Mehr in Winnipeg

I wanted to share a picture of my recent indulgence. This cake takes me back to childhood late Autumn evenings, where adults sipped Chai with delicious cake and us kids just gobbled the cake down. It also reminds me of my mums struggle on hot summer days to beat the cream into whipping cream and it still melted even with a double ice bath. Yes it takes time but just looking at it made all my hard work worth it and yes it is gluten free so i enjoyed every bit of it :)

                  This post is long over due and I wanted to share how happy I felt when I discovered glutenfree corn tortilla at my local safeway store. Make your way to the deli section and amidst many types of flour tortilla, you will find corn tortilla. As I found my canvas, it was time to find my paints. I have had beef tacos, chicken quesadilla but never ever tried fish tacos. My husband had tried them and was never satisfied with the taste of them at restaurants, so I decided to give it a go. We got Mahi Mahi fillets from costco; and avacados and red vine tomatoes from superstore. I started and we ate and they were delicious. If you are not a seafood fan and want to have fish in your diet, try this recipe. It has everything to brighten your tastebuds as well as your day. Ingredients: Fish 2 Mahi Mahi fish fillet (cubed) cumin                            1 tsp corriander                      1 tsp south west spice mix       2 tsp paprika                          1/2 tsp salt   

This is currently my favourite spice blend that is perfect for marinating and grilling. It is smokey and has sugar that balances well with the saltiness of the spice mix. The smokiness of paprika add a perfect heat to your dishes.

Hi Readers,         Today I would like to share my story of how I found out that I had Celiac disease. I considered myself pretty healthy. I ate everything that my mom made at home and she did a wonderful job of balancing vegetables, meats, grains fruits, desserts. I was a thin child growing up but had a little bloated belly right where the intestines are. I started gaining weight when we moved to Syria and I was introduced to Tang and Kraft cream cheese spread when I was fourteen. I always loved eating rice with masala dishes or dry vegetable dishes. I loved eating tarka rice  (fried onions with spices), white rice with yogurt and biryani. I liked roti(bread) but with very few dishes like bhindi (Okra), Kerela (bitter melon) and Paye (Goat Feet curry). When I moved to Winnipeg, for University, I ate whatever I felt like eating. I avoided bread as much I could and started disliking pizzas, burgers and bread. I ate rice, poutine (best Canadian food ever ), fish o fillets, chicken

                    It has been a few weeks since I last posted and to the readers that kept coming back, I appreciate your support very much. It feels amazing when you see the map on blogger, lit up in green all over; countries like England, Saudi, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Pakistan, India and so many more. I love writing this blog because I have realized that it focuses my unpolished creativity and my need to share stories in one place.   I am very blessed to have been born in a beautiful country like Pakistan. I am more fortunate to have visited different towns and have tasted countless dishes, prepared differently in every region of Pakistan. The following recipe is called Chicken Karhai. It is a staple dish that is prepared in Pakistan to Welcome guests, to show appreciation to family and friends and to feed hungry Travelers on the road (Yes I am talking about those roadside restaurants that serve dishes like ghee loaded chana daal to an amazing karhai

Haleem: Threads of beef, a bite of lentils and oats and melody of spices with delicious garnishes. Haleem is a true representation of the subcontinent/Mughal heritage. It is a very well known dish in Lahore, Karachi (Pakistan) and Hyderabad (India).  It has a beautiful golden, dull yellow color, its consistency is very similar to creamy dish of risotto. It’s made with aromatic and hot spices. It is served with crispy fried onions for texture, ginger, lemon juice to cut through the spiced creaminess. An original recipe of haleem requires 16-20 hours of cook time and if you have had that haleem you are one of the lucky ones. My mum used to start cooking it at night so we can have for lunch for the next day. She would brown the meats with garlic ginger and haleem spices like cloves, cardamom, cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper. Then she would add soaked lentils and wheat and lots of water in the big pot. She would put the heat on very low temperature, cover the pot and would stick wet

2 tbsp cumin 2 tbsp corriander 1 tsp black peppercorns 1 black cardemom 1 tsp green cardomem 1/2 tsp cinammon 1 tsp cloves Heat all the whole spices on a pan on medium heat until you start smelling it. Grind everything in a coffee grinder. I have one for just spices. You could increase the amounts mentioned above and store it in an air tight jar.

          I have had an amazing childhood. My dad was in the air force of Pakistan and because of that we moved to different cities and different countries a lot. My worldly experiences were amazing and always revolved around good food and beautiful people. This story is very dear to my heart. We moved to Damascus, Syria in 97’ from Pakistan. As a child growing up, I always heard stories from cousins who lived abroad, about how different Pakistan was from where they lived. The visuals in my head were grandeur and full of Magic. This probably also has to do with all the children movies we used to see i.e. Matilda, Aladdin, Baby Genius etc.        My first thought when we landed at the Airport in Syria, my first thought was “that’s it”. Where are all the malls that people talk about in movies? Where are all the toy stores? I remember reading signs in Arabic, few in English. It was sunny and everything looked very desert like. It had the same street stores like Pakistan, same farmer’s