Chicken Tandoori

Chicken Tandoori is one of our favorite dishes. We both are quirky in terms of our preference for non-vegetarian food and prefer grilled/ charred/ bbq'd/ baked version of meat only. Both of us do not like much of meat curries and sea-food curries as well. This sometimes leaves us with some tasty and luxurious options like what we made today - Chicken Tandoori.

I researched a lot for the recipe online. Finally P decided to cook it his way. He treated the Chicken Drumstick (skinless, with bone: we used Tyson Brand) with Shan BBQ Tikka Masala (this one is widely available at all India stores in US). As I have mentioned many a times that Shan is one of our favorite masala. This Pakistani masala renders the unique color and flavour which makes the meat all the more edible, tender and succulent.

Happy Eid-Ul-Fitr to all my Muslim friends!!

Recipe born from our teamed effort in kitchen
Serves ~ 2 individuals

Ingredients:
Chicken Drumstick - 5 pieces ~ with bone, skinless
Shan BBQ Tikka Masala - 1/2 packet
Yogurt - 5 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Red Chili Powder - 1 teaspoon
Lime Juice - 1 teaspoon
Oil - For frying


Contraptions: Baking tray covered with foil to create a pit in the centre to collect the Chicken fat.


Method:
Thaw the Chicken drumstick pieces for atleast 1 hour. Warm up in microwave for around 2 minutes. Make a paste of the masala's listed except oil. It gives rise to a rich orange colored paste. Apply this marinade to the Chicken pieces and refrigerate for around 4-5 hours.

Remove from fridge after 5 hours have elapsed. Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Place each piece on the top rack (cover the rack with foil and poke with forks all around the central point of the rack) and cook on 375 F. Place the baking tray covered with foil at the bottom of the first rack to collect the fat which will drip from the chicken pieces once they begin to cook in the oven.

Allow enough space between each piece so that there is room for baking of each piece. Turn around after 20 minutes. Bake the chicken for 20 minutes more. They will get a brownish cooked look and the meat would have turned white in color.

Transfer to a deep dish saucepan with oil/ghee. Lightly saute till the surface gets charred and glazed with fat on all sides. Turn off the flame and cover the bone ends with foil. Squeeze lime juice on Chicken Drumsticks and serve hot. This dish also serves well as evening party snack or for get together dinner.

Chicken Tandoori goes as my entry for Think Red Chillies hosted by Laxmi of Kitchen Chronicles, an event started by Sunita of Think Spice.

Marshmallows in Chocolate Sauce

Summer, BBQ, Chit-chat with friends, Grilled Chicken, Grilled Corn-Mushrooms-Panner. Yes my summer comprised of all of these soul-warming essentials. I was thinking hard of a Party Dish which can be made in 30 minutes. I quickly conjured the memory of this snack cum dessert which we had made recently for our BBQ Party. This dish was suggested by a dear one, N during one of the brainstorming sessions on the Party menu. Thanks N. Quite unique and one of its kind. Its pretty easy and would you believe takes only 5 minutes of cooking time? Luckily everyone was happy with this unique dish and we also feasted and boasted on the humbleness and simplicity of this Party dessert snack.

I dedicate this post to my dear fried J, who is the biggest Marshmallow fan I have met on the earth. She can gobble 10's to 20's of these spongy mass and be a happy soul for the entire day. I first tasted these in India at her place for a get together with friends and family.

Recipe ~ Family favorite BBQ Dessert
Serves ~ 4-6 individuals

Ingredients:
Marshmallows - 1 Packet
Chocolate Sauce ~ Hershey's

Miscellaneous requirements: BBQ charcoal with just enough heat for wilting the Marshmallows + Wooden Skewers (Soaked in water for half an hour prior to the BBQ.

Method:
Dip around 2-3 wooden skewers in water for 1/2 hour prior to your BBQ party. Pre-planning helps a lot. I soaked mine early in the morning so that we are all set for the BBQ with the skewers.

String in the Marshmallow pieces one by one with enough space in between. Gently run them over the BBQ coal. Best suggested time for BBQ Marshmallow is once BBQ is completely done with. The heat should not be too much not too less. Once the pieces begin wilting you will notice tiny wrinkles on the Mallow surface area. Gently run some Chocolate sauce over them. Gobble up the decadent delight!

Off these White pearls go for Mad Tea Party's Indian Party Dishes. This dessert snack is not necessarily Indian, but since we are Indians and we party with friends - I would count this is in.

Mushroom Fritters (Alambey Phodi)

Mom called and informed me that they made Mushroom Curry. During rainy season we get Mushrooms in abundance in Udupi. The harvest depends on rainfall, thunder and lightning. The higher the rainfall, better is the yield of mushrooms. In Udupi, India, the Mushrooms are like small pebbles which have a 2 mm shell around it. Once bought home, they require to be washed and boiled, de-shelled and cooked along with Cucumber. Some even cook them and deep freeze them in the fridge and use as per convenience.

