Showing posts with label Side Dishes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Side Dishes. Show all posts

Fish Tawa Fry


Since the time we started bringing Tilapia fillets, I have always grilled them. I am fish lover and its been a while since i had fish curry. Since i am trying to not eat too much coconut, I didnt want to make our traditional fish curry so I came up with this one. Turned out awesome. Reminded me of my favourite fish curry from Nandini restaurant in Bangalore that i use to have frequently around 10 years back.

Fish Tawa Fry
Ingredients
500gm Fish
1 Big Onion
2 Tomatoes
1 Spoon Tamarind
1/2 Spoon Black Pepper
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
4-5 Garlic cloves
1 Spoon Ginger
Coriander Leaves

Method
  • Marinate the fish with 1/4 Spoon Red Chili Powder, Coriander Powder and Salt.
  • In mixie, add tamarind, onion and black pepper leaving 6-7 aside. Grind to fine paste. Keep aside.
  • Heat oil in tawa and add in fish pieces. Let them cook for a minute.
  • Flip the fishes and cook for another minute. Take out of the tawa and keep aside.
  • In same oil add in onion paste and saute it till the raw smell from it goes away and you can only smell pepper in it.
  • In mean time grind tomatoes, garlic, ginger in mixer and make paste.
  • Add tomato paste, jeera powder, garam masala, turmeric powder, remaining black pepper and salt to onion and cook for 5 minutes with constant stirring.
  • Add in fish and lightly mix everything together. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
  • Sprinkle finely chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Notes
I used cleaned boneless Tilapia fillets each cut into four pieces but you can use any fish in any form but boneless has its own fun :)

Grilled Spicy Tilapia Fillets


I had not cooked this fish anytime earlier and its been while since we had fish. I wanted to switch to diet that has more fish and vegetables instead of any other meat (chicken, prawns or crabs) so we got this from Costco. They sell it skinless and boneless big fillets so i instantly thought of trying grilling them. Yesterday we had barbeque planned and so it was perfect time to experiment.

Grilled Spicy Tilapia Fillets
Ingredients
2 Tilapia Fillets
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
3/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/2 Lemon
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Apply salt, red chilli powder, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala and lemon juice to the fillets.
  • Massage the fillets by rubbing these spices and lemon juice for couple of minutes. Keep aside for 45minutes to an hour
  • Heat the grill and apply oil spray on both sides on the fillets and grill them for about 3-4 minutes each side.

Notes
If you don't have grill, you could cook them on pan over medium heat too. Grill gives nice finish.
I served this with mint chutney that i made from fresh mint from my patio garden as starter and ate most of it :) In fact out of two fillets only half i could save for next day and click photo :) I used that half in salad with the mint chutney as dressing. Perfect lunch :)

Banana Kofta


This recipe is mere inspiration from all the food network shows I watch.. When I was sitting watching TV i thought why not make something different with bananas that we had in fridge. So i think about koftas.. Then for gravy i was literally smelling and adding spices as per the aroma.. Felt wonderful to create a dish based on my intuition and mood.

Banana Kofta
Ingredients
3 Raw Bananas
1 Cup Cashews
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper
1/2 Spoon Saunf
1/4 Spoon Poppy Seeds
2 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Spoon Ginger
1/2 Spoon Sugar
1/4 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Stick of Cinnamon
2 Cup Milk
1/4 Onion
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Grate bananas and add finely chopped garlic, grated ginger, black pepper powder, 1/4 spoon saunf and salt to it. Knead well.
  • Make small round balls and fry them in oil over high flame till golden brown in colour. Keep aside.
  • In a mixie, add cashews, black pepper, remaining 1/4 spoon saunf, cinnamon and grind it to fine powder
  • Add in onion and grind again.
  • Add a cup of milk and make smooth paste.
  • Heat a spoonful of oil and add in grinded paste, 1 cup water and remaining 1 cup milk. Cook over medium heat till mixture starts thickening.
  • Add in salt, sugar and koftas and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

Notes
Bananas were such a good choice for koftas, they get crispy quickly and they dont soak oil unlike potato or eggplant.
I tried to give two distinct flavors to kofta and gravy. They both gel well as well as can be tasted distinctly.

