Coriander and Mint Chutney

Why a coriander chutney Indians might think!! What is so special about it? Yes you are right nothing special for us Indians however I still thought it was a good idea to put this up on my blog!!

So the story goes like this ... We had Mr M from our Bristol office visiting our India office for a project and he shared my coriander-mint chutney one day at lunch time. Despite it being probably a dynamite for him he took a liking to it I guess and wanted the recipe!! 

Wow!! now that got me thinking how things that we just take for granted can be a thing of someone would want to try out..

Here goes a Goan style coriander-mint chutney which can be used with samosas, kachori, tikkas or as a spread for sandwiches. For Sandwiches what I do is just mix some butter and a little bit of sugar. You will love the green chutney sandwich, I promise.

All you need

2 cups coriander washed n chopped + 1/4 cup mint leaves
1/4 cup grater coconut
1/4 chopped onions
1/2 inch ginger chopped
Green chilly - 2 small or more if you don't mind a dynamite
1 tbsp lemon juice or u can substitute it with 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste
Just grind all the above together into a smooth paste.. Add water only if required...
Ta da!!! Chutney is ready!!

On the Rocks

They say simple things in life gives us much joy and that happiness is a spectrum. Well, I cannot agree more because I just found a spectrum myself today.. A spectrum of colour, flavour and smell.

So let's keep it simple..here is a great idea for each of you to DIY. Just get fruits, colour and fragrance of your choice and infuse it in ice...there you go... you will have an awestruck person with a glass full of these in hand.. Be it with a simple lemonade or an Absolut pride ;)

I used strawberries, lemon, mint and pomegranate.

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Triple Chocolate Caramel Brownie

There are three main myths about the creation of Brownie. 

The first, that a chef accidentally added melted chocolate to biscuit dough. 

The second, a cook forgot to add flour to the batter. 

And thirdly, the most popular belief, that a housewife did not have baking powder and improvised with this new treat. It was said that she was baking for guests and decided to serve these flattened cakes to them.

All three myths have gained popularity throughout the years.Yet I like the first myth.. though he accidental added melted chocolate I do it deliberately!! I know it is sinfully criminal!!

This one that I made is completely inspired by Laura Vitale and owe the recipe to her completely. You get some great stuff from her videos on you tube!!

And because tomorrow the 8th Dec is the 'World Brownie Day' lets bring it in with a sizzling brownie with that extra chocolate and ice cream!! A little bit of extra doesn't do any harm, I promise!!

Ingredients

3/4 cup of All Purpose Flour ¾ cup of Cocoa Powder ½ cup of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature 1 cup of Granulated Sugar 3 Eggs ¼ tsp of Salt 2 tsp of Vanilla Extract 1 cup of Chopped Walnuts 1 cup of White Chocolate Chips 1 cup of Semisweet Chocolate Chips 2/3 cup of Caramel Sauce ½ tsp of Instant Espresso Powder

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, grease a 8 inch square baking pan and line it with parchment paper, set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, salt and instant espresso powder, set aside.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar and the eggs and vanilla.

4. Add in the dry ingredients and mix just enough to incorporate the dry ingredients in well.

5. Reserve 1 cup of the batter and set aside. Spread the remaining batter into the bottom of the prepared baking dish, sprinkle the walnuts and white chocolate chips evenly over the batter, drizzle the caramel sauce on top of that.

6. Add the semisweet chocolate chips to the remaining 1 cup of batter, then spread this mixture all over the top of the caramel.

7. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes. Let them cool completely then serve!

Make it sizzle on a brownie sizzler plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and extra helping of chocolate sauce!! You are sorted in the gym for the rest of the year!! Hey what the hell my new year resolution is to loose weight therefore I'm excused till then!!

Samosa

How to have your own samosa and eat it too!!!!

My two fold love for samosa comes from its association to my childhood days and a husband who can kill for samosas.

