Ramadan Kareem !

Listen, O drop, give yourself up without a thought,
that in return you may gain the Ocean.

Listen, O drop, bestow upon youself this honor,
and in the arms of the Sea be secure.

Who indeed should be so fortunate?
A Sea wooing a drop!

In God's name, in God's name, sell and buy at once!
Give a drop, and take this Sea full of pearls.

-Rumi
[IV, 2619-22, Mathnawi]
Translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski


Ramadan Kareem to you all !

The blessed month has begun and I will be taking a blogging break. Which means I will be checking on you all, just not as often :) Hopefully I will post my Ramadan recipes n pictures later.

May the Almighty accept our fasting, accept our tears, forgive our sins, and extend our years. May this blessed month be a source of mercy, guidance, unity, and peace that permeates throughout the world. Ameen.

Click here to know more about Ramadan.

(Image Source: Wikimedia commons)

Food Finds !

Over the labor day weekend we went to Bar Harbor, Maine. It was a lot of fun, we stayed in a small, cozy, oceanfront cottage, went hiking, explored the Acadia National Park etc... Of our 4 day tour we spent a day in East Boothbay village of Maine. Almost at all places we were fortunate to find good food at unexpected places. No research involved, we would eat when we were hungry and which ever place we were at.

Like, We ate this Italian Veggie sandwich, in a general store ......ya...you heard me right ....a local corner general store in East Boothbay, and it was the best veggie sandwich I ever had. The pesto used was just perfect :P


After the first day of hiking in the Acadia National Park, which was an easy one, all we needed to cool down, was this Wild Blueberry Crisp a la mode at the Jordon Pond Restaurant located in the park ...well, Maine is all about wild blueberries afterall (they even have a wild blueberry soap! :))


Talking about blueberries, We had the most delicious wild blueberry pancakes, a local favourite, here at Jordans Restaurant in downtown Bar Harbor (or should I say BA HAA BA:)). I could not take decent pictures of the restaurant due to the traffic situation on the main street, this one is taken from the parking area :)


Nothing could be a perfect treat to end our trip than the Maple Walnut Ice cream (...yum) . Though we went to the Ben n Bill's Ice cream place in downtown Bar Harbor almost everyday and tasted their specialty flavor .....any guess ? .....ya right .....wild blueberries:), I personally liked the maple walnut flavor, my hands were smelling maple walnut for two days even after we came back ... it was a sweet ending to our short and sweet vacation.


We now intend to go and relive the experience more often , the mountains , the ocean, the calm, its all very inviting.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Hummus is a traditional mid-eastern dip traditionally served with flat bread. The word itself means chickpeas in Arabic. Its one of those healthy foods which tastes good :) .

Other thing I love about hummus is that its ready in no time and could be made ahead of time . Making your own hummus has its own advantages over the store bought ones . You do not compromise the taste (in fact homemade tastes better), you know what ingredients and the quality of ingredients that goes into it plus its very economic.

The basic hummus recipe includes chickpeas, tahini , lemon juice but you can flavor it with garlic, cilantro, chili flakes, rosemary or roasted peppers like I did.

Ingredients:

16 oz. can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed thrice,

3 tbsp. tahini paste,

juice of 1 lemon,

3 cloves of garlic , coarsely chopped

2 tbsp. cumin pdr,

1/2 tsp. salt,

1 tsp. chili pdr,

1 red peppers, roasted n skinned (tip below)

few tbsps. water, if needed.

Method:

To roast the red pepper:

Rinse n wipe dry your pepper n just roast it on a open flame till it blackens. Put it in a plastic or paper bag n let cool slightly. Remove skin and coarsely chop the pepper into cubes and keep aside.

OR

Put in under a preheated broiler for 5-10 mins. or till the skin of the pepper blackens. Put it in a plastic or paper bag n let cool slightly. Remove skin and coarsely chop the pepper into cubes and keep aside.

Now place chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, cumin pdr, salt, chili pdr and garlic cloves in a food processor. Process for 2- 3 minutes until beans are coarsely chopped, now add the roasted red pepper , scrape the sides of the processor and process an additional 2-3 minutes. Use very little water, if needed, to achieve the desired consistency. Mix well and store in a glass container tightly covered. Refrigerate overnight (or at least few hrs) to allow the flavors to develop. Serve it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (optional) alongside some pita chips.

A tip from me is to use a food processor and not a blender to make hummus.

The more its rests the better it tastes and the flavors develop.

You can use the dried chickpeas too, just soak them overnight in warm water...but I think the canned ones work fine.