new2cook

Chicken Clear Soup

2009-12-31T05:30:00.001+05:30

Recipe prepared and contributed by guest writer, Debalina De

Serves: 2

Ingredients required for Chicken Clear Soup are:

2 cup chicken stocks
spring onion finely chopped 2 table spoon.
boiled chicken 2 table spoon.
salt- to taste
white pepper powder- 1\4 tea spoon
cornflower- 1 table spoon

Method of preparation:

Make fresh chicken stock . Remove the chicken from the stock. Cover and keep chicken side.
Then add the spring onion. Add salt and white pepper powder.
Mix the cornflower. Boil the soup. And stirring continuously.
Add ajinomoto and boil for 1 minute.

Chicken clear soup is ready to be served hot.

Sweet and Sour Chicken - oil free

2009-08-01T21:19:00.001+05:30

Sweet and Sour chicken is another oil free chicken recipe that I experimented. It is an Indian customized oil free Chinese recipe. It actually turned out to be pretty good and tasty. It is very easy to cook and as there is no oil it is an extremely healthy recipe too.

Ingredients required:

Boneless chicken - 1 cup (cut in small cubes)
Onion - 1 medium size
Capsicum - 1 medium size
Carrot - 1 small size
Tomato sauce - 5 to 6 table spoon
Chili sauce - 1/2 tea spoon
Vinegar - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tea spoon
Corn flour - 1 table spoon
Water - One and a half cup

Method to cook Sweet and Sour Chicken (oil free):

Cut the onion and capsicum in small pieces
Cut the carrot into circular or oval shapes if you like
Now marinade chicken and carrot with vinegar, tomato sauce, chili sauce, salt and sugar for 10 minutes
Boil water in a pan and marinade chicken. Boil in low heat for 10 minutes.
Add onion and capsicum and continue boiling till the chicken has softened.
Make a corn flour mix in water and add it to the chicken preparation
Mix it well
You may wish to add one or two table spoon of tomato sauce

This is best served with hot plain rice, fried rice or noodles.

Enjoy!

Kaju Chicken (Cashew Chicken)

2009-07-30T04:56:00.001+05:30

Kaju chicken (cashew chicken) is a typical India dish which is best served with garam-garam Tawa roti or parantha. This chicken recipe is based primarily on kaju (cashew nuts) paste.

Ingredients:

Chicken leg - 6 pieces
Kaju (Cashew nuts) paste - 4-5 table spoon
Onion - 2 medium size
Cinnamon (dalchini) - 1 inch stick
Cloves (laung) - 5-6 pieces
Red chili powder -1/2 tea spoon
Ginger powder - 1 tea spoon
White oil - 5 table spoon
Turmeric - 1/4 tea spoon
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tea spoon
Water - 1 cup

Method:

Make a powder of cinnamon and cloves in a mixer
Roughly chop the onions
Heat the oil
Add onion and fry it till it turns a bit brownish
Add kaju paste, cinnamon & cloves powder, ginger powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, sugar and salt
Fry them well till you see the oil to separate
Add the chicken mix it well and then cover with lid and leave in low flame for 5 minutes
Add water and boil the chicken under lid. Stir at regular intervals.
Keep cooking till the chicken is soft enough

Now its ready to serve.

Happy eating!

Cheesy Chicken Pasta

2009-07-27T06:03:00.001+05:30

Cheesy Chicken Pasta is a recipe which I specially cooked for the kids. It has no sauce and contains milk and cheese which are healthy for the children. This chicken pasta is very easy to cook and yet very yummy.

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken - diced into small pieces - 1 cup
Macaroni - 1 cup
Milk - 2 cups
Chicken stock - 1 cup
Cheese cube - 2 or 3 cubes
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Oregano to taste

Method:

Boil the chicken with salt
Take the chicken out of the water. The water in which the chicken was boiled is the 'stock'.
Pour the chicken stock in a cup
Now in a container mix the chicken stock, milk and macaroni. Boil the mixture
Add salt
Stir continuously
When the macaroni is half done add the chicken, cheese cube and sprinkle with black pepper
Stir this for a while for till the macaroni is fully done
Season with oregano and serve it hot

This is best served with garlic bread as a side dish.

