Best of Year 2010

The Year 2010 will remain the most special year of my life FOREVER, Alhumdulillah! :)

I say so because some of the most important developments in and around me and the best of the things happened to me this year. Waise i am a person who would love to live life in the best way possible and would never miss a chance to celebrate each moment! But this year has been exceptionally great and i loooooooooved every bit of it! Now lemme take a recap of the year 2010 and say what was so great about this year that i regard it ' The Best year' of my life till date.

January : I got married! :D So you know the main reason for me to love this year. * wink wink*  The month was spent in shopping, shopping and more shopping! My wedding was on January 31st, so i had this whole month to indulge myself in the best. A south Indian family girl going to be a part of a North Indian family!! Such awesome times i had. If you would like to know about my wedding shopping experiences, you can read my post in my other blog here .

February : My honeymoon trip to Malaysia and Singapore! No doubt it was my best holiday ever. My hubby dearest showered me with everything that i wished and dreamt of! How can i NOT be happy then ;) Thank you soo much darling! :)

March : My hubby left to New York and my visa processing started - The only pain i experienced this year which is still going on!! But all is well and i would be leaving to NY soon, Insha'Allah :)

April : Tra la laaaaaaaa!! My hubby comes back to India to stay with me for one whole month! :D More reasons to celebrate! We enjoyed in my hometown - Mangalore for a week. We spent a week in his hometown - Gujarat for a week. We went on a fun trip with my family to Munnar, kerala for a week. The rest of the days were spent in post wedding parties ! ;) A fun filled month!

May: My birthday AND my hubby's birthday too! Since it was our first birthdays after marriage, we wanted to make it more special. We did celebrate it in the best ways possible showering each other with love, care and a whole lot of gifts! But unfortunately we could not be together for my birthday because he had to leave at the start of the month and my birthday was at the end of May! But nonetheless, he made sure he made my birthday reely special :) And now the tragic part of the month! :( I lost my dear friend in the Mangalore Plane crash :( She used to live next door and i had the keys of her apartment which i was waiting to give her on that fateful day. I will never forget that day :( May her soul rest in peace, that is all i can pray for now.

June : My visa processing was going on and i started my experiences in the kitchen full time! Yeah, till now i was busy with college and friends so i used to just be the assistant cook in my kitchen. But now i started taking the main jobs ;) I have a passion for writing and i wanted a platform to record events of my life and my thoughts! So yeah, started blogging - http://naazuk.blogspot.com/.

July : This month was spent in missing my hubby and my in-laws but i was enjoying being with my family even after my wedding ;) I know i was one of the lucky few who gets the opportunity to live with parents and siblings even after marriage, so i was making the most of it ;) My cooking sessions were going full on and my blogging too.My cousins flew down from Dubai and we had some of the most memorable weekends ;) I had posted about one such weekend here .

August : I started baking cakes! One thing which i always wanted to do. I baked so many cakes in August and September that i got tired of baking them but my siblings were not tired of eating! So i went on and on!

September : Weddings, parties and get togethers. Caught up with school friends, college friends, MBA friends!

October : A very important month for me this year! My parents left for the 40 day pilgrimage to Mecca also called Hajj. So i was handed over the position of the 'Top chef' at home as my mum was on the 40 day leave from the kitchen! I knew it was a big responsibility for me as i had two working brothers and 3 college going siblings, an aunt and my grandma! I had to please their taste buds throughout the 40 days! And Alhumdulillah, it turned out one super splendid month for all of at home! We all gained weight! LOL! Not that while my parents were around we were skinny creatures, but the amount of chicken, paneer, cheese, cakes, desserts,  sandwiches and chaats that went into our tummies this month, we all bloated up! :p And not to forget my elder bro's birthday meal preparations! Just fabulous!

November : My younger bro's birthday! Again a special menu for all of us. I had such a good time cooking these 40 days! And guess what, i started this food blog ;) Chef Naaz - The Mistress of Spices!. My parents got back on Nov 21st and i prepared a special meal on their return which everybody feasted on! :)  If you would like to know more of my experiences as a ' Top Chef', you can read it here .

