I Am No Expert

Kidney Beans Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 14:52:00 +0000

Last year I got the honor to visit Italy with my family. We went to Rome and Venice. And it does not take long to fall in love with such great cities. Rome is known for its historical significance and Venice is such a romantic place that it has become our favorite destinations in Europe ever.

We also got attached to the place, cause our son (now 3+ years) saw the sea for the first time in his life! And he was blessed to see his first of the seven wonders of the world i.e. the great Colosseum! He was sleeping half way through the entire tour but shhh... don't tell him :-).

So in the memories of our Italy trip I thought to give it a try to the humble pasta, but with little bit of a twist :-).

Pasta is first boiled and then mixed with the tomatoes and onion mix. Topped with kidney beans and pumpkin seeds :-). Flavors turned out to be great! You must give this dish a try!

Ingredients

Freshly boiled or Tin kidney beans
2 onions cut into long strips
1 large tomato cut into long strips
2 tsp Pumpkin seeds
1 tsp Coriander powder
Boiled pasta
2 green chili finely cut
2 cloves garlic finely cut
1.5 inch ginger piece finely cut
Black pepper as per taste
Red chili powder as per taste
Soya sauce
Oregano
Olive oil
Salt to taste

Method

Take a pan on medium heat.
Add 4 tsp olive oil.
Add fresh ginger and garlic.
Add cut onions. And saute them till they are translucent.
Add tomatoes. Saute them for another 10 minutes.
Add pumpkin seeds for the crunch factor.
Add soya sauce. Stir.
Add kidney bins.
Add salt, black pepper, coriander powder.
Saute for another 5 minutes.
Add boiled pasta.
Add oregano.
Mix them well and serve hot.

#MNoExpert, but I hope you will like it.

Veggie Concoction

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 08:17:00 +0000

Summer season has come! Its time to enjoy the greenery... green trees, grass, seasonal veggies. Vegetable markets are filled with lush green seasonal veggies. This time I decided to use some seasonal fresh vegetables and turn them into a delicious dish.

I think a lot of non-veg dishes have been put up on this blog, it's time for some veggies concoction. Idea is very simple, just take out any or all veggies from your fridge and lets make a veggie concoction out of it.

My parents are here in Vienna these days. And my mother-in-law is a vegan. Any veggie lover would love this dish. For non-vegetarian, you can later add boiled chicken or boiled meat of your choice or even boiled eggs topping will do.

It's not just good wholesome veggies you will eat, rather you will eat Vitamin A, C, K, B1, B6, Fiber, Copper etc.

Here is what I took from my fridge.

Ingredients

12 - 15 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Green capsicum - cut into long strips
1 Yellow bell pepper - cut into long strips
2 Potatoes with skin on - cut into quarters
1 Onion, cut into long strips
1 Carrot, finely chopped
Pineapple diced - For an extra punch of flavor
5-6 cloves on garlic
Ginger grated
1 Lemon zest, 1 Lemon
Olive Oil
Season it with garam masala, red paprika, black pepper, salt to taste
Coriander, Rose marry, Mint leaves - all optional.

Here is how the beautiful cut veggies looks like:

Method

Mix all the veggies together in olive oil, and dry spices.
Pre-heat the oven at 4 level.
Let it bake till 40 to 45 minutes.
Give it a stir after around 30 minutes.
Once done, squeeze the roasted lemon juice on top of veggies.
Once done, serve it hot in a plate.

Let's plate up:

Hey #MNoExpert, but I hope you will like it. Please give it a try and let me know how it turned out for you.

Oven made Tandoori Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 19:49:00 +0000

Since I started my own little blog and have put up few recipes, I could feel how hard it is to maintain your blog and be creative every time you put up a new recipe. Especially if you are handling all the departments by yourself (i.e. Cooking, Food Styling, Plating, Food Photography etc.).

Writing and maintaining this blog is trying to get the best out of me :-). On the face it may look like writing a food blog is like a work flow, or a flow chart with a series of steps to follow. You simply follow the steps and you are done with it, right? Wrong... :-)

It actually takes a lot more than just following a flow chart :-).

Here is how...

First you have to come with an amazing recipe which you can pursue. Spend a good amount of time to cook it. Find creative ways to plate your dish. You name your dish like a new born baby. Narrate a story or history behind the dish as an introduction to the dish. Click some amazing pictures of your dish so that they look appetizing.

So a food blog helps you to learn in every department. I am learning especially around plating and food photography. I have searched and gone through various YouTube videos and other web contents to gain some more knowledge around them.

I would like to say in a very humble manner, that these pictures are best of me so far. I am still learning though... :-).

This time I decided to give it a try to Tandoori Chicken, in an oven. You might find a lot of recipes of Tandoori Chicken out there. However here is my attempt on home made Tandoori Chicken in an oven. This is the first time I tried Tandoori Chicken in an oven.

The results were delicious, I hope you will like it too :-).

Ingredients:

Chicken Legs (I took 3) • Give it a few cuts • 3 tsp mustard or olive oil • 2 tsp yogurt • 2 tsp chicken masala • 2 tsp red chili powder (adjust as per your taste) • 1 tsp coriander powder • 1 tsp cumin powder • Juice of 1 lemon • 2 tsp ginger and garlic paste • 1 tsp soy sauce (optional) • 1 tsp black pepper (optional) • salt to taste

Marination

Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl and mix them well.
In the mix, add chicken legs, coat all the spices well on the chicken legs.
Either use hands or a brush to massage it the chicken legs.
Set it aside for at least 1/2 hour. The longer it marinates the better off it is. I marinate it for 3 hours in a fridge. Take it out 1 hour before cooking.

