Chicken Tikka Jhalfrazie

I love cooking with whatever is available in the pantry. The challenge lies in making something out of nothing..well not really nothing but whatever is handy! I had a packet of ready to fry chicken reshmi tikka and I ended up making a jhalfrazie out of it. As Wiki pedia states - Jhalfrazie is a type of curry that involves frying marinated pieces of meat, fish ,veggies in oil and spices to produce a dry thick sauce. It also essentially includes bell pepper,onion and tomato - seemed perfect for what I had in mind. Can be made in a jiffy, perfect for week night dinners, low fat with goodness of veggies and great on taste.Well what else do you need. Few hot rotis and you are in food heaven!

 

Ingredients:

Ready to eat - Chicken tikka  - 1 packet

Onion - 1 large - diced

Tomato - 1 large - diced

Bell pepper/capsicum - 1 medium - diced

Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp

Roasted cumin powder - 1 tbsp.

Roasted coriander powder - 1 tsp

Red chili powder - 1tsp

Tomato puree - 1 tbsp.

Fresh cream - 1 tbsp. - I used low fat  Amul cream

Sugar - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Refined oil - 1 tsp + 1 tsp

Dry red chillies - a few

Fresh Coriander - a handful chopped for garnish.

Method:

In a pan heat 1 tsp oil, tip the ready to fry tikkas and fry till lightly brown in colour. Or follow the instruction on the packet. You could even microwave a few varities. Drain and keep aside.

In the same pan , add another tsp of oil. Tip in the ginger - garlic paste and the dried red chillies. Fry till slightly brown in colour and it doesn't smell raw. Add the diced onions, tomatoes and bell pepper and quickly sauté on high heat.

Next add the red chilli powder , roasted cumin and coriander powder , sugar, salt and the tomato puree. Mix well and fry for 2-5 mins. Add a little warm water to prevent the masalas from burning. Now add the cooked chicken tikkas. Give everything a good mix, turn down the heat and add the fresh cream.  Garnish with fresh coriander.

Remove from heat and serve hot with a bread of your choice.

Notes:

•  The chicken can be prepared at home too. Just take some boneless chicken and marinate with a little yogurt , ginger - garlic paste, salt, white pepper powder and some lime juice. Follow the rest of the process.
• Since Jhalfrazie is essentially a medley of ingredients - you could make a vegetarian version by adding carrots,green beans,baby corn etc.
• This dish also uses a lot of green chillies that I have not used. So feel free to adjust the spice levels according to taste.

Chicken Roast - A Family recipe and memories galore!

  

I know. I know. I have been missing in action. Don't ask me why because even  I don't know the whys and the hows! Lets just say that my mojo went for a hike! This particular recipe I made long ago but wasn't getting the enthusiasm to write the post. And I just couldn't have posted the recipe because this belongs to my Thama - my paternal gradmom - a great cook with zamindars lineage from Dhaka. So you can well imagine the kind of food she made. Everything was royal about her! This Chicken Roast recipe belonged to her Baaper bari - fathers home and she made sure that she made the family cook learn it well and also pass on the recipe to her daughter in laws. I have grown up eating this royal dish on every special occasion and also made sure that I learn how to make it while growing up. The most important ingredient is the use of country chicken - small sized deshi murgi  stuffed with a mash of potato and boiled eggs  and served on a bed of rich onion gravy,made all the difference. So while I decided to recreate this legendary dish in my kitchen  - my biggest set back was the unavailability of small sized country chicken and had to make do with the farm ones we get here. Thus I have kind of deconstructed the dish but it tasted awesome nevertheless. Heres presenting my version of my family's favourite recipe - Chicken Roast.

 

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 medium sized - cut into 4 pieces - cleaned and washed

Onion - 1 large - finely chopped

Tomato - 1 large - finely chopped

Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tbsp.

