Chicken Cheese Kebabs

This recipe makes about 10-12 kebabs/cutlets/patties.

Ingredients

1. Chicken: 500 gm (boneless)
2. Potatoes: 2 medium
3. Cottage cheese: 200 gm (crumbled/shredded, diet conscious people may use low fat cheese)
4. Ginger/garlic paste: 1 tbsp
5. Eggs: 1+2 (medium sized, beaten)
6. Red chili powder: 1 tsp or to taste
7. Red chili flakes: 1/2 tsp
8. Turmeric powder: A pinch
9. Salt: To taste
10. Black pepper: 1/2 tsp
11. Green chili: 1 small, chopped (optional)
12. Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
13. Fresh coriander: 2 tbsp, finely chopped
14. Oil for shallow frying

Instructions

1. Put chicken in a pot with some red chili flakes, a little salt, turmeric, ginger/garlic paste and 1 cup water and bring to boil. The spices are there just to give flavor to the chicken. Lower the heat, cook covered until chicken is tender and water dries up. If needed, add more water during the process. Once boiled, cool.

2. Boil potatoes (unpeeled potatoes). Cool. Peel the skin off and cut into thick slices.

3. Shred the chicken and mash the potatoes. Add the cheese and red chili, green chili, black pepper, salt, garam masala, coriander and 1 egg (beaten). Use a food processor or a traditional "mortar and pestle" to crush everything and mix with hands until everything is homogeneous.

Caution: Be careful with the salt and chili as the boiled chicken also has some spices.

Tip: You may add two eggs to the mixture. In that case, you may not need to coat the kebabs with egg later on before frying. I prefer adding 1 egg to the mixture as it helps in making nicely shaped kebabs without cracks. For frying, I coat them in beaten egg again. 

4. Shape the kebabs/cutlets with your hands. Use a little water or oil to help giving the desired shape without cracks on the surface.

5. If you want to freeze the kebabs, line a tray with plastic sheet. Grease it with a little oil and put the kebabs on it. Put this tray in the freezer. Once frozen, take them off the tray and put them in zip-lock food bags.

6. For frying, heat oil in a pan to medium-hot. Coat the kebabs with egg if only one egg is added previously to the mixture, otherwise put them straight into the oil, Shallow fry them in the oil until both sides are golden brown.

Serve with ketchup or any chutney of your liking.

Happy eating. :)

Tip: If frozen kebabs are being fried later on, either let them come to room temperature before frying or directly put the frozen kebabs in the cold oil. When the oil gets heated up gradually, the kebabs also get defrosted with it. If oil is hot, the actually frying process starts.

Macaroni and Red Beans salad

The recipe below is for 1 - 2 servings and is suggested as a side salad.

Ingredients

1. Macaroni: Boiled, 1 cup
2. Red beans: Boiled, 3/4 cup
3. Bell pepper (green and red): 1/2 cup cut into small cubes
4. Sweet corn: 1/2 cup
5. French dressing: 2 tbsp, Store bought (American Garden), or follow the recipe here.

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients together. Just before serving add the dressing and mix well.

Happy eating. :)

Lahori Chargha

   

Ingredients

1. Whole chicken legs: 6 in no. OR One whole chicken (1 - 1.5 kg) 
2. Vinegar: 1/2 cup. Dilute it in 1 glass water.
3. Potatoes:  3, 4 medium size (halved)
4. Red chilli: 1 tbsp or to taste
5. Black pepper: 1/2 tsp
6. Salt: 1 tbsp or to taste
7. Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
8. Garam masala powder: 1 tbsp
9. Lemon juice: 3 tbsp
10. Ginger, garlic paste: 1 tbsp each
11. Red+yellow food color: optional, a pinch each
12. Oil for deep frying
13. Chaat masala: 1 tsp

Instructions:

a) Marination:

1. Make deep cuts on the chicken legs or the whole chicken. Wash the chicken with diluted vinegar and pat dry.
2. Combine all the spices, ginger and garlic paste, lemon juice and 2-3 tbsp oil. Add a little water if the paste is too dry. Marinate the chicken in it for at least two hours. The longer, the better. 

b) Steaming

Steaming process

                                          Almost done. 5 minutes of cooking left to dry off the water.

1. Then add the chicken and the potatoes to a heavy bottomed or non-stick pan. If you have a steamer, steam the chicken + potatoes in it. Otherwise, cook (covered) in a pan on low heat. The meat will leave it own water and steam will collect in the covered pan. 
2. Let the chicken and the potatoes cook for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and dont let them get too tender. 
3. If the water dries up before chicken is tender, add a little water to it to avoid any burning. Turn off the heat when the chicken and potatoes are JUST cooked and not too soft. 