Method

Pre-heat the oven at 375 degrees.
Place the chicken legs on a oven tray.
Place it in the oven and cook them for 40 to 50 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes and see if it needs more cooking.
Take it out, plate it and you are done.

Photo Techniques:

I decided to take this photo by my kitchen window, from where direct sun light comes in.
I used aluminum foil, crushed it and used as light reflector to balance out the light.
Photo is taken using iPhone 5 and edited using Google's Snapseed.

Would I ever leave India? Never! But wait a minute... may be I would

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Tue, 26 May 2015 14:07:00 +0000

I have been living outside India since more than 2 years now however my strings are still well attached to India. My family is still there. All my friends or at least most of them are still there. And I miss them all the time. Sometimes I ask myself if I get an opportunity to leave India for good will I do that? Will I be able to cut my strings from India and settle abroad?

And in order to weigh the decision I came up with a list of pros and cons which might help in decision making. Here are they, some of them might be funny, some of them are very basic things...

For what I will leave India:

Clean Water: I live in Delhi the capital of India, and even there clean water is not available 24 hours a day. We have to use a water purifier to filter the stored tap or underground water before drinking it. I went to India after 1 year and fell sick cause of drinking tap water; It might sound strange but its true. Pity is I had to drink bottled water in my own country.
Electricity: very basic need but it has become luxury in India. People spend more money on power inverters, generators than the actual electricity bill that they pay cause electricity is hard to come by.
Extreme Heat: In summer the mercury goes as high as 45 degrees and on worst days it has even touched 48 degrees Celsius. Out of 12 at least 8 to 9 months are either hot or rainy. Winters have shrink down from 5 months to just 1 month because of global warming.
Air Pollution: Delhi has come in the list of top 10 most polluted cities in the world. As per WHO people have far more chances to get lungs related diseases in Delhi than in any other city in the world. That means they will not give us electricity in the hottest months of year. And now I will suffocate myself as well.
Humanity: Humanity is dying, people are ready to fight with each other over petty reasons. Increasing road rage, fights over car park slots. People are generally rude to each other.
Traffic: traffic conditions are bad beyond imagination. I used to take two hours to get back home from work. And 1 hour in the morning to reach work place cause I used to leave early to avoid traffic. This certainly affects the quality of life.
Infrastructure: Any sports club, swimming pool are not easily available even if you find one you end up shelving a lot of money to keep your body fit. Not enough parking space for cars.

Internet speed: yes its true, internet is either not available or a decent speed will cost you too much. 4G is available only in few states let alone LTE.
Pay extra to use Credit card: they have diluted the basic principle of using a credit card. One tends to use it when he/she does not have upfront cash or wants to pay the amount after few days. But if u attempt to use a credit card they will charge you extra because bank charges some fee on using credit card machine.

School admissions for kids, any government work that you would like to get done will take ages, even the standard of Bollywood movies has gone down tremendously and the list goes on and on...

So to paraphrase it - I will take two hours to come home from work place in 48 degree Celsius temperature and traffic jams. Someone will be ready to pick up a fight with me for car parking. Even if I could park my car when I get home chances are there will be no electricity. And no clean water to drink. If I decide to buy any air conditioning using my credit card I will end up paying extra, cause I used credit card!!! After all this if I take a deep breath to pacify myself I will be inhaling too much air pollution :-).

So the decision seems very easy :-).

Here is what will keep me rooted to India:

My family and friends. I guess that's it!!!

Hunters Hot Pot Chicken with Pineapple

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Fri, 08 May 2015 10:05:00 +0000

Today's recipe is inspired by Chiappa sisters' hunters hot pot chicken recipe recently uploaded to you tube. Here you can check out their original recipe.

I decided to give this dish a try but with a little bit of pineapple twist and some Indian spices. And I must say it really worked out very well. Pineapple really added a little bit of extra kick to the dish while keeping the original dish's integrity.

Among the three sisters the eldest Michela is my favorite ;-).

This dish is fairly straight forward and yet brings out a lot of taste and flavors. Here's what you will need for this dish...

Ingredients

4 chicken legs with skin on.
3 green chilies finely chopped.
1 big onion chopped.
3 large tomatoes or tin tomatoes. I used tin tomatoes for this recipe, especially for the red color.
2 capsicums cut into long strips. Or any veggie of your choice i.e. Carrots.
1 tsp red chili powder, black pepper, coriander powder and garam masala.
1 lemon juice.
3 garlic cloves finely chopped.
1 inch ginger chopped.
Rosemary, finely chopped.
Pineapple diced.
4 tsp Olive oil and butter.
Cream, optional.
Salt to taste.

Method

Take a non stick pan on high heat.
Add olive oil. Add butter.
Once hot add chicken seasoned with salt, black pepper, red chili powder, garam masala and lemon juice.
Fry it on both sides for a total of 10 to 12 minutes to get good brown color.
Take the chicken pieces out in a plate. Leave any oil, butter and chicken juices in the pan.
Add onions to the pan and saute them.
Add garlic and ginger.
Add tomatoes. Mix them well.
Add salt to taste.
Cook them for 10 to 12 minutes.
Add capsicum and chicken.
Cook for another 30 minutes and keep mixing them in between.
After 30 minutes add pineapple and cream. Mix them well. Because pineapple will take no time to cook.
Cook it for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
And that's it.
Serve it with hot Indian bread, naan or basmati rice.

Hey I am no expert but I do hope you will like this dish.

Shashuka Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 16:18:00 +0000

Easter has just gone by. Easter always reminds me of Easter bunnies and Easter eggs. My Easter bunny is my 2.5 years old son Vihaan :-) and Easter eggs reminds of me of a dish called Shashuka eggs, which I have been willing to try since long time now.

Shashuka eggs is a dish of poached eggs in onion, tomatoes, bell peppers mixture.

