BLACK CHICKEN

When I think of the time I enjoyed Chinese food the most, all my thoughts are of Shillong. I am born and brought-up in Shillong, capital of Meghalaya, a beautiful hill station of North East of India. Meghalaya is one of the smallest state of India and has three major tribes - Khasi, Jaintia & Garo. Shillong, the home of Khasis mainly, is a small town with very simple lifestyle - no big shopping malls or fancy restaurants but its very clean & beautiful. Shillong has rolling hills around the town, its said that those hills reminded the European settlers of Scotland. Hence, Shillong is also known as "Scotland of the East"...!!! The cuisine available in most of the restaurants there, other then the local cuisine, is CHINESE. Whether its some special occasion or just wanted to spend time with friends we would always visit a nearby Chinese restaurant...and all of them had excellent food. Among all of them I had 2 favourite - I don't really remember the names however one was near my school and the other in the heart of the main market. Both of them provided huge portions and impossible for one person to finish yet I would finish everything that I ordered....all of the items were really yummy :P . The dishes never looked too fancy however they all had something special in them that everyone enjoyed....and would look for the next excuse to come back to the resturant again. After I came out of Shillong, I tried Chinese in several restaurants. You must have guessed what I am about to say, its true.....its nothing compared to what I had in Shillong. Now that I have not been home since 3 years slowly my liking for Chinese is also vanishing, largely due to the food. Not that its anything bad with other places, its just not the way I liked it :) . People who know me would disagree cause even now at times I get Chinese as take away, but for someone who used to have Chinese 2 times a week now I get it ones in a month and that too half is wasted. I am just waiting to go home and get back to my kind of Chinese :) . Today, I am not sharing anything I tried in Shillong but its a dish I saw in a cookery show called Poh's Kitchen. Well in the show they used some ingredients that I didn't get here and they used beef which I don't eat....so why did I still try out the dish. The answer is in what attracted me....well I was  attracted with the name Nasi Kandar aka Black Beef, I mean a black looking dish and appealing...hmmmm.... didn't seem to be very possible at the first shot and I just had to give it a try :) . Surprisingly it worked and I enjoyed something new.

Chicken pieces with bones	250 gms - cut in small cubes
Egg	1 number
Red Bell Pepper	1 number
Onion	1 number
Garlic cloves	3 numbers
Red Chilli	2 numbers
Tomato Puree	2 tablespoons
Dark Soya Sauce	2 tablespoons
White Vinegar	1 tablespoon
Brown Sugar	1 tablespoon
Red Chilli powder	1/2 tablespoon
Cornflour	1 tablespoon
Oil	2-3 tablespoons
Salt	As per taste

      To marinate :-

1. In a bowl take the chicken cubes and add egg, salt, 1 tbs tomato puree ,1 tbs dark soya sauce and Red Chilli powder.
2. Mix them all properly. Then add the cornflour and mix again such that every chicken piece is well coated.
3. Let it stand for 30 min.

     For Black Chicken  :-

1. Cut the red bell pepper in small cubes. And chop the onion, garlic and red chilli finely.
2. Add 3 tbs oil in a wok and let it heat.
3. Fry the marinated chicken cubes till they are done and the coating is turns dark and crispy.
4. Remove the fried chicken cubes in a paper towel and set aside.
5. In the same oil add the chopped onion, garlic and red chilli and fry till the onion starts to carmalize.
6. Add the cubed red bell pepper and fry for 6-7 min or till the pepper soften.
7. In a separate bowl. whisk together the left over tomato puree, dark soya sauce, white vinegar and brown sugar.Add the sauce in the wok and cook.
8. Add the fried chicken pieces in the wok and mix again till everything is well coated with the sauce.
9. Cook for 5 -6 min more. And the dish is ready. 

I tried the dish with simple garlic noodles.        

CARDAMOM FLAVOURED ICED TEA GRANITA --- Guest Post by Lubna Karim @ Yummy Food

The blogging world gifted me a few lovely and talented friends and one of them is Lubna Karim . I am sure you all know her...her recipes seem so delicious and inviting......and the pictures are stunning. I keep staring at her shots everytime I visit her blog.

