Norwish Recipes

 There are very few festivals we Bunts celebrate and Krishna Janmasthami  is one of those.....nothing over the top....few sweets to offer to Lord Krishna....little more flowers than usual....try very hard to be a veggie for one day..... and a reason to get my ethnic wear out. My mom can cook crazy....but you ask her to make sweets she will act all dumb and deaf...so all these chores come to me....I have to confess....I can bake a cake....whip up a dessert in minutes but I totally suck at Indian sweets....I just do not get the whole 'one thread consistency' concept...even if you provide me with a candy thermometer, I am sure to fail . I came across this recipe few years back, I was happy to see that I did not have to deal with one thread consistency sugar syrups...I gave it a try and have been making these ladoos ever since and believe me .....these ladoos have not failed me at all.  Recipe from  here Print this recipe Ingredients 1 1/2 cup Wheat Flour (you can also u...

"Swig" Cookie 1 C Butter (room temperature) 3/4 C Vegetable Oil 1 1/4 C Sugar 3/4 C Powdered Sugar 2 T Water 2 Eggs 1/2 t Baking Soda 1/2 t Cream of Tarter 1 t Salt 5 1/2 C Flour Cream together Butter, Vegetable Oil, Sugars, Water, and Eggs. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture.  Mix until everything is combined.  Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all.  I like them small, so use a tablespoon of dough and roll cookies into a ball.  Put 1/4 c of sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish (this is in addition to the sugar and salt listed above.)  Stick the bottom of a glass in it.  This is going to be your cookie press. Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball.   Bake at 350 for 7 minutes.  They should just barely be browning on the bottom.    Move cookies to a cooling rack.  Once they are cool put them in the fridge. Sour Cream Frosting 1/2 cup room temperature butter 3/4 C Sour Cream ...

Mom's Cranberry Sauce 1 bag fresh whole cranberries   (2 cups) 1-2 oranges peeled 2 apples, cut and seeds removed 1 cup sugar or more Mix in food processor with coarse blade until desired consistency is reached.  Store in refrigerator. **The only cranberry sauce worth eating.  I love this stuff on a sandwich about 9pm Thanksgiving night!

Green Chile Pork 4 lbs pork cut into small cubes 2 C chopped green chiles (either canned or fresh roasted new mexico hatch chiles) 1/2 C water (and more if needed) 1/2 t salt 1/8 C sugar Place all ingredients into a large pot and cook over medium low to low heat for 4 hours.  Stirring often to make sure there is always liquid, adding small amounts when necessary.  Done when pork is tender, but still maintains shape.  Adjust seasonings to taste. **Shout out to Mizti for this great family fave! You are always a source of delicious and beautiful food! **Great for burritos or enchiladas.  Absolutely amazing in a burrito with cheese, and this Tomatillo Sauce over top. **I'd be interested to see how much the taste would change if I added a lot more sugar...hmm. **My sisters in law that have lived in New Mexico have always brought me bags of green chilies in late August that have been roasted and steamed.  And I spend a few hours peeling and taking the seeds out and b...

Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. FOR THE CAKE: 2 cups Flour 2 cups Sugar 1/4 teaspoon Salt 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa 2 sticks Butter 1 cup Boiling Water 1/2 cup Buttermilk 2 whole Beaten Eggs 1 teaspoon Baking Soda 1 teaspoon Vanilla  FOR FROSTING: 1-3/4 stick Butter 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa 6 Tablespoons Milk 1 teaspoon Vanilla 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar  Preparation Instructions In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan (cookie sheet size with sides) and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes. While cake is baking, make the ic...

Zucchini Soup  Disclaimer: This recipe was given to be by my mom and never written down.  I just watched her and did what she did.  Then I added one more step to make it a sauce. 8 C zucchini sliced (if it's over grown and a bit big, just remove the seeds because they can be a bit woody) 2 T butter 1/2 t salt 1/4 C to 1 C milk, half and half or cream Place zucchini in a large pot and fill half full with hot water.  Put on lid and cook until water has boiled for 5 minutes.  Place zucchini in a strainer and press out extra water.  Put directly into a blender. Add butter and salt and blend.  Add your choice of liquid a little at a time and mix until desired soup consistency. Adjust salt seasoning. Serve while hot! **So amazing with sweet cherry tomatoes on top.  Grayson could drink a gallon of this soup.  Zucchini Sauce To the above recipe, throw in 1 C of fresh basil leaves and blend until smooth.  It turns it into a healthy pesto pasta sa...

