For a more serious blog post and in honor of International Women’s day, it felt about right to catharsis this poem about my life as a women with multiple international cultures. It’s probably not the most popular opinion of cultures in general, but it’s my real talk session tonight. And don’t get me wrong, I love certain elements of my international cultures!
I also want to shout out to all the women who are going through a lot lately. Stay strong! ❤
Sweet, tender memories I hold in my youth
With grandpa and grandma, mom, dad, and sis
Gatherings of togetherness and bliss
Learning our love for the red stripes
and our origins with the mysterious crescent moon
We grew to embrace this but perhaps too soon
For years of laughter and joy faded
And those sweet memories became jaded
When mom changed my world that day
Giving others new life’s way
New faces I met, new lives with new stories
New brothers and sisters for me to hold dear
Little did I know my worst tale was near
He said it was love, that it could be real
But I felt deep within that it could not be true
For our blood ran the same, it flows deep and dark
Still he persisted, forever leaving a gashing mark
That only washed away when I met my true love
Yet it will linger on as a memory to rise above
What still remains makes my stance bewildered
Why do they still reach out to him
Knowing once what had transpired and choosing to filter
It wasn’t a game or a willful ordeal
But a tear to my being, wrapped up in zeal
Perhaps days have passed and that is the reason
That I must stay quiet even though it is piercing
This tale runs the same
In different ways and different flames
You must face alone the pain
While the perpetrators still gain
Oh dear blood of our own
our brothers and sisters
You bring these twisted ideals
And expect us to kneel
As if man stands above all
Yet still the scum deserve to fall
How can you turn a blind eye
To my mother so strong
How can you choose these men
Over us women done wrong
The green and white flag
Swaying with the crescent moon and star
Should stay where you left it
It’s caused enough scars
For here in this land
Us women take what’s ours
For here in this land
The wicked must cower
For here in this land
our voice is heard.
Oops I definitely totally forgot to be updating my blog! It’s been a busy couple of months with hubbz and I buying our first home! We’ve traveled a lot since my last blog update. Here’s a quick rundown…
In July we took a cruise on (NCL of course) from Venice, Italy and it went to Croatia, Montenegro and the Greek islands Corfu, Mykonos, and Santorini. The cruise was called the Greek Isles Cruise. We first decided to take this trip when we went to Italy in 2016 and saw cruise ships departing out of Venice and thought we would love it, especially since we could Greek island hop! We were so right and sailing away out of Venice was majestic. We were looking forward to Santorini the most of our ports, but were delighted and surprised when we docked at Montenegro. It’s a lesser known European country and its beauty was amazing!
A memorable adventure in Santorini was walking down the stairs in the blistering sun, navigating through donkey poop! Unfortunately there was an intense heat wave during our trip. I would definitely recommend avoiding July/Aug to travel to Greece due to the heat and swarms of tourists! Now this is why we cruise like spoiled Americans, we can always hop back on the ship for some unnecessarily strong American a/c. 🤣
Anyways, looking back it was a great adventure and we truly enjoyed our cruise experience and the ports. I also must mention we got an Aft facing balcony which gave us a panoramic view of each port as soon as we arrived. We literally woke up to God rays shining on a different beautiful island every morning.
As natural foodies, we enjoyed the local fare. The branzino in Greece was delish and in Venice we grabbed some more branzino along with some yummy pasta and gelato.
Here are some pics from the Greece cruise:
Santorini
Santorini
Santorini
Montenegro
Hubbz and I on the cruise ship, Montenegro
Fresh spaghetti
Gelato
Santorini
Fresh branzino
Mykonos
Before we closed on our house, we took a trip to Hawaii. We had been there for our honeymoon but only stayed on land in Oahu, Maui, and Kauai, while we cruised on NCL. This time we knew we wanted to visit Oahu and Maui again, and stay in Honolulu as well. We had such a foodie experience with fresh local catches and nonstop mai tais. We got to make a friend in Honolulu and bonded over science, culture, and travel, which was super fun! We captured gorgeous glimpses of natural beauty. We even got to wear our Nakhre queen and Wakhra Swag tees, but I didn’t get a pic of hubbz in his, *womp womp*. Here are some pics:
Turtle bay resort Oahu
Maui
Buddhist temple
Mai tais at the four seasons
Four seasons
WWII bunker
Oahu
Bar art
Fish
Buddha
Hawaii has its own unique Pacific beauty with various terrains and landscapes amongst and within all the islands. Hawaii always has a special place in my heart. 💓
Well there’s my update! Lately I’ve been focused on work and furnishing the house. So exciting!
