FEBI'S COOK BOOK

I love sandwiches in any form. I love burger with ketchup and cheese slices. The only thing that holds me back is, wondering what must have gone inside all those patties. This time for post is a sandwich with cheese and spinach. I made a similar version for Ramadhan with Dill leaves instead of spinach and was loved by all. This sandwich is really easy to make and serve as good breakfast or lunch box idea. Over to the recipe, Ingredients: Spinach- a bunch Triangle Cheese grated- 6-7 portions or cheese spread Lime- 1/4 salt- a dash Bread slices Butter- to grease Method: Chop spinach finely and cook in a pan. Add some salt and keep stirring till water dries off completely. Transfer the wilted spinach to a bowl. To that add grated cheese, a squeeze of lime and mix well. Now spread a spoonful of cheese- spinach mixture to one side of bread slices. Close the slice with another slice. Now repeat the with remaining. Now butter a pan or grill pan. Pl...

Kunafa, i have not much words to describe this dessert. So addictively delicious is all i can say. Its a baked Arabic dessert with shredded Kunafa dough and cheese as filling, served warm with rose scented sugar syrup . Whenever I crave for one, I always beg my husband to get one from any of the local Arabic bakeries/restaurants, but it is only a limited portion i can enjoy as the price is too high for a small quantity. And with kids around, my cravings are never put to end. All i can do is sit back and drool over this heaven when my kids gobble it down. My 6 year old pouring that sugar syrup and mehndi on her hands were done by me for Eid This time i decided to give it a try, after drooling over a plethora of images and recipes on internet. Also after having one from one of the Arabic restaurants, and the deliciousness it had (OMG!! It was such a heaven, served straight from the oven, my husband and i couldn't wait it to cool down, we had the entire thing all by ourselv...

Many a times i sweep through recipes from a cookbook of my mother's, I always stop by this recipe of Khasta Kachori to see how it is made. The snack looks appealing but the ingredient listed in the recipe, that is, moong dal, stops my temptation to try it. I am not a great fan of lentils and especially when it comes to snack J am least fan of veggie snacks. So one day I was urged to try something for snacking, and I convinced myself that this would taste a lot tastier than it actually is, if served with tamarind chutney as listed in the recipe. And when I went through Tamarind chutney recipe it sounded like, chatpata (spicy hot and sour) type. And I decided to make another chutney to go along with it, which is pudina chutney or mint dip. The whole thing turned out to be really roller coaster ride for my taste buds with the hot kachori served with cold chatpata chutneys and oh God! why I stayed away so long from trying it. It did not seem like I was eating lentils as ...

Greatly obsessed with Arabic sweets these days, I browse crazily through recipes. And UmmAli was  never in my to do list until I tasted one during our stay at a dessert during one of the public holidays. We had  astay in dessert for one night with entertainment programs. It was complete different experience, and if not for the hot weather, it would have been a complete beautiful experience. There was camel ride and we slept in a tent with no lights or fans, with only small brightness from a lamp. And the night seemed long, as i felt it was due to the lack of Internet and i realised why people these days say "time flies".  Regarding the Umm Ali, I shamelessly kept on feeding myself that day, over and over. Oh it was too yumm and I was trying to figure out the contents in it that contributed to the deliciousness of it.  I first tried this recipe from a popular site, but the texture turned out hard as i baked for extra long time. The second time i tried this ...

I have been very lazy in experimenting main course meals lately. In earlier days of marriage I used to try every single way to impress my husband and cook for him. A once experimented dish hardly was repeated especially during dinners and I used to keep experimenting new ones. As kids came into our lives, my schedule gradually got hectic and so the time I spent to cook. Usually these days when I decide chicken for our menu, I cook up regular easy version of chicken curry and do not take the trouble to browse through Internets. After a long while I felt the urge to cook something different and I happened to stumble over this recipe of Sanjeev Kapoor's. I tried it the same day and it turned out to be delicious with all the richness and spice loaded cream based thick gravy. It is perfect to go with rotis and obviously rice was not the perfect combo, as I made rice as I was in short of time to prepare roti before hubby arrived.  I felt the khoya in this recipe added richness t...

