Stove Stories

Tasmia Momin ★ Food is my Drug of choice! ★ ★ Cooking Enthusiast ★ ★ Food Styling and Photography ★ ★ Instagramer @tasmia.momin ★ ★ Halal Recipes ★

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Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread

This recipe is made healthy by substituting flour with oat flour and cutting down the gluten to a standard amount. One slice of this bread along with a glass of milk fills me up just perfectly to put a start to my day!

Ingredients

½ cup rice bran oil

¾ granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup or more fully ripped banana, mashed

½ tsp. vanilla extract

¼ cup liquid milk

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 cup of oat flour

2 tbsp. Cadbury cocoa powder

2 tbsp. grated coconut/ desiccated coconut

1 tbsp. baking powder

A pinch of cinnamon powder

½ tsp salt

handful of dried fruits and peanuts

Directions In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside. ( flour, oat flour, cocoa powder, coconut, baking powder, cinnamon powder and salt.) In a separate bowl, mix all your wet ingredients. Beat the eggs and sugar, add in oil and beat them together with a simple hand beater, you don’t need an electric better for this recipe. Stir the mashed bananas and milk until well combined. Add flour mixture into the banana mixture and fold them together into a smooth yet lumpy batter. Gather up your dried fruits Sift these in a little flour and add it in your batter. Grease your loaf tin or just simply place a parchment paper over and pour the batter into it.

Bake it in a preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes at 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees F) or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let the  bread cool in pan for a few  minutes, then take it out onto a wire rack. Cut slices, and enjoy a perfect slice of homemade healthy bread at breakfast or as a quick tiffin or with afternoon tea. 

Note:

For dried fruits and nuts, I used raisins,  cranberries and loads of roasted peanuts. Peanuts really enhance the flavor of the banana bread.

Make sure you sift these in flour, as this will help to incorporate air into the batter and make it not sink to the bottom.

For the first 30 minutes  keep your bread batter covered in the oven, this will make sure the bread cooks evenly

You can store it in fridge in an airtight container to keep it moist.

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Sheer Khurma/ Vermicelli Cream Pudding

Eid is not just around the corner, but it’s right tomorrow and here I have the perfect Eid-ul-Fitr dessert recipe of Sheer Khurma.

Cause what better way do we have to celebrate Eid than to try out making some traditional yet classic Vermicelli desserts?

Ingredients

2 litres of Milk

24-30 Dried dates

3 Cardamom

2 tbsp. Ghee

1½ cup Vermicelli noodles

½ cup of Sugar or more if desired

2 tbsp. Dano cream

A pinch of Saffron strand

A pinch of Salt

Pistachio and Almonds

Soak the dates in a small amount of water overnight and slice them up.

Pour in the milk in a deep pot along with the dates and simmer till it reduces to half.

Meanwhile in another pot, add 1 tbsp. of ghee and cardamom. Add in the crushed up vermicelli and stir fry for a minute.

Add in the reduced milk into the vermicelli and stir. Add the sugar, Dano cream, salt, saffron strands and nuts. Cook it for another minute on medium high. Add in another tbsp. of ghee and turn off the stove.

Garnish with more chopped pistachios and almonds.

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Orange and Cardamom Semolina Cake with Citrus Syrup

Mother’s day Special: Tomorrow is a day that comes only once a year and is one of the only days our moms get importance. So to show our appreciation and gratitude for the effort our moms put up for us over the years we should definitely make them something special. I came up with the idea of making something exotic and out of the ordinary!

Ingredients

2 eggs

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup veg. oil

¼ cup buttermilk (regular milk + a squeeze of lemon)

1 tbsp. orange juice

Zest of an orange

½ cup roasted semolina

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

4-5 cardamom powdered

A pinch of salt

Citric Syrup

Juice of 1 orange

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tbsp. sugar

A pinch of salt

Sift in the semolina, flour, baking powder, cardamom powder and salt in a bowl, add the orange zest and set aside.

In a separate big bowl, beat in the eggs, sugar and oil until smooth. Then add the buttermilk and orange juice.

Fold in the dry ingredients into the egg mixture.

Bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer, inserted at the middle of the cake, comes out clean.

To make the syrup, pour in the juice of an orange and a lemon along with sugar into a small pan over medium heat. Once the sugar dissolves, add a knob of butter and stir to combine.

Once the cake is done, let it sit for 10 minutes and pour over the citric syrup over the cake and sprinkle some slices pistachios. Enjoy!

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Citrus and semolina. Sounds good on Eid day?