Happy Hump Day! Although it’s a short work week, it definitely feels like it’s dragging. Ugh! I can’t wait for the weekend; hubbz and I are off to Ohio for a family wedding. I had ordered a saree online from India, pre-stitched since I really can’t put a saree on, despite several YouTube tutorials for the modern day “ABCD,” but it hasn’t arrived yet (major ugh!). This means *back up shalwar kameez to the rescue* will have to suffice. Anyways, the sun was finally out today and I decided to make a staple vegetarian dish that my mom always makes. I totally can’t remember how to say “beans” in Urdu/Hindu, so let’s call this:
SpicyPotato&HaricotVertCurry
1 onion, chopped
4 small roasting potatoes, white (or your favorite kind), peeled and chopped
2 cups Haricot Vert (French green beans)
1 oz ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 small tomato, chopped
2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 cup water
salt to taste
Note: You can get the ginger-garlic paste and curry powder at your local Indian store.
Fry onion in oil until brown. Then add ginger-garlic paste, stir, and add potatoes. Add water, curry powder, and cover to boil until potatoes are done, about 10 minutes. Add chopped tomato, and tomato paste, let cook about 2 minutes. Add French green beans and salt, cover and let cook 5-7 minutes. And you’re done!
Happy Friday! The weather outside is bummy, so I’m definitely spending my Friday night at home. Couch + wine + Netflix = blissful rainy day. I have some weekend plans with hubbz and luckily the weather is supposed to be sunny Saturday and Sunday. I can’t wait to be on a boat on a warm, sunny day! Anyways, I haven’t traveled in a while, but June is full of fun travels, so I’ve been stocking up on dresses, sandals, and makeup. I love Sephora and Ulta for my makeup shopping, and both stores tend to have exclusive shades for the more prestige brands, i.e. Stila, Too Faced, Tarte, Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH). I follow a bunch of makeup lines on Instagram and saw a model wearing ABH liquid lipstick in Poet. I went the same night to Ulta and grabbed myself an ABH Catnip lippy (Poet was sold out😔). Catnip was a gorgeous pinkish-berry-mauve shade, and looked great on my skin tone. As a medium-dark brown South Asian women, it’s sometimes hard finding the right shades in makeup, and even then the hues may not be pigmented enough to really stand out on my skin. Luckily, the ABH liquid lipsticks are all super pigmented. They apply creamy and dry to a matte that doesn’t need much reapplying throughout the day. The best part about the matte is it doesn’t stick to cups, so I can drink my Starbucks and wine without the annoying lip stains! For a nude, I usually reach for the Urban Decay Amulet, which is a metallized pinkish beige. Recently, I decided to add another ABH lippy to my vast lipstick collection, so ventured out to Ulta to explore. I was super happy to find ABH Ashton, which was a caramel shade with slightly reddish undertones. This was the perfect nude for me! If you have medium-darker skin the ABH Ashton might just be your nude, which is such a difficult shade to find!! I’m so in love with this shade and the whole ABH liquid lipstick line 👌🏾👌🏾💄💄. Now go off into the rows and rows of eyeshadows, bb creams, eyebrow dips, and glow kits…under the fluorescent lights. Find your nude and become one with it. 💄💋💖
Hello! Welcome back for a quick weeknight recipe. Aditya and I mostly prefer ethnic foods, so I’m always interested in cooking non South Asian meals (since this is the default in our house). Tonight I felt like a Hispanic dinner would be so yummy so I made a quick trip to Trader Joe’s on the way home from work. Trader Joe’s had everything I needed, and I already had some essentials at home – adobo, saffron, garlic, sazon, rice.
