Saturday 22 September 2012

Reader's Contribution : Nigerian Pasta Salad

Assalamulaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatu. So, I've been thinking why not have a feature in which readers contribute their favorite recipes / restaurant etc and we can have that monthly? Well as long as monthly is not taken too literally - we all know that I'm not that consistent in posting, my procastinastion takes better even though I've got so many things I want to write about. I also feel that this will bring some diversity to the blog and I can learn more about what my readers cook and eat.
The first recipe I'm going to share is from a friend who is jack of all trades and masha Allah has so many talents I don't even know where to start from. For those who got my Eid Mubarak post cards - the picture was sent by her to me during Ramadhan sharing the iftar she prepared for her family (see below). Hope you enjoy the recipe and feel free to email your ideas and recipes too. 


Salaam,
Just like my friend Fatee, I'm a foodie and also love to try new recipes. This recipe is not exactly new as pasta salad is a classic dish. However, my aunt taught me how to make it in a very Nigerian way such that although it's a 'salad' there's nothing healthy about it as it is very rich and can even be eaten as a main meal. 

With salad there's no measurements for ingredients and you basically just toss as much of anything as you like in.


What you will need

Pasta- Boiled with salt until very soft, then cooled in the fridge
Prawns- Boiled with salt
Potatoes-Boiled with salt and cubed (without the skin)
Eggs- Hardboiled with salt and cubed
Tinned Tuna- Flaked
Lettuce- Sliced thinly
Cucumber- Cubed or in circles
Carrots-Grated
Cabbage- Sliced thinly
Firm Tomatoes- The baby ones are ideally sliced in circles; if not, the big ones can be cubed
Sweet Corn- To garnish

For those abroad, you could probably save yourself the hassle of chopping and buy a bag of mixed salad.
Once all the ingredients are prepared, you can either mix it all up or layer it. Layering means you place all the lettuce at the bottom, then all the cabbage followed by the carrots etc.

You can either have it plain, with mayonnaise, french dressing, or my favourite a Thousand Island dressing.



Nigerian Pasta Salad



And viola, Pasta Salad, Nigerian style!

Eid card

Enjoy
xoxo
Miss B

As said before, if you have any recipe you would like to share or a restaurant you think is amazing, please do so by clicking on the email me link on the right.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

First Ramadhan Working, Charity Iftar Dinners and A Thankful Soul

Assalamualaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatu. Hope you are having a Successful Ramadhan. Can you believe it is more than half of ramadhan already? Subhanallah! And I have really enjoyed it so far, thanks to all the iftar invitations, ample opportunity for increasing ibadah and meeting new people. Not only that, I recently graduated from University which makes this my first post as a doctor, Alhamdulillah. This also means that it is going to be my first ramadhan in full time employment.
Even before I started work, I experienced something that made me appreciate Allah's favour more. When I was moving, I packed a small bag of food intended for only that day as it was a Thursday and I meant to go back to finalise my packing the following day. Because I am me, I had planned what I was going to eat which meant everything was in that one bag including my plate. I even went to the local supermarket to buy some vegetables to complement my meal after I'd arrived. You can imagine the shock I got come iftar time, when I realised that I left the bag at home. This meant I only had stir fried vegetables and canned fish but I was still very disappointed as this wasn't 'the plan'. Then I became ashamed of myself, I at least had food in front of me! It dawned on me that there are several people around the world who kept their fast with nothing and who aren't even sure what they will break their fast with. What more, ramadhan makes no difference to them because outside of ramadhan they don't have food to eat. And there I was moping because I didn't have 'my planned meal'. That day, I learnt to be more appreciative of what Allah has blessed me with.

