Szechuan Stir Fried Chicken

While grocery shopping I bought this months' cooking light magazine. Their cover was 25 chicken recipes, but most of them were just pan roasted chicken, something you cant eat with rice. We are big on rice and want rice for dinner. So I finally found one recipe that can be served with rice. Its was a nice cold day with some stir fry, white rice and green tea.

Prep Time - 5mins    | Cooking Time  - 20mins   | Yield - 3 people

Ingredients
3 tblsp dark sesame oil
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 tblsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tblsp rice vinegar
2 tblspn chilli paste (I used sambal oelek)
2 tsp cornstarch
1lb skinless boneless chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1 yellow red pepper, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1/2 vertically sliced onions
1 tblsp freshly minced ginger
1 tblsp freshly minced garlic
1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Combine 2 tblsp sesame oil and the next 5 ingredients in a bowl. Heat wok over medium heat. Add remaining 1 tsp sesame oil swirl, add chicken stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Add yellow bell peppers and the next 5 ingredients through garlic. Stri fry for 1 minute. Add the broth mixture cook for 30 seconds or until thick. Return chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is done. Serve this with a scoop of white rice garnish with peanuts.

Thai chicken soup

Both M and I have caught a bad cold, the weather has been fluctuating here for the past couple of days. Its warm and sunny and by evening its gets really cold, like numbness in your fingers cold. So I decided to make thai chicken soup. I mainly used lemon grass known for its ability to aid pain relief as well as antibacterial and antifungal properties to add flavor to the soup. We just slurped the soup through some very tense episodes of '24' and went to sleep.

Prep Time  - 10mins   | Cooking Time  - 1 Hour   

Ingredients

2 cans low sodium chicken stock

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 inch ginger finely chopped

1 large onion cubed

1 celery root diced

1 carrot diced optional

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1/2 cup shittake mushrooms chopped

1 tblspn freshly ground pepper

2 tblspn finely chopped basil

1 block of egg noodles

2 stalks of lemon grass finely diced

1 tblson olive oil

In a dutch oven heat oil, add the ginger, garlic, onions, celery root,carrots and sweat it. Add the chopped basil, lemon grass, mushrooms and chicken and saute for 5mins. Now add the chicken stock mix throughly reduce flame. Add the pepper and add salt only if necessary. The chicken stock usually contains salt so check taste and then add salt. Add the noodles and mix. Cook this on low heat for 40mins. Garnish with peanuts and serve.

Carrot Halwa

Im finally back on track cooking and blogging. Work, travel has kept me busy



Ingredients

7 carrots grated
1/3 cup ghee
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tblsp powdered cardammom powder
3 tblsp chopped cashew
3 tblsp raisins

Heat ghee in a pan, add the grated carrots and fry. Now add sugar stir and cook for about 5 mins. You will see the color changing a dark orange, now add the cardamom powder chopped cashew and raisins and cook for another 5mins. Add the milk and mix throughly and fry for another 5mins. Serve hot with chopped pistachio and vanilla icecream

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache

A simple chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache. Its a very basic recipe but very delicious and yummy. The one thing Ive leart about baking is following the rules. Make sure the ingredients and measurements are to the dot. Butter for any kind of baking has to be at room temperature I usually leave mine overnight. This applies to the eggs also. Most baking recipes calls for eggs at room temperature helps maximizing volume when beating. A quick way to warm eggs to room temperature is to place them in warm water for 10-15mins or else leave them out for 30-60 minutes...

Prep Time - 30mins  | Cooking Time - 30mins  | Inactive Time  - 1 Hour  |Yield - 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

16 ounces unsalter butter at room temperature
1 Cup Sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
16 ounces chocolate syrup (Hersheys)
1 tblspn vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour

For the Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
6 onces good semi sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp instant coffee powder
unsalted pistachios for decorating (optional)

Line muffin pans with cupcake liners. Preheat 325 degree F.

In a bowl, take sugar and butter beat this until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time and continue beating. Mix the chocolate syrup and vanilla extract. Using a spatula, mix the flour slowly and combine throughly.

Using a ice cream scooper scoop the batter into muffin pan and bake for 30mins. Dont overbake. Let it cool completely.

For the ganache, using double boiler method, cook heavy crea, coffee and chocolate chips until smooth and warm. Dip each chocolate cupcake and garnish with pistachio.

White Chocolate Cherry Bark

A creamy crunchy treat for days when I get stuck in traffic or need a quick snack. A total of 137 calories and 7gms of fat.

