My version of Chicken Chowmein

Step 1:
You can use chicken from a left over chicken roast if you prefer, if not then steam cook chicken julian cut with salt, redchilli, garam masala, soy sauce and a dash of oil till tender and dry.

Step 2:
Medium or fine Egg noodles (you can substitute any type of noodle available) 1 pac ??  grams
boil in salted water with 1 tbsp oil.
strain and run cold water over it.

Step 3:
For ?? gram or a pac of noodles I would put
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp chilli garlic sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese salt (monosodium glucamate)
mix it well in the drained nnodles and let rest for atleast 10 minutes.

Step 4:
Cut, shred, chop all the vegetables and set aside on a tray.
fresh ginger garlic shreded 1 tsp each
spring onion julian sliced 3-4 stalks

1 cup capsicum/sweet peppers thin sliced
1 cup white cabage thin sliced
1 cup carrot sliced
1 cup mushrooms sliced
1 cup green beans chopped (optional)

So when all the steps are set the cooking time is just matter of 5 minutes only.

Take a deep wok heatup on high flame add a 1 tsp sesame seed oil and 3 tbsp vegetable oil.
Add ginger garlic stir for 1 minute and add spring onions to it stir for another 1 minute, add the noodles at this stage stir fry on high flame for 2 minutes and add all the remaining vegetable plus the cooked chicken and toss on high flame for 3-4 minutes.
Thats it done.



 

Dinner buns with filling.

These dinner buns had always been my family favourite. I made them without intention of making them.

Actually I was making a pizza one day, prepared extra dough, was left with around 1/4 of the dough, didnt know what to do with it so I made small balls out of it and topped it with some sesame seeds.
to my amazement they turned out as the ones we buy from the supermarket.
Well that experiment wizzed my mind with lots of idea. After few days only iI made chicken mix for it and filled the dough with it. I could'nt believe myself they tasted as good as you get chicken bread rolls in Pakistani bakery.

I will give you suggestions for filling but you can make them plain buns or shape them in roll or fill it.
Here's the simple recipe for the bread of buns:

2 & 1/2 cup good quality plain flour
7gm or 2 & 1/2 tsp fast active instant yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
a pinch of garlic powder (optional)
3 tbsp Olive oil
Luke warm water for kneading.
No baking powder or baking soda.

Now I mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl then gradually add wet ingredients to it. The dough should be soft and elastic, knead for at least 5-8 minutes. Result will depend on good kneading.

Now oil the bowl slightly you would let the dough to rise in. Cover it with cling film in dry warm place to rise to double usually takes 2-3 hours.

Now after it has doubled, punch it down and make around 12 small balls. at this point, take one ball spread in your palm in a circle put a filling approx 2 tsp and grab the ends togther to form a ball in your palm with filling in it. its the same way you fill a kachori.

Place the filled ball in baking tray lined with baking sheet, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle sesame seeds on it. repeat with all other balls, keep space between them as they will rise to double.

Now BIG TIP.
leave them to rise again on the kitchen top for atleast 15 minutes -30.
Bake them at 180 degree for 10-15 minutes, you will see them browning slightly on the top. thats when they are done. keep them airtight. eat within 2 days.

Fillings:

1. Boil potatoes, peel them, mash them and spice them to your taste, hot or mild. Add parsley or coriandar.

2. Take some chicken/lamb mince add spices to you choice cook the mince to dry and add herbs.

3. In some butter saute chopped onions for 4-5 minutes donot brown it, cool it and add lots of cheddar and parmessan chesse to it. add some chopped parsley. (this filling turns out realy good).

4. In some olive oil, add chopped vegetables of your choice. Capsicum, onions, cabbage, sweetcorns. saute them add salt and pepper to it, chilli flakes or a dash of soy sauce if you fancy, keep them crisp, add herbs or your choice corriander or parsley.

Banana walnut Cake

I am not a great fan of bananas, my husband loves them. But he likes greenish yellow bananas which are not too sweat and not totally ripened. He has to take a banana to work every day and if they become sweat their fate is my Banana cake haha.
Therefore my relationship with banana loaf is since long.
I followed a simple recipe earlier, now I have improvised the recipe, I have added a bit of crunchy topping to it. Hope my friends enjoy the blend of banana with a touch of cinnamon to it.

You will need:
for the cake
2 cups plain flour
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder (bp)
1 tsp bicarbonate soda (bs)
3 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 sweat bananas mashed with fork
1/4 cup milk

for crunchy topping
1/2 cup ready rolled oats
1/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon powder

Action:
With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar till soft and smooth about 4-5 minutes, then on lowest speed add butter.
In a separate bowl mix all the dry stuff ( flour, bp, bs, salt )
Now gradually add the dry ingredients and milk one at a time to the egg mix. add vanilla extract, mashed bananas and mix well.

Put the batter into a line tray with grease proof paper or butter paper

Now mix all the ingredients of crunchy topping together and crumble them up with your fingers.

