Spicy Chicken Korma

Rice and spicy homely chicken curry would be a comfort food for many of us. Yes last time when we were on our return journey from Sydney, I was bored of eating the restaurant food for three consecutive weeks and was longing for something that would melt in my mouth with out any fuss. When our meals arrived in the airplane, too excited to get a glimpse of what is served, I could not resist and let steam pass out of the foil, the awesome aroma of the curry wafted around and I was happy to see the delectable spicy curry served with hot piping rice. Luckily my hubby had ordered for a Hindu meal. It was finger licking and I wondered what would be the paste, well nothing came closer to my thought except korma. I googled and found a recipe quite closer to that taste.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

500 to 700 grams Chicken
¾ cup yogurt
2 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 medium sized onion chopped/paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon garlic paste
½ cup coconut milk
1 table garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 table green chili crushed
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Method

Marinate chicken with ¼ cup of yogurt and salt for at least 30 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions. When they are cooked add the ginger and garlic paste. Sauté for couple of minutes and add the rest of the yogurt. Add the dry masalas, green chili paste and cook till the yogurt dries up. Grind a paste of poppy seeds with water and add to the masala. Sauté and mix the marinated chicken.

Toss on a medium fire for 5 to 7 minutes and the add coconut milk. Cover and cook on a low fire for 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked.

Serve hot with white rice or coriander rice.

Kitchen notes. Dry grind the poppy seeds and then add water to make a paste. You can add chopped pototoes . If the coconut milk is too sweet add more chilies or alternatively use coconut cream powder.

Ginger crunch cookies

“Row row, row your boat gently down the stream, merrily merrily merrily, merrily life is but a dream”.

This is a lovely rhyme that I and my son often love to murmur when we walk down together to the bus stop. I believe life is a dream, our dreams mirror our aspiration and we have to live completely to achieve it. To live to find out our purpose on this planet and to be part of the aura that is this mystery we call life. I always wanted to have a space of mine where I can find solace and peace, a place where I can ramble my thoughts and my feelings and share some my culinary jaunt, I love to experiment with recipes and always love to try out that which has a bit of charm and uniqueness to it. I have thrown lots of ingredients into the dust but I still keep trying and love to dig, again and again like an ardent explorer. The dream I had cherished led me discover the wonderful world of food blog where newness pops every second, where experiments are limitless, where like minded people admire and render sweet notes to your dreams.

Like many of you, browsing recipes led me to come across link after links, and I feel elated to be part of this journey in my little boat in this endless stream. I love to dream and soar high in the skies and yet also love to be grounded to pin my aspirations, my dreams, and my desire.

Coming back to my recipe. I have always loved the subtle ginger and this cookie has taken my fancy and often dotes my cookie jar. I had tasted the store brought cookies and was repelled by its toughness and zero crunchiness. It was too tough to bite. Ginger cookies are ought to be crunchy. This cookies are flavored with both ginger and cinnamon.

Here goes the recipe adapted from Superfoodideas.

Ingredients

2 cup flour
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
100 grams butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon caster sugar

Method

Shift flour, baking powder, spices in a bowl. Rub in butter until the texture resembles like a bread crumbs. Stir in sugar. Combine egg and syrup and pour into the above mix. Gently knead to firm dough. Roll into walnut sized balls. Preheat the oven 180’c and arrange the balls on a baking sheet. Gently press it with a fork and sprinkle with sugar. Bake it for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and cool them on racks. Store in an airtight container. Serve and enjoy with a hot Cuppa and go on dreaming or should I say living, they are synonymous anyway.

Dal Panchratan - A mughlai affair

We as a family love to travel and collect memorabilia and some unique things to that particular place, although I was never keen on traveling but seeing my hubby’s deep desire to learn and explore different places, I too started gaining an interest , we now love to travel and like to take breaks as frequently as his work permits. He is not an impulse planner but rather plans very meticulously about our schedule and packing is done way ahead of our date of travel. This is something I was not so keen on but gradually found that if I resort to last minute packing I happen to miss out on so many things that would otherwise make a big difference.