Ingredients
2 tblspn sliced almonds
1/3 cup dried cherries chopped
1 cup small pretzels sticks broken into 1/4 inch pieces
1 package premium white chocolate chips

Place almonds in a skillet on high heat. Cook until lightly browned. Combine almonds, cherries, pretzels in a bowl. Set aside half the mixture. Using double boiler method melt the white chocolate. Add the pretzel mixture and stir well. Spread chocolate mixture evenly on pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle remaining pretzel mixture evenly. Freeze for 10 minutes, break into small pieces.

Strawberry Tuxedo

Another Valentines Day treat. This is one recipe Ive wanted to try for a very long time and Ive failed twice. As you can see the picture, my lines are very bad. Couple of reasons 1. I got over excited and did a quick job. 2. I was too tired and my hands were pretty shaky. Im going to do this another time and im going to get the lines right.

Ingredients
24 strawberries, fresh
6 Ounces White Chocolate
8 Onces Dark Chocolate

Wash and dry the strawberries. Melt the white chocolate in doule boiler. Dip the strawberries in white chocolate holding the stem shake off excess. Place on a piece of waxed paper to let dry. Now melt the dark chocolate, dip the strawberries in at 45 degree angle from both sides shake off excess and waxed paper to let dry. Fill a piping bag with melted dark chocolate and pipe the bow tie and buttons.   

Fenugreek Paratha - Methi Paratha

Everytime I go grocery shopping, other than spinach, cilantro and mint its difficult finding fresh greens. The store keeps them in the fridge and everytime I reach for them they look limp and not so crisp. I finally had some luck finding some very fresh fenugreek leaves. One thing about greens is that they reduce to nothingness as you cook. I bought about 4 bunches, used some for the paratha and some Im going to make a sabji with besan. Thats on another post...I served this with the Kadai Chole

Prep Time - 1 hour  | Cooking Time - 5mins

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup fenugreek leaves washed and patted dry
• 5 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• Salt to taste

Put the flour, fenugreek, 1 tbsp of cooking oil, cumin seeds, turmeric and red chilli powders and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add water, a little at a time to this mixture, and knead to form a medium-soft, smooth dough. Keep aside for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into golf ball-sized portions and roll between your hands till they are smooth and without cracks. Very lightly flour a rolling board or clean counter surface and roll each ball into a circle of 7-8" diameter (5-6mm thick). Heat a griddle and fry the parathas one at a time like this: Put a paratha on the griddle. The paratha is done when both sides are crispy and golden brown. Serve with chilled yogurt and your favorite pickle or chutney.

Tangy, Spicy Chickpeas - Kadai Chole

Its a rainy day here today, its been raining since last night. I love rainy days, back home it would be tea, spicy potato fritters for evening snacks. I'd fill up on the evening snacks and skip my dinner. Now I wish someone else could make it and I could curl up on the sofa and eat. Pitfalls of growing up you are THAT someone making it :0

 

Todays dinner is spicy chickpeas with methi parathas. Oh so Yumm!

 

 

Prep Time - 10mins  | Cooking Time  - 15mins 

 

Ingredients

• 2 Garbanzo beans cans
• 2 tblsp Tea leaves, or 2 Tea bags
• 5 tblsp cooking oil
• 1 large Onion
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 tblsp coriander powder
• 1 tblsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tblsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2-3 Green Chillies slit and deseeded

 

 

Chana Masala

• 1 tblsp Pomegranate seeds (Anardana)
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 tblsp coriander seeds
• 7 Black Pepper corns
• 2 Whole dried red chillies

 

Drain the water from the garbanzo cans. In a pan, add the chickpeas with one cup of water. If you are using tea bags just drop them in the middle of the pan. If you are using loose tea leaves you can either use a diffuser or tie up tea leaves in a small muslin cloth make a potli and drop it in the middle of the pan. B.T.B (Bring to boil) until the color of the garbanzo beans turn dark brown/black. Discard the tea bags/potli.

 

Heat three tablespoons of oil in an iron kadai (cast iron pan) and add cumin seeds. When they begin to change colour, add onion and sauté till pink. Add ginger and garlic pastes, powdered chana masala, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and half of the cumin powder. Add boiled chana with cooking liquor, salt, garam masala powder and let it cook for five to six minutes. In another pan, heat two tablespoons of oil, add slit green chillies, remaining cumin powder and tomatoes. Cook for a minute and transfer the mixture into the kadai. Stir and allow it cook on low heat till almost dry. Serve hot.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Mushrooms yum, mushroom stuffed with cheese heaven. One of the things I ate during my first visit to the US was cheese stuffed mushrooms. One bite and heaven! Back home mushrooms were sparingly used in pizzas and to my knowledge everyone grabbed for the slice with the most mushroom and olives.

