Khima Egg Masala And Green Salad

Khima Egg Masala

When we were about to leave from temporary housing, we had so many stuff remaining and we didnt want to carry too many items from there to permanant one. So thats what is the inspiration behind this experiment. Quite tasty and unique :)

Ingredients

450g Khima

4 Tomatoes

2 Onions

3 Eggs

1 Spoon Garam Masala

1.5 Spoon Red chilli Powder

1 Spoon Turmeric Powder

1/4 Spoon Black Pepper

2-3 Cinnamon

1/4 Spoon Garlic Paste

1/4 Spoon Ginger Paste

1/2 Spoon Corriander Powder

A pinch of Jeera Powder

Corriander Leaves for Garnishing

Salt to taste

Oil

Method

• Hard boil eggs and keep them aside.
• In a pan heat oil and add washed and drained Khima to it.
• Cook till it turns brown in color and oil separates out. Keep aside.
• In same oil add black pepper, cinnamon and let it turn light brown in color.
• Add finely chopped onion, garlic paste, ginger paste to this
• When onion is completely cooked, add 1/2 spoon turmeric, 1 spoon red chilli powder, garam masala, corriander powder and jeera powder
• Mix well and cook for couple of minutes
• Let it cool down and grind the mixture in mixie.
• In same pan in a spoonful of oil add this grinded mixture and grated tomatoes and cook till tomato is half done.
• Mix 1/4 cup of water in it, Salt to taste and the fried keema to it. Cook till completely done and almost dry. Keep aside
• Grate the eggs, add turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt to taste to it and keep aside.
• While serving, add small portion of keema masala into the bowl, top it with grated egg mixture and garnish with corriander leaves.

Notes

One can actually add, cheese or paneer as well instead of egg but I thought egg would be the best one to go along this recipe flavour.

Green Salad

When I came to US there were so many new ingredients that were easily available that I decided to try something different than I have always tried :) So here was my experiment with the first salad. I would name it Green Salad for I used Green Leaf Lettuce :)

Ingredients

10 leaves of Green Leaf Lettuce

1/2 Cup Grape Tomatoes

1/2 Pineapple

1/4 Cup Corn

10 Cucumber Pickels

5 Jalapenos

1/2 Spoon Oregano

2.5 Spoon Ranch Dressing

Salt to taste

Method

• Cook the corn in boiling water or microwave in a cup of water for 5 min. Drain the water and keep aside.
• Cut the green leaf lettuce into medium sized pieces
• Halve the grape tomatoes and add them to leaf lettuce.
• Add Pineapple after chopping it to small pieces
• Halve cucumber pickle and add to it
• Add chooped jalapenos and corn that was set aside.
• Add Ranch Dressing, Oregano and Salt. Mix well and serve.

Notes

This was something quick, healthy and yet tasty. The ranch dressing and oregano went well together :) Need to try some other fruits, vegetables and dressings. :)

Very Berry CakeCorn Sikh Kabab

Very Berry Cake

Right now we get so many variety of berries out here that I thought it would be a good idea to try out this cake.

Ingredients

3 Cups Maida

4 Spoon Baking Powder

2 Eggs

1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Sugar

3/4 Cup Milk

2 Cup Rasberry

2 Cup Blue Berry

3/4 Cup Black Berry

6-8 Strawberries

Salt to taste

Method

• Mix the butter and sugar with the handheld mixer.
• Add Egg and mix again till thick and smooth paste
• Sieve the maida, baking powder and salt together.
• Preheat oven to 350F/180C
• Add the maida-baking powder mixture in to the egg-butter-sugar mixture with constant mixing using handheld mixer
• When the complete maida and baking powder mixture is mixed it would be quite thick. Add milk and mix well
• Add all the berries (used whole berries except for stawberries which i chopped in to four pieces as they were big ones) and mix with a spatula
• Grease the baking pan and pour in the mixture.
• Bake for 35 minutes at 350F/180C

Notes

I used powdered sugar so that it can dissolve in quickly.

Also I used the fresh fruits directly from fridge so that they dont over cook.

You can also use frozen berries available in the market. I might try freezing the fresh berries and using them unthawed next time.

