Chicken Curry | Chicken Rasa Recipe

Now a days I like to make chicken curry/sabzi which can be eaten with just plain steamed rice so I don’t have to make any other side dish.  This curry fits the bill perfectly, after making few methods am set with this easy chicken curry as I am still learning to cook chicken and hopefully will make fish some day soon.   It goes well with plain rice, jeera rice, peas pulav or roti and taste delicious, without much effort.  Normally I use boneless chicken for any curry and the few pieces that comes with bone (though we buy bonelss!) make Chicken Clear Soup, two-in-one Try this simple chicken curry and I’m sure you will love this too.
Ingredients:
Oil - 3 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Tomato Puree - 2 tbsp
Water - 2-3 Cups
Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
Crushed Kasoori Methi - 1 tsp
Salt - To taste
Cilantro - 1 tbsp [chopped]
To Grind
Onion - 2 large
Green Chillies - 3
To Marinate
Chicken - 500 gms (used here boneless)
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
Coriander Seeds Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 2 tbsp



Method:

1. Wash chicken pieces and marinate with the ingredients listed under ‘to marinate’ and keep aside for 2 hours or until we are doing other prep work.  Minimum keep chicken marinated for 15 minutes.
2. Grind the items listed under ‘to grind’ and keep aside.
3. In a wok or pan heat oil add cumin and fennel seeds and let it splutter.  Add grounded onion paste and sauté until raw smell goes off and oil starts to leave start of wok/pan.
4. Add marinated chicken and mix well, cover and cook for 7-10 minutes in slow-medium flame or until chicken gets tender.
5. Add tomato puree and sauté for 2 minutes again.  Add water, mix gently and let it come to boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. 
6. Now add garam masala, kasoori methi and adjust salt if required, simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the consistency you want. 
If serving with rice you can keep gravy so it’s easy to eat, for roti/chapati/naan make it thick gravy or as you like. 


Have a nice day ~~

Pumpkin Dry Curry | Kaddu Ki Sabzi North India Style

I got introduced to pumpkin after marriage, DH started to bring pumpkin/kaddu and he makes good curry/sabji in few styles.  I wanted to blog this for so long and this time I decided to take few clicks before I dig-in .  This is first time I made kumhara/kaddu in a very simple method, though the peeling of Indian pumpkin is difficult as the skin is hard but then it’s worth it.  Sweet and sour this curry taste good with anything, we had with plain rice and dal, a simple and satisfying meal.

Ingredients: [Serves 4 people]
Pumpkin/Butternut Squash/Kaddu/ - 300gms
Oil - 3 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onion - 1 Large
Green Chillies - 3
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Minced Ginger-Garlic - 1 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp [1 tsp if you like spicy]
Coriander Seeds Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
Amchur/Dry Mango Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste



Method:
1. Wash, peel and chop pumpkin in bite size pieces, peel and slice onion, chop green chillies.
2. In a pan or wok heat oil, add cumin and fennel seeds and allow it to crack.  Add green chillies, ginger-garlic, curry leaves and sauté for 30 seconds.
3. Add onion and sauté until onion becomes light pink, add pumpkin pieces and mix well.  Cook for 5-7 minutes in slow flame. 
4. Add red chilli, coriander seeds and turmeric powder and stir.  Cover and cook for 2 minutes. 
5. Now add salt, garam masala and amchur powder and mix everything well, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes or until pumpkin is cooked well. 
Serve with roti/parata or pulav.



Have a nice day ~~

Happy Makar Sankranti ~ Pongal

 

Makar Sankranti/Pongal Wishes to All

Sweet Potato Halwa | Shakarkhand Halwa Recipe

I like sweet potato and to eat it just plain boiled, but for DH he likes sweet potato halwa, I came to know there is also halwa made of shakarkhand/sarkaraivalli kizhangu from him only.  But I always make him eat boiled sweet potato and for a change I thought of making halwa for the year’s last day to end the year with a sweet note.  This halwa is one of the easy halwa to prepare and doesn’t take much effort, sweet potato or sharkarkand halwa is famous during fasting. 

This is one of the healthy halwa to eat as sugar and ghee is minimal use, also I used dates to further reduce sugar  and sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B_6.  Make sure to sauté/fry the mashed potatoes it gives good texture and flavour, try this halwa this Makar Sankranthi/Pongal for a change.


