Chicken Chow Chow

Contrary to its name Chicken Chow Chow is not a variation of noodles but a dish of julienned vegetables, tossed around in a wok with some meat or even just plain veggies. I do not know the origin of this recipe or if it even exists as one. But this is again a very common dish found in almost all Anglo Indian homes across Kolkata and is easy to make and tasty. You can make this either with mince or small meat/chicken pieces. Both taste nice but my vote would go towards the small pieces over mince.

Serves: Two

Ingredients:

• Garlic: 1 medium size- finely chopped
• Chicken- cut into very small pieces- 250 gm
• Carrots: 2 large- cut julienne
• Capsicum: 2 large- cut julienne
• Beans: a handful- maybe 250 gm- cut julienne
• Mushroom: 1 packet- cubed
• Onion: 1 large- cut into 8 large pieces
• Green Chillies: 3- slit midway
• Soya Sauce: 3-4 tbsp
• Cornflour: 1 tbsp
• Chilli Sauce: 2 tbsp- you can omit this if you do not want your dish spicy
• Vinegar: 2 tbsp
• Sugar: 1/2 tbsp
• Vegetable Oil: To cook
• Salt: to taste
• White Pepper Powder: To sprinkle on top

Method:

• In a large wok heat the oil and drop in the chopped garlic
• Fry the garlic till brown and then add the chicken pieces, salt, chillies and 2 tbsp soya sauce
• Fry the chicken well and add a bit of water to soften the chicken
• Cover and leave the chicken to soften 3/4
• Once done, add the vegetables together, the chilli sauce and the rest of the soya sauce
• You might want to check for salt at this point since the soya sauce is also very salty
• Again add a wee bit of water and leave the vegetables to soften for about 5 minutes
• During this time the chicken will also have been completely cooked and soft
• In a small bowl mix the vinegar and sugar
• In a separate bowl mix the cornflour with some water
• Add the cornflour to the gravy to thicken it
• Once the gravy slowly starts thickening, add the vinegar and sugar solution and the onion pieces and wait for one final boil
• Serve hot with plain rice

Chicken Jhalfrazie

This is again a dish I have only had and completely fallen in love with post marriage. I’ve seen my mum in law rustle it up a few times just before we sat down for lunch, making me believe that this was something easy and simple. And true it was! Considering Iv never cooked before I was married, this was really my initiation into cooking a real meal ( apart from a mixed khichdi ). This is best made with beef but since we dont get that good quality beef or more appropriately “buff” in Delhi, I often make do with chicken. Surprisingly it doesnt taste too nice with mutton since I think the overbearing smell of mutton kills the flavour/aroma of the spices. So chicken it is for me till I get my hands on a cow!!!

Recipe for 2/3 people

Ingredients:

Chicken: Boneless-1/2 kg
Onions: 1 large cut into round slices and 1 julienne
Ginger-Garlic Paste: Freshly ground ideally
Potatoes: 2 large- cubed small
Green Chillies: 2/3- slit mid-way
Soya Sauce: 1 tsp
Pepper Powder: To taste
Salt: To taste
White Oil
Coriander Leaves: Finely chopped to garnish

Method:

• Cut the boneless chicken into small pieces and wash and keep aside
• In a wok heat very little oil and fry the potato pieces till 3/4 cooked and golden brown in colour
• Drain off oil and keep aside
• Fry the julienne onion pieces till golden brown and crisp
• Fry the larger onion rings and keep aside
• Add ginger garlic paste to the julienne onions and fry till there is no smell
• Add chicken pieces and salt and fry till chicken is soft
• At this point you have to remember to add very little water to soften and cook the chicken but not make a gravy
• When the water is almost dried and the chicken in 3/4 cooked, add the potatoes and the onion rings and keep frying till the chicken is cooked completely
• By this stage the chicken should also be a nice golden brown
• Add a dash of soya sauce and the white pepper powder and garnish with coriander
• Serve with rice and dal and eat piping hot

Chicken Biriyani

This is one dish I have never ventured out to make , purely for the whole hype surrounding a biriyani. This is a dish that can never be labelled as another should something go wrong and there is no way to salvage the damage. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when a colleague recently made this on several occasions and each time it turned out to be better than before. So here it is folks…enjoy the chicken biriyani. I wish she had pictures of her own cooking but since there is none, I will have to rely on google images for this one too.