Shashuka means "a mixture" in Arabic language. More information about this dish is on wiki.

I tried it for the first time and I have fallen in love with the dish. If I were to explain the dish in Indian style cooking, its poached eggs on top of onion, tomatoes, and bell pepper tempering, with the spice level of your choice.

Its a very simple and straight forward dish. Here is my take on preparing Shashuka eggs.

Ingredients:

3 to 4 tsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper and 1 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped.
3 tomatoes, finely chopped.
1 small onion, finely chopped.
2 green chilies, finely chopped.
3 to 4 eggs.
1 tsp cumin seeds.
1 tsp chili power.
1 tsp black pepper.
1 tsp garam masala.
2 tsp butter
Salt to taste.

Method:

Put a non-stick pan on medium heat. Add olive oil.
Add cumin seed. Let them crackle. Roughly for 30 seconds.
Add green chilies.
Add onion. Saute them till translucent.
Add tomatoes and bell peppers.
Add red chilies, salt and black pepper.
Add butter and mix them well.
Cook them with lid on. Roughly for 10 minutes or until the bell pepper becomes tender.
Taste it and adjust the seasoning.
Crackle the eggs on top of the tempering.
Cook them for another 5 to 7 minutes with lid on. Or until the eggs are cooked to your desired consistency.
And that's it.
Serve it on top of a pizza base, or eat as it.

Pan seared chicken with boiled veggies

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 10:03:00 +0000

They say Indian food is awesome, insanely delicious, divine texture, great combination of exotic spices but... its very heavy and not healthy (because of the over use if oil, ghee and spices) especially for weight watchers. You know what would my response to that be? I agree, I would say :-).

After watching Masterchef US all 5 seasons back to back (Yeah I know I am crazy), I decided to cook some healthy yet delicious dishes. Mind you this is my first time on this dish but after tasting the final dish its not the last time I will cook it.

I have been observing my weight since my childhood. But now I have realized if I keep consuming Indian food I am ought to gain weight. I know it sounds harsh but I am sorry its the reality :-).

This dish is so light that my tummy is very happy with the dinner tonight :-) and is still craving for more :-)

Ingredients

400 gms boneless chicken.
Salt and black pepper.
Fresh coriander finely chopped.
Fresh vegetables of your choice. I took carrot, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli.
Olive oil, a cube of butter.
1 clove of garlic.
1 small tsp cumin seeds.
Lemon zest. And lemon juice.
Sweet chili sauce and mustard sauce.
And lots of love.

Method

Pan seared chicken

Take a pan on high heat.
Add 2 to 3 tsp olive oil.
Add cumin seeds. Let them crackle. Roughly 30 seconds.
Season the chicken breast with salt and black pepper.
Lay chicken breast away from you on the pan.
Cook it for 2 minutes then flip them over.
Cook it for another 2 minutes on the other side then flip again.
Add butter. Add garlic. Add coriander leaves.
Reduce the heat to medium.
Cook it for 4 minutes with lid on.
Add lemon zest at this stage.
Flip the chicken and cook for another 4 minutes with lid on.
Take chicken out and let it rest for few minutes.
Chicken keeps cooking while it rests.

Boiled veggies

Take a deep pan. Fill with water. Bring the water to a running boil. Add a pinch of salt.
Add all cut veggies but spinach.
Cook them with lid on for 7 to 8 mins.
Towards the end add spinach. Cause spinach takes no time to boil.
Plate the veggies out.
Plate them together, the way I have shown it. Season it with mustard sauce, sweet chili sauce and a touch of lemon juice.

Yummy treat for an extra hour

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 01:00:00 +0000

Finally its that time of the year when you want to save some more day light. Its time to roll forward your watches by an hour. How beautiful the longer days look! You can do so much more with that extra hour. Its time to enjoy the sun bit more. Its time to be happy for an extra hour. Its time to enjoy the company of your loved ones for an extra hour. If you are one of those lazy chaps then you get some more time to be a tad lazier :-). Its 6 pm already and sun is still shining as if summer is calling me out.

It feels so refreshing. Feels like eating an ice cream or sipping a chilled beer or how about making a dessert for yourself :-).

As I already promised to come up with a doable dessert soon, so here I am with my first hand experience at a dessert.

Ingredients

1 big apple diced.
4 to 5 red strawberries. Take fruits of your choice.
50 gms any Sugar.
2 to 3 pieces of your favorite chocolate.
Honey and flavored yogurt for plating.

Method

Put a pan on medium heat.
Pour a small cup of water and add 50 gms sugar.
Add diced apples and strawberries
Mix them well in sugar syrup
Cook them with lid on for just 5 minutes or till apples become tender.
Take the lid off and add 2 pieces of chocolate.
Let the chocolate melt. This will give out chocolate brown color to the mix.
Add crumbled sweet bread of your choice.
Mix them well.
And that's it. Plate it and refrigerate.

Let's plate up

I decided to plate them in two different styles.

I am not an expert on desserts. I took inspiration from one of the dishes by Gordon Ramsay and added my twist of sweet bread and yogurt. I hope you will like the dessert.

India's Invention... Butter Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 15:45:00 +0000

If you ask me, Butter Chicken is one of the greatest inventions ever made by Indian chefs :-). You will not find any non-vegetarian who does not love a perfectly cooked butter chicken. Why shouldn't they, it is really one of the delicious main courses of all time. Its rich tomato gravy is famous all across the globe.

I always feel proud to tell anyone that Butter chicken was invented in India. The dish was invented by accident at Moti Mahal Restaurant in Daryaganj in Delhi, but it does not matter whether it was a mistake or not :-). Even the great Chef Gordon Ramsay visited Moti Mahal to taste the authentic Butter Chicken.

