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Lemon Semiya

Actuallgy there are several other items that I have covered in previous posts which are pe meaning lotus root, pudina meaning mint chutney and tandoori chicken which I would immediatly drool over. We are going to deal now with lemon semyia. Semiya is this very fine vermicelli that is used mostly for making sher korma on eid. So this is an Indian dish really. However this is not an upma recipe so you would have to see this post as well. Heat up either a wok or cast iron skillet on high heat and add 1 pinch each of black urad ki dal and chana ki dal split and roast them until they turn brown and fragrant.

Add this to mortar and pestle with 1 pinch of black peppercorns, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Grind in to a powder and set aside and add 1/4 cup of either corn, canola, or olive oil and let that get hot and add 1 drop of mustard oil. Add 1 pinch each of of hing, pink salt, 2 curry leaves. the contents of the mortar and peslte, chop either 1 onion or shallot, 2 cloves of garlic minced, 1 small piece of ginger minced. 1 small piece of turmeric root ground and added to this onion base, Cook onion until it is brown before adding other things.

If you do not have turmeric root on hand then add 2 pinches of turmeric powder, 1 whole round or long red chili crushed, Add 3 capfuls of lemon juice if you do not have fresh lemon. If using fresh lemon then add juice from 1/2 of this lemon. The other half you can add to another recipe or add to flavor a beverage like tea or sherbat. Add 1 tiny piece of lemon peel and grind it in mortar and pestle then add to onion base. Crumble up 1 bag of semiya. You can get these at any Indian and Pakistani grocery store. Add this to now the lemon masala base after you crumble it up in the bag and add 2 cups of hot water boiled in a tea kettle on the stove. The boiling water mush be done before attempting this dish. Also citrus rinds freez well in the freezer and it is a great flavoring agent for food. Cook until the semiya is soft and it is semi dry and turn off heat.

The semiya says vermicelli on the bag and it says it is from either Ahmed or National which are very well popular Pakistani brands. This is the perfect side dish to go along with tandoori chicken and with pe with some pudina chuntey on the side.

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