Food Auntie

Pepper Chicken Cut chicken into large chunks. We used 7 big cups of chicken 7 teaspoons olive oil 2 large onions – Sliced thin Cinnamon Sticks – 1 stick, 1 ½ inches broken up Whole Cloves – ½ teaspoon Fennel – ½ teaspoon 2 large jalapeno peppers, cut in thin strips Garlic and Ginger Paste – to make the paste, use about 7 ½ cloves & 1 tablespoon of ginger (1 square inch of ginger). Put it all in the blender, add a little water. Make paste (think...

Kavitha's huge smile and bubbly personality drew me to her immediately.  That, and the fact that she, like me, loves (I mean, loves) cupcakes.  Below is her recipe for chicken pulav. A few years ago my girlfriends and I went to my mom's house and she taught us how to cook a bunch of my favorites (while we made her measure everything instead of the usual "pinch of that, a spoon of this").  Here's my mom's recipe for chicken biriyani/pulav....

Mike, Miguel, Miggie, Migs - a.k.a. the heart of our D.C. urban family. I met Migs in the summer of 2003 and immediately fell in love with his sweet nature and easy smile.  Besides being the guy who's always willing to help you move, paint your house, or drive your car to New York, he's an amazing singer and excellent cook.  I got to enjoy both his musical and culinary prowess when he invited a friend and I to dinner at his place a couple...

      Vishal and I met in college many moons ago when we were both still teenagers.  We would bump into each other as adults - in law school and during first jobs - and have kept sporadically in touch ever since. Below is his recipe for keema, in typical, abbreviated man-style.  :) As you can see from the picture above, many people like to add peas and sometimes cilantro to the dish. Keema Sautee onions, add...

This is a super easy dish that works for vegetarians, vegans and even carnivores that may just need a veggie fix! My mom makes this for me every time I visit home so it just makes me think of the cozy feeling when I get to my parent's house.  My mom has super fresh ground spices and vegetables always on hand- I don't. I modified the following recipe so that I can make it within 10 minutes so it includes pre-made and mixed spices that you can...

My father is from Aleppo, a city in northern Syria.  Aleppan tourism has exploded in the past year, and the world is finally discovering the joys of the city's cuisine.  When my mother and father were first married, they lived with my father's extended family in Dubai.  Under my grandmother's tutelage, Mama learned to cook the deliciousness that is Aleppan cuisine.  One of the dishes my grandmother passed on is rice with meat...

My mother loves to cook, and as a result, I love to eat. My favorite memories of spending time with Mama involve watching her prepare a meal. Sometimes she would let me cut onions and chilis, always warning me not to touch my eye. Bent over the adalo, she would put her whole back into scraping coconut for fish curry. Mealtime was always a feast at our house. I never knew that other people didn't eat this way until I went to college and watched...