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Potato Scones

Potato Scones, also known as Tattie scones are much common in Scotland and Wales, especially as their heartwarming breakfast served with bacon and fried eggs. They are not the typical tea biscuits, rather are kind of flatbreads cooked on butter smeared griddle pans.

Making Potato Scones for Iftar was real fun for me. This recipe is inspired by one of my friends, who loves recreating healthy recipes and as suggested by her, I substituted plain flour by oat flour. #healthyliving :D

In this particular recipe, I used a combination of coriander, mint and garlic to flavor my potato scones. Any other herbs and spices work, but make sure to use only a minimum or herbs, as these flavors can overpower the flavor of potatoes. On the other hand, cumin powder goes fantastic with potatoes.

Ingredients

2 cups of boiled, mashed potatoes

½ cup of oat flour (or plain flour)

¼ teaspoon baking powder

Salt to taste

Herbs of choice

1 tsp. garlic powder or any choice of spices

2 slices of cheese

1 tbsp. butter, plus extra for greasing

Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water for long enough until tender. Drain and mash the potatoes with the butter. Add in the flour, baking powder, herbs and spices and salt in a bowl. Combine the flour mixture with the warm mash and use your hands to make dough. If needed add buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Roll and cut out circles of about 5mm thick. Heat a nonstick pan over a medium heat and smear with a little butter. Carefully transfer the potato scones to the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown

Serve the hot potato scones as sides to your main or as breakfast with scrambled/fried eggs with sliced sausages.

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Summer Smoothie!

Since it’s Summer and we are surrounded with all these amazing summer fruits, then why not have them all together? :P

Yes, Let’s get Tropical!

2 ripe Mangoes, peeled and seeded

1 Orange, zested and juiced

½ pineapple, sliced

1 small carrot, chopped

1 lemon, zested and juiced

3 cups of ice cold water

½ tsp. salt

3 tbsp. of Sugar (you can skip this, or add honey instead)

Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth.

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Shepherd’s Pie in a Potato

Shepherd’s pie!

The heartwarming comfort food with a versatile meaty filling along with the sweetness of tomatoes and the fragrance of those Italian herbs blanketed underneath a creamy and starchy layer of potatoes, yes that! Let’s make that today but with a little twist.

Ingredients

A glug of olive oil

250g minced beef

1 onions diced

1 large carrot grated

6 cloves of garlic

Salt & pepper

A handful of Sliced mushrooms

½ kilo tomatoes chopped

1 tsp. Of dried oregano

¼ tsp. dried thyme

A splash of Worcestershire sauce

1 cup of grape juice

10-12 large Jacket Potatoes

Cheddar cheese and Mozzarella Cheese

Method

In a large pan, add a glug of oil on high heat. Once the pan is smoking hot, add the minced beef and cook till it turns brown. Add in the onions, carrots, garlic, mushrooms and salt & pepper.

Cook for 10 minutes and add in the remaining ingredients. Bring it to a boil and turn the heat down to medium low. Let it simmer for an hour.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in salted boiling water for 30 minutes. Take it off the stove and scrape off the inside of the potato from the top. Drizzle with olive oil and bake it in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 200 degree Celsius.

Mash up the scraped potatoes with cheese and salt. Take out the potatoes from the oven and fill it with the meat filling. Fill the mashed potatoes in a plastic bag and pipe it on top of the Bolognese filled potato jackets. Again bake it for around 20-30 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown.

There you have it - “Shepherd's pie served in a warm potato bowl”

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Peanut butter Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

The name says it all. This smoothie is great for breakfast, Iftar and Suhoor. With a fine boost of carb and fibres, this smoothie can fill you up for longer than you can imagine.

In this particular smoothie, I used Jaggery as a sweetener instead of white refined sugar. Feel free to use any brown sugar as well.

1½ cup milk

½ cup yogurt

¼ cup oatmeal

2 tbsp. peanut butter

2 bananas, preferably frozen and sliced

2 tbsp. Jaggery

A few drops of vanilla essence

Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth. Serve chilled.

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Eggplant bites

Now, who doesn’t love to have eggplant bites at Iftar? So today let’s have it baked over fried!

Ingredients:

2 large eggplant

1 cup of tomato pureed

½ cup minced beef

2-3 tbsp. oil

1 whole onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

½ tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. ginger paste

Red chilli powder

Drizzles of olive oil

Salt & pepper

Method

Cut the eggplants in thin slices, not more than half an inch, and soak them in water for half an hour.

