DAY 43: HMMMMMMMMM BREAD

There is nothing more satisfying to me than baking bread, i love the whole process of the flour , mixing with the yeast and sugar and water and just like that ,like magic , it all emulsifies together and grows into this wonderful wholesome and fresh mound of loveliness...

I make a lot of bread at home in fact i find it very therapeutic, a few days ago Zeke my little 6 yr old made lovely bread following all the instructions i gave him, i couldn't believe that little boy of mine...felt so proud of him....the way he mixed it all together and pounded it , he had a blast and we all looked at him like he is "wonder boy"...
We'll i don't know about anyone else but to me, he is my wonder boy... we'll after he kneaded it all together and even added the olive oil and salt,he had finished his bit , he was also tired with the kneading and so he looked at me and said, "mama , it's ready now...." my little Zeke with his little apron and flour on his hands , gosh he looked pleased as the cat who got the cream, gave him a smashing hug and a tight kiss, and he in true boy style rubbed the kiss off with his floury hands....
we'll the dough was ready to prove...

I then sauteed some garlic, onion kept it aside to completely cool , i then pulled out some fresh basil from my little terrace garden , washed it and tore it into bits, hmmmmmm i love fresh basil and mostly try and use it as much as i can...

250 gm flour
15 gm fresh yeast
125-150 ml water (but i mostly use an approximate amount, depending on how its going)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
2 small onions sauteed
15 garlic cloves also sauteed
red chili flakes

Like i said , frankly you can go to town with bread and add what you like in it and own that little wholesome wonderness...
So after the dough proved or after it doubled in size , i slowly added all the garlic, onions , chili flakes and basil very very gently , you may also have to keep adding a little flour into the dough as it does tend to get a bit sticky, and then shape it into a loaf tin and leave it to prove again, it takes approximately 40 minutes or slightly more , depending on the weather ...
I then baked it for 40-45 minutes at 220 degrees...
Oh before you put the dough into the oven , give it a milk wash and sprinkle it with water , i keep forgetting this part and most of the time I put it in and then remember as I'm shutting the oven , and then go for it like "speed Gonzalez" ha ha ha ...
I also sprinkle a little dried rosemary on it, because i love the crunch once it is baked...
Post 40 minutes ,there is that beautiful fresh bread aroma wafting in your kitchen, pull it out, slather the crust with butter if you do not like a hard crust, leave it to cool for a bit , taking it out of the loaf tin , or it will sweat in it and ....
We'll i love to bite into fresh hot scrumptious bread with a little dollop of butter....that's me...
Fresh hot "hmmmmm bread" only from "Maria's Kitchen".....made for the very 1st time by my little Zeke Zidaan Warsi"

DAY 42 : TOOMUCKINGFUCH CAKE

This is just a preview of what I'm making, the kids are out playing so I'm going for it with cointreau, oranges, dolche de leche, chocolate and fresh cream...
Oh my god i hope i don't eat it up , making it for Mini place for our friends for Diwali...
HAPPINESS LOVE AND PEACE TO ALL , HAPPY DIWALI GUYS....
lotsa love only from "Maria Kitchen"

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"

DAY 36 :ALPHA AND OMEGA SINS IN A ROLL

Woke up this morning with mixed feelings , this week has been great fun, I walked the ramp for the very 1st time on the 20th Sept 2010 at the Lakme Fashion week for Payal Singhal my stylist from way back when i was with MTV, we'll a lot lot lot has changed since then.......

And then today was the last day of my Spanish class, at Instituto Hispania Mumbai, no i did not learn to speak Spanish like i hoped to, but that is entirely my fault, but i met a bunch of varied and wonderful guys and girls and this is the most fun class i have done ever, i never ever wanted to miss class because it was full on entertainment, every body with all the enthusiasm to learn this beautiful language "Spanish", and every morning each would bring to class their unique brand of humour and their quirkiness, and in the middle of this Babylonian chaos, we had sweet soft spoken Tarana our "professor" who i think was going mad....but she managed to teach us all more than we expected....Vamos Vamos being the hot" favorita" expression for our unruly crazy fun bunch of "estudiantes "

And the cast of the class

Debanshu and Sukanya , the brother and sister duo who were always bickering sweetly, Debanshu of course shares his birthday with my little boy Zeke , so i was always observing him with much interest...and Sukanya who was great with the language...and was ready to eat the stuff i took to class with much enthusiasm...

