Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

I don't eat to live. I live to eat.

Recipes

Eggplant and White Bean Salad

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This Eggplant and White Bean Salad is an easy to make healthy snack to start off your New Year’s Resolutions!

The salad ingredients include roasted eggplant, kalamata olives, diced onions, garlic, tomato, giardiniera, pomegranate seeds, parsley, and a sweet and tangy pomegranate molasses dressing.

Feel free to top it on slices of good quality bread as a bruschetta or with tortilla chips (my favorite).

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White Bean and Eggplant Salad

White bean salad with a sweet and tangy pomegranate molasses dressing – a healthy snack to eat with tortilla chips!

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

Roasted Eggplant

  • 1/2 eggplant
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • salt to taste

Salad Ingredients

  • 1 13 oz can of small white beans may substitute with red kidney beans
  • 3 Tbsp diced onion
  • 2 Tbsp pomegranate seeds
  • 1/4 cup kalamata olives
  • 1 large tomato (may also use cherry tomatoes)
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2 Tbsp parsley
  • 1 Tbsp giardiniera (chopped)

Pomegranate Molasses Dressing

  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1.5 tsp pomegrante molasses
  • 1 tsp agave nectar or honey
  • salt (to taste)
  • black pepper (to taste)
  • lemon juice (to taste)

Instructions

  1. Cut the eggplant into half-moon slices and mix with the extra virgin olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Lay on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake on 400 F until edges are crispy and browned.

  2. Finely dice the onion, garlic, parsley, kalamata olives, and tomato. Combine with the beans and toss in the roasted eggplant slices and the giardiniera.

  3. Whisk together the salad dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Feel free to add a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar. Serve with tortilla chips!

Chai Boba Ice Cream Bars

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These Chai Boba Ice Cream Bars are nothing short of being on trend right now. And the best part is that you don’t need an ice cream maker – I’ll show you two different ways you can make this.  

The ice cream base consists of whipped cream flavored with tea and whole spices such as cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, mace, and star anise along with soft and chewy brown sugar boba.

The first way to do this without churning is simply adding sweetened condensed milk (like with every 3 ingredient ice cream recipe on the internet) and the second way is cooking egg yolks and sugar in a double broiler and then adding it to the whipped cream (similar to semifreddo). The first way is easier but to be honest the second way tastes closer to traditional ice cream.

As for the boba, don’t make the same mistake I did and use tapioca pearls. When they freeze, they freeze hard! I did some research and realized you have to use glutinous rice flour in order for this recipe to work. The pearls were actually incredibly easy to make and cooked in minutes. I finished them by tossing them in a brown sugar syrup.

I have to give credit where it’s due. Edd Kimber from “The Boy Who Bakes” (if you remember he’s from the Great British Bakeoff) had the brilliant idea of steeping heavy cream with tea bags directly instead of just adding chai to the whipped cream. I’ve made his masala chai ice cream recipe before (huge fan, I linked his website below) and so I adapted it into these boba ice cream bars. (By the way please check out his recipes, they’re awesome.)

https://www.theboywhobakes.co.uk/recipes/2017/7/14/no-churn-chai-ice-cream?rq=chai%20ice%20cream

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Chai Boba Ice Cream Bars

(adapted from The Boy Who Bakes masala chai no-churn ice cream)

Servings 3 bars

Ingredients

Chai Ice Cream Base

  • 1/2 c heavy cream
  • 1 tea bag (or 1 tsp of tea leaves)
  • 1 tsp whole spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, mace, star anise)
  • 1.5 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk OR 2 egg yolk + 2Tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tiny pinch of salt

Boba

  • 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp hot chai (no sugar added) or hot water

Brown Sugar Syrup

  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1.5 Tbsp water

Instructions

Ice Cream Base

  1. Add the heavy whipping cream, whole spices, and tea bags/leaves into a container. Cover and allow mixture to sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

  2. Strain the whipping cream and beat into stiff peaks using an electric mixture.

  3. Add in the vanilla and salt.

  4. Now you have two options. You can either stir in sweetened condensed milk or if you want more of a traditional ice cream base you can whisk two egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl and cook over a double broiler. Basically add water to a pot and bring to a simmer and then take your bowl with the eggs and sugar and put it on top of the pot (without touching the water) and whisk it over until the yolks turn pale. (If this is confusing, just search it on youtube, I promise you it's easy!) After the yolks mixture has cooled add it to the whipped cream.