Coriander Chicken


Friday I when Ajoy asked me to make Chicken Rolls, I made this one for stuffing. I didn't want to make the red gravy so threw in some coriander and spices to go along with it. When he tasted the chicken, he was like this is out of world :) On the other hand, this was such a minor twist to how I cook chicken normally that I didn't even think about clicking photo and putting it as a blog post. My thought was because I made chicken after such a long time, probably he got too excited. But then, when we decided to invite friends for dinner last sunday, he was like you have to make that chicken again. After making it once again, and he giving same reaction after tasting it, I decided to click photos and may be post it. Now that even friends have same thoughts about the dish, I had to post the recipe :)

Coriander Chicken
Ingredients
1/2 Kg Boneless Chicken
1 Spoon Jeera Powder
1 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/2 Spoon Garam Masala
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
3-4 Garlic Cloves
1 Spoon Ginger Paste
1 Big Tomato
2 Cup Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Marinate the chicken with salt, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala, black pepper powder and keep aside for half an hour.
  • Heat oil in a pan and add in marinated chicken. Cook on medium high till chicken browns a bit.
  • Meanwhile, in mixer mince tomato, garlic and ginger paste together.
  • Add in coriander leaves and grind it to fine paste.
  • Add it to the chicken, add some salt and cook till it reduces to dry gravy.

Notes
You can use this to make chicken rolls with onion or just it as a side dish with rice or roti. It just goes with anything.

Cabbage Broccoli Kabab


You may notice that the last recipe I posted used Cabbage too.. Its because, this is left over from the last week's Cabbage :) I had lot of left over Broccoli too.. So last evening I decided to make a mix vegetable out of it but it was only when I actually started making it I thought this would make great Kababs. They are really tasty and very easy and quick to make. I made them in half an hour.

Cabbage Broccoli Kabab
Ingredients
2 Cups Cabbage
3 Cups Broccoli
1 Tomato
1 Spoon Oregano
1 Spoon Jeera
1 Spoon Mustard
1 Spoon Chaat Masala
1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Lemon
1 Spoon Coriander Leaves
1 Spoon Pudina Leaves
2 Spoon Maida
1 Spoon Rice Powder
A Pinch of Asafoetida
1/4 Cup Cashews
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Heat half spoon of oil and add in tomato puree.
  • Add in oregano and red chilli powder and cook till completely done. Keep aside.
  • In a pan, heat another spoon of oil and let mustard, jeera splutter. Add in Asafoetida.
  • Add in Broccoli chopped into small pieces and cook with constant stirring till broccoli is almost done
  • Add in finely chopped cabbage, pudina leaves, coriander leaves and cook till cabbage turns light brown.
  • Add in earlier cooked tomato paste, lemon juice and salt to taste and cook for another minute. Take off heat and let it cool down.
  • Add in maida, rice powder and chaat masala. Mix well. Make balls with these mixture and press them between palms with a cashew.
  • Heat pan and add 2 spoons of oil and cook on both sides till they are brown.

Notes
I even had tomato paste ready for I had made it for Rice Bowl last week. I had made double quantity and had used half of it. Its a great item to store in fridge for quick flavoring

French Fries


Ajoy likes to eat french fries once in a while. We get those frozen ones and fry them as and when needed all the time. But i had been thinking of making them at home given that they are so simple. Always read about freezing them and keeping them cool before actually frying adding to the preparation time which off course i never had, given a sudden demand of french fries :) So last Saturday i decided to try them without refrigeration and all and worked out fine. So here is the quickest french fries recipe.

French Fries
Ingredients
2 Potatoes
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Peel of the potatoes and cut them in small rectangular pieces.
  • Keep them under running water and wash them thoroughly till the water is clear.
  • Keep them in cold water for 5-10 minutes.
  • Take it out of water and spread them on kitchen towel so that they are dry.
  • Heat oil and fry them till light golden in color. Spread on kitchen towel
  • Just before eating, fry the fries again till golden brown in color.
  • Spread on kitchen towel, sprinkle salt and serve.

Notes
If you are making them for party, you could fry the fries for the first time and then store them in refrigerator. Fry them second time just before serving.
Two times frying is necessary as it helps in taking out moisture, cooking the potato and then making it crisp.

Veg Manchurian


I like Indian style Chinese a lot and I make it very regularly. But after loosing Kitchen to Mom :), it was while since we had Chinese. So on Friday, I decided to take the kitchen in control and make Chinese menu for dinner. I have made Veg Machurian so many times but every time I had trouble with photo, so this time since the photo also came out okayish, here is the recipe.