I am sure once this post makes way to blog, some of my friends will atleast be rolling their eyes. I know this is one of the simplest recipes we prepare at home. But at the same time there are many who are not aware of it much, especially outside Kannur. No matter how simple it is, Kayiyum Muttayum (plantain bananas with sweet scrambled egg) never ceases to trigger our greediness towards it. Also  I need to keep a collection of all the Malabar delicacies we make at home to share it with all those are not aware of it. As most of my readers are from Kerala, I need not explain what Kayiyum Muttayum means. This is perfect for tea time and easiest snack to make whenever an unexpected guest visits. This is surely the first thing in my list whenever I have such guests. Ingredients: Plantain bananas : 3 big Oil for deep frying Eggs - 2 large Sugar- 6 tsp Cardamom powder- 1/4 tsp Ghee- 1-2 tbsp. Chop the plantain in medium small cubes. Deep fry in h...

The biggest picky eater in my house is my husband. He eats without complaining much, but he eats very less, i feel my efforts have gone in vain. And when it comes to something continental, he is least fan of it. Though my favorites too are Malabari dishes, i also am in awe with most of foreign dishes, especially due to very less effort and time that goes into making one. My mother is a great cook, and i grew up eating all the best of Malabar delicacies, so there is no way I do not love them, especially when Umma cooks. But being a good chef, my Umma also like to experiment new dishes  and jots down almost all the recipes that are telecasted in television cookery shows. So as a kid I was lucky enough to gobble all her delicious experiments. There was no way possibly any recipe could go wrong, especially when she cooks and adjusts a recipe according to her taste. There is really some magic in her hands. Today's post is Shrimp spaghetti. I am a great fan of somethin...

Last post too was a drink. The only difference this time is that, it is a smoothie and that too a dry fruit smoothie. We consume a lot of dry fruits during Ramadhan, and this time hubby purchased a lot of it and it seemed that it was not going to be over before Ramadhan ends. As Ramadhan drew close to its end, we decided to prepare this smoothie and it turned out to be a hit for both of us adults, being it a filling and healthy drink to have during Iftar. All that you needs is to plan ahead, as dry fruits needs to be soaked for half an hour and milk needs to be frozen till it start to get solid. Add in more or less sweetener as per your wish. Mine I felt was little extra sweet. But I feel it really depends on the quantity and quality of dates and dried figs you use. Ingredients: Walnuts- 6-7 Dried figs- 6-7 Dates- 6-7 Almonds- 6-7 Condensed milk- 1 tbsp(optional) Honey- 2 tbsp Milk- 1 1/2 cups (chilled in the freezer for 1 hour) Vanilla icecream- 2 scoops+ 2 small...

Feeling refreshed and energetic after a long and well spent weekend and holidays of Eid. Had wonderful Eid, which began with early morning Eid prayers. Though the climate was hot and humid with friends around it seemed perfect. After returning home, prepared Eid special breakfast and a cake to be cut at my Mother's place to have after lunch after Umma's special mutton biryani. After the Biryani a nap was very much needed without which the biryani hangover and previous nights very little sleep would have left us tired and drowsy. After the tea time we had a series of visiting to various places, like cafes, restaurants, Al Qudra lake and very long and satisfying drive to Delma Island which marked the end of Eid holidays with a crazy gang of friends. In the end of the day all that needed was a good tight sleep to compensate all the sleepless tiring nights we had during during our journey. To feel refreshed an Iced tea is surely a perfect choice. It is very muc...

If you are looking for something healthy and refreshing to feed yourself after long hours of fasting, then this one go-to recipes. Its pretty simple to make and I used peach to make the sour fruit consumable in parfait form. I tossed the fruits I had in hand in a bowl with some honey. I will not be posting the quantity of any ingredient here, as I myself did not use any measurement. Feel free to use your favorite fruits or any other fruit that can not be consumed as it is. Ingredients: Peach - cut into cubes Mango- cut into cubes Strawberry- Cut into cubes Honey- just enough to coat all the fruits Yogurt Condensed milk- half the quantity of yogurt or as much sweet you want Vanilla- a teaspoon Corn flakes- to top Strawberry, Peach and mint- to garnish Method: Toss all the fruits in a big bowl with honey. Lay the fruits in the bottom of individual bowls. In another big bowl, combine yogurt and condensed milk. Add vanilla. Now spoon a few spo...