Growing up in Leominster I was always surrounded by a good mix of ethnicities! I had a lot of Hispanic friends who would share their foods with me. How lucky was I?! Spanish food is one of my favorite, always wholesome, comfort foody, and so rich in flavors!
So here’s the recipe. This took me like 30 minutes…so easy. Seriously though!
1 cup rice (I used jasmine)
1 lb chicken breast
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp olive tapenade (mix of olives and capers, get it at TJ’s)
3 hot and sweet cherry peppers (found at TJ’s)
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1 bell peppers
1/2 cup peas (optional, add 5 minutes before rice completion if using)
1 medium onion
1 packet sazon (I used no msg Badia)
1 tsp adobo
1tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of saffron
1 pot
1 pan
Chop onions, bell pepper, cherry peppers, and chicken into small pieces. Sauté chicken for 10-15 minutes on medium-low heat (this can be done while preparing the base to save time.) For the base, start by frying onions in oil. When brown add green pepper and garlic. Add more oil if needed. Rinse rice in cold water until water runs clear, let sit in water. Add tapenade, cherry peppers. Sauté 2 minutes. Add broth, wine, saffron, adobo, sazon. At medium heat add tomato sauce, boil 5 minutes, until base becomes thick. Add chicken to base and cook 2 minutes. Drain water from rice and add to pot. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 7 minutes. Check pot and if rice is sticking move around and cook 8 minutes more on medium low. Check to make sure rice is done and enjoy. Muy sabroso!!
Happy almost Spring! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged but I’m back at it again. I’ve been literally hibernating all winter, and it feels great! Although how odd it is that it’s 68°F today!!! Nothing much has been going on lately, other than my habit of hashing out short-term and long-term goals.
Anyways, I’d like to outline a few of my experiences from Fall and Winter; my trips to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Goa, and Mumbai. I’m fortunate to have family all over the world. For the European trip, Aditya and I traveled with my family, and for the India trip we traveled with my his. They were both fun trips and we got to see such gorgeous sites. Although I’ve been to Amsterdam and India before, this time around was way more fun with my sister in Europe and Aditya throughout all trips.
In October we had the opportunity to visit Amsterdam for a family wedding. We picked out some Indian/Pakistani outfits for the mehndi and reception, and an American dress for the ceremony. The wedding was beautifully decorated with delicious homemade Pakistani food galore. On non-wedding days we were able to venture out into Holland and explore. I subscribe to Travel and Leisure and Conde Nast traveler as well, and a post about “Geithoorn – the Venice of Holland” popped up on my Facebook feed. We got a chance to squeeze in a quick trip to visit Geithoorn and take a canal cruise to see the city and history. There are no cars here; everyone travels through the canals, like in Venice, although this placed smelled a lot better! It was very quiet and quaint, like a sleepy village out of a fairytale story.
Giethoorn
My parents spent most nights with family, but we (my sister, cousin, and hubby) got to venture out into Amersfoort downtown and Amsterdam most nights. We explored the many bars and nightlife and had a lot of fun together. Here we also took a canal cruise through the narrow, winding, and plentiful Amsterdam canals.
Amersfoort
The Dutch know what’s up
Amsterdam
Fields of Holland
Canals
Church
Copenhagen was a really cool experience, even though we only had a few nights there. Denmark has been noted as one of the happiest countries in the world, and that was truly evident in our time there. Everybody was very friendly and the overall vibe was calm and relaxing. It was rainy throughout our whole Europe trip, but we managed to stay warm and keep moving. We got to see Stroget, which was a long street of shopping, known as one of the longest pedestrian streets for shopping in Europe. We strolled through Nyhaven, which is the waterfront area that has the picturesque colorful houses that we often see as stock photos for Denmark. We took a canal cruise and saw the Opera House and Little Mermaid. After all this we were tired, but still managed to find our way to Tivoli at the end of Stroget. Tivoli was so magical! Tivoli Gardens is one of the oldest amusement parks and was an inspiration for Disneyland. Here we went on cool rides and saw beautiful lights and castles. We also got to drink lots of Glögg, a Danish mulled wine, with a generous shot of rum and liqueur. This later became the drink of the night for Christmas at home, so yummy!!!