Ingredients: [Serves 4-5]
Sweet Potato  - 400gms
Milk - 1 Cup
Sugar - 4 tbsp [ or to taste, depends sweetness of sweet potato]
Ghee - 3-4 tbsp
Chopped Nuts - 3 tbsp [I used almonds, cashews and pista]
Chopped Dates - 3 tbsp [optional]

Method:
1. Wash, boil sweet potatoes for 2 whistles, allow the cooker to release pressure. You can also cook sweet potatoes in microwave for 10-12 minutes or until tender with little water. When cool, peel and mash sweet potatoes well.

2. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom or non-stick pan/wok. Fry mashed sweet potatoes, stirring frequently, until ghee begins to separate. Halwa taste better if fried well.

3. Meanwhile in a another pan boil milk and let it simmer until it’s required to use.
4. Add sugar to sweet potatoes and cook stirring continuously for 2-3 minutes. Now add milk and mix well and cook in medium flame until milk absorbs and halwa starts to leave side of pan. 

5. Add dry fruits, dates and mix well to combine everything and cook for 2 more minutes.  Off flame and let the halwa stand for 5 minutes.

Serve hot/warm and enjoy the delicious shakarkand halwa. 

Note:
1. Dates add nice flavour and more sweetness to halwa, try adding it and reduce sugar.
2. Sugar quantity depends on sweetness of potato, you can check the sweetness and add more sugar if required.
3. You can add 1/2 tsp cardamom powder in step 5, but then it’s not really needed.  The halwa taste good with out it.
Have a nice day ~~

Spaghetti with Spinach Pesto Recipe

Remember my Orange Marble Cake and Tutti Frutti Cookies?  Well, I made also spaghetti with spinach pesto for main course.  I like pesto and to make our own pesto it’s wonderful, since it’s difficult and also expensive to get fresh basil leaves in Singapore I try different pesto and this spinach pesto I adapted from Prathibha’s Spinach Pesto Penna Pasta, I made the pesto in simple and quick method to suit my needs.


The pesto was smooth, creamy, rich and delicious, not to mention healthy too and that’s the reason it become hit among friends, they really loved it.  The colour of pesto depends on what kind of spinach we use, I use round spinach here and not the Indian dark green spinach.  This is a wonderful lunch box recipe, add colourful veggie like carrot, bell peppers, mushroom etc for kids. Here I used wheat pasta but you can use any pasta of your choice and it’s very easy and quick to prepare so looking at the method do not think it’s a long procedure.


Ingredients:

For Spinach Pesto [ serves 4-5]
Spinach - 1 Medium Bunch
Parsley - 1 small bunch [ around 10-12 stalks]
Walnut - 1/4 Cup [ you can also use pine nut or almonds]
Olive Oil - 1/4 Cup
Parmesan Cheese - 1/4 Cup [ cheddar cheese is fine too]
Garlic - 2 pods
Fresh Grounded Pepper - 1 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp [ I didn’t use]
Salt - to taste
Water - to blanch spinach
For Pasta Assembly
Spaghetti - 3/4 of pack or as needed
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp [ I used extra virgin]
Minced Garlic - 2 pods
Finely Chopped Carrot - 1
Sliced Capsicum - 1 [or half of green/yellow/red colours]
Italian Herbs - 1 tsp
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Water - To boil pasta


Method:

For Cooking Pasta
1. Follow the instruction on pack or in a large pot boil water, add salt, 1 tsp oil add spaghetti or pasta and cook over medium flame for 10-12 minutes or until pasta gets cooked but not over-cooked.
2. Reserve 1 cup of water and drain rest of it, give spaghetti a cold bath ie keep under tap water and toss it, keep aside until ready to use.
~ If you are using the cooked pasta after couple of hours then every 1/2 hour keep the pasta under tap and toss it to keep it separated. 
For Pesto
As the pasta is getting cooked, prepare the pesto.
1. Boil water in a large pot, add salt and washed, chopped spinach and blanch (cook) for 2 minutes.  Drain and rinse under tap water.
2. Blend spinach with all other ingredients for pesto into smooth sauce.  The texture of sauce will be little coarse and that’s fine. 
~ Add 2-3 tbsp of reserve water if required while blending.


