In Pakistan, kabobs are not always cooked on skewers.  They are often tender, juicy patties made of minced beef, lamb or chicken and the word chapli comes from the Pashto word for “flat,” a reference to its horizontal appearance.  My Father often expresses his love through feeding us his delicious inventions and this recipe is from him.  He came up with the idea of adding part-skim mozzarella to chicken chapli kabobs–as weird as it sounds, the cheese blows the dish out of this world, making each patty even more juicy and flavorful.

• 1 lb. skinless and boneless chicken breast and thigh meat (ask your butcher to pass it through the grinder twice so it is really fine)
• 1 medium yellow onion- diced
• 3 scallions- chopped
• 4 jalapenos – seeded and chopped
• 1 handful cilantro leaves- chopped
• 1/2 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons of ginger
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of part-skim grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• salt- to taste
• pepper-to taste
• 4 tablespoons of canola oil- for frying

Put the garlic and the ginger in a food processor and chop into a fine paste.  Work this paste into the ground chicken.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Don’t be afraid to use your hands!

Make the chicken kabob patties by scooping out a handful of the mix and flattening it into a flat patty shape.  Note: it is easier to make the patties when the meat mixture is a little chilled so after you mix all the ingredients together, you might want to pop it into the fridge for a bit.  Make the patties as flat as possible so they cook fast and completely.  Otherwise, you run the risk of encountering uncooked chicken in the middle of your chapli kabobs: not fun.

Heat up the canola oil in a skillet.  Make sure the oil is thoroughly heated before dropping the patties into the oil.  Otherwise, the patties absorb too much oil.  Brown on each side.  Serve with rice and accompaniments–my favorites are a dollop of greek yogurt, sliced avocado and a chiffonade of kale greens.

We recently took a chocolate making class at Tache Chocolate and had a delicious 90 minutes of composing and nibbling on incredible chocolate creations.  Located on the Lower East Side in NYC, Tache Chocolate is owned by the talented and lovely Aditi Malhotra, who was recently awarded Zagat’s “30 Under 30″ Award.  Aditi trained at the French Culinary Institute and named her shop after the French word for “smudge” to commemorate the chocolate marks she often finds on her chef’s apron at the end of the day.  In addition to her impressive foodie credentials, Aditi is a great teacher–engaging, effusive and clearly in love with her work.

We started off by getting a rundown on some of the ingredients we’d be using: coconut flakes, various spices, nuts, raisins, strawberry wafers and jasmine tea!  Aditi also shared with us what some of her favorite chocolate brands are, recommending Valrhona and Callebaut.  Then, we got to peek at some of the machines Tache uses in the chocolate making process. We couldn’t wait to get our hands on one of the machines that reminded us of the infamous “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy starts stuffing truffles into her mouth off of an assembly line. Aditi demonstrated what the machines were used for and how they worked. We also got to taste Aditi’s dark chocolate grignotines, spicy chai truffles and jelly fruits. Delicious! 

Our first assignment consisted of making white chocolate grignotines and mendients.  We learned that white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate. In fact, it’s made mostly from cocoa butter and milk solids. Because of its more neutral flavor, it can serve as a nice base for additions such as various nuts and spices.  This was all news to us!  After heating the chocolate to the working consistency we set to making our chocolates. Aditi encouraged us to get really creative with our toppings, even showing us how to use pan masala supari mix at one point!

Next we got to work with some yummy, glossy dark chocolate. We started out by making dark chocolate coated marshmallow lollipops with toppings. Here, you can see Aditi neatly demonstrating how to top the lollipops. What you don’t see is what our versions looked like. Hint: definitely not like hers!

The final part of the class was our favorite – we used molds and filled them with chocolate using one of the machines. We chose an Eiffel Tower and skulls and topped them with edible glitter and sea salt. The glitter ended up looking like sparkling lights on the Eiffel Tower and the red glaze on the skulls made them look super badass.  We both agreed that this might’ve been one of the best food-related classes we ever took–it involved making and eating chocolate, after all!

Mubina with our molded chocolate creations

Posing with our creations and our teacher Aditi (center)

I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving!  We had a great big feast at our home with friends and I cooked up a storm.  It was an easy-going casual affair and I knew that our company would all be arriving at different times.  I decided to serve some light snacking for people while they were waiting for the feast to begin but I didn’t want to serve appetizers that might interfere with appetites or stomach capacity.  Herb-roasted sweet and savory nuts and hot, spicy apple cider fit the bill perfectly!

Herb-Roasted Sweet and Savory Nuts

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 tablespoons melted salted butter

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon seasalt

1/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons chopped rosemary, thyme and tarragon

4 cups mixed raw, unsalted nuts

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Mix together the oil, melted butter, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and herbs. Add the nuts to the bowl and stir until well combined. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Roast the nuts for 20 minutes and stir them. Roast for another 15 minutes–watch the nuts closely because they can burn quickly!  Once the nuts are golden brown, take them out and toss them with the salt and sugar.  Serve at room temperature.

Hot and Spicy Apple Cider

1 gallon apple cider

Mulling spice mix:

4 cinnamon sticks

4 peppercorns

4 cardamom pods

6 whole cloves

8 allspice berries

Lemon zest

Who says a salad can’t be hearty and satisfying?  There’s something about autumn that always makes me want to bake and roast things.  Here I slow-roasted a selection of root vegetables with chunks of garlic heads for added flavor.  The roasting is ridiculously easy: Toss with olive oil and sea salt and set your oven to 200.  Check on them once in a while to see if they are cooked through.  The beauty of these roasted vegetables is that you can use them in a variety of dishes, like in the salad above.  Paired with roasted chicken, crunchy Gala apple slices and gorgonzola cheese and rested upon a bed of baby argula, this salad is perfect for lunch on a crisp autumn day.