Downtown Copenhagen
Church
Opera house
Little mermaid
Danish food
Stroget
Tivoli
Tivoli castle
Hubby stirring cauldron
Experiencing European culture is always interesting, especially exploring the deep, rich history which varies just by crossing borders not too far from the next one.
In January we had the opportunity to go to Goa and Mumbai for Aditya’s cousin’s wedding. This was a bit of a struggle for me, being of Pakistani origin, because getting a visa was a long process and a nuisance. Luckily I did get it, but it’s a shame what is going on over there, and that these ideals are happing over here. I’m lucky that love transcends borders and that the ignorance does not transpire through our families, or at least the ones we choose to keep around!
I’ve been to India before, but only to northern areas. This was my first time in Goa and Mumbai, and I was nervous and excited. Goa was a relaxed beachside state, with lots of fish dishes and historic sites to see. We got to visit Aditya’s families’ temples, and we got to see some other historic sites and churches as well. Goa has a Catholic and Portuguese history, so it was cool to see those influences in the culture and architecture here. We stayed in a really, really cool villa and spent nights relaxing on the beach.
Cashew liqueur
Chilly chicken and yummy kingfisher
Goa
Villa Portuguese style
St Francis remains
Beachin
Breakfast with a view
Goa
Church
Temple
Next up was Mumbai, which I was imagining in my head to be like an Indian Manhattan. It surely was! It was totally comfortable and I hardly had any culture shock experiences because it was so city-like, and most people knew English. I can get by on Hindi, but it’s nice to know I can speak English, too. There were beautiful lights and skyscrapers, shopping, food, and the hustle and bustle of any major cosmopolitan city.
Meeting my in-laws was nice and spending moments with them for the wedding was truly quality time. We got to catch up with our cousins and grandma, meet our new baby niece, and witness a beautiful union at the same time. For this wedding I brought some lovely pink saris. Luckily we had a beautician come and wrap my sari on professionally. She did a great job, and I was wonderfully desified for the wedding. The wedding was the first Marathi wedding I’ve been to, so it was cool to see.
As far as exploring Mumbai, hubby and I stayed in a couple of hotels to capture the action. We explored some cool restaurants, delicious Indo-Chinese food, hip malls, and took a personal driver from the Taj to show us all the key sights in Mumbai. The most magical sight was the India Gateway, and we had such a perfect sight of it from our hotel room in southern Mumbai. The fact the city is oceanside made the whole touring experience even better. We got to see so many highlights, and stop near the water to take a breather, peering out at the Arabian Sea and imagining how ironic it was that Pakistan was just across this flowing waters.
Happy Friday! I’m back to blog about some Italy details. Aditya and I did over a week in Italy for our 2nd wedding anniversary. Italy was amazing. You could feel the richness in history, the depth of the Italian culture, and the beauty of the ancient gems. Italian food is really bold and flavorful! Since I’m not quite into meat other than chicken and fish, I didn’t have many options other than pizza and pasta. Italians are more into seafood and cured meats. The wine, however, is exceptional and strong. The people are kind, but since it is Europe, we found ourselves often frustrated with poor service (snooty Americans!). Every now and then we would have to speak Spanish since some Italians didn’t understand English. We took a sigh of relief when we took refuge in a Pakistani cafe (how ironic, huh!) late at night, where Aditya lovingly spoke Urdu and got us some Pakistani rice to ease our otherwise cheese/carb/tomato palettes.
I must add that in several tourist spots it felt a bit strange to see armed guards with huge guns. That’s also something we don’t really see around here. Anyways, coming through with some deets…
Logistics:
We flew Alitalia non-stop Boston to Rome and traveled by the high speed Italo in club level seats so that we were assured no pick-pocketers (a common threat in Italian trains). Flights were purchased through Priceline, train tickets were purchased on raileurope.com, hotels were purchased on various sites (I scooped out the best deals). We took Viator tours and ItalyOnABudgetTours, and we loved them! These we actually booked last minute so that we could really feel what we wanted to see and do once we landed in Italy (if you know me, waiting until the last minute is usually blasphemous! But worked out so well).