Veg Manchurian
Ingredients
2 Cup Cabbage
2 Cup Carrots
2 Cup Beans
1 Bell Pepper
1 Green Chilli
3 Spoon Corn Flour
5 Spoon Maida
1 Spoon Garlic Paste
2 Garlic Cloves
3 Stems of Spring Onions
1/4 Cup Sweet Chilli Sauce
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
2 Spoon Hot Chilli Sauce
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Chop cabbage, carrots, green chillies, beans and pepper into fine pieces.

  • Add in salt to taste and mix well.

  • Add in garlic paste, 4 spoon of Maida and 2 spoon of corn flour. Knead well to make the dough

  • Make small balls from this dough and roll each of them into the remaining Maida and fry in the medium hot oil till golden in color. Keep aside.

  • Heat oil in pan and add in finely chopped garlic cloves, spring onion's white part and fry till light brown in color.

  • Add in sweet chilli sauce, hot chilli sauce, soy sauce and mix well.

  • Take 3 cups of water and mix in 1 spoon of corn starch. Add it to the sauce that is boiling in the pan. Mix well

  • Add in the Manchurian balls made earlier and cook for couple of minutes. Garnish with spring onion's green part and serve.

Notes
Normally I add in salt and keep aside the mixture of finely chopped vegetables aside so that i don't need to add extra water nor do the dough loosens after a while because of all the water that salt would come from the vegetables.
Instead of using sweet chilli and and hot chilli sauces, I have also used 3 spoon chilli flakes, 1/4 Cup Vinegar and 2 spoon sugar instead.

Pachadi


Now that mom is here, she made this awesome pachadi two days back. I loved it so much that I asked her to show me how to make it the very next day when we were actually going to eat Paani Puri for the dinner :) Nevertheless we had this pachadi after eating paani puri with excuse that something healthy after something chatpata :)

Pachadi
Ingredients
2 Cup Cabbage
1 Cup Carrot
1 Tomato
3/4 Cup Onion
1 Spoon Groundnut Powder
1 Spoon Sugar
1 Green Chilli
Handful of Coriander Leaves
1 Lemon
1/4 Spoon Mustard Seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida
Oil
Salt to taste

Method
  • Finely chop cabbage and add it to the bowl

  • Add finely chopped tomato

  • Add finely chopped onion

  • Add in finely chopped coriander leaves and green chilli

  • Add in grated carrots

  • Add in groundnut powder, sugar and salt to taste

  • Squeez lemon juice in it and mix well.

  • Heat a spoon of oil in the small pan and add in mustard seeds and Asafoetida and let the mustard splutter.

  • Add it to the mixture and mix well.

Notes
If you are going to serve it to guests, you could finely chop all the veggies and then at the last moment just before serving, mix in sugar, salt and add in heated oil-mustard. It would be much more fresh and would taste better than the complete procedure done in advance.

Eggplant Bhaji


Pakoda - Bhaji is quite famous in Maharashtra. All weddings must have these, when guests are invited, you have to have this item. Its been quite long time since we had bhaji so i decided to make them on Monday but decided to give it a twist. Given that eggplant is so easily available here i thought why not use it. The experiment was quite successful so here is the recipe.

Eggplant Bhaji
Ingredients
2 Cup diced Eggplant
1 Onion
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/2 Cup Besan
Handful Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Mix in diced eggplant, diced onion, chilli powder, besan, turmeric powder, jeera powder, coriander powder, finely chopped coriander leaves and salt to taste. Add in some water to make the paste.
  • Heat oil. Add couple of spoon of oil to the paste and mix well.
  • Take a small lemon sized ball from the paste and flatten it a bit
  • Fry on medium heat till done on both sides. Serve immediately

Notes
Normally i would wait around 5 minutes after mixing all ingredients but before adding water. The salt with all the veggies secrets water so if you wait your paste doesn't end up loosing consistency later on while you are in the middle of frying.

Stuffed Bhendi


I had got this recipe from mom like 10 months back but finally gave this a shot today. It turned out as good as mom makes. Its one of my fav preparation of bhendi and am sharing it here.