Lubna from Yummy Food lives in Bangalore with her family. She is so down to earth and a wonderful person.....she will always great you with a smile. You can see her passion and love for cooking and photography in every post or click.

Each photograph clicked by her tells a story on its own , they also portray her eye for detail. She also educate us on the art of photography....she makes it seem so easy. 

Necessity is the mother of invasion of many new things…..this applies in cooking too….Those where the days when my womb was burning hot baking out a cute little baby inside…..Summer was on full swing and every time I wanted to have something cool to indulge…..There were only very few or say next to no carvings during my pregnancy. 

Only thing which tempted me or more I carved for was ice tea and that too in the form of granita….it may sound little bizzard  but…I had this carving in the initial days of my pregnancy…...Granita is nothing but semi frozen dessert made out of sugar, water and various flavourings. 

To satisfy this urge…one day I made very light tea decoction and left it in the freezer for an hour….scarped it and got myself indulged in it…..there was very peculiar feeling of gratification in my senses…..I loved it …. And so a new recipe is born and from then till now I make it very often….When I served them to my friends at one of the summer noon party…they loved it a lot….so now this is one of the regular granita, I make during summers….So here is the twist to taste recipe…an whole new very chill makeover to your ice tea.

Cardamom Flavoured Iced Tea Granita :

INGREDIENTS:
½ tbsp. Tea powder (I used Taj Mahal brand)
1 ½ tbsp. Sugar
1 no. Cardamom, crushed lightly
1 cup Water

PREPERATION:
Bring water to boil by adding tea powder, sugar and cardamom. Simmer for 1-2 minutes and turn off the flame. Leave it to cool.
Once the decoction gets cool, pour it into a flat container with edges or into a rectangular baking dish. Cover it with a thin plastic foil and leave it in the freezer for around 1 hour.
After 1 hour, run the fork along the sides of the container and break up into small chunks…. Freeze again.
Repeat this process for 2-3 times until you get flaky ice without any liquid remaining. Transfer this into serving bowls and serve immediately. 
Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY' :P

VARIATIONS:
You can create as many of variations of your choice….apart from cardamom, I love making mint flavoured iced tea granita, lemon flavoured iced tea granita and also with fresh ginger iced tea granita….You can even make green tea or herbal tea granita….

Thank you Priyanka for the invitation to write on your blog. It was really fun doing it for you dear….

CREAMY EGG AND POTATO CURRY

Life always has its own plans for us and sadly we can never alter these plans. Three weeks earlier I was all excited to met my parents and enjoy my long awaited vacation.....but. Its true I spent three weeks with my parents but I never want to spend those days again.......shocked. Well my Baba(father) is very ill and was here for check-up, he had been suffering since many years but he never told anyone.....its only when Mamoni(mother) saw all the visible symptoms that I got to know about it. After his check-up we were told of all the physical aliment he is suffering from.....now he has loads of medicine through out the day....I am still shocked with his attitude toward himself. Parents get worried when we neglect about ourself or we don't tell them about our problems, I don't know why they don't realize that we feel the same.....even we are worried about them and if they fall ill it affects us so much. I hope now my parents understand that they should just tell me everything directly.                                                                                                                             very old pic of my parents Anyway,the changing of my plans by life didn't stop with this, I planned for my parents to stay with me for a month so that both of them can rest and relax a bit as doctors said he needs a lot of rest. And even that plan could not work out.....why? Well life planned something more horrible.....one of my uncle, my Baba's sister's husband, expired and I knew that Baba had to go else that would hurt him more. So he left and I know when he goes home he will start his routine and wont get the most required rest....all this worries me, then again that's what life has planned and I can just play my part in it. As it has been planned for me,  again I am alone with the same routine life and the only real fun time is when I am blogging. As I was alone and not in a very good mood, so I didn't feel like shopping or cooking anything special. So last Sunday was perfect for a easy , simple curry and the Creamy Egg & Potato Curry was part of the menu. Gravies are often the star of any Indian meals and a good creamy gravy can make the meal a perfect one. This is an awesome gravy......full of flavors with all the simple spices and coconut cream. Its a perfect dish that goes well with rice, chapati and paratha. Great for those lazy days..!!!

