YOU ARE SO VALUABLE………

Let me take you through a beautiful thought

If your heart hurts, be thankful

At least you know that you will not inflict pain on others because you know how it feels.

You know that you will not love yourself if it means hurting someone else.

You know that you will not break someone else's back just to get to your destination.

If your heart hurts,

Love it back to peace - Najwa Zebian

What defines who you are? When you care about someone, you feel that you care too much and when you love, you drown them in your love. Could you please take a step back and remind yourself that what you give is an indication of what you own. So if you give too much of anything that really and truly comes from somewhere within you. The same is with love. If you love too sincerely, that love comes from somewhere within you. And this is what is defining you and your worth. Regardless of knowing that you might not get anything in return which is ultimately a sad truth. But a good soul with a clear heart doesn’t get offended by this. It was all by their willing heart, not to impress nor showcase it to the world.

What is more sensible and will raise up your standards? What if some has a disrespectful view about you? I would certainly not own a same view and be unkind to him/her. Why would you step down to a level where you do not belong to what so ever.

Never give up on what has once defined you. Whether it is love, respect, attention or understanding. If the other person is not giving you anything in return then it is certainly their problem. And this is in light of situations I have been through .

Sometimes your heart may hurt just because the other person has not come up to your expectations. But that is essentially not something to be heart broken about. You have been setting up standards and drawing up lines the other person is not even aware of. May it be the silliest of expectation you have kept.

The point everyone needs to be aware of and accept is do not love anybody for them to love you back with the same passion. Do not do good to them and expect them to do good to you. What you are doing whether it be loving or caring about someone is out of your own heart. And that is defining you.

It is okay if he/she doesn’t wants to open up. We do not know what he is going through. What it feels like to be him/her. And it is not right to aggravate a fight on why he/she is not discussing their problem. Girls should understand and act more sensible to give guys their space in a relationship and so is the case with guys. Behaving sensibly and not losing your cool will let you lead your path smoothly and save upon valuable relations. Respecting others, their views, their comfort zones will ultimately build up a place for you in their hearts.

Ofcourse everyone has valuable relations in life. Who would like to loose them. Not you right? It doesn’t matter they do not recognize you or your heart. But someday they will. Sooner or later they will learn to recognize your worth. And even if they don’t then you certainly know what you got to do. It is nothing to be sad about if someone doesn’t recognize your worth. It is their loss for they don’t value you. Our value isn’t anytime going to be less just because someone has an inability to see it.

Don’t let someone who did you wrong make you think there’s something wrong with you. Don’t devalue yourself because they didn’t value you. Know your worth even if they don’t.

Balance between our efforts and ALLAH’s help

                 

Every single success you achieve is a combination of two things: Allah’s help and your Effort. When you don’t put in effort, ALLAH does not give his barakah. And sometimes you might put in a lot of effort but you may not see the result you expected. That, also is ALLAH’s barakah –  Nouman Ali Khan

As muslims we are to completely trust ALLAH that means to have tawakkal for all our affairs. We also believe that ALLAH’s will can supersede our plans. 

By this I mean we should have complete faith in ALLAH to help us in our affairs because without his will and help no result can come to fulfillment. When we completely put our trust in ALLAH believing that all success can come only when he intends it to be so, we can earn ALLAH’s pleasure. And in parallel, we should use all our god granted faculties in every affair that we choose to pursue.

We are indeed the most blessed one’s. As ALLAH is individually concerned with each one of us and we are important to him. He is so close that he responds when we call upon him. It is mentioned in the book of guidance he is closer to you than your jugular vein.

Never never give up! Realize that the help of ALLAH is nearer than you think. When we are immersed in the dunya we tend to think we can do everything on our own. We forget ALLAH’s wisdom and might. Do we take in a moment to realize, if ALLAH is to help us no power in existence can overcome us, and if ALLAH leaves us who is there to help us.

