Zerbian chicken

Zerbian chicken is a wonderfully fragrant Saudi dish. Turmeric and cilantro give the dish a fresh look and taste while the simple spices keep up with Saudi traditions. This dish is usually created using a whole chicken but really my family and I enjoy the breast so that is usually what I use. Please remember when cooking Arabic rice N...EVER remove the lid once you place it on the pot. The steam is what actually cooks the rice as it sits. Once the rice has finished small holes will appear all over the top of the rice, this is why I use glass lids.

4-6 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 cups basmati rice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 large white onion
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/3 cup yogurt
4 cardamom greens, bruised
1 tablespoon fresh ginger sliced
1 small cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1. In a 4-quart saucepan on high heat add 1 tablespoon oil, rice, cilantro, 1/2 of onion and water. Bring to a full boil then reduce to low and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle some parts of rice with turmeric, cover and allow sitting for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a sauté pan on medium heat add remaining oil. Add chicken and remaining onion allowing to fully cooking until chicken is no longer pink and onions are tender. Add cardamoms, ginger, cinnamon, pepper and cumin, mix well.

3.Add rice and yogurt into the sauté pan, combining all ingredients well. Allow to cook on low for 10 minutes covered. Place al roz al Zerbian on a serving dish and sprinkle pine nuts on top.

Yields: 4-6 servings

Read more: http://www.yasalamcooking.com/#ixzz1NJ4nlb81See More

Secrets of Happy Married Couples

Secrets of Happy Married Couples

A man and his fiance were married. It was a large celebration. All of their friends and family came to see the lovely ceremony and to partake of the festivities and celebrations. A wonderful time was had by all.

...The bride was gorgeous in her white wedding gown and the groom was very dashing in his black...... tuxedo. Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true.

A few months later, the wife comes to the husband with a proposal: "I read in a magazine, a while ago, about how we can strengthen our marriage." She offered.

"Each of us will write a list of the things that we find a bit annoying with the other person. Then, we can talk about how we can fix them together and make our lives happier together."

The husband agreed. So each of them went to a separate room in the house and thought of the things that annoyed them about the other. They thought about this question for the rest of the day and wrote down what they came up with.

The next morning, at the breakfast table, they decided that they would go over their lists.

"I'll start," offered the wife. She took out her list. It had many items on it.
Enough to fill 3 pages, in fact.

As she started reading the list of the little annoyances, she noticed that tears were starting to appear in her husbands eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Nothing" the husband replied, "keep reading your list."

The wife continued to read until she had read all three pages to her husband.
She neatly placed her list on the table and folded her hands over top of it.

"Now, you read your list and then we'll talk about the things on both of our lists." She said happily.

Quietly the husband stated,"I don't have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect the way that you are. I don't want you to change anything for me.
You are lovely and wonderful and I wouldn't want to try and change anything about you."

The wife, touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for her and his acceptance of her, turned her head and wept.

Listen to the prophet pbuh when he said:
'No believing man should hate a believing woman; if he dislikes one of her characteristics, he will be pleased with another.”

This saying shows how humble and kind the husband is, he might dislike one of his wife’s characteristics, but he will do his best to find another quality in her which he may like and so, he will not care so much about what he dislike in his wife.

IN LIFE, there are enough times when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don't really have to go looking for them.

We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise.

Why waste time in this world looking for the bad, disappointing or annoying things when we can look around us, and see the wondrous things before us?

I believe that WE ARE HAPPIEST when we see and praise the good and try our best to forget the mistakes of our spouse. Nobody's perfect but we can find perfection in them to change the way we see them. It is necessary to understand the difficulties and be a helping hand to each other....THAT BRIGHTENS THE RELATIONSHIP.

The Importance of a good wife to her husband (and of course vice versa) is Great to Allah (God). Nothing can illustrate the point better than the Qur'anic statement which describes the righteous people as those who pray:

"Rabba-na hab la-na min azwaji-na wa dhuriyyati-na qurrata a'yunin wa aj'al-na li al muttaqin imama"

"Our Lord! give us spouse and children who will be the joy( and the comfort ) of our eyes, and guide us to be models of righteous (make us Leader of God-concious people)."
(Qur'an 25:74)

May Allah bless all present and future marriages with love, happiness, peace, and success.
Inshallah,you will be blessed with God fearing spouse. Ameen