Eggs	6 numbers
Potato	2 medium sized
Onion	1large
Ginger-garlic paste	1 tablespoon
Green Chilly	2 numbers
Tomato	2 numbers
Coconut milk	100 ml
Turmeric powder	1/2 teaspoon
Red Chilly powder	1/2 teaspoon
Roasted Cumin powder	1/2 teaspoon
Oil	2-3 tablespoons
Salt	As per taste
Pepper	As per taste
Cilantro Leaves	1 cup

1. Hard boil the eggs and remove the covering. Marinate the eggs with little salt, tumeric powder & red chilly powder.
2. Cut the potato lengthwise like the wedges. Soak it in water with some salt.
3. Cut the onion in large blocks. Place the cut onions in a baking dish and drizzle slight oil on top. 
4. Season with some salt, pepper and give it a mix. Roast it at 180C for about 15 minutes.
5. When the onions are done, let it cool and then blend it to a smooth paste.
6. Blanch tomotoes in hot water and let it boil till they get soften. Remove the skin and blend that to a smooth paste to make tomato puree.
7. Heat little oil in a kadhai and fry the eggs and potatoes separetely. Remove them and set aside separately.
8. In the same kadhai, add ginger-garlic paste fry for some time and then add the roasted onion paste.
9. Fry the mixture for 5-6 min. Then add tomato puree and cook under cover and low flames till the oil separetes out.
10. Mix the spices - tumeric powder, red chilly powder and roasted cumin powder with little water till it forms a paste.
11. Add the spice mixture to the kadhai and mix all the cooking ingredients together.
12. Then add the fried potatoes and eggs to the kadhai and cook for 6-7 min.
13. Mix the coconut milk with 1/2 cup of warm milk and pour in the kadhai.
14. Cook the dish in low flame and under cover till the water is soaked.
15. Finally garnish with chopped cilantro leaves.

I tried the dish with rice and paratha and enjoyed it with both. 

CELEBRATION WITH FISH IN SPINACH & MUSTARD GRAVY

Celebrating what you may ask....well am finally going home. Yahoo..!!!! am all set for fun filled 2 weeks, just counting the days now :) . Since the last 2 weeks I was at a fix cause there was a high chance that my leave would be rejected and I spent most of the time shedding tears. Its been 3 years that I have visited my home so you can imagine how I was feeling when nothing seemed to be working. Finally by the end of this week I got the great news and I have been thrilled since then , of course fingers are crossed as we never know when things can change :) . I am so excited to be with my family....enjoy 'direct' talks with Mom, spend time bugging Dad...which is super fun, share stories with cousins and definitely relax and enjoy all those lovely home cooked meals. My ever growing to-do list is ready, well not just to-do ---- there are to-eat list , to-shop list , to-visit list....and many many more. The news of my leave being approved is something worth celebrating and today I partied with Fish in Spinach & Mustard Gravy. I consider it to be a very festive dish as its part of my families party food and is created  during very special occasions. The last time I had it was when I went to my ancestral home for my aunt's wedding and that was some 10 years back approximately. The fish used for this dish is 'Boal' commonly known as Wallago in English, I could not get the fish here so I used Rohu......I know the 2 fishes taste totally different but as its said Necessity is the Mother of Invention :P . Also the original version uses 'Lai Pata' (not sure of the English name) its a very loved green leafy vegetable in North-Eastern India, I have not seen it anywhere else so I could not find 'Lai Pata' as well so I used Spinach. As expected the flavour of my variation is way too different from the original however it was not bad and I enjoyed the day. I promise to come back with loads of new stories and recipes. When I am back, will share more on  the beauty of my hometown through my eyes...keep waiting, hope you would love them :) .

