Chicken Afghani

Afghani chicken is a delicious dish mildly spiced recipe of chicken with lot of curd and few spices. I just love the tanginess of this dish because of the use of lot of curd and lemon. This was the first time that I have cooked afghani chicken. If you search on net you will get hundreds of ways to prepare this afghani chicken. I was reading the newspaper on a particular sunday when I saw this recipe there and found this quite easy & interesting and I followed the same. This dish has gravy version as well as grilled. If you wish to grill then go for boneless chicken. I used chicken with bones as I wanted to make it in gravy form.
We had this with some paneer paratha and onion slices dipped in vinegar. However PB suggested me that this was not going very well with the parathas, so I am thinking the next time we should have it with rice or some plain roti.

Ingredients:

Chicken: 1/2 kg
Onion: 1 large sized chopped finely
Curd: 1 & 1/2 cups
Garlic coves: 20
Crushed black pepper: 1 tsp
Oil: 3 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Lemon juice: 3 tbsp.

Method:

Clean and wash the chicken pieces and keep aside. Keep 4-5 garlic cloves aside and thinly slice rest of the garlic cloves.

Heat oil in a pan.  Fry the chopped onions till it turns into golden brown. Now add the sliced garlic cloves and fry. Add chicken , mix them well, cover with lid and cook the chicken keep checking in between. Finally add the black pepper, salt, lemon juice, curd and mix everything well and cook till tender. Add some water at this point of time and let it thicken a bit. In another pan saute the remaining garlic cloves and add it to the chicken. Serve hot with rice or roti.

 

Finger-licking Chicken Biryani in a simple & easy way

 

Sometimes I feel lazy to cook a proper meal and I try to find an easy way to make a filling dish. Last sunday when I saw some chicken lying In my refrigerator I somehow had a  craving for biriyani. But then biriyani Is again a long process I would have to follow. Without much of a thinking I decided to make it in a simple easy way with whatever ingredients available at home that day. Heres how it came out. Look wise taste wise it really came out to be great. I have cooked biryani before also but this time PB just loved it and complimented without me asking for it.
I made a simple pineapple pomegranate raita to go with it and that tasted awesome as well.


Ingredients:

Basmati Rice: 1 cup
Chicken: 500 gms
Onion: 1 medium sized finely sliced
Garlic cloves: 10
Ginger: 1 medium sized
Potato: 2 medium sized cut into two (optional)
Egg: 1 hard boiled cut into two halves (optional)
Cinnamon stick: 1 medium sized
Cardamom: 2
Cloves: 3-4
Mace: 2-3
Biryani Masala: 2 tsp
Chicken Masala: 1 tsp
Chilli powder: 1tsp
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
Juice of one lime
Curd: 1 cup
Salt to taste
Saffron: few strands soaked in 2 tbsp. warm milk in a small bowl
Fresh Coriander leaves : roughly chopped handful
Mint leaves: roughly chopped handful
Ghee:  2 tbsp.
Refine oil: 2 tbsp.
Water as required to cook rice & for  chicken gravy

Method:

Soak the rice in water for at least an hour or so.

Make paste of ginger and garlic.

Clean and wash the chicken pieces. Add half of the ginger garlic paste, salt, chilli powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, curd and mix everything well. Keep it in refrigerator for about an hour or so. I kept it for only half an hour as I had less time in my hand.

Heat oil in your biryani making handi. I used my non-stick deep bottomed pan with lid. Fry the sliced onions till they are golden brown and keep them on tissue once done. Now fry the potato pieces till golden brown and transfer to the tissue paper. In the same oil add the remaining ginger garlic paste, saute them. Add the chicken masala & biriyani masala, fry them for few seconds. Now add  the marinated chicken ,mix everything well. After some time add about half cup of water to it and half -cook the chicken.

At the same time, boil water in a large saucepan to cook the rice. Add the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, mace, salt and bring the water to boil. Add the rice and remove from gas when its half cooked. Strain the water through a strainer. Add a spoon of lemon juice to the rice and mix gently so that the rice does not get stick and looks fresh.

Once the chicken is half done put the flame off. Don't make the chicken complete dry , let it be in a gravy form. Transfer half of the cooked chicken to a bowl. Layer half of the rice on the chicken on the pan, add the potatoes, add half of the fried onion, sprinkle the chopped coriander & mint leaves. Layer the remaining chicken on this, egg and then the remaining rice. Now sprinkle the rest of the fried onions, coriander & mint leaves and the ghee. Take the lime juice in a bowl and add the remaining 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and mix well. Now make holes on the rice layer and pour in the saffron dipped in milk and the lime juice-turmeric powder mixture. Cover tightly the pan with the lid ensuring no pressure gets releases. Let it be on a low flame for about 20 minutes.

