I am not someone who likes to go with trends, especially when it comes to food. When I see everyone trying on Instagram, it kills the interest for me. Do you feel it? Then after a long time, when I see somebody trying, it piques my interest again. That is how I discovered smashed potatoes. And what a discovery it is! I am glad that it perfectly fits my sub-theme of “Main ingredients 5 or less” in this month’s Bakeathon posts.

All you need to do is to parboil potatoes – smaller the size, the better -, smash them, smother them with some basic condiments and bake till crisp. So easy, yet so delicious that it makes the perfect replacement for fries and wedges. And pst pst, it is so much easier that making them too – no need to slice or chop and you get some stress relief while smashing the potatoes too. Double whammy! The best part about this dish is you can do any spice mix you want with the potatoes. I have used just basic ingredients to make it, and still it is delicious. After all, it is potatoes. Off to this recipe…

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Baked Smashed Potatoes

Course Accompaniments

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 6 baby potatoes choose small size potatoes otherwise
• 4 tbsp butter melted
• 1 clove garlic minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Red chilli flakes as needed

Instructions

• Wash and scrub the potatoes clean.
• In a pan of water and salt, boil the potatoes till just cooked. Around 10 minutes. Do not overdo. Drain.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray with foil.
• Place the potatoes and smash using a potato masher. Make sure all potatoes are of equal thickness.
• In a bowl, whisk the butter, garlic, salt and pepper. Brush on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle red flakes on top for added spiciness.
• Bakes for 15-20 minutes till the top is crisp. Run the grill for two minutes for a more brown color.
• Serve hot as side to your choice of dinner.

Notes

You can use any spice mixture that you want. 

You can sprinkle some mozarella cheese on top for cheesy potatoes. 

The post Baked Smashed Potatoes appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

I start off this post feeling absolutely grateful for everything that is happening on the blog. I am elated regarding the response received to the last three posts on the blog related to getting the kitchen ready for Ramadan. I wasn’t actually expecting it to be really read. As I keep saying, I am struggling to put forward content on the blog, which isn’t helpful with the way the numbers on the blog fluctuates. You Tube and Instagram reels are so much in demand, yet I am not able to wrap my head around investing time and effort in making videos. Yes, I have a You Tube channel, but it hardly has any contents. I am not someone who likes my phone peaking into my cooking scenes. It makes me feel very uncomfortable. Yet, I know I have to push myself to do at least little by little, to keep myself in the game.

Nobody wants to read these days. That is where the response to those posts felt really surreal. It took me hours to do the post, dig up in between the 1600+ recipes on the blog to pick and choose what suits the vibe of Ramadan. I always keep emphasizing, Ramadan is not about eating. But I feel that if you plan your meals ahead and keep it simple, it helps to tide through the month smoothly, with no time waste and enough emphasis on the actual importance of the month. May the Almighty keep us focused and steadfast…

I am doing the second week of the Blogging Marathon #132 and the theme is “Fast Dinners Under 30 minutes”. If you actually know me, you will wonder if I am actually the blogger behind this whole fiasco, since I literally don’t like to cook. Given a chance, I would order in but that isn’t the best option for the waistline or the baseline. The blog is already having a lot of quick fix dinner ideas if you really want to check out. In fact, I even have a category called “Under 30 minutes“, which includes all sorts of ideas I could gather. Naturally, I had to pick this theme and make this dish called “Fattet Hummus”, which is actually an any-time food in the Arab world.

Also called as “Fatteh”, this dish has its origins from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. “Hummus” is basically the Arabic word for chickpeas, and the dish itself has so many ways of making it. This is just one basic way that I am sharing, which is the easiest too. The dish is simply layered with cooked chickpeas – in some cases, the chickpeas are slightly smashed before adding in, which you can do if that is what you like -, a garlicky yogurt and tahini mixture, and then with a range of toppings that include pita chips. You can deep fry the chips, but I have chosen to bake it, and what more, that baking even comes within the 30 minute range. It is healthier too… The toppings that go are totally upto your choice, but don’t skimp on the pine nuts fried in olive oil or ghee. I would’ve loved to top with freshly chopped parsley, since that would have added way more color and flavor, but I didn’t want to let the bunch go waste. Usually this dish is eaten as breakfast or appetizer, but I feel it is so filling that you don’t need anything else to go with it when had for dinner… Off to this recipe…

