Chicken Curry

Just another kind of chicken curry to add to your recipe box. Quick and simple and yet tasty. This goes well with rice, roti and naans.


Ingredients
Chicken breast meat – 1 lb
Onion – 1 large finely chopped
Tomato – 1 large finely chopped
Green chili – adjust to spice level chopped
Ginger and Garlic paste – 1 tablespoons + 1 tablespoons
Coriander powder  - 1 tablespoon
Cumin powder – 2/3 tablespoon
Yogurt – 1/2 cup
Turmeric – 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Chili Powder – 1/2 tablespoon
Cilantro – handful of sprigs chopped
Kasoor methi – 1/2 tablespoon crushed
Kitchen King masala – 1 teaspoon (optional)
Lemon/Lime Juice – 1 tablespoon
Oil – 1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoon
Water – 1/2 cup

Method
Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Marinate chicken in 1 tablespoon of ginger and garlic paste, turmeric, salt,  and lime juice for 1/2 hour. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan /kadai and fry the chicken until 2/3 cooked. Set the chicken aside and heat the remaining oil in the same pan. Add onions and sauté until golden brown, then add chilies and the remaining tablespoon of ginger and garlic paste. Sauté until ginger and garlic looses its raw smell, then add the tomatoes. Mash the tomatoes with your spatula so that it cooks well. Now add coriander, cumin and chili powder along with salt (sprinkle water if the mixture gets too dry). Mix well and cook on medium heat until oil oozes on the side. Now add the chicken pieces to the pan and mix well. Pour water and bring it to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Stir in the yogurt, kasoori methi and Kitchen King masala and cook for 5 more minutes. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with chopped cilantro
Serve hot with roti, naan or plain white rice

Ras Malai

I am a sucker for Ras Malai. I dont have a sweet tooth but for some reason I am very partial to this dish. Since I couldnt find any store bought Ras Malai to my liking I decided to recreate as best as I could at home. I took couple of short cuts because I couldn’t make this dessert soon enough, but when it turned great I kept the short cuts (shhhh…don’t tell anyone)

Ingredients
Ras Malai patties – canned (store bought)
Whole Milk – 1 quart
MTR Kesar Milk mix – 3 tablespoon
Condensed milk – 4 tablespoon
Sugar  - 5 tablespoon
Saffron – 1 pinch
Pistachios and Almond –finely  chopped

Method
Heat milk in a sauce pan until it raises on top and then reduce it to simmer. Reduce the milk until it is 2/3 the quantity on  medium heat. Then add condensed milk and sugar and mix well. Taste the milk of sweetness and add more sugar if needed. Simmer it for few more minutes until it is half the quantity. Then add the MTR Kesar Milk mix to the milk and mix well. Top it with saffron strands and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Open the can of ras malai patties and drain the sugar syrup. Also, squeeze out the syrup in each of the patties by pressing it in between your palms and set aside.
When the reduced milk is at room temperature, give it another stir and transfer it a serving bowl and add the ras malai patties to it. Top if with very finely chopped/crushed pistachio and almonds and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serve two patties each and the milk mix in a dessert cups per person. If it is someone like me, then forget about a dessert bowl…I will empty the entire bowl :-)

Left over milk ? No worries. You could drink it up as is or pour it into thin popsicle molds for some home made Kulfis.

Kesari

There is no Indian who has not tasted good home made kesari/sooji halva. This is one of most common sweet dish made at home and loved by all. Here is my figure friendly variation to the traditional kesari.


Ingredients
Sooji – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Ghee – 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoon
Milk – 3 cups
Saffron – pinch (optional)
Ripe Banana – 2/3  mashed
Raisin - 1/4 cup
Un Salted Nuts( almonds, cashews, walnuts) - 1/2 cup

Method
Heat ghee in a kadai /wide mouth pan and roast the nuts and raisin. When the nuts turn golden and the raisins have plumped up add the sooji and mix well. Roast the sooji in the ghee until it turns golden and smells fragrant. Add the milk slowly to the sooji and mix well. Take care to pour milk slowly in order to not form lumps. When milk to thoroughly mixed with sooji, allow it to cook until 1/2 done. Then add the sugar and mix well. If you choose to add saffron, please do so now followed by ripe banana. Keep stirring until well incorporated and completely cooked.  Add 2 tablespoons of ghee at the end just before turning off the heat. Serve hot with other savory snacks.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I hardly bake and when I do give it a try, I stick to those hard to get it wrong recipes. Chewy Oatmeal Raisin cookies are one of my favorites and and it turns out I can bake a decent batch without breaking a sweat. Here is how


Ingredients
Rolled oats - 2 cups
All purpose flour  - 1 Cup
Eggs  - 2
UnSalted Butter  - 1/2 cup
Brown sugar  - 1 cup
Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup
Raisins  - 1 cup
Walnuts  - 1/2 cup chopped
Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon  - 1/2 teaspoon
Vanilla  - 1 tablespoon
Pinch of Salt
White chocolate - 1/2 cup (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt butter and bring it to room temperature. In the meantime whisk eggs in a bowl and add the butter and whisk until smooth. Now mix in the sugars and vanilla and beat well until creamy.
In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients together (oats, all purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt).
Add the dry ingredients and to the wet ingredients and give it a good mix with a spatula. Finally stir in the nuts and raisins. For those with an extra sweet tooth mix in the white chocolates.
Line couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Place large tablespoon full of cookie mix on to the sheet leaving enough space between each. Bake the cookies for around 10-12 minutes (may differ due to oven heat and altitude) until golden brown.
Transfer the cookies on a cooling rack or on a plate for few minutes.  Store in an airtight container or cookie jar.

Black Bean Chat

When I get the craving for some spicy refreshing chat that is healthy and figure friendly, I turn to my good old bean chat. This is one of the easiest and yet the tastiest chat recipes I ever had. It cleans out your refrigerator and provides a healthy snack (or a evening meal) to you and your family. So , here is how I do it


Ingredients
Black beans canned or home soaked and cooked – 3 cups
Cucumber – 1 large peeled and chopped
Celery – 3 stalks chopped
Tomatoes – 2 chopped
Red onions – 1/2 chopped
Green chilies – 2-3 finely chopped
Carrots – 1 large or 2 medium shredded
Green or Red pepper – 1 chopped
Fresh lemon /lime juice – 3 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Cumin powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Chat powder – 2 teaspoon
Chili powder – 1/4 teaspoon ( more if you like it spicy)
Cilantro – 1/2 cup chopped
Sev (optional)
Peanuts - 2/3 cup
Method
Mix beans and all veggies in a large bowl. Sprinkle salt, chili powder, cumin powder, chat powder and lime juice over the veggies and mix well. Taste the mix and adjust seasoning to your liking. Finally mix in the chopped cilantro. Serve the bean chat in individual bowls topped with salted peanuts and sev mixture.

Variation: You may substitute black beans with any beans of your liking or choose to use two different kinds of beans. I sometimes use a combination of black and garbanzo beans for the chat.