Tandoori Chicken, Rice-A-Roni, Mini YouChoy

I know it was a weird combo to have for dinner but it was gooood and it was so easy to make.

Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken breast - 2 lbs (bonesless and skinless cut into thick strips)
Tandoori Masala - 3 Tbsp. (I bought priya brand but you can use any brand you like)
Red food color - 2 drops
Curd/yogurt - 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice - 2 Tbsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 Tbsp.

Procedure:
- Mix food color, masala , lemon juice and salt to the curd.
- In a ziplock bag, add the chicken and the marinade and mix well till all the chicken pieces are coated.
- Leave the ziplock in the fridge for 2 to 4 hours.
- Now, you can cook this in different ways, you can either bake them or pan fry them or do what I did.
- Pressure cook the chicken for 2 whistles (no need to add any water).
- Heat oil in a saute pan. Add the cooked chicken pieces and pan fry them till they form a thin golden crust on all sides.
- Do it in batches so you don't over crowd the pan.

Rice-A-Roni

Rice-A-Roni is nothing but rice and vermicelli cooked together. Instead of Vermicelli I used angel hair pasta.

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups uncooked
Angel hair pasta - 1/4 cup cut into small pieces
Salt - to taste
Water - 5 cups

I have a microwave rice cooker, so I just added all the ingredients and cooked them for 200 minute sin the microwave. However you can use the electric cooker or even do stove-top method too.

Mini YouChoy with garlic and soy sauce
YouChoy I think is also called Chinese broccoli. You can get this in any asian store. I became a fan of it few years ago when my then manager introduced me to this vegetable.

Ingredients:
You Choy - 2 lbs washed and ends trimmed
Garlic - 4 cloves sliced thin
Low-Sodium Soy Sauce - 2 Tbsp.
Salt - to taste
vegetable stock - 1/4 cup
White pepper - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp.

Procedure:
- Heat oil in a wok.
- Add garlic and stir for 15 seconds making sure it doesn't burn.
- Add youchoy, soy sauce, stock, slat and pepper
- cover and cook till the veggie is cooked through.

Chicken Meat Balls - Inspired by Top Chef

I became a fan of Top Chef after watching last season. Unfortunately only last season was good. This season sucked. I haven't seen any good Chefs so far. Oh Well. What does that have to do with this recipe? Actually nothing much. Every time I watch this show I feel like I should do something new and different. So as soon as the re-runs ended on tuesday evening, I went shopping for some meat and this is what I came up with. It's super easy and you can serve it as an appetizer, side dish or make some yummy tomato sauce and make chicken meat balls with spaghetti.

I used sun dried tomatoes in olive oil. You can substitute this with regular sun-dried tomato bits. You can make this dish without them too but just don't add regular tomatoes. No good.

Ingredients:

Ground Chicken - 1 lb
Onion - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Sun Dried Tomatoes - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Mint Leaves - 8 minced
Garam Masala - 1/2 Tsp.
Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric - pinch
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp.
Salt - To taste
Oil - For deep frying

Procedure:
- Mix all the ingredients and store in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour covered.
- Form the mixture in mini-lime sized balls. This way the meat gets cooked inside well.
- Deep fry them few at a time.
- Remove from oil, pat them on a kitchen towel and serve on a bed of sauted onions and peppers .

Chicken Butter Roast

When I was in India last year, I had this Chicken Butter roast in Mangalore which was yummmm. I have been trying to re-create it since then and yesterday was my second attempt. Family loved it so much that there was nothing left over. They wouldn't even wait for me to take the picture. This is a first when I had no left-overs of a dish I made :).

I actually got Chicken Tenders pack and then cut each piece at the center(so you get thin pieces) and then cut them again into bite size pieces. This actually helped for the spices to get into the meat and also the outcome was soft and juicy.

The Kashmiri Chilli Powder can be bought in any Indian store. This is little less spicy and has a vibrant red color. You can substitute paprika but the taste might be a teeny bit different.