Butter Macaroni

2009-06-25T04:48:00.000+05:30

Macaroni with butter or cheese tastes great. Today I experimented cooking butter macaroni for evening snacks. My son was crazy today to have some pasta. I had some macaroni at home and I tried this pasta recipe. Macaroni is a machine made dry pasta which is hollow and a fun recipe for the kids.

I thought of sharing this simple yet very tasty pasta recipe with all of you. Hope you enjoy this as well.

It hardly takes 5-10 minutes to prepare.

What you need for ingredients are:

Macaroni - 2 and 1/2 cup boiled macaroni
Garlic - 5 cloves
Butter - 2 tablespoon
Onion - 1 medium size (chopped)
Salt to taste
Oregano - 1/2 teaspoon
Black pepper to taste

Its very easy to prepare:

In a frying pan put the butter and heat
Add garlic and onion and fry for a minute or two
Add the macaroni
Add salt and black pepper to taste and mix well
Sprinkle oregano and mix lightly

Its ready to serve. Yummy! Enjoy!

Hot Buttery Sweet Corn

2009-04-12T02:13:00.000+05:30

We have this 'Hot Buttery Sweet Corn' in so many stalls especially in the malls. It tastes great and the children are crazy about it.

I prepared this at home today evening and it tasted exactly like the ones we have in the 'road side' stalls.

It took me 10 minutes to completely prepare this. The quantity of 2 cups was good for three of us.

To prepare the buttery corn, you need:

- Corn 2 cups (I used frozen sweet corn)
- Butter 1 teaspoon full
- Lemon juice 2-3 teaspoon
- Salt and Black pepper 2 taste

Now, boil corn for 5 mins in high heat. Then drain the water from the corn. In a container, mix the corn, butter, black pepper, salt and lemon juice.

Thats it! Its ready to serve hot.

If you wish you may add a pint of red chilly powder. However, it may be too hot for the kids.

Coleslaw Sandwich

2009-03-28T06:24:00.001+05:30

Coleslaw sandwich is a very easy to prepare vegetable sandwich which is very healthy and tasty. Children too like it and it is often appropriate to pack it for their school tiffin as well.

Serves: 2

Time to prepare: 15 minutes

Ingredients Required:

Bread (white or brown) - 4 slices
Carrot - finely chopped - 2 tablespoon
Cabbage - finely chopped - 2 tablespoon
Onion - finely chopped - 1 tablespoon
Mayonnaise - 2 tablespoon full
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

Mix the finely chopped carrot, cabbage, onion with the proportion of mayonnaise, salt and black pepper
After mixing well you would observe a smooth paste that would be formed
Refrigerate the mixed paste for about half an hour
Cut the bread slices in triangular shape
Spread the paste between the bread slices and serve

Coleslaw sandwich is really so easy to cook.

Tangra maacher jhal (Tangra fish in mustard gravy)

2008-11-25T16:32:00.001+05:30

Tangra maacher jhal is a typical Bengali recipe. 'Tangra' is a type of fish (see photo below). Here we prepare a Tangra fish recipe with mustard. It is ideal to be served with hot rice. We may also call this fish recipe - Tangra Fish masala or Tangra fish in mustard gravy.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Servings - 6 pieces

Ingredients

Tangra fish - 6 pieces
Mustard oil - 5 table spoon
Tomato - 1 medium size finely chopped
Salt - 2/3 tea spoon (or taste to salt)
Turmeric powder (haldi) - 1/4 tea spoon
Green Chili - 5 pieces
Water - 1 cup
Mustard seed paste - 2 table spoon full
Panch phoron - 1/2 tea spoon

What is panch phoron? Read this Wikipedia link

How to cook Tangra Macher jhal

Clean the fishes well in running water and smear it with salt and turmeric powder
Paste the mustard seeds along with green chilies and a pinch of turmeric powder
Heat the oil and semi fry the fishes
Take the fishes out of the oil and add panch phoron, tomato, salt, green chilies and haldi and fry for 1/2 minute
Add fish and a cup of water and boil for 2-3 minutes
Add mustard seed paste and mix well

Tangra macher jhal is now ready. Garnish with green chilies and serve with hot plain rice.