I recently visited my in-laws in Wisconsin for some much needed R & R.  One of the best things about visiting them is getting to indulge in all sorts of home-cooked Americana cuisine, courtesy of my mother-in-law.  After a particularly long afternoon nap, I awoke to find this amazing lemon sour cream pie sitting on the kitchen table, just waiting to be cut into.  As you can see, I gave myself a nice big serving.  The recipe for this is simple and straight-forward:

Lemon Sour Cream Pie

Lemon zest from one lemon
1 cup of sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of whole milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 baked or bought graham cracker pie crust

Directions:

Combine lemon zest, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, egg yolks and milk in heavy
saucepan; cook over medium heat until thickened. Stir in butter and cool mixture
to room temperature.  Now fold sour cream into the mix and stir.  Pour into the graham cracker pie crust.

Chai has been all the rage in the West for the past few years, with Starbucks’ Chai Latte and Oregon Chai leading the pack amongst many other brands. However, making chai at home is very simple and can be often done in less than 5 minutes! Chai just means “tea” in various South Asian languages including Urdu and Hindi. So tip #1: don’t say “chai tea” because you’re really saying “tea tea” :)

Onto the recipe! In South Asian households chai is usually made multiple times a day. This recipe is for the type of chai that is made in Pakistan or Northern India – with the milk cooked with the tea on the stove instead of being added in later. Serving size: 2

Ingredients & Tools

• Saucepan
• Cup strainer – buy here or from your local 99cent store
• Sugar to taste
• 1.5 cups Water
• 4 Tea Bags or 2 Tsp Loose Tea. I highly recommend Tapal Danedar
  or PG Tips – both available from your local Indian store or online
• 1 cup Whole milk (lowfat milk just isn’t the same in chai)
• 1-2 pods Cardamom (optional)
• other optional spices: 1 cinnamon stick, 2-3 slivers garlic (good for when you have a cold)

Directions

Generally 1 cup of chai should contain 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk and either 1tsp loose tea or 2 teabags. Here is the recipe for making 2 cups. Keep in mind that some of the water evaporates while boiling so you’ll want to start out with more water than necessary.

1. Place water and cardamom into saucepan and heat to a boil.
2. Add tea and wait until the color comes out (~2 minutes).
3. Add milk and decrease heat to medium or less. The trick is to now let the milk slowly simmer and create a skin on top of the tea.
4. Milk will come to a rolling boil but monitor it and quickly decrease the heat so that it doesn’t spill. Repeat 2-3 times depending on how frothy you like your milk.
5. Strain into cups and enjoy!
6. Pan cleaning tip: just soak it in water for a bit and it’s easy enough to clean if you’ve used loose tea.

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I chanced upon this fantastic stool/side table by Jason Phillips on gilt.com the other day.  It looks like something Hansel and Gretel would have in their living room and I’m totally obsessed.  It’s pretty pricey, however.  Think I should try to make one of these at home with a tree trunk section and some silver spray paint?

My go-to weekend outfit in the summer is a long maxi with sunglasses and large tote.  I’m partial to purple bags but my hands-down favorite bag is my purple Beirn bag.  It has a single strap so it’s easy to carry and it’s roomy enough to stash all of my stuff.  Colorblock maxi: Old Navy Maternity, Sunglasses: Chloe, Stud Hoops: Forever21, Bracelets: Rainbow Stores

This was a recent last-minute brunch recipe made mostly from dinner leftovers: roasted mushrooms and potatoes got folded into eggs beaten with parmesan and the whole thing was put into the broiler for ten minutes on high.  I topped it all off with my favorite summer-time salad topping: baby argula.

]]> http://www.inaila.com/style/finds-and-favorites-6/feed/ 0 http://www.inaila.com/food/recipe-lowfat-banana-bread/ http://www.inaila.com/food/recipe-lowfat-banana-bread/#comments Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000 Nabila http://www.inaila.com/?p=1913

A few years ago my friend gave me this recipe from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. Since then it’s become one of my family’s favorite things to make. We’ve evolved it from its original form into a healthier, yet equally tasty version. A lot of banana bread recipes I’ve come across use butter or sour cream but this one uses canola oil and nonfat yogurt which gives it a lighter texture and makes it more appropriate for those of us trying to eat healthy. Also, I don’t use too much sugar because I’m mostly counting on the cranberries to sweeten it. Whenever you have at least two bananas that are too ripe to eat, make this bread! You won’t regret it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar (may be decreased to 1/4 cup by preference)
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup (2 medium) mashed ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• handful walnuts

Directions

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and side of 9×5″ loaf pan.
• Mash bananas.
• Throw all ingredients into mixer and mix until well blended.
• Pour into loaf pan and bake for 60 min at 350°F until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. High Altitude – above 3500 Feet: increase flour to 2 1/4 cups and bake at 375°F for 50 min.
• Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 12 slices
Amount per serving:

Calories: 263
Total Fat: 11.8g
Total Carbs: 36.8g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8g
Sugars: 18g
Protein: 4.4g

For my birthday, I got a Bond No. 9 Perfume Gift Card.  With the card, arrived about two dozen samples, all wrapped up like cute little bon-bons.  I’ve already tried about half of them and, so far, my favorite has been Cooper Square, with its woodsy, lavender-like scent.

My husband recently went to Berlin and brought back these heavenly chocolates from a company called Leysieffer.  I never cared much for marzipan fillings when I was younger but love them now so much that I was looking for the other marzipan piece in this tin as soon as I found the first one.

My friends Eliza and Dina came over for brunch and brought sweets with them, including these ridiculously luscious donuts from Brooklyn’s Dough.  They take donuts to whole other levels here with flavors like blood orange, passionfruit and hibiscus.