Tip: You can cook potatoes separately by adding a few tbsp of the marinade to them. I cooked them separately.

c) Deep frying

1. Take a wok or a deep pan. Add oil in it and turn on the heat until the oil is hot. 
2. Deep fry the chicken and the potatoes until they are golden and fully cooked. It will take barely 5 minutes. Put some chaat masala and lemon juice on them.  
3. Serve the chargha with some salad and green chutney (green chilli, coriander and mint) or tomato chutney. 

Happy eating! :)

Mutton Qorma

Ingredients

Mutton: 1 kg (Lamb or beef can also be used. Cooking time will be increased as lamb and beef take longer to cook)

Onion: 3 medium sized, thinly sliced

Yogurt: 1 cup

Ginger/garlic paste: 1 tbsp each

Almonds: 8-10, boil and peel off the skin.

Red chilli: to taste

Salt: To taste

Turmeric: 1/2 tsp

Cumin: 1 tsp

Cloves: 2-3

Green cardamom: 2-3

Black cardamom: 1

Cinnamon stick: 1 medium

Cloves: 2, 3

Nutmeg+Mace: 3 pinches, about 1/4 leveled tsp, powdered

Garam Masala powder: 1 tsp 

Oil: 1/2 -3/4 cup 

Note: The authentic recipe of Qorma does NOT have tomatoes. I'd advise not to add any unless you are a rebel or just love tomatoes too much. :)

For garnish:

Ginger: 2 inch piece, cut into julienne

Green chillies: 2 tbsp sliced

Coriander: For garnish

Lemon: 2-3 slices

Instructions

1. Heat 1/2 cup oil in a pan or a work and fry the sliced onion until golden brown. Take it out and spread over a tissue paper laid on a plate. Within 10-15 minutes, the onion will become crisp. Crush it by hands or in a spice mill and mix it with the yogurt. Leave aside.

                                     

2. Meanwhile, in the same oil, sauté cumin, green and black cardamom, cinnamon stick and cloves. Saute for a bit and when they start spluttering, add the meat. Sauté on high heat until the meat changes color. 

3. Add the ginger and garlic paste to the meat and continue sautéing. 

4. Now sprinkle a little water to the meat mixture and add red chilli powder and turmeric. Do not add salt at this stage. Continue sautéing. Sprinkle more water, if necessary. Lower the heat to medium level.

Tip: Always add salt to the meat (mutton, lamb and beef) dishes close to the end-of-cooking as meat tenderizes faster without salt. 

5. After cooking for about 7-8 minutes, oil will separate out from the meat mixture. At this stage, add the yogurt+fried onion mixture to the meat. Continue cooking for 5 minutes and then put the lid on the pan/wok and lower the heat. Cook, covered, for about half an hour. Keep on checking the qorma mixture and if it is drying out or if it looks like the meat needs more time to cook, add a little boiled water and adjust accordingly. 

Tip: Avoid adding cold water to meat during cooking as it toughens the meat up. 

6. The below picture was taken halfway (about 15 minutes after adding the yogurt and cooking covered) through the process. It shows plenty of water but after 15 more minutes, the water dried out and oil came out on top. The meat was also tender and a rich, medium thick sauce was ready. You can adjust the consistency of the sauce to your liking. 

                                     

6.  Once the qorma is ready, add the nutmeg+mace powder, salt, almonds and the garam masala. Cook on low heat for another 5 minutes.  

Tip: Be very careful when adding nutmeg+mace as too much of it will make the qorma bitter. 

7. Add the julienne ginger, green chillies and coriander. Lemon is optional. Serve hot with pilaf rice or naan. 

Happy eating! :) 

Mini Pizza - Quick N Easy

This is a quick and easy recipe for making pizza. You can use leftovers (grilled chicken, vegetables, ground beef, etc) or fresh ingredients and create various pizza toppings. I have made this recipe with two different kinds of toppings. Feel free to be creative and make your own pizzas using the basic concept. Enjoy. :)

This recipe is for four mini pizzas.

Ingredients

1. Pita bread: 4 in no. (6 inches diameter)
2. Pizza sauce: 3/4 cup or 8 tbsp (Recipe here. It yields about 2-2.5 cups of sauce. Add salt to taste as the recipe does not indicate any. You may switch red wine with 2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar in the recipe. Dilute the vinegar by mixing it with 175 ml water. The leftover sauce can be frozen or used in pasta recipes). Alternatively, use a good brand, store-bought pizza sauce)
3. Oregano: 1/2 tsp
4. Basil: 1/2 tsp
5. Butter: 1 tbsp
6. Parmesan cheese: 100 gms
7. Mozzarella cheese: 2 cups, shredded
8. Any other cheese you prefer using in pizza. I used Gouda and Cheddar. 

