Oxygen Spa (Deira, Dubai) and random...

Hello folks! I have just been a lazy bum and have not posted anything in a long time. I haven't tried any new recipes which are worth mentioning here.

Hotmail is now appearing as Outlook and it is soooo slow.

The other day we watched Jack the Giant Slayer and it didn't live up to my expectations. It could have been saved with a whole different cast.

Hardees has an awesome Cheese Steak Burger for AED 20 when you are hungry and low on cash. Take that with some chilli fries and you are set. They also serve fresh orange juice for AED 6.

The Oxygen Spa in Deira (Marriott Executive Apartments, Tower B) is amazing. I tried out their deal for Microdermabrasion on "Hit the Deals" for AED 99 and was totally satisfied. The deal is still on so HURRY! They have another deal for Coconut and Coffee Spa which I have bought and can't wait to try. They are also nice enough to give you the same rate if you haven't had a chance to purchase the deal. Call first to make an appointment (00971 4 2222920).

Let me know how it goes :)

Coconut Rice

I actually saw this recipe on a blog but I don't remember which blog it was so whoever I took this recipe from - Thank you!

Serves 4 people

1 cup rice
1/2 cup coconut milk in a tin (if you have fresh coconut milk even better)
2 onions
1 inch ginger (chopped fine or ginger paste will do)
2-3 cloves of garlic (chopped fine or garlic paste will do)
Oil for frying
1 inch Cinamon stick
Few Methi (Fenugreek) seeds
Salt

Soak the rice for about half an hour. Drain the soaked rice well and keep it aside.

Fry 2 onions along with the ginger and garlic. Add the drained rice to it and stir it very very gently. Now add the coconut milk and around 1.5 cups of water (double the quanity of rice in the vessel). Do not stir. Add cinamon and Methi seeds and leave it on a medium flame to boil. When you notice that the liquid has almost dried off switch it on to a very low flame and cover the vessel so that it cooks all the way through for about 10-15 mins. Finally fluff the rice with a fork.

Note - It is important not to stir the rice so that in the end you get separate grains of rice and not just a mushy blob! Do not add too many Methi seeds as they are bitter (

Enjoy and let me know how it goes :)

Shrimp Spaghetti in Red Sauce my style!!

Serves 4

Spaghetti

Half a packet of spaghetti (or as much as you would consider appropriate for 4 people)

1 cube of shrimp stock

1 tbsp of oil and half tsp of salt

Shrimps (as much as you would consider appropriate for 4 people)

Sesame Oil for frying the Shrimps (optional for a different flavour)

Pinch of salt and pepper

Sauce

Bacon (approx 2 slices of bacon chopped very fine; they should hardly be visible in the sauce)

2 red onions

1 Spring onion

5 cloves of garlic chopped very fine

Fresh mushrooms chopped in quarters (again as much as you would consider appropriate for 4 people.)

1 red capsicum sliced

2 tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste

Chilli flakes/pepper/salt/mixed herbs

Soy sauce/Tabasco sauce

1 cube of stock (try different flavours; I used mushroom stock)

Fresh herbs (optional for garnishing)

Boil half a packet of spaghetti with a little salt and oil. Add a cube of either chicken or shrimp stock. I went with Shrimp stock for a change. While the spaghetti is boiling it’s time to create your sauce.

Take a big pan (should be deep enough so that the sauce does not spill over). Add some oil to the pan and fry your bacon bits. After a minute or so it’s time to add your onions, spring onions and garlic. Fry them all nicely together until the onions are translucent. Now add the sliced red pepper/capsicum. Fry for another minute or two. Now add the tomatoes and fry again until they have gone all soft and mushy. Now it’s time to add the tomato paste and mushrooms. At this time also add a good sprinkle of chilli flakes, crushed black pepper, various dry herbs (like oregano/basil/thyme), a splash of soy and tabasco sauce and a pinch of salt. You may also want to add a stock cube for more flavour (I added Mushroom stock). Stir is around a bit so that the stock cube is completely dissolved in the sauce. Now let this sauce simmer for a good 10 minutes or so.