Here’s a breakdown of our itinerary and major highlights:
Venice – 2 nights
Grand Canal
Doge’s Palace
St Mark’s square and basicila
Florence – 3 nights
Uffizi Gallery Museum
Tower of Pisa and Cinque Terre
Galileo Museum
Piazzele Michelangelo
Naples -2 nights
Castell del Ovo – Fort
Mt Vesuvius
Pompeii
Amalfi
Rome – 3 nights
St Peter’s Basilica
Castle Santa Angelo
Vatican
Sistine Chapel
Pantheon
Colosseum
Roman Forum
Monti (Nightlife)
Trevi fountain
Daytimes were filled with touring, waking up at 5a.m. and running around exploring.In the daytime I really felt the Mediterranean sun! At night we relaxed to some date nights and nightlife. Nightlife was mostly quiet, nothing overly crazy.
Venice was a quaint city. The city is entirely on water so you travel through the canals on a waterbus (vaporetto). It was really pretty and cute. We only had two days there since there’s not too much to see other than the overall city.
Spritz
Venice
Grand Canal
Gondola
I had a hunch I would love Tuscany and I did enjoy Florence a lot. Here we checked out the Uffizi and saw some Da Vincis. We got a panoramic view of Tuscany from Piazzele Michelangelo. My favorite part of our trip was Cinque Terre, which was a few hours away from Florence. Cinque Terre was heavenly!
Risotto
Cocktails at McDonald’s
CT
Cinque Terre, Tuscany
Bruschetta
Margherita (best pizza we had!)
A and Pisa
da Vinci, Uffizi
Tower of Pisa, Tuscany
Piazzelle Michelangel
Galileo Museum (how they thought our universe looked like)
Next stop was Naples. Naples was not such a great city (lots of crime) but we stayed near a Fort, so we were near tourist sites and we had a beautiful view of Mt Vesuvius. We absolutely had to check out the Amalfi coast. We took a tour that drove us all the way up the Amalfi and a boat cruise as well. It was beautiful! We also checked out Pompeii.
Amalfi
Pompeii
Pompeii
Amalfi
Amalfi
Amalfi
Mt Vesuvius
Nightime in Naples
Neopolitan Pizza
Pasta Pomodoro
Pompeii
Pompeii
Amalfi
Amalfi
Amalfi – Mediterranean Sea
Pompeii
Pompeii
Pompeii
A in Pompeii
Naples
Lastly, we ended our trip in Rome. Aditya and I love natural beauty but also enjoy city life and it’s wonders. Rome was a breathe of fresh air and was reminiscent of NYC but with an ancient vibe. Here we checked out the Colosseum, Vatican, and Sistine Chapel. The famous Michelangelo painting of God and Adam was nice to see, but I was unimpressed (not sure why just that piece was famous). The entire Sistine chapel overall was impressive, however, so Michelangelo’s other work seems to be underrated. Italy had such great and talented artists, including Michelangelo, Raphael (The School of Athens), and da Vinci ( some pieces in Uffizi, Florence). An appreciation for good art is a must when visiting Italia!
The ancient sites in Rome were magnificent. We loved the Colosseum. It felt magical and was such a wonder. Nightlife in Monti was nice, with some cute bars, restaurants, and live music. The Trevi fountain was beautiful at night.
Pantheon
Vaticn modern art
St Peter’s Square
Our hotel, converted palace
Egyptian Obelisk
Sculpture at Vatican
School of Athens, Raphael, Vatican
Colosseum
Embalmed Corpse in a Church
Colosseum
Tiramisu
Church
Colosseum
Trevi Fountain
River Tibur
Vatican gold ceiling
Overall, Italy was beautiful! Since we successfully left our mark on Italia, we are on to our next conquests…
Xoxo,
I have taken a bit of a break from blogging due a tumultuous few last months. I’ve been going through a lot, the worst of which was the loss of my baby pup bro-in-law. He was the most precious and innocent soul…he is with us forever….RIP Dusty. He has truly left a mark on our hearts.