Stuffed Bhendi
Ingredients
1/2 Kg Okra
1.5 Cup Grated Coconut
1/2 Spoon Saunf
1/4 Spoon Mustard
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
3/4 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1 Cup Curd
A Pinch of Asafoetida
A Pinch of Sugar
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Wash okra and slice it vertically into halves.
  • In a bowl mix curd, grated coconut, 1/4 spoon of saunf, red chilli powder and garam masala
  • Heat oil in a pan and add in mustard seeds and remaining 1/4 spoon of saunf. Let them splutter
  • Add in Asafoetida, sliced okra and earlier made coconut-curd-masala mixture in it. Stir well
  • Cover the pan and add water on the lid. With few stirring in between let it cook till almost done.
  • Add in sugar and salt and stir again. Cover the lid and cook till completely done.
Notes
This vegetable is best when the Okras are fresh and tender. The hard ones are difficult to cook and not as tasty either.

Dhokar Dalna


I had been meaning to cook it ever since I had it in Kolkata at relative's place. I wasnt feeling all that great that day so couldnt enjoy it to fullest but whatever I had was sure good enough to motivate me to make it. So finally after almost an year I get chance to make this.

Dhokar Dalna
Ingredients
2 Cup Harbara Daal
2 Tomato
2 Green Chillies
2 Spoon Ginger
5 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Spoon Jeera
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/2 Spoon Corriander Powder
Oil
Ghee
Salt

Method
  • Soak the daal overnight and keep aside.
  • In a mixie, grind the daal to smooth paste. Keep aside
  • In a pan, add in couple spoon of oil and let jeera splutter in it.
  • Add in 1 spoon of grated ginger, turmeric powder, salt and daal paste we made earlier. Cook till daal separates from sides of the pan.
  • Grease a plate and pour the daal mixture over it and spread uniformly. Let it cool.
  • Cut the diamond shaped pieces of this daal and shallow fry them in oil. Keep aside.
  • In a mixie, grind tomato, green chillies, remaining 1 spoon of ginger, garlic cloves to fine paste.
  • Heat a pan with spoonful of oil and add the above ground tomato paste in it. Cook till mixture is cooked.
  • Add in jeera powder, coriander powder, salt and 3 cups of water. Let it boil.
  • Add in earlier fried daal dhokas in it and let the mixture simmer till dhokas start absorbing the gravy.
  • Garnish with spoonful of ghee and serve.
Notes
I didnt make the gravy too spicy and hence didnt make use of garam masala. Instead I kept it light and let the dhoka taste through the gravy. Worked out quite well.

Okra Fry


The Inchin bamboo garden here serves this dish and its Ajoy's favorite. Of course it was Milind who introduced us to this dish given his liking for Okra. I wanted to try this out when he was staying with us but somehow it just remained a wish. Today finally I try this and I am glad I did. The dish turned out very nice. Worth making it multiple times.

Okra Fry
Ingredients
5 Cups Okra
4 Spoon Maida
4 Spoon Corn Flour
1 Onion
1 Green Chili
3 Dried Red Chillies
2 Garlic Cloves
2.5 Spoon Soy Sauce
1/2 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Garlic Paste
Oil
Salt to taste

Method
  • Mix in Maida, corn flour, red chili powder, garlic paste and salt to taste toegether.
  • Add in water and make a running consistency batter for pakodas.
  • Add in handful of okras in the batter and take them out into hot oil.
  • Fry them in oil on medium - high heat till the okras are golden in color. Keep aside on tissues to drain the oil. Fry all of the okra pieces similarly.
  • Heat couple spoon of oil and add thinly sliced onion, green chili and garlic cloves. Saute till it turns light brown in color
  • Add in dried red chillies crushing them by hand, soya sauce and saute.
  • Add in fried okras and stir. Serve immediately
Notes
If you are going to serve this to guests, it would be good idea to keep fried okra ready but saute them in the sauce only just before serving that would help in keeping the crunchy, crispiness of the okra.

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.

Prawns in Garlic Butter Salad
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.

Guacamole


The first time i ate guacamole at Chipotle, i fell in love with it.. Then i searched for recipes and came up with this perfect one. Tasted awesome and finished in few minutes :)

Guacamole
Ingredients
3 Avocados
2 Spoon finely chopped Onion
1 Spoon finely chopped Tomato
1/4 Spoon finely chopped Green Chili
1 Garlic Clove
Handful of Coriander Leaves
1 big Lemon
Salt to taste

Method
  • Scoop out avocado and dice them in the bowl.
  • Add in onion, tomato, green chili
  • Add in finely chopped garlic clove and coriander leaves.
  • Add in Lemon juice and salt to taste.
  • Mix well, smashing it a bit and serve

Notes
I didn't smash the avocados completely so that i could get pieces of it while eating.
Consume quickly as otherwise avocados would turn brown as they are high in iron contents.

