Italian-inspired tender and juicy meatballs made with ground beef cooked in a pot of freshly made marinara sauce are served warm with spaghetti for a simple, hearty and comforting dinner any time of the year. Sharing my best lessons to make the perfect meatballs that stay in shape and don't fall apart while cooking.  ..read more

Ekmek Kataifi is a delicious chilled dessert recipe from Greece made with layers of syrupy shredded pastry, creamy custard, whipped cream and chopped nuts. An easy make-ahead dessert that will feed at least 8 adults or in our case, two sweet-toothed adults for 4 days ?  ..read more

This 3 ingredient mango ice cream recipe with sweetened condensed milk makes the best homemade no-churn ice cream that is smooth with intense mango flavour.   ..read more

Italian-inspired tender and juicy meatballs made with ground beef cooked in a pot of freshly made marinara sauce are served warm with spaghetti for a simple, hearty and comforting dinner any time of the year. Sharing my best lessons to make the perfect meatballs that stay in shape and don't fall apart while cooking.  ..read more

These sweet potato black bean veggie burger patties are tender, hearty, delicious and highly satiating with irresistible Indian flavours.  ..read more

Halved hard-boiled eggs nestled in spicy onion masala, wrapped in store-bought puff pastry squares, brushed with egg wash and baked to golden crispy and flaky egg puffs are best had with a hot cup of chai.  Question for my fellow mallus - Did you ever catch yourself or your kins calling these mutta pupps ..read more

Keema naan with homemade yeasted dough stuffed with a spicy raw minced meat filling, toasted on a tawa, brushed with yoghurt, sprinkled with nigella seeds and then lastly, baked in a hot oven. This recipe makes 5 hearty keema naan that 2 hungry humans can eat for lunch or dinner. You may serve with yoghurt, mint chutney or any curry but we prefer to eat as is like a pizza while watching Netflix. Reel video included.  ..read more

Kara Pori aka Murmura, a spicy puffed rice snack recipe filled with peanuts and flavoured with garlic and turmeric is best served with evening chai.  ..read more

Crunchy granola made with dates syrup and flavoured with ground ginger and cardamom to bring the traditional Emirati Batheetha in your breakfast bowl. Of course, the other usual granola suspects will show up too! You guessed it, the nuts, seeds, dried fruits, etc!  ..read more

As we wrap up 2021, let me share with you the 10 most popular recipes on But First Chai since the start of this blog. I would say 2021 has been kind of a steady year for the blog with fabulous 43 recipes, though I aimed to publish 48 recipes this year. I honestly lost the mojo right around the end of November, in time for the holiday baking. I want to believe it was a good thing saving us from ..read more