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Fattet Hummus | Fatteh ~ Chickpea Yogurt Casserole

Course Main Course

Cuisine Arab

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 2 cans chickpeas 400 gm each, drained
• 1 large pita bread cut into triangles
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil to brush
• 2 1/4 cup thick yogurt
• 1/4 cup tahini paste
• 3 cloves garlic grated
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp cumin powder

FOR TOPPING

• Arils of one small pomegranate
• 1 tbsp dry parsley refer notes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp pine nuts

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees. In a flat tray, spread the pita bread. Sprinkle salt and pepper and brush some olive oil. If you have oil spray, you can use it.
• Bake for 8 minutes. Grill for one minute or just till the color changes to golden brown. Take out of the oven.
• Meanwhile, put the drained chickpeas into the bottom of a casserole dish.
• Whisk together the yogurt, tahini, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste till nice and smooth.
• Spread on top of the yogurt and allow it to rest for five minutes.
• Sprinkle the pomegranate arils on top. Dust the dried parsley as well.
• Fry the pine nuts in the olive oil and drizzle over.
• Top with the pita bread and serve immediately.

Notes

If you have fresh parsley, you can use that as topping. 

This dish doesn't keep well, so it is best to eat it as soon as it is prepared. 

The post Fattet Hummus | Fatteh ~ Chickpea Yogurt Casserole appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

I don’t want to keep repeating it, but then I am going through a rut, whether it is with cooking or with blogging. I participate in the Blogging Marathon so that I can keep my hunt on and be active. I always wonder how I used to cook so much before and even post them, despite working, but now I feel like my interest in cooking has tapered. It has a lot to do with the difficulty of getting my kids to love the food. Anyway, I am sincerely hoping they will get better with age, hehe… This week, for the Blogging Marathon #131, I chose the theme “All Buttered Up”. The theme basically meant that we had to post recipes that used a decent amount of butter. I thought it would be easy, but if you really look into it, majority of recipes that use butter a lot are baking recipes and sweet. I really didn’t want to do too much sweet for this – of course, there is a cake recipe coming up at the end which will be from my drafts. I really struggled to put together the posts for this theme, especially the next one. Anyway, I think I will just dive into it.

Garlic Bread – sometimes I think, why don’t I have it on my blog? My girls love garlic bread. It is always the first starter they need with their pizza. I always knew it was very easy to make at home, but somehow with how pampered we are here, so much that you get slathered frozen ciabatta that you just need to stick into the oven for a few minutes to get done, I never tried to make it. For the sake of the blog, finally I pulled up a baguette and bought some parmesan last week, and made it as side for the frozen pizza dinner I had planned. OK, if you are thinking, “Wait a minute, frozen pizza?”, yes, I am sure many bloggers would agree that sometimes you just want to get done with cooking. Hehe… Garlic bread has very limited ingredients, making it a really easy recipe. All you need is softened butter, garlic, some basic spices and parmesan for the cheesy bite. It is not necessary it needs to be made on a baguette. You can use your regular bread and making them into sticks, just baking enough to not make it rock like.

I have made it double garlicky with freshly grated garlic as well as garlic powder, but if you feel that it would be overpowering, please feel free to skip the garlic powder. Also, if you feel that the garlic may not be well cooked when baked, you can place the garlic in your microwave for around 4 minutes to soften it, and then mash it into the butter. You can use mozzarella instead of parmesan, though I personally prefer the latter. So basically you can play around the recipe to make it your own. Off to the recipe…

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Easy Garlic Bread

Course Accompaniment

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 1 large baguette bread
• 100 gm butter softened
• 4 cloves garlic grated
• 1 tsp garlic powder refer notes
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 100 gm grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Keep a baking tray ready with aluminuim foil.
• Cut the baguette into four peices, Layer on the prepared tray.
• Mix together ingredients from butter to salt in a bowl. Slather generously on all the four slice.
• Bake for 7 minutes.
• Take out and sprinkle the parmesan equally on all the slices. Bake for another 5 minutes or till melted.
• Serve hot as side to salad, soup and any dish of choice.

Notes

The garlic powder addition makes the garlic flavor very strong. You can use only garlic cloves if you want to make the flavors mild. 