December : My visa processing is in the last stage and once all is well, Insha'allah i would be leaving to NY asap. My blog turned one month old and i hosted the 'Trifle Event' on my blog :) I participated in various events in this month and i got to know so many amazing bloggers and their delicious recipes. I was so very happy to be getting followers, awards and such  lovely comments from fellow bloggers! It was such a good motivation. I also had a reunion with my MBA friends and we had a gala time.The year ended on a superb note with a family outing! :)

Now to pick the top 5 of my posted recipes!

I would give the first place to my Fruit Trifle

Second place to Prawns Manchuri

Third place goes to Kharaash Chicken

Fourth place has gone to Heart Healthy Meal

And last but not the least! The fifth position goes to my gorgeous Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry frosting

My Resolution for the Year 2011 is to cook real good food and please my hubby and in-laws taste buds every single time i cook! Its gonna be a new year and a new country for me and i hope to enjoy every single day doing the things which make me and my family happy the most! One thing i want to reeeeeeely do to perfection is Baking! I was such a reluctant baker and i wish to overcome all my baking fears in the coming year! Wish me luck guys :)

I would love to thank my hubby, my family, friends - both on and off the blogging world, for giving me so much of love, care and motivation everyday, to help me do the things that i love the most! :) Hope you all had a good time reading this post just like how i had a good time doing the recap! I wish you all a very happy New year 2011. May all your wishes, dreams and aspirations come true. May all that we cook be loved by all and may all of us stay good friends, help one another and spread peace and happiness around :)

Enjoy and have a fantafabulously amazing,  magnificently splendid and yummilicious year ahead! Happy New Year 2011! :)

Sending this post to Srivalli's Best of the year 2010 Event . Thank you Srivalli for making me do this wonderful recap. I enjoyed every bit of it :)

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My gorgeous Chocolate cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Its been a month since i got a microwave for my Ammi, and ever since i wanted to make cupcakes in it. I had made cupcakes earlier in the oven but i wanted to bake some in the MW. While i went shopping for muffin  cups and trays, i came across the silicon muffin cups and i just could not get my eyes off them! They looked sooo cute! I  asked the guy there if they were really MW safe! :p And lo! I got 'em home! I got searching for chocolate cupcake recipes because my siblings love it and wanted to do a frosting with strawberries since i had them at home. So i went online checking for recipes and i came across Shabs cuisine's chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting . I loved the recipe and wanted to try it out. I made some slight modifications and baked the cupcakes. And you can guess by the pictures, they turned out AWESOME!!

Things we need:

2oo g  butter at room temperature

2 ½ cups castor sugar

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 ¾ cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp Chocolate Syrup

1 cup whole milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

Method: 

1. Beat butter and sugar for 3 minutes on high speed until soft and fluffy.

2. Add egg, one by one at a time to the above mix, mixing well after each addition.

3. In a separate bowl, sieve together flour, baking powder and soda, cocoa powder and salt twice or thrice.

4. Mix vanilla essence with milk.

5. Fold 1/3 of the flour mixture to the egg-sugar mixture followed by little of the milk and mixing well. Repeat the process until milk and flour is all used up. Add flour and milk alternately, starting and finishing off with flour.

6. Pour in the chocolate syrup and mix well. 

7. Scoop the mixture to muffin cups filling just below half or just half full. Bake for like 4 mins on microwave convection at 200 degrees. Cool them on wire rack completely before frosting them.

Being baked in the Microwave!

Now for the Strawberry Frosting:

1 cupWhipped cream

1/2 cup Lightly sweetened Strawberry Puree

3-4 tsp of icing sugar

1. Beat the whipped cream and beat only till soft peaks form.

2. Add the icing sugar and beat well. 

3. Then add the sweetened strawberry puree a little at a time and beat until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised.  Taste and fold in more puree if required.