 Spread the crumble mix over the batter



Bake at 180 deg for 20 minutes or check with wooden skewer. Baking time will vary according to the depth of the cake tin.

Hot banana cake tastes great with clotted cream. Enjoy.



Pinacolada Cupcakes

Baking fairy cake was my first attempt in baking. My first batch was brilliant and then it was every other day, while my tea was brewing cup cakes were in the oven. Thanks to electric mixers but it made my mixing job as quick as in 5 minutes.
I love the sweat smell of hot batter from my oven. Love the way my daughters peek into the oven to check them swelling and my little one asking again and again "Is it cooked yet?"
I prefer to flavour my cake mix more than flavouring the icing therefore have tried different ones plain Madeira, Lemon, Coffee, Pineapple, Banana, Chocolate, Red velvet, Carrot, Coconut, Safron and Cardoman. My most basic all time favourite icing had been Cream cheese frosting yum.
Here is the recipe of my Pinacolada cup cake:
4 Eggs
8 oz granulated sugar
8 oz melted butter
1/2 tsp Vanila extract
1 tsp pineapple flavouring
8 oz Selfraising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 oz  sweat pineapple chopped in small peices

In an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar for 5 minutes on high speed till light fluffy, switch the mixer to lowest speed, add butter, the flavourings and gradually dry ingredients.
Finally add the pineapple chunks and mix with a metal spoon.
Scoop the mix into lined muffin tins, and bake at 180 degree for 8-10 min. check with a wooden skewer into the middle of the cake if it comes out without anything uncook mix on it, Its done.

For the frosting:
250 ml whipping cream
2 oz Icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1/2 cup desicated coconut

Mix all the ingredients together with an electric mixer.

Scoop onto cooled down cupcakes with flower nozzle through a piping bag. Sprinkle more desicated coconut and decorate with pineapple chunks.

Flavour of pinepple with coconut frosting is a delicious blend of 2 flavours.

Italian Olive bread

I have had loved Italian food since my childhood. Pasta and pizza had always been anytime all the time kind of meal for me.
I have never baked cakes in my teenage but tried hands on different recipes for making good pizza base. A very generous aunt shared her recipe which was good but was loaded with lots of ingredients. My dad loved my pizzas. Alhumdolillah.
Finally 1 day after catching few ingredients from here and few from there I guess my best ever pizza base happened.
Now I am using this simple recipe to make savoury filled buns, sesame rolls, garlic bread, olive bread etc. I have always suggested my friends that when baking always use good quality ingredients especially oils and butter, the flavour the texture will be great. Inshallah.

Here is my Olive bread recipe.

Ingredients:
Bread Flour 2 and half cups
Dry active yeast 7gms (1 sachet)
Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 2 tbsp
Garlic powder 1/2 tsp
Italian seasonings 1/2 tsp
Olive oil 3 Tbsp
Luke warm water to knead.

I usually add all the ingredients in a my electric mixer to make soft dough, I rub some olive oil in my hand to coat the dough while placing it in a big bowl to rise to double (2-3 hours). Cover with a hot damp kitchen towel.

After the bread is double in size punch it back in again, now add 1/2 cup of pitted black olives to the dough and knead to mix it in. Shape it into a big loaf
then place it in the baking tray, make long cuts along the bread and sprinkle some more Italian seasoning on top. Let it rise for another half hour till it swells a bit.

Now place place the baking tray in oven preheated @180 for 15 minutes or till it looks cooked.

Now I slice the bread from where I made cuts on uncooked dough earlier and fill it with grated Mozzarella in it and placed it oven for final melt down and crisp. Tada hot and crisp Olive bread will fill your kitchen with temptation to eat it hot with soup or stew.
The first picture is of the final result.

My passion for food

I am not an excellent cook but I try to get the best flavour out of my recipe.
I grew up eating hot and spicy food, but I was one and only in a big family of 9 people who could not eat chillies and always had tea warm not hot. How come? That was strange.
I understood this after getting married, my husband doesn't like chillies and extremely strange he likes tea exactly the temperature I like which is warm not HOT. Mystery solved I was made to cook for him and eat with him.
I think I can make good Pakistani food, fairly good Chinese and American food, had some success with my favourite Italian food, Thai cuisine sometime turns out great sometimes oookkk, still trying to get the best flavour out of middle eastern cooking.
Baking cakes was my biggest success ever, Thanks to my lovely friend Afshan(May Allah rest her soul in peace). She shared a recipe of a plain cake with me, I tried it immediately and could not believed I made that cake. Today I bake cakes, breads, rolls, pies, pastry and much more Alhumdoolillah.
Since quite a long time I wanted to compile my cooking, my baking, the way I feel about food sometime full of fat some days totally fat free. Tonight is my first night at MY EXPRESSION.
I hope it benefits my 3 beautiful daughters(MashAllah). and anyone who has my style of passion.
May Allah protect me, my family, my relatives and my friends from hellfire. Ameen. And give barakah in whatever I cook. Ameen