Chili chicken

This recipe for chili chicken must be the easiest ever. And it tastes great too. No wonder I always use this as my default chili chicken recipe!

http://mydhaba.blogspot.com/2005/12/chilly-chicken.html

Super easy and tasty chicken fry

You can also call this chicken dish SM chicken in honor of my cousin S's MIL who came up with this ultra easy recipe to make super yummy (but non-oily) chicken fry.

Below is the recipe in its original form. I have made notes regarding minor variations at the end. Please note that a non-stick pan is a must if you don't want to be hunched over your chicken while it is cooking and/or don't want to use copious amounts of oil.

Ingredients
Chicken 1/2 kg - cleaned and cut into medium sized pieces
Red chili powder 1.5 - 2 tsp (as per your spice tolerance level)
Dhania powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
2 tbsp plain yoghurt
Juice of 1/2 a medium-sized lemon
1" piece cinnamon stick
5 large pearls of garlic (or 7-8 small cloves)
Oil
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Take a wide non-stick pan and add enough oil to coat base of pan. Place on medium heat.
2. Add the cinnamon stick. Crush the garlic using a mortar-pestle (or the wide edge of a knife) and add.
3. When the garlic has cooked a bit and gives off a nice aroma, add the chicken pieces, chili powder, dhania powder and turmeric powder. Mix well so all the chicken pieces are coated with the spices.
4. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce heat to low.At this point, you can leave the chicken undisturbed and simply let it cook for 15-20 minutes. No necessity to add any water.
5. Check the chicken to see if it is done. If not, continue to cover and cook.
6. Else, add necessary salt, the yoghurt and lime juice. Mix well and cook without the lid till all the liquid from the yoghurt has evaporated and the chicken is mostly dry and has a nice coating to it.
7. Turn off heat and serve hot with rice or rotis.

Notes:
1. You can use 2-3 sprigs of curry leaves as seasoning along with the cinnamon and garlic to get a nice flavor.
2. There is no necessity to marinate the chicken beforehand. However, if you are so inclined, you can marinate the chicken with all the turmeric and about 1/2 of the chili powder you are planning to use and a little bit of salt. Adjust the ingredients accordingly while cooking.
3. The original recipe tastes great as is. Really, no tweaking is necessary.

Madurai style chicken kuzhambu

This is an easy recipe for chicken kuzhambu and is pretty tasty to make too.

http://websamayal.blogspot.com/2006/09/madurai-style-chicken-kuzhambu.html

These are the minor modifications I made to the recipe:

1. Added about a tablespoon of dhania powder and 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder to the chicken marinade.
2. Added 1 tsp of roasted fried gram (pottukadalai) to the dry ingredients to be ground.
3. I added 1.5 tbsp of coconut instead of 4 tbsp (I think no coconut shd also be fine).
4. Added a handful of curry leaves and 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds (sombu) as well for seasoning the oil used for tempering. I added only 1 cardamom instead of 3.
5. After opening the cooker, I added a  handful of chopped coriander leaves and let the liquid simmer for about 10 minutes before switching it off.

Oat muffin

This is an easy-to-make mildly sweet, tasty and healthy breakfast muffin. The oats make it very filling. I eat it as a quick energy booster before heading out for my morning walk.

Recipe adapted from here.

Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup milk (fat free is ok)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1/4 cup white sugar (can substitute with brown sugar or honey)
1/2 cup apple sauce
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (can substitute with 1 tsp pure vanilla essence)
1/2 tsp salt
Handful of chopped walnuts (or any other nut you fancy, optional)

Method (makes about 8 medium-sized muffins):
1.Start on the apple sauce if you are making it from scratch (recipe below). Make sure it cools completely before using it in the recipe.
2. Soak the oats in the milk for 15 minutes.
3. Pre-heat oven to 220C. Grease a muffin tray with cooking oil.
4. Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon powder. Mix in the sugar (if using) and set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and apple sauce together. If using honey instead of sugar, mix it in.
6. Add in the oats-milk mixture to the eggs/apple-sauce mixture.
7. Add in the flour mix and chopped walnuts to the above mix till just combined.
8. Fill in the muffin cups till 2/3 of the way through with the above mixture.
9. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean.

