http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog Cooking without borders: Cuisine from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran & beyond. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:58:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 'On Exile' (to borrow Edward Said's phrase) My post is inspired by 'York', by Belgian Waffle, a fascinating blogger, who has written a nostalgic piece about her city of birth. I was born in Lahore, Pakistan and left my homeland when I was two years old. My life, if sketched as a ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/sabu/ The chaunsa, sindhri, anwar ratol: Pakistan's mangoes. Oh, and the dohsehri. That's the one you soften with your fingers, till it feels like soft pulp and then you pierce a tiny hole at the top. You suck out all the juice. And that's how you eat that mango. But my ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/doogh/ Dates filled with nuts & 'sar shir', a Persian-style cream; the 'skin' from boiling milk. Switzerland? No, this is the Naran Valley in Northern Pakistan. Photo taken by my husband's cousin, Suraiya Khalid Anvery this summer. One of my favourite memories of Ramzaan (Ramadan, in Urdu), are from uni days ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/ramadan/ This post was selected by The Kitchn and profiled as a Daily Delicious Link. I am utterly excited as I have taken these photos with my brand new lens. Ami made sure there was always a kulfi popsicle in our freezer for me, for an after-school snackette. The equatorial temperatures soared ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/kulfi/ Pray, Love and Eat Guest Post written by Baba, my father. Every child has a lucky day; mine was Thursday. It was the day Agha, my father, would take my brother and I to meet our grandparents and cousins inside Lahore's Old City. Agha The evening would commence when our Morris Minor headed towards the ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/pakoras-spicy-tempura-in-the-pakistani-manner-pray-love-and-eat/ My first published article came out in Edible Toronto's Summer Issue. Edible is a magazine based on sustainable food and the farm scene with over 65 chapters across the United States. The inimitable Gail Gordon Oliver is the founder of the Edible Toronto chapter in Canada. The article was about ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/my-first-published-article-kheer-rice-pudding-with-a-rhubarb-strawberry-coulis-in-the-pakistani-manner/ Baba tells me that Bobby Darin's Dream Lover would play repeatedly at picnics with his friends in 1960s Lahore. But for real affectation, there had to be some Françoise Hardy. Baba also tells me that if you didn't know her hit La maison où j'ai grandi, or at least pretend to know it, then ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/potato-salad-in-the-afghan-manner-borani-kachalu/ I was in the 7th grade when I baked my first cake. At school, we had been reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, in which Aunt Maudie bakes a Lane Cake for Aunt Alexandra's homecoming. Our extra credit assignment was to prepare this cake. I arrived at my Aunty Shelly's to ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/cardamom-almond-cake/ Asghar squats on top of a wooden table and fans the coal embers as the chicken tikka, impaled on steel skewers, turns a carbon-black around the edges as it plumpens and becomes amber-hued in the middle. Asghar has worked at Punjab Tikka House in Main Market, Lahore for as long as ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/brochette/ The silver filigree antique jhumkas you see in Ami's earlobes- she gave them to me when I was 18- and the irresponsible teenager that I was, I lent them to a dorm mate who lost them. It didn't even occur to me that they were missing till I saw this ... http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/mothers-day/