I usually use homemade curd. However, you can use any store bought yogurt. If you don't have any on hand, use tablespoon of lemon juice.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1.5 lbs
Ginger and garlic Paste - 1 tsp.
Curd/Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Kashmiri Chilli Powder - 1.5 Tbsp.
Chili Powder - 1 tsp.
Garam Masala - 1.5 tsps.
Turmeric - Pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil - 5 Tbsp.
Butter - 2 Tbsp.

Procedure:

- Wash and pat dry the chicken.
- Mix all the ingredients except oil and butter.
- Cover and store the chicken in regular fridge for minimum of 2 hours. If you can let it marinate over night that would be awesome too :).
- Heat oil and butter in wide skillet.
- Add the chicken pieces. Cover and cook for 2 minute son medium flame.
- Increase the heat to high till it starts to brown. Flip the pieces and cook the other side.
- Do it in 2 batches if the skillet is small. Do not over crowd them.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet. make sure you scrape all the tiny bits stuck to the skillet. That's the best part.

Yummy Yummy Chicken Drumsticks

What else can I call it. I have been trying to come up with new recipes that Swetha asked for and this one turned out very very good. You can buy skinless drumsticks for this but if you cannot, let me tell you the trick that our good friend Partha told me. Just take two kitchen paper towels. Grab the drumstick with one towel and use the other one to pull the skin away. You might have to use tad bit force but comes off easy.
Regarding the yogurt I used int his recipe. I usually use home-made curd for marinating my meat some times but this time I used "European Style extra Creamy" yogurt I bought from Trader Joe's. You can also use low fat yogurt and will work just fine.

I did add 1 tablespoon of butter. That might seem like a lot but adds a very yummy flavor and gives the whole dish great aroma. If you are trying to work around the calories, feel free to avoid it or just add a tea spoon.

Note: CCC powder stands for clove, cinnamon and cardamom powder

Ingredients:

Chicken Drumsticks (skinless) - 8
Yogurt - 1/2 cup.
Paprika - 2 tsps.
Chili Powder - 2 tsps(less if you like it less spicy)
Garam Masala or CCC powder - 1.5 tsps
Garlic Paste - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Butter - 1 Tbsp.
Oil - 2 Tbsp.


Procedure:

- Clean the drumsticks and make small slits cross wise. 3 to 4 small cuts per piece should be good.
- Add all the ingredients except oil and butter to the drumsticks and mix well till all the spices are coated to the drumstick pieces well enough.
- Cover and refrigerate(not freezer) for minimum of 2 hours. If you can let it sit overnight then much better.
- If you want to do this without getting your hands dirty. Just take a 1 gallon zip-lock bag and throw all the ingredients in there. Shake well and store in the fridge.
- Heat oil and butter in a wide skillet. Add the marinated chicken pieces along with the marinade.
- Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes on medium low flame.
- Once meat is cooked turn the flame to high and cook for 5 minutes stirring in between and making sure it's not sticking to the pan.

Another alternative method to this cooking is to wrap aluminum foil to a cookie sheet and spray with any cooking oil. Just bake the drumsticks in a 400 degree pre-heated oven till meat is cooked.

Chicken Cutlets

Few things before we get into the recipe. You can buy minced chicken in the poultry section of the super market or ask your butcher for it. If you don't get minced chicken, get skinless, boneless chicken breasts and grind them yourself using a food processor or a grinder. The reason I specify chicken breast is it has less fat than thigh meat which is considered dark meat(so I have been told :)). You can use store bought garam masala or just grind up cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and coriander.

Ingredients:

Minced Chicken - 1 lb
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed for pan frying
Chilli powder - 1 tsp.
Garam Masala - 1 tsp.

Grind to paste:
Green Chillies - 2
Onion - 1/4 small
Mint leaves - 8 to 10
curry leaves - 4
Coriander leaves - few sprigs

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a pan.
- While oil is getting hot, mix chicken with all the dry ingredients and the ground paste.
- Make them into the shapes of cutlets and pan fry them 2 minutes per side on medium to low flame.
- Make sure both sides turned brown.