Ingredients:

Chicken                                                : 500 gm.
Basmati Rice                                      : 1 kg. (Soaked for 30 mins.) Onion                                                   : 4 big (thin sliced) & 2 raw grated
Garam Masala- full pieces          : Laung, elaichi, tez patta, jaifal, javitri ( full)
Ginger Garlic Paste                         : 2&1/2 teaspoon (Or as per taste)
Lal Mirch Powder                             : As per taste
Dhaniya Powder (Bhuna)             : 1 teaspoon
Refined Oil
Artificial colour for rice (Zard rang)

Preparation time: Approximately one hour

Process:

•  Heat oil in a pan and add 4 big thin sliced onion + sauté till golden brown
• Take out 80% onion after frying and leave 20% in oil.
• Grate this 80% onion with 7-8 choti elaichi, 7-8 laung, 2-3 badi elaichi and little amounts of jaifal & javitri
• In the 20% onion in oil add tez patta, 7-8 laung, 4-5 choti elichi and add chicken
• Fry chicken for a little bit then add ginger garlic paste and salt + sauté
• Now, add lal mirch powder & bhuna dhaniya powder in 2 raw grated onions and add to chicken + sauté further
• Add some water and put it on low flame for sometime for softening chicken
• Now add the fried onion paste in chicken + sauté till properly cooked (It should have very thick gravy)

For the rice:

• Boil water with tez patta, choti elaichi, laung and salt
• When water is boiling, add rice to it
• Let it boil for sometime and when rice is half cooked, drain water
• Then take a vessel, put some oil on the base and start putting layers of rice and cooked chicken one by one
• When layering is done, take two tablespoons of milk, add color to it and pour at different locations on the layered rice and chicken
• Now, cover the vessel and seal it with either atta or put a heavy weight on it
• Put on low flame for 5-7 minutes

Voila, the biriyani is ready.

Please remember the following:

• The chicken should be properly mixed with all the masala till the raw smell of the masalas is gone
• Use very little amounts of jaifal and javitri so that its does not overpower the other flavours

Recipe Courtesy Samreen Ghauri

Picture Courtesy: http://www.easyrecipes.in

 

Baked Prawns in Butter Garlic Sauce

Ok people…back after a long long hiatus…but like they say – better late than never

Anyway…this is a dish that I havent made or even tasted actually. Its a dish which is originally credited to Gordon Ramsay and replicated by a friend- Sohini Datta Biswas. Looks heavenly and Im sure something that looks this good definitely tastes even better. So here goes…make it, eat it and enjoy it. Thank You Sohini…

Ingredients:

1 1/2-2 tablespoons butter
16 tiger prawns, peeled and deveined
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
250ml (1 cup) thickened/double cream
1 tablespoon finely shredded thyme (you can also use the dried version)
Process

1. Heat butter or oil in a frying pan or large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add prawns and cook for a couple of minutes, until prawns have just changed colour but are not completely cooked through. Cook both the sides same.
3. Reduce heat to low, stir in garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, being careful not to brown garlic because it can become bitter.
4. Add cream and increase heat so that the mixture is simmering rapidly.
5. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.
6. Preheat oven to 150 deg and pour the sauce in a ovenproof dish.
7. Add the prawns to it and cover with foil.
8. Now bake it in the oven for 4-5mins.

Pic Courtesy: Sohini Datta Biswas

Prawn Balls

This is a dish that I love dearly- and it is something that i cant afford on a regular basis at restaurants because it is just so freakingly expensive. So i chose the next best option- I learnt how to make it…see if youll would like to try it- its easy to make and tasty…

Ingredients:

prawns: 250 gm; medium-sized; cleaned and de-veined

onions: finely chopped

eggs:1

green chillies: 2-3; finely chopped

coriander: 1 bunch; finely chopped

corn flour: 2 tbsp

baking powder: a pinch

salt: to taste

chilli powder: to taste

Process- Part 1:

