Author: cookingwithshy

Gluten -Free Banana Nut Muffins

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Experimenting with gluten-free recipes is my new mantra.I like to say I’m still fairly new to this,and of late have been trying to widen my knowledge of Gluten free cooking. While I’m not really sure that I’m Gluten Intolerant,I just prefer it and feel so much better not eating it. I actually got around to making these Gluten free banana nut muffins for a Teen cooking workshop recently.I was of course overjoyed to find this lovely Plain Flour Blend (gluten-free) in the Organic section of Geant supermarket.The flour is a blend of Rice,Potato,tapioca,maize and Buckwheat and worked really well for this muffin recipe.The brand used is Dove Farms. There’s just one word to describe these muffins: Simple!!! I looked up Dove farms and came across a whole lot of GF recipes using their products. I have tweaked the original recipe a little bit.I’ve substituted chocolate chips with raisins. Love walnuts in my muffins…so in went a handful of those.The recipe called for 150 grams of sugar.I ‘ve reduced that to about 100 grams.Turned out sweet enough as …

Oh For The Love Of- Chicken Tikka Masala

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Food Blogger, Home chef, Mother, Culinary workshop co coordinator and so on…Yes that’s probably the many hats I wear. And not that I’m complaining one bit. I love what I do. There is no greater joy for me than to experiment in the kitchen and unleash some of my culinary creativity. Now whilst I try and use fresh ingredients as often as I can, there are always some form of left overs that can turn into a delightful and appetizing meals. And that’s what this one’s all about. I have this easy peasy one here that I put together with some left over grilled chicken. My husband braved the heat last night and managed to fire up the grill and made us some lovely boneless Chicken Tikkas .He grilled an extra batch, that I knew would come handy for a curry of some sorts the next day. Chicken Tikkas: Boneless marinated chicken usually grilled on a charcoal BBQ.However these cook in a hot oven just as well. Tikkas are usually marinated in yogurt and spices ( I …

Sweet Filo Parcels-A Twist to the Traditional Modak

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I have fond recollections of my childhood spent with my grandmother helping her prepare  Modak –A sweet dumpling either steamed or fried and filled with freshly  grated Coconut & Jaggery. This is made as an offering to Lord Ganesh while celebrating Ganesh Chathurthi. Ganesh Chathurthi– Is  a festival celebrated to mark the Birth of Lord Ganesh. In India this joyous occasion usually falls in the month of August or September. Fondly called as Ganapathi  or Ganapathi  Bappa,the elephant headed God is the epitome of Prosperity, Wisdom and Good luck. The celebrations last 10 days and with great devotion and fervor…And if you grew up in Mumbai like I did probably an emotional one too. As I write this post I can well imagine the preparations back home. Right from bringing home the Ganesh Idol, decorating him with flowers ,brightly lit lamps and fragrant incense sticks…an assortment of sweets made as offerings….And the quite hum of Ganesh chanting’s  in the background… ….To the final day that marks the end of this festival when the idols are immersed into water finally bidding adieu to Ganapati…un-till his …

Chicken in a Thai Ginger & Lemon Grass Sauce

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I love surprises and especially ones that come beautifully wrapped. So naturally was really excited on receiving a wonderful gift hamper from Worldfoods .Thanks very much Rebecca Gabbai  sending this across. The hamper was an exciting mix of various Asian sauces. Some dipping and some that could be used as stir fry sauces. Browsing through the package I discovered an assortment of: Thai Ginger & Lemon Grass Sauce Indonesian Sweet Tamarind Sauce Chinese Ginger-Garlic –Chili dipping sauce Malaysian Chili Coconut Marinade Thai Sweet Chili with Kaffir Lime-Dipping & Stir fry sauce What a delightful variety of flavors, I sure was spoilt for choice that day. I could well imagine using most of these in my kitchen as I do a lot of Asian cooking for the family and of course for the Cooking workshops that I conduct. A quick look into my refrigerator revealed some Boneless chicken breasts, some gorgeous Thai red chilies for the added kick, tender broccoli stems(they go so well with chicken).So was pretty certain that I could whisk up something delish …

Hazelnut & Almond Cookies

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Hello Friends! A Happy Monday morning to all of you. I do hope everyone’s had a fantastic summer .I’m sure you’ve  found ways of beating this sweltering heat in Dubai, by either travelling to cooler locales, spending time with family and friends or perhaps  whipping cool treats in your kitchens. I’ve had a great summer indeed. It has been a busy one  around my kitchen with the usual recipe testing’s, kids cooking workshops or then just cooking up a storm for family and friends. Well that’s another reason for not having posted for some time but I do promise to get more recipes out soon. This post is for these wonderful Hazelnut & Almond cookies that I had book marked from http://www.mideats.com. Thank you Heba and Brenda for your wonderful recipe which has been altered just a little bit .I had read your post awhile ago and finally got down to making them just recently. Have used some powdered hazelnuts as well, that’s just because I ran out of powdered almonds. These little cookies were a …