You can make a small one, do it first, taste it for slat and seasonings and do the rest of the batch.

You can eat them by sprinkling some lemon juice and chopped up onions on top or if you are like me, eat them like biscuits :).

Easy Peasy Chicken Curry

This is super simple. Couple of things before we get into the recipe. I have never cooked chicken in a pressure cooker. Always cooked directly in a vessel and some times it would come out soft and some times hard. I tried not salting the meat till end and all but nothing would work. Then I discovered the wonders of pressure cooker. Costco carries a decent one for $40 bucks. The one I have is a pressure pan I got from India. It's a tad bit wider and doesn't need any inserts.

I use breast meat and that I let it cook for 2 whistles but this time Prabu got thigh meat which is tad bit dark and a teeny bit tough so cooked it for 3 whistles.

Ingredients:



Chicken - 2 lbs cut into bite sized pieces
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp.
Lemon juice - 1 tsp.

Marinate the above for an hour.

Onion - 1 chopped fine
Coriander leaves - 3 Tbsp minced
Mint leaves - 2 Tbsp.
Green Chillies - 2 slit length wise
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp.
Coconut milk - 5.5 OZ can ( if you get the big 8 oz one, just use half)
Salt - to taste
Chilli powder - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - pinch
Oil - as needed

To be ground to fine powder:
Cloves - 8
Cinnamon - 2 inch stick
Cardamom - 4

Procedure:

- Heat oil in the pressure pan. Add coriander, mint leaves and green chillies. Stir for 20 seconds.
- Add onions. Season with salt and saute till soft.
- Add ginger and garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder and half the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom powder.
- Cook for one minute.
- Add the chicken pieces and mix till all the masala is blended well with the chicken.
- Cover and cook on medium to medium low flame for 2 to 3 minutes checking to make sure nothing sticks at the bottom of the pan.
- Add coconut milk , mix and cover with the pressure pan lid tightly.
- Once you see steam coming out, put the weight( it's also called whistle) and sit and have coffee while it gives out 3 whistles. Turn the stove off after 3rd whistle.
- Let the pressure release by itself, don't force it out. Takes about 5 to 8 minutes.
- Now, turn the heat back on and cook for 2 minutes. Add the remaining cinnamon, clove powder. Mix well and check for consistency. It should be a little thick gravyish.

Turn off and serve with peas pulao:)

Chicken Curry - Part One

There are a gazillion ways to make chicken curry. None of them involve curry powder event hough it's called a curry. You can play with your spices with these curries. Here is my try for today. This is a little gravyish curry. You can have it with roti or hot rice.

The red chili powder I use is very very spicy. You can adjust the quantity depending on your taste palate :).

Ingredients:

Chicken - 2 lbs - Boneless and skinless cut into bite size pieces
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp.
Yogurt - 3 Tbsp.
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - 1/2 + 1/2 Tsp.
Red chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Garam Masala - 1 tsp.

- Marinate chicken in above spices. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Mean while, get your other ingredients ready.

Grind to paste:
Coconut- 1/2 cup grated (I used frozen grated coconut)
Green chillies - 2
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Cinnamon Stick - size shown in the picture :)
Cloves - 7
Cardamom - 3
Water - 1/3 cup


For the curry:
Red Onions - 2 cups finely diced
Tomato - 1 medium finely diced
Red chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Turmeric - pinch
Oil - as needed
Salt - to taste

Procedure:

Heat oil in a thick bottomed dish. Saute onions till golden brown with little salt.
Add red chili powder and turmeric and saute for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, chicken, the ground coconut paste and mix well. Add1/3 cup of water. Cover and cook on medium flame till chicken is tender. Remove the lid, season with enough salt and cook till you get a thick gravy. Turn of the stove and serve hot.

I used a pressure cooker because meat comes out much tender when cooked in it. You could cover and let it cook for 1 whistle.

