Cous Cous Na Gota – Guest Post for Yummy Food

July 16, 2014March 16, 2016 ~ Huma ~ 3 Comments

Time has passed so quickly and again the holy month of Ramadan has come. Like every year Lubna from Yummyfood is again hosting the event joys of fasting to feasting where she is inviting Muslim blogger from all over the world to share their food prepared during Ramadan .

Today, sharing with you a fusion recipe Cous Cous na Gota !!Arabic with a touch of my state Gujarat. Those familiar with gujarati food must know how we gujjus love our snacks. Gota is round ball made from mix of gram flour & flour & some times semolina using different flavoring like fenugreek, spring onions or spinach or a typical gota masala.But here I have somewhat twisted the original recipe and incorporated new flavors

To know more, please hope over to Lubna’s space here

Sulemani Halwa – Guest Post for Saffron Pudding

July 9, 2014March 16, 2016 ~ Huma ~ 8 Comments

Life has been with ups and downs from the start of Ramadan. On the eve of Ramadan, ammi was detected with Cancer. All four of us were too shattered beyond thinking as she is our pillar of strength. Not only for us but the entire family. Saturday and Sunday being holiday in India we were with muddle of thoughts on what to do and how take it further. As if my heart was bleeding, remembering her hugs , her warmth , her eyes full of love. It was more saddening for me as I could not be with her due to my responsibilities here when she needed me. Life is tough.

On Monday, the reports confirmed that this was an early stage and we can cure it. The same day we told her about the results and so like her she took it on with a smile. Her positive attitude and her belief in Allah made things so easy on her. When I called her asking her how she was, she said completely fine. Why do you worry? Jo Allahpak ne mujhe diya maine har cheez khushi se kubool ki hai to yeh bimari kyun nahi.(I have accepted each thing, Almighty has given me with a smile on my face so why not this disease). So true are her words. All the others surrounding her were full of worry and she was as usual taking it on like a stone scattered on a pathway which has to be removed.For all those reading this, a request to please remember her in this holy month and pray she overcomes this battle with cancer.

But during this period my belief in Allah and his rasool has been more stronger day by day. As if he is testing my patience with how I handle things. I don’t know if I have succeeded in his eyes but know for one thing for sure that my Allah will be there to guide me and keep me in his circle of blessings. Each day as it passes, I have started to thank him for so much goodness, happiness he has bestowed over me.

Life moves on and we have to fulfill our commitments and promises we have made. Few months back, I had promised my dear friend Fatimah who blogs at Saffron Pudding, about the guest post in Ramadan.

Saffron Pudding has been one of my favorite blogs and I love the way how Fatimah’s posts surround around her family specially the recipes shared by her grandmother. This takes be back to the time where a young girl i.e. me was eager to gain knowledge of everything my nani (Mother’s mother) had to offer.

So friends, today I am doing a guest post for one of my favorite bloggers. Sharing a ramadan recipe, Sulemani Halwa.

To know more about this Heirloom recipe, check out her space. Here

Food Photography – Learning Through Experience 2

December 18, 2013 ~ Huma ~ 9 Comments

After a gap of few months , we are back with another Food Photography post. Today our guest is sharing with us an elaborated post with some editing functions. And I am sure it will be a lot of help to many. Not getting into more details lets welcome Kamalika C from the blog: http://silencesings.blogspot.in/

Food Photography is totally a different ball game. It is a way away from clicking the landscapes or the portraits. And I am totally a learner in this field. When Huma invited me to write a guest post on Food Photography I told her I would not be able to write any technical information (i.e. Aperture, ISO etc ) about Food Photography but my experience through which I have learnt some and have come to a decent point to click near to good Food Photographs. So here I will share the journey how I learn what I learn with you all.

My dad was a passionate photographer at his young age and won many prizes. But now he hardly touches his camera due to his busy work profile. So that I should not touch his professional Canon camera, he gifted me a Yashica Point Shoot Camera to me when I was just 5. And from then I have a keen interest to capture everything around me. I was totally not aware how much it is difficult to get an impressive click unless and until you open your mind, your eyes to capture the right moment, mood from a particular angle. These all play like a magic wand if you can expertise your click as a professional. But among all the most important part is to know the Light and click it from the right angle. After my marriage also I was too satisfied with the Point shoot one that my hubby had. My Yashica one was then passed to my sis. I was shifted to US and started clicking everything all around. And in my mind I started dreaming to own a DSLR. Ah, the dream did come true when my daughter was born and my hubby gifted me a DSLR one. Still life, landscapes and portraits are then my forte to shoot. I never thought that I would try my hand in Food Photography. That began when I started blogging and got inspired by so many creative talented food photographers around.

From my experience I learnt that Food Photography mainly depends on 5 things:

The presentation.

