Ghughra

Diwali is almost here - lights, colors, bling and ofcourse, sweets. So on the occassion of Diwali, we bring you, live from the naihar kitchens, the Ghughra. Since I try to relate stuff we do to more colloquially known items out here, I suppose you can think of this as perhaps a sweet fatayer.

Layered on the inside with sweetness that will change your mood regardless of how angry you are on the day, fried on the outside to a nice crunch to boot, and filled with a richness that is supposed to give you energy and brain power (and maybe, a tad bit of cholesterol), the ghughra is a traditional gujarati diwali production. Not that it can't be eaten during the year or anything, but well, it just must be on the table during all those diwali get togethers we have around this time. Relish!

Khaman

We all love a good sponge cake. Now close your eyes and imagine that instead of a sweet, sugar-rushing sponge cake, you have a savory, slightly spicy, salty delicious sponge cake. Yes I realize you can't read this if you closed your eyes, but I'm also relying on the fact that no one listens to me anyway.

A Gujarati specialty, Khaman is the equivalent of a savory sponge cake, with just the right amount of spice and flavor, and topped with a tempering of mustard and garnished with coriander and sometimes, grated coconut. Most people have a weakness for this gram-flour deliciousness, considering it can be eaten all by itself, or dipped in the chutney of the day. 

I have even managed - wait for it - to make a Khaman sandwich that tasted so awesome, it's now a standard occurance every time there's Khaman in the house.

So there you have it, the savory and slightly spicy sponge cake, the Khaman.

We're planning to have this available at the next Bakefest. If you like the idea, let us know :)

Happy Birthday FiA

About a year ago, I received a DM over twitter that went: "Is this you: http://t.co/GAVYjLo?"

Oh relax, it wasn't spam - well that was when twitter wasn't so infected anyway. Point is, it was linked to a foodblog (go ahead, click it), but the friend had confused it as being this blog because of "eerily similar[ity] to u!" Another food blog? With much better pictures? Ooh. I hastily posted what I can only imagine now was a creepy comment and didn't think anything of it afterward. Who responds to blog comments right? A grand total of 4 minutes later, I received an email titled "Hi - just saw your comment on my blog :)".

Today, Famished in Arabia (or FiA) as we were coined, is a group of 56 food bloggers (as of 8 p.m. GMT+4 today) covering various walks of life and blogging about a whole variety of different things - from expert restaurant reviews, expert bakers, expert pickle-makers, expert restaurant owners and.. well there's me too. The group has seen a phenomenal growth - oh a history buff you say? you want ALL the details? - anyway, the rest of you, like I was saying...

Today Famished in Arabia celebrates a year of existance. And what a marvelous one at that. Some very creative people, some very talented people and most importantly some very passionate people. This means that as the site grows, the information flowing gets even better - new places worth checking out, suggestions on evening-outings, and even tips on cooking and baking better. Even more, how to photograph food - some of the improvements (What rubbish you say? You haven't seen any? Pfft, go away!) you see on this blog over the past year have happened because of things I've picked up by just admiring all of these blogs.

Right, so what's the point of the post you ask? Well it's to say Happy Birthday FiA. It's to be happy and proud to see it grow into something great - just think about it, for a country like UAE, to have 56 independent food bloggers each with their own unique voice. That's amazing. And you know what? I'm actually sure there are more out there, waiting until the silent assassins..er...acquirers at FiA pounce and draw them in with cupcakes...

I leave you with the RSS feed aggregate of the food bloggers, and if you're on twitter, the FiA list. Go nuts! Just don't forget the chocolate.

UPDATE: Read other posts from the group on the 1st year celebrations here.

Thepla

When you look up Gujarati food, thepla ranks right up there. Theplas are pretty much one of those all-purpose items. A staple for any travelling Gujarati, it can be eaten plain, with condiments such as indian pickles (achaar), yogurt, garlic paste (one of my favorites) or with curries much like a roti. In fact, the best description of a thepla is probably a flavored roti - you find them in the plain/masala type, the methi (fenugreek), or kothmir (coriander) flavored types. With or without garlic. Adjusted to be soft and foldable or crisp and a little less foldable. Really thin, or slightly thicker. Every family has their own style and the actual recipe is ultimately pretty flexible.

Enjoy (and if you need some, well, ask nicely :P).

The naihar Pani Puri

Modak

The festival of Ganesh is marked by specialist sweets - primarily laddoos and modaks. Home-made samples of the latter for this year's festival can be seen here. 

The food blog: A hundred, and more.

I have the auspicious honor of putting together post number 100.

I can't give you the cliched it's been a long journey, because it hasn't. But it has been a fantastic ride. The naihar food blog started with a simple concept - I wanted to take my family-derived love for food (and the fact that we ran a little catering gig on the side) and share it with the online world. But as is always the case, you want to break the mould.

What naihar has turned into today is a fantastic collaboration of people who love their food - and therefore, people who write with a passion - which has brought out a unique blend to this blog.

I can't seem to put naihar in a category of a review blog, an out-and-out food blog or even a recipe blog. It's a fun mashup of all three. We've covered restaurants in the US, UK, UAE and India thus far. We've concocted recipes of our own that look as amazing as they taste. And we've focused on single food items at times not just entire menus, so you know where to satisfy those cravings (or where *not* to). Oh, and the cake extravaganza!

What's up ahead? Well, obviously more coverage of places to eat, things to make and cravings to satisfy. Better pictures. Author profiles. And some interesting changes. We're working on collaborating with some brilliant foodies out there who could bring an interesting spin to the blog, some food outings and more.

To our followers, we hope you enjoy what we have in store. If you've got a moment, do drop us a comment and let us know if there are things you like (and what you don't really like) and it'll help our amazing authors cater their posts a little.

Finally, a gracious nod to our unrelenting contributors. I'm committing to the one cliche for the post here: Guys, we could NOT have this without you. Keep the food and, almost as importantly, the pictures coming.

Happy Fooding!