Oatmeal Pecan Pancakes 1 ½ C quick oats ½ C flour 1 t baking soda ½ t salt 1 T powdered sugar 2 lg eggs 2 C buttermilk ¾ C pecans chopped (I like them toasted) Mix  dry ingredients then add eggs and buttermilk.  Add pecans or leave them out. Cook on griddle. Serve with buttermilk syrup and top with slice bananas, peaches or blueberries. (It just happens to be peach season right now!) **These have been a staple for us forever!  Thanks to Breanna who turned me on to them years ago!  We used to have them every time we went camping...such a great filling, slightly healthy pancake! ** I prefer the pecans toasted and in the batter, but when the little people are involved, it's just a little easier to add them on top and not listen to any complaints.  Ps. They love these and have no idea there's oatmeal in them!

I told you....one more Middle eastern sweet dish to forget the violent story....and come on....Middle eastern theme and no Baklava...that is a crime. Its a very well know fact that Baklava is made using Phyllo sheets.....and strictly phyllo sheets  and nothing what so ever can replace that......phyllo sheets in Bangalore (close to impossible).......making phyllo sheets at home ( IMPOSSIBLE ...at least for someone as lazy as me).....That is exactly why I cheated.....spring roll sheets (I know....1 spring roll sheet is equal 3 phyllo sheets).....but I had to try and I just loved it.....any person who is not familiar with baklava will love this one.....but....if a Middle Eastern walks in....I am running out the door before I get smacked in the face for having the audacity to use spring roll sheets instead for phyllo sheets ....but believe me.....I think this is the closest substitute for phyllo sheets, you certainly won't be disappointed...please do try it out......awesome sweet treat...

Umm Ali or Om Ali is a very simple rustic Middle Eastern (Egypt) dessert which is more or less similar to bread butter pudding.......which has a pretty violent story behind it....This was supposedly made to celebrate the death of Om Ali (who was beaten to death with slippers by her own handmaids)......keeping all the violence aside........Umm Ali is a very yummy buttery dessert......have to make one more Middle eastern sweet dish which does not have a violent past (wait for my next post) The original recipe asks for cooked puff pastry sheets....but....making puff pastry at home....no way....... I have used croissants (got the idea from Titli Nihaan)....after all croissants are nicely shaped cooked puffed pastry...Right... Recipe Source: Titli's busy kitchen Print this recipe Ingredients 4 large Croissants  800 ml Milk 1/2 cup Almonds ,roughly chopped 1/2 cup Raisins 1/2 cup unsalted Pistachios, roughly chopped 170 grams Sugar 1/4 cup grated Coconut 1/2 cup Cream 1tsp Cinnamon powde...

A few years ago I posted about this wonderful discovery that I found how to preserve tomatoes quick and easily by dehydrating them into tomato powder . This has been a very useful method of preserving tomatoes that has saved me a TON of time. But what do you do with tomato powder? That's a great question and today I'm going to share one of my favorite uses: Homemade pizza sauce. This is the recipe for pizza sauce that I use all the time now. We love it! And we love that we can use the tomatoes from our garden all year long. Now don't worry if you don't have a garden or don't want to spend the time making dried tomato powder, you can still make this delicious pizza sauce. I've included an equivalent recipe that uses only cans of tomato sauce at the bottom. Pizza Sauce (from Dried Tomato Powder) Printable Recipe *Makes enough sauce for 2-3 large pizzas INGREDIENTS: 1 8-oz. can tomato sauce 1/4 Cup dried tomato powder 1/2 Cup water 2 tsp. Italian or Pizza seasoning...

When in Bahrain....one of my favorite restaurant was Nadhmi in Riffa.....an awesome grill run by a bunch of Lebanese men and they made the best shish tawook ever....served with lip smacking hummus, baba ganoush, tabbouleh and pickled jalapenos........And you know what?...... Lebanese men are very handsome and friendly......no wonder I went to Nadhmi often. My shish tawook did not come anywhere close to Nadhmi's but definitely good enough. Recipe Source: Dedemed.com Print this recipe Ingredients 2 Chicken Breasts , cubed 6 cloves garlic ,minced 1/2 tbsp Tomato paste 2 tbsp Tomato ketchup 1tsp Chilli powder or paprika 1/4 cup Yogurt 2 tbsp Lemon juice salt to taste Olive oil Method Marinate chicken cubes in garlic,tomato paste,tomato sauce, chilli powder,yogurt, lemon juice and salt for 2 to 4 hours or overnight. Pierce the marinated chicken cubes into the wooden skewer sticks. Grill on barbecue and keep basting with olive oil till done or you can also pan fry the chicken or roast in...

