Chicken Tikka Kabab

Ho ho ho...

Christmas is over, but we all know it is not really over until we get silly drunk in the midnight and count down the last minute of 31st December and welcome the new year with a resolution that is (almost religiously) never kept, go for a picnic at Maidan where we invariably forget to carry the badminton set and blame it on our mother, have a BBQ party where we set the temperature of the grill so high that half the meat is charred and we end up ordering biryani from Arsalan or Aminia...phew... there are so many crazy ways to make the last few days of the year memorable!

I guess, preparing chicken tikka kabab at home for a quiet evening with a special someone cannot be too lame either.

So here we go...

Ingredients:

200 gm boneless chicken from leg portion (cut into bite-size pieces)

50 gm plain yoghurt 

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

1/2 teaspoon dried red chilli powder

1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder

3/4 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (can be substituted by allspice powder, but try to stick to garam masala)

2 cubes of cheese (nothing expensive, simple processed cheese)

Mustard oil/melted butter (for basting)

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Marinade the chicken piece with yoghurt, lime juice, ginger-garlic paste, two types of chilli powder, cumin powder, salt, garam masala, grated cubes of cheese and 2 tablespoon of mustard oil for six to eight hours. Brush some oil on the skewers and string the chicken pieces on the skewers. Grill in OTG at 200 degree Centigrade for 20 to 25 minutes. If the desired colour is not achieved, baste the chicken pieces with oil and cook them for another five to ten minutes. The cooking time will depend on the size of the kababs. It is better to err on the side of caution and take them out underdone and then put them back again for a few more minutes rather than overcooking them. It can also be prepared in microwave (grill mode), but it takes more time and it is difficult to achieve the beautiful charring effects at the edges in a microwave. 

Serve the chicken tikka hot with salad and green chutney.

Green Chutney:

For the green chutney, blend 1 sprig of coriander leaves with a couple of green chillies, 1/2 teaspoon of rock salt, a pinch of sugar, one teaspoon lime juice and 1/4 teaspoon chaat masala until smooth and mix with thoroughly beaten 3/4 cup yoghurt and whisk with a fork. Check the seasoning and add salt/sugar/chaat masala, if needed.

Bread Upma

Hello,

So how are you all holding up when winter has finally deigned to arrive, though not in full, formidable force, but just tiptoeing around the corner! I decided it is time to celebrate the winter evening with a simple snack or probably I just wanted to finish the stale bread lying about in my refrigerator for the last seven days!

So, here we go...

Ingredients:

6 slices of bread (milk/whole grain/sandwich bread or whatever is available)
1 onion (diced)
1 small tomato (diced)
1/2 capsicum (diced)
1 green chilli (finely chopped)
A handful of roasted peanuts
A few curry leaves
2-3 fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
1 whole dried red chilli
1 tablespoon of lime juice
1 tablespoon of tomato sauce
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon of oil
Namkeen bundi/Crispy sev (for garnish)

Preparation:

Tear the bread with your hands in small bite-size pieces. Heat oil in a wok. When heated through, add fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds. When they splatter, add the red chilli and curry leaves. After a few seconds as the spices release the aroma, add the peanuts. Keep the flame at medium high. Stir constantly. Add onion, capsicum, green chilli and tomato one by one (tomatoes are to be added at the last and increase the flame immediately after). Add the bread and salt and stir on high heat, sometimes letting it rest for a few seconds so that some pieces turn crispy. When the bread pieces look roasted enough (it will take less than a minute) add the lime juice and the tomato sauce and stir again for around 10-12 seconds. Remove from heat and serve hot. I love to garnish my bread upma with sev or spicy bundi. You may squeeze some ketchup on top and enjoy the snack that is both delicious and quite effectively make use of stale breads which are almost always lying around in the fridge.

Tip: You can make this snack healthier by adding diced and blanched carrots, beans or even broccolis while adding the veggies. Remember the actual cooking time is around 2 to 3 minutes and you must do everything in high heat. So have everything ready at hand before you start cooking.

Aloo Paratha (Flat Bread Stuffed with Mashed Potato)

Hi everybody...

