Friday, May 10, 2013

Puri - A fried Indian bread

Puri is an Indian bread commonly consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries of South Asia. It is eaten either at breakfast with a cup of tea or it can be eaten as a bread with a variety of curries. According to Wikipedia, the word puri originates from the Sanskrit word 'purika' which means filled. it also means bread in Georgian. Some time back I did a post titled "The great Puri disaster" where I explained to my readers how I struggled making this Indian bread. However, my mom is a genius in the kitchen and hence her puri comes out perfectly on the first attempt. In today's blog post mom will be sharing her puri recipe with all my blog readers. If any of you out there have tried the recipes under the page "Rey's Kitchen Delights", kindly provide me with feedback....

                                1. Place one and a half cups of flour in a dish

                                2. Add 1/2 (half) teaspoon salt

                                3. Add 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

                                4. Add 1 ounce butter

                                5. Rub the butter into the flour until it forms crumbs

                                6. Add 180 ml of milk and water (90 ml milk and 90 ml water). 
                                    Add the mixture slowly to make a nice, soft dough

                                            7. This is how the dough should look after mixing
                                                all the ingredients.

                                8. Divide the dough into equal portions as depicted above

                                9. Roll the dough into a circle. Not to thick and not too thin

                                10. Cut the circle into fours as depicted below.

                                
                                11. In a pot add oil and heat on stove. The oil needs to be nice and
                                      hot. Adjust temperature whilst frying accordingly



12. The video above depicts clearly how the cut up
                                          triangles should be fried. Puris should not be oily.
                                          If they turn out oily after frying it means that there is 
                                          something wrong with the dough. A perfect puri would
                                          blow up nicely when frying and it would be soft and mildly
                                          crisp. A hard puri is also indicative of the dough made 
                                          incorrectly

                                13. The end product!! In our home we usually serve roast chicken
                                      with puris. We also serve puris with pateria and kheer
                            

Thursday, May 9, 2013

My niece JUJU - stylish fashionista :)))))- the apple of my eye


So Monday afternoon my nieces J and J surprised me with a gift that they had bought for me for my birthday. They were super excited to hand it over to me. My niece Juwairiyya really makes me laugh. A few days ago my mother was trying to explain to her that it is now time for her to sleep in her own bed in her own room. So after she listens to what her dadi has to say she says," But dadi why does hun (her father) and Ameena (her mother) sleep together and why do you sleep next to dada ( her grandfather).. You all sleeping together so why must I sleep alone.' so we all started laughing. Then whilst having lunch the other day out of the blue she said, " Dadi I must eat up all my food, because dadi you know the poor people they got no food and Allah Paak gets cross when we waste our food and they got no clothes dadi, they wear the same dirty clothes everyday." So we all stared at her surprised...And last night she got me laughing into stitches. She was chatting to her grand father and suddenly I asked my dad a question. She told me, " Foi stop it, Dada isn't when two people are talking then foi mustn't talk also. Isn't dada I'm right." As she was right my dad said,"You are hundred percent right. You must teach your foi some manners." :))))))) TOOO CUTE....

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

A big thank you and the initiative will continue



Boxes filled with clothing all packed, sealed and ready to be sent through to the Al Falah Charitable Trust in Malawi. I would like to take the opportunity in thanking everyone out there who have contributed towards this worthy cause. Many of you have actually driven all the way to my home to drop off the clothing. May God Almighty reward all of you in this world as well as in the hereafter. I wish to add that the collection drive would be an ongoing process and hence if you do have old clothing or unwanted clothing that you wish to hand down to someone else you may inbox me on facebook or email me at desertmoonsdiary@gmail.com and I will tell you how to get it over to me.....

Monday, May 6, 2013

A sincere thanks from the bottom of my heart

Dearest Facebook friends and blog readers. 
I an deeply touched and overwhelmed that many of you have sent me happy birthday messages even before my own family. I am not a person who celebrates my birthday. It is very much a normal day for me and reminds me that time is passing by fast and running out for me to accomplish my goals that I have set out for myself namely to establish a business and to assist, empower and educate those who are less fortunate than I am..Exactly a year ago on this day I was on my way to Medina with my beloved Mother and it was the best four days of my life spending quality time with a woman who supported me and molded me into the person I am today. I thank all of you who sent me inbox messages and those of you who wrote on my wall for your continued love and support. May God Almighty fulfill all your dreams and bless all of you in abundance. Remember that in life no matter how good you try to be to anyone else, there will always be selfish and spiteful people out there who will try their best to bring you down. We all make mistakes in life as this is part of human nature. As long as we make a concerted effort to correct our mistakes from within and ask for forgiveness, that's all that matters for God Almighty sees what lies in our hearts. No matter what anyone else says or writes about you, walk with your head high for the only real relationship you should be concerned about is the relationship that exists between you and your Creator. Kindly remember me in your prayers. Prayer is a powerful tool..When you are happy and all is well remember that you are probably happy because someone out there prayed for your happiness...Hence try and lead a life of good.. A simple smile is an act of charity...Helping an elderly person is an act of charity....The person you helped in life will pray for you and God Almighty will accept their prayers as a gift and reward to you.....

As a side note, my Mom made me laugh this morning...Instead of surprising me with a normal birthday cake, she decided to make traditional South African vetkoek for breakfast this morning which is my favourite...Mom you are the best......:))))))))

Photo: So my Mom makes me laugh...Instead of surprising me with a normal birthday cake, she decided to make traditional South African vetkoek for breakfast this morning which is my favourite...Mom you are the best......:))))))))

HAVE A PLEASANT DAY FOLKS!!!!