Turmeric/Haldi  powder - 1tsp + 1tsp

Red chilli powder/laal mirch powder - 1 tsp

Roasted cumin powder / bhuna jeera powder - 1 tbsp.

Boiled potato - 1 large - roughly mashed

Tomato puree - 1 tbsp.

Sugar - 1 tsp

White pepper powder - 1 tsp

Cashewnuts - 8-10 - lightly roasted

Raisins /kishmish - half of a handful

Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp. - make a powder of green cardamom,cloves and cinnamon

Boiled eggs - 2 nos - for garnish

Ghee - 1 tbsp.

Refined oil - 1 tbsp. + 1 tbsp.

Salt  - taste

Fresh coriander leaves  - finely chopped - for garnish

Method:

Preparing the chicken:

Make a few slits in the chicken pieces and par boil it till a little soft. Drain and keep the water for later use.

Now marinate the chicken with salt and 1 tsp turmeric, keep aside. Heat a tbsp. of refined oil in a flat pan and sauté the chicken pieces till golden brown in colour.
Drain and keep aside.

Preparing the gravy:

In a kadahi - deep bottomed pan - heat 1 tbsp. ghee along with a tbsp. of refined oil. Add the ginger- garlic paste and sauté lightly. Add the chopped onion and fry till golden brown in colour. Make sure not to burn the onions.

Now add the chopped tomato, tomato puree, turmeric powder,roasted cumin powder,red chili powder,white pepper powder and the mashed potato. Mix everything well together and roast the masala well.Keep adding a little warm water to help the mixture from not burning.

Next add the cashewnuts, rasins and the garam masala powder. Add the sautéed chicken pieces and a cup of the water kept aside from boiling the chicken.let everything simmer for 5-7 mins. This dish has a gravy of thick consistency so check accordingly.

Garnish with chopped coriander and sliced boiled eggs and serve with naan/roti /paratha.
Or mop it up with toasted slices of bread just like me!

 

 

 

 

Notes:

• Keep a constant watch while making the gravy so as not to burn the masalas.
• This dish has a gravy of thick consistency so add water accordingly.
• Originally this dish is made with whole country chicken - stuffed with potato mash , fried till light brown in colour and then added to the gravy.
• Instead of frying the chicken pieces ..one could also grill it in the oven.

Posto Murgi - Chicken with Poppy seeds

While wondering what to make for lunch yet again..I remembered that my dear friend Sarani of Cocoawind had made this beautiful chicken dish with poppy seeds - a Bengali staple. Since chicken is the go to meat for easy weekday meals I decided to go ahead with the recipe. Now which Bengali will not like posto(poppy seeds)- give me simple posto'r bora(fritters) with daal-bhaat..and I am happy. Or don't forget the amazing Jhinge Posto,I can finish a big plate of rice with just this! Coming back to the recipe, again very basic ingredients are used here and you can rustle up this dish anytime in your kitchen.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 500 gms - cut into medium sized pieces

Onion - I medium - finely chopped

Poppy seeds paste - 2 tbsp.

Cashewnut paste - 1 tbsp.

Ginger/garlic paste - 1 tsp

Whole cardamom,cloves and cinnamon-  2 of each - lightly crushed

Bay leaves - 2 nos

Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

salt - to taste

Sugar - a pinch

Green chillies - 3-4 slit

Refined oil - 2 tbsp.

Method:

In a heavy bottomed pan, add the refined oil. Splutter the lightly crushed cardamom,cloves and cinnamon and the beay leaves.

Add the ginger garlic paste and the chopped onion and fry till the onions turn brown.

Now add the chicken pieces - fry till the chicken also changes colour and turn lightly brown.

Next add the turmeric powder,chili powder, salt and sugar and give it all a good mix.

Cover and let cook for 5 mins.

Now add the poppy seeds paste and the cashewnut paste. give it a good mix and then add half a cup of warm water. Cover and cook for another 5-7 mins. Once done , remove cover and check if the chicken has cooked through. If not add some more water , cover and cook for 2 mins more.

