Waffle Recipe

Assalamu'alaikum!


I made waffles for breakfast the other day and froze the extras for this weekend. They were yummy! Here's the recipe I used and tips for freezing and reheating waffles. Enjoy!

Makes 8-10 waffles (it might depend on the size of your waffle iron).

Ingredients

1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 TBSP sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (substitute can be made using 1 1/4 TBSP vinegar or lemon + regular milk, let sit for 5 minutes before using in recipe)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil

In a bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until its well mixed and then let it sit for at least 10 minutes.
Heat a waffle iron, lightly and safely coat it with butter or cooking spray. Make sure not to overfill it with batter. Cook till crisp and golden.

You can top your waffles with goodies like powdered sugar, butter, and maple syrup as shown here. You can also use fresh fruit like strawberries, blueberries etc.

FREEZING & REHEATING DIRECTIONS

Let the waffles cool down completely. You can use parchment paper to separate the layers of waffles so they don't freeze all together and become difficult to take a part. Use a freezer safe container and date it. I usually use mine within one week.

For waffles, if they fit into your toaster you can reheat them that way or you can pop them into a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until done.

-Halal Homemaker <3

My (no caramel) Caramel Custard Recipe

Assalamu'alaikum!

This is my (simple) recipe for caramel custard also known as flan. I consider this simple because I don't make the caramel, I use honey instead and it tastes just as good. Enjoy!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

-4 eggs
-2 cups milk (I like to use whole milk)
-1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar (I use 1/2 cup but if you dont want it too sweet 1/3 cup is fine)
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-(optional) tip of the teaspoon orange extract. I use clean orange peel that I have dried and then processed as orange extract.

Your choice of honey, agave, or maple syrup to lightly coat the bottom of a ROUND glass casserole dish. (I use a little less than 1/4 cups worth).

Baking pan filled with water to place the casserole dish in (make sure not to over fill it with water so that when you place the casserole dish in it it doesn't overflow and pour out). This technique is known as the Bain-Marie method (French) and/or the Water bath method.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the eggs and sugar. Slowly add the milk, vanilla extract (and orange extract if using).
Coat the bottom of your casserole dish with honey (or whatever you choose as a syrup). Now pour the custard mix over the coating and place in middle of water filled baking pan.

Carefully walk it over to oven and bake for 30-40 min. You will know it is done when it appears puffed up, also if you gently pat the middle of it it feels firm.

Take out of oven and let cool. You can place it in the fridge once cooled for 2+ hours. When serving gently separate the edges from the dish with the back of a spoon and carefully flip the caramel custard onto your serving dish.

Voila!

(No caramel) Caramel Custard!

-Halal Homemaker <3

Organizing Shan Masala

Assalamu'alaikum!


For my first blog post I would like to start with how I have chosen to organize my Shan Masala (spice mixes). When I first started cooking Pakistani dishes I used Shan more often but with practice and growing familiarity with the different spices that frequent South Asian cuisine I have become less dependent on it. However, there are some dishes that just taste better with a Tablespoon or so of Shan!

Shan Masala organized

When my family and I visit Pakistan we usually stock up on different varieties of Shan. Upon returning home I'm left with the taunting task of organizing it all in my cupboards. This time around I decided to use office supplies and its working just great, check out the pics :)


1. Open the box along the edge, if using the accompanying recipe make sure you cut around the instructions. Sometimes the recipe is on the opposite side of the box, just cut it the same size as the front label and staple them together.

 2. I used small binder clips to clip the spices with their specific label. Even if you've used some of the spice mix you can easily clip the remaining portion.

3. Next, depending on how many Shan's you have you can use an appropriate sized Tupperware (or not) to sit the spices in....and you're done!

This really works well with the family sized packs too.

Voila! 

-Halal Homemaker <3