2-way couscous

I must agree that Geneva has given me a lot of freedom in terms of experimenting. Even though I have to struggle a lot to find ingredients the final output is priceless. There are few things which I did not even know existed until I started watching TLC back home, praise the lord......O Mama. If it was not for the set up box connection my culinary skills would have been nothing more than Indian and some indo chinese. I know mama will want to hit him hard when he finds that he has indirectly rooted the love for "experimental" cooking in me.

The first time I heard about couscous was like a year back. All I know was that it is not the spice khus-khus but a staple food, like our lovable 'rice' in the middle east. But then I knew for sure I was not going to look for a pack of couscous with a heavily pregnant belly. So I let it pass. The next time I heard about it was when mama told me about it. Surprised?? even I was but it was a shock for me. The man won't compromise rice for anything in this world but he has had couscous for lunch in Geneva with friends. Then comes the end part of the story he came home and had rice too. Pathetic :(

No, it is not RAVA

Ofcourse I wanted to have couscous for lunch even though he dismissed the whole issue telling it tasted and looked nothing more than Rava (semolina). That's the not the way you talk to someone like me. Hence I punish him once in a while by making couscous for lunch and yes, no rice the whole day.

When I first came here mama promised to take me to the nearby restaurant which is famous for its couscous served every Thursday. But till date we never had a chance of making it there. I really have no tasting done in this area other than my own but I think all them will taste the same. The reason for me to like couscous will be the cooking time. 5 minutes. Yes just 5 minutes, isn't that the most wonderful thing for any working women. You can pull it out in a jiffy and the fluffiness has no substitute I say. But its still durum wheat semolina like mama accuses it to be. Hush hush!!

Fluffy and yummy

Couscous is one of those things you can easily find in any of the supermarkets and I usually buy the precooked one which is perfect for me. I buy the al badia brand just because that was the only option I had the first time when I brought one, not that I am complaining it really works fine. 

The attracting 'ITEM'

The best day to try any thing new will be on the Sundays mainly due to the presence of my very own guinea pig. The additional advantage will be the complete attention the food will get, no mails no replies nothing. After tasting he will give the final verdict which is the usual (nothing can taste like rice blah blah) but who cares. As long as he looks good with no side effects the food passes the test.

It was a non-vegetarian affair for the first time, I had to lure him into tasting it right? It was a wonderful set up, Moroccan style chicken kebabs with vegetables on skewers with couscous salad (enriched with cilantro, parsley and spring onions). I even cooked some potatoes, mashed with some salt and paprika. He loved the chicken of-course and the couscous was also well received which means he ate the whole thing. How can he not eat potatoes? I loved the combination. The chicken was hot and spicy, couscous was subtle and bland and the potatoes were actually not of any need. LOL

Agreed, not a good picture :(

Today after a long time I cooked couscous mainly because I was done having rice continually for 3 big days. I had no chicken in stock so it was going to be vegetarian. Since its a weekday mama won't mind he has to run back to his love - "the LAPTOP". The quicker the better.

I must say I was really proud of the smell the kuruma made, yes I made a simple vegetable kuruma to go with the couscous and believe me it was awesome. The kuruma was enriched with carrots, beans, soya chunks, cauliflower and the humble potato. It is quiet a sensation back home, I love my mother's version in making kuruma. We will eat like 10 puris with this fresh coconut gravy. Since she was talking to me on skype I asked her for the recipe and she was more than happy to tell me two of her versions.  

Kuruma........

The kuruma came out real good and I loved the smell, not like mom's though but still somewhat closer. I served the couscous with some parsley and paprika. I loved the combination they worked well for me even though I had doubts about the coconut and mama HAD to tell 'super nice' after some insisting. Finally he did not forget to say he still thought it was rava upma. 

Maybe I should make rava upma in the night to show him the difference in taste, feel and texture. And keep cooking couscous until he agrees it is not rava upma . what say? EVIL GRIN :)

Red, hot and gloomy :(

There are days in my life when I get pushed and pressured way too much. There are days when I get up in the morning just for the sake of going back to sleep in the night. Those days are called mama-less days. A typical day starts with his bye to the office and ends with me waking up in the middle of the night hearing the door being opened. There are even days when mama goes to London for work and he wont even have time to see us on skype. Ah!! A very pitiable thing for the both of us. When you got to live in a friendless place all alone it makes it quiet miserable and climate goes for the final kill. Its already winter here, fall as in is just for name sake. Winter means minus degrees topped with a little snow. The temperature wont go anything above 15 degrees and its way too cold for a happy stroll in the park around 3 in the afternoon. Plus it rains STUPID, not drizzle not pouring it just rains. I wish Edward lived here, he would love this place. But he wont Bella is not here. 

