Dragon Chicken

My favourite recipe after a looong time! Very tasty, very easy and the entire dish was finished in less than 5 minutes. Nothing can go wrong with this recipe, if any thing it will turn out much better than expected. Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

Bone-less chicken : 600 gms

Salt : to taste

Pepper : 1 tsp 

Turmeric : 1/2 tsp 

Tasting salt : 1/2 tsp (optional)

Ginger garlic paste : 2 tbsp

Soya Sauce : 2 tbsp 

Red Chilli Paste : 2 tbsp

Egg : 1

All Purpose Flour : 1/2 cup

Corn Flour / Corn Starch : 1/4 cup

Dry red chillies : 3

Cashew nuts : 1/4 cup 

Onion : 1

Capsicum : 1

Tomato ketchup : 3 tbsp

Sugar : 1/2 tsp

Oil : for frying 

Procedure:

1. Thinly slice the boneless chicken, onion and capsicum (separately) and keep them aside. 
2. In a bowl, add boneless chicken, salt, pepper, turmeric, 1/4 tsp tasting salt, 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste, 1 tbso soya sauce, 1 tbsp red chilli paste, Egg, all purpose flour, corn flour and mix well.
3. let this mixture marinate for about 1 to 2 hours.
   
4. Heat oil and fry the chicken pieces individually till they are golden brown and keep aside. 
    
   
5. In a non-stick heat a table spoon of oil and add cashew nuts, red chillies and fry for a few seconds. 
6. Add in Onions, capsicum, 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and cook until translucent. 
7. To the above add 1 tbsp red chilli paste, 1 tbsp soya sauce, sugar, salt, 1/4 tsp tasting salt, pepper and mix well.
   
8. Cook until the sauce thickens a bit. Add the fried chicken pieces (from step 3) and mix well until all the chicken pieces are coated well with the gravy. 
   

Enjoy while it is hot with some ketchup or sweet and sour sauce on the side!!!!!

Simple Spinach and Feta Quiche

To begin with, I am not a big fan of Spinach. But, I know its healthy and we should eat it more often.. blah.. blah.. blah. So, I decided to try a tasty recipe using spinach. I had my doubts.. :). But with in seconds found this awesome recipe. Its the one and only Spinach & Feta Quiche. Its incredibly simple and tasty. Takes just few minutes to prepare. Here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

Short crust pastry dough - 1 

(will upload the recipe soon)

Frozen, thawed spinach - 500 gms

Tomato - 1 

Eggs - 4

Whipping cream - 250 ml

Milk - 50 to 100 ml (depends on the consistency)

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

Oil - 1 tbso

Feta cheese - 250 gms

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a nonstick pan. Add thawed spinach and cook for about 7 to 9 mins, just till it becomes a bit dry and till the raw flavor is gone. 
2. Whisk together Eggs, milk, cream, salt and pepper in a separate bowl. 
3. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Dust one side of the pastry dough with flour and transfer it to a ceramic pan, with the floured side down. Bake it in the oven for a couple of minutes, till its lightly cooked. 
4. Remove the ceramic pan from the oven. Spread half of the cooked spinach from step-1, half a chopped tomato, shredded Feta cheese and pour in half of the whisked batter from step -2. 
5. Spread 2nd half of the cooked spinach, feta cheese and pour 2nd half of the whisked batter on the above mixture. 
6. Shake the ceramic pan a bit to level out the mixture and top it off with Sliced tomato as shown in the picture. 
   
7. Bake the above mixture in a preheated oven at 190 C for about 20 to 30 minutes. Depending on the depth and the thickness of the backing pan the cooking time will vary, so keep an eye on the Quiche from time to time. 
8. Remove from the oven and serve.

Enjoy while its hot!! 

Spiced Capsicum rice

My favorite and easiest rice dishes of all time. Looks complex but can be prepared in just matter of minutes and most important of all, tastes delicious. 

Ingredients:

Dried red chilies - 5

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

Urad dal - 2 tbsp

Peanuts - 1/2 cup

Curry leaves - bunch

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Butter - 1.5 tbsp

Capsicum (chopped) - 2 cups 

Salt - to taste

Cooked rice - 3 to 4 cups

Chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

Procedure:

1. Heat a pan and dry roast the spices. (dried red chilies, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, urad dal, peanuts and curry leaves)
2. Melt butter in a pan and add chopped capsicum. Add salt and cook for 5 to 10 mins. 
3. Add garam masala and ground spice powder from step-1 and mix well. 
4. Add cooked rice and mix well. 
5. Add chopped coriander leaves and mix

Enjoy while it is hot with some raitha on the side!

Note: Capsicum tastes much better when its only 80% cooked. Do not over cook it. 

Cabbage Pakodas

A perfect snack to much on rainy days. It does need some patience to fry them. But, the final outcome is totally worth it. Cabbage pakoda is not a very common Indian dish, its just an experiment and a good one according to the one's who tasted it. 

