Monthly Archives: April 2016

Pan fried Chicken Gizzard

Posted on April 28, 2016 | 5 comments

As I have mentioned in my previous post, in Nepal, a goat’s brain (gidi), feet (khutta), head (tauko), stomach (bhundi), tongue (jibro), liver (kalejo), kidney, lungs (phokso), fried intestines (aandra), fried solidified blood (rakati) are considered delicacies and are in very high demand during Dashain and other festivals. We also eat certain parts of chicken apart from the usual.

I know some of you might feel squeamish even thinking about eating offal but believe me if you love your meat, you will love these dishes. Another thing is that eating offal uses the parts of the animal that might otherwise be wasted. As it takes 10 kilos of cereal to produce one kilo of meat we should not waste any part of the carcass. Unless you deliberately avoid meat, eating offal should be regarded as “green”.

Today I am sharing the recipe to cook chicken gizzard. A gizzard is an organ found in the digestive tract of a chicken. Similar to a stomach, the gizzard is used to grind up the foods the bird eats. Eating gizzards provide a healthy dose of certain vitamins and minerals.

Chicken Gizzard is a very popular appetizer and tastes really good.

Ingredients

  • 500 gm Chicken Gizzard, cleaned
  • 1 teaspoon Ginger/Garlic Paste
  • 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
  • 3 teaspoon Vegetable Oil
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Clean the chicken gizzards and boil them for 5 minutes until they are tender.

Chicken Gizzard (1)

  • Drain them and let it cool for a few minutes.

Chicken Gizzard (2)

  • Cut them into bite size pieces

Chicken Gizzard (3)

  • In a big bowl, add ginger garlic paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt with chicken gizzard and mix them well.

Chicken Gizzard (4) Chicken Gizzard (5)

  • Heat oil in a pan and add the gizzard and fry for around 8-10 minutes.

Chicken Gizzard (6)

  • Keep stirring occasionally until they are brown on all side.
  • Serve hot as an appetizer.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

P.S.S: If you blog about Nepal, please visit my new page .

5 Comments

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Okra (lady’s finger) fry

Posted on April 21, 2016 | 19 comments

I have to admit, we don’t cook too many different types of veggies when we are on our own but since my parents came here we always have vegetables in every meal. Normally my mum cooks them and I am trying to learn how to cook them :).

Here is an easy recipe for Okra (lady’s finger). I know it might not be everyone’s favourite but it tastes so yummy when done the right way. I am not a big fan of it either but when my mums make it I just love it :). Just remember not to add water.

Ingredients

  • Okra- 250 gm washed, dried and chopped into small pieces

okra (1)

  • ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
  • ½ tablespoon garlic paste
  • 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
  • Cooking Oil – 1 ½ tablespoon
  • Salt to taste

    Method

  • Wash the okra, dry them, chop and throw away tip and tail ends. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
  • In a pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds and let them brown.
  • Add garlic paste and let it fry for a few minutes, stir them for few seconds.
  • Add turmeric powder and add okra and mix well.
  • Fry on medium high heat for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.
  • Add salt and reduce to low flame and cover it and cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
  • The okra is cooked when it turns soft.

okra (2)

  • Enjoy!

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

P.S.S: If you blog about Nepal, please visit my new page .

19 Comments

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Specialist visit

Posted on April 20, 2016 | 17 comments

When Chhori was around 6 months old, I saw a dark line underneath her left ring finger. She had just started to crawl so I thought she had managed to hit her finger somewhere and it caused a blood clot under her nail. I just checked if she was OK and let it be.

When I cut the nail the next time I noticed that the new nail still had the line so I got a bit worried. I googled it and there were many posts from birth marks to cancer. So we visited our GP to make sure it was nothing to worry about. He checked her and referred her to a specialist to check it further just to be safe.

chhori (2)

It took us almost 2 months to get an appointment and so we finally went for a visit on last Friday. We both took a day off work for the visit.

About 3 hours before the appointment time, I got a text letting me know that the doctor is running an hour late so we adjusted our day accordingly. When we arrived there, we had to wait around 5-10 minutes before it was our turn. In that time, we filled out the paper work and made sure Chhori didn’t break anything while she was busy exploring the place. She has become so active recently that she needs a full time minder when we are out and about. I was scared she might hurt herself or break something.

Chhori (1)

Anyway, when it was out turn the doctor came in and introduced herself. She checked Chhori’s nail and said that it was just a mole and there was nothing to worry about which was quite a relief. She took a photo of her finger in her phone, also under a microscope and asked us to come back next year so she can examine Chhori again for any changes.

I was confused for a while because she was literally done in less than 2 minutes and it was all over so quickly. I can understand that she was busy and all that but we paid $235 for the consultation and it was done in 2 minutes.