So the winter is here, but the temperature refuses to go down. Frustrating huh! The weather is not giving me a chance to take out my brand new quilted jacket and ankle-length, fur-lined boots (an impulse purchase from Gangtok!). However, even though the cold is playing hide and seek, there is no harm in preparing an all-time winter season favourite - and no, I am not talking about chicken soup (that is such a cliché), but our very own aloo paratha. Yes, the flaky bread stuffed with spicy potato is something even a saint can't resist in a winter evening. In stead of curd, I am going to have it with Capsico hot sauce mixed with a few drops of tomato ketchup. For those who cannot handle hot sauce, it should be the opposite, that is ketchup with a few drops of Capsico/Tabasco sauce.

So here is the recipe....enjoy!

Ingredients (for two breads):

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Salt to taste

1 large potato

1 sprig of coriander leaves

3/4th teaspoon of ginger paste

2 green chillies (finely chopped and totally optional)

1 teaspoon of bhuna masala (a mixture of dried red chilli, cumin seeds and black peppercorn - roasted until aromatic and ground to a coarse powder)

Lime juice/dried mango powder

A small knob of butter (optional)

Method:

Sift the flour and make a well in the centre. Pour 1 tablespoon of oil and mix with your fingertips. It will help make the paratha flakier. Add water slowly and make a semi-soft dough. You should knead until the dough is elastic and if you poke the surface, it springs right back. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a wet towel and set aside. Boil the potatos and mash thoroughly. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok/kadai/saucepan. Add the ginger-paste first. Make sure to add some water to the paste, for otherwise it will burn. Increase the heat and as the ginger-paste splutters and starts to dry up, add the mashed potato and stir. Add chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chillies, bhuna masala, mango powder/lime juice (as per taste, I like to add the juice of half a lime) and salt. Continue stirring on a medium flame. First it will start to stick to the bottom. Don't panic for soon it will be dry enough. Scrape the bottom well while stirring. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add salt/lime juice/masala if needed. An aloo paratha is only as good as its stuffing. If the stuffing doesn't taste yummy, it will be a wasted effort. Once the potato mixture doesn't stick any more to the pan, switch off the flame. Set it aside and let it cool.

Now divide the dough into two balls. Make a bowl like shape with the help of your fingers and place a ball of the potato stuffing inside and carefully pull up all sides of the bowl and seal them. Roll the stuffed ball between greased palms so that they are somewhat smooth. Above, you can see the picture of the stuffing balls and a couple of stuffed dough. Place one stuffed ball on a greased surface and flatten it with the help of your fingertips, being very careful not to stretch the surface too much for it may break and stuffing may come out. Use a rolling pin to roll it out in a disc-like shape, moving it from time to time so that all sides are equally rolled. Use gentle pressure.

Now heat a flat skillet/tawa and make sure it is very hot. Roast the parathas on both sides. Don't over-burn them though there might me a few spots of black. Lower the heat if needed. Remember they should look cooked. If you over-roast them, they would become hard. Now brush the tawa with oil and place one roasted paratha and increase the heat. Press it down with a spatula. Add a few drops of oil on the top portion and use a brush to cover the entire surface. Flip it and place the other paratha on top of it. Again press down and brush some oil on the top of the second paratha. Flip both parathas so that the second paratha is now face-down on the tawa. Keep flipping them until both sides of both the parathas are well cooked. You can do them individually also, but I just find it convenient to cook four parathas simultaneously, one absorbing the oil from the other one. While flipping them, use a spatula and a spoon for support.

After you remove the parathas from tawa you can lightly brush them with butter (optional). Now serve the delicious parathas with a dip or pickle. Usually it is served with sour curd (sour cream will also work, I guess), but since it is winter, I just went with the hot sauce.

Mixed Hakka Chowmein

Hi,

I am pretty tired today, but not so much as not to be able to rustle up a hot favourite Chinese dish that I have been dying to have for the last few days. The only downside of preparing hakka noodles is the awful amount of cutting and dicing. But the end result is so yummy, especially in a mild winter evening, I would happily go through it while Yanni is playing in the background.