The post Easy Garlic Bread appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

I have been literally having a crazy week. A lot going on through my head plus the kids and I travelling this weekend, so it makes it even more stressful. Even though I have been shopping and getting things to make sure we are done, I am still feeling as though there is a lot left to be done. I don’t want to make myself feel burdened, but unfortunately that is exactly the way I am feeling – overwhelmed… But I feel that way each time I go on vacation and I usually turn out fine, so hoping it will be that way this time too… Hehe…

The above can be the exact reason why I have chosen an easy recipe to post today. I came across the idea for this recipe from an Instagram page called “sheenafit“. She is a body coach and she shares healthy macro balanced meal ideas as well as all teh other tips for weight loss and management. I have always been struggling to have vegetables in the morning and this salad with some very typical Indian chaat flavors were just apt for it. Since they are no nasty ingredients used in this salad, it is something that you can eat every single day if you want! During the time the eggs get boiled and cooled, I chop all the ingredients and keep. I whisk the yogurt along with the rest of the flavoring ingredients. Once the eggs are peeled and chopped, I just dump everything into the serving bowl and toss up to coat and then immediately dig in! It is that easy… This egg chaat has become another loved way of having my eggs, apart from umma style scrambled eggs, the Cilbir or the cheesy omelette.

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Egg Chaat | Indian Style Egg Salad

Course Accompaniment

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cucumber large, diced
• 1 onion small, minced
• 1 tomato small, chopped
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped
• 2 tbsp mint leaves chopped
• 1 tbps green chutney
• 1 tsp tamarind chutney
• 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1/4 cup thick yogurt
• Black salt to taste
• Crushed black pepper to taste
• Chaat masala powder to taste

Instructions

• Boil the eggs till done. Cool, peel and chop into dices. Add into a large bowl.
• Add the chopped cucumber, tomato, onion, coriander and mint leaves. Give it a good toss.
• Whisk the yogurt with the black salt and pepper and add into the mixture.
• Add the red chilli and give a good toss. Add the chutneys and mix.
• Adjust seasoning, sprinkle chaat masala as required and dig in.

Notes

I have chosen to toss the ingredients into a bowl and eat. You may arrange it as layers as in a chaat style and enjoy. 

I also add some chopped lettuce if I have some available. You could use other greens like baby spinach, rocket leaves, etc. to add more fiber. 

Updated on November 7, 2021: Did a short video for this recipe…

The post Egg Chaat | Indian Style Egg Salad appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

Some posts just need to be on the blog before the season is over. Hehe… I am generally bad at doing posts almost immediately, unless it is a challenge related post. Once I move the pictures from my camera to the pen drive, I realize that it has been too late to publish, and then I delay it till the season is almost close in. I feel really horrible about it most of the time, and I am somehow trying to make myself a little bit more updated about it. How much I will succeed needs to be seen, but I don’t want to get wrong when this salad is coming up right on time when some good persimmons are hitting the market.

I never knew till I started blogging that there were two types of persimmons – Fuyu and Hachiya. Fuyu persimmons are a little stout, with a flat bottom, that can be eaten only once really wipe, otherwise they would feel like soap inside your mouth. I have been eating this type all my life and have used it whether it is in this overnight oats, this lassi or this parfait. We get some amazing ones from Iran when the season comes and they are as sweet as honey. I used to never buy the Hachiya variant, which are long and sturdy, until I tried it at a cousin’s house sometime back. His wife had chopped them up and served it to us, but they didn’t look like something I would enjoy. In fact each time I would go to pick up grocery, I would never the long ones because they felt like stone and I wasn’t sure that they become ripe at all. But I was pleasantly surprised how sweet it was.

In fact, I learned that the Hachiya variant didn’t need much time to ripen. The ones that we usually get here while in season is from Spain and they look the same, whether ripe or not. The first time I got them, they were edible immediately, however I had to keep the second batch for a week to get to a decdent ripeness. While the Fuyu was good to have on its own due to its squishy structure, Hachiya was what you could use if you wanted to cook with it. Yes, cake is on my agenda when it comes to season next.