In a similar fashion, in Goa, India the Mushrooms are tall and have a cap on top of it. We usually get it during August-September and they are very tasty. Mushrooms are known as Aalambey in Konkani or Alami in Marathi. Ironically, P had never tasted Mushroom Phodi before so thought this would be a good introduction to him as well. This recipe was introduced to my Mom by my Pacchi (konkani term for Aunty) from Goa. The end result is extremely delicious, so you would find many a people drooling over the Fritters. :)

Another thing which I realised is that Konkani cooking makes abundant use of seasonal vegetables. So you would see that cooking patterns vary according to the vegetables available for that season.

Serves: 2 individuals

Ingredients:

White Mushrooms - 1 packet

Rice Rava - 6-8 teaspoons

Red Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon

Salt - as per taste

Oil - for frying

Method:

Wash Mushrooms thoroughly, slice them into two. This enables ease of chore while frying. Marinate it in salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder. Keep aside for 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan. Roll the mushrooms in rice flour mixed with 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder. Pay it out on the pan and pour oil in the exposed area of the pan. Turn around the Fritters after 5-8 minutes. Sprinkle little water on the pan and cover with a lid and cook on slow flame. Serve hot with Rice, Daal and Lime Pickle.

This post goes as an entry to FIC - Zodiac hosted by Ashwini's Spicy Cuisine and Sunshine Mom's Tongue Ticklers. My sign is LEO. My color is orange/gold. Here's my gold colored dish - Mushroom Fritters.

Chocolate Rice Crispies

Man cannot live on chocolate alone. But Woman! Yes, she can; I am big Chocolate fan and love all the goody feeling that comes alongwith. This recipe of Chocolate Rice crispies was worked upon by my brother P and I (I had little role to play). To relish the CHOCO flavour, here's a picture of a Candy shop at Quincy Market, Boston. A perfect eye candy!

Many of my female friends are big time chocolate lovers. Some like it white, black, dark, bitter but they all love it. I think there is some strange connection between Chocolate and Women. This post of mine goes to all women who whine, dream, dribble and love to drool over chocolates.
This is a recipe which has been passed over by my MIL. In my hubby's side this dish is a big hit. I used to wonder what's the magic. When I sampled the taste was DECADENT! A must if you are a chocolate addict.

Recipe Source: My MIL

Serves: 10-18 servings

Ingredients:

large box of rice crispies
4 large slabs (20 oz each) Hershey’s milk chocolate

3 packets (16 oz – 8 mini packets in each) Twix chocolate
4 sticks of unsalted butter
1 medium packet of walnuts

Method:

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a deep non-stick utensil. Chop twix chocolates and add to the melted butter. Stir the twix sauce until it is smooth. Remove the left-over twix biscuit pieces from the utensil and keep them aside.

Take a large bowl filled with rice crispies (no specific quantity) and mix all the twix sauce to it until the rice crispies are fully coated. Put the coated rice crispies in a deep baking tray (or any other tray) and nicely set the crispies so that they are evenly spread across the entire tray.

In the same non-stick utensil, melt 2 more sticks of butter. Chop the hershey’s milk chocolates and add to the melted butter. Stir the sauce until it is thick and smooth.

Pour the hershey’s sauce on the coated rice crispies and evenly spread across entire tray. Chop walnuts in a blender and sprinkle on top of the hershey’s sauce. Cover the tray and set it aside for 6-7 hours at room temperature. Serve block sized pieces and enjoy!

Tip: Since we wanted only regular chocolate flavour, we did two layers of Twix Chocolate Rice crispies and garnished with chopped walnut.

Here goes my entry to Laura's Spiced Life Blog Event of Family Recipes. I liked the theme of this event!

Maggi Noodles

India Independence was just around the corner. I was thinking about the good old days when we used to anxiously wait to go to school for Flag Hoisting ceremony. The star of the event was the Vada-Pav and Boondi Ladoo we got as kids. Fervently prepare your speeches, skits, mime content, dress like Nehru or Gandhi.

I believe little acts of random kindness, goodness or patriotism are taught at home. Who better teachers than your own parents. Even to this date, if there is "Jana Gana Mana" playing in the background on TV, Radio my parents still stand up, spend a minute in silence, take a moment or two to usher in the patriotic sprit and may be rekindle those memories of sacrifices, struggle and freedom.

I made Maggi, what better way to wish any Indian than with this humble 2-Minute Noodle which has been with me since my toddler nasty pursuits, prankmaster childhood days, confused teenage, adventurous youth and now that of marital bliss!

"Happy Independence Day To All Indians Across the Globe"

Recipe adapted and tweaked from Maggie Noodles recipe

Ingredients:
Onion (chopped) - 1 big
Water - 1 and 1/2 cup
Oil - for frying
Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Maggi Noodle - 1 packet
Salt (optional) - 1/3 teaspoon

Method:
Chop onions and keep aside. In a separate container, boil 1 1/2 cup of water. Heat oil in a saucepan and fry onions till they wilt and turn reddish. Add Maggi masala, salt and pepper powder. Stir well and add pre-boiled water. Add noodles and bring to boil. Simmer for around 5 minutes and you are done. Serve hot with evening tea

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I found an interesting post on Flower Fest posted by Manisha of Indian Food Rocks fame. I have this beautiful picture of Purple - Chicory Flower taken on one of very recent trips. Sending this as an entry to Flower Fest. I wish Manisha great success on the Flower Fest revival bit.