And sometimes you might put in a lot of effort but you may not see the result you expected. That, also is ALLAH’s barakah. ALLAH knows the best. He knows what’s behind us. Whenever we make an appeal to him, we express it by keeping faith in his wisdom and might, and we believe that ALLAH will always provide us the best solution. Sometimes it may be in favour of us and at other times a disappointment for us, but whatever the decision taken b ALLAH is the best for us.

Seek help from ALLAH and do not loose heart, and if anything in the form of trouble comes to you, don’t say if I had not done that, it would not have happened so and so, but say ALLAH did that what he had ordained to do , and your IF opens the gate for the shaitan.

TAWAKKAL AL ALLAH

                                          

                                                                                                                                      AMAL ANSARI.

VEGGIE FINGERS

                  VEGGIE FINGERS

Hello people, I’m here with yet another yummy treat. It is a wonderful blend of all the veggies and the texture is to die for. It is soft creamy inside and the outside being crunchy. So let’s get started with these veggie fingers.

All you need is some veggies and the hero of the treat being potato. We need some potatoes which have been pressure cooked until soft. Once cooked the potatoes are to be peeled and mashed.

For the other components I am using the left over mixture prepared for the sambosa’s. You could totally make your own.

   

Keeping it very simple we just have to start by heating up 2-3 tablespoons of oil. Drop in the beans and carrots. Sauté it for a while and add in salt. So that it fastens the cooking up of the veggies. For the flavours add in coriander powder, some sought of meat masala (be it mutton or chicken really doesn’t matter), red chilli powder (I used garlic infused chilli powder which I bought from a local store) and a pinch of nutmeg and mace pounded and made into powder.

After the spices are well combined with beans and carrots add in a bit of water and cook it on medium heat for about 10 mins. Remember not to add in lots of water. Once the veggies have cooked through add in the cabbage and bell peppers and let it simmer for about 5 mins. We don’t want the bell peppers and cabbage to cook thoroughly. We want them to be crunchy yet flavorful.

Once we have both parts ready. Start mixing in the mashed potatoes and the other veggies. Its time to mould them into fingers. Make sure to grease your hands otherwise it gets quite messy. Once happy with the shape continue making fingers until whole of the mixture is utilized.

As it has potato it is quite soft and fragile to handle. To ease handling I like to freeze them for a good 2-3 hours.

1-2 hours before serving we need to accomplish the most important step. Breading the veggie fingers so that it gets the crunch.

Once the fingers are freezed dip each of the fingers in the egg mixture and then coat them with bread crumbs. Pop them into the fridge to make sure the bread crumbs are completely firm.

Now its time fry them. On a medium high heat fry these veggie fingers until they are golden brown. Do not fry them on a low heat. This makes them soggy. And do not fry them on very high heat as they easily get burnt.

And there you have crispy veggie fingers. Serve them with garlic mayo and ketchup and enjoy!!!

Ramadan Iftar Ideas – Samosa/Sambosa

Ramadan Iftar Ideas – Samosa/Sambosa

Hello everybody, I am here with yet another favorite of our family. It is such a popular iftar item in every household and in many countries across the world. so it is samosa or sambosa which can be prepared with any filling of your choice or whatever is available in your pantry.

I am here to share with you people my take on the very popular samosa with a mixed filling ( veg & non-veg ). Everybody across my family loves it and I’m pretty sure you will love it too..

Starting off with the veggies I prefer to use carrots, beans, cabbage and bell peppers. Now you can customize it according to your taste. I have been making sambosas with these veggies for years now and I do swear by the taste.

Keeping it very simple we just have to start by heating up 2-3 tablespoons of oil. Drop in the beans and carrots. Sauté it for a while and add in salt. So that it fastens the cooking up of the veggies. For the flavours add in coriander powder, some sought of meat masala (be it mutton or chicken really doesn’t matter), red chilli powder ( I used garlic infused chilli powder which I bought from a local store) and a pinch of nutmeg and mace pounded and made into powder.

After the spices are well combined with beans and carrots add in a bit of water and cook it on medium heat for about 10 mins. Remember not to add in lots of water. Once the veggies have cooked through add in the cabbage and bell peppers and let it simmer for about 5 mins. We don’t want the bell peppers and cabbage to cook thoroughly. We want them to be crunchy yet flavorful.