  5. Taste and adjust for sweetness.

Boba

  1. In a bowl mix your glutinous rice flour, brown sugar, and hot chai (may substitute with hot water). Mix with a spatula or your hand. Combine to form a dough.

  2. Roll the dough out into a thin log and cut into tiny pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.

  3. Make sure to coat the ball with extra flour. This ensures they won't stick when cooking.

  4. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add in your boba pearls. Once they float to the top, take them out using a slotted spoon. It should only take a few minutes.

  5. Now in a small sauce pan, make the brown sugar syrup. Add the brown sugar and water. Bring to a simmer and add in your boba. Cook until the syrup thickens.

  6. Allow your boba/brown sugar mixture to cool and then add it to the ice cream base. Freeze in popsicle molds overnight.

Afghani Mantu

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Mantu is my favorite thing to order at my local Afghan restaurant. Not only are these dumplings incredibly delicious, but they’re also quite the show-stopper making them perfect for a dinner party.

The mantu contain a ground-meat filling cooked in spices and copious amounts of diced onions. They are then steamed and layered with two different sauces – a yogurt and mint sauce and a tomato-lentil one.

Afghani Mantu are indeed a labor of love but you can certainly take a short-cut like I did with wonton wrappers.

Also vegetarians just know I made this once with impossible plant-based meat and it turned out amazing. Go ahead and try it!

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Afghani Mantu

Ingredients

  • 1 pack of wonton wrappers or homemade mantu dough

Mantu Filling

  • 3/4 lb ground meat (beef, lamb, or plant-based)
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp coriander
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 cups diced onion
  • 3 garlic cloves (minced)
  • salt (to taste)
  • 2 Tbsp cilantro
  • 2 Tbsp oil

Yogurt Mint Sauce

  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp dried mint (or to taste)
  • 1 garlic clove (finely minced)
  • salt (to taste)

Tomato-Lentil Sauce

  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 2 tsp tomato paste
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1/8 tsp turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1 garlic clove (minced)
  • 2 tsp channa daal (yellow split-peas soaked overnight)
  • salt (to taste)

Instructions

Filling

  1. In a pan, heat up some oil. Add in your ground meat.

  2. Once the ground meat turns brown, add in your salt and diced onions. Allow the onions to soften and cook down.

  3. Now add your spices. Cook for a few minutes. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Toss in the cilantro. Set aside and allow to cool.

  4. Once cooled, it's time to fill the wrappers. Take about a teaspoonful per wrapper. Fold the edges using water.

  5. Steam the mantu in a metal or bamboo steamer until the wrapper becomes translucent and almost clear.

Yogurt Sauce

  1. Combine the yogurt, mint, and minced garlic. Add salt and taste and adjust for seasonings.

Tomato-Lentil Sauce

  1. Add a tablespoon or so of oil into a pan. On medium-high heat, sautee the diced onion.

  2. Add your salt. Once the onions turn transluscent, add the tomato paste. Allow it to cook down and caramelize.

  3. Now add your spices and chopped tomatoes. Add water and bring to a simmer.

  4. For the channa daal (also known as yellow split-peas), make sure to wash and soak it in water overnight. You can add it to the tomato sauce or boil it separately. (Note – the daal can take longer to cook in the tomato sauce, so I would recommend quickly boiling it in a small pot separately and then adding it to the tomato sauce).

  5. Taste and adjust for seasonings.

Assembly

  1. In a serving dish, add a layer of the yogurt sauce, then the mantu, then top with more yogurt sauce and the tomato-lentil sauce. Finally top with a little bit of olive oil and more dried mint. Your mantu is ready to serve.