Ranjini, the ever helpful one,who also paid for my coffee many times, thanks a ton...
(I do not drink coffee at all , but having coffee in class with everyone was just too much fun and a ritual that i wanted to be part of)

Kanika, the one who was the most studious amoungst us all and always did her home-work, and always sent me sweet encouraging messages, like a good mum does....

Siddesh, the rock star from Vasai , who was very funny and wrote hilarious conversations, about "what if" kinda situations..

Mansi , the pretty one who also is a chef, think most of the guys had a crush on her...

Anand, i always thought he was quiet, but he was mad funny had a great sense of humour and wanted to dance "en la jardin"

Uttara, the one who looks like "Freida Pinto " and was fabulous with picking up languages...

Maryn, was the voice , the boom , the constant chatter , the last word after we have been told to "shut up", she is adorable and kept the class alive ....

Sujay, the extremely intelligent and well behaved boy and the class topper, with a sweet innocent smile

Megha, i know she may not like this but , she was the baby of the class, still is in school and thankfully cannot do the finals like me ha ha ha , thanks for the company.....and the bad attendance....

Raina, the always in a hurry, just moved to Bombay, harrowed home-keper , but fantastic with her language

And Tarana our proffessor, who is just a doll, thank you so much for all your time and your effort, "eres un sol".....

And now .....MTV was so long time back that most of the stuff i had forgotten, Payal had moved on to New York , gotten married has a little boy and now has her own line called "PS", which is more loved by her husband than his 'PS2",ha ha ha , we lost touch , but thanks to FB , we kinda knew what all of us were upto, so when she sent me a message asking me to be part of her collection , i readily said yes...
"Chinki" as she is lovingly called by her friends , had a real funky sense of style and a sparkle in her eye and a spring in her step and it just made me feel really wonderful that she thought of me after all these years, thanks to Payal , i actually walked onto the Lakme alley of fashion, think she was even more nervous than me...
I loved what she gave me to wear and how normal , non fussy and easy she was to work with...Thank you Payal from the bottom of my heart...

And so this week made the same recipe as the cinnamon buns, but changed the filling...
As a dedication to Payal and her feminine, flowy, sexy, beautiful clothes, i made a filling of strawberry with chocolate , because it is sweet , tangy and very very seductive ....

And for my Spanish class an orange and chocolate filling , for their sense of adventure and fun...

I just used, orange and strawberry jam respectively and broken bits of chocolate, into the filling...

And poured a mix of the ingredients below on it.....
100 gm cream cheese
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
Bring all of the above to a boil and as soon as the buns are out of the oven, pour this mix over them and leave to cool...

Yummy, blissfull, gooey, little rolls of 'Strawberry and Orange sin" only from "Maria's Kitchen"

DAY 35: ZOFF WENT OFF FOR A TOSS

And so i started off by making a zoff that i learned in baking college, but somewhere down the line i got greedy and wanted to add more ingredients, i met my friend Ruchi at little Sairah's birthday , and she was telling me that she looooveees zucchini bread with carrot....

And so mid way while i was making my zoff,i ransacked my fridge and found carrot and pumpkin ,so i very finely grated some carrot and yellow pumpkin and a small portion of cheese , and while i followed the same recipe as my loaf of bread, after it first rises , i beat it down and added my grated vegetables and cheese, i had to add more flour to the dough as it became very sticky with the added water content in the vegetables....

I then tried to shape it into my zoff...which of course did not happen , but i never give up until i do my best, so after many a wasted effort, i just rounded it up and laid it on my ready tray for a second proving....

It looked beautiful in a bit and quiet double in size, so into the oven it went at 200 degrees and 35 minutes....
Frankly just could not wait to bite into it, so as soon as it came out, i slathered some butter on the crust and waited for 10 minutes and cut a piece.....

On the inside it has an ever so slight tinge of the pumpkin orange and it was just yummy....

I have realised that if you experiment , you always come up with something different and yummy, so go on give it a try get out of your safe zone and take a chance...

