Chicken Curry

       

 
       This robust yet creamy and tangy curry encasing succulent chicken is quite a dish. 

      Fervid love for this fiery dish by all kids and adults is not a mystery.Endearing characteristics of this dish are a blend of its aromatic spices and tangy gravy, emanating quite a pleasing aroma.

        There are myriad ways of cooking this beauty and different spices belonging to different states gives you a unique curry in each region .

                                 Ingredients : 

1 Kg. Chicken, with bones

1 cup Yoghurt 

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Red chilli powder 

1 tsp Degi Mirch

2 tsp Kasoori Methi 
3/4 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 tsp Ginger paste 

1 tsp Garlic paste 

2 Bay leaves

2 tsp Cumin seeds 

5 Onions' paste 

3 Tomatoes ' puree 

4 tbsp Oil

To be dry roasted and ground coarsely :

2 Bay leaves 

2 tsp. Cumin seeds 

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1 " Cinnamon stick

3-4 Cardamom 

2-3 Cloves 

2 -3 Black cardamom 

4 Dry Red Chillies 

1 tsp.  Black pepper corns 

1 tsp Fennel Seeds

2 tsp. Cashewnut paste 

Directions :
1 : Wash and make incisions in chicken.
2: Whisk yoghurt and add roasted and ground masalas.

3: Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt , kasoori methi and Turmeric powder.
4.Give it a nice whisk and add chicken to it.
5: Marinate chicken in this marinade for atleast 1 hour.

6 : Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel.
7: Add bay leaf and cumin seeds.
8: When it sizzles, add onion paste.

9: Sauté till golden brown in color.
10 : Now add marinated chicken.

11 : Now add marinated chicken along with the marinade.
12 : Sauté till it leaves oil , for 5-10minutes.

16: Add Tomato puree and cook till it leaves oil.
17 : Add water and give it a boil.
18:Cover and simmer it for around 10-15 minutes.
19: Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice or Paranthas.

Chickpea and Veggie Burger

                         

     Ingredients :

2 cups Boiled Chickpeas

2 Boiled Potatoes

2tsp. Roasted Gramflour

2 carrots (finely chopped )

1/2 cup Finely chopped French Beans

2 Onions (finely chopped )

1 / 2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/2 tsp Salt

1 / 4 tsp Red chilli powder

1/2 tsp Roasted cumin powder

1 / 2 tsp Chaat masala

Oil for shallow frying

Onion slices and Tomato slices for buns

6 Whole wheat Buns

   Directions :
1:Soak chickpeas overnight or for atleast 8 hours. 
2 : Pressure cook them and drain the water. 
3:Heat oil in a pan .
4 : Add onions and sauté till they are translucent. 
5 : Add chopped beans and carrots.
6: Add 1/2 of the chickpeas and mash rest of it.
7 : Add it to the mixture and cook it for a while. 
8 : Remove from flame.
9 : Add roasted Gramflour,  boiled and mashed potatoes. 
10 : Add salt , chilli powder, cumin powder, chaat masala and bread crumbs.
11 : Mix it properly and form balls out of it.
12 : Flatten them to form patties and shallow fry them.
13 : Add these to buns along with onion rings and Tomato slices and serve with Chipotle Mayo. 

Chickpea Curry with Deep Fried Indian Breads/Poori Chhole

     
                           BACK TO BASICS

Traditionally,  the utensils used in Indian Cooking were mainly Iron and Copper as they provided health benefits in abundance.
         I love using Cast Iron Utensils even though they are considered Old fashioned   since they are powerhouse of nutrition.It's a good conductor of heat and helps in evenly distributing heat.
       Cooking can be done with very less oil since it is almost non stick.
            It helps in raising Haemoglobin level.
What else do we need?

                        Even when it's use is highly recommended, there are certain restrictions attached to it.
               We should not cook sour or acidic food as it might react with iron .
            It attracts rust so always put a film of oil on it before storing it.
                 Never store fluids in iron vessels as it might lead to rust.
        After cooking , transfer the food to some other vessel for the same reason.Now that's my take on it....what is your's???

So, I usually make this Chickpea Curry in Iron Vessel. It doesn't only give it a nice color but also add to it's nutritional value.