Serve this hot biryani with some raita of your choice and enjoy. 

 

Sweet potato gulab jamun

Gulab Jamun is definitely a delicious and popular dessert in india. Back in home I remember mom used to make jamuns with sweet potatoes. This is one particular sweet I have seen almost every house in Assam makes during our festival bihu.  An easy and quick recipe of jamun other than the normal gulab jamun recipe where we have to use paneer /khoya. Soft and light and no compromise on the taste. Do try this once I am sure you wont be disappointed.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato: 3 medium sized
Plain flour:  3 tbsp.
Milk powder: 2 tsp
Soda bicarbonate: a pinch
Salt: a pinch
Sugar: 1 cup
Water: 1 cup
Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp
Saffron: few strands
Rose essence: 1/2 tsp
Oil for deep frying

Method:


Wash the sweet potatoes properly. Cut them and pressure cook upto 2 whistles.
Once done transfer into a strainer and let the them dry. Now peel off the skin and put them in a bowl. Mash with a help of a spoon or fork. Add flour, soda, salt, milk powder and combine them all well. If you find the mixture a bit sticky , you can always add some extra flour. And if it gets dry add few drops of milk. After mixing them well to a smooth texture, make small portions out of the mixture and make balls.

At the same time make sugar syrup by boiling sugar in water in a saucepan until it is a bit thick. Add cardamom and saffron & rose essence in it.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadhai/pan for deep frying the jamuns. Slide down the jamuns one by one into the hot oil keeping the flame low to medium. Fry 4-5 jamuns at a time. Keep turning them while frying till they are golden brown. Repeat the same process for rest of the jamuns. Transfer them to the paper napkin.

Once the jamuns are cold add them into the sugar syrup. Let the jamuns get soaked in the syrup completely. Allow the jamuns to stand in the syrup for an hour or so before serving. This will help to get the typical sweet potato smell out of the jamuns which you may not like while eating them.

Enjoy !

 

Corn Pulav

Few days back I was searching for some pulav options where I got to know about this sweet corn pulav. As corn is something that all three of us like to eat so I thought to give it a try yesterday for our dinner. It is a easy and quick flavourful recipe , a delicious indian recipe served as main course. I made makhni paneer as side dish with the pulav, a nice combination altogether and we all loved it.

Ingredients:

For the masala:

Onion: 1 medium sized
Garlic: 4-5 cloves
Ginger: one small portion
Cashew nuts: 5-6 soaked in water for 10-15 mins
Black pepper corns: 7-8 number
Cinnamon: 1 stick
Cloves & cardamom  : 2-3 of each


Other ingredients:
Basmati rice /or any other rice with nice aroma: 1 1/2 cups
Sweet corn: 1 cup
Milk: 1/2 cup
Water: 1 cup
Green chillies: 1 or 2
Salt to taste
Mint and coriander leaves: handful
Bay leaves: 1 or2
Cardamom: 2-3
Oil: 2 tbsp.

Method:

Soak the rice in water for about an hour or so.

Make a smooth paste out of the ingredients mentioned under ingredients for the masala.

I cooked the pulav in pressure cooker. If you wish you can make it in handi as well.

Heat oil in the pressure cooker. Add bay leaves, cardamom, chilli and let it splutter. Now add the masala paste and stir fry. Add the corn and mix everything well and fry for about a minute or so. Add the milk , keep stirring for another minute or two and bring it to boil. Add rice, salt, coriander and mint leaves , combine all well and add water. Give it a nice stir and pressure cook upto 2 whistles.

Once done, let the pressure gets release on its own. Transfer the pulav to a serving dish and serve hot with any side dish you wish to enjoy with this delicious pulav.

 

Holi special Thandai

Whenever we hear about Thandai we connect to the festivals like holi or mahashivratri. A chilled  milk based drink with strong flavours of almonds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, black pepper. Awesome in taste and it cools you down. This holi I decided to make thandai at home only and it was liked by all. As the original way of making thandai don't mention to reduce the milk , however I did it as ii wanted that natural yellowish colour of the milk that we get once the mil gets reduces and thickens after simmering for a long time. You can avoid this step of reducing the milk as its quite time consuming. I did use few strands of kesar/saffron for the aroma and colour too.

Ingredients:

Milk: 1 & 1/2 ltr full fat milk
Sugar: 5-6 tbsp. (you can increase/decrease the quantity as per your taste bud)
Almond: 10-12 numbers
Cashew nuts: 7-8 numbers
Poppy seeds: 2 tsp
Fennel seeds - grounded into powder : 2 tsp
Crushed and powdered black pepper: take 6-7 numbers of black pepper
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Saffron/kesar: few strands - 7 or 8
Pistachios & few more saffron strands: for garnishing



Method:

Soak the almonds, cashew nuts, poppy seeds in water for about an hour or so.

