Honey sesame chilli potato

I have seen this dish many times on television , in  foodie forums but it just never happened to be cooked in my kitchen. Mostly because we eat very less potatoes keeping in mind my sugar level. But last night when I had to cook dinner for the husband and daughter, this particular dish came to my mind as its a very less time consuming simple recipe. The colour , the flavour is just mind-blowing!! Do go through this jhat-pat easy recipe and try in your kitchen. Shall eagerly wait for your feedback :)

Ingredients:

Potatoes: 2 (I took one big and one medium sized potato)
Garlic: 3-4 cloves grated
Tomato ketchup: 3-4 tbsp
Chilli flakes: 1 tbsp.
Kashmiri chilli powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Mixed herbs: 1 tsp
Corn flour: 1 tbsp.
Crushed black pepper: 1 tsp
Honey: 1 tbsp.
Roasted sesame seeds: 2tsp
Refined oil for deep frying and 1 tsp for the sauce

Method:

Peel the potatoes and cut into fingers like for french fries. Wash them properly. In a mixing bowl, add the potatoes, salt, chilli powder, black pepper, mixed herbs, corn flour, mix them well and keep aside for 3-4 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Now fry the potato fingers till golden brown and crisp. Keep them on a tissue paper to remove the excess oil.

For the sauce:
Heat one teaspoon of oil in another pan and add the garlic and saute for about a minute. Add the tomato ketchup, salt, chilli flakes and give it a nice stir for about a minute and add the honey. Keep stirring the mixture till the sauce thickens. Now add the potato fingers with the sauce and coat the fingers with it. Finally sprinkle the roasted sesame seeds on this and serve hot as starter or appetizer.
You can try the more healthier version of this recipe by baking the potato fingers other than deep frying them.

 

Chickpeas patty with the goodness of cottage cheese, broccoli & corn

We all know about chickpeas having high protein content and rich in dietary fibre ,it makes your tummy full with just a handful of them. This time , instead of having them as salad thought to prepare some patties out of it and in a more healthier way with lot of flavour. No potato used, very less oil to fry them.

 

Ingredients:

Chickpeas: 1 cup soaked in water overnight
Broccoli: 4-5 florets
Corn: about 1/2 cup (you can use boiled corns as well. I like it raw)
Cottage cheese/Paneer: 1/2 cup chopped into small cubes
Salt to taste
Onion: 1 medium sized roughly cut into cubes/slice
Garlic: 9-10 cloves
Green chillies: 1-2 chopped
Chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder: 1/2 tsp
Handful of fresh coriander and mint leaves chopped
Bread crumbs for binding : 1 cup (Add more if you feel that the mixture is not well combined)
Oil for shallow fry

Direction:

Wash the soaked chickpeas properly and pressure cook up to 2-3 whistles. Please note not to over-cook these chickpeas. Keep aside to get the pressure released on its own.

In a mixer , take the cooked chickpeas, broccoli,  onion, garlic and give it a pulse . We do not need a paste of these. So one or two pulses would be enough to get the desired texture.

Now in a mixing bowl, take the mixture of chickpeas, add salt, coriander powder, chilli powder, chillies, corn, coriander & mint leaves and mix nicely so that all the ingredients combine with each other. Finally add the chopped cottage cheese or paneer and 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs (You can stuff the chopped paneer inside the patty if you want). Now divide the mixture into equal sized balls and then flatten each of them between the palms of both your hands and keep aside in a dish. In another dish take the other 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and roll each of the patty onto this and keep them inside the refrigerator for about half an hour so that the patties get a nice binding.
Heat oil in a pan/tava and shallow fry  these patty and serve hot .

Soy sauce and honey flavoured chicken kabab

I have kept the stainless steel skewers that came along with my microwave in cupboard since I bought the m/w. Once in a while I take it out and again keep it inside. Yesterday when I saw all three coloured bell peppers in my refrigerator , I just made my mind that I have to make the use of those skewers. Ordered boneless chicken from the nearby shop and started preparing my humble kababs. I tried this time a very simple one without much of a masala etc. But the flavour of honey & soy sauce came out very well.

