‘Cooking Along the Silk Route’ in Washington, DC

Friday, May 10, 2013 By 3 Comments

Tahchin Workshop Tahchin, Persian rice timbale with saffron-poached chicken

*NO SPACES LEFT*

IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR NAME PLACED ON THE WAIT-LIST, PLEASE E-MAIL ME, (ADDRESS AT THE END OF THE POST).

On Saturday, June 22nd, I will be hosting a lunch which is themed ‘Cooking Along the Silk Route‘. As such, we will prepare dishes from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan and then share a meal together, family-style, in a beautiful home in the Washington, DC suburbs, (near Tyson’s Galleria).

While we cook together, we will :

  • Learn how to prepare a mocktail, appetiser and main dish. I will provide my homemade dessert for the meal.
  • Prepare and assemble the dishes in groups of 3-4.
  • Enjoy a lovely Saturday chatting and eating with others who adore food from my part of the world!

Sample Menu:
Pakistani Sekenjabeen – Sweet & Sour Sparkling Lime Mocktail with Mint
Afghan Aushak* – Leek pâté dumplings, served atop yoghurt and crowned with savoury mince
Persian Tahchin (see photo above) – Rice timbale with saffron-poached chicken
Pakistani Kheer aur morabba – Rosewater-fragranced rice pudding with seasonal fruit compote

Timing:
10am-1.30pm
Lunch will be served between 1.30 and 2.00pm.

If you would like to join us:
Please e-mail me at shayma (at) thespicespoon (dot) com.

*We are using store-bought wonton wrappers.

Filed Under: Afghan, events, Irani/Persian, Pakistani, Silk Route, workshop

Baingan Bharta – Roasted Eggplant / Aubergine Dip in the Pakistani Manner

Saturday, April 20, 2013 By 12 Comments

Baingan Bharta

I don’t remember Amma Subraayi. Our family’s seamstress, she died a few years after I was born, and by that time we had already moved to Washington, DC. My Nani Ami bought the jewel-toned fabrics for our razais, (winter quilts) and Amma Subraayi would stitch them painstakingly, by hand, with a curved upholstery needle. Sitting under the winter sun on my grandparents’ rear terrace, she laid the fabric out on a woven bed called a charpai and nimbly stitched the fabric together, stuffing it with cotton for weeks on end. Each razai was stitched in its own geometric pattern and with special fabric. Ami’s was a plaid burgundy and my Khala’s (aunt’s), was a candy-coloured orange with a floral design. [Read more...]

Filed Under: appetiser, borani (yoghurt-based cold salad), Pakistani, vegetables/vegetarian

BBC Good Food Magazine India

Monday, October 1, 2012 By 28 Comments

I was commissioned by BBC Good Food Magazine, India to develop and photograph a ‘Pakistani Feast’ as an 8-page feature for their current (October, 2012) issue. [Read more...]

Filed Under: BBC Good Food Magazine, Pakistani, Press

My Guest Post for ‘Indian Simmer’- Chicken Kebab Sliders in the Pakistani Manner

Friday, April 20, 2012 By 12 Comments

chicken sliders

This week I had the honour of guest blogging for someone who has become a close friend of mine through the blogging world- Prerna of Indian Simmer. Prerna is a phenomenal cook and food writer from India who takes beautiful and poetic photos of food; some of the best in the food photography – let alone food blogging – world. You can see these photos for yourself in her post on nankhatai; eggless spiced biscuits or the one on jalebis; sweet, crackly fritters which are washed down with a cup of hot, milky tea.

Prerna is currently working on her first cookery book, the arrival of which we are all eagerly anticipating.

My post on Chicken Kebab Sliders in the Pakistani Manner is here on her lovely blog.

Filed Under: appetiser, guest posts, mains, Pakistani, spicy, street food, tea time snacks

Elaichi Chai- Cardamom Tea in the Pakistani Manner

Sunday, April 8, 2012 By 35 Comments

Chai Tea

If you were friendly with one of the House Prefects, you were always guaranteed a thick stack of those buttery, crumbly biscuits for dipping into your milky tea. At 10am, as the bell rang, all of us would push past the Assembly Hall’s heavy doors and greedily reach for the blue and orange rectangular biscuit tins. The Prefects had control over the tins and if you weren’t on good terms with them, you’d have to ask your mates to share some of their goodies with you, which they always did, but rather reluctantly. It was all about survival of the fittest in that Assembly Hall. No one really wanted to share their elevenses with you. Not even your best friend. Everyone huddled together, with their plastic teacup of fragrant Kenyan tea in their hand, dipping the thin sliver of a biscuit with the frilled edges into the hot liquid till it turned just a tad bit soggy and melted in your mouth with each bite. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Afghan, Beverage, breakfast, brunch, Pakistani, tea time snacks