The gravy would thicken up by now, adjust gravy consistency by adding a little warm water if reqd. Garnish with green chillies and serve with rice/roti.

 

Lau Bori (Bottle Gourd with Lentil Dumplings) - A Bengali staple

I am going to keep this post short and sweet because I just want to share this easy beautiful recipe with all my readers. Now Lau or Lauki or Bottle gourd whatever you call it is a very simple vegetable with not much complications in its texture or taste so it adapts very well when added to another ingredients - be it moong dal ( Lau moong) , shrimps (Lau Chingri) or in this case lentil dumplings - bori as we Bengalis call it. In Assamese cuisine we would even put it in our simple sour fish curry - Masor Tenga. I love this vegetable in all its forms and try out different dishes in my kitchen every now and then. It hardly needs too many spices,just a few basic ones and your are good to go..err eat I mean.Its a perfect summer vegetable because of its high water content and cooks in its own juices. Find the Lau Bori recipe below.

Ingredients:

Lau /Lauki /Bottle gourd - 1 medium sized - finely chopped

Lentil dumplings/Bori - a handful - I used the mini masoor dal ones but any variety can be used.

Paanchphoron - 1 tsp

Ginger - 1 tsp - grated

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp + ! tbsp. for frying the dumplings/bori

Green chillies - a few

Ghee - 1 tsp

Method:

In a pan add the 1 tbsp oil, once the oil heats up, add the bori and fry on medium flame till they turn golden brown in colour. Remove from pan and reserve for later use.

In tha same pan add 1 tsp oil , splutter the paanchphoron till it releases a mild aroma.

Add the finely chopped gourd/lau and the ginger. Give it a mix, cook for 2 mins.

Add the turmeric powder. Cover and let it cook on low flame for 10 mins till all the water is released and the gourd is cooked in its own juices.

Once all the water dries up , add the salt,sugar,green chillies and the dumplings/bori. Cover and let it cook for another 5 mins.

* One tip I learnt from my Maa is that..always add the salt and sugar at the end or else the gourd would take a longer time to cook and get a bland taste.

Remove from heat , pour the ghee on top and serve hot with rice. Goes well with rotis too.

 

Lamb Curry with Sweet potatoes - An experiment that turned out great.

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

I am not going to start with my usual story of why I was missing in action because by now the whole world knows that I was on a month long vacation! It was my son's summer vacation but I was the most excited one to be getting away from the heat wave that the city was facing at that time. Few days in my favourite city Delhi, then a few in  the picturesque and peaceful town of Kasauli and then finally few weeks at my mom's den.What more did I want..I was a happy soul. Ate a lot ,slept a lot, shopped a lot and spent a lot of time with my loved ones..I have come back with a lot of energy to get into everyday chores and be happy and busy.

 

Now this dish Lamb curry with sweet potatoes  is something I made before I went away but did not have the time to share with you all. It so happened that I was watching a show by Rachel Allen and it was an episode on robust meals and she made this lamb curry. Sweet potatoes is something we so use in our cooking but maybe would never really put it in a lamb curry. In my heart I felt that it would turn out good and I should give it a try. After all we Bengalis love our meat - Kosha Mangsho , Mongshor Jhol - we love all of that. This turned out to be a successful experiment so here I am sharing it with you all. Its different but it is nice. Very clean flavours, a little tang from the yoghurt and soft meat from the slow cooking. I skipped adding sugar as I was using sweet potatoes and it went perfectly with steamed rice.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Lamb/mutton - curry cut - 500 gms

Onion - 2 medium - thinly sliced

Ginger - 1 tbsp.- grated

Garlic - 1 tbsp.- grated

Cardamom pods - 4-5 crushed

Roasted cumin powder - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Sweet potatoes - 2 medium - cut into big chunks

Fresh mint leaves - a handful - finely chopped

Yoghurt/Curd - 1 cup

Red chillies/green chillies - 2-3 - finely sliced - adjust acc to taste

Salt - to taste

Refined oil - 2 tbsp

Warm water - 1 cup

Toasted almond flakes - for garnish

Method:

In a heavy bottomed pan heat 2 tbsp. of refined oil. Once done add the mutton pieces and sear on high heat for 10 to 15 mins. Its important to keep it on high flames so that the moisture is sealed in. Remove from pan and let it rest.