Cucumber Sandwich

2008-11-23T17:38:00.001+05:30

Cucumber sandwich is another very easy sandwich recipe which is a favourite of kids. Yesterday I shared how you can make carrot sandwich. Today I share the cucumber sandwich recipe which is prepared in a similar way though ingredients are slightly different. This is a very easy recipe and a quick recipe of vegetarian sandwich which you can pack for your kids' tiffin or lunch box for school.

Preparation time - 10 mins
Serves - 2

Ingredients required for cucumber sandwich

Bread - 4 slices
Grated cucumber - 4 table spoon full
Tomato - 1 table spoon of finely chopped tomato
Mayonnaise - 2 table spoon full
A pinch of salt
A pinch of black pepper

Method

Mix the grated cucumber, chopped tomato, mayonnaise, salt and black pepper in a bowl
Split the bread from the corners to make triangular bread slices
Put the mixed ingredients (from point 1) between two slices of bread
Your cucumber sandwich is ready to eat

This is also a healthy vegan breakfast.

Carrot Sandwich

2008-11-22T15:35:00.000+05:30

Carrot sandwich is a very healthy sandwich. It is a very easy sandwich recipe which is a favourite with moms. We often see the kids do not like to eat vegetable. But this sandwich is so tasty that it is loved by kids as well. This is also a quick kids recipe which you can pack for your children to carry for school lunch or even pack it when the family goes out for a picnic.

Preparation time - 10 mins
Serves - 2

Ingredients required for carrot sandwich

Bread - 4 slices
Grated carrot - 4 table spoon full
Onion - 1 table spoon of finely chopped onion
Mayonnaise - 2 table spoon full
Cheese - 2 slices
A pinch of salt
A pinch of black pepper

Method

Mix the grated carrot, chopped onion, mayonnaise, salt and black pepper in a bowl
Cut the bread and cheese into triangle shape
Put the spread (from point 1) between two slices of bread and add a layer of cheese slice
Your carrot sandwich is ready to serve. Serve with your preferred choice of sauce.

Prevent boiling eggs from cracking

2008-11-22T14:42:00.000+05:30

Boiling eggs stored in the refrigerator

In case you store eggs in the refrigerator, this tip may be of interest to you.

In our fast life style, we often boil eggs just after bringing them out of the refrigerator. I have often done that and seen the eggs to crack while hard boiling them. To prevent this, keep the eggs out of the refrigerator for about half an hour to let it come to the room temperature before boiling them.

Hard boiling eggs

Also, while hard boiling eggs we sometimes find that eggs crack within the water itself. Put a bit of salt in the water and you would find that you have hard boiled eggs without any of them cracking.

Safety Tip for frying eggs

2008-11-22T14:25:00.000+05:30

Making a preparation of boiled eggs like egg curry often require the eggs to be fried.

When you fry a boiled egg ensure that you slit the side of the egg. This is a must and would prevent the egg from bursting.

Creamy Chicken - an easy chicken recipe

2008-08-26T06:04:00.000+05:30

Creamy chicken is a dish I had in a dhaba over the weekend. We liked it so much that I tried to emulate the taste at home. I am almost there with the taste! My experiment with the ingredients have workd and the creamy chicken at home has almost been like the creamy chicken at the dhaba! Its very easy to cook. Just follow the steps and you will be ready with the tasty creamy chicken in about half an hour.