Since we love to collect things that are unique to that place, my husband always carries an extra empty backpack to carry things back. On our last trip to India we had visited Delhi and Mumbai before hopping over to our home state Orissa. It was an awesome visit and my maiden visit to Taj mahal was so memorable and will forever be cherished. It is definitely one of the greatest wonders of the world and the feeling of standing near the white marbled structure is one of pure peace and absolute serenity. Delhi has so many historical places on offer to visit and it is fun to travel and feel the pulsing city and its enchanting food. We had a great experience eating at Bukhara, one of the most renowned restaurants in Delhi widely known for its awesome food.

Shopping was also great in Gurgaon a developing satellite city close to Delhi & has an array of malls lined up. I picked up few cookbooks and my hubby picked a cookbook featuring the cuisines of Indian Maharajas. The cuisines are very rich in spices and truly unique, I have tried few recipes and one simple recipe is the Dal Panchratan. It is a great combination of five dals (lentils) cooked and seasoned with spices.

Adapted from cooking delights of the Maharajas by Digvijaya Singh

Ingredients
1/2 cup yellow lentils (toovar dal)
½ cup red lentils (masoor dal)
½ cup split grams (channa dal)
½ cup split green beans (moong dal)
½ cup split black beans (urad dal)
1 medium onion chopped
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon garlic crushed
2 dry red chilies
½ teaspoon crushed coriander seeds
1 tablespoon Garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1tablepoon ghee/ butter
1teaspoon turmeric
Lemon juice and coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method
In pan sauté the moong dal (green beans) with out oil for couple of minutes. Soak channa dal and urad dal for 30 minutes. In a pressure cooker cook all the dals together adding water (approx 3 cups) and turmeric. Cook till done giving it 2 to 3 pressure.

In pan heat butter/ ghee, splutter cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and dry chilies. Add chopped onions and sauté till translucent. Add ginger and garlic and sauté for couple of minutes. Add the cooked dal, cover and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Add more water if needed. Garnish it with garam masala, lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Roti, rice or Naan. So now even if we can’t ever live like the Maharaja’s at least we can try and cook a meal fit for one.

This recipe is my contribution to legume-love-affair held by Bricole brainchild of Susan The Well-Seasoned Cook.

Citrus poppy seed syrup cake

All of a sudden there was a vacuum after our families visiting us from India left. It was so depressing to enter the house that was once filled with constant noise and cheers of the kids running and haggling over the toys. At times it was so difficult to deal with both of them (my son and his cousin) that the toys were kept outside the apartment until they both agreed to share. This sounds a little weird but now I can imagine the Herculean task of a teacher handling kids with patience. It truly is the noblest job in the world.

Well kids will be kids and are god’s special creation. I asked my son if he misses his cousin and he said he was so sad and he really loved her and misses her in spite of both of them constantly fighting and snatching at the same toy for 15 days. How cute and sweet was his thought. We adults always have bitter memories and reservation if things like this were to happen to us.

I was so busy but it was fun entertaining them with food and my kitchen experiments and they just loved to be my guinea pigs. Although I couldn’t go beyond the normal day to day cooking but couple of times I managed to churn out something different. While everybody was out on a day trip I was happy to be tucked in the kitchen and this is what I made for the dessert. This is one of my favorite desserts and I am forever in love with cakes and cookies flavored with citrus. On a fleeting glimpse from my dear journal I found this enticing cake recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
½ cup sugar
50 grams butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoon black poppy seeds
2 eggs
2 tablespoon mixed citrus juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon and orange rind
2 tablespoon milk or more
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Ingredients for Syrup
½ cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
1teaspoon orange rind
1 teaspoon lemon rind

Method

Add Cream butter and sugar and add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla essence. Shift flour, baking powder. Fold into the above batter and add poppy seeds, juice, rind and milk.

Preheat the oven at 180’c and pour the batter in a greased loaf tin or a muffin pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until the skewers comes our clean.

Meanwhile prepare the syrup. Combine sugar and juices in a small sauce pan. Bring to boil and keep stirring till the sugar is melted, Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes and add the rinds.

Pierce the cake in several places and drizzle half the syrup and let it cool down. Pour the remaining syrup and serve warm or cold with fruits.

Note - If the batter is too thick add more milk.

A weekend escape - Travelling in China

Time flies and I realized that I am blogging after ten days of gap. Not that I was bored but I was busy with my brother in-laws family visiting us. It is always exciting and wonderful when families unite. My son was shivering with joy when he received them at the airport. Since they have a daughter almost the same age of my son, so it was definitely something for him to look forward of course the toys and gifts that were promised. We had a lovely trip to Hangzhao and Suzou, approximately 1 ½ hours flight from Qingdao. It is a beautiful place with gorgeous sceneries and gardens. Here are some pictures captured by my hubby.

