Tandoori Chicken

This is a long-overdue post. I had promised one of my cousins that I would send him the Tandoori marinade recipe since it would make great barbecues . But I never got round to mailing him.. Since he does visit my blog sometimes, I thought that it would be easier to just post it here and let him know.. So this is for u..'J'...

Chicken  - 1 Kg(Cleaned and cut into big pieces )

Score the chicken on both sides to the so that the marinade goes deep.

Grind into a paste - 

Garlic cloves - 6-8

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Green chillies - 3-4

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup

Pudina (mint) leaves - 1/4 cup

To the paste add 

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Curd - 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Chilli powder - 1 to 2 tsp (adjust according to preferance)

Salt to taste

Orange food colour (optional) I do not like the colour.

Marinate overnight if possible.. or for 1 hour. 

BBQ, grill or shallow fry , serve with green salad, raita and bread, rotis etc..enjoy

Crayon and acrylics - Mixed media

An experiment with mixed media.. the central figure of Goddess Saraswati and the border has been done in wax crayons, while the rest of it has been painted in acrylic. 

Chicken Stuffed Buns

I have been bit by the baking bug!!!! After the oatmeal coffee cake I made, the compliments went to my head.. and I have been always fond on savoury items rather than sweet ... so my next adventure in baking was to be in that direction... 

I thought the safest place to find the recipe would be at Raaga's since my coffee cake was also her recipe. 

So I adapted her vegetarian Coriander buns to make my chicken stuffed buns... and as I had hoped, they turned out just great...!!

For the dough, 

Flour - 1 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup

Oil - 1 and 1/2 Tbsp

Yeast - 1 and 1/2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 and 1/2 tbsp

Salt - 3/4 tsp

Boiling water - 1/4 cup

Milk - 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

I did not add the coriander leaves in her recipe since I was going in for a different taste with the stuffings....

In a large bowl, add the oil,sugar and the salt. Now add the boiling water to dissolve the sugar, add the milk and stir till the mix is luke-warm in temperature. Now add the yeast and wait for a few minutes for it to ferment. Add the flour, the turmeric and chilly powders and mix well. 

Roll well and cover the dough with a damp muslin cloth to let it rise for about an hour.

As for the stuffings, 

Chicken breasts - 2 (cooked with turmeric, salt n whole pepper corns, n finely diced)

Onion - 1 finely diced

Ginger-garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Capsicum - 1/4 cup(diced)

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Soy sauce - 1 tsp

Tomato sauce - 1/2 tsp

Grated cheddar cheese - 1 tsp

salt to taste

In a pan, add or spray a bit of oil , sweat the diced onion, add the ginger garlic paste, saute for a minute, add the chicken and the chilli powder, saute, toss in the capsicum, the soy and the tomato sauce. Finally add salt . Take off the fire. Let the stuffing cool a bit. Then add the cheese.

Now take the dough and knead , divide into equal sized balls (I made 8 portions) . Flatten it in the palm of your hand, add a tsp or more of stuffing and seal. Sprinkle or lightly press the sesame seeds on top.

Cover the stuffed dough with a damp cloth again and let it rest for another hour. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven (180 C).

baking time is approximately 12-15 minutes.

Serve hot with ketchup.

Another Vishukkani..!!!

Keralites follow a different calendar for all the festivities and special occasions... Vishu, that falls on April 14th of mostly every year, is considered the New Year... 

Kani is the sight one sees as one gets up first thing in the morning....It is an ancient belief that the sights you see first thing on Vishu (new year) will be echoed throughout the year.. so it was the custom to arrange a huge Kani with all the plentiful harvests ,flowers, rice, gold, money etc..

Flowers were not available..so I had to do my best with the things on hand..

 

The new saree was the first thing my baby sis bought for me with her salary.. she has been working for atleast 2 years now... I hadn't found the right occasion to wear it.. It looked perfect with the kani. And I know I will be wearing it soon enough :)

This year's sadya was also slightly similar to the last. 

I made injicurry, parippum neyyum (ghee n dal), sambar, aviyal , mambazha koottan (ripe mango and curd curry), pavakka khichdi, Gothambu payasam and pappad.

We also bought plantain chips and sharkara puratty (plantain chips in Jaggery) to start off the meal...

 

Since my daughter knew her friend and his family were coming over for dinner, she was very cooperative and sweet....

It was a good start to a New Year.....

 

Coated and fried prawns in gravy

It has been a long time since we got some fresh prawns. I am very particular about sea-food and if it not very very fresh, I never buy them..

My friend had gone to a market which was more than an hour's drive from our place, as she had a party, and she got me some prawns and fish ...So I thought I would make something special. This was a curry that I had some years back at a restaurant and the colours and taste stayed with me. 

I have managed to passably recreate that taste..

Jumbo prawns - 1/2 kg (shelled, deveined with the tail intact)

Marinate the prawns for 1/2 an hour in 

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Soy sauce - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste(be careful since the soy is salty)

Dried Thyme - 1/2 tsp

Coat the marinated prawns (separate the marinade) in 

Flour - 1/2 tsp

Paprika - 1/2 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Shallow fry the coated prawns. Keep aside

For the gravy, 

Onion - 1 (finely diced)

Tomato - 1 (finely diced)

Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Soy sauce- 1/2 tsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Salt - if needed 

Saute the onions, garlic paste, tomatoes,once they go soft and the oil comes on top, add the chilli powder,soy sauce and the oregano. Now add the prawns and steam for about 3-5 minutes. 

Garnish with lemon juice - 1/2 tsp, ground black pepper and coriander (optional).

Great combination with jeera pulao or lemon rice.

A coffee cake with Oatmeal

I have been experimenting with a few cake recipes , and though the recipes have been fabulous, the results left a lot to be desired .. when I made them.. 

But this one absolutely hit the spot!!! I got it from a neighbor's blog. I have mentioned her a couple of times before. This is a Coffee cake posted by Raaga way back . I came across  it while searching for a small and easy-to make cake for my daughter who insisted she did not want me to buy cake from the shop, and that I HAD to make a cake !!! 

Well I have been amply rewarded for my effort. This is a link to the original recipe, though mine doesn't look much like her cake..!!!  I just followed her recipe to the letter... Her recipes are really easy to follow and she makes baking look very easy, though it has always been a monumental task for me... and never has  the end-product been so pleasant !!! 

These are the only slight things I did..

I did not have a cup that marks 5/8th - so I measured a 1/2 cup and then half of a 1/4 cup of hot water and flour.

Instead of Walnuts, I microwaved a whole bar of Galaxy milk chocolate and then spread it over the cake. It wasn't a neat job since two little hands were insistantly pulling on my dress, for a taste. 

I arranged some cashew nuts  on the cake too..

The cake was perfect... moist, perfectly done and absolutely tasty...After she took the first bite, my baby rewarded me with a big hug and a sticky kiss...Sheer bliss!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warli painting - Acrylics on silk stole

I had been reading up about Warli painting for over an year now.. but so far hadn't tried it out other that to practise a bit on some rough paper. 

I had already bought a couple of silk stoles for my sis with the vague idea of painting on them... though at that time I did not have the faintest idea what...!!

Recently my friend and neighbor had been to her hometown and had brought back a painting gifted by her sis-in law... it was a lovely Warli painting ..and I was inspired !!!

From that it was a short jump to trying it out on the stole. I used black paint for more effect since the stole was a lovely light shade.  

I have done freehand drawing without any prior outlines or sketching.. my favourite kind... it is a very addictive way of painting... especially loved the peacock..