Fry your shrimps separately in a little sesame oil with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the shrimps to the spaghetti and pour the sauce over it. If you have some fresh herbs you can garnish the spaghetti with those otherwise just go right ahead and serve hot!

Tony Roma's - Festival City, Dubai

Looking for some good service and juicy succulent steaks? Head in to Tony Roma's at Festival City.

 We went there for dinner a few days ago wanting to try out a new joint. We started off with a platter of quesadillas, buffalo bites (balls), onion rings and potato skins with cheese and bacon bits served with  sour cream, ranch dressing, salsa and barbeque sauce. Of course the platter had a name which I cannot remember. A regular size costs AED 50 (and with my type of appetite it can feed at least 3 people). Everything on that plate was delicious. They also gave us complimentary nachos with salsa along with our drinks. I had a lemonade and my hubby had an iced tea.

For the main course I had a steak combo (Special-cut, 6 oz. New York Strip with Grilled shrimp). I chose shrimp but you can substitute it with any of the following - grilled chicken, fried shrimp, chicken tenders or fried fish fillet. I chose garlic crusted beans and mashed potatoes as my sides. My hubby also had steak and both of us were tummy full and satisfied. The steaks were cooked medium rare just how we liked it and the mashed potatoes were not bland at all and the beans were crunchy flavorsome and yummy even if you don't like beans.

The total bill was around AED 255. They also serve ribs which I would like to try next time =)

Merry Christmas everyone Ho ho ho

Merry Christmas one and all!

Body Shop has some nice gift hampers of body wash, perfumes, lotion etc (ranging from AED 99 to 200 something) and Nine West has a cool sale on handbags (around AED 200) :)

But just step into any mall and I'm sure you can go crazy....

My dad's recipe for ribs....rib-i-licious ;)

On my trip to the supermarket I saw a packet of ribs and I instantly knew what I wanted to do with them.

My dad had cooked chops while I had been home on holidays and I simply loved them. So I’m sharing the recipe with you all. Try it and let me know how it goes.

Marinade

1kg Ribs

1tsp Cumin powder (Jeera)

1tsp Red Chilli powder

1tsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya)

1tsp Black Pepper powder

1/2tsp Turmeric powder (Haldi)

1/2cup Yoghurt (or a little more but enough to cover the ribs)

1/2cup soy sauce

2tbsp Tabasco sauce

Marinate the ribs with the above ingredients and keep overnight in the refrigerator.

1) Take a pressure cooker. Add some oil and fry about 4 cloves of garlic, 2 cloves, ½ inch cinnamon stick and 1-2 green chillies (for a little heat).

2) Add the ribs and fry them just for a minute.

3) Add a little water in the cooker so that it won’t burn. The soy sauce should provide the liquid component but in case your pressure cooker is a big one then you may need to add a bit of water too.

4) Wait for about 5 whistles before turning it off.

5) In a plate, mix barbeque sauce  (HP Sauce) with equal parts of honey (if you find it too sweet then add more of the sauce and less of honey). Wait for the ribs to cool and then dunk them in the mixture and finally fry them for a minute or two on each side just so that they become crispy on the outside.

Voila – serve them with mashed potatoes and stir fry veggies and you are good to go!

Persian khana anyone? HATAM (Dubai Mall)

Hatam is a Persian restaurant located inside Dubai Mall in the 2nd floor food court area.

 

We went on a Friday for lunch and it didn't seem to be crowded at all. We sat in one of the booths near the windows so that we could get away from the freezing cold air inside the mall.

 

We started off with hummus (AED 16). They also brought some Arabic bread/naan and a plate consisting of salad, olives, cheese and pickles. For the main course we shared - Rice with slow cooked lamb (around AED 35) and a plate of Kababs cooked in yoghurt with French Fries(around AED 40). We also ordered 3 fresh strawberry juices (AED 18 each). The number of items we ordered seems less when we were three of us but the tall glass of strawberry juice along with rice just filled our tummies and I'm glad we didn't go overboard. In fact we still had some left over rice.

 

I would definitely go there again for some of their tender juicy lamb. Yum yum yum!