In the meantime, let me present you this simple salad, which is a superb sweet and crunchy salad, if that is your thing. I have been having this idea of having persimmon in a salad, so when I got some good ones, I picked up a packet of rocket leaves at a good deal at a nearby store. I had cranberries remaining from my fruit cake bake and then some roasted peanuts that I had from a complimentary pack. I used a very basic olive oil and vinegar dressing with salt and pepper. Believe me, it was so good that I ended up making it three days in a row till I exhausted my persimmons and rocket leaves. Hehe…  I know it is difficult to convince something online but I would urge to pick up some persimmons and rocket leaves, and get making this as soon as you can. If you don’t have cranberries, substitute them with raisins and use salted cashews instead of the peanuts, will still do the trick… Off to the recipe…

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Persimmon Rocket Leaves Salad

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 2 persimmon ripe, chopped
• 2-3 cups rocket leaves washed and drained
• 2 tbsp dried cranberry
• 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Toss the rocket leaves along with the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl well.
• In two plates, divide the slices of the persimmon. Divide the rocket leaves mixture into both.
• Season accordingly and dig in.

The post Persimmon Rocket Leaves Salad appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

When you have a biriyani recipe coming up and an accompaniment is one of the best part of it, then it has to mandatory come before it on the blog. I was contemplating whether this needs to be on the blog, since it is hardly a recipe. But the whole point is, this very simple dish with a funny name is something that I adore when I am being served biriyani at a wedding or at a hotel back home. I am not a person who like to eat raw onions, for the obvious reason of bad breath that it gifts you after, that doesn’t even go with chewing gum or brushing your teeth with the strongest toothpaste at home! But somehow, this humble onion salad can be had in a little bowl as the biriyani gets wiped up. In fact, I love this sallas and the chammanthi that accompanies the “kalyaana biriyani” (biriyani made at the wedding).

It is a straight forward, no cook recipe that hardly has any ingredients. I find it gets better as much as the onions sit in the vinegar till the time of serving. So make it first before anything else and allow it to rest in the fridge. I have usually seen it being served with biriyani but I hear it goes amazingly well with beef cutlets too. Maybe I must try that combination next time. Off to the recipe…

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Sarlas / Challas ~ Kerala Pickled Onions

Course Salad

Cuisine Kerala

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2 -4

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• Salt to taste
• 1 green chillies minced
• 2 tbsp vinegar

Instructions

• Thinly slice the onion. Toss it up with some salt and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Wash the onion and drain.
• In a bowl or an air tight container, put the onion, green chillies and vinegar. Toss well to coat completely. Add salt to taste.
• Let it rest in the fridge till serving time. Serve as side with biriyani or evening tea snacks.

The post Sarlas / Challas ~ Kerala Pickled Onions appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

When we keep gap in between participating in challenges, it feels like a long time. I was thinking that I haven’t been a part of the Shh Cooking Secretly Challenge for a long time, and then realized that after participating in March for the pancake challenge, due to the current situation, there was only one month with a challenge in between, which I did skip. If you remember, I did mention that each of the participating bloggers get a chance to suggest a theme every month. For this month, Kalyani suggested that we make summer salads. Before I go further, Mayuriji has updated this challenge with a new logo from this month. It actually feels good to see a challenge thrive for a long time and get uplifts as well, such cases are a rarity now. From beginning with under Priyaakka, this challenge has traveled interesting paths and themes to come this far.

OK, so for this month’s salad challenge, I am paired along with Poonam. This is the first time I am doing this challenge with her. One thing I love about her blog are the sharp, crisp, colorful pictures she has for each of her recipes. They are really eye pleasing and would tempt you to explore her blog. Considering the current situation, we decided to give each other simple ingredients. She gave me mayonnaise and lettuce, and immediately it reminded me of the coleslaw I have made a few times, clicked and kept ready in my drafts. Thanks to the challenge, it is finally coming to the forefront!

