Paneer 65

For Blog Hop Wednesday-Week 6, I cooked from Divyaz Easy Recipes. As I was browsing through her recipes, I got hooked by the Paneer 65. The dish is quick and simple and makes a yummy appetizer.
I have made few changes in the spice powders to suit my family's taste.

Ingedients:

1. Paneer - 250 gms, cubed

2. Red chilly powder - 1 to 2 tsp
Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp
Cornflour - 2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Curd/yoghurt - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

3. Oil to deep fry
4. Lemon juice - optional to drizzle

Preparation:

1. Cube the paneer to medium size pieces. I used store brought paneer, so I soaked it in hot water for 5-10 mins to soften.
2. Mix all ingredients under item 2 and coat the paneer cubes well with this paste. Keep aside for 15-20 mins.
3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying and add the paneer cubes. Fry till all sides are golden brown. Drain to kitchen tissue. You may add a dash of lemon juice before serving.

Serve hot.

This is my entry for Blog Hop Wednesday-Week 6 and Anyone can cook

Oven roasted Chicken

It was the first time I roasted a chicken breast and it was finger licking good. As a trial I used only 1 fillet, which I regret. Both of us were literally attacking it with our knives. It is a very easy recipe and requires minimal ingredients. I am going to make this again very soon.

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breast fillet - 1
Paprika - 1 tsp (You may use regula chilly powder, but Paprika gives a nice red colour)
Pepper powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Onion - 1, sliced fine
Lemon juice - a few drops
Oil - to grease the tray and for basting

You also need...

Roasting tray preferably glass
Spatula for turning the chicken
A pair of oven gloves

Note: You may also try this with fish like Salmon fillet or Kingfish slices. Fish takes lesser time to cook.

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, mix together paprika, pepper powder,salt and garlic paste. Coat the chicken pieces with this paste and rub well. Keep aside for half an hour or more.
2. Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease the roasting tray with a little  oil. Place the marinated breast fillet and brush the top with a little oil. Rub the sliced onion with a pinch of salt and a few drops of lemon juice. Spread this onion on top of the chicken and in the tray.
3. Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 mins and then turn it over. Bake again for 10-15 mins. Total baking time will be around 25-35 mins. It may vary in different ovens. Do not overcook as the chicken will lose the juices and get hard.

You may either serve it as it is or cut to pieces and use in wraps, pizza, sandwiches, salads or pasta.

This goes to Anyone Can Cook, Joy from Fasting to Feasting - IV, Iftar Nights and What's on your Kebab Platter

I am also sending Chicken Tikka for What's on your Kebab Platter

Sautéed Babycorns

A dish that is as simple as its name...I couldn't stop munching on these spicy and crunchy babycorns.

Ingredients

Babycorns - 10, cut to strips

Onion - 1/2 of a medium sized, chopped

Pepper powder - 3/4 tsp or to suit your taste

Lime/lemon juice - 1 tsp

Oil  - 2 tsp

Salt

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan and add onions and salt and saute till they are soft. Add pepper powder and mix well. Now add baby corns and mix well. Drizzle lemon juice and combine well. Saute till babycorns are cooked and browned.

Linking to Anyone Can Cook:Series 29 and Friday Potluck 3

Linking to Food Palette Series - Black @ Torview

Chicken Tikka

Some dishes we eat at restaurants make us feel that it can never taste so good when we make at home.Chicken Tikka is something that I never imagined trying at home. But, when I tried, I found it to be very simple. So, try it out...and I'm sure you would like it. I found this easy video recipe of Chef Harpal Singh here...

