mayurisjikoni

Using up tit bits  Last Saturday turned out to a very busy day. I got busy in the kitchen baking pistachio cranberry cookies, making red chilli sauce and some arvi paan na bhajia . Arvi paan bhajia was suppose to be dinner. I prepared some lunch for Ajay and went to Bollywood Bite with my best friend for lunch and a long chit chat. The dosas were absolutely delicious and the chit chat endless as we both are in the very near future getting our sons married. Came home at around 4 p.m. to find my mamaji waiting for me impatiently. He wanted to apply for the UK visitor visas. Getting most of these forms filled online for the aged is not a laughing matter. He was so stressed out as he didn't know how to go about it. Every time we have to fill in these visa forms, they are getting lengthier and lengthier. As my hubby comments, they know more about us than we do ourselves. Anyway after much stress and calls to his daughter in UK we managed to fill the forms online and my hubby offered ...

For all those missing Mombasa Mogo, cassava, tapioca or yuca, call it what you want. Its a tube root which originated in Paraguay and Brazil. It was brought to Africa during the slave trade era. Its a staple diet for the poor and high in starch. Lots of cassava or mogo is grown in the surrounding areas of Mombasa. A visit to the famous Mama Ngina Drive or Lighthouse as most Kenyans call it, is not complete without having some mogo and madaf (coconut water). Vendors stack up their jikos on drums, stones or whatever support they can find and roast mogo. Some fry the mogo pieces and make crisps (chips). A bit of lemon, salt and red chilli is applied to the fried or roasted one and enjoyed while gazing out at the deep blue sea. Hot crisps are drizzled with lemon juice, salt and red chilli and served with a smile. I remember when we were young, visiting Mombasa meant a treat of mogo crisps. At that time it was  served in a huge paper cone, made from old newspaper and we paid only 1shill...

Pina colada in Spanish means strained pineapple. Pina colada is a cocktail made from pineapple juice, coconut cream and rum. Pina Colada is very famous in Puerto Rico. After the famous cocktail many versions have been formulated in the form of a drink, dessert, salad or cake. I am not going to blog the recipe for the cocktail but a dessert.  My nephew came down from Nairobi on Sunday and I wanted to make some dessert for him. I really didn't want to wait in the long queue at Nakumatt for the ingredients so decided to figure out if I could make something from the ingredients I already had in my kitchen. So out came a tin of pineapple titbits, coconut milk and jelly. That reminded me that I was suppose to try out the recipe for the pina colada mousse eons ago. That saved me a trip to the supermarket and early Sunday morning I got busy making the dessert and lemon poppy seed muffins . Feeling pretty pleased with myself for getting up so early on a Sunday, after all the preparation, I ...

a pink treat I got tempted to buy some pomegranate last week but they were not sweet and the inner part of all those nice dark red pearls was a bit hard. Hubby dear refused to have it with his cereal in the mornings as he said the hard bit was getting stuck in between his teeth. So there was no question of using it up in salads too. I juiced the seeds thinking that I will mix it with something else to make a nice smoothie. The smoothie never happened but instead I made a nice refreshing mousse. So when will I get another batch of sour and hard pomegranates? An excellent dessert for pure vegetarians as I have used agar agar instead of gelatine. If you get the pale pink variety, then the mousse turns out a very pale colour, almost colorless. To add more appeal, add a tbsp of rose syrup to it to get the light pink colour and a slightly different taste. I prefer using the dabur rose syrup as it has a rose flavour and is not just sugar and colour like the local variety we get here. However,...

An excellent dip or sauce Ready made salsa sauces tend to taste very vinegary and have a lot of additives to make it appear good. Ready made sauces in Kenya cost the earth. I prefer to make my own sauces whenever possible. I make two types of tomato salsa. One where the onions, sweet pepper, garlic, tomatoes are cooked to give a wholesome sauce, ideal for dishes tacos , enchiladas , empanadas etc. The other one is where I do not cook all the tomatoes, onions, garlic etc. making tomato salsa is very easy and the lovely fresh tomatoes, garlic and  coriander add a lot of flavour to the sauce without having any artificial flavourings in it. This type of salsa is good to serve as a starter with tortilla chips, crisps (chips), crunchy pita slices etc. Fresh tomato salsa stays good in the fridge for at least a week.  TOMATO SALSA Makes about 2 cups 2 large tomatoes (approx 1 cup of chopped tomatoes) 1 cup tomato puree ¼ cup chopped onion ½ cup chopped fresh coriander or cilantro 2 ...

Happy Father's Day Dad                     I wanted to blog the recipe for fresh tuvar (lilva)kachori yesterday, but could not do so because of internet problems. Yesterday was Father's day and I made some yummy fresh tuvar (pigeon peas) kachori as my dad simply loves farsan (indian hot snacks). Tuvar is very much in season and though my dad is not in Mombasa, I still made them with him in mind. He gets the virtual ones and we get to eat the real ones. Father's day was a bit emotional for Ajay and me. We miss dada a lot, my dad is so far away, and our kids wished Ajay, but they too are far away. Its at times like this we tend to miss our family so much. Skyping, calling and emails have made communication so much easier but we still  miss the hugs and kisses and blessings. So definitely the hot, hot kachoris was like comfort food for us. And watching Jab tak hai Jaan on dvd was even more comforting.  updated:2/06/2016 ...

Going all the way to Mexico for lunch Empanadas are stuffed pastry or bread which are fried or baked. Originally from Portugal, this dish is being made in various countries, using fillings that are suitable for the local palate.  Emapanadas are very similar to the Italian calzone, the pies from many countries, curry puffs, patties, gujiyas or googras from India. The list is endless. The type of pastry made for this dish varies from country to country. Some add egg, some add more fat and some add yeast. Since I did not want to make an egg pastry I decided to browse the internet for a correct yeast pastry for the empanadas. I decided to use a Mexican filling. Fillings can be anything right from meat, chicken, fish, vegetables to sweet fillings to serve empanadas as a dessert. I have been following the India Masterchef season 3 and when one of the participants, Yasmin Sheikh made emapanadas, I thought 'I must try this recipe out'. Finally did so two days ago and Ajay was pretty im...