Author Archives: Ayesha Haq

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About Ayesha Haq

A versatile chef ...

Banana Walnut Muffins with Maple Butter Glaze

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Banana Walnut Muffins …….. a warm delight in winters and spring season. Whenever it comes to banana bread or banana muffin, I like it with Cappuccino or mocha. Try this easy recipe and enjoy….

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (250g) plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
  • pinch salt
  • 115g butter
  • 115g dark brown soft sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 500g (3 – 4 large bananas) mashed overripe bananas
  • 200 gms chopped walnuts

FOR MAPLE BUTTER

  • 100 gms Melted butter
  • 100 gms maple syrup

Procedure:

-Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease and line 24 cup muffin tray.

-In a large bowl, combine flour, bicarb soda and salt.

-In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas and chopped walnuts until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour mixture into prepared loaf tin.

-Bake in preheated oven for 15 – 25 minutes, until a knife inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire cooling rack.

-For butter mix in all the ingredients given for maple butter and glaze the hot muffins with it.

Beef Lasagna with Ricotta Filling

2 Replies

Ahhhhhh…….. Out of this world!

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 375g instant lasagne sheets
  • 1 kg beef mince
  • 1 litre marinara sauce/ Bolognese sauce (1 kg chopped tomatoes & 2 cans Italian tomatoes with some oregano, thyme and rosemary……. Simmered on low heat for 30 minutes…….. season with salt and pepper)
  • 300 gms chopped mushrooms
  • 1 cup béchamel sauce
  • 2 tbspns oil
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • Some mozzarella for topping

FOR RICOTTA FILLING

  • 300 gms fresh ricotta
  • 200 gms steamed chopped spinach
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese
  • 4 tbspns parsley
  • A handful of fresh crumbled mozzarella
  • A handful of fresh tasty cheddar
  • 2 eggs

Procedure:

-Heat oil and sauté minced garlic. After a minute add beef mince and break it into small pieces while cooking through. When it starts changing its colour, add marinara sauce. Cook for 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.

-Now in a separate mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients given for ricotta filling and mix well.

-Now grease a pyrex rectangular lasagne baking dish, and lay a layer of lasagne sheets. Then some meat sauce, then lasagne sheets, then ricotta filling, then another layer of lasagne sheets, then some béchamel sauce, then again some ricotta filling, another layer of lasagne sheets and then the last layer of marinara sauce. Top it with some mozzarella cheese and cover it with aluminium foil. Bake in a preheated oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 30 minutes. Then take off the aluminium foil and broil for 10 minutes at 200 degree Celsius.

-Take out, let it cool for 10 minutes, slice and serve.

Banana Bread (LEGENDARY)

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Banana bread…….. What comes in your mind when you hear “Banana Bread”?

Monkies, Bananas, Sweet, Cinnamon, Walnuts, Warmth, mmmmmmmm yummy….. that’s everything coming in my mind rite now…..

My home is filled with banana and cinnamon fragrance and my banana bread is just out of the oven resting on the bench top waiting for me to slice it and enjoy it with a cup of steaming hot cappuccino.

I don’t like keeping things waiting, meanwhile I enjoy my treat, here is what you have to do next to get the feeling I am getting rite now….

take care 😉

bubbye!

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup raw Sugar
  • 1 Stick of Unsalted Butter at room temperature
  • 4 Ripe Bananas, lightly mashed
  • ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 Tbsp Whole Milk
  • ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
  • A handful of chopped walnuts

Method:

-Preheat your oven to 176 degrees Celsius.

-Grease a 9’ by 5’ loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

-In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and whisk to combine. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla and mix to combine.

-Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, walnuts and salt and mix together until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX!! Add milk wile mixing in the dry ingredients.

-Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. At the 50 minute mark test it by inserting a toothpick in the center and if it comes out really wet than let it go until 1 hour and 10 minutes, if it comes out with a little wet batter than cook it for only 1 hour.

-When ready, let it cool for about 20 minutes.

-Slice and smear with butter so you can feel like you are in heaven!

TO STORE

To store, simply wrap tightly in aluminum foil and pop it in the fridge, whenever in the mood for a piece just slice away and stick in the microwave for 20 seconds. Smear with the maple butter and you will think that it just came out of the oven. It’s a yummy thing to have on hand for last minute breakfast, or after school snack or just simply reward yourself whenever in the mood!

Keema Mattar

2 Replies

🙂

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 750 gms mincemeat (beef/ chicken/ mutton)
  • 2 onion sliced
  • 2 tomatoes sliced
  • 4 green chillies
  • 2 cups fresh peas
  • 2 tbspns yogurt
  • 1 tbspns crushed ginger
  • Some coriander leaves for garnishing

SPICES:

  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 – 4 cloves
  • 4 peppercorns
  • Some salt
  • 1 tspn coriander powder
  • ½ tspn cumin seeds
  • Some red chilli
  • 1 tspn nigella seeds (kalaunji)
  • ½ tspn turmeric
  • 1 tspn methi leaves
  • 1 big cardamom

Procedure:

-Heat oil and fry onion, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves and ginger until everything is golden brown. Now add tomatoes and mix until they tend to lose the stiffness.

-Now add mincemeat and cook until it starts changing its colour. Break into in to small pieces with the wooden stirring spoon.

-Now add all the spices except methi leaves and yogurt and cook covered for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add peas and stir. Cook covered for further 20 minutes on low medium heat or until the oil comes up.

-Now add methi leaves, coriander and green chillies and serve.

Shakkarkandi Snack (Sweet Potatoes – Hawker Style)

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My favorite street hawker snack …..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 2 sweet potatoes, medium sized, boiled with skin to perfection
  • 2 mandarins/ raw oranges (khattian)
  • Some chaat masala

Procedure:

-Boil the sweet potatoes, let them cool for 20 minutes and then gently peel off the skin.

-Cut into cubes, place them onto your serving dish, squeeze orange juice all over and sprinkle some chaat masala. Poke some toothpicks and serve.

Rabri Kheer

Leave a reply

Try it and tell me how you go with it ……

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup basmati rice (soaked for 4 hrs.)
  • 2 litre full cream milk
  • ½ cup sugar (brown/ raw/ white) ( I use 50% raw and 50% brown)
  • 1 tin condensed milk
  • ½ tspn crushed cardamom
  • 1 tbspn kewra essence
  • 250 gms. Khoya (250 gms full cream milk powder, mixed with 250 ml full cream, microwave for 1 minute, take out stir and again microwave for 2 minutes)
  • 2 tbspns almonds
  • 2 tbspns pistachios

Procedure:

-Put soaked rice in blender with ½ cup of milk and blend to paste.

-Warm milk to a simmer and add blended rice into it. Now stir constantly until the rice is cooked and milk is thick.

-Add sugar, condensed milk and cardamom. Mix.

-When it gets a little bit more thick add kewra essence, khoya, almonds and pistachios.

-Cook for 5 more minutes on constant stirring. Dish out. Cover with cling film in such a way that film touches the surface of the kheer. Refrigerate for 8 hrs.

-Take off the cling wrap, garnish with almonds, pistachios and khoya crumbs and serve.