mayurisjikoni

scrumptious      My future daughter in law loves cookies. When my son came down for a few days (ok it was a couple of weeks), I sent back a tin full of cookies for her. Normally she doesn't have any breakfast at home but might rush off to work after having a cookie or two. I baked the first lot and my son gobbled up quite a few within minutes. The remaining cookies were stored away to be packed but he somehow found the tin. I baked another lot, double the recipe this time and he managed to find space in his small bag to take a lot more. I sent some to my best friend to taste as her husband and her are one of my main critics.      Travelling has become stressful. Both his flights, one from Mombasa and the other one from Nairobi were delayed and to top it up his luggage did not reach Dubai with him. The cookies reached a day late along with the other presents.The nutty smell in the kitchen was heavenly and the addition of chocolate makes these cookies absolutely scrumptious. I got to

simply delicious Cassava is known by many names like yuca, tapioca, mogo, manioc root etc. The rains at the coastal region means that the mogo as its called in kiswahili is fresh and when cooked very powdery. My kaki makes this yummy simple mogo and she really doesn't have a name for this dish. I took the liberty of calling it Mogo chaat because that's what it is "chatpatta". I have not eaten this dish at anyone's home here in Kenya or as a street food. Yes mogo cooked in coconut milk is common but not this dish. I think my kaki learnt it from Tanzania where she had lived many years ago. Slight changes have been made to the dish to make it more spicy but otherwise its a very simple dish to prepare. I made this yesterday but without the onion and garlic. Try it, am sure you will love it and its really filling. MOGO CHAAT Serves 6 to 8 1kg mogo, cassava 1½-2 tsp salt 3 - 3½  cups water 1 tsp ginger paste 1-2 tsp chilli paste ¼ cup tamarind paste For serving: 1½ cups

this tastes good when it is hot Mangoes have disappeared for now and the pawpaws available are not nice. So I was wondering what fruit to add to the humble banana to make a nice yummy fruit salad. Nothing much was available besides apples and grapes. I had no choice but to make nice hot kheer for hubby dear as he too fasted for Janamashtami yesterday. We both like sabudana kheer nice and cold and I had forgotten to make it the previous day. Very early in the morning I remembered having samo kheer as prasadam on Ekadashi day from the Juhu ISKCON temple. Hot kheer with just a touch of cardamom and lots of cashew nuts. So I made samo or moriyo kheer and its the simplest kheer I have ever prepared. Quick, easy and delicious. A bit of the kheer was left over and in the evening I added fresh fruits to it to make it into a filling meal. Yummy.... can't wait for Ekadashi which is just round the corner to make the kheer again with loads of fresh fruit. SAMO/MORIYO KHEER 4 Servings 4 cups o

a very happy janamashtami          Lord Krishna's birthday is a joyous event celebrated with much pomp and happiness by most Hindus. Somehow I have never associated Janamashtami with seriousness of pooja, havan and abhishek like say, Lord Ram's birthday. It's perhaps because its only during Janamashtami that the ISKCON temples organise a lot of entertainment to celebrate it. The temple in Mombasa usually manages to put up a few dances depicting Krishna's life and once in a while a short play. However, celebrations at the Juhu temple are on a much grandeur scale with lots happening for the whole week. It was during one of our visits to Mumbai that we got to see a ballet on Yashoda ma and Krishna performed by none other than Hema Malini and her younger daughter Ahana. It was a breath taking performance and I wished it could have carried on forever. Both mother and daughter were very graceful and it was perfectly choreographed. So tomorrow though there will be an abhishek

delicious envelopes It is amazing how the Mexicans can make so many variations with the humble tortilla. I made chimichangas a few days ago as my son loves any Mexican cuisine but without the corn for him. Chimichangas are fried burittos. The filling can vary from meat to vegetables of your choice. I decided to shallow fry instead of deep frying and it worked well as I used home made tortillas. The first time I ever had chimichangas were when my hubby's cousin Nerali made them eons ago. So when my son Niku asked for something new I remembered the chimichangas and tried them out. I was pleased with the result and this recipe will definitely be one that I would like to make for my guests. So hope you too like the recipe. If you do not have the time to make tortillas at home, buy the ready made ones. VEG CHIMICHANGA makes 12 For the tortilla: 3 cups wholewheat flour (atta) 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp butter 1 cup hot water (hot enough to handle when you knead the dough) For

The saga finally ends!     I believe that certain superstitious things we do or keep do have a lot of meaning. Whenever I travel outside Mombasa, I usually take along my precious prayer beads (mala) with me. It precious because my mum had given it to me. I usually carry it in my handbag and always get the feeling that things will be alright and God is with me. However, when we went to Nairobi for our Canadian visa application, I did not carry the mala. The same happened for the subsequent two trips and I feel that all the problems we faced could have been because I broke the norm. Yes I do understand that karma was playing its part but human beings need certain assurances that all is going to be well. Its like a baby hugging its favourite teddy, a comforting blanket, a delicious thumb or like my nephew, he needed those soft labels that one has on the clothes. However, attending a Satyanarayan katha, Shiv pooja and Hanuman Chalisa all at the beginning of Shravan month did help. We final

Happy Raksha Bandhan     My post is a bit late for Raksha Bandhan day but these days in a fast hectic life with all modern technology, late posts are normal. Imagine, the rakhi that should have reached the earliest will probably reached last. The distance to cover was just Mombasa Nairobi. My foreign residing brothers and cousins have all got their rakhis but not my local cousin. As they say snail mail, but according to a BBC report, snails are not as slow as we imagine them to be. They can cover large distances in a short period. Coming back to Raksha Bandhan day, its been ages since I have physically been with my brothers and cousins to tie the rakhis. Perhaps next year. When I was growing up, we all spent a lot of time together as we all lived in Nairobi. Back then the word cousin was rarely used, it was either sisters or brothers. The special bond we all formed then, has remained and though we may not see each other so often, we do have a big family together whenever I am in UK. We