“Coleslaw”, which can be simply called slaw as well, is a side salad with mainly cabbage as its ingredient. I was thinking it to be of American origin but to my surprise, Wikepedia tells me it is Dutch! I can’t blame myself since this salad is introduced to many of us through KFC. Hehe… Everybody in the house loves coleslaw. Apart from the grating job, this cold salad comes together in no time. Allowing it to rest for the maximum time does notches to up its flavor. Usually, store bought coleslaw has only cabbage and carrots, but I like to add some grated ice-burg lettuce to give it a slight green tinge in between. I mix mayonnaise and yogurt in my dressing, to make it a little less guilty, but if you are in a mood to feel guilty, then please use only mayonnaise. The mustard sauce is optional but I love the flavor it adds to the coleslaw. This salad is also on the slightly sweet side, so adding some sugar does the trick. This is a really simple recipe that goes amazingly well with broast chicken and some French fries – it is like match made in foodie heaven! Off to this recipe… Meanwhile, do check out what Poonam made with her ingredients as well…

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Easy Coleslaw

Course Salad

Cuisine European

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 -6

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 1 large carrot peeled and grated
• 2 cups grated cabbage
• 1 onion minced
• 1 cup grated lettuce
• 2 heaped tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 heaped tbsp thick yogurt refer notes
• 1 tsp mustard sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Combine all the grated vegetables into a bowl and toss well to mix.
• In a bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper.
• Add into the vegetables and toss well to coat. Allow it to rest in the fridge till the time of serving.
• Serve as side to broast chicken, fries and bun!

The post Easy Coleslaw appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

I think when you say “Mashed Potatoes“, automatically some sauce has to come with it. The highest probability is always for Mushroom Sauce, isn’t it? So let it be the second recipe for the three back-to-back junk food favorites for this week.

My girls can’t stand mushrooms. I have no clue why. The day we make something with mushroom, they frown. I try to tell them it is a nice meaty vegetable that won’t make you miss the meat, but somehow it doesn’t go much with them. So when I was making this sauce, I was kind of sure that my girls wouldn’t have it. Anyway, since I was craving for it, I got to making it. I wanted to make a sauce with pantry ingredients. I didn’t want the recipe to be over complicated, with spices that we may normally not stock in our store cupboard. That is when I chanced upon this link and modelled my sauce towards it. I have used basil in my sauce, but you could very well skip it or replace it with some other herb like thyme or rosemary. The white pepper added a beautiful flavor to the sauce, but feel free to skip if you don’t have it. But I tell you again – please have it in your pantry, you will surely fall in love with it.

OK, so coming back to whether my girls had it or not – oh, they did! They said that it tasted amazing with the mashed potatoes. Alhamdulillah… maybe their taste buds are getting refined with age… don’t know! Off to the recipe…

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Easy n Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Course Sides

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 500 gm white mushrooms
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 10 gm butter
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 125 gm pack thick cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tbsp dried parsely
• Juice of half a lime

Instructions

• Chop the mushroom into thin slices.
• In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter. Add the mushrooms.
• Cook till it starts wilting and releases fluid. Add the garlic and basil and continue to cook for around 5 minutes till done.
• Add the cream along with seasoning and give a good mix.
• Whisk the cornflour into the milk and pour into the mixture. Mix well till the sauce thickens.
• Add the remaining ingredients and switch off. Adjust seasoning.
• Serve warm with mashed potatoes and fried chicken on the side.

Notes

Instead of basil, you can use thyme or rosemary. I used what I had in my pantry.
If you have parmesan cheese in your pantry, you can add that at the end before switching off and just till melted.

I had made the mashed potatoes and this mushroom sauce along with steak and boiled vegetables for dinner over the last weekend. Unfortunately the steak turned a dud. I guess it is in our mentality that if we cook meat only for a minute or so, it may not be done. Hehe… We had some rubbery steak but everything else on the plate was Alhamdulillah delicious. If I were on a cookery show, I would have been surely shown the door, that bad the steak was! But still, keeping a picture of the plate on the blog, just for memory sake, to remind myself that I still have to find what works best for steak and make it up… hehe…

The post Easy n Creamy Mushroom Sauce appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

It is good to see the surroundings opening up. With Covid 19 cases on a downward trend and the all facilities slowly opening up, people are slowly coming back to normalcy. Over the weekend, we went for a long drive. We did see a crowd, but we could generally sense that people aren’t still comfortable with eating food from outside or being outside for too long. Even we didn’t walk around for too long. First of all it is really hot and then having the mask on is the most uncomfortable thing in this weather. With the upcoming months going to be really hot, this is something we may need to get used to.