Chhori (3)

I am super happy that Chhori is OK and we don’t have to worry about it but at the same time I don’t understand how a dermatologist can get away with charging $235 for a 2 minutes consultation. I guess I am in the wrong profession.

Does anyone out there have a similar experience? Do you think the doctors are getting more money than the service may be worth?

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

17 Comments

Posted in Being Mum, Health

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Nepali breakfast treat

Posted on April 18, 2016 | 16 comments

It always feels great when we discover something authentically Nepali in Sydney. Sometimes in life, even a small thing can make you happy and that is what I felt when we discovered that there is a Nepali restaurant which serves Nepali style breakfast.

I think everyone has fond memories from their childhood and one of mine is yummy food for breakfast when in Nepal, like gwaramari, puri, malpuwa, jeri, swari and other delicacies. It is not every day that we eat these foods but usually on weekends I would wait for my dad to come home with some for us.

Last week, one of our friends mentioned that, a Nepali restaurant is serving Nepali style breakfast on the weekends. I couldn’t wait to go and taste them so we went there on Sunday along with my parents and some friends.

We heard that the place gets busy very early and the last time our friends were there they had to wait a while for a table so we went early and I was happy to see most of the tables empty. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet style breakfast.

Nepali food (2)

They served puri, jeri, potatoes curry, brown chick peas, kheer (rice pudding) and tea.  I took a bit of everything and I really enjoyed the breakfast. AS, my parents and friends were very happy with the breakfast as well. Chhori ate some rice pudding and some puri too. These days she really enjoys our food so we try to feed her a little of everything.

Nepali food (1)

The owner was very accommodating as well giving us jeri without sugar syrup fresh off the stove and sugarless tea as my dad is diabetic.

I am sure if I eat this regularly, you won’t be able to recognise me as I can’t control the amount I eat but it is a great place to go occasionally. We already plan to go there in a few months’ time. 🙂

What is your special breakfast? Have you tried any Nepali treats?

Happy Monday everyone and Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

16 Comments

Posted in adora, Foodie, Nepal, Nepali food

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Finding a perfect foundation

Posted on April 14, 2016 | 10 comments

Beauty shopping is normally fun, trying different shades of lipsticks and gloss or going through palettes upon palettes of pretty shadows finding new shades is always an adventure. One thing I hate though is shopping for foundations.

I believe foundation is one of the most important beauty regime but still finding the right foundation had been a very time consuming and annoying experience for me. In the last 5-6 years since I started using make up, I tried numerous foundation. I am sure it is every woman’s problem, to get a foundation that matches their skin colour and type.

I had stand in front of the cosmetic section in a store trying to figure out whether I am sandy beige, beige or a toasted almond. There is also the choice between powder, stick, or liquid foundation. On top of that all these foundation are expensive so that buying and trying each of them means you have a lighter wallet and a stack of different foundations that you will never use.

So it took me ages to find one that suited me perfectly after testing so many different brands. Surprisingly, I found it while I was visiting Nepal.

The brand that worked perfectly for me was Isadora. It is a Swedish cosmetics brand and it was suggested to me by a cousin. Initially I was not very keen to try it as I had never heard of the brand but I was surprised when I did, it was perfect for my skin, evening out my complexion without being noticeable. I was so impressed that I bought 4 bottles to bring it to Australia.

I was very happy with it and have continued to use it for a few years now. Every time I go to Nepal, I buy a few bottles so I have enough stock with me. Also when my parents or in laws visited us, I asked them to buy a few bottles for me so I always had a good supply of the foundation.

But unfortunately the shop that sold the foundation stopped stocking it. I called them, emailed them but the answer was final. They were not going to restock it.

I was so sad that that I had to go through the process of finding another foundation as I could not find Isadora products in Australia. I even mailed the company in Sweden to find out if they had any partners here in Australia, but alas they did not. My only option was to get it shipped from Sweden but then the company doesn’t sell to the public directly. They just gave me the names of a few re-sellers in Sweden but most of them don’t ship outside Europe.

Finally after searching through many pages of Google translate (wish I knew someone who spoke Swedish), I found one website which ships to Australia. So I emailed them to check if they will definitely ship to Australia and when I received a positive reply I was ecstatic. Finally I could just buy from their website and I could still use my favourite foundation.

So, I went onto their website to order the product and when I reached the page with the shipping options I couldn’t find the option to ship to Australia anywhere. It required me to send an email again and after few emails, I managed to finally place my order.

After 3 weeks, I received my product and now I am so happy.

While I was going through this entire ordeal, AS once asked me why I couldn’t find something else so I could easily buy it in Australia. I told him that after many trial and errors I had found one foundation which is perfect for me, I really didn’t want to go through the whole process again. Anyway, the problem is resolved now and I am not going to whinge about foundations for a long time 🙂

Do you have beauty story like that. What foundation you are using and are you happy?

Take care.,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

10 Comments

Posted in adora, beauty, Fashion

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