Ingredients: 

400 gm noodles (ordinary ones not egg noodles or anything fancy)

100 gm prawns (shelled, de-veined and thoroughly cleaned)

2 eggs

1 medium carrot

30 gm French beans

25 gm or one small bunch of spring onions

1/8 portion of a small cabbage 

1 small capsicum

1 large onion or 2 medium onions

1 teaspoon white pepper powder (purely for flavour)

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Method:

First boil water in a large pot, the more water, the better. Add the noodles and cook for roughly 3 minutes or until they are almost cooked (never overcook or let them sit in the boiling water for it will later break into tiny pieces when you try to stir-fry them), take off the heat, drain in a colander and hold under a running tap. Rinse thoroughly with your fingers, taking care not the break the strands. Your purpose here is to wash away the residual starch that makes it sticky and slippery. Now set aside the colander full of noodles so that the water is drained out. You can also add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the noodles and shake them loosely. It will ensure they won't stick to the pan later. While the noodles are drying, cut the carrot, cabbage, capsicum in long thin strips. Cut the French beans diagonally so that the pieces resemble elongated rhombus. Slice the onions. Chop the spring onions into 1 cm long pieces. Mix the soy and the vinegar and set aside. Beat the eggs. Heat a small amount of oil in a wok. Add the beaten egg and stir continuously on high heat. When the eggs are thoroughly stir-fried, remove from the wok and set aside. Add the rest of the oil to the wok. When heated through, add the prawns. Stir fry on high heat until the water coming out of the prawn evaporates. Remove the prawn from heat and set aside. Add the vegetables except capsicum to the prawn-flavoured oil and stir fry for 5 to 7 minutes or until they are almost cooked. Now add the capsicum, prawns, scrambled egg and finally add the noodles bit by bit. Continue stirring with light hands with a couple of forks to ensure the noodles do not stick to the bottom. Add salt, ajinamoto, soy-vinegar mixture and stir again to mix everything evenly. Add the spring onions. Turn off the heat and serve hot. 

Tip: You can garnish the dish with boiled, shredded and fried pieces of pork and chicken.

Bread Pudding in Microwave

Hi everybody!

So today I finally got better of my lethargic self and created this blog where I want to discuss food (mostly), travelling (occasionally), movies (once in a blue moon) and other life-savingly important things in life without which not even a binge watching of 'Friends' or 'The Big Bang Theory' can hold much worth (for after all you do need the fried chicken and popcorn)!

So without further ado let us dive straight into it:

Bread Pudding:

There are so many different versions of this simple dessert that I cannot even count them on fingers. Let me warn you though, I am an instinctive (some would say totally clueless, but don't listen to them) cook. So I don't usually measure out my ingredients in cups and sometimes throw in things that are not in the recipe. I am not a purist so as long as the end result is a tasty dish, it is completely ok to deviate. 

Enough talking...now here is how I made the bread pudding in microwave. It was my very first attempt and it came out surprisingly well.

Ingredients:

6 slices of two-day-old milk bread

1 & 1/2 cups of milk

3 eggs

1 small knob of butter (amounts to 1 and 1/2 tablespoon if melted)

1/2 teaspoon eggless custard powder (I used Wikefield, but this ingredient is optional)

A handful of raisins

2 tablespoon of sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

I tear up the breads in rough, bite-size pieces, mix them with raisins and put them into my glass, microwave-proof casserole, pressing them down with a spoon. I warm the milk along with the sugar and the knob of butter. I dissolve the custard powder first in a spoonful of milk before slowly mixing it into the warm milk, stirring vigorously all the while. I break the eggs in a relatively large bowl and beat them with a whisk until they are frothy and mix the vanilla essence in it. When the milk cools down a bit I pour it slowly into the egg, again whisking the mixture so that the eggs don't scramble. I strain the liquid and my custard is ready. Now I pour it over the bread and make sure it fills up all the nooks and corners of the casserole. I again press down the bread so that all pieces are thoroughly soaked in the egg and milk mixture. I have already pre-heated the oven at 200 degree Celsius. I fill my baking tray with water, and place the casserole on it. Then I bake the pudding at 200 degree Celsius for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I skew it in the middle with a knife and find out it is still  a bit raw and so I give it five more minutes and it is ready. 

As you can see the top portion is really crunchy, but underneath, it is really soft and yummy.

I will soon upload the caramel pudding that I tried a few months back and it was heavenly.

Until then...bye and please leave comments below.