Meanwhile, add a glug of oil in a shallow pan, and add the minced beef, salt and ginger paste. Stir and cook for 5 minutes and add in the onion, garlic and oregano. Add the tomato puree along with a little splash of water. Once the sauce thickens, take it off the stove.

Arrange the sliced eggplants on your baking trays and drizzle over enough olive oil to coat both the sides of the eggplant slices. Spread 1 tbsp. of meat sauce over each eggplant and bake the eggplants in a preheated oven for about 25 to 30 minutes at 180 degree Celsius.

Serve it hot with a sprig of coriander leaf!

Notes:

Turn these Eggplant bites into Eggplant pizza by add a bit of mozzarella cheese and top it off with black olives. Make your own pizza, make your own sauce, add your tweaks and have a new dish everyday!

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Lady Finger in Meat Sauce

Once in a while, it is definitely legal to go out of the norms. So today for Iftar, I decided on making something ‘not-so-fried’ out of lady fingers. According to me, this is one of the vegetables that no one can say no to, be it baked, fried or curried!

In this recipe, I used minced beef to make it more of a ‘filling platter at Iftar’. Surely you can use chicken, mushroom or maybe just plain lady fingers in tomato gravy. Anything works!

This recipe serves 4 people and goes perfectly with butter toasted bread, pita breads or even rice.

One of the main tips that can help you in making any kind of gravy with whole lady fingers is not cutting the entire top part of the veg. This prevents the gravy from becoming all slimy. Another thing is, NEVER soak your lady fingers in water after cutting them. This can even get slimier than aloe at times.

Ingredients

30-25 Baby lady fingers

½ cup minced beef

2-3 tbsp. oil

2 tomatoes pureed

1 whole onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

½ tsp. cumin paste

Red chilli powder

Salt to taste

2 tbsp. pineapple juice

Method

Cut the top part of the lady fingers, making sure to keep a bit of the head uncut. Sprinkle salt, red chili powder and a small portion of the oil and stir to coat.

Add a glug of oil in a shallow pan, and sauté the lady fingers for about a minute or less. Strain them from the oil and keep aside.

In the same pan add the minced beef, salt and cumin paste. Cook for 3-5 minutes and add in the onion and garlic. Add the tomato puree and pineapple juice along with a little splash of water. When almost done and add in the previously sautéed lady fingers. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

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Summer Salad

Summer is all about fresh fruits. So here I am, celebrating this summer with a combination of these gorgeous seasonal fruits.

From pineapples to watermelon, there is a wide variety of summer fruits to whip up into a cold tropical salad. With no special dressing, but just a squeeze of lime together with honey and chili flakes could make your fruit salad extra special and of course the addition of mint shall never be forgotten.

This fruit salad is so refreshing and perfect to lighten up your Iftar this Ramadan.

Ingredients:

1 whole pineapple

1 cup of chopped purple cabbage

1 sliced and chopped cucumber

½ medium sized watermelon cubed

1 red chili chopped

1-2 tbsp. honey

½ tsp. red chili flakes (optional)

Sprinkle of rock salt

A squeeze of lime

A handful of chopped mint leaves

Place all fruits in a large bowl. Whisk together the red chili, honey, salt and lemon and pour over the fruits. Add in the chopped mint and toss to combine. Add your tweaks by adding thin ribbons of cucumber, cut with a vegetable peeler, or julienne cut carrots! This recipe is refreshing and delightful especially if you chill it in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before tucking in!

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Shrimp Quesadilla

Have leftover tortillas from last night? Or don’t have anything special to have with your roti? Here’s what you can do!

Make Quesadilla!

A quesadilla is a Mexican sandwiched dish, usually made with corn tortillas and stuffed and filled with loads of cheese. However there are flour tortilla versions in and around the world in many other places.

Queso meaning Cheese, the word Quesadilla came from the load use of cheese in tortillas, however you can put literally anything in a Quesadilla.

Ingredients:

3 tortillas (roti)

1 onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic

Handful of baby shrimps

Handful of mushrooms

2-3 pointed gourd, peeled and chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

½ tsp. Red chili powder

½ tsp. Cumin powder

½ tsp. coriander powder

Tomato ketchup

2 tbsp. veg oil

A drizzle of olive oil

Sprinkle of Oregano

Sprinkle of paprika flakes

Cheese of choice

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic and shrimp. Add in the spices, namely red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and  pepper. Stir and add in mushrooms and your desired veggies, I used pointed gourd here. Cook and stir for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.