The same in life i say, if you obey all the rules you miss all the fun....So as long as you not hurting anyone else ..walk a path less travelled...

As for me. i love bread fresh and hot out of the oven, and my kitchen has this awesome aroma of fresh bread wafting through, hmmmmm.....
Absolutely comforting and wholesome and hot ...hot...hot only from "Maria's Kitchen"

DAY 34 : SAIRAH KABIR AND HER DORA PRINCESS YUMMY CAKE

And so after a mad and crazy holiday with my family and Mini and her family , we finally back in Bombay and getting ready for little Sairah's birthday, we'll after a lot of pulling and tugging I'm baking a Dora doll cake for Sairah who is turning 2..little S looks like a little pixie, little gossamer like hair , brown eyes and a petite structure , but she can pack a punch , bully her brother and yell as loud as Zene , guess that why they both get along.....
Well frankly after Mini got our little Dora doll home, now was the time to bake her skirt and decorate it, so i googled and came up with lotsa help, i loooove google...
Any way , i realised that our little Dora was no little waif like chica, she came from a family that ate wholesome meals like us and so she is well fed and healthy and that's what girls should be like.... well looked after and healthy...So i had to 1st search for a mould for a nice skirt so i put together my beautiful bunt and another dish that i actually bake my chicken in and now it looked right .....
Then bought myself a new bucket and proceeded to make the biggest cake i have ever baked , my help looked at me like ,"she is nuts", but frankly they now used to my funny ways....So here's what i did

Maida: 200 gm
Cocoa : 30 gm
Baking powder :1tsp
Soda bicarbonate : 1/2 tsp
1 Tin nestle condensed milk
Butter: 100 gm
Castor sugar :30 gm
milk or water :3/4 cup
Vanilla essence 1tsp

And so i sieved the dry ingredients twice together, so that you trap some air..
In a bowl beat the butter and the sugar, then add the condensed milk and beat it really well for about 7 minutes,add the milk or water ( i added water so that the sponge gets even lighter) and added 3/4 cup , then added the maida bit by bit , till it all looks like a lovely gooey chocolaty pool , adjust the water if you feel the batter is too stiff..

Of course i made this cake into 5 times the amount in a little blue tub, i then transferred it into my bunt and my huge tray and baked it for 1 hour 10 minutes at 180 degrees...

I then took it out of my oven and left it to cool all night, in the morning as i rushed for my Spanish class , i left it to further chill in my fridge...

After i got back from class i first made my frosting..

1 cup amul butter
1 cup nutralite
8 cups icing sugar
6tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat the amul butter and nutralite till it gets light and fluffy, then add the icing sugar bit by bit and also the milk, till it becomes a lovely consistency..
I also melted a kg of dark chocolate..
I then taped my little Dora up, and cello-taped her up so that she does not get spoilt, in fact i made a new dress and sleeves with ribbon , so that Dora does not need a bath , post Sairah's 2nd Birthday party ha ha ha
I cut each cake into 3 layers and put chocolate and frosting, one after the other in succession, so its a 6 layer cake with as much frosting and gooey chocolate...
Dora went into the centre , i then covered her cake evenly with frosting, and but her back in the fridge, felt quite bad as she looked into my big brown eyes with her big brown eyes, as saying "not in the fridge please" ...
Got her out in half an hour , divided my frosting , into white , yellow and mauve and went ahead and made her a pretty skirt....
Then called Mini to take take her home, just could not keep her because Zeke and Zene were constantly trying to pull out frosting with their cute little fingers...
Now if the kids like it, then all the effort is completely worth it.....

We'll the kids loved her and the adults too , so it was time we'll spent , only thing is she was cake enough for 3 more parties, but that's OK , we all love cake , so that's what we living on till she gets over....
So here is my 1st ever attempt at making a "Dora Princess Cake" beautiful and yummy for my little feisty Sairah Kabir , with all my love , straight from Maria's Kitchen.....

THE SWEET REMAINS OF THE DAY

Just made this with the remains of a birthday cake i was making for someone very sweet and thought i should share it, its easy and the recipe will be up in a day with the cake i made...
So for now enjoy.....