Also I used salted butter and added salt to so it tasted little extra salt. So if you are using salted butter dont use salt or vice-a-versa.

Corn Sikh Kabab

We get lots of corn out here and I think its good source of fiber and roughage :) So we eat in abundance. But its normally after roasting it and sprinkling salt and lemon. This time I decided to try something different with it and here is the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients

4 Cobs with the corn

2 Potatoes

4 Spoon Corn Flour

6 Cloves of Garlic

2 Green Chillies

1 Onion

1/4 Cup Corriander Leaves

Salt to taste

Butter or Ghee

Method

• Add water to corn and cook over medium flame for around 25 minutes or till the corn is cooked. Keep aside to cool down
• Pressure cook potato in the cooker and keep aside to cool down
• In a mixie grind garlic, green chillie and onion to smooth paste
• Grate the corns, Mash the potatoes and mix them
• Add the grinded mixture, finely chopped corriander leaves, corn flour and salt to taste.
• Make the elongated kababs from this mixture.
• Preheat oven to 400F/200C
• Grease the baking tray with butter/ghee and spread the kababs
• Bake at 400F/200C for 15 minutes
• Flip the sides of the kabab and bake for another 15 minutes. Server with tomato ketchup

Notes

While making the mixture I tried to use less spicess as possible so that i can retain the taste of the corn and it worked well with hint of onion-garlic-chilli paste. But if you like you can add other masalas as well.

Just for completeness, the given quantity of corn flour worked best for my kabab mixture to be firm. You can add more or use less according to the consitency of the mixture.

You can also cook the kababs over tawa on medium to low heat but oven cooking worked best as i could manage other work while it was getting cooked :)

Chakali And Tandoori Chicken

Chakali

This time for Diwali I decided to prepare some faraal - snack items prepared especially for Diwali. So the preparation started with getting recipes from mom. When I looked at recipe for chakali, I just couldn't believe it is going to be so easy to make it and yet so quick. I had fun preparing this one and it tasted awesome. Item that is my and ajoy's favorite.

Ingredients

2 Cup Rice Powder

1 Spoon Maida

1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder

1/4 Spoon Sesame Seeds

1/4 Spoon Carom Seeds

1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter

Oil

Salt to taste

Method

• Mix rice powder, maida, sesame seeds, carom seeds, red chilli powder, salt in a plate
• Add in the butter and mix well.
• Make a soft dough ball (not too tight, not too loose but soft consistency) by adding water to it and kneading it well
• Knead half portion of it and put it in chakali maker.
• Heat oil on high
• Turn the heat to medium, make chakalis from the maker on a plate and transfer them to the oil.
• Fry from both sides till light red in color
• Repeat for remaining ones, making sure oil is hot enough before adding chakalis to the oil.
• Let it drain the oil on the kitchen towel, cool it and store it in air tight container

Notes

If you are using homemade butter, then wash it with cold water before use.

The chakalis should be taken out before they turn completely reddish as the color darkens after removing and cooling it down.

 Tandoori Chicken

One of the best starters we both love. In hyderabad I use to prepare this with Everest Chicken Tandoori Masala but this time I made it with my mix of masalas. It tasted awesome.

Ingredients

6 Chicken Leg Pieces

3/4 Cup Curd

2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder

1 Spoon Garam Masala

2 Spoon Ginger Paste

2 Spoon Garlic Paste

4 Spoon Lemon Juice

1/2 Spoon Chaat Masala

2 Spoon Oil

1/2 Cup Butter

Salt to taste

Method

• Make horizontal cuts on the chicken pieces
• Apply 2 spoon lemon juice and 1 spoon red chilli powder to it and keep aside for 30 minutes
• In a bowl mix curd, garlic paste, ginger paste, 1 spoon red chilli powder, 2 spoon lemon juice, garam masala, oil and salt
• Apply the above marination to chicken and store in fridge for 4-5 hours
• Preheat oven to 395F(200C)
• Melt the butter and sprinkle some on the chicken and bake it for 15 minutes
• Turn the chicken to face other side and sprinkle more butter on both sides. Bake for another 15 minutes
• Again turn the chicken and sprinkle remaining butter and bake for another 10 minutes
• Sprinkle chaat masala and serve with onions rings and lemon wedges

Notes

Instead of leg pieces you can use 700g mixed pieces as well.