In the same pan add the grated ginger,garlic and the crushed cardamom. Saute lightly and add the finely sliced onions. Fry on low heat till slightly golden in colour. Tip in the seared mutton and all the dry spices - roasted cumin powder ,turmeric and Kashmiri chilli powder. Mix well with the mutton.

Next add the chunks of sweet potatoes.Add a cup of warm water,add salt,cover and let it cook for almost 45 mins on low heat. By now the meat would be soft and tender and the gravy would thicken.

Whisk the yoghurt well and add it to the pan.Also add the chopped mint leaves.  Mix well while adding the yoghurt so it doesn't split or curdle. Sprinkle the chopped chillies on top.
Remove from heat, garnish with toasted almonds and serve hot with rice.

 

Love on a plate - Bacon Wrapped Feta Stuffed Chicken

Since they say "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" I decided to play it up totally this Valentine's Day. While we are not the really the mushy type of couple , we do bond big time over good food. KFB gave an impetus when they announced their latest online event Love on a Plate - Dinner for Two and I started planning something nice for V day dinner. But it had to be something easy and something that the husband enjoyed eating. I struck upon a brilliant idea! Why not make Bacon Wrapped Feta Stuffed Chicken and serve it up with roasted veggies and his most favourite mashed potatoes. Thus I got to work!

Talking about 'Not' being the mushy type of couple I was totally stumped when the man got back from work with a bunch of 11 roses (since it's our 11th year together..sigh...) and a slice of Mango Mousse from my favourite patisserie. This was unexpected and surprising and shocking and too cute and  heart touching - all at the same time.
I too decided to go that extra mile and set up a pretty table for dinner with roses and wine and candles.

Now coming back to the recipe. My effort has always been to share with you recipes that are easy to make and scores full on to the taste. And this one had bacon too...enough to make any dish taste good.

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken Breast - 2 pieces

Streaky Bacon - 6 strips

Feta cheese - a handful crumbled

Olive oil - 1 tbsp.

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

For the roasted veggies:

Mixed vegetables - 1 cup - I used mushrooms ,carrots and cherry tomatoes.

Balsamic vinegar - 1 tsp

Chili flakes - 1 tsp

Oregano - 1 tsp - or any other herb of your choice.

Salt & Pepper - to taste

For the mash:

Potatoes - 2 large - boiled and mashed well

Milk - half cup

Butter - 1 tsp

Garlic - 2 pods - crushed.

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

Method:

Take the chicken breast pieces and make a pocket by cutting through the centre of the fillet. Fill it up with crumbled feta cheese and season with olive oil , salt and pepper and keep aside for an hour.

In a baking tin , take the mixed vegetables ( whatever you are using) and marinate with balsamic vinegar , oregano,chili flakes and salt and pepper. Keep a check on the quantity of salt used.

Take out the marinated chicken breast fillets and roll it up with bacon strips.

Place the fillets on top of the vegetable bed and  cover the tin with aluminium foil.Bake in a pre heated oven at 200 deg C for 20 mins.

In the meantime , heat butter in a non stick pan. Tip in the crushed garlic and the mashed potatoes. Saute for 5 secs and add the milk, whisking it well so that there are no lumps. Season with salt and pepper and keep side.

Serve the bacon wrapped chicken with the roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes on the side.

I am sending this post to the ongoing Kolkata Food Bloggers event - Love on Plate - Dinner for Two