Mulayam Murgh kabab (Tender Chicken kebab)

Summer is the season of barbecue. So, one weekend, when we had some friends over, we thought barbecued food would go well with the World Cup match. Along with the usual burgers, I decided to make something Indian on the grill. Given that my daughter allows me only a very short window of time to make preparations, before she suddenly makes a judgment call that it is mommy time and does not want to be babysat by anyone else, I had to make something quick. So, this recipe was adapted from a traditional Indian kabab recipe but with ingredients I had at home and took less preparation time.

Ingredients:
Minced chicken – 1lb
Cilantro – half bunch
Green chillies – 7-8
Slivered almonds soaked in water– 10
Garlic cloves – 2
Ginger (grated) – 1 inch
Egg – 1
Bread crumbs – enough to bind the mixture
Butter – 1 tbsp
Salt & white pepper to taste
Garam masala – 2tsp

The original recipe used only egg yolk, cashews instead of almonds and no breadcrumbs. Also, the original recipe had instructions to put the kebab into skewers.

Here is my shortened version. While the little one took a morning nap, I blended the cilantro, chillies, garlic, ginger and almonds, with a little water, in my magic bullet. Note that the original recipe had cautioned not to use water. However, since I did not have much time and had to prepare a larger amount, I decided to use water and see where I land.

The egg (it takes too much time to separate the yolk from the white and is a wastage ;-) ), butter, salt and white pepper were added to the chicken with the blended cilantro mixture. Oh gosh! The mixture was so fluid that I didn't know how to roll them around skewers. So, I decided to use some bread crumbs and added the garam masala as well. Then, I left this mixture in the refrigerator without putting them on skewers.

When the grill was ready, we used an aluminum foil and sprayed it with some non stick spray. Then, we added a dollop of the chicken mince mixture and pressed the top to make them into the shape of small flattened kebabs. It was pretty easy to cook because no shape was needed and I finally delegated this to the guys ;-)

The outcome was quite tasty and it did save a lot of time. I realized I had definitely underestimated my daughter’s spice-taking capacity as I saw her happily munching away.

Chicken Cafreal Roast

Sounds like an elaborate recipe, huh? Well, wait till you make this. My husband expressed his desire to eat something baked or roasted this week instead of the regular ‘curry’ fare. So, I looked through some recipe books and found one, whose ingredients intrigued me, and this looked doable in an oven.

Ingredients:

Chicken drums & thighs (skinless) – 8 pieces
Coriander seeds – 2tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Peppercorns – 1tsp
Green Cardamom – 6-8
Cinnamon small pieces – 3-4
Cilantro – ½ bunch
Garlic cloves – 2 cloves
Ginger – 1 inch
Green chillies – 6-8
Onion – cut into rings
Salt to taste
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Non stick spray

Before heading out to pick up my daughter from day care, I dry-roasted the spices and ground them in a coffee grinder. The cilantro leaves, garlic, ginger and chilli were ground to a paste with a little water in magic bullet grinder. I tossed the chicken, ground spices and the cilantro puree in a Ziploc bag. To this, I added salt and olive oil and then, zipped the bag to toss the ingredients inside. Left this in the fridge for an hour or two.

On arriving home, I set the oven to ‘convectional roast’ mode at 350 F. The chicken pieces were lined in a roasting tray and put in the oven. Because roasting chicken takes time, I headed off to give some dinner to my toddler. After 30 minutes, when the chicken looked half done, I sprayed the non-stick spray and sprinkled the onion rings on top. This cooked for another half hour while I enjoyed some gardening activities with my little one.

My husband and I were really hungry by now. So, when the chicken was already in the oven for about an hour (including preheating time), I increased the temperature to 400F and cooked an additional 15 minutes. The chicken was perfectly cooked in an hour and fifteen minutes.

What a sumptuous dinner it was! And I can’t but help but write with pride that the little 'chi'-lover (chi - that's what she calls chicken) ate a part of it even after a full dinner and an entire bottle of milk. Although she did agree it was spicy for her – however did not want to give up ☺ I often underestimate my daughter's spice handling capacity. Kids love freshly cooked food that tastes good, I tell ya – try it!

Achari Tofu

‘Achaar’ in Hindi means Pickles. Indian pickles are usually made by preserving fruits or vegetbles in a spicy gravy and the mixture is often slow cooked with solar heat for days. I remember those days from childhood when I would watch longingly at the jar of achaar, that my mom would put under the sun in the verandah, and count the days until it was ready to be eaten. If you visit Indian restaurants, you will often see this spicy pickle being served with Naan or Roti.

This recipe got its name because it uses the same spices that are used in making achaar. It is commonly made with chicken. However, when my last tofu dish got some encouraging feedback, I decided to experiment yet again with another recipe.

Ingredients:

Tofu – 1 packet (firm) cut into 1” long pices.
Red onions chopped – 1 medium
Ginger paste/grated – 1tbsp
Cherry tomatoes – 3-4
Tomato puree – 2 tbsp
Red chilli + garlic paste – 1tbsp
Turmeric – 1tsp
Paprika – 1tsp
Cumin powder – 2tsp
Corriander powder – 1tsp
Mixed seeds (known as Panchpuran: Anise, Cumin, Onion seeds, mustard, Fenugreek) – 1tsp
Garam masala – 1tsp
Sugar & salt to taste
Curry leaves
Mustard powder or spicy Dijon mustard – 1tsp
Oil

Since I was eating Tofu, a healthy ingredient, I decided to pamper myself and make the curry a bit richer than I normally would. I learnt in this process that a rich spicy curry goes well with Tofu, which is otherwise quite a bland ingredient in itself.