There are various versions of Butter Chicken out there with different styles, techniques and ingredients. Some of the them are so technical that you may need special equipment for the preparations i.e. a Tandoor. I would like to show my version today, which can be cooked easily at home. I would just use a deep pan, a hand blender and my newly ordered chef's knife to cook it :).

Usually the authentic butter chicken is cooked in tomato sauce, however I prefer to add a bit of onion as well. Onion gives quantity to a dish. You can omit them if you want.

Usually the butter chicken is cooked in butter. However if you are one of those health cautious people like me, then I advise to use olive oil to saute the onion and tomatoes. At a later stage add some butter to elevate its taste.

The ingredients and method may sound little over whelming, however trust me it is not that complex. Please feel free to experiment with the spice level as per your taste.

Let's get to it.

Ingredients

600 gms boneless chicken.
300 gms curd.
1 tsp red chili powder.
1 mace. Optional.
4 green chilies.
5 cardamoms.
Salt to taste.
2 tsp Chicken masala
2 tsp coriander powder.
2 tsp cumin powder.
4 to 5 tsp butter.
2 cloves.
1 tsp sugar.
Cream.
1 tsp Fenugreek leaves. Hand crushed.
5 big tomatoes.
2 onions.
Tomato ketchup.
Lemon juice.
Cilantro leaves to garnish.

I used a new ingredient today i.e. Mace. I learned about this ingredient from chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Chef Harpal singh.

This picture is taken from http://www.justingredients.co.uk/

Method

Chicken Marination

Cut chicken into manageable pieces in a bowl.
Add curd.
Add a spoon n half of ginger paste.
Add 1 tsp garlic paste.
Add 2 tsp chicken masala.
Add salt to taste.
Add lemon juice.
Add a tsp of red chili powder.
Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. More is better. I prefer at lease 4 hours.

The Gravy

In a hot pan. Add generous quantity of olive oil.
Add finely chopped onions. Saute them till they turn golden brown. Keep the heat on max.
Add a little bit salt. Salt helps to bring out onion's moisture.
Add chopped chilies.
Add ginger n garlic paste.
Add diced tomatoes.
Add cumin powder and coriander powder.
Add red chili powder.
Add salt to taste. Mix them well.
Cook them well till oil separates from tempering.
Take the tempering out and blend the tempering in a mixer or hand blend it.
Heat the pan up and add butter. If you wish you can do entire dish in butter with a touch of olive oil, so that butter does not burn.
On top of melting butter add back the tempering. Mix them well.
Add the marinated chicken. Mix well.
Simmer the heat. Put the lid on. And let the chicken cook.
Cook it for another 15 to 20 mins or until chicken becomes tender.
Add fenugreek leaves, 1 tsp tomato ketchup and cream when gravy is almost ready. Mix them well.
And that's it.

Let's plate up

Serve hot with Indian bread, naan or basmati rice. I am not an expert, but I do hope you will like it.

So, what's up on the dinner menu

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 20:34:00 +0000

Hello folks... The weather here in Vienna is kinda making me lazy and stuck up in bed. So last night I planned to call over some friends for dinner at my place to get rid of "weekend boredom". The chef for the dinner was my wife who recently joined me from India. The menu that we served up was curd chicken and an italian American pasta salad for appetizers. For the main course we had delicious Indian food chole masala and aloo gobhi, the recipes for which shall be uploaded soon.

It just struck my mind to take a look at my previous recipes and see if they could fit anywhere in a dinner menu...?

I was delighted to finally categorize Curd Chicken and Italian American Pasta Salad as appetizers. And Chicken Haleem, Tempering Rice and Palak Paneer for the main course. I'm still working on a doable dessert.

So if you find yourself in a state of confusion about setting up a dinner menu, this idea may be of little help there.

Spinach Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 21:40:00 +0000

After four months my wife and my little kid are back in Vienna to stay with me. We are once again a happy little family together. We had a great family union over the weekend. Although it did not go entirely as I planned as I kept sleeping and did not go to pick them up from airport! Ouchhh... I know... :-)

So to cover up I decided to make an awesome dish together as a family. We are a family of three and its my third month of blogging. So our next dish will be a combination of three differently style cooked items.

This dish is popularly called Palak Chicken or Spinach Chicken. Let me remind you that even I will cook this dish for the first time.

I already stressed enough in one of earlier spinach (Palak Panner) recipes that how healthy spinach really is!

To put it simply this dish is a combination of boiled spinach, deliciously cooked chicken and a mouth watering tomatoes and onions tempering.

So let's get to it...

Here's what you will need:

Ingredients

350 gms Spinach
400 gms Boneless chicken
3 spoon ginger garlic paste
2 green chilies
2 tomatoes chopped
2 onions chopped
Salt to taste
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp Chicken masala
1 tsp Lemon juice
1.5 rsp Red chili powder
Butter
1 tsp Garam masala
1 tsp Fenugreek leaves
Fresh cream

Method

Let's first marinate the chicken and keep it aside.
Take chicken pieces in a bowl.
Add 1 tsp ginger garlic paste.
Add 2 tsp olive oil.
Add salt to taste.
Add lemon juice.
Add 1 tsp Chicken masala
Add 1 tsp red chili powder.
Mix it well. And keep it aside while you cook rest of the dish.

Let's make the tempering

Take a pan. Add olive oil 4 to 5 tsp olive oil.
Add chopped onions. Saute it till they change their color. Add salt.
Add 2 tsp ginger garlic paste.
Add 2 green chilies finely chopped.
When onion are golden brown add dry spices.
Add coriander powder.
Add cumin powder.
Add tomatoes.
Mix them well. Keep saute them till oil separates out from masala.