I’m looking forward and onwards into summer. With time comes growth. I am trying a few different things to change my mindset and hopefully that will bear fruitful energy in the coming months.
Since I don’t have too much to say right now I’ll leave a recipe. Tonight I attempted lasagna for my first time. My mom makes my favorite lasagna, it’s so delish! This is one of the best things she makes, and there are many delish dishes she makes!! This recipe uses no boil pasta, and ground turkey (since we are South Asian we prefer to use this instead of beef, but any ground meat works!)
Turkey lasagna
Materials:
-baking pan
-nonstick spray (i.e. PAM)
-bowl for mixing
-spoon for mixing
Cheese filling:
-1/2 cup ricotta
-1/2 cup parmesan cheese
-1 egg
-Italian seasoning
Meat:
-1 lb ground turkey or other ground meat
-1/2 chopped onion
-pasta sauce
-Italian seasoning
-salt + pepper to taste
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Fry the onion, add meat, Italian seasoning, pasta sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 15-20 minutes on medium heat, until meat is no longer pink.
Prepare cheese filling – mix together ricotta cheese, grated parmesan cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning.
Spray baking pan with nonstick spray.
Layer in baking pan:
Layer 1: pasta sauce
Layer 2: noodles
Layer 3: meat
Layer 4: noodles
Layer 5: pasta sauce + mozzerella
Layer 6: noodles
Layer 7: mozzarella + Italian seasoning
Cover with foil. Bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees.
Enjoy like a boss!!!
Ingredients
Cheese filling
Meat
Layering
Final product
The lasagna came out surprisingly good, pics don’t do it justice! About to go H.A.M. on it for now…until next time…
Happy Sunday! I’m trying to post a blog at least once a month, so I’m sneaking this in here real quick. Feb was spent celebrating A’s bday and vday as well. This year I hosted my first home birthday party, in which I did some serious #adulting. I had a few festivities in Boston, some at Mohegan Sun, and some more at our place and Boston again. We had a potluck at our place with our parents, cousin, and uncle, and hit up a fun Bollywood dance party in Boston. A is starting to get into Bollywood/bhangra music and that is really awesome for me!! Bruahh’in for days!!
As we get older, I’ve noticed that birthday parties become less about socializing and more about honoring the person’s birthday. I feel like I’d rather have people who want to show up to show up, instead of people who feel like they have to show up. This is one of my 2016 goals, and it’s going by pretty well!!! Expectations can hurt you, but if you set them loosely, it can help things move smoothly. Spending time alone has been great for me, too. It’s always nice to spend time with yourself and really listen to your mind and needs. How do you feel about alone time?
Here are some bday pics:
Taj Boston Biryani, one of the best in Boston
Bday Cake
Ussie!!
On Sundays we like to brunch at home. Since I haven’t done groceries in over a week, this was an easy, quick go-to meal. The Taj Boston has a similar burger and I think this comes pretty close to it’s grandeur.
What you need:
Trader Joe’s masala burgers
pav bread (or bulkie/hamburger roll)
mint chutney
tamarind chutney
The bread and chutneys can be found at any Indian store. Luckily, the burgers are frozen, the bread has a long shelf-life, and the chutneys can stay in your fridge forever, so it really is a quick back up meal for any time of the day! Cook the burger on your stovetop for 3-5 mins on both sides, and toast the pav bread. Spread chutneys on the bread and put it all together. So easy!!! And so delish! Add some lettuce and red onion to oomph it up.
Happy Sunday! The sun is shining and it’s a nice relaxing Sunday for me. I have no plans, other than checking out Kung Fu Panda 3 at night. Hubbz and I have made Sunday Movie Night a regular thing. It’s nice way to end the weekend before heading back to dreaded Mondays.
This morning I woke up and checked my Facebook. I saw a post regarding cultural appropriation and Indian culture. The post claimed things like – you can’t wear bindis, bangles, henna, unless you are South Asian or getting married as a South Asian bride. I thought those claims were way over the top so I commented.
