Chicken Pakora

Serves: 8, Preparation time: Marination time + 15 minutes

Ingredients:

For Marination-

1 kg boneless chicken cut into small pieces

2 onion ground to paste

1 1/2 inch ginger ground to paste

1/2 cup hung curd

6-7 green chillies ground to paste

2 tsp black pepper powder

2 tsp green chilly sauce

2 tsp soya sauce

2 tsp vinegar

2 tbsp corn flour

1/2 cup gram flour (besan) or white flour (maida)

3 tbsp refined oil

salt to taste

a pinch of orange color

Garnishing-

1 lemon

1 tsp chat masala powder

Method:

Wash the chicken in running water properly. Drain water and place the chicken in a big bowl. Add all the ingredients mentioned above for the marination and mix thoroughly, cover with a lid. Keep the chicken in refrigerator for 4-5 hours. Once the chicken is marinated, heat oil in a deep frying pan, keeping the flame on medium fry chicken pieces till its color changes to golden brown. Do not fry too many pieces together, fry them in batches. Place the fried chicken on tissue so that it soaks the excess oil. Sprinkle chat masala and lemon juice as per taste. Serve the chicken pakoras with mint or dhaniya chutney.

read more.. "Chicken Pakora"

Bengali Style Keema Chop

Serves: 6, Preparation time: 40 minutes


Ingredients: 
For Keema mixture -
200 gm Mutton keema
2 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
3 finely chopped green chillies
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric (haldi)
salt to taste


For Potato mixture -
3-4 potatoes (boiled)
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp garlic
2 green chillies
1 bay leaf
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
Besides 4 tbsp oil for deep frying.


Method:
Wash keema thoroughly and drain the water. Mix turmeric powder, salt and marinate for half an hour. Keep it aside. Peel off the potatoes, mash them and add all the above ingredients mentioned for the potato mixture. Put 2 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker and heat it. Add in bay leaf, chopped onions, ginger and garlic paste. Saute it till the onion turns brown. Add marinated keema in it. Fry on medium low heat for about 6-7 minutes. Pour 1 cup water and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook till 3 whistles and  remove it from the burner. Now open the lid to check if the meat has dried up. In case there is any gravy, heat it till it dries up.


Make small dumplings of the potato mixture. Flatten it a little and stuff 2 tsp keema dough in it, and close the potato mixture evenly. Smoothen out chops with wet oily hands. Heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry the chops untill rich brown colour. Continue this with the rest of the mixture till all dumplings are completed. Serve with pudina chutney.

read more.. "Bengali Style Keema Chop"

Aloo ka parantha

Serves: 4, Preparation time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

6 potatoes (large) boiled

1 large onion finely chopped

1 green chilly finely chopped

1 inch ginger finely chopped or grated

6 tsp coriander leaves finely chopped

1 tsp aamchur

1 tsp red chilly powder

1 tsp coriander powder (dhaniya)

1 tsp cumin powder (jeera)

4 cups whole wheat flour (atta)

Refined oil

Butter

Salt as per taste

Method:

For the cover make dough out of whole wheat flour (atta) just as we do for making parantha or roti. For softness add 2 tsp refined oil and fresh malai (picked from refrigerated milk). Mash the potatoes and mix all the ingredients (except oil and butter). Take a small lemon sized dough and roll it into a small circle, add 2 tsp of mashed potato, cover all the sides and roll to give it a circular shape.Heat a flat pan, keep the flame on high and put the parantha and let it get dry form both the sides, once dry add 1 tsp each on both the sides. Turn around the parantha upside down so that it is cooked well. When it is golden brown in color, take it out. Add a piece of butter on top and serve hot with curd and salad.

read more.. "Aloo ka parantha"

Tangy Green Peas

Serves: 4, Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups green peas

1 big potato (cut into small cubes)

1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

1 tsp cumin roasted and powdered

1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2 green chillies finely chopped

1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp asafetida (hing)

2 lemon juice

1 tbsp grated coconut

1 cup water

1 tbsp fresh chopped coriander leaves

salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a kadhai or non stick pan on medium flame. Add cumin seeds and let it sputter, now add asafetida, green chillies and turmeric powder. After it leaves a nice aroma add potato cubes, green peas and salt. Cover the lid for few minutes, now add sugar and water. Stir well and cover the lid. Let it fry for 15 minutes on low flame till the vegetables are tender. Switch off the burner and add grated coconut, lemon juice and fresh coriander. This dish can be serve with chapattis.

read more.. "Tangy Green Peas"

Shahi Gobhi & Matar ki Kari

Serves: 6, Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients: 

Half cauliflower divided into small florets

1 tea cup green peas (boiled)

2 bay leaves (tej patta)

2 tomatoes

1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2 tsp fresh curd

2 tbsp chopped cashewnuts (kaaju) 
1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp refind oil

2 cups water
1 tbsp ghee
salt to taste

Grind to paste*:

1 onion chopped

2 tbsp grated coconut

6 garlic cloves

2 tsp coriander seeds (whole dhaniya)

1 tsp cumin seeds (whole jeera)

1/2 inch ginger piece 

2 tsp poppy seeds (khas khas)

6 red chillies

Method: 

First we need to make a puree of tomato. So boil the tomatoes in hot water for 10 minutes on low flame. Drain the water and let it cool down. Peel off the outer skin and blend into puree. In a heavy kadhai heat oil add cauliflower florets, haldi and pinch of salt. Gently fry for 7-8 minutes. Remove and keep aside. In the remaining oil, add the bay leaves and paste* (above mentioned) and fry for 5-6 minutes. When it leaves oil add tomato puree and curd. Stir frequently, now add cauliflower, green peas, cashewnuts, sugar, 2 cups water and salt. Cook for 5-7 minutes untill the vegetables are soft. Serve hot with phulkas.

 

read more.. "Shahi Gobhi & Matar ki Kari"