I personally prefer the taste of the muffin after it has cooled down a bit rather than straight from the oven. Serve as is or with a light dab of jam in the middle of a muffin cut in half if you prefer a sweeter taste.

Applesauce recipe (makes about 1/2 cup of sauce):
Ingredients:
1 apple
1 tsp lemon juice
Enough water to cover the apple pieces

Method:
1. Peel and core the apple. Chop it into small pieces.
2. Add it to a narrow pan and add enough water to just completely cover the apple pieces.
3. Add in the the lemon juice.
4. Bring mixture to a boil. Then, cover and simmer for about 20-25 minutes.
5. Turn off heat when the apple pieces are easily mashable with the back of a spoon. Mash the pieces so that you have a chunky-smooth apple sauce mixture.

Ragada Patties

Ragada patties is a quintessential Indian street food. It is usually available in places serving chaat. What first drew me to the recipe was that the alu patties (also called alu tikki) seemed so easy to make. Of course, to go with the tikkis, I decided to make the ragada as well. What a filling, tasty dish!

My final dish was a hybrid of these two recipes:

The alu tikki (or alu patties) from here:
http://www.hawkinscookers.com/8.1.receipe.aspx?rcp_cd=112

1. I skipped mint leaves as I did not have them.
2. I used only two slices of bread (I used brown) as opposed to 4.

The ragada from here:
http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2005/11/street-food-ragda-patties.html

1. I skipped the jaggery - I usually do not like sweetness in what I think of as "spicy" food.
2. I added more chili powder than specified (about 1.5-2 tsp). I love spicy!


To serve, I topped the tikkis with the ragada mixture and some freshly chopped onions and cilantro. Yummy! I would probably stop thinking healthy and make it even more yum with sev topping when serving guests!

Green Moong dal curry

This recipe is adapted from here. It is a quick and easy side dish to accompany rotis.

Ingredients:
Green moong dal - 1/2 cup (soak for a couple of hours or just pressure cook longer)
1/2 tbsp  ginger garlic paste
2 green chilis chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 medium tomato, chopped fine
1/2 cup milk (skim milk is okay)
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp turmeric
Juice of 1/2 a medium-sized lemon
Salt
Oil

For tempering:
1 tsp jeera
2 tsp ghee
1 sprig curry leaves
1/2 tsp red chili powder (optional)

Method:
1. Pressure cook the moong dal with the milk and water on low for 10 minutes after the first whistle and keep aside.
2. In a pan, add oil to coat and place on medium heat.
3. Toss in the chillis and the ginger-garlic paste and stir fry for a few seconds.
4. Add the onions and fry till the onions change color.
5. Add in the tomatoes and cook till they turn mushy.
6. Add in the cooked moong dal, turmeric and salt and cook for on high for a few minutes till some of the liquid evaporates.
7. Lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off heat.
8. In a separate pan, heat the ghee and toss in jeera. When it crackles, add in the curry leaves and chilli powder (if using) and pour onto the cooked dal.
9. Stir in the lemon juice.

Serve hot with rotis or perhaps, rice.

Soya chunks recipe

The recipe comes from this blog, which has been featured twice before here. Not surprisingly, this recipe is a winner as well. I followed the recipe almost as such with some substitutions. The resulting delicious soya curry made a lip-smacking combo with wheat parathas!

Soya Chunks Curry

Ingredients (enough for 3-4):
1 1/2 cup Nutrela soya chunks
1 big potato, peeled and chopped into medium-pieces
1 big onion, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 medium tomato, ground to a paste
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp kitchen king powder (or chicken masala powder or garam masala powder)
1/2 tsp jeera
1 green chilli, slit vertically
2 sprigs curry leaves
Fresh coriander leaves for garnish
Salt
Oil

Method:
Preparing the soya chunks:
1. Add sufficient water to a pan, add some salt and bring to a boil.
2. Add in the soya chunks to the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the soya chunks, squeeze out the excess water and set aside.