Topping 1

1. Tomatoes: 2 (medium sized, sliced)
2. Onion: 1/2 cup (sliced)
3. Chicken tikka/grilled chicken/chicken chunks: 1 cup, cooked
4. Green chilli: Sliced, to taste
5. Chilli flakes: 1/2 tsp or to taste

Topping 2

1. Sausages: 1 cup (sliced and lightly sautéed)
2. Mushrooms: 1 cup (sliced and sautéed)
3. Sweet corn: 2 tbsp
4. Green olives: 2 tbsp

The quantity of the ingredients mentioned above will make two pizzas per topping. 

                                     

Instructions

a) Basic pizza base

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C.
2. Put a little butter one each side of the pita bread and toast it until golden on both sides. Repeat for the remaining pitas. Now put about 2 tbsp of the pizza sauce onto each pita and spread evenly to coat the whole bread until the edges.

               

b) Pizza toppings

1. Topping 1: Put generous quantity of chicken, onion, tomatoes and green chilli on the pita. Add a layer of cheese (mozzarella, parmesan and any other you prefer). Sprinkle some chilli flakes, basil and oregano on top. Repeat for the another pita.
2. Topping 2: Put generous quantity of sausages, mushrooms, olives and corn on the pita. Add a layer of cheese (mozzarella, parmesan and any other you prefer) and sprinkle a pinch of basil and oregano on top. Repeat for the another pita.

                       

                                                                         Topping 1

                                   

Topping 2

c) Baking

Line a baking tray with greased parchment paper or aluminium foil. Place the pitas on the tray and bake in hot oven for 5-6 minutes or until cheese is melted. You may also switch on the oven grill for 1-2 minutes to get a nice golden brown color of the cheese top.

Happy eating! :) 

Curry Pakora

This recipe gives 3-4 servings.

1. Curry

Ingredients

1. Gram flour: 4-5 tbsp. 
2. Onion: 3-4 tbsp (very finely chopped, preferably make a paste) 
3. Tomato puree: 1 tbsp 
4. Ginger & garlic paste: 1 tablespoon each
5. Cumin: 1 tsp
6. Cloves: 2-3
7. Black cardamom: 2 pieces
8. Cinnamon stick: 1
9. Red Chilli: To taste
10. Salt: To taste
11. Turmeric powder: 1/4 teaspoon 
12. Yogurt: 500 gms (do not use sweetened yogurt. Use fresh or greek yogurt that should be a few days old hence with a sour taste)
13. Water: 750 mL
14. Garam masala (powdered): 1 tbsp
15. Dried fenugreek (qasuri methi): 1 tbsp, optional
16. Oil: 1/2 cup
17. Boiled water: Optional

For tempering (tarka): 1/2 cup ghee, 3-4 whole red chillies, 1/2 tsp cumin, 7-8 curry leaves 

Optional: Green chillies and fresh coriander.

Instructions

1. Dry roast gram flour in a pan until it just changes color and gives a rich fragrance. Keep aside until cool. Now mix the yogurt and water to a smooth consistency. Once the flour has cooled down, add it to the yogurt+water mixture. Blend or mix well until smooth and you do  not see any grains of the gram flour in it.

Caution: Do not over-cook or burn  the gram flour while dry-roasting. 
Tip: The gram flour is dry-roasted before adding to the yogurt+water mixture to reduce the cooking time later on.
You can also use 1 Litre "lassi" instead of diluted yogurt. 

2. Heat oil in a deep pan. Add onion and sauté until it is golden brown in color. 

3. Add the whole spices like cumin, black cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves to the pan and sauté for a minute or so. Add ginger and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes until fragrant.

4. Now add red chilli, salt and turmeric to the mixture. Stir for 2, 3 minutes. Add a little water to the mixture to avoid getting the mixture burnt.

5. Add tomato puree to the mixture. Cook it like a traditional "masala" until oil comes on top. The mixture should be a smooth paste.

Tip: The quantity of the mixture should only be a few tbsp. This is not a regular curry so large quantity of masala is not needed. Some people do not add any onion or tomato to the curry masala and only make it with ginger/garlic and the herbs and spices.

6. Once the "masala" is cooked, slowly add the yogurt+water+gram flour mixture to it while stirring continuously.
7. Keep on stirring this mixture and bring it to a boil. By this time the masala+yugurt mixture should be unified well.
8. Lower the heat now and cook (covered) for about an hour. Keep on checking the mixture from time to time and make sure it does not thicken too much. Add boiled water to make it thin, if required.

Picture: This is how it looks like during cooking. Oil will come on top.