Where the hell is the sun???

 When mama is here he comes home for lunch and that will be the only reason for me to cook something. I make separate meals for Babbi, so her stuff happens just the way like every other day. For the past two weeks its been hectic for us and I literally don't cook anything nice anymore. Today started just the same way and I was even planning to sleep some more and make curd rice, he wont notice anyway. But the moment I opened the fridge I had to change my mind. 

I brought some boneless chicken which was on sale the weekend and I used one pack of it to make some kebabs. The other pack was begging me to make some chilli chicken since Monday. The gloomy out side was also asking for something red hot and yummy. Chilli chicken calls for fried rice and I was not ready to cut veggies. So the next option sitting right there were two sweet corn cobs. Sweet corn is very expensive here and I again have to be very careful not to throw it away. Since I am not a 'canning' friendly person I try to buy them fresh when they are available and use them in what ever possible way. 

3 cobs for 3.75 francs, quel domage its on sale!!

Once the core ingredients are chosen  it becomes easy to cook. I never usually plan my cooking until and unless I feel the need. I am someone who will do all sorts of mistakes and get into trouble when I don't plan. So if it is an elaborate meal or complicated cooking planning is mandatory. Weekdays never need planning, mama wont even notice what I have cooked so its always easy cooking. 

The chilli chicken and sweet corn fried rice that I made were really a weekday meal and I wont do them on weekends. They posses no challenge and they work very fine with the pantry ingredients. Safe and tasty. 

RED HOT and PERFECT

The chilli chicken is an adapted recipe from three blogs, I don't even remember which three. It is a bit old and written down recipe to my style rather than those bookmarked ones which I try to follow completely.  The fried rice is my own recipe, I add subji masala to my rice if I feel so, hence its my own product which tastes real good.

Love the YELLOW!!!

Babbi was very appreciative as she tasted the rice with lots of enthusiasm and gave a thumps up with her smile. She hardly ate a spoon full and was done, nothing more can I expect from a one year old. I started eating completely satisfied after insulting mama on skype with all possible (ninja, puking, angry, crying, sad, thumbs down) similes. He turned up after sometime and was really not apologetic. 

The funny part is that he ate the whole thing the way he would eat curd rice and pickle. No, he did not notice. AIYO RAMA!!!

END OF SAD STORY

The Celebration :)

Its really been ages since I put on my writer's cap and mama has finally stopped asking me why. I have no reasons for the block that affects my writing and coming out of the trance seems so difficult all the time. I have cooked a lot these past months. much to my amusement I have experimented a lot and learnt much more. I have recently discovered that surprises don't really surprise me, a stupid thing for a girl to say.

This post is about one of those special days I wait for the whole year. This September 15th mama turned 30, yes a big number and I was so excited even before the start of September. Of course mama was a little upset about leaving the twenties behind and embracing the thirties. Guess no one loves to grow old but it just keeps happening. I wanted to do something really big this year not just because of the number but the mama guy himself needed some pampering.

Taken with the maximum lighting possible at 12am

Baking a cake for any birthday in the family has become tradition and hence I was not going to stop at it. I cooked a 3 course meal for my birthday this year and it was all in the hurry that I somehow managed to bring out the highly ambitious meal on the table. But this time I had more time to plan, shop and execute. I must say I was completely satisfied with the execution as in for mama he is this always-the-same-smug-smile person, so no use asking him. LOL

I planned for an elaborate five course meal this time and it was perfect for me, the menu was kept secret all along which is again a feat for me. I tell him every damn thing. This is exclusive of the cake and the payasam I made for his star birthday. It is a general procedure for a 5 course meal to contain

A salad course
A soup course
An appetiser
A main course and
A dessert course

Salad : Arabian delight

Perfect start??

I warn any one who is going to read this particular passage, beware. If you are a pure vegetarian then you might even hate me for putting this up.

But the show must go on.