Ingredients:

Cabbage (shredded) - 4 cups

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Green Chilli - 2

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - to taste

Gram flour - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1/2 cup

Oil - for frying

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Water - as needed

Procedure:

1. Shred cabbage as shown in the picture
   
2. In a separate large bowl add shredded Cabbage, chopped green chillies, salt, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, chilli powder, turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste and mix well. 
   
3. Add in gram flour (chickpea flour), rice flour and baking powder to the above and mix
4. Heat the oil in a wide pan for frying. Divide the mixture from step-2 in to small portions (as shown in the picture) and carefully drop in to the hot oil for frying
   
5. Fry evenly on both sides for a couple of minutes, till they turn golden brown. 
6. Remove from oil and serve!!

Enjoy while they are hot with some ketchup or green chutney on the side!!

Note: Be very careful while dropping the mixture in to oil. Also, add gram flour and rice flour to get your desired consistency for the batter (just make sure you maintain 2:1 ratio)

Schezwan Sauce

One of my favorite and spiciest recipes of all time. Any dish you cook using this sauce will be gone in no time. So, I strongly recommend you cook larger portions. Here's the recipe with out further delay!!

Ingredients:

Dried red chillies - 60

Garlic cloves - 45

Ginger - 5 tbsp

Tomato ketchup - 6 tbsp

Soy sauce - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 4 tsp

Oil - 1/2 cup

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

Water - 1.5 cups

Procedure:

1. Cut open the dried chillies and remove all the seeds. Boil these (seedless) chillies in about 1.5 cups of water for about 5 to 9 mins. 
2. Drain the water and blend the cooked chillies in to a fine paste
3. Heat oil in a separate sauce pan. Add in crushed garlic and ginger and saute till they turn golden color.
4. Add the pureed chilli paste from Step-3 and mix well. 
5. Add tomato ketchup, Soy sauce, Sugar, Salt and Pepper and mix well. Cook for about 5 more minutes and remove from heat. 
6. Let it cool and store it in a glass jar. 

Enjoy!!

Note: There are several Rice, Noodle & snack dishes that can be prepared with this sauce. Make sure that there are no seeds left in the chillies, as it is already super spice as is. 

Bottle Gourd & Toor dal curry

I recently went to an Asian shop and saw Bottle Gourd. I immediately bought it, but was very confused later, as I was completely clueless about what to cook with it. I immediately called up mom and she gave me a healthy recipe. I was very easy to prepare and I am sure several variation of the same are already available out there.

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd - 3 cups

Yellow moong dal - 1 cup

Dried coconut powder - 1/2 cup

Dry red chillies - 3 

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Rice flour - 1 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 spring

Hing - 1 pinch

Salt - to taste

Chilli powder - to taste

Water - as needed (1.5 to 2 cups)

Procedure:

1. Grind Coconut powder, red chillies, cumin seeds, turmeric powder and rice flour in to a fine paste. 
2. Add chopped bottle-gourd, moong dal, salt and water in a cooking pot. Cook for about 15 to 20 mins till the dal and Bottle-gourd are cooked well.
   
3. Add in the paste from step-1 and bring it to boil. 
4. In a separate pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once they start crackling, add urad dal, curry leaves, hing and mix well. 
5. Add this tempering to the curry from step-3 and mix well. Let it cook for few seconds and serve. 

Enjoy with some hot rice or hot chapathis!!

Note: If you could get fresh coconut, its better use that.

Carrot cupcakes

I recently started baking cakes and cupcakes and I realized that love everything about it(baking). Well, in the beginning it is normal to burn your fingers, hands etc but the end result is totally worth it. Simple rule of baking (which always gives great results) is to just follow the recipe. You can always experiment, once you get hold of the basics. Here comes my first successful recipe.

Ingredients:

Carrots (finely grated) - 2 cups

All-purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp 

Vegetable oil - 2/3 cup

Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 pinch

Ground nutmeg - 1/4 tsp

Eggs - 2

Sugar - 1 cup

Brown sugar - 1/3 cup

Milk - 1/4 cup

Walnuts & Raisins - 1 cup (Optional)

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. 
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, salt and nutmeg in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and milk until light and thick.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients from step-2 to the above wet mixture and keep mixing continuously. Stir in grated carrots, vanilla, walnuts and raisins until well blended.
5. Grease a muffin tray, using an ice-cream scoop fill each muffin cup (only 2/3 full). Bake until golden brown. Insert a tooth pick in the middle of a muffin, if it comes out clean - its a sign that the cupcakes are done. 
6. Mine took about 20 to 22 mins to bake completely. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and let them cool. 

Enjoy with some cream cheese frosting on the top!!

Note: Every oven is different, so make sure to check on the cupcake every 5 to 7 minutes.