1. chop the prawns into small pieces in a way that you can feel the pieces when you bite into the prawn balls
2. add the chopped onions, chillies, coriander and salt
3. add egg whites and cornflour- this helps in binding the prawn balls together
4. add a pinch of baking soda to help the prawn balls stay fluffy
5. mix the entire mixture together so that the concoction is not runny and not too tight
6. the consistency has to be such that you can balls out of the mixture

Process- Part 2

1. in a pan heat some white oil- you can also use olive oil if you are very health conscious but the olive oil adds a bit of its own taste to the prawn, so its not desirable
2. You will need a bit of extra oil because the balls have to be submerged in the oil while frying
3. Make small balls of the mixture and drop it into the piping hot oil
4. It doesn’t take more than max. of 2 minutes to cook because prawn cooks very fast
5. Drain the prawn balls on a kitchen towel
6. Serve hot with a wedge of lemon

Sausage and eggs

This is something that M loves- something that I dont eat at all but apparently tastes like heaven- its made of chinese sausages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_sausage )and is really a very simple preparation to put together- goes well with plain steamed rice or even just as a side preparation with drinks…

Ingredients:

Chinese Sausages- 25 gm ( about 4 long sausages)

Eggs: 2

Onions: 1 large, finely chopped

Green Chillies: 2, finely chopped

Salt: To taste

Process:

1. Put the Chinese Sausages in the pressure cooker with 3/4th portion water and 1/4 th portion oil to steam for about 10-12 whistles on high heat

2. Just remember that the water should submerge all the sausages and be a wee bit more

3. After 12 whistles, turn off the gas and let the sausages cook in the remaining heat

4. In the meanwhile beat up 2 eggs with the chillies and salt

5. Once the heat is fully released from the pressure cooker take out the ausages and cut them into small round pieces

6. In a separate pan add some oil and fry the onions once the  oil is hot

7. Now add the small pieces of the sausages and fry them till they are golden brown

8. Once the sausage pieces are fried, add the egg and break it up into small pieces

9. Add the green chillies at the end and toss in some salt to taste

and the sausages and eggs are ready to eat with some rice with plain butter or even share it with close friends over some nice alcohol!!!

Pasta with Red Sauce

Pasta with red sauce is one of the easiest and fastest things for me when I have unexpected guests. What I try to do in advance is keep a large amount of pasta boiled and then put in the freezer in airtight containers. This way, every time you have guests, you can just take out the required amount, make a nice warm sauce and ” tra la” your food is ready.

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Pasta With Red Sauce

Ingredients:

Pasta: 250 gm ( I like to use different kinds of pasta at different times- the ribbon pasta being the favourite)

Mutton Keema- 500 gm ( You can use chicken keema if you want, it tastes a tad better with the mutton because mutton has a taste of its own)

Tomates: 2 large, finely chopped

Onion- 1 large, finely chopped

Dry Red Chillies- 2-3 pieces ( depending on how spicy you want it to be)

Garlic-2-3 medium sized pods, finely chopped

Mushrooms- 200 gm- sliced into quarters

Baby Corn- 200 gm, cut into thin slices- you can also use corn kernels if you want

Sauces- Tomato Sauce, Salsa Sauce, Pasta ad Garlic Sauce

To Garnish: Oregano and Chopped Coriander

Process:

1. Boil the pasta in a pot of hot water with a dash of oil. The oil ensures that the pasta does not get soggy and stock to each other
2. Once the pasta is soft, drain it in a colander, under running water and keep aside to dry
3. While boiling, keep checking to ensure that the pasta is soft but not soggy
4. In a separate pressure cooker, boil the keema with a pinch of salt for about 5-6 whistles
5. After the keema is boiled, drain the excess water and keep aside
6. In a separate wok, add some oil- I prefer to use olive oil when making pasta and add in the chopped garlic and the dry red chillies
7. Then add the chopped tomatoes and salt
8. Once the tomatoes are well done and soggy, add the keema and keep cooking till there is no raw smell of the spices
9. Add 2 large tbsp of salsa sauce, pasta and garlic sauce and tomato sauce or tomato puree and keep cooking the meat
10. Once the concoction starts bubbling, add the chopped mushrooms and baby corn
11. Keep for one more boil
12. Take it off the fire and pour over the pasta
13. Add oregano and chopped coriander on top to garnish

Fun, easy and yummy!!!