Ingredients : 

500 gms Chickpea 

1 tsp. Salt 

1/2 tsp Red chilli powder 

1 / 2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 / 2 tsp  Cumin Seeds 

1 / 2 tsp  Amchoor Powder 

1 inch Ginger's julienes 

2 Green chillies (slit lengthwise )

2 Onions ( sliced )

2 Tomatoes  (chopped )

2 k tbsp Oil

Dry masalas to be ground into fine powder:

4-5 Dry Red Chillies

2 tsp Cumin seeds 

2 Bay leaves

2-3 Cloves

2 Black Cardamom

1 tsp Black Pepper corns

                            Directions :
1 : Dry roast all the masalas in a pan. Cool it and grind it into fine powder.
2 : Soak chickpeas overnight or for atleast 8 hours.
3: Drain and then pressure cook chickpeas with salt in around 8 cups water for half an hour.
4: In a thick bottomed vessel,  heat oil.

5 : Add cumin seeds to it.

6 :Add sliced onions,cook till its golden brown in color. 

7 : Add tomatoes and cook till it leaves oil. 

8 : Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and channe. 

9 : Now add ginger julienes, slit green chillies, Amchoor and roasted and ground powder.

10 : Cook on slow flame for around 15 minutes and  Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and ginger julienes.

 11: Serve with Poori or Bhature.

Poori dough:
Ingredients : 
Whole wheat flour 2 cups
Water 1 cup
A pinch of Salt
1/4 tsp Carom seeds  (ajwain)

Directions : 
1 : Take wheat flour in a shallow bottom vessel .
2 : Add Wheat flour in it and add rest of the ingredients. 
3 : Knead it into a hard dough.
4: Keep it in refrigerator fot half an hour.
5:Divide it into small balls and roll it into medium size discs with a rolling pin.
6: Deep fry them into hot oil. 

Rose and Pistachio Cheesecake

     RENDEZVOUS WITH YOUR VALENTINE

          Valentine's day is around the corner and there is love in the air....Time to show your love to your valentine ,so try your hand on this beautiful , mesmerising and delicious dessert and leave him/her astounded....

         Desserts and love have been synonymous since ages . They don't only satiate your taste buds but ignite the love, passion and romance.

                  Decadence is indulgence and so is Love...

                            Ingredients :

For base:
3 / 4 cup crushed Digestive Biscuits
1 / 4 cup butter
1  1 / 2   tbsp. Sugar

For Filling :
1 / 4 cup Whipping Cream
2 tbsp Rose Syrup
2 packages (180 gms ) Cream Cheese ( at room temperature )
1 / 2 cup Sugar
1 Lemon's juice
1 Lemon's Rind
2 Eggs  (At room temperature )
1 tsp Rose Essence

                             Directions :

1 : Mix crushed biscuits, sugar and butter.
2 : Take a 7" spring bottom pan.
3 : Press the cookie mix onto the bottom of the pan.
4 : Freeze for 5-10 minutes and then bake it for 5 mins at 150 degree Celsius.
5 : Leave it on the rack to cool.
6 : Mix Rose Syrup in cream thoroughly.
7: Add sugar in cream cheese and beat till its fluffy.
8 : Add lemon's rind and juice in it and give it a nice whisk. 
9: Now add one egg at a time and blend it well .Add rose essence and cream in this mixture. Fold it nicely.
10. Pour this mixture over the crust and bake for 10 minutes at 180 degree Celsius. 
11 : Now decrease the oven's temperature to 120 degrees and bake for 50 minutes. 
12 : Open the door of the oven slightly and let the cheesecake be there for 5-10 minutes. 
13 : Remove and keep it on wire rack and let it cool completely. 
14 : Refrigerate it overnight.
15 : Put knife in hot water and loosen sides of cake from the spring bottom pan .
16: Sprinkle slivered pistachio over the cheesecake and serve.

Voilla! !

Food Styling and Photography workshop By Deeba Rajpal

         'Food styling' is to Food what 'Firmament' is to the stars.As someone wisely said 'You taste with your eyes first'; I bow and surrender to the thought....
                     The chef handles the heat in the kitchen but what makes his yummilicious food incredibly drool worthy and tantalising is basically 'Food Styling'. It adds that 'Oomph factor'or should I say it extracts it's 'Wow Factor'.
          It would bring forth the most beautiful aspects of a dish-the resplendence, the textures .....
                 

A poetic shot by Abhay Sharda

As a food blogger I always envisage how my dish would look even when it is in the course of preparation.  But somehow I always felt that I was not upto the mark in bringing out emotions other than 'Hunger Pangs' through my pictures. Here I truly felt that the photography was playing the main Culprit.