Main dish:
1. Use enough oil to coat the base of a pressure cooker. Heat cooker on medium.
2. Toss in the jeera and green chilli. When jeera crackles, add in the curry leaves.
3. Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for 10-15 seconds.
4. Add in the onions and salt and fry till onions turn translucent.
5. Add in the turmeric, coriander and chili powders and stir for a few seconds.
6. Add in the ground tomatoes and tomato sauce and let cook till tomato paste starts to separate from oil.
7. Boil 3 cups of water in a separate pan and add to the pressure cooker.
8. Close pressure cooker, let it whistle once, bring the flame down to simmer and cook for 8 minutes.
9. Let cooker cool down. Then open lid and add in the kitchen king masala.
10. Simmer for 7 minutes and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
11. Let the curry rest for some time before serving.

Dry Aloo Bhindi (Potato ladies finger)

When we were kids, my sister's favorite veggie was potato while mine was ladies finger (okra). Though I do like potatoes a lot, okra is still probably my most favorite vegetable. I was quite thrilled when I came across this delicious sounding recipe which had both.

Here is my slightly modified take on the recipe. Basically, I cut down on the oil. Non-stick pans and low heat are the friends of low-oil cooking! Quite a delicious side it turned out to be.

Aloo Bhindi

Ingredients (enough for two):
1/4 kg Okra/Ladies Finger/Bhindi
1 medium potato
1/2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds
A pinch hing
Salt
Oil

For coating:
1/4 cup besan
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp kitchen king powder (optional)
1/4 tsp garam masala
3/4 tsp aamchoor
Salt

Mix all the powders above well and keep aside. Use lesser salt than you think is necessary because you will be adding a little salt while cooking the okra.

Method:
1. Wash and pat dry the okra. Remove the tops and ends and slice vertically into halves and then horizontally into halves. Wash and peel the potato and slice into 1 inch fingers.
2. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of a wide non-stick pan.
3. Add the okras to the pan and toss till the pieces are covered with a light film of oil. Spray on a little oil spray if the okra seems a little dry.
4. Toss in the sesame seeds and a little salt and stir well.
5. Spread okra in a single layer on the pan, lower the heat, cover pan with a lid and let okra cook for 5 minutes till it is almost cooked (not mushy).
6. Remove the lid and cook okra in the pan till it is completely done. Use only low heat. Set aside the cooked okra.
7. In the same pan, add enough oil to coat and toss in the mustard seeds and jeera. Add hing when they pop and immediately toss in the potatoes.
8. Cook potatoes the same way as the okra above.
9. When potatoes are done, toss in the cooked okra and mix well.
10. Now add in the coating-powder a few teaspoons at a time, gently stirring the veggies after each addition so that they are evenly coated. Use a little cooking oil spray if the powder seems too dry.
11. Cook on low heat in the uncovered pan till the coating powder loses its raw taste.
12. Adjust for salt and turn off heat.

Serve hot with rotis and dal/raita. Yummy.

Egg roll

For me, egg rolls are the stars of Calcutta street food. When we lived in Calcutta, we used to buy egg rolls on Saturday nights as a weekend as a treat. I have never managed to get quite the same taste at home (obviously). Still, the egg roll recipe below makes a very satisfying and tasty dish with very little effort.

Using maida malabar parottas will take the taste of this dish to an entire new level. However, using wheat rotis is a not-too-bad healthy compromise.

Egg roll

Egg Roll

Ingredients (for one roll):
1 cooked wheat chapathi
1 egg
1/2 small onion, chopped
Lime juice, about 1 tsp
Tomato sauce
Green chilli sauce
Soy sauce
Pepper
Salt

All the ingredients

Method
1. Add the lime juice to the chopped onions and set aside.
2. Spray cooking oil on a tawa and place on medium heat.
3. Place chapathi on heated tawa. Break egg over the chapathi. Spread egg as much as you can over the surface of the chapathi.
4. Sprinkle pepper and salt on the egg (remember soy sauce is salty, so do not go over board with the salt).
5. Carefully flip the chapathi so that the egg side is facing down.
6. Continue cooking on medium heat. When the chapathi rises a bit, it means the eggs are cooked and are fluffing up.
7. Remove the egg coated chapathi from the tawa and place non-egg side down on a plate.
8. Sprinkle the onions in a vertical line across a diameter line of the chapathi.
9. Sprinkle all three sauces over the onions. The quantities of the sauces you use depends on your taste but in general, adding equal amounts of each (around 1-2 tsp each) tastes best.
10. Roll up the chapathi carefully so that the filling does not spill out.
11. If you want the roll to look professional, you can wrap a piece of wax paper or napkin paper around the lower half of the roll so that the filling does not fall out.