I am submitting my entry for Flower Fest - Purple Chicory Flower. This flower, is ground, pound and baked and is used a coffee substitute or as an additive. When I was a child I used to remember our coffee powder was blended with Chicory in 80:20 proportion. It serves as a good blending agent and neutralises the otherwise strong flavour of caffeine in coffee.

Black Eyes Peas curry with Yellow Chinese Cucumber Curry (Dhavve Adsaaney aani Magge Koddel)

Koddel is a konkani dish which is made of coconut, red chillies, tamarind paste cooked with vegetables, pulses and seasoned with garlic or mustard seeds. This is a ONE DISH type of food which serves as accompaniement as well as a side dish. The pulses and vegetables ooze out wonderful aroma.

I bought Yellow Chinese Cucumber from local India stores. This vegetable is cute, chubby and has beautiful yellow, green strips on them. Its difficult to judge a good cucumber from bad one except with the taste. Good ones do not taste sour and bad ones do.

There are some vegetables which I used to detest eating as a child. After having grown up, those same vegetables seem to be my favorites. Sounds kind of strange. Yellow Chinese Cucumber is one such vegetable also called as Magge in Konkani. It is also known as Dosakai in Kannada. I realised after cooking that the one I bought was little bitter. So called Mom and she said both the varieties would be found in a grocery. Some are bitter and some are good.

We make a Konkani based curry out of this vegetable called as Koddel. Koddel is a popular konkani dish based on coconut gravy and is seasoned with garlic and coconut oil. The whole kitche seems to waft with the redolent aroma of garlic once this dish is ready. Koddel and other varities of curries are categorized as Maasla Randayi. This originated from the word Maasolu which means gravy based on grated coconut and Bedgi chillies.

Mom had an interesting tale to tell me regarding Koddel. During olden days, when people did not have sufficient access to groceries they used to make Maasala randayi. Since everyone used to dwell in villages and during rainy season folks could not travel far to get vegetables from Saanta (konkani word for local vegetable market). Ladies in the house used to make ample use of lentils and legumes to make curries for lunches and dinners. Cucumbers used to grow in abundance in gardens and they used to add as a good supplement to curries which is also called as Bharshey (konkani word for accompaniement vegetable to be added in a curry).

Recipe Source: Mom
Serves: 4 individuals

Ingredients:
Black Eyed Peas - 1 C
Grated coconut - 1 c
Red Chillies - 4-6
Asafoetida - 1/10 t
Oil - for frying
Water - 8-10 C
Tamarind - 1" lump (optional)
Garlic flakes (crushed) - 6-8
Yellow Cucumber (chopped) - 1

Method:
Soak the peas overnight and boil in the pressure cooker next day. Transfer to a sauce pan alongwith sufficient water and set aside. Heat oil in a pan, and gently fry coconut alongwith red chillies. Allow to cool and gring this alongwith asafoetida and tamarind. Add this paste to the sauce pan of boiled peas. Add chopped cucumber alongwith the paste.

Bring to boil and give a garnish of crushed garlic sauted till charred in oil. Serve hot with rice.

Sending this entry to RCI: Mangalore and Udupi cuisines - July 2009. Good job Sia for hosting an event which enables us to showcase our regional cuisines.

Yard Long Beans Side Dish (Alsandey Upkari)

In Konkani cuisines, Upkari is a popular method oof cooking. Vegetables are chopped and tempered with Curry leaves, mustard seeds or Garlic falkes. Vegetables are brought to boil, and simmered on low flame. Garnished with Grated coconut and served hot with rice as a side dish.

In Konkani - Upkari means vegetables which are chopped and stir fried with little water. The biggest advantage of Upkari is that the vegetables cook in its own juices. Once all ingredients are added, the vegetables are covered with a lid, brought to a boil and then the flame gets lowered and you cook the vegetables till the water gets evaporated.

Alsandey Upkari has been one of my favorite upkaris since childhood days. I love the aroma of this tender beans, chopped finely and meshed with mustard and grated coconut. In Konkani culture, this gets served as a side dish alongwith Daal or Coconut gravy based curries.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 3 individuals

Ingredients:

Yard Long Beans/ Alsandey - chopped finely - 3-4 cups

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Red Chillies - 1-2

Grated coconut (fresh/frozen) - 2 tablespoon

Oil - for frying

Water - for boiling vegetables

Salt - as per taste

Curry leaves(optional) - 4-8 leaves

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and once heated add mustard seeds, red chilli and curry leaves. Add chopped beans to this and stir well. Add salt as water good enough to immerse half the quantity of vegetables. Cover the dish with a lid and bring to boil and then lower the flame. Give a gentle stir once in a while. Once water gets evaporated, turn the flame off. Garnish with grated coconut and serve hot as a side dish.

Am sending my entry to Sia's RCI: Udupi and Manglorean Cuisines - July 2009.