Place the tortillas flat and spread ketchup on one half of the portion. Take a spoonful of the filling and add it to the tortilla base.  Add on your desired cheese, I used mozzarella here, and fold over the one half of the tortilla onto the other half. You can do this the regular way, which is using two tortillas for one quesadilla, one top of another.

Brush the top of the tortillas with an egg wash, sprinkle with dried oregano, paprika flake and some more cheese. Drizzle with some olive oil and bake the quesadillas in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes at 170 degree Celsius or until the cheeses have melted.  Bon appetite!

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Lemon and Cardamom Pound Cake

Wishing everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year hoping that your house smells lovely with the heart warming aroma of freshly baked Lemon and Cardamom Pound Cake.

Usually pound cakes were made using a pound of each ingredient (flour, butter, eggs, and sugar) in the old days. But you can only imagine the proportion of cake that could be made out of that much cake batter and you’d have to wonder if your oven was big enough for that.

This recipe of pound cake makes a large enough loaf to serve around four people and my take on this recipe has an infusion of tangy lemon and the sweet aroma of roasted cardamoms.

Ingredients

• 1½ cup flour • Zest of a lemon • A pinch of salt • 2 Crushed roasted cardamom • 1 tsp. baking powder • ½ cup soft butter • 1 cup sugar • 2 eggs • 6 tbsp. milk • 2 tbsp. lemon juice • ½ tsp. vanilla extract

All these ingredients were set in the ratio of 1:1:1:1 by weight.

Method

In a large bowl, sieve and mix the dry ingredients together and set aside. In another medium bowl, whisk in the eggs, butter and sugar, until well combined. Add in vanilla essence, milk and lemon juice and whisk. Next, slowing add the wet ingredients into the dry one, in small quantities and mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius with the lid on and for another 25 to 30 minutes without the lid. The pound cake is done when a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle, comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack or serve immediately.

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A comfort classic - MEAT PIE

Homemade meat pie is well known to be perfect family meal for this weekend. The meaty goodness along with the buttery and flaky shortcrust pastry is one of a kind! Ingredients

500g minced beef

A glug of oil

½ an onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. rosemary

¼ tsp. thyme

¼ tsp. paprika flakes

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

1 cup beef stock

½ tsp. corn flour

1 medium sized potato boiled and mashed

For the shortcrust pastry

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 cup butter

1 free range egg

3-4 tbsp. ice cold water

Add a glug of oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add in garlic, onion and minced beef. Add in salt and the spices and cook till the meat turns brown. Add in 1 cup of beef stock and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Mix corn flour with a small amount of stock and add it to the saucepan along with the boiled and mashed potato. Cook it for another 5 minutes and take it off the stove.

Meanwhile, to make the shortcrust pasty dough, add in flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Then add butter and egg and mix until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add 1 tablespoon of ice cold water at a time, and pulse until dough is crumbly yet holds together when squeezed. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until firm.

Cut one-half of the dough and roll out the dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, into a large enough circle to form the base of your pie dish. Place the pastry sheet on the pie dish using a rolling pin and refrigerate while you make the top crust of the pie. Once done, pour in the meat filling onto the pie dish and cover it up with the top pastry crust. Press the sides to seal and trim. Make a hole on top to let the steam escape. Brush the top with egg and bake in a preheated oven for 30-35 minutes at 180 degree Celsius. 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge6sTMjBpuE

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Beef Tehari

Ingredients

For the Beef ½ kilo beef cut into small cubes ½ cup of yogurt ½ packet of beef tehari spice mix 1 tbsp. garlic-ginger paste 1 tsp. red chili powder ¼ tsp. salt

For the Rice 1 ½ cup Rice (pilaf/basmati/kalijeera) ½ packet of beef tehari spice mix 1 tbsp. kewra water 6-8 green chilies 4-5 potatoes

Marinade the beef with all the ingredients and let it sit for a while.

Heat up a heavy bottomed pan, add a glug of oil and sauté two chopped onion. Add the marinated beef and cook for about 5 minutes or until the meat is cook through around the sides. Pour in 2 cups of hot water and let the mixture simmer for about half an hour.

Meanwhile toss the potatoes with a pinch of jaffron and salt and deep fry them till it’s half cooked.

Remove the meat from the gravy and another 2.5 cups of hot water. Once it comes to a boil add the rice and the fried potatoes. Cook the rice on medium high heat for 10 to 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to low, add the green chilies and let it cook for another 15 minutes. Add the kewra water and turn off the heat.