Let's saute the chicken

Take a pan. Add olive oil.
Lay the marinated chicken pieces on the pan. Lay each piece away from you in clockwise direction. So that you know how to turn them up for an even cook.
Add some butter.
Keep flipping the chicken pieces every 5 to 7 minutes for an even cook.
Once chicken is cooked add it to tempering with all the olive oil and butter mix.
Please make sure that the chicken cooked well. Mine was left a little undone.

Spinach

Bring the water to a boil in a deep pan or pressure cooker.
Add spinach to the water and let it boil, without the lid.
After 5 to 7 minutes take out the spinach and make a puree out if it.
I used a hand blender which my wife brought from India.
Add the spinach puree to the chicken mix.
Let it all cook up with the mix.
Add garam masala and fenugreek leaves in the end.
Give them a nice mix. And let them cook for another 10 minutes. Add fresh cream.
And that's it.

Let's plate up

Serve it hot with Indian bread, naan or rice. It came out really delicious. Hey I'm no expert but I hope you will like the dish.

Chicken Tear Volcano!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 08:54:00 +0000

It's very cold in Vienna, Austria today. I feel like cooking something very hot! And I do mean very very hot!! Let me warn you this dish is not for faint hearts. I bet, this will be most spicy dish you would ever taste. If you are scared already then go back and check out some of my other recipes :-).

Hmm you are still reading... That means you are among few of those brave hearts :-). So let's proceed further at your risk :-).

This dish is all about spices, spices and spices and yes the flavors as well. It's like fire in the water. One of my friends would describe this dish as voodoo chilies and nuclear waste :-). Yeah its that spicy...

If you dare to cook it, you can serve it with vegetable rice/ pulao. Or eat it with Indian bread, naan. I cooked vegetable pulao today in a pressure cooker. Pulao recipe is for some other day.

So let's get to it. Here is what you need.

Ingredients

Lots of red chilies. I took 7.
Lots of green chilies. I took 3 big ones.
1 tsp red chili powder
Ginger 2 inch piece.
1 tsp Ginger and garlic paste.
3 medium size tomatoes.
2 medium size onions.
1 bell pepper.
1 tsp Cumin seeds.
1 tsp Cumin powder.
1 tsp Coriander powder.
1 tsp Chicken masala.
6-7 chicken legs.
Salt to taste.
Cream.
And some guts :-).

Method

Chop onions, red chilies, green chilies, ginger piece in a chopper/ mixer.
Heat up a pan. Add 3 to 4 tsp olive oil.
Add cumin seeds. Let them crackle.
Add ginger and garlic paste.
Saute them for few minutes.
Add chopped onions and chilies. Fry them till onions become translucent.
Chop tomatoes in mixer. Add tomato paste.
Add chili, cumin and coriander powder.
Add salt to taste.
Cook them in covered pan.
Add chicken legs in the mix.
Mix them well.
Cover the pan. And let it cook till chicken becomes tender and soft.
Keep mixing them in between so that it does not stick.
Add cream and lemon juice.
Mix them well.
Cook it for some more time. And that's it.
You will be left with chicken pieces floating in tomatoes paste.

Let's Plate up

Plating Technique

Take rice in a small bowl. Fill it till top and flatten it with spatula.
Dump the bowl up-side down on a clean plate.
Keep it like this for a minute or two, so that rice could take its shape.
Remove the bowl.
Take out the chicken pieces and decorate in a pattern on the side.

If you find it very spicy add a bit of a sugar to pacify the spices. Serve hot with rice or pulao or Indian breads.

You can also serve with plain curd, or flavored yogurt to control the spice level.

Hey #MNoExpert but I hope you will like it. Please share how your experience turns out to be :).

Cheers.

Raspberry Chicken Toasties

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 10:10:00 +0000

After learning from different sources. And after presenting tried and tested recipes, I think it is now time for some new invention. Don't you get bored sometimes trying same old routines and habits. I sure do :).

I won't be surprised if after this recipe, people will start to compare me with Einstein.

Huh... you might say.

Wait... please don't close the browser I know what you are thinking. But please hear me out :).

The other day I was watching a documentary on Albert Einstein. I got to know he used to think physics in his mind to come up with theories. On similar lines I thought this dish in my mind. Ahem ahem... please still don't close the browser.

I will shut up now and share the recipe :)

But this time, I was so happy with the outcome, that I will show you the dish first and then we will talk about how to prepare it.

Since Valentine's Day has just gone by, so I am still licensed to you use a lot of red :).

Let's Plate up

Ingredients

Shredded chicken and mayonnaise mix. Refer this to see how to prepare this mix.
Pringles. Any flavor of your choice. I like sour cream and onion.
Whole grain bread.
Olive oil or butter.
Raspberry. Or any fruit of your choice.
Any bread spreads of your choice. I used cottage cheese spread. You can use one or many.
Olives.
Green chili. Chopped.

Method

Toast the bread in olive oil or butter.
Cut the bread slice into half.
Apply cottage cheese spread evenly.
Crush few Pringle's chips by hand.
Toss the crushed chips over the spread. And apply evenly.
Toss shredded chicken and mayonnaise mix.
Put a raspberry and copped green chili on the corner.
Put a small slice of an olive as per taste.
And that's it.
I forgot to put an olive in the corner though (this proves I am no Einstein after all!)

Hey I am no expert, but I do hope that you will like it. Please try and share with your loved once. And please let me know how it turns out for you.

Cheers

Chicken n Mayo sandwich - The accidental Valentine's Special :)

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 10:34:00 +0000

Just to remind you it's 14th Feb today. I roll out of my bed this morning totally forgotten that it's Valentine's Day today. I forgot because I was thinking more about Arvind Kejriwal's sworn in cermony. He is Delhi's newly elected cheif minister. And I was thinking about tomorrow's India's world cup first match and that too against Pakistan. It is going to be a craker!!

