Monday 20 April 2015

Some Fish For A Puttu-ish Dish

These days, as I had mentioned in my earlier post, I have been cooking proper meals every day. For AZ and my lunch packs. When I mean 'proper meals', I do my best to include a meat and a vegetable dish.

While on weekdays, I prepare our lunches after Isyak, on Sundays, I try and get everything done before Zuhur, so that I get to do other things with the rest of the precious remaining weekend.

And so, yesterday, I decided to try a healthier dish. I have been thinking of fish puttu for a while whenever I crack my brains on what to make - so that AZ doesn't get the same lunch variety week after week, and also eats healthily, In-Shaa-Allah.

I have eaten  fish puttu only once at my dear friend D's house some years back. Her Mum made this for lunch with other vegetarian mains. We don't make this in our house. But after trying this, Mum would be game enough to make, In-Shaa-Allah.

It came out really nice, Alhamdhulilah. And it's fairly a simple dish to make.


Here's sharing a modified recipe of various versions I found online (and eventually tried in our kitchen)...
I am not going to state portions, because I never follow them in any recipe. I believe they should be according to yours and your family's needs and taste buds.

Ingredients
Fish (any type!)
Onions and green chillies (diced)
Mustard seeds
Pepper corns
Tumeric powder
Chilli powder
Pepper powder

Getting It Done
1. Wash fish thoroughly. Mum reminds me time and again that fish must be washed with ginger and garlic paste and some tumeric. 

2. Boil for five to six minutes with salt (this is a must!).

3. Drain the water and mesh them up with a spoon.

4. Add some oil and saute the mustard seeds, pepper corns, followed by the onions, chillies, and the other masalas and fish.

5. Serve up with rice or chappathi.

I made ladies fingers' masala to accompany this in our lunch boxes.

Alhamdhulilah.

Saturday 18 April 2015

Food With Dzikir, And Duas

I am writing this post to share on the barakah that food cooked in the home - peppered with our dzikir and niyaah - brings to us. What I am sharing may be trivia to some; but this 'discovery' is something that I made all over again .

I have written about this (the blessings of having food from cooking at home) before here, but nevertheless, would like to share this again.

AZ told me some two months back that he's been saving his sandwiches that I sometimes pack for his breakfast, for lunch. The nearest halal food place is about 15 minutes walk from his fairly new workplace and he's been forgoing the walk so that he has enough time for his zuhur prayers, lunch and some much-needed rest.

Having thought about it, I decided to put in some extra effort and time to prepare his lunch and keep the night before and store it in the fridge. Alhamdhulilah, this means Mum's lunch was fixed too. After a month of getting into this, I thought it made more sense that I increase the portions and pack lunch for me too!

It's been a month or so, that I have been bringing my packed lunch to work, and the outcome on my immune system has been amazing. Alhamdhulilah. Before that month, I was having a 'non-stop' dry cough that had lasted for months. It used to frustrate me and my colleagues (am sure, although they never said it). Given that I had to hop into cabs at least twice a week to get to meetings, events, with the nature of my job, I used to get nasal irritation very easily. And have ended up finishing up a whole box of tissues on a single work day on many instances.

Alhamdhulilah, ever since I started bringing food from home to work, and all other factors remaining constant, my immune system has improved by leaps and bounds. Masha-Allah, I have not been coughing incessantly, and cab rides have been sneeze-free. I was awed by this change and was sharing with my colleague, Sister A, who is now expecting and brings food from her home too. She was quick to pinpoint that the food that I have been eating (with all the duas and dzikir) made all that difference. There was once I had to eat out as I didn't bring food from home - probably because a lunch meeting got cancelled - and a cough did start showing up. I resumed with food from home the next day and it was fixed, Alhamdhulilah.

So much barakah for cooking with the remembrance of Allah. SubhanAllah.

My lunch box with 'sotong sambal' and eggs. (yes, I know I need to work on reducing oil in my cooking...trying my best, In-Shaa-Allah.)