Poi saaga ( leafy greens ) with vegetables

Our needs & aspiration change according to time and situation and I am no exception either, few things that were never a priority suddenly become more coveted and precious. I have a very long list but the one that tops the list is my new Camera at present. I was never interested in taking photographs as much as liking to be photographed. On the contrary my hubby loved to capture everything on celluloid and is always very keen to update to the latest gadgets. He loves to carry his camera wherever possible and recording every tidbits and photographs are always part of his travelogue. Since I never showed any interest in taking picture I was never enthusiastic to shop for new ones or update to the latest offering.

Well when I started blogging, I realized the importance of photography and it was the stepping stone for me touch and utilizes the gizmo's that were always neglected. From the food blogs I saw the magic in photographs and the emotions that they evoke even without tasting a single morsel I could taste the delicacies in their entirety. Seeing my love for the ubiquitous gadget my hubby decided to get me a digital SLR and on our last trip to Hong Kong. I was overjoyed with thought of being gifted an entry level professional camera. He is my inspiration behind the pictures and he always encourages me to “start living with the camera” and I hope someday I would be able to capture better images.

Just meandering close to our place I took pictures of this pagoda and later on my entering I found this to be a beautiful and vast seafood restaurant serving a plethora of seafood delicacies.

I find it difficult now to decide what is more precious, my Nikon D80 or my kitchen with my oven and cookware etc all.

Coming to my recipe of Poi saaga, it is one our delicacy and goes well with shrimps and fish head. The vegetarian version is also very delectable.

Ingredients

3 cups poi saaga (leaves chopped and thick stems discarded)
1 cup chopped potatoes
¾ cup chopped pumpkin
¾ cup chopped eggplants
1 small onion chopped
1 tablespoon garlic minced
1 tablespoon ginger chopped
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon pancha putona
2 to 3 dry red chilies
Salt to taste

Method

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the pancha potona and redchiliies. When they start to crackle, add onions. Sauté till they are translucent and add chopped potatoes and pumpkin. Cover and cook till they are tender on a low fire. Add eggplants and keep stirring on low fire. When the eggplants are tender add the dry masala, salt to taste except garam masala. Add poi saag and keep sautéing it. Cover and occasionally stir it and cook on a low fire they till they are done and stems are tender.

Sprinkle garam masala and serve hot with roti or rice.

Note - An alternative to Poi saag is Swiss chard. The ratio of vegetables used is as per taste.

Hummmmm.....ing bird cake

Sounds intriguing but please don’t get that impression that it contains any thing of a humming bird, the name itself is a mystery and till now no adequate research supports the origin of its name. It is a strange name and quite interesting to be named after a tiny bird. I found an article relating to this cake in Squidoo and there are few facts relating to the origin of the cake. Some say that people hmmm after biting a slice, so it is known as Humming bird cake! Read this if it fascinates you.

I heard this from my dear journal that occasionally post these and they refer to it as one of the classics for the great southern land.

It is quite a common that one gets to see the overripe bananas starring at you and u have no choice than to blend it to a smoothie or bake a moist cake. So this is basically a banana cake with a classic twist of adding pineapple, coconut and delicately flavoring with cinnamon.


Ingredients

¾ cup plain
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1teaspoon baking powder
1teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
3 tablespoon oil
½ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ chopped walnuts/ pecans
3/4 cup mashed bananas
1tsp salt

Method

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, shredded coconut, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Cream sugar and oil and add egg. Whisk till blended well, add pineapple and the essence. Gradually add flour and milk alternatively till incorporated well. Finally add bananas and nuts.

Preheat the oven and grease a round or rectangle tin of your choice. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or till done.

Remove and let it cool down.

Cream cheese frosting

Blend 125 grams softened cream cheese with 1 1/2 cup icing sugar until light and fluffy. Spread the frosting and sprinkle the chopped walnuts. Slice and Serve.

Note - you can replace the fresh pineapple with the tinned ones and increase the amount of bananas to 1 cup. Alternatively you can use the store brought cream cheese frosting.

This article was featured in Chicago Sun Times