Here goes another one by Abhay Sharda

I have always been a true admirer of work by some of these artists(yes , they truly are)....Deeba Rajpal@www.passionateaboutbaking.com, 

Madhuri Aggarwal@www.madaboutkitchen.wordpress.com;

Nik Sharma@www.abrowntable.com

Farrukh Aziz@www.cubesnjuliennes.com

So when I got a Golden Opportunity to enroll in a Food Styling and Photography workshop at Lodi - Garden Restaurant by Deeba Rajpal and Darter Photography,  I just took the plunge.

A beautiful collage made by Surbhi

Interior designer by profession , chef at heart; I was literally pushed into Food blogging by my kids . By 'pushed' I mean literally 'Forced' to write a blog since I was not ready to shed my inhibition even when I had a flair for writing and wished that I would write a Recipe book one day.

Beautiful shot by an extremely talented one...Shivesh

         So I pulled up my socks and went for the workshop which was held at Lodi - Garden Restaurant by Deeba Rajpal and Mr.N Prasad of Darter Photography. 

A collage by the maestro herself , 

Deeba Rajpal 

I must admit that Deeba Rajpal and Mr. N Prasad of Darter Photography are so humble and warm people that I totally got enshrouded by their Aura.

I got to meet so many lovely people coming from different walks of life yet having a common passion- Photography. 

Got to learn so much from them.

Here I was taught the nitty gritties of Photography -the camera settings, Focal point , composition ,depth of field, light manipulation , how to make maximum use of vintage props 

, shutter speed to name a few .I was told to create a story around my picture which actually made a lot of difference.

My work was not upto mark ....that's what I conclude since I was mainly using my Android for Food photography. So now I would like to color my canvas with beautiful colors and in my endeavour to get you a 'DELECTABLE PLATTER ', I would definitely make full use of this workshop.

#deebarajpal#darterphoto#desiTraveler

Fish and Chips

Ingredients :

For 4-5 

2 Fish Fillets(I used River Sole)

100 gms. Cornflour

100 gms. Self Raising flour (maida)

3 / 4 tsp Salt 

1 /2 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper 

1 tsp Baking powder 

3/4 can Beer

Oil for deep frying 

Seasoned self raising flour for dusting

Chips:

4 Large Potatoes  (peeled and cut into 5" long and 2 " wide strips)

Directions:

1 : Wash and pat dry fish.

2 : Cut into strips.

3 : Make a batter by mixing self raising flour, Corn flour,baking powder, salt.  

4 : Whisk  it properly to make it smooth.

5:Heat oil in a wok.Fry chips in it.

6 : Now dip the fish in seasoned flour, dip it into the batter and deep fry it till it is golden brown in color. 

7:Remove on kitchen paper.

8 :Serve fish with chips, Lemon wedges and 

Tartar sauce.

Rich Indian Carrot Pudding/Gajar Ka Halwa

               Aahhhhhh! !!   This is what comes out when you see this tempting mouth watering dessert, laden with dry fruits, ghee and cardamom.

                  I assume that all Indians take the first helping of this incredibly delicious dessert when they are kids. It's kind of synonymous with a 'Traditional Punjabi Dessert' . It's even called by another name....'GAJRELA '.

           
          Grated carrots when cooked with milk ,sugar and dry fruits gives a beautiful red colored dessert which is truly lip smacking.

     This heavenly dessert is a blessing in winters .Though there are so many methods to prepare it, I usually take  a longer route since the outcome is just 'Out of the world.  

                                 Ingredients :
1 kg Red carrots (grated)
1 litre Milk
250 gms Sugar
3 ladles Ghee (show your generosity here...😉😉)
2  tsp. Cardamom Powder
 A handful of slivered almonds or mixed nuts

               
                                 Directions :
1 :Boil milk in a thick bottomed vessel.
2 : Add grated carrots in it.
3 : Add cardamom powder to it.
4 : Keep on stirring it on medium flame till it half in quantity.
5 : Add Sugar and mix it properly.
6 : Cook it further till it reduces to 1/3rd of the quantity.
7: Add ghee and chopped dry fruit and cook it till it leaves ghee and is nice red in color.
8 : Sprinkle some more chopped dry fruit over it and serve.

A beautiful picture by a beautiful person, Deeba Rajpal who tried my recipe with a few changes....Thank you so much ma'am for giving it a shot.

Deeba Rajpal @passionateaboutebaking.com