Eatlearncook

Anyone who knows me knows I can't take the WA heat.. But if it's one thing I love about Aussie summer, it's these ruby jewels of a fruit POMEGRANATE!
They literally elevate any dish from decent to wow in one garnish. Seriously! Sprinkle some on your steamed basmati rice and you got a Persian rendition in seconds! Swipe right to see some real jewels 💎
I dont just love it for its aesthetics but its flavour and particularly my crimson hero with no cape the mighty pomegranate molasses . Must have for a Mediterranean cuisine pantry imo.
Let's talk recipe of this smoky tangy pomegranate Baba Ganoush ✏️
TAKE:
2 large eggplants charred on the open flame in your stove with the skin until the skin goes black and cracks then in the oven at 200 C for 20-30 mins. Allow to cool then peel off the black charred skin should come off easy discard and chop up the pulp inside
3-4 cloves fresh garlic
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
1 tsp brown sugar
Pinch of salt
Pulse in a food processor slowly to get a chunky salsa consistency. Pour into mixing bowl

CHOP 🔪:
Parsley
Mint
Corriander
Add to the bowl. Stir to combine

SPRINKLE ✨:
1 tsp sumac
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

SQUEEZE 🍋:
Half a lemon or lime

TASTE 👅:
Adjust salt and acidity if needed

DIP 🤩
With crackers!

Have you ever heard of pink Kashmiri tea? Whenever there's a stormy night I just dream of a nice cup of this tea. Last night I had to settle for a hot Milo. Why you ask? This tea takes 2-3 hours to be made just right.
Kashmiri tea termed pink tea is made from boiling a special kind of green tea leaves 3-4 times with iced water till you get a red amber tea or Qehwa as we call it. The most interesting part of the tea is that you actually add some salt with the sugar which makes it a salty sweet fragrant concoction.
Here's my recipe for Pink tea :
In a saucepan add:
2 tsp kashmiri green tea leaves
1/2 tsp baking soda
9 cups of iced water.
4-6 pods cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
Salt and sugar to taste

Heat over a full flame stirring continuously till you reach boiling point. Now start "pulling" by filling a ladel with the boiling tea raising it high above the pot and letting it splash in the pot. Continue pulling till you end up with one cup of brewed tea instead of three. You'll notice the tea starting to foam now as you mix. Now add three cup more of iced water and repeat till you have one cup ag*in. Do this one more time but now only boil till you have about 2 cup left (didn't say it was easy). By now you should have ended up two cups of ruby/amber coloured brewed tea or Qehwa. This is the base concentrate of your drink. Allow to cool then strain and store in a jar or bottle until you're ready to use this. The Qehwa can be stored up to two weeks in a clean bottle in the fridge.
When you're ready to enjoy the tea, you need about a 1/4 cup of the qehwa per 3-4 cup milk. Heat in a saucepan, add cold milk and bring to a simmer. Top with chopped pistachios and enjoy your pink tea 🌹.
Also if you're wondering how I ended up with a beautiful shot of the tea although I didn't even make it? This is from a shoot the talented did for me 💕

I'm already feeling a bit of nostalgia as we bid farewell to winters here is Australia. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love the summer but something about winter just makes me homesick and miss my parents. Probably because it meant snuggling in front of a fire in my parents home with some sort of winter comfort dish prepared with love 💜. Here are some of my winter favourite foods :
❄️Chicken corn soup
❄️ Burn your mouth green curry
❄️ Tom kha g*i
❄️ Yum cha
❄️ Jacket potato filled with bolognese
❄️ Grilled cheese
❄️ Blow your head off Biryani
❄️ Haleem
❄️ Roasted unshelled peanuts
❄️ Hot chocolate (duh)
❄️ Kashmiri pink tea (will post soon)
❄️ Hot brownie with icecream
❄️ Gulab jaman
Tell me your winter favourites 👇

I know I've been raving about Gulab jaman alot but I literally can't stop making or eating these bad boys. Soft dough balls made of milk whey are fried until brown and then they sit in a golden cardamom saffron simple syrup. They swell up to twice their size and the result is like a pillowy fluffy donut dripping with a light fragrant syrup. Best way to describe them is if a Greek donut went to India on an exchange program g*ined some weight, fluffiness and an ethnic flavour.
I can write a book about these but one thing I can tell you that they are the king.. No wait the QUEEN of sweets because they run the world of Indian and Pakistani desserts.
They are enjoyed all year round but particularly popular in winter as they are served in their syrup which is still warm. If you want to see how they are made.. just scroll down into my feed I've raved about these in a reel before 👇. If you want to order these slide into my DMs !
📷 by the talented . Be sure to check out her page guys!
Do you have a favourite dessert from your culture? Tell me about it!.