Creating the Mood around the Food served.

Capturing the Food from the right angle.

The Light.

Editing.

I am using Canon Rebel XT and for Food Photography I use 50mm/1.8ft Lens. I always click on the Program mode and my ISO is set at 1600. Clicking day time everyone says its easy. But I always cook at night and I am bound to have all my clicks at night time only. So you will find most of my pictures are click at night. OK now let us move through the points and let’s start our discussions.

1. The Presentation:

When to present your dish the first thing is the container you are serving and the props around the dish. SO for Food Photography, to present a dish we set a back ground and the props to create the perfect mood for what is served.

2. Creating the Mood around the Food served:

Creating the Mood is another important part of Food Photography. If you are serving a dessert then put some props around it related to the dessert. The colour combination that goes well with dish etc.

3. Capturing the Food from the right angle and the light:
I will discuss these two points together. Always keep on clicking from different angles and would come to know which one is best for the shot. Following are some picture to get a better conception on it.

Day time Clicks:

Night Time Clicks:

Both pictures are captured same way like the 4^th picture. Pls See the note on the picture.

4. Editing:
After clicking Editing is sometimes get very important. I use the Picasa to edit my photographs. Though I believe it is best to click the right moment so that we don’t have to edit, sometimes it gets needed to balance the light and the shadow to make the picture up to the mark.

See the difference after editing.

Please check the red circles which are very helpful through which I edit my photographs. And also pls use your watermarks if you want.

Let me finish it here now. Food Photography is just a game to practice. And a concept that you have imbed in your mind. Keep on buying props like piece of clothes, colorful art papers, utensils etc and keep on clicking.

Thanks Kamalika for sharing your experience with us. I hope this will be helpful to many of us. Do drop in your feedback or questions related to this post.

Indian Styled Corn Soup – Guest Post by Sweets & Spices

November 19, 2013 ~ Huma ~ 9 Comments

Its guest post time again. Yes this post has been pending since looong. My sudden trip to India & then Aara was on a trip with her family. And until we both remembered two months gone. Wapp. Time runs so fast. So now lets welcome our dear guest, Aara from Sweets & Spices. The blog name itself represent the personality of our guest today. She is a very friendly down to earth person with loads of sweetness with an ability to stand for herself with dignity. Thatz what I think of her in this short span of time we have become friends. Welcome Aara to my space.

Thank you dear Huma for giving me this opportunity to do a guest post for you! For some reason I really adore her presence as blogger I love all her posts , her clicks and simplicity are just wow for me 🙂 From the time I started blogging She had been there observing my activities silently and always encouraged me saying I have natural talent of writing and explaining articles in my blog, This really kept me moving the way I am. Here is my little precious Thank You for being there for me 🙂

Since sweet corns are available abundantly now I decided to make soup. I really dint knew when I was starting until I actually proceeded seeing some recipe but finally landed making my own twist n turns, I was not sure of the taste, until it was done! I had made chicken sweetcorn soup but this was purely cream of sweetcorn so I was not sure about the end result. I served my bro 1st he is a fussy eater and I was almost thinking how he would have liked it. When I asked him he nodded his head alone. I was still carrying a question mark in my head???

Until I tasted my self and after 1 sip I was almost talking to myself saying ummmmmmm it tastes so gud, thats y my bro was sipping it peacefully lolzz. Decided to name it Sweetcorn Cream Soup Indian Style. Please go ahead to see the simple recipe which is quiet different!!

Serves 4

Sweetcorn 1

Onion – 1 small

Carrot – 1 small

Cinnamon stick -2

Oil -1tsp

Coriander leaves – 2-3 springs

Green chilles – 2 slit

Few Sweetcorn kernels

– Pressure cook Sweetcorn, Strip it and blend it into smooth cream paste. This is our cream of sweetcorn!!!

– Heat oil in a pan, add cinnamon stick, onion, carrot, green chilli, sweetcorn kernels and coriander leaves, saute for 2-3 mins till onion turn soft and nice aroma is emiting

– Add 5-6 cups of water, add salt to taste boil it well till all the flavors infuse

– Remove the cinamon stick, coriander and green chillies.

– Now add cream of sweet corn, Boil it all well, add cornflour paste for thickness if u want.

– Serve it hot!

Notes:

– You can adjust the spice according to ur taste by adding more green chilli

– Pepper Powder can also be added while serving depending upon your choice.

– After pressure cooking use a sharp knife to scrape out the kernels and then grind it.

– After adding water to the soup preparation while cooking cinnamon, chillies and coriander leaves will start floating on top, so its very easy to remove without disturbing veggies.

Impression!

Taste was really awesome and different to taste!!

If Sweetcorn are available to u, do not fail trying out this simple recipe For Winters