Hariyali Mango Paneer


Today we were to meet Kapil and Shrinkhla for dinner but by the time we reached home everybody was almost full. So we decided to eat something at home instead. Thats when my mind started working on what I should make. I had a mango (raw) from mayuri that i had got last week. I cut it and saw that it was too sour so thought of making salad from it and started making hariyali paneer side by side. But as time progressed on the spot i changed my mind and made hariyali mango paneer instead. Turned out very nice.

Hariyali Mango Paneer
Ingredients
3 Cup Coriander Leaves
1/2 Cup Pudina Leaves
1 Raw Mango
1 Onion
2 Cup Paneer Pieces
1 Green Chili
1 Spoon Garlic Cloves
1/2 Spoon Garam Masala
1 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Add a cup of water to coriander leaves, pudina leaves and green chili and grind in mixie.
  • In hot oil, fry paneer pieces to light brown edges and keep aside
  • In same oil, add chopped onion pieces, garlic and fry till light brown
  • Add in mango pieces and ground coriander-pudina-green chillies mixture and cook till the water evaporates and gravy thickens.
  • Add in turmeric powder, garam masala, red chili powder, jeera powder and coriander powder and stir.
  • Add in fried paneer pieces and salt to taste and cook for couple of more minutes.

Notes
The mango that I used wasn't too raw not too ripe. So it worked perfectly giving the light sourness. If using raw sour mango make sure to reduce the quantity of mango pieces accordingly.

Malpua


Every weekend Ajoy asks me if I can put oil in his hair (he does it for me). So my reply is always same : I can cook whatever you ask but doing the oil massage every weekend just for those short hair and that too for one hour - doesn't work :) :) probably once in couple of months is ok :) :) So when last weekend I replied with the same answer, he mentioned that he wants to eat malpuas. I searched on net for quick recipes, every recipe was quite different so I had to make up my own after lot of research and here I am sharing this.

Malpua
Ingredients
1 Cup Maida
1/2 Cup Rawa
2.5 cup Milk
1 Spoon Saunf
1.5 Cup Sugar
A pinch of Saffron
Almonds, Pistachios for garnishing

Method
  • Mix in maida, rawa, saunf and milk and keep aside for 4 hours
  • Boil Sugar with 1.5 cup of water to form 1 threaded sugar syrup.
  • Add in safron and keep aside.
  • Heat oil in a pan and add 1/4 cup batter each time to form the malpuas
  • Fry to golden brown on both sides and then dip them in the sugar syrup for couple of minutes.
  • Take out of the syrup, garnish with almonds and pistachios and serve.

Notes
Actually lot many videos had asked for frying the malpuas, but i am going to try shallow frying instead next time.
Also I had used 1 cup sugar, water each for the syrup and last few malpuas didnt have enough syrup to soak in.
I have never eaten malpuas earlier except once when badi ma had gotten it to hyderabad. So next time I am also going to ask my mom-in-law for her recipe and see how different it turns out.

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 :)

Fried Chicken
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.

Ginger Corn Flower


Ajoy loves cauliflower so we end up eating it every week at least once. So I keep trying variety of preparations instead of sticking to the usual one. So today I decided to make a gingery flower. To reduce the spiciness and pungent taste of the ginger I decided to use sweet corn. The recipe came out pretty well and here it is.

Ginger Corn Flower
Ingredients
1 Cauliflower
2 Cup Corn
1 Spoon Grated Ginger
2 Tomatoes
1 Onion
3/4 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
Salt
Oil

Method
  • Heat oil to high and fry the medium sized flower florets in it till light brown. Keep aside
  • In a pan heat spoon full of oil and add onion. Fry till translucent.
  • Add grated ginger and fry for another minute
  • Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and fry for a minute or two.
  • Add mashed tomato in it. Cook for couple of minutes.
  • Add sweet corn, salt to taste and cook for 5-6 minutes till mixture dries up a little.
  • Add fried flower florets and mix up gently so that masala coats the flower
  • Cook for 2-3 minutes and serve.

Notes
Dont wait for the florets to be dark in color, after taking out from the oil they darken up a little.

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 :)

Lauki Kofta
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.

Paneerbhara Kabab
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.