Mehr in Winnipeg

  Now this creation is inspired by my Gurya phupho's cooking. We lived with her for a year in Pindi (Pakistan) and used to enjoy these open potato sandwiches with warm soup in cold winter nights. I have changed few things, as I felt like having something spicy and with a cold side salad. Now my biggest hero for this lunch delicious-ness is Gluten Free Udi Brand Brown bread. I made this lunch, especially to put it on the blog :) Ingredients for Open Sandwich: 2 medium boiled potatoes 2 slices of Udi Bread (GF Bread) 1 egg 2 slices of chedder cheese 3/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp  paprika 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp cumin 1 green chile/Jalapeno 1 tbsp chopped cilantro(parsley) 1 tsp lemon juice First make the potato mixture, add all the spices and lemon juice and mix and mash it all up (this mixture is used to make potato cutlets as well.) Then slice cheese and put it on defrosted Udi bread and pile on half an inch of potato mixture and spread it on the toast. Then soa

         I loved celebrated days at home. We would eat traditional foods like Mutton Pilaaf, Aloo Ghosht (Potato and meat Curry), Chicken Karhai ( Chicken with spices and tomatoes), Korma (meat cooked in yogurt), Roghni naan (Bread baked with butter), Haleem (Meat cooked with lentils, and oats in delicious spice).            Living in a different country from Canada, as kids we were always fascinated by western style food like, steak, roasted chicken, and the sides  always looked so different and yummy. Our mum would make different cuisine just for us to give us that western food feel. I remember my first pizza in Pakistan, my mom used mozza cheese which she got from a speciality store. My brother and I were so excited and kept saying mum its like Ninja Turtle cheese (stringy)           One of my favourite dinners inspired by roasted styled dinners was the leg of mutton/mutton chops with fried potatoes and peas. with a Russian salad which I cooked for Nabeel recently :) and it was a h

Julienne Vegetables Sometimes, I only want to eat a cold meal on a hot summer day. Salads are a great option but I always want something hearty to eat with it. Now hearty for some could mean meat or potatoes, but in this recipe hearty means rice paper rolls. I bought a pack from an Asian market. I had so much fun making them. I wish I had more time to make a dipping sauce with it, hopefully next time. Ingredients: 1 Carrot 1 Lettuce Head Stuffing the Rice Paper 1 Mango 2 Green onion bulb Rice Paper rolls. Serving: 6 rolls Julienne the mango and green onions and cut the lettuce very thin. Grate the carrots to save time and effort. Warm up a little bit of water in a large pot so the rice paper can easily get soaked without folding on itself. Once the water is warm to the touch turn off the stove, soak a rice paper for fifteen second and place it on a plate. Stack all the vegetables on one side of the paper and start to roll while tucking the stuffing. After one fold t

Potatoes are my favourite vegetables. I will discuss the many ways I eat that vegetable in another posting. The reason I am writing this blog is that I am addicted to chips of any kind, every kind. I crave them (:S) and sometimes get a big bag and finish it in an hour. Some of my favourites are Lays BBQ and Lemon Chile (sold in middle east), Flamin cheetos, Old Dutch Chedder Cheese and Jalapeno, Omani Chips, and lastly Blair's Death Rain habanero chips. These are the best chips if you like spice and little bit of sour. However, HOWEVER, I cant have them all the time and believe me I used to have them all the time. After being diagnosed with celiacs, my diet took a turn towards eating healthy. I started to realise how chips are bad for me (as if I already didn't know). But I still liked them and wanted them. The healthier version of crispy snacks started getting introduced here in department store, like whole wheat tostitoes, pita chips, veggie sticks etc. Now, those I cant ha

Nabeel and I went to Hu's on First for lunch on Eid. It is one of my favourite restaurants in Winnipeg and guess what? Yes they have two or more gluten free options in appetizers and entrée. I was introduced to it by my best friend who has moved to Toronto. Hu's on First is an Asian Bistro in the midst of Winnipeg down town near waterfront. Every time I go there, I am reminded of wooden verandas in Pakistan. The red and orange shades of light contrasts the warm tones of the wooden-bamboo décor. The atmosphere vary from quite romantic dinners to loud family gatherings. Anyway, back to the most important question. What did I eat? We ordered Shrimp and Mango Summer Rolls. The rice paper rolls were filled with rice vermicelli tangy-sweet mango, crispy fresh cucumber, shrimp cooked well and basil that just added the depth to the taste. It was served with two different sauces; Nouc Cham and Peanut sauce. We are all familiar of peanut sauce, which is lightly spicy and sweet at Hu'

Here are the list of restaurants and retailers that were compiled by members of CCA Manitoba chapter. The restaurant names have little tit bits beside their info about gluten free or friendly menus. Click on the following site address: http://www.celiac.mb.ca/knowledge/food/restaurants.pdf

The awareness about gluten intolerance and Celiac's disease is increasing and the GF products shelf in department stores are getting bigger and bigger i.e. Safeway, Walmart and Superstore. I am still discovering bakeries and speciality stores that carry gluten free products in Winnipeg. I hope to find more and more. Winners' usually carries gourmet high-end condiments, cookies and sauces. Today I found more than five gluten free snacks that included, GF cinnamon roll's batter, GF lemon biscotti and chocolate biscotti, GF lentil cracker,GF qinuoa cookies and GF ginger snaps. These products are different from what I have seen in stores. Hence more variety for us snack eaters. Here it is, my lucky find. I hope you find some as well and let me know.