Ingredients:

First Marination
Boneless chicken - 500 gms (preferably chicken breast, cut into bite size cubes)
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Second Marination
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ajwain seeds - 1 tsp (I did not  use it)
Gram flour/Besan - 1.5 tbsp
Thick curd/yoghurt - 3 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Garam masala - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil -1 tbsp

Capsicum/Bell Pepper - Red, green and yellow. This is optional, I added it as I like it :-)

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients listed under first marination and keep aside for 20 mins.
2. Meanwhile get the second marinade ready. Heat oil in a pan and ajwain seeds. Add besan and keep stirring for few minutes taking care not to burn it. Turn off stove and pour the besan mix to yoghurt. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric and chilly powders,garam masala and salt and whisk well till you get a smooth paste. Add 1 tbsp oil and combine well. Add the marinated chicken to the second marinade and keep it marinated for 2-3 hrs.
3. Preheat oven to 220C for 10 mins. You may also do it in microwave convection mode or do a BBQ. Soak wooden skewers in water for 15-20 mins to prevent them from burning in the oven. Line a baking tray with strong kitchen foil suitable for baking. Brush some oil on the foil.
4. Cut the bell peppers to the same  size as chicken pieces and mix in the chicken marinade for 10 mins.  Take a skewer and arrange the chicken and capsicum. Bake for 15-20 mins or till chicken is cooked. In between, after 10 mins, brush some oil on the chicken.

Serve hot from the oven :-). You may serve it on the skewer itself or on cocktail sticks like I did.

Sending this to Serve it Grilled

Also sending to Iftar moments at Taste of Pearl City

Also goes to What's on your Kabab Platter

Spicy Prawns Fry

A spicy, yummy and easy Prawns fry.

Ingredients:

Cleaned King Prawns - 250 gms
Finely chopped ginger - 1 tsp
Finely chopped garlic - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2, finely chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil - to shallow fry

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients except oil in a bowl and marinate for 15-20 mins.
2. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the prawns till they are cooked. Flip the prawns in between so that both sides are cooked. Do not overcook as the prawns become hard.

Serve hot as a starter.

Recipe source: My friend Devi

Linking this to Kerala Kitchen July 2011 hosted by Magpie.

Linking to Anyone can cook - Series 26

Also sending to Iftar moments at Taste of Pearl City

Easy Chicken Fry

I am back to this blog after a break of 4 days :-) We had been on a weekend trip and it took me a day to settle down and come to the cooking and blogging mood. So, here is an easy recipe for a spicy chicken fry. Do adjust the quantity of spices given below to suit your taste buds.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 500 gms

2. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly flakes - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp
Corn Flour - 2 tsp
Salt

3. Oil to deep fry
Curry leaves

Preparation:

1. Cut the chicken to small pieces and marinate with ingredients listed as item 2 for a minimum of 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the chicken peices till it is cooked and gets a brown colour. Adding curry leaves along with the chicken while frying gives a different aroma to this. You may also fry green chillies along with chicken.

Serve hot. Sprinkle a little lemon juice if you like.

Sending to Signature Recipes hosted by Saras

Lemon Chicken

Lemon chicken is a tangy dish that can be served as a starter like chilly chicken. The only flavours in this are of lemon and green chillies. If you have never tried this before, I recommend that you do it soon. The first time I had this was at a restaurant(hmm..I forgot the name) in Bangalore. It was an indo-chinese style dish and that was the first time I tasted a tangy version of chicken.  I couldn't get the exact recipe from any cooking blog: most of them were the chinese version, but I was looking for an indo-chinese one. I have adapted this recipe from the many recipes I have gone through and modified it to suit the indian taste buds :-)

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken - 500 gms

For marination
Plain Flour - 2 tbsp
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Green chilly sauce - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Salt

Onion - 1,diced
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Green chilly sauce - 1 to 2 tsp (adjust as per spice level)
Lemon juice - 2 to 3 tbsp (adjust to suit your taste)
Spring onions  chopped - for garnishing (I didn't have it then, so used coriander leaves)
Salt
Oil

Preparation:


1. Clean and cut the chicken into strips or bite size pieces. Mix the marination ingredients with the chicken and keep for half an  hour.
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the marinated chicken till it is cooked and gets a golden colour. Drain and keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok or iron skillet and saute onions till soft. Add the soy, green chilly sauce, lemon juice and salt and mix well.
4. Add the fried chicken and combine well. Keep stir frying on high flame, till chicken gets dry.
5. Garnish with spring onions.

