Bashi hiki Riha (Eggplant dry Curry)

Eggplant curry can be cooked by deep frying the eggplants before putting into the onion mixture, if you deep fry then no need to cover saucepan just right away after caramelizing the onions add eggplants & all other ingredients give a stir and cook for five minutes. . If you want a thinner consistency of eggplant curry you can add about 1cup of coconut milk.

Ingredients

5big Eggplant or Bashi (cut in to bite size cubes)

75grm dried tuna chips

1big tomato (chopped)

2big onions (sliced)

1tbs ginger garlic paste

1spring curry leaves

4pc 3inch pandan leaves

1/2 of a Maldivian red chilli (githeyo mirus)

3tbs chicken curry powder or roasted curry powder

1tbs lonuminus curry powder or chilly powder

21/2tbs tomato paste

1/3cup to 1/2cup vegetable or olive oil

Salt

Method:

In a sauce pan or a wok heat about 5tbs of oil, add onion, red chilli, curry leaves & pandan leaves fry until onion gets soft. 

Now add eggplants, tomato and ginger garlic paste give a stir add more oil if necessary, cover saucepan & cook on low flame until eggplants are soft (in between do stir eggplant mixture as it will easily burn). 

Add all curry powders, tomato paste & dry tuna chips give a stir & cook for another 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and serve with rice or roshi..................................................enjoy!

Garfield with fish tank Two tire Chcocolate Cake & Strawberry Cheese Cake with Strawberry Jelly Glaze

 My first two tire Cake............................

 My first Craft of  a Cartoons Character "The hungry Garfield"

 and a fish tank........

 and a strawberry cheese cake with Strawberry jelly glaze.................................yum....

Atha fani (Custard apple juice)

Custard apple one of the common fruit of Maldives. I want to make some new dessert from this fruit because I had ten custard apples in the gift box which I got from the island friend. My kids love to eat this fruit so much that I let them eat the ripe custard apples each day so now I am left with only three custard apples. This sweet and fleshy fruit is used only to make a juice in our cuisine. I have written a new recipe but I need lot of custard apples so I will keep that recipe for later and write how I make this delicious refreshing juice.

Ingredients:

2big ripe custard apple(Atha)

1/2 to 1cup sugar

3cups of water

Method:

Scoop the flesh and seeds of custard apple using a melon scooper or a spoon in to a bowl.

Put 1/2 cup sugar on top of the flesh and seeds......time to get messy....using your hand rub the sugar on the seeds with some force...don't worry seeds are so hard it wont crush. 

The reason why sugar have to be rubbed on the seeds are custard apple seeds have a lot of sweet flesh attached, so the best way you can remove the flesh out of most of the seeds are by rubbing the sugar but still some seeds will be left with flesh. 

When you think you are done or tired ...hehehe..wash your hand and add water into the custard apple and sugar mixtures stir to combine, you can see some of the seeds almost all the flesh is gone, if you want you can remove the seeds now or you can leave the seeds. I love to leave the seeds as I like to suck the flesh out of the seeds while I drink this yummy juice (don't swallow the seeds it has to be thrown away). Taste and adjust the sweetness per your taste with the rest of sugar. Serve with some ice cubes or without......................................enjoy!                

Meeru kuri Boashi (Banana flower salad)

Four days before I got a big gift box, ya you read correct a gift box from a friend living at one of the island. This is common to every home of Male', relatives, friends who live at the islands used to send some kind of vegetables/fruits or different kinds of sweets & savory snacks as much they can when the boats which travel between the island and capital  Male' comes to Male'. Below is a pic of gift box I got and I have marked the names of fruits and vegetables I got but the fruit "Kulhava" I have no idea what the English name is. So the first vegetable I cooked is Banana flower ( Boashi)

Boashi or Banana flower is used as a vegetable in Asian cuisine. In Maldives Boashi or Banana flower is used to make a cooked salad which we eat with rice. The name of Banana flower is Boashi in Maldivian language but when it is cooked as a salad also the same name is given Boashi, so I am giving a new name to this salad called "Meeru kuri Boashi". This salad is made cooking banana flower with some common ingredients. This salad can be eaten with Maldivian flat bread too.

Banana flower or Boashi

Ingredients:

1Banana flower or Boashi ( large or medium)

2big onions (sliced)

3garlic cloves (chopped)

2spring curry leaves

5piece 3inch pandan leaves

5dry chillies (each cut in to three)

100g dry tuna chips (hikimas)

1/3cup vegetable oil 

salt

1big bowl of salt water (In about 1ltr of water you can dissolve 3tbs of salt)

Method:

First clean the Banana flower by removing the first three to four petals and the small flowers grown around it.

Then wash nicely and cut or slice the Banana flower or Boashi as thinly as you can in to the salt water.

My mum cutting Banana flower or Boashi

Set aside for about 15minutes( While you are cutting the Banana flower wear gloves as the banana flower releases sticky milk, the salt water helps stop the cut out banana flowers changing in to dark color and the stickiness also will reduce). In a big saucepan heat oil, add onion, garlic, curry leaves and pandan leaves, saute until onions are soft.

Drain Banana flowers, you can throw the water now their is no need of it. Add dry chillies & Banana flowers in to the soften onion mixture, stir well to mix.

Cover & cook until Banana flowers are soft. Add dry tuna chips mix (Some people put some aji-no-moto also but I don't like to put aji-no-moto in my foods if you like you can add) and again put the lid on and cook for about another five minutes stirring in between, you may have to season with salt or you may not just taste & decide ..............enjoy

Cookie Decor

 Here are the cookies which I baked decorated with royal icing

Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate is the most favorite flavor at my home. My daughter will be always searching something to nibble. Something sweet, ya she is now seventeen but still my sweet baby girl..hehehe so I decided to bake some chocolate cookies. This recipe turned out so good that I wanted to share in my blog, happy baking and below is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1cup unsalted butter

3cups all purpose flour

1/2tsp baking soda

2/3cup granulated sugar

1/2cup brown sugar

2tbs strong coffee

2eggs

1tsp vanilla essence

1/2cup cocoa powder

pinch of salt

Method:

Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt & baking soda. Set aside. With your electric or hand mixer cream butter with granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, coffee and vanilla, now add flour/cocoa powder/baking soda mixture 1/2cup at a time. Mix until all the flour is finished mixing. Now take the dough on a slightly floured working area (like your kitchen counter or a big bowl) knead the dough not much little bit until the dough turns in to one ball. Divide the dough in to three portions, wrap each portion in plastic wrap or put in a zip bag. Chill in refrigerator for 1/2 hour, roll each portion about 1/2cm thick (It is better if you can roll out cookie dough without much flour so what I do is spread a plastic wrap piece on to the working area then I put the cookie dough on the center, take another piece of plastic wrap and spread on top of the cookie dough then roll the dough and I don't have to use any flour at all) cut out shapes with your cookie cutters, place the cutout shapes in a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies in a 160C preheated oven for about 10minutes. Cool completely before decorating..........................enjoy!

Some Vanilla Cup Cakes

 When you share a cupcake, you share love......