Like many others that I've posted, this salsa recipe is long overdue. I've been using it for about 7 years with a lot of success and just haven't gotten around to posting it on here yet...The main problem being that the appropriate time to post it is smack in the middle of canning season where it's difficult to post much of anything because my life is a little crazy. That being said, please don't take the posting of this recipe as an indication that my life is any less crazy right now. Because let me assure you that that is not the case. In fact, I'll just give you a brief synopsis. Within the past few days, I canned 14 pints + 2 half-pints of salsa, made 4 quarts of pickles,  hosted my in-laws,  planned a bridal shower and helped with a wedding, got the kids ready for school, weeded the garden to get ready for a company BBQ. That's not even counting my normal jobs as a mother including moderating all the internal  squabbling  that happens with kids they are...

Any Middle Eastern feast is incomplete without the very famous vegetarian snack Falafel.....Serve them hot with pita bread...cucumber mint dip...fresh tomatoes....lettuce and sliced onions...you end up with the perfect Falafel pita bread sandwich..... Recipe Source  Titli's Busy Kitchen Print this recipe Ingredients  200 grams Chickpeas (soaked in water overnight) 4 cloves Garlic,finely chopped 1 small onion , finely chopped 1 tsp Cumin seeds (or 2tsp cumin powder) 1 tsp Coriander seeds (or 2 tsp coriander powder) 1/2 cup Coriander leaves, finely chopped 1/2 tsp Baking soda Salt to taste oil for deep frying Method Add the soaked and drained chickpeas into a food processor and blend for few minutes and transfer to a bowl , the chickpea paste should not be too coarse nor too smooth. Using a motor and pestle grind the coriander and cumin powder into coarse powder.  Add the finely chopped onion and garlic,salt, cumin powder and coriander powder to the chickpeas and mix well. ...

Hummus is always followed by Baba ganoush . Recipe Source : Dedemed.com Ingredients 1 medium size Eggplant 3 tbsp Lemon juice(adjust to taste) 4 cloves garlic 4 tbsp  Tahini sauce salt to taste Olive oil Chilli powder and mint leaf for garnish Method Preheat oven at 200 degree c, prick the eggplant with a fork,apply little oil on the skin and place on the wire rack in the preheated oven for 1 hour, remove and place in a bowl and cover with clingfilm and let it cool. Once cool,remove peel the skin and place the eggplant  flesh in a mortar or a blender.(another method is to roast the eggplant on a stove top) Blend together roasted eggplant flesh,garlic,lemon juice,tahini and salt in a food processor till you get desired consistency (I do not like mine smooth). Transfer to a serving dish ,garnish with olive oil,chilli powder and mint leaves. Serve with pita bread.

Family food traditions are fun. I've mentioned before that one of our family food traditions is pizza every Friday night. In the summertime it gets hard to want to heat the oven up to a million degrees even for pizza. That's why I'm excited to share this recipe with you for grilled pizza. It's perfect for those hot summer days when you want to keep the house cool . This time I actually used a Panini grill, but we've also used an outdoor barbecue grill using this same method with great results as well. Just keep in mind that you may have to adapt the cooking time and temperature according to the grill you use. Grilled Pizza Printable Recipe * Makes the equivalent of 2 large pizzas, but I usually make several smaller pizzas using this method. INGREDIENTS: 1 recipe Pizza Crust Pizza Sauce ( Here's my favorite  Olive oil Grated Mozzarella or other Cheese Blend (I was out of mozzarella so we used cheddar) Your toppings of choice DIRECTIONS: Mix pizza dough and allow ...

Hummus is my favorite middle eastern dip......goes well with pita bread.......must try. Recipe Source: Dede Ingredients 3 cups Chickpea (cooked) 1/4 cup Yogurt 1/2 cup  tahini sauce 2 tbsp Lemon juice (adjust to taste) 5 cloves of garlic salt to taste few mint leaves (optional) 1/4 cup Olive oil for garnish Method Blend all the ingredients in a blender to a smooth paste ,add little water if the hummus is too thick. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with olive oil and cooked chickpeas rolled in chilli powder. Serve wit pita bread.