Note: Serve hot. It may become a little soggy when it gets cold.

Chilly Gobi

Cauliflower/gobi dishes are my favourites in vegetarian cuisine. Chilly Gobi tops the list. I never thought home made chilly gobi would taste so good until I tried it out after finding the recipe on Mariasmenu website. I've made a few changes to her original recipe.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

Cauliflower florets – 2 cups

For Marination

Plain flour (maida) – 3 tbsp

Cornflour – 2tbsp

Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp

Salt

Oil – 1 tsp

Water

Onion – 1 big, chopped

Ginger – 1 tbsp, chopped

Garlic – 1 1/2 tbsp, sliced

Green chilly – 1-2

Soya sauce – 1 – 1/2 tbsp

Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp

Red chilly sauce – 1 1/2 tbsp

Pepper powder – 1 tsp

Salt

Oil

Preparation:

1. Boil cauliflower florets in salted water for 3-5 minutes and drain the water completely.

2. Make a thick batter with the marination ingredients. Dip the cauliflower florets in the batter & shallow fry it till the florets become golden brown. Keep it aside.

3. In the same oil, add ginger, garlic, green chilly & onion. Cook till the onion becomes soft.

4. Add all the sauces, pepper powder and salt. Mix well.

5. Add the fried cauliflower & combine well. Make sure that the florets are well coated with the sauces.

6. Garnish with spring onion, coriander leaves etc; Serve hot.

Notes: You can use red chilly paste instead of red chilly sauce. To make red chilly paste, add 1 tsp of vinegar to 2 tsp Kashmiri chilly powder.

Recipe Source: www.mariasmenu.com

Pepper Chicken

It was a cold Saturday evening and I was craving for something spicy to pep up my taste buds. I found boneless chicken in the fridge and was wondering what to prepare. I searched the internet for more than half an hour, but couldn't find what I was looking for. I got some ideas from here and there but was not completely happy with any particular recipe. Finally I decided to try something on my own and it came out very good.

Ingredients

1. Boneless chicken (bite size pieces) - 300g

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

2. Whole pepper corns - 2 tsp

Shallots(Small onion) - 3 nos

Ginger - a small piece

Garlic cloves - 2-3

3. Sunflower oil

Onion - 1 big finely chopped

Curry leaf - A sprig

Water - to cook the chicken

Method of Preparation

* Crush together the ingredients given under item 2. Mix this with chicken, turmeric powder and salt and marinate for half an hour.

* Heat oil in a pan and saute onions. Add curry leaves. Add the marinated chicken and stir well. Add water just enough to cook the chicken. Cook till the chicken is fully done.

* If there is any water left, keep on high flame till the water evaporates. Do a taste check and add a little Pepper powder if required. Keep frying it till the chicken gets dry and gets a dark colour.

Mushroom Manchurian

Hey, I'm all excited. This is my first blog post.

A perfect way to get started is with a starter :-) And here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

Closed cup or button mushrooms - 250 gms
For the batter
Plain flour/maida - 1 cup
Cornflour - 1/2 cup
Egg -1 (Optional)
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt

For the masala
Sunflower oil - 1-2 tbsp
Finely chopped Ginger, Garlic and Green Chillies - 1 tsp each
Finely chopped Onion - 1 big
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp (or more to suit your taste)
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
spring Onions and Coriander leaves chopped - a handful

Method of Preparation:

1. Beat the egg and add flour/maida and cornflour. Add Pepper powder and salt. Mix well and add a little water to make a thick batter.
2. Clean and cut mushroom to bite size pieces. Dip them in the batter and deep fry till they turn golden brown.
3. Drain and keep it aside.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies. Saute for a minute.
5. Add the chopped onions and saute till it becomes soft.
6. Now add soya sauce, tomato ketchup, chilly powder and pepper powder and mix well.
7. Add the fried mushrooms and give it a good stir. Make sure that the mushrooms are coated well with the masala
8. Add the chopped spring onions and coriander leaves and mix well.
9. Serve hot :-)

This dish tastes best when served piping hot. Best paired with fried rice