Preparation time:10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients required:

Chicken (boneless) - 200 gms
Hung curd - 1 table spoon (Take the curd in a cloth and drain the water out to prepare 'hung curd'
Garlic paste - 1/2 teaspoon
White oil - 3 table spoon
Onion - 1 small - finely chopped
Fresh cream - 3 table spoon
Muskmelon seeds paste (magazdana paste) - 2 table spoon
Garam masala - 1/2 tea spoon
Black pepper powder - 1 tea spoon
Water - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon (taste to salt)
Green chilli - 1 piece
Butter - 1 table spoon

How to cook creamy chicken:

Make a paste of the muskmelon seeds and the green chili
Mix garlic paste in the hung curd and marinade the chicken in it for 10-15 minutes (If you are in a hurry, you may not marinade as well)
Heat the white oil
Add the finely chopped onion and fry it lightly till the colour changes
Add the garam masala and black pepper to the onion and stir fry till oil separates
Now add the marinade chicken and fry for a minute or two
Add a cup of water, add salt and cover the chicken to boil for 5 minutes
Open the cover and add the muskmelon paste and mix well. Let it boil for a minute.
Add the fresh cream and butter.
Now sprinkle with black pepper which actually does the garnishing for the dish as well.

Creamy chicken is best served with Indian bread (roti) or parantha. If you can make roomali roti, then it is a great combination with creamy chicken.

Oil free fish (Hilsa) recipe

2008-08-20T05:53:00.000+05:30

Oil free recipe fish recipe sounds quite strange. Can you really believe that you can cook fish without oil! But I actually tried this today and really liked it. Its oil free so its healthy and it was very tasty too. I cooked this oil free recipe with Hilsa fish (ilish maach). This is the time of the year when you get fresh Hilsas. Also, this is an ideal preparation when you are in a hurry. Not only it is very easy to cook but takes very little time to prepare as well.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients used:

Hilsa fish (ilish maach) - 4 pieces
Mustard seed paste - 2 table spoon
Coconut grate - 1 table spoon
Salt - 1/3 tea spoon
Water - 1/4 of a small cup
Green chili - 4 pieces

Method of cooking Hilsa without oil:

In the mixer, mix the mustard seed paste, grated coconut, and 2 green chilies. Add a pinch of salt as you add them in the mixer.
Now take the paste you prepared above in a container with tight lid. It is suggested to use a steel container.
Add 1/4 of a small cup of water in the container, add the fish and two green chillies and put the lid on tightly.
Keep the container in a pressure cooker and pour some water.
On a flame let it steam and blow 3 whistles.
Once the three whistles blow you are ready.
Serve hot with rice.

Possibly, I find this to be the easiest preparation of cooking Hilsa and may be the fastest too. Try cooking this oil free recipe and let me know how you liked it. You can experiment oil free recipes with other fishes also. I will let you know once I experiment with any other fish.

Fried fish with coriander leaves

2008-08-06T05:43:00.000+05:30

Fried fish with coriander leaves is a very tasty starter dish. You can also have it as snacks or even with a glass of drink. It is very easy to cook yet very tasty. Also it is unique in a way that it is slightly different from the taste of 'general fried fish'. You can cook it for bhetki fish or rohu fish.

You would need about 10 minutes to make preparation to cook this dish. Cooking time will take about 15 minutes.

The proportions I mention here would serve about 2-3 people.

Ingredients required for preparing this fried fish dish:

3 pieces of fish (I cooked with 3 pieces and the following quantity of ingredients)
Coriander leaves paste - 5 tea spoon
Garlic paste - 1/4 tea spoon
Ginger paste - 1 tea spoon
Lemon juice - 2 tea spoon
Salt - 1/4 tea spoon
Green chili - 1 tea spoon
Bason - 2 table spoon
Water - enough to make thick batter
White Oil for deep frying

Method of cooking:

Mix all the above ingredients well, without the fish.
Then layer the fish pieces with the mix and marinade for 5-6 hours in the refrigerator.
Now make the thick bason batter with water
Layer the fish with bason batter
Now deep fry in oil and serve hot with onion rings