For Assembly
1. In a pan heat oil, add garlic and sauté until golden brown, add capsicum and carrot and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until it’s gets cooked.
2. Add pesto and give a stir, now add 1/2 to 1 cup of pasta cooked reserve water (depends on how thick you like your sauce, I added 3/4 cup) and bring it to boil.  Add herbs, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Now add cooked pasta or spaghetti and mix everything well, off flame Or while serving add the sauce on top of spaghetti. 
Our pasta is ready, have it with drink of your choice.


Notes:
~ Add 1tsp chilli flakes if you like during the assembly.
~ Top up the pasta with 1-2 tbsp of parmesan cheese in the end.
~ You can skip the assembly part cooking, ie just add the pesto with cooked pasta. It also taste good.
~ Use the pesto by next day if refrigerated.
Have a nice day ~~

Chicken Clear Soup | Oil Free Cooking

After chocolate walnut cookies, I thought of posting this easy chicken soup recipe which can be made in jiffy.  This chicken soup is very simple and best for any day whether summer, winter or rain.  If having cold/cough it’s good to have this soup too.  If you are making any chicken dish, just take few chicken pieces with bones are good for this and make the soup.  With extra dose of fresh crushed pepper this soup taste very delicious and honey adds sweetness plus it’s good for throat.  As the fresh chicken leaves it’s oil by itself this soup doesn’t require oil or butter too.  You can also add chopped carrot, peas etc.  Try this simple and easy chicken soup, perfect for kids or adults. 


Ingredients: [Serves 2-3]
Chicken Pieces- 1/2 cup
Minced Ginger-Garlic - 1 tsp
Chopped Cilantro - 2 tsp
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Water - 3 cups
Honey - 2-3 tsp

Method:
1. Add everything except honey in a pot/wok/pan bring it to boil and simmer until chicken gets cooked around 10 minutes/
2. Divide the soup in 2-3 bowls and add 1 tsp honey in each bowl before serving. 
Have this soup hot and relish. 

Have a nice day ~~

Eggless Chocolate Walnut Cookies | Brownie Cookies Recipe

To mark start of the year I’m posting this soft, crunchy and delicious Eggless Chocolate Walnut Cookies.  I like to bake cookies more than cake as you can see I have few cookie recipes posted, this is again one of the easy eggless cookie recipe & I baked this cookies for my nephew as for him anything as to be chocolate like I made for him Eggless Chocolate Cookies and Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies.  But for me more than chocolate walnut cookies it’s like Brownie cookies, as it taste like brownie, soft, dense and delicious.



Honey can be good sweetener in baking cause of it’s rich flavour and texture, cause of honey the cookie stays moist & edges doesn’t becomes hard/crisp and walnut gives the good crunch.  These cookies are so simple to prepare with minimal ingredients and can be put together in around 20 minutes.   Double the recipe to bake this for large batch, but I suggest start with the listed quantity, this cookie recipe is so easy that it actually doesn’t require step wise pictures, just put everything together, mix and bake..can it get simple than this?



You can dust the cookies with icing sugar for festive season like Christmas and New Year, if you wish or have it as it is.   I personally like these beauties as this so I dusted the sugar to only one cookie.




Ingredients:
[Makes 12-15 cookies]

Plain Flour - 1 Cup
Brown Sugar - 1/4 Cup
Cocoa Powder - 1 tbsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Honey - 1/3 Cup
Vegetable Oil - 1/4 Cup
Vanilla Extract/Essence - 1 tsp
Chopped Walnut - 1/3 Cup
Icing Sugar - To dust cookies [optional]



Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180C or 350F.
2. Ina bowl whisk together plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder & soda, sugar and salt. 
3. In another bowl whisk oil, honey and vanilla extract well until everything is combine.  Add this to flour mixture and mix everything well until smooth dough forms. 
~ If the dough is sticky then add 1-2 tbsp of plain flour and mix again.  If you think moisture is more then refrigerate the dough for 20-30 minutes and then bake.
4. Now add chopped walnut and mix well again. Divide the dough into equal portion of 12 to 15 pieces and shape into rounds. 
5. Place a inch apart these on a baking tray line with baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges becomes light brown.  Cool completely on wire rack and store.
~ Keep a eye on cookies after 10 minutes.
Dust the cookies with powder sugar to make it look snowball cookies.
Due to honey these cookies stays fresh @ room temperature even after 2 weeks, but during summer you may want to store this in fridge.

Have a look at the texture.