Top it off with beresta (caramelized onions) and there you have the easiest lunch ever! Goes best with Raita Salad and Borhani.

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Beef Massaman Curry

Massaman curry which is generally categorized as part of the Thai cuisine, is basically a dish influenced by Thai, Malay and Indian cuisine. The word massaman was thought to refer to Thai Muslims and the curry was made mostly with beef, while the word masam in Malay means sour. The fusion of so many different spices makes this curry the most fragrant and heartwarming as it sounds.

Massaman Paste Ingredients

4 cardamom pods

4 cloves

1 inch cinnamon stick

1 tbsp. coriander seeds

1 tbsp. fennel seeds

1/3 tbsp. cumin seeds

½ tsp. black peppercorns

4-6 dried red chilis

2 stalks of lemon grass

3 coriander stalks

4-6 cloves of garlic

½ inch ginger

2 onions

1 tsp. shrimp paste

½ tsp. salt

Toast the dry ingredients on low heat for about 3 minutes. Take it off the heat. Chop up the garlic, onions ginger, coriander stalks and lemon grass, and toss around dry on the same pan. Start pounding the spices in a mortar pestle. Do not try grinding everything all together. Take small amounts at a time. Add the shrimp paste and salt. A pinch of sugar can enhance the fusion of flavors. This Massaman curry paste can be stored in a refrigerator up to a month or two and can be used to cook different curries of lamb, chicken or even fish.

Thai Massaman Curry

400g beef

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp. of massaman paste

2 cups of hot water

3-4 medium sized potatoes

1 onion

2 bay leaves

½ tsp. tamarind paste

2 tbsp. roasted peanuts (whole or crushed or paste)

A pinch of nutmeg

1 lemon

Coriander leaves

Skim the coconut oil from the top of the can and onto the pan. Stir in the massaman paste and the beef. Cook for about 3 minutes and pour in the remaining coconut milk and hot water. Add the potatoes, onions, bay leaves and tamarind paste and cook for about an hour on low heat. Add peanut paste, a pinch of nutmeg and juice of a lemon. Cook for another minute and adjust the sweetness with a small amount of palm sugar. Top with chopped coriander and serve with naan or warm white rice.

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Teriyaki Beef by Khan Sanjana Mahmood

Our first featured recipe comes from khan Sanjana Mahmood, a Pharmacy Student who loves spending her time in the kitchen cooking up gourmet food for her loving family. She shares, “The one thing I love better than any other thing is cooking with my heart”.

Ingredients:

500 grams of thinly sliced beef without bones

Ginger paste

Garlic paste

Cumin paste

Coriander paste

Salt

Soya sauce

Oyster sauce

Chili garlic tomato sauce

Lime

Brown sugar

Corn starch

Apple juice

Sesame seed roasted

Method: 1) Marinate the beef with garlic, ginger, cumin and coriander paste, along with the three sauce and salt for two days before cooking and before cooking add lime juice. 2) Boil them using butter and small amount of water (do not over boil!) until tender. 3) Separate the beef and strain the water. To this add a bit of sugar and corn starch and soy sauce and boil until it turns into a viscous homogenous mixture. Then add two tbsp. of apple juice. 4) Sear your beef in with a teaspoon of butter before serving, later add the sauce and roasted sesame seed on top.

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Boti Kebab

Ingredients

½ kg Boneless beef

½ cup of yogurt

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. of Garlic paste

2 tbsp. of Ginger paste

2 tbsp. Red chilli powder

1 tsp. of clove powder

2 tbsp. vinegar

½ cup of veg. oil

1 tsp. of All spice/Kebab chini (around 10 pieces)

1 tbsp. of Crushed Black Pepper

A pinch of sugar

Wash the meat pieces and strike them with a kitchen hammer into thin sheets of meat. Marinate the meat with yogurt, salt, garlic-ginger paste, red chilli powder, clove powder and vinegar. Keep it marinated for at least an hour. In a large pot, add in the marinated meat, black pepper, all spice, sugar, oil and water. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for an hour. Once the meat is cooked thoroughly, turn off the flame and place a small steel bowl in the middle of the pot. Place a burning coal on the bowl, pour a small amount of ghee on top of the burning coal and immediately cover the pot, to let the smoke infuse into the meet properly. After 10 minutes remove the bowl along with the coal and place the meat in a stick to serve immediately with parathas and raita.

If not served immediately, hold the stick of meat over the cooking flame for a fer seconds before serving.