 

Its been a quiet sunday for M and I, watched the awesome '24' on netflix. The weather was pretty cool, and I was in the mood for something with cheese and the thought of stuffed mushrooms was very tempting. Once I was done with the mushrooms, with the leftover stuffing I made stuffed jalapenos. They were oh so good...I'm adding another post with the recipe for that one...

 

 

Prep Time - 10mins   | Cooking Time - 30mins   |  Serves  - 2

 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Italian-style dried bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Pecorino romano
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 2 tblsp chopped cilantro
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 14 large white mushroom stemmed
• 1/3 cup olive oil

 

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. 

 

Stir bread crumbs, pecorino romano, garlic, salt pepper, cilantro and 2 tablespoon olive oil in a bowl. Drizzle and coat a baking sheet with olive oil. Spoon the filling into the cavity of the mushroom and arrange on the baking sheet. Drizzle remaining oil over the filling of each mushroom. Bake until the mushrooms are tender and the stuffing is golden on top, about 25mins. Serve. 

 

PS : I additionally topped mine with some extra grated cheese.

Chocolate covered Strawberries

I've never been a believer in Valentines day, a marketing gimmick. Do you need a separate calendar day to celebrate love? I think not.

4 years of long distance relationship and almost 3 years of marriage...M never leaves home without giving me a peck on my cheek, gets me roses (red ones) just like that on a regular day, will always ask me about my day everyday. So I'm ok to say I don't need one calendar day to celebrate my love, my life with M. 

So Saturday we just sat watching season 1 of supernatural I decided to make some chocolate covered strawberries. I wanted to do the tuxedo strawberries but once I melted the chocolate somehow the consistency and color didnt work. Not much of an improvisation required here so lo! chocolate covered strawberries.

Now just because Im one of those people who isnt into it, doesnt mean you shouldnt. Have a happy valentines day!

Prep Time - 5mins    | Cooking Time   - 10mins  | Serves  - 4

Ingredients

• 1 box strawberries
• 1/2 bag of nestle semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Wash and pat dry the strawberries with a paper towel. You can melt the chocolate in a microwave but I prefer using the double boiler method. Microwaving can cause the chocolate to burn if not taken proper care. Double boiler method mentioned below. Dip the strawberries in chocolate one by one and place the strawberries on the plate and refrigerate it. Serve within 48hours. 

Double Boiler Method

You need a sauce pan and a small bowl. Simmer water in the sauce pan, place the small bowl on the sauce pan. Make sure the water doesnt touch the bowl. Place chocolate chips, heavy cream in bowl. When the chocolate starts to melt, use a spatula and stir.

Stuffed Jalapeno

I just used the leftover stuffing from my stuffed mushroom post for this recipe.

 

 

 

 

Prep time - 5mins   | Cooking time 25mins

 

Ingredients

• 9 Jalapenos cut in half and remove seeds
• Same ingredients as stuffed mushrooms

 

Pre-heat oven 400 degree F. Use recipe for stuffing from here. Stuff the jalapenos and bake for 25mins. Serve.

 

Chicken 2 ways

When I pick up chicken, its too much for 2 people. So I try and make two dishes to squeeze in some variety. Ive usually like dry chicken dishes and M likes gravy ones. So this time its methi chicken and pepper chicken.

 

(L) - Methi chicken, (R) - Pepper Chicken

 

Pepper Chicken
Prep Time - 10mins  | Cooking time - 15mins  | Marinate - 10mins

 

• 1 Chicken breast cubed
• 2 Jalapeno (You can use regular green chillies too) slit and deseeded
• 1 Large onion sliced
• 2 tblspn pepper powder
• 1 tblspn light soy sauce
• 1 tblspn ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tblspn cooking oil
• Salt to taste

 

Marinate the chicken with soy sauce and ginger garlic paste for 10mins.  Heat oil in a pan add onions and saute till brown. Now add the jalapeno, marinated chicken and mix throughly. Add the pepper powder, use salt only if necessary soy usually makes up for the saltiness. Cook throughly on medium heat.

 

Methi Chicken
Prep Time - 10mins  | Cooking Time - 15mins  | Marinate  - 5mins

 

• 1 Chicken breast cubed
• 1 Large onion sliced
• 2 roma tomatoes chopped
• 2 tblspn Kasoori methi
• 1 tblspn ginger-garlic paste
• 3-4 cloves
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 small piece cinnamon
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tblspn cooking oil
• salt to taste
• Cilantro for garnish

 

Marinate the chicken in ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, garam masala. Heat oil in a pan, add the cloves, peppercorn and cinnamon. Once they splutter add the sliced onions and saute until golden brown. Add the tomatoes cook. Add the marinated chicken, kasoori methi, and the spices mix throughly. Add a little watre if needed, check for salt. Cover and cook.