I am sure real men can now understand why I forgot the Valentine's day but the bigger question is can girls understand?

More over can my wife understand? Answer is a simpe NO!! Hence the panic :).

What do I do, I asked myself? In such a short notice how can I give her a ~~very~~ nice Valentine's gift?

And therefore I named today's dish - An accidental Valentine's special :).

Here is what you need:

Ingredients

Boiled boneless chicken.
Mayonnaise.
Black pepper.
Salt to taste.
A piece or two of strawberries - its a must if you want that that your wife should spare your life ;).
French salad dressing (optional).

Cooking Process

Boil chicken in a pressure cooker. Add some salt as well.
Once boiled. Grate the chicken.
Add black pepper, Mayonnaise, french dressing, salt to taste.
Mix the dressing well.
Toast the bread with butter.
Spread the chicken paste on bread and cut into traingles.
Decorate it with strawberries.
Here is how the chicken mix should look like.

Let's Plate up

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Enjoy it with your loved ones. The Valentine's day and this dish :)

Palak Paneer - Popeye's Favorite :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 16:43:00 +0000

I was thinking hard about how to introduce my next recipe and I suddenly remember my 2+ year old son watching Popeye's the sailor cartoon and going nuts over it.

He reminded me of my childhood when my younger brother and I used to see and wonder how Popeye quickly ate a whole big jar of spinach when in trouble and quickly gained strength. Why wouldn't he, now I say. After all Spinach comes on top of the list of world's healthiest vegetables!

Spinach is rich source of Iron, Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Vitamin B2, Potassium, Copper, and the list goes on and on.

I think everyone should eat this vegetable at least twice a week especially the kids.

Today I will show you my first hand attempt on cooking a very popular Indian dish Palak Paneer (Spinach and Cottage Cheese).

Here is how the whole process go.

Ingredients

Fresh Spinach, roughly 400 gms. Rinse it through clean water.
2 tsp ginger paste.
3 tsp garlic paste.
1 tsp cumin seeds.
Cottage Cheese 200 gms cut into small cubes.
1 onion finely chopped.
1 tomato finely chopped.
2 tsp red chili powder (adjust as per taste).
4 green chili finely chopped.
1 tsp garam masala.
1 tsp black pepper.
Salt to taste.
Butter or Cilantro leaves to garnish.

Cooking Process

Take water into a deep pan. Bring it to a running boil.
Pour spinach and boil it for 2-3 minutes.
Take spinach out and make a fine paste of boiled spinach in a mixer. Take it out and keep it aside.
Chop onion and green chilies in a chopper.
Take a separate pan on medium heat.
Add olive oil, or refined oil, or butter or desi ghee.
Add cumin seeds. Let them crackle.
Add finely chopped onion and chilies. Saute till onion change its color.
Add ginger and garlic paste.
Mix them. Saute them well.
Toss the finely chopped tomato.
Add salt and red chili. Mix them well.
Cover the pan and let it cook on slow heat. Keep giving them a gentle mix in between.
Once oil separates out, add the spinach puree into it.
Mix them well.
Add garam masala and black pepper.
Add cottage cheese cubes.
Mix them well.
Cover the pan and cook it for 10 minutes.
And that's it.

Let's Plate up

Hey I am no expert, but I do hope you will like this dish. Please give it a try. As always your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Cheers

All American Chicken and Italian Pasta Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:38:00 +0000

India is a land of culture, cast and creeds. A lot of religions live together with peace and harmony. Or at least try to :-).

It is election time these days in Delhi. Even in politics different parties with different ideologies often join hands to form government.

With that in mind, a person from the largest democratic country in the world will show you how to mix up different ingredients from different countries to come with a killer dish which my wife and I fondly call - All American Chicken and Italian Pasta Salad :-). It is our wedding anniversary tomorrow, so I had to bring her name :-).

BTW it was her invention :-). And I am trying it for the first time.

Lets get to it.

Ingredients:

Kidney beans canned - ready to eat.
Corn canned - ready to eat.
Any pasta of your choice - penne, fusilli.
A small size onion finely chopped.
Chicken boneless. Cut into small chew able pieces. Vegetarians can skip chicken. Or add boiled eggs. Or add any other veggies of your choice. For example bell pepper, capsicum, cottage cheese etc.
1 large tomato chopped.
Salsa sauce. Generous quantity.
French salad dressing. Generous quantity.
Mayonnaise.
Salt to taste.
2 tsp Garam Masala.
2 tsp Black pepper.
Salad leaves (optional).
1 tsp Sweet chili sauce (optional) to taste.
1 tsp Red chili powder.
1 tsp Sugar or honey.
3 tsp curd.
Peanuts in generous quantity.

Cooking Process:

Boil pasta in boiling water. Should not take more than 20 minutes.
Either cook the chicken pieces in a pressure cooker or grill them. Should not take more than 20 minutes.
Mix them together in a bowl.
Add all other ingredients.
Mix them well.
Refrigerate it for an hour.
That's it. Eat cold.

Let's plate up

Hey I am no expert but I hope you will like it. As always your comments & feedback are most welcome :-).

I tasted it, but my wife cooks it better than me. You guys know why I wrote this ;-).

Happy Wedding Anniversary sweetheart :-).

Chicken Haleem

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 16:01:00 +0000

Recently, I started receiving some encouragement messages from friends, colleagues and family on this new blog post series. People started sharing their feedback, opinions about the blog. I thank you for that.