Rohu Fish pieces	4 numbers
Spinach	1 bunch
Mustard seeds	2 tablespoon
Sesame seeds (optional)	1 tablespoon
Green Chilly	1 numbers
Fresh Red Chilly	2 numbers
Nigella seeds	1 teaspoon
Dry Red Chilly	2 numbers
Turmeric powder	1/2 teaspoon
Mustard Oil	2-3 tablespoons
Salt	As per taste

1. Roughly chop the spinach and set aside.
2. Soak the mustard seeds and sesame seeds in luke warm water. 
3. Marinate the fish pieces with a little turmeric powder , salt and a few drops of oil.
4. Blend the mustard seeds , sesame seeds and one green chilly with little water till it forms a smooth paste.
5. Heat oil in a kadhai(a cooking utensil that resembles a wok), and shallow fry the fish pieces. They should not be over done.
6. Remove the fish in a paper towel. The oil in the kadhai is used for the gravy.
7. In the kadhai, add nigella seed and dried red chilly, as it start spattering add the smooth paste and cook.
8. As the oil start separating out, add warm water , fresh red chilly and chopped spinach. Cover and cook in low flame.
9. After 5 min, add the fried fish pieces. Add salt as per taste and cover again. Cook for 7-8 min.
10. Uncover and cook for 10 min more so that excess water is evaporated.

I had a great celebration with a dish that reminds of home, now time to start packing the bags .

PANEER & PEPPER QUICHE

We all read about food and try to learn new dish for any place avaliable, some recipes sound so interesting that it just gets us thinking....the same happened with me when I read about quiche some years back. My love for eggs is no secret and this dish has eggs as the main ingredient so exciting right :) . But I didn't know of any place in Bangalore where I could get them and I didn't have oven at that time so I didn't try making it. I have been introduced to a lot of dish by my elder sister-Kankana and I tasted my very first quiche with her. Before my sister was leaving Bangalore, we used to spend every weekend together, so one Sunday she took me out for dinner to a beautiful resturant. She ordered a lot of yummy dishes including a creamy chicken quiche. When I saw the quiche I was not sure if I would like it coz it didnt look very appeling to me, but my sister said I should try it before I make up my mind and when I did I was lost in the flavour. The chicken filling was creamy and juicy and the crust was crunchy......honestly I ordered another slice of the quiche, I just could not leave with one :) . Since the last Tuesday I was not well, I was surviving on cornflakes and milk so Friday morning as I was feeling a little better I decided to make some tasty and quick and definately savoury brunch. When I saw the eggs the very first thing that came to my head was Quiche....simple, easy and filling. Quiche can be with a pastry crust or without it, I went for the crustless one. I didnt have any readymade crust available and I wanted a quick brunch so had no plans in making the crust. As for the filling, I had pepper, paneer, onion and beans so I ended up with Paneer & Pepper Quiche. The best part was that the food was ready in 30 min and I had a satisfying brunch :) .

FOR QUICHE
Eggs	4 numbers
Red Bell Pepper	1 number
Paneer	200 gms
Beans	6 numbers
Green Chilly	2 numbers
Onion, big	1 number
Garlic cloves	3 numbers
Milk	1 cup
Dried Thyme	1 tablespoon
Oil	2 tablespoons
Salt	As per taste
Black Pepper	1 teaspoon

    Paneer & Pepper Quiche:-

1. Chop the onion, red bell pepper and pepper separately into small cubes. Cut the chilly very finely.
   
2. Blanch the beans for about 5 min and then, shock them in ice water. Keep them aside.
3. Pre heat the oven at 140 C for 10 min.
4. Heat 2 tbs oil in a pan and add the garlic, fry till the garlic turn brown.
5. Add onion and pepper to the pan and saute them till the vegetables are soften.
6. Then add the paneer and green chilly and fry for 10 min.
7. In a big bowl, whip the eggs with milk, dried thyme, salt & pepper.
8. Add the cooked vegetables and paneer to the bowl and mix them properly.
9. Grease a baking pan with some oil and pour the egg mixture to the baking pan.
10. Arrange the bean on top of the egg mixture on the baking pan
11. Bake it at 180 C for 30 to 35 mins.
12. Quiche is ready to be served.

I had a great start for the weekend and have planned to have a very relaxing one :) .

