Chicken Tikka

Chicken Tikka is one of the most liked foods world over. The nicest thing about this dish is that it's really easy to make. Prepare and store it. Eat it as such or add in any other dish.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless and skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp chicken tikka masala
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• pinch of food color
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp butter

Method:

• Cut chicken in 1 ½” cubes.
• Mix all ingredients with chicken in a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Before cooking bring chicken to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 350 degree F for 10 minutes.
• Line a baking tray with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray or smear with cooking oil.
• Lay the pieces on this foil and drizzle lightly with cooking oil.
• Bake in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes or till the chicken is just tender.
• Butter can be drizzled over for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Note:

To make tikkas soft and tender, marinate them for a longer time (I personally marinate them overnight)and don't overcook. Keep the pieces bite sized and cook them hot and fast.

Tips:

Never freeze meat while it is warm – it must be completely cold before it is packed.

Do not re-freeze cooked meat that has been frozen and thawed completely. Cook the meat again thoroughly and then re-freeze in case of emergency.

Chopped Egg Curry

Enjoy this quick and easy egg curry dish with hot crispy paraatha in breakfast.

Ingredients:

• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• ½ tsp Pepper Powder
• ½ tsp Red Chili Powder
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• Chopped Coriander leaves
• Salt To taste

Method:

• Cut each egg into two parts. Take out yellow yolk and cut white albumin part into small chunks. Keep aside both yolk and albumin parts separately.
• Heat oil in a skillet, fry onion on medium flame until it becomes soft and light brown.
• Add chopped chili and stir fry till it changes its colour.
• Stir in all the powders along with salt and mix well.
• Mix in egg white chunks and stir well.
• Now carefully add yolk pieces. Try not to break yolk pieces. Remove the skillet from the heat, sprinkle cilantro leaves and cover the skillet with lid. Leave it for 2-3 minutes.
• Take out in a serving dish, garnish with more coriander leaves and serve with paraatha.

Tips: Cut boiled eggs with a knife dipped in hot water to avoid breaking

Do You Know?

If a boiled egg is overcooked, a greenish ring sometimes appears around egg yolk. This is a manifestation of the iron and sulfur compounds in the egg. It can also occur when there is an abundance of iron in the cooking water. The green ring does not affect the egg's taste; overcooking, however, harms the quality of the protein (chilling the egg for a few minutes in cold water until the egg is completely cooled prevents the greenish "ring” from forming on the surface of the yolk).

Chana Daal with Bottle Gourd (Ghiya)

This is a traditional Punjabi combination of Chana daal and Ghiya. Its called Chholiyaan di daal - daal made out of split kaale chhole/Bengal gram. This simple dish brings together the two widely loved flavors – Chana Daal and ghiya (Bottle Gourd).

Ingredients:

• 2 cup chana daal ( split bengal gram) soaked for 1 hour
• 1 small bottle gourd (ghiya) cut into 2” square pieces
• 2 medium onions finely chopped
• 1 large tomato chopped
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp dry mango powder ( amchur powder)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 3 tbsps melted ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 slit green chillies (optional but preferred)
• 1/2 tsp asafetida powder
• Crispy fried onion slices for garnishing

Method:

• Put chana dal into a pressure cooker. Add 5-6 cups of water, 2 tbsp of cooking oil and turmeric powder to it. Stir well.
• Cover the pressure cooker and set on flame. Cook for 2 'whistles'/ pressure releases.
• In a pan heat ghee; add bay leaf, cumin seeds, asafetida, green chillies, chopped onion and ginger garlic paste. Fry it till golden.
• Now add chopped tomatoes, red chili powder, garam masala, amchur powder and salt. Fry it till ghee starts to separate from masala. Now add ghiya pieces to masala and cook till ghiya is soft.
• Open the pressure cooker when it is cooled, stir the boiled lentils well. If it is too thick, add some warm water and stir till the consistency is right.
• Mix ghiya masala to chana dal and stir well. Add lemon juice to it.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro and crispy fried onion slices.
• Serve hot with Sabji, Chutney and roti (Indian Flat Bread).

Do You Know?

Chana dal, also known as Bengal gram, is the most widely grown dal in India. Its pale-yellow color has a sweet, nutty aroma. Chana dal has a very high nutritious value. It is praised by diabetics for its incredibly low glycemic index. (The glycemic index measures the effect of foods on blood sugar levels.)