Chicken Cheese Kebab

2008-07-23T05:38:00.000+05:30

Chicken cheese kebab is one of the many variations of Chicken kebab. You cook this in the OTG (Oven Toaster Griller) or in a Microwave with griller. You can serve this for snacks or starter. I have even made chicken roll with this kabab and the kids loved it. We can also serve this with hot butter rice. We enjoyed chicken kabas at many restaurants and I try to emulate the tastes at home. This is first of the few kebabs I have prepared at home, so there will be more to follow. If you have never made kebab at home and only tried it in a restaurant try this once - its very easy to cook kebab at home.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients required for Chicken Cheese Kebab:

Chicken (boneless) - 400 gms
Cheese (grated) - 4 table spoon
Salt - half teaspoon
Garam Masala - Half teaspoon
Lemon juice - 1 table spoon
Ginger paste - half teaspoon
Garlic paste - half teaspoon
Butter

Method of preparing this easy to prepare chicken kebab:

Mix cheese, garam masala, lemon juice, ginger, garlic and salt (as per proportions mentioned above)
Add the chicken to the paste and mix well
Marinade for preferably 12 hours (if you are in hurry you need to marinade for atleast an hour)
Pre heat the oven - 250 degree C for 5 minutes
Add the chicken to the OTG/microwave sticks and brush the melted butter on the chicken
Grill it at 180 degree C for 20-25 minutes (These were the ideal temperatures and time in my OTG, which I realized after cooking this dish for 4 times. You may have realize the optimum temperature in your OTG/microwave once you try this a couple of times. However you can start by setting the temperature and time I felt optimum)

Now Chiken Cheese Kebab is ready to serve. You can garnish with a bit of black pepper, lemon, onion rings and tomato. Let me know how you liked it.

Prawn Malaikari (Chingri malaikari)

2008-07-22T05:23:00.000+05:30

Prawn malaikari (called Chingri malaikari or maybe chingri malaicurry in Bengali) is one of the most sought after Bengali prawn recipe. Its a delicious yet easy recipe whether its jamai sasthi or just a family lunch or dinner. If you remember the great tasty prawn malaikari you had last time and wondering how to cook it, let me tell you its easy. I will expalin it to you in such a simple way that every time you cook using this process, you will surely have a very tasty prawn malaikari. Try it and let me know how you like this prawn recipe.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients for chingri malaikari:

Prawn (10-12 medium size) - galda chingri will be great
Coconut milk powder - 4 table spoon, pasted in water
Onion - 1 small - finely chopped
Ginger powder (or paste) - half teaspoon
Tomato - 2 medium - pasted
Red chili powder - one-third teaspoon
Salt
White oil
Green cardamom - 6 pieces
Sugar - 2 teaspoon
Water - 2 cups

Method to prepare Prawn malaikari:

Heat sufficient quantity of oil in a frying pan to shallow fry the prawns
Now take 4 tablespoon of oil and heat it.
Add the green cardamom, finely chopped onion to the oil and add one-third tea spoon of salt. Fry for 1-2 minutes.
Add tomato paste, ginger powder, red chili powder, salt (half tea spoon), sugar (2 tea spoon) and stir fry till oil separates.
Add prawn and water
Boil for 2-3 minutes
Add coconut paste and boil for 1-2 minutes

Its now ready to serve!

Scrambled eggs with potato

2008-06-21T06:25:00.000+05:30

Scrambled eggs with potato is a dish which I call a survival recipe. If you are back after a trip or a long day at work and realize there is not much at home to cook with, this simple and easy to cook recipe may be handy.

We also call this 'aloo anda bhujia ' or even 'aloo dimer jhuro '.

It takes 5 minutes to prepare and only 15 minutes to cook . The quantity I mention here serves 2.

Ingredients required to prepare this scrambled egg recipe:

Eggs - 2 pieces
Onion - 1 medium size
Potato - 2 medium size
Oil - 2 table spoon
Green Chili - 2 pieces
Salt - Half teaspoon
Water - 10 table spoon!