On the first week of September when we went shopping I asked mama what meat he wanted me to cook for his birthday (knowing that chicken will be his most preffered choice, i was of course bragging about the 5 course meal i was going to make ). At first he said anything was fine with him, like every other man in this world. I pressed him and he pointed right on to the meat hanging above the beef section. GULP, it was horse, he asked me to cook HORSE for his birthday and voila I DID. Ok, first of all I was not comfortable with the meat and secondly I did not have any idea how I was going to cook or have it as a main course. But it looked as if the swiss people enjoy eating horse or cheval in french, its quiet a delicasy here. I found pre cooked take away in the  supermarket, seasonal specialty. It is a very soft meat that needs taking care of.  

 I made up my mind to make a simple salad. In a bed of ice berg lettuce and french dressing tweaked with extra mayo, I dropped pieces of horse meat, slightly salted and cooked throughout.

It was a cold salad and it tasted really NOT BAD, mostly because I already knew it was going to taste like beef. Mama was.... the usual but with a little hint of fascination on his eyes. Gotcha!!

Soup : Sweet corn vegetable soup

Full and filling

I have to say it was super easy to pull this thing out but the recipe asked for some creme style sweet corn, which probably is so easy to get in the US or India, but in Geneva it is a no-no so I made it two days before and froze it. The blogger (Sailu) had also given the recipe to make it too, very helpful I must say. The color looks so dull and that's the soy sauce, black as night. Mama loved it, he said its the second best out of the five and he wanted more servings too. The link to the soup recipe is here and the blog is a good collection of traditional and fusion recipes.  

Appetizer : Chicken momos

Love the pleats

Ok, this one is quiet a bone bending job, atleast for me with a toddler who herself is trouble but anything. The recipie is from Ria's blog (in case you click on this link I am assured you are never gonna come back, I dont blame you , it happened to me a lot of time.). I tweaked her recipe by adding some veggies and I used chicken mince (traditionally pork is used). The pleating part was quiet difficult for me and the filling tasted real good. I made them a week before and froze it, which is really not a good idea (defrosting was a mess).  I served them with some green chilli sauce and a sweet red chilli sauce. (mama was like "you made even this" I had to give him a stone glance and said "store brought" and then there was a satisfying grin, kalaichutaram enna)

Main : Portuguese chicken

All set for the attack, too bad you can't smell ;)

No extravagant meal is complete without chicken in our household, now that Babbi also shares our liking its more glee to us. It is such an obvious choice and a very filling option too. The highlight was the marinate which was simple and mostly lemony all the way. The spice level was high in this case, the Indian spice level in Portuguese style. I did not add the potatoes or the onions as suggested. I served them with some raitha and a vegetable salad. I might have made some mashed potatoes or pasta but it would have been way too heavy and we were already feeling full. The chicken was cooked to perfection in the oven and the aroma was awesome. I wish to make it again and mama will never complain if I do so. As in for the recipe I got it from here

Dessert: Ras-Malai

Such a cutie PIE :P

It is a kings dessert if you ask me. I really felt royal making it and eating it. No shortcuts used, I promise. Everything was made from the scratch the night before and chilled to make it a perfect dessert and it did wow mama. I dumped in extra servings of fine cut nuts to make super royal. He was blown with the taste and gave it the first rank. Mama has 'golden' sweet tooth and I wanted to make something that would really impress his taste buds. He is not much of a cake lover I gather much to my disappointment. But this one was unbeatable he ate like ten of them, Babbi loved it too. I made myself proud and thanks to pooja ( another blogger like Ria and she is a fab too. Her pics make me go crazy hungry all the time) for the recipe, it is a keeper. As in for the coloring saffron costs like gold here and may be I should have added some yellow coloring but that's cheating!! I have already added saffron to my list of things I got to buy the next time i go to India which is not any where near :(.  My mom will love this so will my grandmom.

Ah!! what a long post. I hope its not so boring or lame. But I really enjoyed writing and giving away the world my love for food and food bloggers who really exploit me with their drool worthy pictures.

One for the past :)

Icing: for the 1st time

Few days back I was checking my orkut profile (after a year, I am a FB addict)  and saw my albums in there. I had pictures of the cakes I baked during college. That’s when I conceived with this new thought.

This post is to rekindle my memories related to food as a kid. When I was six or seven making mud-pies and flower curries was a daily routine with my neighbor friends. My grandparents had a big garden those days so it was fun picking flowers, leaves and small berries to play with. I used to steal flour, milk, vegetables from amma's kitchen for my cooking. It was fun till I got caught. Then my parents got me a new baby brother to play ( read fight) with and i stopped making pies :p.