Chicken 65 II

Many variations are found in the recipe of chicken 65. This is another recipe of Chicken 65 which makes juicy and moist chicken pieces.
This excellent dish can be served with Indian flat bread or a bowl of hot rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken cut into small pieces
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1 tbsp Soya sauce
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp Chicken Masala
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp ajinomotto
• ¼ tsp deep orange food color
• 4 green chilies slit
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

• Mix the chicken pieces with yogurt, lemon juice, and salt. Pressure cook the chicken until the pieces are tender and all the water evaporates. Keep the chicken pieces aside.
• Mix ajinomotto, soya sauce, corn flour, Tandoori Chicken Masaala, ginger-garlic paste, red coloring and salt in a vessel and marinate the cooked chicken pieces in it. Marinate for 1 hour.
• Heat oil in a skillet, add green chillies and curry leaves, once they stop spluttering add chicken pieces and fry the chicken pieces.
• Garnish with green chillies and chopped cilantro.

Do You Know?

Color is an important property of foods that adds to our enjoyment of eating. Even early civilizations such as the Romans recognized that people "eat with their eyes" as well as their palates.

Saffron and other spices were often used to provide a rich yellow color to various foods. Butter has been colored yellow as far back as the 1300's.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for regulating all color additives used in the United States. All color additives permitted for use in foods are classified as "certifiable" or "exempt from certification".

Fish Curry in Pasta Sauce

Try this quick recipe and enjoy the cat fish with flavours of onion, tomato and basil.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb cat fish fillet
• 2 medium Onions chopped finely
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 cup pasta sauce ( tomato and basil)
• 2 tbsp fish curry masala
• Salt To Taste
• ½ cup cooking oil

Method:

• Cut the fish into medium-sized pieces.
• In a bowl marinate the fish in ginger garlic paste, fish curry powder, pasta sauce and salt for 10 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the fish pieces ( take out from the marinade) gently. Drain the fish on absorbent kitchen paper and set aside.
• Add the chopped onions to the oil in the pan and fry until golden. Add marinade and fry till oil starts to separate.Add fried fish and cook stirring for about a minute.
• Cover the pan and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, till the fish is tender. If required add 3-4 tbsp of water.
• Serve the fish curry hot with rice or roti ( Indian flat bread)

Do You Know:

Catfish are named for their prominent barbels, which resemble cat’s whiskers. Catfish have no scales; their bodies are often naked. In some species, fish breathes through its mucus-covered skin.
Catfish is also high in Vitamin D

Jalapeno Fish fillets

Try this recipe, jalapeno flavoured fish fillet, you will be amazed.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Cat Fish fillets
• 4 tbsp Green jalapeno sauce
• 1 tsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 egg white
• 4 tbsp corn flour
• Salt to taste
• Pinch of Red food color
• 10 pieces of pickled hot jalapeno pepper sliced
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cup cooking oil for frying

Method:

• Wash the fish thoroughly and cut into long strips of about 1 cm thickness.
• In a bowl mix jalapeno sauce, soya sauce, ginger garlic paste, egg white, corn flour, food color and salt. Add fish fillets and mix well.
• Heat the oil in a wok.
• Fry fish fillet until golden and crispy on a moderate heat. Drain the fish on absorbent kitchen paper and set aside.
• Dip the pickled sliced hot jalapeno pepper in the leftover marinade and fry them just like fish fillet.Take them out on the absorbent kitchen paper.
• Serve fish fillet hot in a plate, drizzled with lemon juice and garnished with fried pickled jalapeno and lemon slices.

Do You Know?

Most of us love the jalapeno (and other beautiful peppers) because of the little “kick” we get when we take a bite of one. Sure, as far as taste is concerned, jalapenos are delicious, but that blast of spiciness that bursts in your mouth and ravishes your tongue is a powerfully added bonus, making hot peppers among the greatest flavors in the world.

That spiciness we all love and crave comes from a compound called capsaicin that is found in all hot peppers. Interestingly enough, capsaicin is found in no other plant than the chili pepper. A single drop of this substance combined with 100,000 parts water is still noticeably spicy.

Isn’t that great!

Gosht Khare Masaley Ka (Lamb With Whole Spices)

Khare Masaley Ka Gosht literally means mutton cooked with whole spices.

Ingredients:
1 pound Lamb with bones cut into 1 ½” pieces
2 medium Onions
1” Ginger piece
4 cloves Garlic
2 Green Chillies
2 dry red chillies
Salt to taste
1” cinnamon stick
1 brown cardamom
10 black peppercorns
5 cloves
2 Bay Leaves
Pinch of Mace (Javitri)
Two twigs of cilantro or parsley
1 tbsp ghee

Method:

• Clean and wash lamb .
• Heat ghee in a pressure cooker, add bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cloves and sauté till they turn light brown in color.
• Add lamb, onions, ginger, garlic, whole green chillies, dry red chillies, salt and 2 cups of water.
• Pressure cook for about 30 minutes on low heat or till lamb pieces are tender.
• Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro leaves.
• Serve hot with bun or pita.