How to prepare scrambled eggs with potato:

Chop the onions and green chili. Cut the potato into narrow strips.
Crack and whisk eggs
Heat oil in a frying pan and add the green chili and onion. Fry for a minute.
Add the potato strips and saute for 3-4 minutes
Now add salt and water. Cover with lid and keep it for 5 minutes.
Add the whisked eggs and mix well. Let the water completely dry up.
Serve with rice or roti.

This is a variation of a pure scrambled egg recipe. I have found scrambled egg to be more appropriate for breakfasts. However, adding the potato stripes changes the taste of scrambled egg recipe and makes it an appropriate dish to have with rice and dal (lentils) or with roti for lunch or dinner.

Vegetable Chow Mein

2008-06-12T04:55:00.000+05:30

Vegetable Chow Mein is a very quick recipe to cook for snacks or meal. Its often called Vegetable Noodles as well. Though Chow Mein or Noodles is a typical Chinese recipe but here I have cooked the one we get in Indian restaurants and road-side 'Chinese stalls'. This is a very easy to cook and quick Indian style vegetable chow mein recipe.

Preparation time - 15 minutes
Cooking time - 20 minutes
Serves - 2

Ingredients required to cook vegetable chow mein:

Chow mein (or noodles) - 200 gm
Salt - Slightly more than 1 teaspoon (or, to taste)
Onion - 1 medium piece
Beans - Half cup (chopped)
Capsicum - 1 medium (cut into narrow stripes)
Cabbage - 1 cup (stripped)
Carrot - Half cup (striped0
white oil - 4 tablespoon
Sugar - Half teaspoon
Oyster sauce - One and half tablespoon

How to cook vegetable chow mein:

Boil the noodles and then drain the water
Wash the noodles again in cold water and drain again
Chop or stripe the vegetables as mentioned above in ingredients
Heat 4 tablespoon of oil and fry the capsicum, beans and carrot for 5 minutes in low heat.
Increase the flame and fry it for another half a minute
Add onion and cabbage and fry for another 1-2 minutes
Add the portion of salt and sugar as mentioned above and keep frying for about half a minute
Turn off the flame
Add one and half tablespoon Oyster sauce
Mix well
Now add the boiled noodles and mix well
Turn on high flame and stir for 2 minutes
Its ready to serve. Service with a Chinese side dish like Chilly Chicken or Vegetable Manchurian etc. I will share some of these Chinese recipes (Indian Chinese recipes) going ahead.

You can try this vegetable chow mien recipe at home for kids snacks as well. They love to have noodles. Also, for the vegetable noodles preparation you can also add more vegetables like peas and spring onion.

Coffee Pudding

2008-06-05T05:21:00.001+05:30

Coffee pudding is very easy to make at home. Its a variation of a pudding recipe and a very simple to prepare dessert. This is one of the many variations of pudding I have prepared but definitely I have found all to appreciate the taste of coffee pudding . Yet, if you look at the ingredients you will find that its always available at home - milk, eggs, sugar and coffee powder. No fancy ingredients required and yet this tastes so good!

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 5 min

Cookware used :

Gas Oven
Frying Pan
Pressure Cooker
Bowl for whisking egg
Utensil for boiling milk
Utensil with lid, which can go inside the pressure cooker

Ingredients :

Milk (2 cups)
Eggs (3 pcs)
Sugar (4 tablespoon)
Coffee powder (1 tablespoon)
Butter or white oil, for greasing utensil

Method to prepare Coffee Pudding :

Boil the milk, add sugar (4 tablespoon) and coffee powder (1 tablespoon). Keep aside for it to cool.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg.
Add this to the milk you have kept aside and mix well.
Grease the utensil with a bit of butter or oil, where you will make the pudding.
Pour the milk mixture into it.
Pour some water in the pressure cooker.
Cover the utensil with the lid and put it inside the pressure cooker.
Let 4 whistles blow.
Now bring out the utensil, let it cool and keep it in the refrigerator to chill.
Before serving turn the utensil upside down for the coffee pudding to slid out onto a plate.
Serve the coffee pudding cold

Oil free chicken recipe - healthy but tasty!