In restaurants, they use color to make it look reddish but I didnt have it neither did I intended to use it.

I baked it over this bakeware set. It helps in dropping off extra marination, butter in the tray.

Peanut Sauce And Chicken Satay

Peanut Sauce

A must have dip for Chicken Satay, I had to make this. Especially for Ajoy as he is such a fan of this sauce that he sometimes asks for it in Chinese restaurant too :) forgetting that he is in Chinese restaurant instead of Thai :)

Ingredients

1 Cup Peanuts

2 Spoon Brown Sugar

1/4 Spoon Red Chilli Powder

2 Spoon Soya Sauce

1 Spoon Oil

1 Garlic Clove

2 Spoon Lemon Juice

Salt to taste

Method

• Dry roast the peanuts and let them cool
• Add peanuts, brown sugar, red chilli powder, soya sauce, oil, garlic clove, lemon juice and salt in a mixie and grind to sticky powder
• Add half cup of water and grind again till smooth paste

Notes

I had used double quantity of red chilli powder but it had become little extra hot so I have suggested only 1/4 spoon for red chilli. If you feel it is too mild for you try adding some more chilli while grinding

Chicken Satay

Chicken Satay is one of our favorite stater in Thai cuisine. So this time when we got the chicken from costco, I decided to give this a try. I had made this earlier but it was over even before I could click photo :) So now this time I made sure we click photos before making the strike.

Ingredients

400g Boneless Chicken Breasts

1 Spoon Brown Sugar

2 Garlic Cloves

1 Spoon Corriander Powder

1 Spoon Jeera Powder

1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder

1 Spoon Black Pepper Powder

2 Spoon Oil

2 Spoon Soya Sauce

2 Spoon Lemon Juice

1/2 Cup Milk

Salt to taste

Method

• Make thin and rectangular slices of the chicken
• Add brown sugar, garlic cloves, corriander powder, jeera powder, turmeric powder, black pepper powder, oil, soya sauce, lemon juice and salt and mix well. Keep aside in refrigerator for 4 hours
• After 4 hours, attach the strips of chicken on to scewer sticks, 2 pieces on one stick.
• Bast the chicken with the milk.
• Heat a non stick pan and cook the chicken with scewers on medium flame by flipping them over continuously every 2-3 minutes till done.

Notes

I read in lot many recipes to add fish sauce to the marination, but I investigated a bit and found that it is some what salty liquid and usually used instead of salt. Hence instead of going to asian shop for fish sauce I used normal table salt instead.

Lauki Kofta And Paneerbhara Kabab

Lauki Kofta

Ajoy just loves lauki kofta so much so that he asks ma to make it every time we go to pune. Till last year, that did work out especially since we visited pune atleast each month. But after coming to Redmond, one thing I am sure Ajoy and me too missed was Ma's special Kofta. So this time when we were in india we did ask her to make it quite frequently but the recipe is so good that eating it once in a year doesn't satisfy the taste buds. So after I got the recipe from her, today I made it on valentine's day. Guess my gift to Ajoy :)