Note:
~ Press the cookie dough to flat and then bake if you wish or just leave it round and bake, while it’s baking it forms the shape.
~ You can add 1/3 cup of chocolate chip for the extra chocolate kick, add together with walnut.
~ If you don’t like chocolate then ignore the cocoa powder and make it as walnut cookies. 
~ If you don't want to bake the cookies immediately then wrap the bowl with a cling, refrigerate and bake when ready.


Want to have a bite?   And these cookies goes to Srav's Chocolate Fest Event.



Have a nice day and year ahead ~~

Happy New Year 2012

Wishing all readers a very Happy, Prosperous &Peaceful New Year

Remember the laughter,
the joy,
the hard work,
and the tears.
And as you reflect on the past year,
also think of the new one to come.
Because most importantly,
this is a time of new beginnings
and the celebration of life.
Wish You a Happy New Year!

Rendezvous 2011

First thing first, a very warm Birthday wishes to dear Mr & Mrs. Parsai. Happy Birthday sweetest Sonal....Tum Jeeyo Hazaron Saal, Yeh Meri Hai Aarzoo ~~
One more year coming to end and overall it has been a fabulous year, towards the end of year things started to fall in place @ work front, new challenges which is actually exciting and I am all gear up for the coming year.  But here we are talking about 2011, few changes happened & I came out of my comfort zone.  And for blogging it has be a great year.  In my 3 and half years of blogging this 2011 is the year I blogged the most with less breaks and posted around 100+ recipes way ahead of my normal posts per year.  Like every year this year also I planned to do a roundup posts, but for a change discussed the same with Prathibha, Lubna and Deepa and come up with idea of posting a recipe of each month. 
Joyful January
After a long break in 2010, I started blogging for Jan with a bang, I posted few of my favourite recipes like Kofta Makhani, Beetroot Dal but then the highlight has to be Litti a traditional recipe and must during winters, served with lot of ghee and chokha it’s a wonderful meal, have it once you will become fan. 

Fabulous February
Almond Chocolate Puff pastry  is a simple recipe which looks and taste delicious.  It’s a easy recipe, can be prepared in a jiffy, try this n impress your family and friends.

Marvellous March
 Savoury Barley Cookies is eggless, made wheat flour & barley flour and no sugar, can it get better than this?  A perfect tea time partner. 

Awesome April
During Cricket Worldcup we had fun @ facebook and a bunch of gals decided to post some snacks to munch during finals, I made Palak Dhokla along with Beets n Carrot Juice for guilt free munchies and yahh we won the world cup, what a joy!

Mighty May
Next up is Vegetable Momos a famous Indo-Chinese recipe and it’s difficult to say no to this.  Another my favourite recipe of this month is Aam ka Achar.

Juicy June
This year Jun I celebrated blog 3rd anniversary with this butter/ghee free, sugar free and delicious sweet Anjeer Khajoor Roll aka Dry Figs, dates and nuts roll. It’s yum and yet so healthy, a must try.

I can’t help but also mention Vanilla Cake with Cream Frosting which I made for my friend’s anniversary, a simple n beautiful cake.

Just July
This year I posted 4 soup recipes, quite a achievement for me and in all I love Spring Onion & Peas Soup, a wonderful combo results in delicious soup, my trial well paid off.  The cute little biscuit on side is Italian Pepper Biscuits, it goes so well with any soup, tea/coffee and if you like savoury biscuit then you have to try this as it’s so simple and delightful.

Adorable August
Though I like few recipes from Aug but Apple Compote Financiers is special, it’s pretty, delicious, something different and trust me it’s so easy to make. 

Sweet September
When I posted Murukku Sandwich little I knew that it will become so famous, I received so many query and feedback.  It’s a fabulous party finger food.

Overdose October
True to the name Oct month was overdose with all my favourite post and few very near to my heart. For the festive season, Diwali, Karwa Chuath, Navratri along with the colourful fruit trifle, traditional and very famous Tirunelveli wheat halwa the one recipe that I took proud was Badam Katli, so easy yet so rich.

Nostalgic November
Yet again as the name November was nostalgic for me as I was back from my India trip and with the hangover didn’t blog much but manage to post our personal favourite chat recipe ~ Radga Patties.  It’s difficult to say no to this…just yum!

Delightful December
A delightful month for me for sure, along with my birthday and our anniversary December month also has lot of family members birthday too plus I always love the festive mood, to continue the mood presenting Paneer Butter Masala.

This was year 2011 and wish to be back with more interesting and colourful recipes in 2012.

Have a nice day ~~