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breast: 200 gms (wash properly and cut into cubes of medium size)
Ginger Garlic paste: 1 tbsp.
Soy sauce: 3 tsp
Honey: 3 tsp
Green chilli paste: 1/2 tsp (you can increase the quantity or can ignore if you do not like to add)
Vinegar: 2tsp
Salt to taste
Crushed black pepper: 1 tsp
Red/yellow/red bell pepper: 1 cup Cut into cubes
Olive oil: 1 tsp
I used stainless steel Skewers. you can use wooden one also. For wooden skewers, you need to soak them in water for about half an hour before using.


Method:

In a large bowl marinate the chicken pieces and the bell peppers with all the other ingredients (ginger garlic paste, salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, soy sauce and honey) and keep in the refrigerator for about half an hour-45 minutes. Preheat the oven at 220 degree Celsius.

Once the marination is done, skew the chicken pieces and bell peppers of all three colours alternatively in the skewers and keep aside. Do it for the rest of the skewers. Now place the skewers in the wire rack provided.  Bake the kababs for 7-8 minutes in 300 degree Celsius in micro+grill mode. After 7-8 minutes turn the skewers  and again grill for another 7-8 minutes. In case if it is not done properly , then cook for another 5-7 minutes. Do keep a close eye on the kababs while its cooking.

Serve hot with green chutney and squeezing some lemon juice on the kababs.



 

Falafel - A middle eastern dish

I have been reading about falafel and its recipes for quite some time and was eager to make it in my kitchen. Finally it happened over last night dinner.

Falafel is a Lebanese deep fried balls or patties made from white chickpeas/kabuli chana.. They are usually stuffed in pita bread with tahini, hummus or a vegetable salad. Awesome snack/starter ,crunchy from outside and soft juicy from inside.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas: 1 cup (soaked overnight, washed & drained)
Spring onion/onion: 1 stalk finely chopped (one medium sized if you use onion)
Garlic: 5-6 cloves flattened and roughly chopped
Coriander leaves : 2-3 stalks
Mint leaves : half handful
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Garam Masala: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Salt  to taste
Black pepper powder: 1 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Juice of one lime
APF/Maida: 2 tbsp.
Oil for deep frying


Method:

In a mixie grind the cooked chickpeas along with the coriander and mint leaves and make a smooth paste. Now add all other ingredients and blend it again till a smooth, light and fluffy mixture. This paste needs to be made without adding any water. Now transfer this mixture to a bowl and take medium sized balls and press gently between the palms of your hands and keep on a dish aside (You can fry them as balls also instead of giving patty shape). Similarly make rest of the patties/balls. Now heat the oil in a deep bottomed pan/kadhai and fry all the balls/patties , 4-5 at a time. Fry all of them and keep them on tissue paper to remove excess oil. Serve these falafels hot with yogurt dip/tahini sauce or stuffed in pita bread as snack or starter.

 

Dahi Kabab

This was sounding little weird to me when I first heard about dahi kabab on a TV show. Out of excitement , I typed the recipe in short in my mobile phone and saved it. But never bothered to open it out and try my hands on this recipe until recently one day I found lot of yoghurt lying inside my refrigerator and did not want to have it with roti which is a regular meal for me - roti with dahi :(
Sharing this recipe with you which comes out quite tasty and melt in mouth experience. A good snack during the summer season.

Ingredients:

Hung curd: 1/2 cup

Grated Paneer : 1cup

Besan : 4-5 tbsp.

Corn flour: 2 tbsp.

Garam Masala: 1tsp

Fried onions: 1/3 cup

Chilli powder: 1tsp

Coriander leaves chopped: 1 tbsp

Few chopped chillies: 1 or 2(optional)

Salt as per taste

Chopped cashews: 2 tbsp

Raisins: 2 tbsp

Bread crumbs for rolling the kababs

Oil for shallow frying

Method:

In a mixing bowl, take paneer, hung curd, besan, corn flour, salt, Garam masala, chilli powder, chopped coriander, chopped chillies, chopped cashews, raisins and mix well. After mixing all the ingredients check if they are binding enough to make small portions/balls out of it. If not you can add some more besan or some bread crumbs to this but not too much. Add the fried onions and mix well. Now take small portions and gently press between your palms to give the shape of a kabab and make kababs out of the whole mixture. Spread the bread crumbs in a dish and roll the kababs one by one on the bread crumbs and keep aside on a plate. Keep these kababs in refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes to set.

Take a frying pan and heat oil for shallow frying the kabab. After 15 minutes, take the kababs out of the refrigerator and fry them on both sides till they reach golden brown colour. Serve these fried kababs hot with mayonnaise,tomato ketchup & mustard sauce dip or any green chutney.