2008-06-01T05:46:00.001+05:30

Chicken recipe without oil !! Yes, you are reading it correctly. Try this healthy, easy to cook yet so tasty oil free chicken recipe. I am tempted to name it - 5 minute oil free chicken recipe. I cooked this for lunch today and we enjoyed it with rice.

Many people tell me that if you are on a diet then you cannot enjoy all the tasty foods. Many believe that a fairly high quantity of spices are a must to prepare a tasty dish. Yet if you are health conscious you may prefer to have less spices and less oil. Well, thinking of this I have tried this recipe. I originally heard of this preparation from a friend of mine and cooked this today.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients required:

NO oil (Remember this is a OIL FREE recipe)
Chicken - 300 gms (I experimented it with a small quantity today for just a meal for two) - make the chicken into small pieces. I tried chicken with bone.
Ginger paste - half teaspoon
Garlic paste - one teaspoon
Curd (Plain yogurt) - 3 or 4 tablespoon
Salt - half teaspoon
Sugar - half teaspoon
Green Chili - 2 pieces - split each of them into two
Onion - 1 medium size - slice into fine strips
Green cardamom (choti elachi) - 2 pieces
Cinnamon (dar chini) - 1 piece
Bay leaf (tej patta)- 1 piece
Chopped coriander leaves (dhania patta) - 1 small cup full
Water - One and half to two cups

The easy method to cook oil free chicken in 5 minutes is here:

Mix all the ingredients above (Do NOT add water now) with the chicken and marinade for 20 minutes
Once marinade is done, put the chicken mix in the pressure cooker
Add one and half to two cups of water
Put it on high flame and make it blow 3 whistles
Serve hot with rice

This is a new experiment I did at home. We liked it, so I shared with you. Let me know how you liked it. Feel free to add your comments below. If you like this, I plan to make more oil free recipes. I will post them once I succeed with the experiments of tasty oil free recipes.

Healthy eating !

Never boil eggs in microwave

2008-05-25T04:54:00.000+05:30

This is a very important KITCHEN SAFETY TIP

You should NEVER boil eggs in the microwave.

There is high possibility for the egg to explode. Please be careful and remember this always. I always ensure to let newbies in cooking know about this. Due to the ease of microwave cooking there is every possibility of making this mistake.

So be careful, be safe.

Again,

NEVER boil eggs in the microwave

Have a nice Sunday.

Chicken Sandwich - chicken in bread loaf

2008-05-23T02:15:00.001+05:30

Chicken sandwich is very easy to prepare at home and there are so many variations of sandwiches. There are innumerable type of chicken sandwiches you can prepare at home and they are so quick and easy to make . Going forward I will share quite a few sandwich recipes . But here is a one which many of you must have had in a sandwich shop but prepare at home and see how close it tastes like the one you ate out.

Last weekend we went down to Subway for lunch. We love the fresh sandwiches there and the choice we have to order with ingredients of our liking. Inspired by the great sandwich we had, I went on to try the following sandwich recipe at home , and surprisingly it tasted great and was so easy to prepare . So thought of sharing it here.

How long does it take to prepare this chicken sandwich ?

Preparation time - 15 minutes
Cooking time - 10 minutes
Serves - 2

The ingredients you require to prepare this sandwich recipe are below . I would rather call this chicken sandwich as chicken in bread loaf.

Chicken (boneless) - 10-12 medium size pieces
Bread - 1 bread loaf (cut it into half for two), assuming the loafs are pretty long
All in one sauce ** - 1 tablespoon
Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
White oil - 1 teaspoon
Tomato - 1 medium
Onion - 1 small
Fresh lettuce leaves
Cheese slices - 2 pieces
Mayonnaise - 4 tablespoon
Salami - 4 slices. Try the salami of your choice. I tried chicken salami. I am sure trying out various salamis will add an added flavor and taste of your liking.