Roasting chicken is common in every cuisine in the world. People use ovens, grills, steamed pots, gas burners and clay ovens. The best part of a roast chicken is crispy skin, bronzed and moist meat that falls off the bone with just a touch. I read on another blog, that recipes of roast chicken differ the way time differs on every clock. Yesterday for dinner I made Kabsa inspired chicken roast. Kabsa is a middle eastern dish popular in Saudi Arabia. There the chicken is marinated in salt pepper and lemon juice and then chicken roasted on a circulating rotisserie. The chicken gets crispy all over and is served with fragrant rice and a fresh tomato chutney. I cut up my whole chicken into four pieces; two leg and thigh and, two breast piece and wings. I left the skin on for crispy texture. I marinated the chicken with spices and let it rest for fifteen before putting it in the oven. Ingredients for Marinate: Cloves                    4 whole Black Pepper         1/2 tsp whole Coriand

The regular soy sauce ingredients are soybeans wheat, salt and water. It is produced by a very strenuous process of fermentation where the sauce is aged for months. Hence I can't eat it :( Bragg-All purpose soy seasoning is a gluten free alternative. It is made up of soybeans and purified water. http://well.ca/products/bragg-all-purpose-seasoning-from_17694.html Compared to regular soya sauce Bragg all purpose is lighter in color and is less dense. When tried on it's own, it is very salty. When I use it to cook as an alternative to soya sauce I minimize the amount of salt I usually put in those dishes. It adds a good taste of soy. Note: I mix wasabi and pickled ginger in Bragg all purpose when I eat sushi as it cuts through the salt. - by MKH

I tried a lot of breads after going gluten free. The first time I saw gluten free bread in an isle of a store I felt relieved. Not knowingly that gluten free bread are rarely like wheat bread. Most that I tried tasted very bland, starchy and when toasted or buttered it always broke like rusk. Udi's was discovered my husband and I in a nearby store. There were Udi's brand breads and bagels. I bought the whole grain bread. I came home and toasted a slice and without butter. ....... Pleasantly surprised Happy Hungry Appreciative All the things I felt when I took one bite. It was toasted well. when I bit into it it was lightly crunchy from outsides and soft and stringy from in. When I broke it instead of becoming sand in my hand a piece tore away like wheat bread would. This bread gets **** out of five stars from me. - by MKH

This post is for the days, when people like me want something hearty but do no want rice or bread for their lunch. I am not saying it's as healthy as a salad but it's very close. Especially on a cold day. I take after my dad in many habits. I love to mix different foods in my plate and eat. I do well eating buffets as well because of this trait. This dish is very rustic and the addition of the egg creates this creamy balance that subdues the heat of Siracha! Two other addition of vegetables that make this dish very colorful, a little sweet and savory are fresh spinach and carrots. Let me know if you ever try it. 2 cups fresh mushrooms 1 cup Cabbage 1/2 cup Broccoli 1/2 cup Carrots 1/2 cup black beans 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese 1 egg 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp gf soya sauce 1/2 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/4 cumin 1 tsp lime juice 1 tbsp Siracha hot sauce :) Procedure: add all veggies to a wok with olive oil and fry until th

Spaghetti, linguini, all those stringy pastas always satisfied the hunger especially after 3 hours of playing under the sun and running silly. My mum is the best cook ever, I mean ever. Anything she makes is delicious. I can't believe that somebody gets to see my ama and atta everyday :) I made my moms recipe chowmein but made mine with rice noodles. Delicious!! Ingredient: 2 chicken breast cut in pieces 1 big green pepper Julian 7 baby carrots Julian 1 med red onion julian 2 serving of boiled rice noodles 2 tbsp Gluten free soya sauce or regular 1 tbdp Siracha hot sauce 1/2 tsp garlic 1 tsp crushed red pepper (rp) 2/3 tsp black pepper (bp) 1 tsp salt ( taste and more) 2 tbsp olive oil 1/3 cup warm water Procedure: sAutee chicken in olive oil for a minute on med high heat. Add garlic, rp, bp and salt cook for 2 mins. Add water and let it simmer covered for 6 mins o. Low heat so the chicken and spices mix. Add soya sauce and hot sauce and cook for 30 sec on medium heat. Add all the

I love being Nabeel's Sous Chef. He loves to cook Especially for me and as you all know by now I love to eat. He tries out new recipes and I love to watch him cook. It's very entertaining and helpful. Since I started eating gluten free, I haven't had a good burger in years. I found gluten free buns and Nabeel grilled these delicious burgers. Its a South American recipe. Ingredients: Ground beef 500g (regular) Green onions 3 roots Red onion 1 medium Garlic 1 tsp Pepper medley 1 tbsp Paprika 1tsp Cajun spice 1tspn Salt 1 tspn ( hasbe zaiqa, according to your taste. Cilantro 1/2 cup Prep: Chop green, red onions, cilantro and garlic and add that to the beef. Add spices and soya sauce and mix it all up. Make medium size patties and grill them medium high for 10 mins on each side. This lunch reminded me of mama's burgers in Sharjah Alain, English night at Peshawar mess, shami kabob sandwiches in Mianwali, barbecue at Richmond park with lays chips. I hope