Corn & Cheese Drumstick fry

As a child we the two sisters and one brother always had the craving for the leg piece when father use to bring chicken that too specially on sundays. And as the brother is the youngest so he was the lucky one always , other piece either being given to me  some sundays and sometimes the big sister. I remember these small incidents when I see myself serving this leg piece to my daughter now. This time I thought to do something else with the drumsticks other than the regular chicken curry. Very crunchy crispy drumstick fry & easy to make. Liked very much by all in the family ,especially the little one. Why do not you try this for your kids in these rainy days, I am sure they too enjoy eating drumstick. I saw this recipe in a food channel and picked up immediately.

Ingredients:

Chicken  Drumstick: 3 pieces (quantities would change as per your requirement/servings)
Fresh Corn: 1/2 cup
Garlic: 3 tbsp.
Long/Cloves: 3-4
Parmesan Cheese: 1/2 cup
Bread Crumbs: 1 cup
Salt to taste
Few Fresh Parsley
Maida/flour: 1 cup
Egg: 2
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Make nice slits on the drumsticks and keep aside. Make a thick paste of corn, cloves, garlic with required amount of water in a mixer . Now marinate the drumstick with this paste and some salt and keep in refrigerator for about half an hour.

In a plate/dish take bread crumbs, grated parmesan cheese, chopped parsley and mix and keep aside. In another plate take maida/flour and mix a pinch of salt to it and keep aside again.
Now in bowl break the two eggs and beat well.
Take out the drumsticks from refrigerator. Roll the drumsticks one by one first on the bed of flour & salt mixture . Then dip them in the beaten eggs and finally roll on to the bed of bread crumbs/cheese/parsley and keep the aside on a plate.

Heat the oil in a deep bottomed pan . Deep fry these drumsticks in low to medium heat  till golden brown for the crispy crunchy taste. Keep these fried drumsticks on a tissue paper to extract the excess oil . Serve hot on a bed of salad and with any dip of your choice. Enjoy
 

Shredded chicken my style

This is again one of my innovation of mix and match ..Try this at home , you will not be disappointed I am sure :) Again no special ingredients, no special technique etc.

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breast: 100 gms
Soya sauce: 1 tbsp
Corn flour: 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Crushed Garlic : 2 tbsp.
Vinegar: 1tsp
Black pepper powder: 1tsp
Oil for shallow fry
Spring onion for garnishing

Method:

Cut the chicken breast into shreds and wash properly. Marinate this chicken with the soya sauce, 1 tbsp garlic, corn flour, salt, pepper powder, vinegar and keep in the refrigerator for about at least 1 hour.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Take out  the marinated shredded chicken and shallow fry them in the oil and cook . It should not take more than 10-15 minutes to get cooked . Toss and stir fry them continuously. Add the remaining one tbsp crushed garlic into this before the chicken gets cooked completely and mix well for that extra taste and flavour of garlic.

Once the chicken is cooked add the chopped green portion of  the spring onion. Transfer them to a bowl and serve hot as snack/starter/appetiser or with main course as well .

Mix this shredded chicken into your kids' sandwich stuffing of vegetables and serve them as snack or pack in their lunch boxes. My little girls loves to have this in her sandwiches with mayo.

Do write your feedback !



 

Chicken nuggets my style - tried and tested

Tried this recipe for the first time when we had invited friends over dinner few months back. Was in a confused state of mind whether they would like it or not.. yes I got the best compliment from my friend. Still remember her stating that this is tasting like the ones we buy from shops..WOW!! is nt that a huge compliment.. I was all happy. So here I am going to share the recipe with you today. This is quite an easy recipe to cook with the available ingredients at home and goes well with your dinner or you can have it as starter /snack etc.

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken breast: 200 gms
Kashmiri mirch : 1tsp
Crushed pepper: 1 tsp
Chilli Flakes: 1/2 tsp
Soya sauce: 2 tsp
Juice of one lemon
 1 Egg white
Salt to taste
Italian Mixed herbs: 1 tsp (you can get these herbs in bottles in any departmental stores)
Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 tsp each
Bread crums and finely crushed cornflakes to coat the chicken pieces
Oil for deep frying
Red & Yellow Capsicum cut into thin strips for garnishing (keep them in the deep freezer in a bowl with water to get curly shapes which looks very nice on presentation)

METHOD:

Cut the chicken breast into thin cubes and wash them very nicely. Marinate the chicken pieces with juice of one lemon, salt, Kashmiri mirch, pepper, chilli flakes, mixed herb, soya sauce, ginger garlic paste. Mix all these ingredients with the chicken pieces nicely and keep in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or so.

