Shhhh...

Don’t tell my husband but when I ate the dalcha yesterday afternoon, I sucked the marrow from the bone. I HATE it when people do that. That sound just disgusts me, but when I was all alone I did it just to see how it was. Not too shabby. A tribute to dalcha too – it is absolutely positively my favorite Pakistani dish – and haleem. Yummmm.


KhattaDalchaB from www.loveurdu.com
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Speaking of Pakistani food and eating customs. How is it that any Pakistani can get their plate clean with a quarter of the bread that I use? I mean seriously, there’s always sauce and stuff left on my plate but theirs is cleaned and with very little bread?

People are always surprised that we eat mostly Pakistani food and some will even ask – when we eat out - if I can handle it and they have a look of fear in their eyes. It took a while to get used to and I’ll never forget the first time my husband took me to a Pakistani restaurant. This was one of the first times we met in person. I was so miserable eating. The food was sooooo hot and greasy and it burned my mouth – I seriously thought I was gonna die. I didn't eat very much and was literally sweating.

This weekend we went for the typical Pakistani breakfast at the same restaurant we went to that night and I realized I am no longer fob to Pakistani food. I ate up the nihari which used to be too hot for me and two plates of food (I guess I need to re-read Why French Women Don’t Get Fat but anyway). I now love halva puri and back then I thought it was a little weird. And now when I eat the eggs I don’t think they are too hot, I just don’t think they are very good because well as both dh and I realized, I cook them better. There’s nothing better for breakfast than desi scrambled eggs and paratha and then some raspberry jam on the last remaining piece of paratha. I eat this almost every day now if I have the time to actually cook breakfast.

When we first got married the food was still hot to me and dh would add achar to everything that i cooked. He rarely does that anymore because i've spiced it up quite a bit. Now, if I don’t make it spicy enough, I’m the one adding achar. And when I eat American food, it seems so bland and without taste hence the reason we eat mostly Pakistani food. We've been known to add spicy corriander chutney to american food. I’ve been trying out some Afghani, Iranian, and Iraqi foods now to mix things up but have to add at least chili powder, garam masala and cumin etc to the dishes. Like I tried this dish of of Sister Scorpions and it was really good but way too bland for us but we both imagined how good it would be spiced up. Sister Scorpion has some great recipes up on her site though. Do try some out!

I was only going to write one sentence and look at me now. If i start talking about food, it's neverending. Anyway, another thing that has changed food wise is dessert. I never used to like sweets – at all. I just wasn’t fond of them (another Pakistani influence…the word fond and keen...ugh...i think i picked those up from my mil grrrr – but at least I don’t switch v’s and w’s). The first time DH visited me he brought me some Southern style pralines which if you've had them will rock your world. I tasted them and was like Yuck – that is way too sweet. It is now my favorite thing and if either of us go by the mall that has them and doesn’t pick some up, it is considered a sin in this house. I also eat every type of dessert and always prepare something for dessert now. A note on Pakistani desserts too – they are all sugar! I mean for someone who didn’t like sweets to go to this extreme is crazy. Now if we don’t have something for dessert, the meal doesn’t seem complete. I used to make fun of my husband for always needing something sweet after dinner and now i do it! We have to at least have a piece of fruit or something sweet. And since we almost always eat at home, I have learned to make some good desserts. I have to thank dh for introducing me to rasmalai, his mom’s yummy saffron dessert (I think I’ll go make that now in fact), pralines, red velvet cake, gulab jamun – never will forget the time I called it gulab julab not knowing my error (lol), and so much more.


www.fizadiner.com
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

No wonder I can’t lose the baby fat. It’s not just baby fat, maybe it’s also getting married fat…