If the thoughts of starting a full time job didn't scare me enough, I was going to be starting work during the month of Ramadhan. I wasn't sure how I was going to cope with fasting and working in a fast paced environment. This along with all the other hundred things running through my mind meant that the night before I started, I only managed 3 hours of sleep. I'm sure you all must agree that this isn't the best way to begin your first day at work! But then I felt it must be a blessing that I get to start my working life during the blessed month of Ramadhan so I made dua for Allah to make it easy for me as well as my other colleagues who will be in the same situation all across the country.
And amazing how I feel after a week at work, alhamdulillah. The tiredness I was expecting didn't come even with my lack of sleep, neither did the thirst I dreaded; in fact, I enjoyed it! I did tie the camel though before putting my trust in Allah, I drank plenty of water at iftar and sahoor to make sure I'm hydrated during the day. It felt even easier than my normal non- fasting days. One thing I enjoy is giving mini Ramadhan awareness talks to some of the people I work with which usually starts off when I'm offered tea. To which I say "no thanks", not that I'm a tea person anyway. But after the second or third time, I reply, "thanks I'm fasting". Then comes the questions that make me smile. Can you drink water? Can you chew gum? Will it be cheating if you worked nights because you'll be asleep all day? Do you not get dehydrated? Do you not feel thirsty/tired? You mean 13 year olds have to fast too? Isn't that too strict? Then I give them my little talk on why we fast and how it is mind over matter; moreover, that it is the intention that matters. Not only that, it also keeps us in touch with reality and we see it as a prize that's worth the price.
I know not every week will be like my first week, I know that great challenges lie ahead but right now all I can say as a thankful soul is Alhamdulillah!


Talking about food and appreciating what you have, there are quite a few charity dinners happening in the next few days. If you're interested in joining many across the globe that will be inviting friends and family to break their fast and using the opportunity to raise money for charity, the date for your diary is the 11th of August. Here are some of the good cause to consider raising money for:

SHAREYOURIFTAR organised by Muslim Aid to help raise money for the Syrian Emergency Appeal. Click on the picture on how to do this and for more information

Some tips on making iftar for many people.
1. Purify your intentions throughout and remind yourself that you're doing this for Allah(SWT).
2. Plan in advance: know how many people are definately coming and how many maybe coming.
3. Keep it simple: try not to go all out and then become overwhelmed.
4. Make something you're familiar with or look for easy to follow recipes. Muslim aid even have some good recipes you can try on  their website.
5. Delegate: get someone to make desert especially if you know that is their speciality and get others to bring drinks, it will be one less thing to worry about.
6. Don't make too much food as it defeats the purpose of the dinner if you end up wasting food.
7. Get take away packs so that if at all there's any food remaining, people can take some home with them.
8. Have a brief speech ready - you can get people to donate more by actually telling people about the cause
which means you need to know your cause properly and be ready to answer questions.
9. Have a backup plan - just in case.
10. Remember to have fun!

What if like me you don't have the opportunity to cook or cooking is not just your thing? Well, you can go for one of the iftar others are organising or there's the Charity Iftar dinner by Islamic Relief. One in Luton and one in Birmingham, both on the 11th of August. And if you're up North, don't worry there are Charity Iftars not too far away in Rochdale and Oldham on the 10th and 12th respectively all by Islamic Rellief. Click on the picture for more info. Don't forget that Islamic relief is also doubling every donation you make this Ramadhan!



Since Ramadhan started, I got introduced to this drink that I thought I'd share- Rooafzah known as Sirap Selsasi in Malay. It's actually quite simple to make (Using the cheat method that utilises ready-made rose water syrup)

Sirap Selasi drink
What you'll need (Serves 4)
Water - 1 litre
Basil seeds (Tukmaria/ biji selasih) - 2 tablespoon
100-150mls of rosewater syrup

To make
Soak the basil seeds in water until it starts to look like frog eggs, keep aside.

Soaked basil seeds
Add the water and syrup together in a jug, taste to check if sweet enough, If not add more syrup.
Drain the basil seeds and add to the mixture



Put in the fridge to chill and ready to serve. Stir before serving so everyone gets a fair share of the basil seeds.




So, as we get into the final lap of Ramadhan and everyone trying to increase the rewards, I pray that Allah gives us the ability to make the ultimate most of it! Enjoy the remaining days of your Ramadhan 1433.



Thursday 5 July 2012

Recipe for a Successful Ramadhan- Are you ready?