Marble cake

 During most of my teens it was just making omelets and occasional fried Maggi. I did not like cooking at all. Going to school, finding friends, fighting with my brother, trying to study, watching cartoon and much more was going on then.

It was during college that the miracle happened. Amma got herself a conventional oven to bake cake. That's when I remembered a big fact that amma used to bake, when I was very small. I used to sit near her and watch her take out her big oven (round, somewhat an ancient model) and wipe it. It used to take up a big space in the cupboard. She also had a big recipe book from which most of her food came from. She would take out a big chunk of avin butter and slowly beat it into the right consistency. Then the eggs will be beaten for while and the other ingredients will go in after checking her book. Then she would place the cake mix in her oven and set the temperature. We would  sit near the oven and wait for the cake to raise and get shape. She would say that electricity is the most important thing and if the current fails the cake flops. Nostalgic, I can still smell the cake. All this will happen in the late nights, amma's specialty.

Banana cake

She also made butter biscuits, jams, squashes and her own ketchup. The saddest part is that no one in my house realized its worth. I did not eat the cake or the biscuits, it was not shop brought. She made them for me and I did not appreciate the value of it. Appa, I guess never bothered to tell anything. One fine day she packed all her equipments and sent them to the loft and never baked again. That's it, end of sad story :P

Oats cookies- hot from the oven!!

So after years she got the spirit back and this time she did not bake, I did. It was my friend Roobaja who gave me the idea. She got Nita Mehta's cook book from her cake baking friend Aliah Hoda and we were so tempted to bake one ourselves. So the operation 'cake-bake' began and it turned out well. We were jumping in joy to see our first cake raise and take shape, its always a joy for me to stand next to the oven see the fruits of my labor. Amma was really proud of me and my brother gorged the cake in two hours. What more do I need?

My birthday cake :)

So it started, my love for baking. All the birthdays in my family was topped with a home baked cake and everyone loved it. I always bake Oil cakes cuz they are much lighter than the butter cakes and I did not find any difference in the taste. Seeing my interest amma got me different molds to make cakes. She went one step further and got a Philips hand mixer which was a tad bit costly then. It's so special to me that I carry it everywhere I go. Even when I flew to Geneva I made sure it was traveling with me, not bothering mama's hesitation about the weight.

Love-cake for You-Know-Who

Geneva has been nice to me till date when it comes to baking. I tried my hands on so many things, not just cakes but pies, croissants, naans and stuffed buns. They were quiet a success I will say cuz mama got me three molds and a piping cone this valentines day :)

This one's for you, poo:)

Scrumptious!!

 
  Poornima is the poo this post is dedicated to. We share a very special 'bond' that grows stronger everyday. She is one of those rarest 'finds' from college who thinks I make sense when I tell her something, normally considered to be crap by others.We have very similar interests and all that we talk interests the both of us. It seldom happens with others inclusive of mama. During college we spent n number of hours standing in the corridor talking and laughing. We did not hang out much or stayed in the same group throughout college. It was like on and off all the time but that never affected what we felt for each other and 'opening up' was made easy. I have some of my best college memories with her, the foremost being the day I got  placed. She stayed the whole day waiting, motivating and praying so that I get-through. I owe you one poo :)

She flew to the US to do her masters soon after college. Since then we are again on and off through gtalk and Skype. When I told her about the blog she was damn excited about it. She even told me about how she has fallen in love with cooking and the various healthy recipes she cooks everyday. I wish could eat them some day, it will be a fantastic reunion:)

It was poo who suggested the word 'burritos' to me, yes here we come to the food part this blog is all about. I was telling her that I had no clue about the tex-mex cuisine which I very badly wanted to try. Since I am a food fanatic my eyes are always glued to the TV when there is a food show. Top chef, Master chef, Food safari, Bizarre foods, Man vs food, Nigella express and much much more, huh!! those were the days when all time was my time. It was Maeve O'Meara's Food safari show that made me fall in love with the tex-mex cuisine. I was heavily pregnant by then and I was not in for trying new food.

Yellow and Red : Tex-Mex

 But once I came here my search for a restaurant that serves the cuisine started, but still haven't found one:(. So when Poo told me that very special word I have no idea about I looked for it in about.com immediately :). This website is a wonderful place, full of food recipes I have no idea about. It gave a me fair idea on what burritos is. But still I ended up making a different dish, meaning i did not do the traditional burrito wrap. I some how got lost, lol.