If you are wondering how to make a shortcut of this recipe, get rid of the dry spices and mixed seeds and look for Achari meat masala in the international aisle of your grocery.

I started by heating some olive oil in a deep frying pan and rubbing some salt and turmeric to the tofu pieces. These were lightly fried in the oil and set aside. To the remaining oil, I added the mixed seeds and curry leaves, followed by onions, chilli-garlic paste and ginger. I didn’t have any fresh garlic at home that day, so decided to go with the chilli-garlic paste that I had bought from an Asian store some time back. After cooking this mixture for about 5 minutes, I added the cherry tomatoes (I used these because I wanted to do some less chopping) and the puree, followed by the dry spices. This cooked on for about another 5 minutes on low heat. Then I added some water and let the gravy cook on for about another 10-12 minutes. When the ingredients were well cooked, I added the tofu, increased the heat and cooked the curry to a desired consistency.

FYI – this recipe was way too spicy for the toddler at home. But sometimes mom and dad deserve food cooked specially for their taste buds as well ;-)

I don’t know if I was really hungry when I ate this or not but this was definitely the best tofu dish I had ever made I my life!

Crockpot daal (Lentils)

Before I owned the crockpot, I was a snooty Indian homemaker who thought the best food can be created only on stove top. But my husband was determined to make my life easier and introduced me to the crockpot or slow-cooker as many call it. Apart from being very convenient, I soon discovered that not only does the food taste great but also this is a very healthy way of cooking meals.

There is an old-fashioned way in Indian cooking on the ‘chullah’ which is an earthen oven and traditionally, meat or daal used to be cooked on it for hours. I have heard stories from my dad that the aroma from such cooking would fill the entire streets and was enough to have envious neighbors. For my crockpot, I decided to use similar recipes as chullah-cooking.

I started with a simple yet delicious daal recipe. The good thing about slow-cooking is that you do not have to pre-treat the daal, which means you do not have to think about it before. You can just put it on when you have some time on your hand and you have a healthy dish ready by next morning. However, it is key to use fresh ingredients, for example, dried lentils and fresh vegetables, as opposed to canned lentils/beans and frozen vegetables.

Ingredients:
Black Urad daal or try whole lentils– 2 cups washed
Water – 10-12 cups (A very important ingredient and the proportion varies with expertise and different cookers)
Chopped onions – 1 big
Fresh Ginger-garlic paste (or grated) – 1
Chopped tomatoes – 2 medium sized
Green chillies – 7-8 small
Cilantro leaves chopped (optional) – 1 cup
Dried methi/fenugreek leaves (optional) – 1tbsp
Salt
Oil – 4tbsp
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar
Cumin powder – 1tbsp
Corriander powder – 2tsp
Garam Masala – 2tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Paprika/black pepper – 1 tsp

I mixed the above ingredients and cooked over night in the crockpot. In order to ensure that the dish does not burn due to lack of moisture, I covered the pot with an aluminum foil to prevent moisture from escaping and then put the lid on. Slow cooking it for 7-8 hours was good enough. Before serving it the next day, I added a dollop of butter and it was good to go!

As a mommy, it felt good to serve this hearty dish to my little one… the fact that she did not even taste it, was not in my hands. ☺

Barbecued sea-bass

The other weekend we were ready to inaugurate my husband’s new toy – a huge gas barbecue grill. We invited some friends over who not only helped us install it but also lent their expertise in cooking on this gigantic machine. One of the recipes on the grill was Chilean sea-bass marinated with Indian spices.

Ingredients:

Chilean sea bass – steak cut – 1 lb
Dry rub spice – I used Shan’s Lahori fish masala (if you want to create your own, go with a dry rub by mixing turmeric, parika, coriander powder, cumin powder, salt, garam masala, red pepper flakes)
Olive oil to turn the dry spice mix into a sticky paste
Crushed garlic cloves – 2

Chilean sea-bass is quite an oily fish in itself and hence requires very little oil to cook. This fish cooks very easily and is super-soft to the palate when cooked properly. The little, wandering, softness testing machine that I have at home gulps it down, so that tells me this prepared dish rates high on the scale. Otherwise, it would be spat right on the floor ☺

It is important to get a good quality sea-bass. There is a reason some varieties are more expensive! I typically cook this fish by broiling both sides for 7-8 minutes each. When we had our new grill that weekend, I decided to give it a try.

All ingredients were enclosed in a Ziploc plastic bag and tossed around. I covered the grill with a sheet of aluminum foil and sprayed some nonstick spray over it. After the grill attained a good heating temperature (~300F), the fish was laid out on the aluminum foil. After grilling each side for about 6 minutes, I checked for the doneness. The fish will start flaking and that's when you should take it out. If you leave it longer on the grill or oven, it will start to become chewy.

I tossed on some asparagus on the side as well to go with the wish.

I guess I can describe the output in just one sentence – “It melted in my mouth!”