Ingredients

3 Cup Bottle Gourd

1 Cup Carrot

1.5 Cup Besan

3 Spoon Corn Flour

2 Onion

2 Tomato

2 Cup Curd

4 Spoon Sugar

1/2 Spoon Chaat Masala

1/2 Spoon Jeera

1.5 Spoon Red Chilli Powder

1/2 Spoon Turmeric Powder

1 Spoon Corriander Powder

1 Spoon Jeera Powder

1 Green Chilli

1/4 Cup Cashews

1/4 Cup Raisins

Oil

Salt to taste

Method

• Grate bottle gourd and carrot and mix well
• Heat oil and add in jeera. Let it sputter
• Add in grated bottle gourd and carrot and mix well.
• Cook well stirring occasionally till the mixture dries up completely. Keep aside to cool down.
• Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion. Fry till translucent and keep aside.
• In a mixie add tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, jeera powder, corriander powder and salt. Grind well.
• Add in cooked onion and grind to smooth paste. Keep aside
• In the bottle gourd and carrot mixture, add besan, corn flour make soft dough
• Prepare small balls with cashews, raisins and green chilli pieces in the center of them.
• Fry the koftas in oil to brown color and keep aside.
• In a pan add the grinded paste, 3 cups of water and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes till gravy attains consistency.
• Add in koftas and simmer for another few minutes. Take of the heat
• In a bowl, mix in curd, sugar and chaat masala.
• While serving koftas, add in the kofta with the gravy, add curd and then garnish with grated carrot and some cashew pieces and raisins

Notes

Instead of carrot you can use raw banana as well.

Paneerbhara Kabab

Today when I opened fridge, found that I have around 2 liters of milk and it is getting expired tomorrow. Gave a lot of thought on what I should be using it before I loose it. Last few times I had been making sweets but this time I wanted to make something spicy and that is when I came up this.

Ingredients

2 Liter Milk

5 Spoon Vinegar

1 Cup Corriander Leaves

2 Spoon Pudina Leaves

5-6 Green Chillies

2 Bread Slices

1/2 Spoon Chaat Masala

Salt

Oil

Method

• Boil Milk in a thick pan
• Mix a cup of water with vinegar and add it to the milk to separate whey from it.
• Strain it and wash it with cold water.
• Hang it in a dry cloth for around half an hour to remove as much as water as possible
• Preheat oven to 350F/180C
• Bake bread slices for 5 minutes at 350F/180C, Flip the sides and bake for another 5 minutes
• In a mixie, grind the bread to breadcrums. Save aside
• Grind corriander leaves, pudina leaves and green chillies to fine paste without using water.
• In a plate mix the paneer that was hanging, the above green paste and salt
• Make small lemon sized balls and roll them in bread crums
• Heat oil and fry the balls in it over medium-high heat.
• Sprinkle chaat masala and serve with ketchup

Notes

If you want you can make it with grated paneer instead, but it tasted awesome with this fresh made paneer and the softness inside the crispy covering was delicious.

For the corriander-pudina-green chillies paste I didnt use any water. The water that was on leaves after washing them was good enough.

Prawns Burrito Bowl And Fried Chicken

Prawns Burrito Bowl

Chipotle is Ajoy's favorite joint and he does keep insisting on going to it once in a while. We like the chicken burrito bowl there. So after seeing them prepare the bowl for few times, I decided to try this out at home. Since I had prawns at home and didn't have boneless chicken, I made it with prawns. Turns out it was quite nice.

Ingredients

400g Cleaned Prawns

1.5 Cup Rice

5 Tomatoes

1 Lemon

3 Cup Sweetcorn

3 Spoon Curd

3 Spoon Red Chilli Powder

1/2 Spoon Oregano

1/2 Spoon Pepper Powder

1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder

1/4 Spoon Garam Masala

1/2 Cup Grated Cheese

1/4 Cup Ranch Dressing

1/2 Cup Corriander Leaves

4 Spoon Butter

Lettuce

Salt to taste

Olive Oil

Method

• Mix in curd, 1 spoon of red chilli powder, corriander powder, garam masala and salt.
• Add in prawns and mix well. Keep aside.
• In a pressure cooker cook the rice with 2.5 cups of water and keep aside.
• Heat 1/4 spoon of oil and add the corriander leaves to lightly cook them.
• Add the oil-corriander leaves mixture, lemon juice and salt to the rice and mix well. Keep aside
• In a pan, add a spoon of oil and heat it.
• Add in 3 mashed tomato, remaining 2 spoons of red chilli powder, pepper powder, oregano and salt. Mix well.
• Cook till mixture thickens. Keep aside to cool down
• In another pan heat butter and fry in the marinated prawns till they are done and dark brown in color.
• Now in three big bowls make the burritos by adding a layer of rice dividing equally in them.
• Add prawns, finely chopped remaining 2 tomatoes, grated cheese.
• Microwave sweet corn for 3 minutes and add it to the burrito bowl.
• Add the tomato-chilli sauce, ranch dressing and lettuce. Serve it immediately.