All my childhood was spent in the Veterinary college campus, Jabalpur and just outside the Campus there used to be a corner shop called 'Badde ki dukan' this place was known for its 'pan' and also the steaming samosas and jalebi it used to sell. I have never tasted samosa's as delicious as those. I might be completely biased because I know that each state will vouch for their own samosas. We have all eaten the so called stuffed in some way or the other. May be in the form of pierogi (Russia and Poland), gyoza (Japan, China and Korea), and dumplings (England and the United States). Samosas are known to have originated from the Middle East prior to the 10th century but came to the Indian sub continent only in the 13th and 14th century.

The one that I have made is like the ones we got in Jabalpur with potato cut into tiny squares fried in garam masala with loads of coriander seeds (sabut dhania) and fennel seeds (saunf). 

Back those days it would be a treat if mum allowed us to buy samosa's and jalebis from this shop as an evening snack. I had to recreate this to re live those childhood days.. well, succeeded therefore sharing with you folk!!

Ingredients

For the dough

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 tbsp oil/ ghee

1 pinch of ajwain

1/8th cup water

For the filling

5 potato cut into small cubes (about half a cm)

1/2 cup coriander leave

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp coriander seeds roasted

1/4 red chilly powder

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp dry mango powder

1/2 tsp jeera powder

Oil for frying

 Method

1. Mix flour, water, oil, some salt and ajwain to make dough. It should be a stiff dough therefore the water has to be added cautiously. Leave aside for 15 minutes.

2. Heat two spoons oil and add potatoes along with all the ingredients mentioned in the filling except coriander leaves and coriander seed. Cover on low flame and cook till potatoes are done.

3. Add the coriander leaves along with coriander seeds that has been roasted and coarsely pounded.

4. Keep aside to cool. Make small rolls of the dough and make it like chapati. Cut it in two parts (like semi-circle), then take one semi circle and fold it in a shape of cone. Use water while doing so. Stuff the potatoes mixture in that cone and seal it by taking a drop of water on finger.

5. On medium heat fry the samosas till golden brown. Please note that the oil should not be too hot otherwise the samosas will not cook from inside. Each lot of samosa should take a min of 10 mins to turn golden brown.

6. Serve hot with Imli chutney or green Chutney.

Galouti Kebab

Legend has it that the ruler of Lucknow, Nawab Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, had lost all his teeth. And yet, the toothless Nawab was so big there was no horse that could carry him. What was his secret? He apparently commissioned the creation of a version of his beloved kebabs that could be eaten without teeth. His court chef designed a new kebab that would use the finest lamb cuts, mince them twice very finely, add a tenderizer and flavor the whole with a heavenly spice mix. 

Though they say that the best kebabs are from Benaras or Lucknow I for sure can vouch for kebabs from the place I was brought up, that is Jabalpur in MP. My brother would often parcel these melt-in-the-mouth kebabs from some bylanes of Sadar Bazar. I have till date not seen the place but have heard how Iranians and Indians would both flock this place in the evening to grab the sizzling kebabs. They used to be out of the world!! 

The Galouti Kebab usually has tenderizing agent like papaya but mine doesn't because I'm not using red meat this time around as I had chicken mince handy. You can use the same method for other meat as well but just ensure that you use papaya paste as addition.

Ingredients

To pressure cook

1/4 kg chicken mince
20 g chana dal (gram dal - yellow split lentils)
4 small potato
5 cloves
2 inch cinnamon stick
2 black cardamom
4 green cardamom
4- 5 black pepper seeds

Garnish

2 tbsp paste go ginger, garlic, mint, coriander and green chilies ( the amount of each ingredient can vary to your taste)
1 small onion chopped finely

Method

1. In a pressure cooker add all ingredients except the Garnish with 1/2 cup water and pressure cook till chicken is tender. This should not take more than 15 mins.
2. Cool the cooked meat and grind it into a finely paste.
3. Mix the ingredients under garnish and make it into flat round shapes as in the picture.
4. Shallow fry on both the sides till golden brown. This kebab requires very little oil or ghee.

Serve with sauce or chutney of your choice and loads of cut onions and lemon.

Daily Bread

Break bread with me...

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. –Robert Louis S

Well, I thought I'll do my daily duty and do my daily breads too and share it with you guys..so here goes..