Since it was my first time doing the frosting, it dint turn out stiff. I learnt from my mistakes and Insha'Allah next time i hope to perfect it :) Until then enjoy the recipe and the pictures! :)

Sending these cupcakes to
Srivalli's Kids Delight- Chocolate Feast!
Dr. Sameena's Cookies and cakes for xmas 
Smitha's Choco delites event
Its time to jingle again  at Asan Khana
Champa's Bake off Event!
Suma's baking event 

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I have been tagged!

My childhood friend Prathima Rao tagged me in a series of questions on her blog Prats Corner . It was the first time i was tagged to answer questions and so i was all happy and excited to answer the Q's! Here i am with my answers! Hope this helps you in getting to know me better. :)

1. Who inspired you to cook or bake?

Well, i guess i should say ' My Marriage' inspired me to cook ! LOL! I got married early this year and before that i was always busy with my studies, family and friends. I did have an interest in cooking but dint exactly spend time in the kitchen. But yeah once i got married, i knew i HAD to develop my culinary skills and that is how i got cooking ;) The food bloggers played a real big role in inspiring me to cook because i got to know people like me who did not know much of cooking, doing some amazing dishes. And If i have to name persons i guess i will mention my Ammi and my hubby.

To inspire me to bake - It would definitely be my younger sis. She LOVES cakes, pastries and the like. So i started baking to heed to her requests! And i am so glad she got me baking. otherwise i don't think i would bake any cakes coz..psst psst.. i WAS a lil scared of baking. But now all is well :)

2. What is your take on organic food? Is it a big deal for you?

Organic food.. Ah its still something which i haven't given importance to. Probably in the future i might, but right now not a big deal!

3. You try a new recipe and it does not turn out good, What will you do?

Obviously, i would feel a lil sad if it does not turn out the way i expected, but then if it was something that went wrong because of my mistakes, i would definitely try again, but if its not liked by anyone of us at home, i would never try it again ;)

4. Do you have a new years resolution - and would you be sticking to it?

Well, New year always comes with a lot of enthusiasm for each one of us. We always wish to do much better than we did in the previous years. And i am no exception. I do make resolutions every year but i end up fulfilling just a bit of every resolution. For 2011 i would love to make resolutions AND stick to them! I intend to learn ALOT of cooking in the coming year and since i am going to join my hubby and in-laws in New York in January, i wish to please their taste buds every single time i cook. I wish to learn a lot of North Indian cooking from my Mom-in-law and hope to teach her my south Indian cooking. Wish me luck folks ;)

5. Do you time your breakfast, lunch and dinner or eat when you are hungry?

Ummm.. For my family, i would time the meals accordingly but for myself i choose the latter :p
Actually much depends on the menu too. If its something that i drool over, i eat it ON TIME, actually.. before time :p But if its something that i do not like, i would postpone my meal to the maximum time and eat it when my Ammi's patience levels comes down totally and i get a earful! :p This usually happens during breakfast coz lunch and dinner we make it a point to have it together. I LOVE it when the whole family is together for meals.

6. Name three ingredients you consciously avoid or eliminate even when the recipe calls for it. 

Mushrooms, MSG ( Ajinomoto), Lemon Rind.

7. Name three things you have to use in most of the recipes.

I love using cumin seeds usually. I love the aroma it brings in. And i love Ginger garlic paste and yeah onions usually are a must for me.

Now lets get the tag rolling ;) I wish to pass on the questions to 5 of my blogger friends. And they are..

1. Fezi of Kitchen Boffin
2. Ms. Chitchat from chitchat@crossroads
3. Tahemeem from Tahemeem's Blog
4. Ayeesha from Taste of pearl city
5.Akheela from Torview

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Paneer Cutlets

Paneer is one awesome ingredient which can make any recipe taste delicious. I made this few days back when all of us at home where just lazying around because of the rains here and my dad and bro came back home early. So i thought lets enjoy the evening chai with everyone with these Paneer cutlets! And we did have a wonderful evening :)

Ingredients:
Paneer - 1 cup
Beans - 1/2 cup
Green Peas - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 1/2 cup
Potatoes - 1 cup
Chat masala - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:
1. Boil and mash the potatoes.