Guest Post by Kulsum of Journey Kitchen- Mom’s Zarda, Sweetened Saffron Rice in the Indian Manner

Sunday, April 1, 2012 By 27 Comments

zarda4

Kulsum of Journey Kitchen takes poetic, dreamy photographs of Indian-food-with-a-modern-twist, reminding you of that picnic you plan to have with your friends nestled under a 700-year-old olive tree, when the weather warms up and everyone starts wearing linen and flowing dresses. Your plaid blanket is laid out on the grass, and as everyone chatters, from the wicker basket emerge Kulsum’s home-cooked snackettes- slices of wobbly saffron and almond custard, savoury bites of bruschetta with her homemade paneer, crowned with sweet cherry tomatoes; and small tins of her chocolate cinnamon date truffles, which she made for her family on Eid.

These are the scrumptious treats Kulsum prepares from her kitchen in Kuwait- inspired by her Mom’s cookery style- where she lives with her husband, affectionately referred to as ‘M’ on her blog. I am always in awe of the innovative recipes she creates on her blog week after week. Over time, Kulsum and I have become close friends through Twitter – that may sound odd to many of you- but these days so many of us connect with each other through social media channels.

Kulsoom- which dish or food item reminds you of one of the women in your family; someone you love? My Mom’s Zarda, she said. [Read more...]

Filed Under: dessert/pudding, Indian, Pakistani, rice

Zarreen’s Khagina- Scrambled Eggs with Potatoes in the Pakistani Manner

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 By 21 Comments

Khagina

Aglio, olio, peperoncino. Tossed with some spaghetti and it’s a full meal for the five friends who end up at your place after a night of hearing the legendary jazz pianist Chucho Valdés perform at the Villa Celimontana. There isn’t much in your fridge or pantry, but you are all hungry, and you do have that holy trinity of garlic, olive oil and red pepper chilli flakes in your pantry. Add a bottle or two of Morellino to the late-dinner mix, even if it may be a bit too tannic for a spicy pasta dish, but it is all you have in the house that night and besides, everyone loves a good bottle from the Maremma. To cleanse the palette after the pasta course, there is a packet of rughetta; arugula- in the fridge, and some tomatoes you bought from the Testaccio market that very morning- tiny, china-red orbs, which your friend slices and tosses with the peppery leaves, adding a drop or two of musky, tart, sweet balsamic vinegar and splashes of fruity, grassy olive oil, from your favourite casale in Umbria. [Read more...]

Filed Under: breakfast, brunch, eggs, Pakistani, spicy, vegetables/vegetarian

Aloo Keema Bun- Sloppy Joes (Yousefs) in the Pakistan Manner

Monday, March 5, 2012 By 30 Comments

Aloo keema

I cannot take credit for the Sloppy Yousefs witty title, my friend MAR suggested it- many thanks to him.

My Nani Ami used to make a humble ‘meat and potatoes’ dish- fragranced with notes of spicy ginger and black cardamom, it was cooked slowly, over a low flame. It wasn’t like that posh ‘meat and potatoes’ dish you have at Sassafraz- that perfectly scarlet-from-the-inside beef tenderloin you eat alongside a rectangular tower of a crispy, butter-slicked potato galette. The dish in which you glide your knife through the galette, sweep it through that glob of Dijon mustard and then impale a slice of beef on your fork, before washing it all down with a deep, earthy Malbec. [Read more...]

Filed Under: mains, Pakistani, spicy, tea time snacks

Prawn Masala in the Pakistani Manner

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 By 31 Comments

Pakistani Prawn Masala

Lahore. The city of my birth. The city of the humble samosa. That flaky, deep-fried triangular parcel stuffed with cumin-laced, spicy potatoes you buy from the dhaba; kiosk, from that little alley behind Liberty Market, where they sell glass bangles, twirled and twisted organza scarves and sparkly rhinestone-studded sandals. Greasy and stuffed into a khaki paper bag, you bring the samosas home and eat them hot, dipping them in a red, tangy-tart chili garlic sauce which comes out of that famous Mitchell’s glass bottle. And after that first bite, you slip your finger tips into the handle of your teacup and take a sip of cardamom-fragranced milky tea, to wash it all down. With each sip, the tannins burn your mouth even more. [Read more...]

Filed Under: mains, Pakistani, seafood, spicy

Nani Ami’s Sawayyan- Vermicelli Pudding in the Punjabi Manner

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 By 23 Comments

sawayyan

It looked like a tangled mess, those sawayyan; vermicelli, lying in a mound in the silver-gilt rim white porcelain dish on Eid morning in Nani Ami’s home. Next to it lay dainty matching bowls with silver spoons, a large carafe of fresh, raw milk, a sugar bowl and several bowls of dried nuts, slivered, whole and crushed to a dust-something for everyone’s preferences in the family. [Read more...]

Filed Under: dessert/pudding, Pakistani
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