Ingredients

3 cup all purpose flour 1 cup warm milk 2 tbsp milk powder 2 large eggs beaten 3 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp oil 4 tbsp melted butter 2 tsp instant yeast 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Add yeast to the warm milk and set aside till the yeast is activated. You will see it frothing up which indicates the activation. 2. Sieve the flour, then add milk powder, sugar and salt along with the oil and butter and the egg ( save a bit to use as wash) and mix together. 3. Add all the milk with the activated yeast and knead together. 4. Add warm water a little at a time only if required. 5. Knead for a good 8-10 minutes. The more you knead it the softer the buns will be. 6. Apply oil on the dough and cover it and let the dough rise for a couple of hours or till it doubles. 7. Cut the dough into 10 - 20 pieces depending on the size you want your cones (I used a chart paper for the cone and then lined it with aluminium foil). 8. Roll each piece into threads of a cm thickness and wrap it around the cone leaving a very small gap in between each line. This is to ensure that you leave some space for the dough to rise. 9. Cover with a lint free kitchen towel and let it rise again for one hour in a warm place. 10. Brush the egg wash on the dough and sprinkle sesame seeds. 11. Bake in a preheated oven for 18 - 20 mins at 180 degree C. 12. I used half of my dough to just roll into small balls to bake buns for my ham sliders that i intend doing for breakfast tomorrow. 

You can fill the cone with Mac and cheese or any vegetable and cheese bake. You also have the option of filling the cone with any veg or non veg tikka with sauce of your taste and garnish it with mint or coriander leaves and squeezed lemon.

One Pot Chicken Drumstick Bake

Let me start by telling you a joke about chicken legs.

A man was driving along a rural road one day when he saw a three legged chicken running down the road. He was amused enough to drive along side it for a while, as he was driving he noticed the chicken was running 30 mph.

Pretty fast chicken, he thought, I wonder just how fast it can run. So he sped up and the chicken did too! They were now moving along the road at 45 mph!

The man in the car sped up again, to his surprise the chicken was still running ahead of him at 60 mph!!!

Suddenly the chicken turned off the road and ran down a long driveway leading to a farmhouse. The man followed the chicken to the house and saw a man in the yard with dozens of three legged chickens. The man in the car called out to the farmer "How did you get all these three legged chickens?"

The farmer replied, "I breed 'em. Ya see it's me, my wife and my son living here and we all like to eat the chicken leg. Since a chicken only has two legs, I started breeding this three legged variety so we could all eat our favorite piece."

"That's amazing!" said the driver "How do they taste?"

"Don't rightly know, I ain't caught one yet!"

Well I'm thankful that I don't have to catch a three legged one for my family and friends to relish the spicy tangy drumsticks. Invariably, chicken becomes a part of the variety of finger food you like to serve to your guests. So my tryst to try out new ways of making these continues. Here's one easy, delicious and fool proof way of making chicken drumsticks.

Ingredients

Chicken drumsticks 1 kg Curd - 250 ml Ginger and garlic paste 1 tbsp each Chilly flakes - 1 tsp or as per taste Onion powder - 2 tbsp Mint/coriander paste - 1 tbsp Coriander powder - 1 tsp Chilly powder - 1 tsp Oil - 2 tbsp

Method

Marinate chicken drumsticks in curd, ginger and garlic paste, chilly flakes, onion powder (onions fried till golden brown and crushed), mint/ coriander paste, coriander powder and chilly powder ( just for colour - I used Kashmiri chilly powder) and oil. The chicken should be marinated overnight or a minimum of 4 hours to enable it to absorb the marinade.

Line the chicken in a baking dish and bake in the oven for a minimum of 60 - 70 mins at 200 degree C. Turn the drumsticks once or twice over to get an equally golden colour on all the sides.

It cannot get easier than this right?

Some tips

1. Chicken drumsticks with skin on makes the chicken more juicier inside. 2. If you like orange or lemon flavour in you chicken just add in the respective wedges before baking!! It adds a great flavor to your chicken. 3. As an alteration you can add baby potato or zucchini in the baking dish along with the chicken. Keralites try adding boiled kappa ( tapioca) and they come out gorgeously toasted and tastes out of the world!! 4. You can add kabab masala to the marinade to get a spicy Indian flavor.