That was appetizing :)

I am a frequent visitor to Migros and Coop (the nilgires or wal mart in Swiss) with Babbi, our 'outgoing' time. So I had a fair idea about the ingredients the website was talking about.Mama was surprisingly excited about my idea. Ever since the blog he seem to have broadened his food choices and readily agrees to my crazy plans.

 I got some Fajita spice mix, some chunky salsa and ready made flour tortillas (12CHF in a bang). The salsa sauce was extra hot version and the fajita spice mix was the less spicy version (was not able to find a hotter version). Poo mentioned some black beans and I had no idea where to find them fresh since I am not a tin-friendly person. So I cooked some chickpeas and rajma beans which were a very good alternative owing to our unfamiliarity with the food's actual taste.

I planned to serve them for the dinner and did not think of an alternative in case of a failure, fingers crossed. 

Everything was clear about the making. Youtube and Google has never let me down when it comes to such adventures. With the help of two videos from Youtube ( how to make a tortilla and how to wrap a tortilla) it was all done in minutes. I just had to cut some onions and green peppers, add them to the beans and pour the salsa, add the spice mix and heat them for some time. There you go my mix/stuffing was ready. The tortillas were so soft and I was very careful not to tear them. Wrapping was fun and then I toasted them to seal the shape. In some of my tortillas I added cheese, it seriously adds glam to the food.

Wrapped up 

Something that started as a burrito ended up looking like a postcard. But my only concern was the taste. It is mandatory for mama to try anything I cook first, its been happening ever since I started cooking. He mocks me a little about this fact but I don't mind as long as he does the 'tasting'.

The last one

He did like them and he ate the whole thing in a go, that's mainly because I didn't make a proper lunch that day. Another trick of mine that mostly works. Anyways it was a good dinner and it was so easy to make just like how Nigella makes things in a jiffy.

Traditionally yours :)

Urad dal vada

Deep fried foods are always welcome in our house. Indian cuisine is rich in oil and south Indian cuisine has some of the best fried food recipes like bajji, yellow dal vada, urad dal (lentil) vada, pappadam, vadam, muruku etc.My mom makes yummy fried stuff very often, my brother and I always fight over the last one :) still we fight when it comes to food. No shop brought food can taste like the home made ones, they have the 'love' added unconditionally.

During the first year Friday's had a fixed lunch menu: sambar, papadam and potato fry (mama's most favorite). Mama would never trade the lunch for anything, even non veg. Sambar is his most favorite curry and I hate it (as usual) but its still the Friday curry in our house and the only thing missing is the papadam.

I have an electric cook top (fully glass) stove in here and it supports only flat bottomed utensils and I cant use the traditional kadais here :(. Flat bottom utensils means lots of oil wastage so I never made any fried stuff :( . Here people use fryers and we did not want to over crowd the too small kitchen of mine. But the craving to have some hot vada or bajji remained because its too cold in here and nothing can keep you warn like them.

Last week when I was talking to my mom I told her about the craving and she said " Why not waste some oil? You will be happy that you finally had some". She made me think. My mom gave me the push this time and I decided to surprise mama the coming weekend with the vada. He was silently craving for some too, just that he wont tell.

Urad dal vada is so simple to make but I like the Masala vada or parupu vada more. When I was in Chennai I used to make small parupu vadas for lunch and they have this lovely aroma and loads of spice. Crunchy parupu vadas are a yum and now I miss them terribly, I wish mom was here to make some for me. I really feel sad when my bro shows off the lovely vadas over Skype :( . Of course I make him a bit more sadder with my pizzas :p

My attempt on vada making started off with soaking the dal first thing in the morning. By 11 am when I had finished making some puliyogare and cut onions, chillies and ginger for the vada I put the dal in the mixer to make the batter. That is when the problem started, the mixer I guess had some gastric trouble for the sounds it produced gave me a fit. Mama came running to check if everything was fine. He knew right away I was in for something. I told him finally. Then we somehow made the batter without breaking the mixer :) 

The batter

My mom always says the consistency of the batter matters a lot. the more watery the more amount of oil the vada will absorb so the batter must be a little thick, which it was:). Since urad dal vada is traditionally made with a hole in-between which I had no idea how to do it, mama the savior jumped in. 