For the non-veg part, I prepared the regular minced meat as it is done in regular Indian-cum-hyderabadi households (kheema). Cooking the minced meat with onion and basic spices and topping it off with cilantro.

Then we complete the filling for our samosa by combining the veggies and the kheema and simmering it for another 5 mins until all the flavours are well combined.

Now coming on to the pastry sheets we can either make it at home or get it from a store. Store bought pastry sheets are lot easier to handle and give good results. I prefer using the switz pastry sheets which are probably available at any local store.

I hope this was of some help to you guys. see you again with yet an other idea for iftar in Ramadan.
                                                              Amal ansari
                                                             xoxo

Ramadan Iftar Ideas – Falafel Sandwich

Ramadan Iftar Ideas – Falafel Sandwich

Woohooo!! There’s an absolute treat for all those sandwich lovers. Here is a way to spice up the plain falafel patties with the creamy garlic tahini sauce and a spiced up version of regular tomato ketchup.

The bun or the sandwich bread is to be flavoured a bit. I did it my favourite way. Toasting it with garlic butter. It instantly brings life to a regular piece of loaf.

Now comes the creamy part of the sandwich. Just take in some regular hung curd 2-3 tablespoons of mayo and 1-2 tablespoons of tahini. And in half a tablespoon of garlic paste and season it with salt and white pepper. And voilaaa!!you have most flavorful garlic treat.

Now comes spicing up the regular tomato ketchup. Add in a bit of schezwan  sauce and any pasta or pizza seasoning. I used the all purpose seasoning from keya. I swear by this brand. It has some really amazing spice mixes. And then season it with garlic flavored red chilli…and yayy we have a magical sauce at our table.

Add in another layer of tahini sauce and add in cabbage and other veggies which you like as cucumber and other stuff. 

Just grill in a bit and we are done. Impress anybody with this amazing falafel sandwich which takes in minimal efforts and can be served in suhoor as well as it is pretty substantial.

Ramadan Iftar Ideas – Falafel

Ramadan Iftar Ideas – Falafel 

I have been waiting so long to share this with you people out there. I have never had falafel before at any restaurant. I came across falafel randomly checking out lebanese cuisine. It is basically chickpea/garbanzo bean fritters which surprisingly turned out so yummy.

 The garbanzo beans are soaked overnight.

It is basically processing garbanzo beans with onions, coriander, garlic and other powdered spices. It depends upon an individual whether he likes it gritty or more paste like consistency. I prefer more gritty because it adds in a bit more texture which feels great.

 It is best served hot with tahini sauce.  I tried it out for the first time and completely loved it. Hope you guys try it out and love it.

For a more detailed recipe you can check out the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foB6bxhZYF0&index=2&list=PLV_-ibpbFPCfQCFLci3QCVGck3erq3Ntj

                                                                                                                                          Amal Ansari

                                                                                                                                      xoxo

RAMADAN IFTAR IDEAS - THE TRIPLE BEAN SALAD

Triple Bean Salad

When it comes to ramadan be it iftar or sehar time we want something healthy and something substantial enough to help us avoid that slump.Today we gonna talk about a healthy triple bean salad that will keep you full.

A colorful spicy and refreshing bean salad has been flattering my palate since I have had it. Besides being healthy it’s also very easy to make. We just need any three beans which you like or may be which are available at your place for convenience. 

    

                                    

I made my salad with kidney beans, black eyed beans and black chickpeas. It is very important that we soak the beans overnight which helps in cutting down the time it takes to cook them. All of the seasoning and veggies that goes into the salad can be customised according to an individual’s liking.

I personally like cucumber, tomatoes, cilantro and onions with a dash of lemon. It gives the salad that extra tangy flavor when sprinkled with some chat masala. Just a dash of coriander and red chilli powder and voilaaa!! We are good to go.

I hope you give this yumminess a try....!

AMAL ANSARI

      XOXO