put the knife into Ravans stomach , we ate some more after we were already full , with sandwiches, chaat and the danish chicken rolls, and when we were finding it a bit difficult to move.....we had to just move..and so with lotsa noise and c'mon c'mon, lets go, where are the kids and blah blah blah....

Ravan was taken down into the building and we all did photographs with the good looking chap and then set him on fire , the crackers went off in a frenzy, with all of us cheering and simultaneously running away ha ha ha ......

Yup "good always triumphs over evil" even if it takes a loooong time....
and so here it is "ha ha ha sweet Ravana" only from "Maria"s Kitchen"