Comfort Food - One Pot Chicken Biryani

I was raised in kadapa. My dad used to bring home this awesome chicken biryani home when I was growing up there. It was and is still the best biryani I have ever had.After 12 years of cooking, I have finally came up with a biryani recipe that is very darn close to taste as to the one I had in kadapa. So here is my one pot chicken biryani recipe. If you have a pressure cooker, use it. If not you can use a 5 quart pan. However, note that I use pressure cooker only to cook chicken but I do not cook the rice in the cooker with the whistle on.

Home made garam masala tastes much better than store bought one.

One pot Chicken Biryani

Ingredients:

Mainate:
Chicken - 2 lbs boneless
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp.
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - pinch

Rice – Uncooked – 3 cups
Onions – 1 large – cut into thin slices
Tomatoes – 2 medium - sliced thin
Green Chillies – 3 slit length wise
Curry leaves – 6 minced
Mint leaves -1/2 cup minced
Coriander leaves– 1/2 cup minced
Ginger and Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 1 Tbsp
Red chilli Powder – 1 tsp
Water – 4.5 cups
Salt to taste
Oil as needed
Butter – 1 Tbsp.

Dry Masala:
Bay leaf – 3
Cloves – 6
Cinnamon stick – 2 inch stick
Whole peppercorn – 4
Cardamom – 5
Cumin – 1/2 tsp
Black Cardamom ( Marathi mogga) - 1 piece
Javitri ( Mace) - 1 crushed to powder

Procedure:

Marinate the chicken over night or at least for an hour before cooking.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker with 1 Tbsp butter. Add the dry masala. Fry for 30 seconds to one minute. Do not burn them.

Add chillies, curry, mint and coriander leaves. Stir for a minute. Add
onions and saute till onions turn soft brown color.

Add ginger and garlic paste, salt, garam masala and red chilli powder and stir for
2 minutes. Add tomatoes to this and cook till they become soft.

Add the chicken and mix well. Season with salt enough for the chicken. Add half cup of water and put the lid on. Once the pressure comes out, put the whistle on for the pressure cooker and cook for one whistle and turn the stove off.

Let it rest till the whistle comes out without having to use any force. Remove the lid and turn the stove back on.

Add remaining water and rice and bring it to a boil. Mix and check for salt. Turn the flame to low and cook covered with a regular lid till rice is completely cooked.

If the cooked biryani seems sticky or mushy - take it out of the pan and spread it into a cookie or baking pan and let it sit in the oven for 10 minutes at 150 degrees.

Chicken Chalna or Salna

I don't know what the exact pronunciation or the correct spelling is but who cares. i made it and it was goood. I think I am getting rid of store bought garam masala from my spice rack and going with making my own spice blends :).

I was looking up some websites for Tamil Cuisine and came across this recipe. As usual, read the recipe and did my own thing :P. It came out gravyish and was good with bread and/ rice

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1.5 lbs cubed
Onion - 1 large
Tomato - 1 small
Coconut Milk - 1 cup
lemon juice - 1 tsp
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1 Tbsp
Cloves - 5
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp
Cinnamon Stick - 1 inch
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - pinch
Oil - as needed

Procedure:
Marinate the chicken with lemon juice, ginger and garlic paste and turmeric for an hour.

Mean while mince onion and tomato in a food processor.
Roast fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cloves and cinnamon in a skillet and grind to fine powder.

Heat oil in a deep skillet. Saute the onion and tomato mixture till oil starts to seperate. Add the ground masala, red chilli powder and salt. Saute for few more minutes and add coconut milk. Stir for few minutes and add chicken. Cover and cook till chicken is all the way cooked. Check for seasoning.

If you have a pressure cooker, make this whole curry in it and after you add the chicken, cover and pressure cook for one whistle. The chicken come sout much more soft when cooked in a pressure cooker.

Goddess Chicken ;)

Well, when you marinate the chicken in a goddess salad dressing and cook you get goddess chicken;).