My all-in-all busy frying

He knew how to put the hole and drop them into the hot oil. He always surprises me when it comes to things like this. He has never made a vada in his life before but he knows how to do it. There is always a story behind his 'knowledge' which is too good to hear. I am a big fan of the stories :)

There you go!!  The vada with the HOLE

Mama is this chutney guy, he needs chutney for anything and everything. This time it was very easy for him to demand one and I had to make it. Its always coconut chutney for him. Every time I make some mama will find flaws, he says I make bad-chutneys and will alter them. This time was just like the others :( But he was completely blown off with the vada.

Coconut chutney

I don't remember eating the puliyogare it was only the vadas. I might have consumed around 10, I was still hungry for more but with mama watching and giving out his 'aren't u full?' mocking smile, I had to stop.

The challenge meal :)

The challenge : Winning smile

Initially when I started cooking (2 years back) , I was dead slow. A whole 2 hours was spent in making a simple curry and a poriyal. No matter how fast I was I ended up taking/wasting more time to cook. That's probably because I had all the time on earth. I worked as a technical writer but quit too early before i fell in love with the job. The main reason being 'less-time-spending' with mama. We eat all the three meals together which seldom happens in families, its very special to the both of us. Mama's office was close to our house and that is how he likes it to be.

When I got pregnant I moved in with my parents and did not cook even a single day. Sometimes I will so badly want to cook and I would make a curry for the roti. 

 I came to Geneva ( when babbi was 4 months old)  and started my second innings in cooking. Two factors affect my cooking in this part of the world: Time and Space. A crawling baby means you have a 'mobile-trouble'. Babies always love the wrong things ( mine loves to lick shoes) and you have to be vigilant all the time. Cutting vegetables and running behind the baby happens side by side and is an everyday thing. Compared to my first kitchen now the place ( I wont call it kitchen) where I cook is too (only 2 'o's are allowed) small. 

Cutlets without ketchup is MI

Hence my cooking adventures ALWAYS take place only when mama is at home. He( god bless him) takes full care of my first problem. Now tackling the second one looks so easy. Finding time to cook is a dear these days so I never let go of the slightest opportunity. Weekends are the gateway to my adventure cooking. Every week starts with a new dish :)

This week my plans were to make a full meal. I decided to make some chicken cutlets, peas pulav and shrimp fry . The Sunday started with a small fight and i decided not to cook lunch, i do this every time we fight. Soon we patched up ( the usual) and I got back to the cooking mood. When i started to cook mama got a mail, he had work and will leave to office in two hours. so i had just one and a half hour to cook and I am never used to fast cooking. 

Chicken Cutlets:  

  Chicken is one food that I adore since I turned 8. I never used to like non veg till then. It was introduced to me by Lovy aunty, my neighbor who is a master chef. My first mutton cutlets were made by her for Christmas. I used to hide under the table when mom made chicken chops, I still dunno why. Mama will laugh when he reads this. He blames for the raise in chicken prices. It took me some time to realize that my mom's chicken chops were yummier and worth all praise. The fish cutlets that mom makes have no substitute. I have tried them in so many restaurants and nothing won over mom's cutlets. I eat like 20 at a time. 

It is a surprise that I have never tasted a chicken cutlet in my life. The first ones I had was made by me, yay!!. Since I hate white bread I used brown bread crumbs for the coating. I do cutlets in my mom's style, I never deep fry them but shallow fry and mama the crazy guy found out the difference. He just loveeesss fried stuff. 

Colors!!

Peas Pulav: 

 Frozen peas is inexpensive here and hence my freezer has a permanent occupant now. It is the 'X' ingredient and goes into almost all of my dishes. Peas pulav is so simple to make and it tastes damn good. The aroma from the bay leaves, cloves and cardamom will make your tummy growl. Priceless feeling!!

Shrimps : Full of spice

The Shrimps:

    We never get fresh shrimps here which is a sad thing. People here eat half cooked shrimps and use them for salads.After a 3 day research i finally got some frozen raw shrimps. Since everything is in french and most of the time they don't even specify if the prawns are cooked it was a big deal to find some, especially when you got bad weather and a stroller with a sleeping baby to push around.  I don't fry them in a lot of oil just cook them with little water and make them dry so they are mostly crisp. It was too good and spicy, secret lies with the marinade I made the day before when I was free.

I won the challenge hands down not just because i cooked the food on time and took care of babbi  in-between. PROUD WIN!!!