Notes
I microwaved the corn for quick cooking. You can alternately boil them in water and drain out the excess water.
The tomato-chilli sauce would turn quite spicy. I had used another spoon and it was little extra spicy hence while writing this recipe I have suggested 1 spoon less compared to what I used.
Used ranch dressing because I didn't want to buy or make sour cream just for this.
Since I had jumbo prawns I cut it into 2-3 pieces after frying them in butter.

Fried Chicken
When we were in Bangalore, KFC was our favorite joint. We also have couple of stories that took place in the KFC :) So quite a lot of memories. But since we came here, we haven't been to KFC once, though MacD is regular joint instead. But the fried chicken is something that went missing from our meal since then. So today I knew what I wanted to cook. I was earlier thinking of frying boiled chicken but then decided against it after a second thought. Bing just confirmed my thoughts :)


Ingredients
5 Chicken Leg Pieces
1 Egg
3/4 Cup Maida
5 Spoon Bread Crumbs
1 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Oregano
1/4 Spoon Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garlic Paste
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• With a sharp knife, give slits to the chicken pieces
• In a warm bowl of water, add 1/2 spoon red chili powder, oregano and pepper powder with salt.
• Add the chicken pieces and soak them in it for an hour.
• In a bowl, beat egg with garlic paste, remaining half spoon red chili powder, coriander powder and salt.
• In another plate mix maida with bread crumbs and salt.
• Take out the chicken pieces out of water and drain the water.
• Dip each leg piece in egg mixture to coat it completely and then in maida mixture to cover it with maida coating.
• Heat oil to medium high.
• Add each leg piece and fry till golden brown in color.

Notes
Soaking the chicken in water, tenderizes it a bit adding to the taste. I used mild spices to soak them in instead of dipping it in plain water.
I fried chicken on medium high heat instead of very high or very low. That helped me get the chicken that wasn't too dark in color and yet it was completely cooked.
I made extra bread crumbs while making Paneerbhara Kabab and stored them in air tight container. You can refer to it for how to make bread crumbs.

Prawns in Garlic Butter Salad

I have started to enjoy salads so much that every week i almost crave for one if i dont eat one. So here is a simple butter garlic garden salad with prawns that i made that tasted awesome.

Ingredients

8 Large Prawns

2 Cup Broccoli

2 Cup Green Beans

1 Cup Sweet Corn

1 Avocado

3 Cup Iceburg Lettuce

1 Onion

1 Cup Sweet Bell Pepper Sliced

1/4 Cup Cherry Tomatoes

6 Garlic Cloves

1/4 Spoon Oregano

1/2 Spoon Black Pepper Powdered

1 Lemon

Mozzarella Cheese for garnishing

Salt to taste

Butter

Method

• Heat pan and add in broccoli and green beans with some butter. Cook till they are smoky in color. Mix in salt to taste and keep aside.
• In same pan add in sweet bell pepper and some more butter and cook it for a while.
• When pepper seems almost done add in sliced onion, salt to taste and cook till onions turn light brown.
• Mix it with green beans and broccoli and keep aside.
• In same pan add in prawns and garlic diced coarsely and some butter and cook them turning often on low-medium heat till prawns are done. Mix in salt and keep aside
• Microwave sweet corn for two minutes and keep aside
• Divide the lettuce into two bowls.
• Add in half mixture of green beans, brocolli, pepper and onions in each bowl.
• Add in diced avocado half in each bowl.
• Add in prawns and garlic dividing half in each
• Add in cherry tomatoes and corn half in each bowl.
• Sprinkle lemon juice, black pepper powder and oregano half in quantity on each bowls contents evenly.
• Garnish it with shredded mozzarella cheese

Notes

I used Lemon as the dressing instead of ranch or anything else. If you like you can add ranch or other dressing that you like. But i thought the salad tasted awesome just with natural flavours from lemon.

Except prawns i cooked everything else on high flame giving it a crunchy texture. For prawns i added them on high heat and then reduced the heat so that i could give them smoky taste and color yet cook them nicely.