This was our Sunday lunch. Goddess Chicken, Italian Herb Pilaf, Medley of Artichokes, potatoes and broccoli.


Goddess Chicken:

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 lb cut into bite size pieces
For the marinade:
Goddess salad dressing ( this is kind of a Asian dressing with soy sauce, tahini and all). You can add Italian too if you want - 1/4 cup
Paprika - 1 Tbsp.

For the stir-fry:
Green and orange peppers - 1 cup julienned
Red onions - 1 cup julienned
Galric - 4 cloves minced
Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp.
Vegetable broth - 1/4 cup
Balsamic Vinegar - 2 Tbsp.
Olive oil - as needed
Salt and pepper - to taste

Procedure:
Marinade the chicken over night.

Heat oil in a wide pan. Add the garlic, onions, peppers and saute till soft. Add chicken, broth and cook till chicken is well done. Add salt and pepper.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan into a serving dish.

Bring the pan back to heat. Add one Tbsp of water and the balsamic vinegar. Reduce it for 5 minutes. Turn the stove off and add the vinegar to the chicken.

You say Tandoori Chicken, I say Suji's special Chicken

I made this dry fry yesterday. why? Because I just felt like it:)

Marinade:
Yogurt - 2 cups
Garam Masala - 2 Tbsp
Red Chili Powder - 1 Tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2 Tbsp.
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 Tbsp

Mix all the above ingredients and keep aside

Ingredients:
Chicken - 2 lbs cut into thin strips
Oil - as needed
Salt - to taste

Procedure:

Coat the chicken well with the marinade (do not add salt ) and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

You can the grill them or even bake them in the oven. I stir fried it in the pan with olive oil and sprinkled salt towards the end that way the meat doesn't become too tough.

Chinese Chicken Fried Rice

I am not sure if I add the word "Chinese" in front of this because I really don't if this is how they make it. So if you think it's not my apologies:). This is the first time I made this and all the quantities are approximate:).

Couple of things:
I heard it tastes better if you use leftover rice. I didn't have any left over rice so I made a fresh batch and kept it in the fridge for an hour:).

I used all freshly chopped veggies but you can frozen mixed veggies. Experiment with it. You never know how you might like it:)

I used low sodium soy sauce.

I also used red chilli oil and red chilli flakes for the kick I like;)

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups dry cooked with 4 cups of water
Chicken - 1 lb cut into thin strips
Carrots - 1/2 cup thinly chopped
Celery - 1/2 cup thinly chopped
Green Beans - 1/2 cup thinly chopped
Cabbage - 1/2 cup thinly chopped
Corn Kernels - 1/2 cup
Onions - 1 cup diced
Scallions - 1/2 cup chopped
Garlic - 2 Tbsp minced
Ginger - 2 Tbsp minced
Soy sauce - 1/2 cup
Red Chilli oil - as needed
Red chilli flakes - as needed
Sesame oil - as needed
Salt - per taste

Procedure:

Add 3 Tbsp soy sauce to the white rice, mix and keep it aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, add celery, carrots, beans, corn and cover with little water and microwave it on high for 2 minutes. Add cabbage and microwave for 30 more seconds. If there is any excess water drain and keep the veggies aside.

In a wok or deep pan, heat sesame and chilli oil. It should come almost to a smoking point. Add chicken and cook till all the pink color is gone. Add little bit of soy sauce to this and cook till the meat is cooked lal the way through. Keep it aside.

In the same pan, heat little more chilli and sesame oil and add red chilli flakes, ginger, garlic and scallions. Cook for 30 seconds. Add onions and a little bit of salt. Fry for 2 minutes. Add the veggies and saute for 3 minutes. The flame for the stove should be on high all along and keep stirring it if you think it's sticking to the pan. However, I suggest you not skimp on oil;) and add a bit extra so this doesn't stick:) ( we will worry about healthy eating later).

Add the chicken to this mixture, some more soy sauce and cook for 2 minutes . Add this mixture to the rice and voila we are done:)