9. Now here comes the part where you have to judge the curry yourself. After an hour, test taste the curry to see if it is cooked. I cant tell you exact cooking time since everyone roasts to a different level and many other factors like the heat temperature or consistency of the mixture can vary. It should not take more than 2 hours in any case since the gram flour is already roasted.
10. Once the curry seems cooked, bring it to a nice Nihari/soup-like consistency. Add boiled water if it needs to be thinner, cook on high flame if it needs to be thicker.
11. Add green chillies, coriander, garam masala, and dried fenugreek (optional) and stir a bit.
12. Once done, prepare the pakoras (spicy gram flour fried patties) and the "tarka" (tempering).

13. For tempering: Heat ghee in a small pan. Add cumin, whole red chillies and curry leaves to the pan. Sauté for a minute. Keep it aside. Its better to do this step after making the pakoras.

2. Pakora

I prefer lots of flavors in pakoras. You can use your traditional home recipe for pakoras or just make plain gram flour balls like most people do. I use the following recipe.

Ingredients

1. Gram flour: 1.5 cups 
2. Onion: 1 medium, thinly sliced
3. Potatoes: 1 medium, thinly sliced (optional)
4. Spinach: 1 cup, chopped (optional)
5. Cumin: 1/2 tsp
6. Garam Masala: 1/2 tsp
7. Chaat masala: 1/2 tsp
8. Red chilli powder: To taste ( or1/2 tsp)
9. Salt: to taste
10. Green chillies: Sliced, 1 tbsp
11. Coriander seeds, whole: 1/2 tsp
12. Fresh coriander: 1/2 cup, chopped
13. Yogurt: 1 tbsp (it makes the pakoras soft from the inside)
14. Baking soda: Just a pinch
15. Mango powder (optional): 1/2 tsp
16. Water, as required.

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

2. Heat oil in a wok and bring it a medium hot temperature. Drop a little gram flour mixture into the oil and if it immediately comes to the surface, your oil is hot enough and you are good to go.

3. With the help of your hands or a serving spoon, scoop up the mixture and add it to the oil. If the oil is nice hot, the pakora will come to the surface. Once the bottom side is nicely golden, turn over. Lower the heat a little otherwise the pakora will turn brown from the surface but will remain raw from inside. Once the pakora is cooked, take it out and taste it. Adjust your spices, if necessary.

4. Bring the oil to medium-hot temperature again. Add more spoon-fulls of pakoras. You should be able to make atleast 7-8 pakoras with the quantity of the ingredients in this recipe.

Note: You can now add the pakoras to the curry mixture, cook it for a few minutes and add the tarka on top. I prefer the following serving method since this way pakoras remain crispy rather than soggy.

To serve: 

Put pakoras in a dish. Pour the curry over it. Add the tarka on top. Serve with naan bread or boiled rice.

Happy eating. :)

Pakistani style omelette

The following recipe serves one person.

Ingredients:

1. Eggs: 2 medium sized 
2. Tomatoes: 1, medium sized, chopped
3. Onion: 1 small, fine chopped
4. Milk: 2-3 tbsp
5. Green chilli: 1 tbsp, sliced
6. Black pepper: a pinch
7. Salt (to taste)
8. Red chilli flakes (a pinch)
9. Fresh coriander: 1 tbsp, chopped
10. Olive oil: 2 tbsp
11. Cheese (optional): Shredded (2-3 tbsp). I used Gouda (dutch cheese). You may use cheddar if you like.

Instructions:

Whisk the eggs and the milk in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add a pinch of black pepper, red chilli flakes, salt and whisk a little more.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan (preferably non-stick). Sauté onion until it just changes color.

Add the tomatoes, coriander and green chilli to the pan. Sauté until the tomatoes are slightly tender. Do not over cook. Add some salt and black pepper. Keep in mind that the egg mixture also has salt and pepper.

Now, add the egg mixture to the pan and tilt it in all directions to let the mixture cover the whole base. Lower the heat and allow the egg to set. Cover the pan with a lid (if you dont have a lid, use a plate).

Once the egg mixture is set and the color has changed, carefully change its side with the help of a flat plate. Put the plate on top of the pan and carefully flip to slide the omelette onto the plate. Slide back the omelette into the pan with the just-set side at the bottom and the cooked-side on top.

Picture: Before flipping: Egg just-set from the top side and fully-cooked from the bottom side

Picture: After flipping the omelette to put just-set side at the bottom and fully-cooked on the top

Once the omelette is cooked, take it out on a plate. Serve with some nicely toasted bread. 

Alternatively ----- > The above method of making the omelette is a slightly fancy way of doing it. Since some of my friends may not like to put so much effort into it, i'd suggest an easier way.

After sautéing the vegetables, simply add the egg mixture to the pan and cook like scrambled eggs. 

Happy eating :)