Among all the emails/messages that I received, one of them reminded me about my trip to USA back in 2008. I must admit, at that time, I did not even know how to cook rice in a rice cooker!! :-). I remember how my ex-colleague and a dear friend Stephen Fuqua (here is his blog) showed me how to cook rice for the first time :-). I can not even explain how happy I was seeing those perfectly cooked rice!

Even, in today's recipe I will use rice :-). I would like to dedicate this recipe to Stephen to show him how far I have come since then :-). I wish he could taste it as well :-).

Also, just in case you are wondering what does Haleem means? It means soft in English. So today we are going to cook Chicken Soft :-).

Ingredients:

400 gm boneless chicken.
Few pulses of your choice i.e. Red lentils, Bengal gram split (Channa Dal).
500 gm curd.
3 finely chopped onions.
3 finely chopped tomatoes.
Basmati Rice, half a cup or less.
Oatmeal, half a cup or less.
2 Bay leaves.
6 Cloves.
2 tbs turmeric powder.
2 tbs red chili powder.
2 tbs coriander powder.
2 tbs cumin powder.
Cumin seeds.
5-6 green chilies finely chopped.
2 Cinnamon.
6 tps butter or Desi Ghee.
3 tbs Ginger and Garlic paste.
Garam masala.
Cashews.
Lemon Juice.
Rose petals (optional)
Salt to taste.

Cooking Process:

Chicken, Pulses, Oatmeal, Rice Mix

Heat up the pressure cooker.
Add 2 tps refined/ olive oil/ desi ghee.
Add bay leaves, Add cloves.
Add raw chicken into it. Stir well.
Add 1 tbs red chili, 1 tbs turmeric powder.
Cook it for 5 minutes.
Add raw pulses and oatmeal. Mix well.
Add enough water to cover them.
Close the pressure cooker and cook it for 30 minutes on low heat.
We need to over cook, so that every thing gets mashed up with each other.
While it cooks, lets prepare the tempering.

Onion, Tomato, Curd Mix

Heat up a pan.
Add 4 tps refined/ olive oil/ desi ghee.
Add cumin seeds, let them crackle.
Add chopped onions. Cook till they turn brown.
Add ginger and garlic paste.
Add salt to taste, red chili, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder.
Add green chilies and tomatoes paste. Mix well.
Cook it for another 10 minutes.
Add cashews.
Add curd.
Add lemon juice.
Add garam masala. Mix them well.

The real Mix

By this time, the tempering is ready. And so is chicken mix.
Empty the pressure cooker contents into the tempering slowly and gradually.
Keep mixing them well.
Add some butter.
Keep mashing them and keep mixing them till desired consistency.
And that's it!

Let's plate up:

Chicken Haleem - 2nd Attempt

Chicken Haleem - 1st Attempt

This dish can also be made up with mutton. However I have only tried with Chicken yet. And it tastes really awesome. Hey I am no expert, but I hope you will like it :-).

As always your comments are welcome.

Tempering Rice... A quick one!

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 15:47:00 +0000

Recently I got to know the difference between a sequel and a franchise movie. If there are only two parts then its a sequel however if its 3 or more parts then the movie is a franchise.

For example Alien, Fast and Furious movies are franchise where as Harold & Kumar is a squeal with only two parts (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay).

You might be wondering where I am getting at :-)? Well, its my third blog on cooking recipes that means my blog is now a franchise, right? Kidding :-).

Since its the third recipe, you need three things for this one:

Cooked Basmati Rice
Tempering and
A good music play list :).

So let's get to it.

Ingredients:

1 tsp Cumin seeds.
2 inch piece of ginger, cut into fine julienne.
2 medium size onion, finely chopped. A chopper would be preferred.
3 large tomatoes, finely chopped. A chopper would be preferred.
3 green chilies (adjust according to your taste).
2 tsp red chili power (adjust according to your taste).
1 tsp Cumin powder.
1 tsp Coriander powder.
1 tsp turmeric powder.
1 tsp black pepper.
Lemon Juice.
3 tsp Olive Oil, Refined Oil, or Desi Ghee.
Salt to taste.
Frozen/Fresh peas.
A glass of Rice.
Peanuts (optional)
Tomato ketchup (optional).
Garam masala to garnish (optional).
Coriander leaves to garnish (optional).

Cooking Process:

We will cook rice and tempering separately and in the end we will mix them well together.

The Rice

1 glass of raw basmati rice, well rinsed with tap/filtered water till they are clean.
Put it in microwave safe bowl.
Add some salt, peas and cumin seeds.
Add two glasses of water and cook it. I cook it for 20 minutes in microwave on Medium High. You need to look out for your microwave settings.
While it cooks lets get to tempering.

Here is how it should look:

The Tempering

Heat the pan, add olive/ refined oil or Ghee.
Add cumin seeds, let them crackle.
Add onion with green chilies.
Add ginger julienne.
Add salt.
Let the onions change its color.
Add tomatoes.
Add all the dry spices i.e. red chili power, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder
Mix well. Cover the pan and cook it well.
Keep stirring in between.
Roughly cook it for 15 minutes.
Once its done add peanuts, tomato ketchup, garam masala, black pepper, lemon juice.
Cook it for another 2-3 minutes.

Here is how it should look:

The Mix

Buy this time your rice will be ready.
Pour the cooked rice into the tempering bowl. No need to change the bowl.
Mix well.
Cook it for another 5 minutes.
And that's it.

Final Product

Tempering Rice

Hey I am not expert, but I hope you will like it :). As always your comments are most welcome. And also don't forget to close off your play list :).

Chicken Rice but not Biryani !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 17:29:00 +0000

OK, so keeping in line with the theme of this blog, where I show how a dish turns out to be if you cook it for the very first time. Yesterday I tried a hybrid version of Biryani :-). By hybrid I mean, it was not a proper Biryani rather an attempt to finish up my left over vegetables and raw chicken :-). And yet you get a good night dinner out of it along the way :-). Mind you I also cooked it for the first time!