Assalamualaykum warahmatullah wabarakatu. I can't believe that it's almost that time of the year again. So much has happened since the last Ramadhan, some were with us for the last one but won't be witnessing this coming one. Even I am not guaranteed to reach it, no one is. One can only pray to Allah (SWT) to keep us alive and in good health till it arrives. Which brings me to the question-how are you preparing for the Month of Mercy? The month in which for Allah's Mercies, the gates of paradise are opened, that of hell is closed, the devils are chained and one of it's nights is worth a thousand - Subhanallah! This month is an opportunity to increase our good deeds but for us to make the most of it, we need to be prepared! No ramadhan should ever be the same; we should aim for this Ramadhan to be our best so far by acting like it is our last. And although we pray to Allah that we witness many more - one will eventually be our last. Allow me to share some things that can be done to prepare for ramadhan so as to make the most of it.

Repentance: seek forgiveness and purify your intentions making sure that you are doing this for Allah and Allah alone.

Dua: ask Allah(SWT) to allow you reach the month and make the most of it.  It was reported that some of the salaf used to spend the 5 months after every ramadhan praying to Allah to accept it and then the 6 months after that asking Allah to allow them reach the next one. Make dua that Allah makes it easy for you as well- it's going to be 19-20 hours fast if you’re in the UK so start making plenty of duas for Allah to make it easy for us all.

Fast: complete any obligatory fasts that you're yet to make up if you are able to and try to fast some of Sha’ban. Aa'ishah(RA) said: the Messenger of Allah(SAW) used to fast until we said: He will not break his fast and he used to not fast until we said: He will not fast. And I never saw the Messenger of Allah (SAW) complete a month of fasting except in Ramadhan and I never saw him fast more in any month than in Sha'ban.

Qur'an: read it - lots of it! Get into the habit of reading the Quran. Remember Qur’an is food for the soul of a muslim.

Distractions: take things that will distract you away now before Ramadhan comes so that when it arrives you can easily concentrate on acts of worship. Make your environment a place that worshiping Allah will be easy. Make a list of what you want to achieve - write it down so as to have a proof of your achievements.

Knowledge: seek it. Learn about ramadhan and its virtues; this way you can really appreciate it and know how best to spend your time during the month. Several institutes are offering courses on Ramadhan at the moment and now is the best time to make the most of it.

Shop: do your ramadhan/Eid shopping now, not only do you have more time to spend worshiping Allah, you also save money as a lot of Islamic stores have ongoing sales at the moment. In fact your good old Asda/Morrissons/Tescos have already started rolling out special Ramadhan offers which tells you that even they realise how important it is for muslims, albeit for a different reason.

Part of preparing is to plan your days properly so as not to spend so much time in the kitchen preparing iftar, sisters especially. Now is the time to buy/prepare some of your dishes-no I'm not joking (provided they can be stored and you have the storage space). A rule of thumb is that anything you can buy from the stores in the form of frozen food can be made at home yourself – then you can store it. That way, you not only save money, you also get to set your own expiry date and know what exactly is going in the food. We’ve started preparing the ramadhan food in my house, hence the recipe. When I said we, I meant I watched,learned and took pictures of it being made since it was the first time I’ve seen this prepared. 

Chapli kebab 
What you’ll need (Approximately 20 pieces)
1 medium sized white onion - chopped
1 bunch of spring onions
4-6 green chilli – finely chopped (+/- depending on how spicy you want it)
3 lb minced meat
2 eggs
*100g Chapatti flour
2 tbs Corn Flour
2 tbs Gram flour
1 cup of fresh coriander leaves ( Dhaniya) finely chopped
2 tsp salt (according to taste)
1 tbs garam masala
*1 tsp crushed mint
*1 tsp ginger (Adrak) paste 
1 tsp red chilli
*1 tsp crushed cumin (zeera)
(* optional)

Preparation
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl . 



If you're frying immediately then I'd say leave to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours but as we're freezing just go to the next step.
Make into palm sized cutlet - it should be about the size of a large burger.


Oil a freezer safe tray and put the cutlets on them. Your chapli kebab is good to go in the freezer, nice and ready for ramadhan. When you’re ready to eat, fry or grill for a healthier choice. Why not even fry some now for a taster?





Insha Allah, I would post some more recipes before ramadhan. In the meanwhile, check out Abu productive’s ramadhan doodle below and be sure to visit and bookmark the website for excellent tips on maximising your time to get the best out of ramadhan


May Allah grant us the chance to reach it.