Usually I avoid commenting on articles on Facebook because I can’t stand trolls and I also don’t want to invest time in reading replies to my comments. This time, however, I just had to! It irked me that this idea was out there, so I responded –
“Wow this is extremely strict. Sarah Tinawhat do you think? I think wear and do whatever, but sometimes it might look corny to rock another culture so hard, i.e. Beyonce in cold play video.”
I always tag Sarah and Tina in brown posts because they’re smart and desi and they get it! Yes, that Cold Play video did bother me – why is Beyoncé in this? Why couldn’t they just have Sonam Kapoor represent India, if that was the intention. I may seem contradictory in my opinions (see next comment below), but I just wasn’t feeling that video. Anyways I also said –
“As a Pakistani American, my opinion is wear whatever you want! My friends have rocked sarees, bindis, henna, and I love that it’s a way of sharing the culture I grew up in. Also as a non-hindu I may have a different perspective because we wear bindis, henna, bangles for fashion (yes even in Pakistan). Some south Asians may get offended if they feel that these items are religious.“
When I state my opinion, I like to say “I think” or “my opinion is” because I believe it feels unfair and sometimes inaccurate to make a claim without actual science to back it up. That may just be because I’m a Libra, or perhaps because my Masters in Science has the idea engrained in me to Google it first (using reputable, legit sources) or to do an actual study.
What are your thoughts on cultural appropriation or cultural exchange? I’m really grateful to be in America, where we can actually discuss things like oppression and psychological ideas and problems as well.
Brunch
I woke up thinking, it would be nice to go to brunch with A. However, brunch equals money and extra calories. It also means I would have to yelp a few places, make a reservation and actually get ready while the sun is still out. Let’s be real, that’s just too much work for a Sunday morning! Instead, I decided to make Chana Pullao – spicy chickpea rice. My mom makes the best food in the world, and her Chana Pullao is off the charts. A decided to make Indian Huevos Rancheros – spicy egg + veggies. You’ll have to ask him for the recipe!!
Here’s my recipe for Chana Pullao.
Ingredients:
Basics
1 tablespoon ghee or cooking oil
1 tablespoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 medium tomato
1 medium onion
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1 15-oz can chickpeas
1.3 cups Basmati rice (I go a little over 1 cup to match the proportion of chickpeas)
1 tablespoon milk
water as needed
Spices
1 teaspoon each of:
salt
chili powder
turmeric
cumin seeds (you can add 2 tsp if you love cumin seeds, like I do!)
cumin powder
garam masala powder
coriander powder
Chana Masala spice mix
curry powder spice mix
Utensils
cooking spoon
medium sized pot
strainer
two small bowls (for chopped cilantro and tomato)
one medium sized bowl (for rice to sit in water)
knife
cutting board
one spoon to scoop tomato paste, garlic paste
Ingredients
1.) Rinse rice three times in cold water. Let it sit in enough water to submerge the rice.
2.) Chop onions, tomato, and cilantro. Set tomato and cilantro aside. Fry onions in the ghee or oil on medium heat until golden brown.
3.) Rinse chickpeas in a strainer and set aside. Add cumin seeds, garlic and garlic paste. Stir until you hear the seeds pop.
4.) Add all of the spices. Fry for a minute. Add chickpeas, chopped tomato, and tomato paste. Stir for a minute.
onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, ghee
added spices and chickpeas
added chickpeas, tomatoes, tomato paste
5.) Reduce heat to medium-low. Strain water from rice then add to pot. Add milk. Add water if needed to submerge rice and chickpeas up to 5 mm (half a cm) above the rice.
6.) Let cook for about 20 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro and add more salt to taste. Serve with raita or yogurt.
Final Product – Chana Pullao
Total prep time: 5 mins
Total cook time: 20 mins
Here is A’s Indian Huevos Rancheros masterpiece.
Yumminess galore! Enjoy with mango mimosas like we did!
Mango nectar and sparkling champagne. Yes, we are a corny married couple!
prettypinkchai 