MURGH MUSALLAM WITH PADINA PULAV

Every human likes to experiment with food. Either we try a new restaurant or we cook something different. We like to try different ingredients or different cooking techniques or even different cuisines. In spite of all this we all long for a perfect home cooked meal....by home cooked I mean anything from Mom's kitchen....can anything top that...NO WAY :) . Remember those days when we would run home after school and waiting for us in the table would be some delicious and yummy food made by Mom. As you know I cannot imagine Sunday lunch without Chicken. Well this is a hereditary thing I suppose, my Dad says on ever Sunday my grandfather would come back home from his work location with lots of fishes and chicken and there would be a feast so you get my point :) . Even Dad gets Chicken on every Sunday and now that he is retired he even cooks the Chicken.....and let me tell you this.....its delicious and healthy, he never uses too much of spices or oil yet its YUMMY....sadly I can never re-create his dish....this time I will note down all the steps he follows and try again.....TRY TRY AGAIN right. I miss my Mom everyday and just talking to her over phone is not enough but now that I am counting my days to go home I am just waiting to try all of my Mom's creations. Since the last 2 weeks the feeling is so intense that I just wanna eat only dishes that remind me of home.. :) . Last weekend I made Bhapa Dim again and this weekend Murgh Musallam. I know that's not a typical Bengali dish but as I have told my mom is a great cook and she makes several types of dishes and this dish is also from her list of creations. I had made it for the first time some 5 - 6 years back for my birthday party......ya I know I had to cook on my birthday....NO COMMENTS. :( . Anyways this Sunday I decided to try to re-create this dish with my own twist. Murgh Musallam is part of both Lahori Cuisine & Awadhi Cuisine. The Awadhi Cuisine is from Lucknow capital of Uttar Pradesh,India. Awadhi Cuisine has been greatly influenced by Mughal cooking techniques, and this bears similarities to those of Persia, Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad. However as far as this dish goes , in Lahori style the chicken is stuffed with rice and dry fruits where as in the Awadhi style the dry fruits are part of the gravy. I selected the Awadhi style for no special reason, just that my Mom made it that way. Serve it with Padina Pulav and it make a great combination.

FOR MURGH MUSALLAM
Chicken , curry cut	750 gms
Yoghurt	3 tablespoon
Onion, red ones	2 medium sized
Ginger-garlic paste	3 teaspoons
Lemon juice	1 number
Tomatoes	2 numbers
Green Chilly	2 numbers
Almonds	5 numbers
Cashew Nuts	5 numbers
Raisin	1/4 cup
Turmeric powder	1/2 teaspoon
Red Chilli powder	2 teaspoons
Garam Masala	1 tablespoon
Bay Leaf	2 leaves
Whole Dried Red Chilli	2 numbers
Salt	Just a pinch
Ground-Nut Oil	1/2 cup

FOR PADINA PULAV
Long grain rice	1 cup
Whole Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon
Whole Red Chilli	2 numbers
Turmeric Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Green Chilly	2 numbers
Mint	1 cup

     MURGH MUSALLAM :-

1. In a large bowl, mix together ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and lemon juice.To the mixture add the yoghurt and mix well. 
2. Make small slits on the chicken flesh and add the Chicken to the mixture and let it stand for 2 hrs.
3. Make a wet paste of almonds, cashew nuts, raisins and green chilli.
4. Chop the onion lengthwise as finely as possible. Blanch the tomatoes for 10 min , then remove the skin and puree it.
5. Heat oil in a large pan, add the bay leaf and whole dried red chilli.
6. As the aroma is released, add the onion julienne to the pan with salt and fry the onion till its translucent. Add the dry fruit paste and cook till the oil is released
7. Add the chicken with the marinate to the pan with salt and cook over low flame with lid for 15 - 20 min or till the chicken is done.
8. Add the tomato puree to the cooking chicken and cook for 5 min. 
9. Finally add the garam masala and cook till the oil separates out. 

    PADINA PULAV :-

1. Soak the rice in water for 2 hrs.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds and whole dried red chilli.As it start to spatter, add the soften rice and fry.
3. Mix the turmeric powder with little water and add it to the rice and fry well.
4. Chop the mint leaves roughly. Chop the green chilli to small size.Add them to the frying rice.
5. Fry till the minty smell is released.
6. Then add water and cook till the rice is ready.

         

That reminded of home, not that its anyway close to my Mom's but it OK FOR NOW .