Serve hot!

Notes:
1. You can mince about 1/4-1/2 a green chilli and add it to the chopped onion/lime juice mixture. It enhances taste but could turn out to be very spicy if the chillis are fiery!

Applesauce cake

I used to like apples once upon a time. Then, I went to grad school. Apple was the cheapest fruit and as a poor Indian grad student, I ate one as my daily fruit quota religiously for close to 3 years. Then, not surprisingly, I got sick of it. Now, while I can tolerate fresh apples occasionally (read, once in 6 months or so), I cannot eat it on a regular basis. Thus, all apples lovingly brought by visitors took up more and more space on the refrigerator shelf.

So, when sis asked me to bake a cake, I immediately decided that apples would be the base. I first picked a recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine but was unsure of some of the ingredients. Besides, nowadays, unless a recipe has good reviews, I do not try it out (unless, of course, it looks too good even on paper).

Then, I luckily stumbled upon this recipe for applesauce cake. This blog usually features great recipes and this cake did not disappoint either. It was easy to make and the end result was moist, fluffy and delicious.

I adapted the recipe a little. Here it is:

Applesauce Cake

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter (I used 1/4 cup butter and a little less than 1/4 cup oil - use non-flavorful oils like vegetable, canola or sunflower oil)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup applesauce (recipe below)
1/4 cup yogurt (diluted with a little water and mixed well)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp slivered almonds


Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180C. Grease a baking pan and lightly flour it
2. Sift the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda together a couple of times. Keep aside.
3. Beat the sugar with butter/oil till light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after adding each egg.
5. Add in the applesauce and the vanilla essence and mix well.
6. Add in half of the dry mixture from step 1 and mix till almost blended.
7. Now add in the yogurt and the rest of the dry mix and stir till just mixed.
8. Pour in the mixture into the prepared pan.
9. Sprinkle the slivered almonds over the top of the cake.
10. Bake immediately for 30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in various parts of the cake comes out clean.
11. Cool completely on a wire-rack.

Recipe for apple sauce:
Ingredients (makes about a cup)
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into medium pieces
1 tsp lemon juice
Water

Method
1. Place apple pieces in a pan and pour enough water to cover.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil and add lemon juice.
3. Cover pan and cook on medium-low heat for about 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Applesauce is done when apples can be easily mashed with the back of a spoon. Water remaining in the pan is okay.
5. Mash the apples with a big spoon or masher till it forms a mixture with little lumps.
6. Applesauce is ready. Cool before using in the above recipe.

Notes
1. You can add sugar/cinnamon powder to the apple-sauce as per your taste. I did not add any for the applesauce I used for the cake.

Cucumber Yoghurt dip

This is a great recipe to beat the summer heat. Can use it as a dip for chips or pita bread or roti or simply eat spoonful by yummy spoonful by itself.

This recipe is loosely based it on the Greek tzatziki - though the ingredients used are fewer and more common in Indian households.

Cucumber Yoghurt Dip

Cucumber yoghurt dip

Ingredients (makes enough for 2):
1 medium cucumber
1/2-3/4 cup of thick yogurt (non-fatfree yogurt tastes best)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium green chili (or to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
Sea salt to taste

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients other than the cucumbers well.
2. Peel and chop the cucumber into small pieces and mix well with the yogurt mixture.
3. Adjust salt and serve immediately.

Notes:
1. If you want to prepare the dip beforehand, make and refrigerate the yogurt mix. Stir in the cucumbers just before serving.
2. You can also deseed the cucumbers before chopping.
3. If using as a dip, make sure yoghurt is thick (you can even strain the yogurt to remove as much liquid as possible).