Friday 20 July 2012

sweet and sour mushroom with pineapple and bell peppers!


A must try delicate, smooth and succulent dish that goes perfectly with a lighter sweet and sour sauce.


Ingredients for the Recipe:
1)250 g button mushroom washed and cleaned
2)2 onions cut into big chunks
3)diced Pineapple pcs -1/2 cup
4)bell pepper of ur choice( I have used one red bell pepper cut into bite size)
5)vegetable oil-2-3 tsp


Ingredients for sweet and sour sauce:
1/3 cup white or rice vinegar (Note: rice vinegar gives better results)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 4 teaspoons water
Preparation:


Mix the vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce together and bring to a boil in a small pot. Mix together the cornstarch and water, add to the other ingredients and stir to thicken.


Method:
1)Heat oil in a wok and add onions and mushroom.saute on high for 5-6 mins
2)Add pineapple and bell pepper and keep sauting continuously on high till the time you feel that mushrooms are cooked.
3)Pour the above prepared sweet and sour sauce as much as you want,If you want runny gravy then add more and for the dry version add less all depends on your taste.let it simmer for 5-10 minutes and note that bell peppers should not become mushy.
4)serve with noodles or fried rice.
5)The beauty of this dish is that with this single sweet and sour sauce ,You can prepare no dishes take any ingredient of ur choice (like paneer,chicken,fish,prawn)cook in the similar manner and come up with variety of dishes with very less effort.

Chicken in Bread crumbs...KFC STYLE!



A super easy recipe with unusual combination of few calorie and taste bud on priority!
My goal here is to prove that you can still get the same great taste of fried chicken without it actually being fried, saving you tons of saturated fat, calories & sodium AND to prove that you can make a homemade healthy meal for the family in basically no time at all. Think of it this way, if you’ve got time to drive to KFC, get the food and drive home, then you’ve got time to make this!
So here we go with the recipe.....


INGREDIENTS:-


1 whole organic chicken portioned (2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings)


2 cups bread crumbs (I used Progresso Italian style bread crumbs one can use any other normal form)
2 egg – whisked for 1 minute to lighten
1 tsp paprika/kashmiri mirch powder(MDH)
1 tsp tomato powder (I used knorr tomato soup powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
olive oil spray

METHOD:-


Preheat oven to 420°F.


Arrange all the ingredients in a row in the following order: the chicken pieces, whisked eggs with Salt and pepper and paprika,tomato powder added, breadcrumbs.


Begin by dipping the chicken pieces in the egg holding the chicken over the bowl for a few seconds after wards to let excess egg fall off and then coat in the breadcrumbs coating all sides. Pat the crumbs onto the pieces with clean hands to make sure it sticks. Lay on a foiled oven tray. This assembly line is a great time to get the kids involved! my lilttle one loved helping me and licked her messy hands


Once all the pieces are crumbed spray liberally on all sides with the olive oil spray.


Pop in the oven for 20 -25 minutes approx until internal temp of 165°F and the crumbs are crispy and ‘fried’.turn over the chicken and pop into the oven for another 10 mins. That’s all there is to it!


SERVE WITH KETCHUP OR CORIANDER CHUTNEY OR MAYO....I SERVED IT WITH EVERYTHING MIXED TOGETHER YUMMMMM!!!

Monday 9 July 2012

grilled chicken in green marination!

Another form of chicken tikka but this time rather than marinating the chicken in curd mixture we are using coriander and mint paste.a very tempting starter for dinner parties.here we go with the recipe.


ingredients


boneless chicken fillet cut in cubes - 250 g


 for marination
onion-1
coriander leaves-2 cups
mint leaves -1/2 cup
green chiilly-3-4
ginger- 1 small pod
garlic -2-3 pods
lemon juice- 1/2 cup
olive oil/any vegetable oil 1/2 cup
salt -as per taste
pepper 


Method:-


1)make a paste of onion,coriander,mint,green chilly,ginger and garlic in a blender.
2) add oil,lemon juice,salt and pepper to the mixture and mix well.
3)add chicken pcs and leave to marinade for 2-3 hrs in a fridge.
4) Preheat the oven to it's highest heat for at least 20 minutes. Shake off excess marinade and place chicken pieces AND VEGETABLES OF UR CHOICE on skewers on a wire rack in the oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes and check the is cooked by piercing the thickest piece with a skewer, if the juices run clear it's cooked, serve with chicken  a wedge of lemon.

Gobhi mussallam!




Ingredients


Whole cauliflower – 500 to 600 gms


Marinade


Curd – 3 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Ginger and garlic paste – 2 tsp
Cumin powder (roasted) – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder (roasted) – 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Mace and nutmeg powder – 1/8 tsp (optional)
Green cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon stick powder – 1/8 tsp (optional)
Tomato puri (thick, concentrated) – 2 tbsp
Salt – as per taste


Gravy/curry


Oil – 6 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Green cardamom – 3
Cloves – 4
Cinnamon stick – 1 (1 inch)
Onion – 2 (200gms)
Ginger and garlic paste – 2 tsp
Water – 1/2 cup
cream – 1/4 cup
Tomato puree - 1 cup
Cashew nut – 8 to 10
Raisins (kish mish) – 2 tbsp
green peas(optional) - 1 cup


Method:-


1)In a pan bring to boil the water along with some salt. Place the cleaned cauliflowers in hot water for about 5minutes each side or total 10 minutes. Remove from water, keep it aside.Alternative option is to microwave the cauliflower with salted water beneath it in a microwave safe bowl on high for 5 mins and then set it aside.


2)mix all the ingredients for marination and apply on the cauliflower and set it aside for 2-3 hours.


3)Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan till hot, add cumin seeds, whole spices and onion, saute till soft and light brown, transparent,Add ginger and garlic paste and all the dry spices and saute for 10 mins.


4)Now place the marinated cauliflower with its head (florets) down, simmer the flame and close the lid.

5)After 10min, open the lid and turn the cauliflower and cook again for 10min on lower flame by closing the lid, put some gravy onion mixture on top of the cauliflower.
The cauliflower is almost cooked and the gravy has left oil on top.

6)Add the tomato puree, cashew nuts and raisins and sprinkle salt to taste. Mix well

7)when the gravy starts thickening add the cream slowly on low flame for 10 mins.

8)garnish with some fried peas(optional) and serve with roti or nan.