Boil the milk in heavy bottomed pan. After the first boil , add the sugar. Take out 2-3 tbsp. of hot milk in a small bowl and soak the saffron strands.
Let the milk simmer till the it reduces to half by continuously checking and stirring.

In the mean while make a smooth paste out of the soaked almonds, cashew nuts, poppy seeds.

Once the milk starts reducing add the above paste and mix well. Let it simmer for some 10-12 minutes. Finally add the powdered black pepper, powdered fennel seeds and cardamom powder. Pour the saffron soaked along with the milk. Give it a nice mix. After a minute or two put the flame off.

Now you can serve it in two ways , either you transfer the thandai to glasses directly , keep it in refrigerator to chill and then serve OR if you want you can strain the mixture first through a strainer , discard the residue, transfer the thandai to glasses, make it chill and serve. Garnish with pistachios and saffron before serving.

 

Masoor Dal Pakodas - Lentil Fritters

These masoor dal pakodas are a much loved pakodas at an assamese home. Whether we eat as snacks or dipped in kadhi with rice this is indeed a tasty preparation yet so simple and easy to make. Our mom used to make them quite often for lunch at home. I am sure she makes it now as well only thing we both girls miss them now ..maa ke haath ka khana (mom's cooked food). How we used to grab 3-4 pakodas even before she finishes making them all.
Few weeks back only I made these pakodas to have in lunch after a long time actually. I was happy as it tasted much better than the previous batches of them I tried before. SO I thought to note this recipe down here and share with you all though it was with few variations of ingredients than mom's authentic recipe. Simple & Easy to prepare delicious snacks you can always serve as starter or munch them with your hot cuppa

Ingredients:
 
Red lentil: 1 cup washed, soaked in water for about 15-20 mins & drained
Onion: 2 medium sized grated
Garlic: 6-7cloves finely chopped/grated
Green chillies: 2-3 chopped
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
Amchur powder: 1/2 tsp
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Grind masoor dal to a coarse mixture without adding water. In a bowl transfer the mixture. Add the onion, garlic & rest of the ingredients and mix them well.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadhai/pan. Take a spoonful of the mixture and deep fry in the oil giving the shape of pakodas and slide them into the oil. Deep fry on both sides till golden brown and crisp. Remove from oil and drain on absorbent paper.

Serve hot with green chutney or ketchup and enjoy.

 

Yummilicious Chocolate mousse

The first time I had this divine dessert was some 4-5 years back in the restaurant Kobe in Kolkata. And from the very fist time I was totally in love with this sinful chocolaty dessert. Mousse is a sweet or savoury dish made as a smooth, light mass in which the main ingredient is whipped with cream and egg white, it can be light and fluffy to creamy and thick, depending on preparation techniques.

However I was never keen to make it at home until yesterday when we had guests coming over for dinner. Few are such dishes that I only want to sit and enjoy at a restaurant other than making at home. But yesterday when I was thinking and thinking on what to make for dessert for guests I went through many such recipes and finally thought to give it a try! Checked out many recipes of chocolate mousse and then with some mix and matches, few variations I finally got the final product . My little girl always gets  the first chance to taste anything that I cook at home. She instantly said "yummy" & her usual line "mamma you are such a great cooker". And yeah then I knew it this mousse has definitely come out yummy. MY guest from Assam liked it too. So here is the recipe for you all .


Ingredients: (Yield: 6-7 servings)

Dark Chocolate : 2 packets (I used Amul dark chocolate of 40gms)
Heavy cream: 1 packet (I used Amul whipping cream of 200 ml)
2 egg whites
Sugar: 4 tbsp. (you can increase or decrease quantity as per your taste)
Coffee powder: 1 tsp
Some more grated/shaved dark chocolate for garnishing
Cocoa powder for garnishing


Method:

Chop the chocolate and take in a large glass bowl and melt through double boiler method. Stir continuously until it melts completely. Put the flame off and keep it aside.

In a clean chilled steel bowl take out the cream and whisk until it reaches soft peaks. Keep aside. Now take the egg whites in another bowl and whisk it from medium to high. Add sugar and again whisk to soft peaks. I used the electric beater only to whisk both cream and egg whites.

Now fold this whisked egg whites into the melted chocolate, add coffee powder and combine all with the beater in low speed. Once everything incorporated, fold in the whipped cream and give a low whisk to it.

Now transfer the mousse to glasses/dessert bowls, cover with foil and keep in refrigerator to set for at least an hour. Before serving , top the mousse with grated/shaved dark chocolate and dust cocoa powder on it with the help of strainer. Enjoy this chilled chocolaty heaven.