Over the weekend, I was really wanting to make some steak and sides. But I am not very knowledgeable about the steak to be used for such meals. I did get thin steaks and make it too, but it turned out so rubbery that I am not proud of it. Hehe… We all keep learning, don’t we? I was told that rib eye steak is the best, I have to keep a note of it and try it again, InShaAllah. However, the sides went down very well with the folks. I hardly had any leftovers even though I had made a decently large quantity. Over this week, you will see three back-to-back favorite comfort junk food for the weekends and so we start off with these mashed potatoes, which was part of the sides with the steak.

I had seen a chef make them while I attended this cooking class, but it was so buttery and rich, that I had a sleepy head all throughout the ride back home. I didn’t want to make it overly rich, but yes, wanted a hint of richness in the mashed potatoes. I felt the quantity I used was just apt for our taste buds, it was still buttery but wasn’t overboard. The ingredients used are hardly any, and the final look will all depend on how much you blend it. I used my potato masher throughout, first for mashing the potatoes, and then beating the heck out of it to make sure that it became totally lumpless. You can use any floury potatoes to make it so that you don’t have any small bites in them. I have used dried parsely as the herb, but use fresh ones if available, though I would always take the easy route. Off to the recipe…

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Mashed Potatoes

Course Sides

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 1 kg potatoes
• 50 gm butter softened
• 1 cup milk hot
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp dried parsely

Instructions

• Pressure cook the potatoes till really soft and done. Peel and place into a bowl.
• Using a potato masher, mash till smooth.
• Add the soft butter and milk, along with the seasonings and continue to whip with the masher till the mixture becomes really smooth.
• Mix in the parsley.
• Allow it to rest for sometime, then enjoy as side to steak and vegetables.

Notes

Use potatoes which are floury in nature so that you don't have any lumps once the mixture is beaten.
Add upto 100 gm butter if you like your potatoes to be really rich.

The post Mashed Potatoes appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

I literally feel like I finished an assignment right before the deadline. Hehe… Before that, a quick look into the scenes out here. We have had an awesomely wet weekend, with heavy rains, that caused total water clogging in most of the parts of the city. On Friday, we took a drive towards the outskirts and seriously enjoyed the rains. However, on Saturday, it caused a lot of trouble, but that comes with the enjoyment, isn’t it? The girls had their madrassa closed yesterday, and have their schools off today, so they are pretty excited about what the rains have offered them. The rains are expected to be on and off for this whole week. Thankfully, slowly it is feeling like winter, and I hope this chill stays well till March or April.

It’s been long since I have participated in the AtoZ Recipe Challenge hosted by Vidya and Jolly – where we cook an ingredient of a particular alphabet every month. You can find all the other posts done in this challenge here. Somehow, sometimes, the alphabet wouldn’t have ingredients that I am keen on using, so I would just skip. Hehe… Most of the time, the posts I make for challenges are usually eaten up by me, because I know how much my girls would just push up their nose. Anyway, so this month, the alphabet in question is “K” and the choice was really easy – Kiwi. This is one of my favorite fruits and also one among the limited fruits that my sister eats. I never buy any other kiwi apart from Zespri or the one that comes from Italy. They are sweet and delicious, with that slight tang to it. I have hardly very few kiwi recipes on the blog and they are all smoothies.

After fiddling with the idea of making a kiwi lemonade, my eyes actually fell on this interesting salad while I was mindlessly scrolling for more ideas. I just had to somehow make it for myself, so last night, after a long drive to and from Abu Dhabi, I quickly threw together this salad onto the plate, clicked and ate it. I must say that I will surely make this each time I have kiwis in my fridge. It hardly has any ingredients, and all the ingredients just blend so well with each other that you will be surprised how such a simple dish could taste so delicious. I can easily say that this is my second favorite after this chickpeas pom salad. I lazily drizzled the dressing individually on top, but you could whisk all and use it on the salad. Anyway, when you eat, you have to toss well to cover all the flavors, so don’t bother with the later suggestion! Off to the recipe…

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Honey Kiwi Walnut Salad

Course Salad

Cuisine International

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 minute minute

Total Time 6 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 kiwi peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped walnuts toasted
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp yogurt
• One squeeze of lime juice

Instructions

• Arrange on your serving plate the lettuce.
• Place the kiwis around and sprinkle the toasted walnuts.
• Drizzle the honey over the salad, drop the yogurt around and squeeze the lime juice all over.
• Toss well and enjoy!

The post Honey Kiwi Walnut Salad appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.