I also learnt a few lessons as in what veggies should be used for this dish and what all veggies should be ignored.

Prerequisites

Pressure Cooker is a must for this recipe.

Ingredients

1 tsp Cumin seeds.
2 medium size onion, finely chopped.
2 Bay Leaves.
4 Cloves.
3 green chilies (adjust according to your taste).
2 tsp red chilies (adjust according to your taste).
2 tsp Cumin powder.
2 tsp Coriander powder.
1 tsp turmeric powder.
1 glass of raw rice, well rinsed with tap water.
3 tsp Olive Oil, Refined Oil, or Desi Ghee.
Whatever veggies/meat left in your fridge :-). I had green paprika, frozen peas, yellow bell pepper, roughly 200 gm boneless chicken.
You can use carrots, cauliflower, egg plant, any chicken or pork.
Salt to taste.
Sweet Chicken Sauce (optional).
Butter to garnish (optional).
Garam masala to garnish (optional).
Coriander leaves to garnish (optional).

That's how the preps should look

Cooking Process

Heat the pressure cooker with olive oil, refined oil, desi ghee for few minutes.
Add cumin seeds. Let them crackle.
Add bay leaves.
Add onions to fry.
After about 2 minutes, add just the chicken pieces. Since it will take long to cook.
When onions start to change its color, add dry spices i.e. salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, cloves etc.
Add rest of the cut veggies.
Add sweet chicken sauce.
After few minutes, add raw rice.
Mix them well.
Pour 1 and 1/2 glass of water. Since chicken will also ooze out some water, thus this much water is sufficient.
Put the cap on and make sure there is no pressure left in cooker, by lifting its whistle for few seconds.
Cook it till 3 whistles blow. For first whistle put the gas on high, after first whistle put it to lowest possible heat.
It should take roughly 20 minutes for 3 whistles.
After 3 whistles, vent out all the steam.
Let it sit for cool down.
That's it, open and your dish should be ready!
Plate it out and put some garam masala, butter, copped coriander leaves to garnish.
Serve with curd.

Final Product

You might say it does not look like an awesome dish like they show in other professional shows. And that's exactly my point is when you cook it as a new cook, dish might not come out like a "profy", rather its like this, a bit naive, a bit immature :-).

Hey I am not expert, but it was a great dinner for me :-).

Lesson Learned

Try to put some hard veggies, so that they stay well with rice and chicken. Like carrot, cauliflower etc.
Since I used very soft vegetable i.e. bell pepper and paprika, they were kind of dissolved in the dish. But that's my lessons learned, while trying a new dish.

Curd Chicken - Indian Style!

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 12:47:00 +0000

Since it's a brand new blog, I was thinking hard what shall I put up as my first recipe. Shall I put a very fancy dish or should I stick with a very basic dish? That's the dilemma I was in. And then I decided to put up Curd Chicken, here is why.... :-)

I tasted this dish for the first time at my maternal uncle's place. And I must say I loved it since its first bite. This is a very simple and straight forward dish without any bells and whistles. All you want to do is put up all the ingredients and just wait for it to all cook up. You won't need much of skills or labor for this one, but you certainly need time! Cause this dish might take up 50 to 60 minutes to get ready. There are two variations of this dish one is white chicken and the other one is red chicken. In this post I will show white chicken.

Let's see what we need:

Ingredients

500 gm any Curd
700 gm Boneless Chicken
2 tsp Black Pepper
2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
2 tsp Fenugreek Leaves (Kasoori Methi)
3 tsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Butter.
250 gm Fresh Cream (Optional)

Marination

In a bowl, pour curd.
Add salt to taste.
Add black pepper.
Add ginger garlic paste.
Beat up the curd.
Toss in the boneless chicken.
Mix Well.
Refrigerate it for 3-4 hours. If you don't have time, then at least keep it for 30 minutes. The more you marinate the better the chicken is going to get blend in with the mix.

Cooking Process

Heat the pan, with 3 tsp Olive Oil, or Refined Oil, or Desi Ghee.
Put the entire marinated chicken into the pan along with curd.
Give it a good mix.
Put the pan on medium heat. And cover the pan.
Let the chicken fry in curd and olive oil for 20 minutes.
Keep giving gentle stirs in between.
After 20 minutes, take off the pan cover.
Cook it for additional 20 minutes without the cover. Or until the gravy becomes really thick.
Dry up the curd, so that we are left with chicken and some heavy gravy.
Add cream (optional)
Put in the Butter, Garam Masala, some more Black Pepper and Fenugreek leaves. Cook it for more 10 minutes.
That's it.

Final Product

I am no expert, but I hope you will enjoy it :-).

Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Kshitij) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 10:51:00 +0000

I am no expert! But I am ready to learn.... :-)

I was watching a video on youtube on how to cook a particular dish. They made it really look very simple to cook. Then I started wondering that there could be a lot of people just like me who are very new to cooking. They must be looking for a place where they can find easy to cook recipes. Especially how a dish comes out to be if you cook it for the very first time.

So I thought I should start a youtube channel just to share my experiences on how a dish turns out to be when I cook it for the very first time. This way I will keep following my hobby of cooking and perhaps help a few people along the way.

But for now I found writing a blog post easier than starting and managing a youtube channel. I will start a youtube channel as well, but for now I will start with some blog posts.

My home is in Delhi, India. I have been living out of India since past couple of years now. And when you are away from home you gotta have some cooking tricks up your sleeves :).

Enough of sharing where I got my inspiration from.

Hey, I am no expert!!! But lets get cooking... :-)