Here is the method to prepare this chicken sandwich recipe :

Marinate the boneless chicken pieces with 'All in one sauce' for 1 hour.
Heat the frying pan with 1 teaspoon white oil and add chicken.
Add one-fourth teaspoon salt and cook the chicken for a few minutes.
Cut the onion and tomato in circular slices.
Slit the bread loaf from the middle by the sides.
Put the layer of salamis (2 in each sandwich), cheese (i slice in each, cut in triangular shape from the corner), tomatoes, onions, lettuce and chicken pieces in the bread loafs.
Add about 2 tablespoon mayonnaise onto each sandwiches. Add black pepper.

**Note: If All in one sauce is not available with you, you may boil the chicken instead of marinating it.

Bhindi Posto - unique and easy bhindi recipe

2008-05-20T06:11:00.000+05:30

Bhindi posto is another variation of posto recipe. It is an unique posto recipe. Bhindi posto recipe is not so common Bengali posto recipe but try it once and I am sure you will love this. Bhindi posto is 'dharos posto ' or you may call this ladies finger cooked in poppy seed paste . When you buy bhindi ensure that you buy 'young' bhindis (not pakka bhindia). Its easy to know which are good bhindis by just breaking the tip of it while buying. if the tip of the bhindi breaks you know its a good, young one.

Now back to our recipe. See how easy it is to cook this bhindi recipe.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients required for this bhindi recipe :

Bhindi - 250 gm
Posto paste (poppy seed paste) - 4 table spoon
Mustard oil - 7 table spoon
Salt - 1/3 teaspoon
Onion - 1 big size
Green chili - 4 pieces
Water - 5 table spoon

Method to cook bhindi posto :

Soak the poppy seeds in slightly warm water for 30 mins. Then drain the water and make a fine paste.
Cut the bhindis (ladies finger) into 1 inch pieces. Add a pinch of salt and mix well with the bhindi.
Cut the onion into fine slices and chop the green chilis.
Heat 6 table spoon of oil in a kadai and deep fry the bhindis till they are light brown.
Now take the bhindis and keep it on a absorbent kitchen towel (made of tissue like paper) to soak the extra oil.
Remove this oil and take some fresh oil and heat again in medium heat.
Add green chili, onion and fry for few minutes till the onions turn brownish.
Add the fried bhindi, posto paste, salt and water. Mix well.
When the water becoms totally dry add 1 teaspoon fresh mustard oil and mix thoroughly.
Serve with boiled rice or paratha.

Aloo Posto

2008-05-17T05:22:00.000+05:30

Aloo posto is a favourite Bengali recipe. Believe it or not it is extremely easy to cook Aloo Posto . If you are not sure what aloo posto is - it is potato cooked in poppy seed paste . Try it. Its a delicasey.

First how quick it can be prepared:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients required for preparing aloo posto are :

Medium sized aloo (potato) - 7 or 8 pieces
Posto paste (Poppy seed paste) - 6 teaspoon
Salt - 1/3 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Green chili - 2 or 3 pieces
Mustard oil - 4 tablespoon
Garlic paste - 1/2 teaspoon
Kalo jeera (kalonji) - 1/4 teaspoon
Water - 1 cup

How to make aloo posto :

Boil the potato and cut them into small square pieces.
Make the posto bata - poppy seed paste - in a mixer
Add 3 table spoon oil in a kadai and heat it. Add kalonji, garlic paste and potato and mix well.
Add salt, sugar, green chili and water (as per above proportions) and stir well.
Cover with lid and let it sit on the flame for 5 minutes
Now add the posto bata - poppy seed paste.
Gently stir and see that the water dries up completely in the heat and you are left with the posto paste smeared on the potato cubes
Add 1 table spoon of mustard oil and stir well.
Aloo posto is best served with boiled rice . Granish with green chillies while you serve. Enjoy your meal.