Dreaming in Dubai

This morning I was in the mood to make one of all my time favorite foods, khagina. Khagina is the Pakistani version of scrambled eggs. Similar to shakshouka and menemen, it's made with red onions, ripe tomatoes and a long list of aromatic spices. Despite being made with eggs, khagina isn't strictly classified as a breakfast food. It's eaten just as commonly for dinner as it is for breakfast. I make if frequently for dinner myself since it takes such a short time to make and requires simple ingredients that I always have on hand. This dish also holds a special place in heart for another reason as well. During my last semester at Smith I would go home every weekend to visit my parents. I would make khagina for breakfast every weekend while my mom made chai and parhatas. When our breakfast was ready we would sit at the dining table eating, chatting and sipping our hot tea with morning light pouring through the window. Those are some of my best memories. Today I recreated the same breakfast with my husband minus the tea since he's not a fan (I'm still working on changing that!) Instead I served it with warm (store bought) parhatas, Concord grapes and fresh orange juice in Turkish dishes. The light this morning was beautiful. I haven't edited these pictures at all because the natural tones were so beautiful. Since we were worried about getting good on our white sheets we ate at the table but the setting did make for a nice photo at least!

I don't know about you guys but in the past few months my weekend (and most weekdays for that matter) doesn't feel complete unless I've baked something. I love the way that baking makes my house smell and the convenience of having something quick and easy in my fridge ready to eat for breakfast is an added bonus. Yesterday was Saturday, Dubai's equivalent of a Sunday, since the weekends here are Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday. My husband unexpectedly got called into work for the entire day and I was bored out of my mind. After making something for dinner I still had a few hours left before he got home. I decided to try making a pound cake. My husband had been craving pound cake for a while and I thought it would be a perfect surprise for him after spending a Saturday at the office.

I'm not sure whether it was the fact that Eid was last week or that I've been missing my relatives in Karachi a great deal but I wanted to make something that would remind me of Pakistan. Keeping that in mind I went through my pantry and looked at what I could add to my cake to make it similar to the simple cakes sold in Pakistan. I came across my bottle of rose water and packet of cardamoms and I knew that these would be the perfect addition. I added in a teaspoon of rose water along with 4 pods of crushed cardamom. They gave the cake such an incredible aroma. The whole house smelled heavenly while it was baking. The smell was so reminiscent of mithai which I love. While the cake was baking I made some doodh patti chai. For those of you who don't know doohd patti chai is tea that's been steeped in milk instead of water. It's so decadent and creamy and I honestly don't know how people can drink regular tea after having tried doodh patti because I certainly can't. 

When it was finally time to take the cake out of the oven I was nervous because it was my first attempt at a pound cake and I was worried about the rose water being too overpowering or the cake being dry. When I finally tried it I was so happy with the results. The cake had an incredibly moist crumb and the hint of rose water and cardamom definitely elevated it. It was the perfect compliment to my chai. It wasn't exactly a proper Pakistani tea time because that would require more people and some shami kebabs (spicy chicken mince cutlets fried to golden perfection). But it was just what I needed to sooth my nostalgia and pass the time until my husband got home. 

While I was very happy with the cake, the next time I make this cake I will try to beat it for a little while longer to incorporate more air into it. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing. I've shared the recipe below. If you decide to give this cake a try make sure to let me know how it turns out!




Recipe:

1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of softened butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon rose water
4 pods of crushed cardamom
1/2 cup of milk

Begin by mixing together your butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and rose water. Alternate between adding your flour mixture and milk in three increments. Make sure to beat thoroughly and incorporate lots of air into the batter while beating. Because no baking soda or powder go into this cake it's important to beat if for longer because otherwise it won't rise.

Place in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Serve hot with lots of tea and enjoy! 

Living in Dubai is many things, but cheap is not one of them. I have come to learn this the hard way over my year and a half spent here. Everything costs almost twice as much if not more than it does back home in Connecticut. For a self proclaimed stingy person like me, that's not an easy thing to come to terms with. I'm known for finding things on clearance racks at 80% off. In fact, my parents and husband regularly joke that I've probably never purchased anything for full price in my entire life (that may or may not be true). Anyways, you're probably wondering what any of this has to do with my brownies. I promise, I'm getting to it! When I was visiting my parents in America last month I decided to load up on groceries, clothes and anything else I could possibly need so that I wouldn't have to spend twice as much money buying those items here. I brought back a bunch of baking supplies with me including the cutest cupcake liners I found on sale at Marshall's, baking trays, piping bags etc. So when I decided to make brownies I went to my baking drawer to pull out my brownie pan. It was only then that I realized I had forgotten to pack my brownie pan with me. Ever the hopeful person, I decided to check out my local supermarket in the hope that I could find a reasonably priced brownie pan. Low and behold, I couldn't find a single one that would cost me less than a small fortune (by my standards at least). And with the money I was spending for ridiculously overpriced cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate I decided it was best to forgo the brownie pan altogether. That's when I decided to use my cupcake pan to bake my brownies instead.

I'm not a huge fan of chocolate but I do love brownies and they're also my husband's favorite dessert so I had to give them a try. I was pretty nervous about making them but I found a great recipe online here. My brownies turned out really well but the only thing I wish I had done differently was to take them out of the oven earlier than I did. When I inserted my toothpick into the brownie it was still pretty liquidy inside so I decided to leave them in the oven for another 5 minutes but it made them a little bit drier than I would have liked them to be. I also think they would have turned out moister in a brownie pan so if you have one, I would definitely recommend using it over a cupcake pan. I'm probably making my brownies sound a lot worse than they actually were! Trust me, this recipe is fantastic. I would just recommend taking out the brownies a bit on the early side as a precaution. The great thing about this recipe is that it can be customized in so many ways. I added chocolate chips and lots of walnuts to mine but you can add literally anything you can think of! If you decide to try these brownies make sure let me know how they turn out!



Recipe:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

(Recipe courtesy of Joyofbaking.com) 

Biryani and I have a bit of a history. Growing up, I abhorred any food that contained whole spices. Cloves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, you name it. Just the sight of them in my food would be enough to make me nauseous. This made eating biryani quite the struggle. I was the only Pakistani child I knew of who didn't like biryani. Not liking biryani in the desi community is more than enough to get you ostracized. It's practically considered sacrilege. Over the years I learned how to stealthily pass up biryani at desi gatherings and people learned to like me regardless.

I thought I had finally escaped the curse of biryani until I met my husband. I quickly discovered that he like most Desis loved his biryani. Actually, it's his all time favorite food. I could no longer ignore it, in fact I would have to learn how to make it. I thought if I do have to make biryani I should do it in a way that would appeal to both my husband and I. I left out the whole spices and replaced them with other flavors I could tolerate. Regardless, my first attempt was not pretty. It was a gooey, yogurty, bland mess. My poor husband ate it anyway and that was the moment I knew I had married a saint. Fast forward to around a year later and I've slowly gotten my biryani recipe down. It's a bit different from the traditional variety but it's a crowd pleaser none the less. I infuse it with lots of fresh herbs, lemon, and chilies which create an incredible aroma and taste. I always serve biryani with a bowl of fresh raita (a yogurt sauce) which compliments the spicy rice perfectly. I make my biryani with chicken but it can easily be made into a vegetable biryani by replacing the chicken with any veggies of your choice. Here's my step by step biryani guide. This recipe generously feeds 2 people.