After an hour, take out the marinated chicken. Mix egg white in a bowl (U can use the whole egg. I used only white portion keeping the calorie content in mind being a diabetic). In the mean time spread the bread crumbs in one dish and crushed cornflakes in another dish.

(Process of making bread crumbs at home: Take the left over slate breads and toast them on tava or toaster till they get brown in colour and hard. Now break the toasted breads into pieces and put in the mixie to make it as fine powder as possible. Keep them in an air tight container and use it as and when you require).

Now dip the chicken pieces into the egg mixture one by one and roll over the bread crumbs first and then on the thinly crushed cornflakes and keep aside on another plate. Finish off with all the chicken pieces one by one keeping them aside on a plate. Once again keep them into the refrigerator for about half an hour to set the bread crumbs and cornflakes coating on the chicken. Crushed Cornflakes is used to give it a nice texture and crunch.

Heat sufficient amount of oil in a deep pan (I used Borges olive oil). Take out the coated chicken pieces from the refrigerator and deep fry them in the heated oil. Keep a tissue paper ready on a plate to drain off the excess oil from the fried chicken nuggets. Fry the pieces till they turn into golden colour.  Once fried, keep them on  the tissue paper . Now the nuggets are ready to garnish. Transfer the nuggets to a beautiful plate and arrange them nicely according to your own style and garnish them with strips of capsicum and serve hot.

I used one spring onion twig and made a flower out of it to garnish along with the capsicum as you can see in the picture above.

 

Gobi Manchurian with thick gravy

This is one dish  I am dedicating to my husband. He normally doesn't have any particular choice or likings of food. But on every Thursday when he sees me cooking pure vegetarian food, he would come up and ask me about Gobi Manchurian. So one day I decided to make this dish for him specially . I followed the recipe of Gobi Manchurian from the blog "Archana's kitchen" and he just loved it. Then on my little girl's 5th birthday this year, we ordered the food from a nearby caterer and Gobi Manchurian was there in the menu. Believe me it was so so tasty and mouth-watering that I could not stop asking the manager about the recipe. And he very happily shared the same with me. Though I am not sure if he has disclosed any of the secret ingredients they add on to it. Whatever I could understand and fixed in my mind from him, I tried with that to make my Gobi Manchurian  the next time.



Ingredients:

1 small sized cauliflower,
3 tbsp maida
4 tbsp cornflour
Ginger and garlic paste 1 tspn each
Pepper powder 1/2 tsp
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste
1/2 of a small green capsicum
1 tbsp soya sauce
1tbsp tomato sauce
2 medium sized spring onions finely chopped (both white and greens)

Method:
Break the cauliflower into medium florets and par boil them in water with some salt over medium flame for 4-5 mins. After boiling , strain the water and pat dry on tissue paper.






Make a nice batter with the maida, corn flour, salt to taste, pepper powder, ginger garlic paste 1/2 tsp each with sufficient amount of water. The batter should not be very thick also should not be very thin. Now add the par boiled florets in the batter. Note that the batter should coat all the florets  nicely.





Now in a deep pan, heat oil and fry these florets carefully till golden brown in medium flame. To drain excess oil, transfer the fried florets into a tissue paper.








For the gravy, chop the white portion of spring onions and capsicum. You can give chopped green chillies also into it. I avoid this because of my little girl. Heat oil in a pan , add the chopped onions, capsicum , 1/2 tsp each of ginger and garlic paste, salt to taste and saute them for 2-3 minutes on high flame. Now into this add the soya sauce, tomato sauce and give it a nice mix and cook for about a minute.

Add the fried florets into the mixture in the pan and toss them nicely for 1-2 minutes keeping the flame on high. Now in a small mixing bowl make a light batter of 1 tsp corn flour with required amount of water and pour this into the pan and stir . Cook this for 2-3 minutes on medium flame. Slowly the gravy will get thickened because of the corn flour mixture.
 Once you see this, put the flame off  . Transfer the Gobi Manchurian to a plate and garnish with chopped spring onion.