2. Boil and chop the veggies finely.

3.Take a vessel and mix together all the veggies and the mashed potatoes along with all the spices and salt.

4.Once the paneer- veggie mixture is ready, shape them into oval cutlets.

5. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the cutlets.

Enjoy with tomato sauce or Mint chutney. :)

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Penne Pasta in Green Peas Masala

Last evening i was in a mood to cook something different other than our usual chapathi or rice for dinner. So i explored the pantry and saw two pasta packs looking at me and that was it! I took them out, searched for some nice pasta recipes online but i dint have some or the other ingredients at home that time. So i decided to make one masala from the things i had at home! And this is what i came out with. I served it along with Chicken 65 in a yummy gravy and i got soo many compliments for it. I was one happy cook last night! :)

Items Required:
Penne Pasta - 250 gms
Green peas - 150 gms
Capsicum - 3
Ginger - Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Tomatoes - 250 gms
Tomato Sauce - 2 tbsp
Onions - 3
Vinegar - 1 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 3 tsp
Ground cumin - 2 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
Water as reqd
Oil - 50 ml
Salt to taste


Method:

To prepare Pasta:
1. For 250 g pasta, boil 2 1/2 litres of water.

2. To it add 25 g salt and a few drops of cooking oil.

3. To the boiling water slowly add the Penne pasta and continue cooking for approx 10-15 mins, stirring occasionally till pasta is done.

4. Drain the cooled pasta and rinse in fresh cold water and keep aside. 

For Green Peas Masala
1. Soak green peas overnight, boil and keep aside. [I used frozen green peas and boiled it]

2. Heat oil, fry onions, ginger garlic paste and pepper powder in a large dish and mix together.

3. Cook for 5 mins stirring in between.

4. Add tomatoes, capsicum, chilli powder, vinegar, sauce and ground cumin. Cook for 6-8 mins.

5. Then add boiled green peas, water as required consistency and salt according to taste and stir the mixture. Cook for 5 mins.

6. Lastly, add boiled Penne pasta. mix well and serve hot.

Enjoy it with a spicy chicken gravy! ;)

Sending this to Any One Can Cook - Series 9 hosted by Taste of Pearl City

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Mint Chutney

My favorite chutney made by my Ammi! Truly love this! I eat this chutney along with Roti, sandwiches, snacks or just about anything!

Ingredients:
Coconut - 1/2
Pudina/ Mint leaves - Fistfull
Tamarind - Small ball
Onion - 1 small
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Salt to taste

Method:

Grind all the ingredients together except onion to a smooth paste. Add the chopped onion to the paste and grind for a minute. Enjoy! :)

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Hara Bhara Kabab

Hara Bhara kabab has been one of the most liked snack at my place especially by one of my aunt who had come over to our place during Ramadan. I had made this that day and she loved it sooooo much that she told about it to all her daughters! :p They all asked me what i had made that their mum is all gaga over it. Its a nice veg kebab filled with greens! A lil on the healthy side too except for the frying part but i shallow fry it so oil used in is also less. A perfect snack for a wintry evening!

Ingredients:
Potatoes - 4
Green Peas - 1/4 kg
Palak / Spinach - 1 Bunch
Pudina/ Mint leaves - 1 bunch
Coriander Leaves- 1 cup
Green chillies - 4-5
Bread crumbs - 1 cup
Chat masala - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry


Method:
1. In a pressure cooker boil the potatoes, green peas and palak.

2. Make a fine paste of pudina, coriander leaves, green chillies and boiled palak.

3. Mash potatoes and green  peas and add in green paste.

4. Now add in chat masala, salt and lemon juice. Mix well.

5. Make balls and press them a little to give it an oval shape. Dip in breadcrumbs and fry till golden brown.

Enjoy with tomato sauce!

Sending this to Any one can cook- Series hosted by Ayeesha of Taste of Pearl city

And also to Only greens event hosted by Sara from Sara's Corner and Pari from Foodelicious

It also goes to Food Palette series - Green event hosted by Torview

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