Chicken Mania!

Although a vegetarian by choice, I am trying to cook chicken with the help of numerous food blogs and recipes online. One such recipe help me to cook a very delicious Kadai Chicken. The result was a delicious and lip-smacking dish for a perfect Sunday dinner. 

I did make certain alternations which may not be playing by the rules. In fact I made an error of adding water so as to let the chicken cook as I found the gravy a little dry-ish and it didn't change the taste of dish; so you can try that too. 

Kadai Chicken

Adapted and sourced from Yum! Yum! Yum!

Ingredients:
Cooking Time: 1-1.30 hours
Serves: 3 
Chicken - 500gms
Onion - 1 medium
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Tbsp 
Tomato - 2
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - 1 tsp
red chili powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Clove - 2
Cardamom - 1
Cinnamon - 2
Coriander Leaves - 1/3 cup

For Spice Powder:
Red Chili - 3 ( I used powder as I had ran out of whole red chili)
Coriander Seeds - 1 Tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Black Peppercorn - 10

Preparatory Steps:
Roast the ingredients under Spice Powder until golden color and grind them into fine spice powder. This is a must masala for Kadai Chicken. Freshly ground spice powder adds ethnic taste to this dish.

Method:

1. Heat the 1 tbsp oil in the thick bottom pan or iron skillet. Once the oil is hot, add clove, cardamom, cinnamon saute for 1 min. 
2. Add chopped onions to the pan, followed by ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder. Saute them for 2 min.
3. Add chopped tomato to the pan. Add salt and red chili powder and mix well and let it simmer for 2 min. 
4. Add half of the coriander and half of the freshly made spice powder to the gravy and saute for 2 min. 
5. Add Chicken pieces to the gravy and close the lid and let is simmer on medium heat for 15 min. Here is where I had half glass of water to cook the chicken.
6. Add the remaining spice powder and mix it well. Now keep the flame on high and cook for 5 min until chicken cooked properly. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Turn off the heat, transfer to serving bowl and garnish with other half of coriander.

Serve it with chapati or tandoori roti.

Serving Now: Interesting & New Menu at Spaghetti Kitchen

Serving Now: Interesting & New Menu at Spaghetti Kitchen

Italian cuisine has always been one of my favourites for its creamy & cheese-filled flavours. Hence when I got a chance to try to one of their new menus, I was pretty thrilled with the prospect. Also the knowledge that I would be getting a chance to meet Bill Marchetti, Chef of Spaghetti Kitchen and maestro when it comes to Italian cuisine. 

Spaghetti Kitchen's Nariman Point outlet is one of the 13 in the country. With its signature style, splendid hosts and charming chef, is a place that one must visit. The new menu is designed to floor not only the meat lovers but also us, vegetarians too. 

Bill, being a great host that he is, was quick to point out that the signature dishes on the new menu includes the pork ribs and chops. But for vegetarians too he has introduced some very unique Bruschettas like the one with Indian greens, artichokes and fava beans. 

The Risotto with sage, hazelnut sauce and walnuts was exquisite and extremely innovative. 

The four-cheese pizza which was served next was as delicious as the concoction of Parmesan, Mozzarella, Ricotta and Gorgonzola can be. 

Finally, the delightful meal was concluded with sinful Tiramisu. The chocolate chips, the hint of vodka, the caramel made this dessert into an actual 'lift-me-up'! 

I will surely be going back to Spaghetti Kitchen to try the delectable dishes on the new menu and for more helpings of the interesting Tiramisu. 

Here is an easy recipe of Tiramisu from Epicurean.com  which I tried to make this delicious dessert at home and the results were amazing:

Ingredients:

2 cups whipping or heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

4 tablespoons sugar

1 cup strong coffee or espresso

3 tablespoons of creme de cocoa, cognac, or brandy (can substitute strong coffee or espresso)

8 ounces of marscapone cheese

1/8 cup of cocoa powder

20 lady fingers or sponge cake

serving dish

Directions:

1. Whip 1 cup of the whipping cream into stiff peaks, refrigerate while completing the next steps. Add 2 tablesppons of sugar, or to taste.

2. In a separate bowl, whip the marscapone cheese, sugar and 2 tablespoons of cognac. Set aside.

3. Dip the top sides of 1/2 of the lady fingers in the coffee and place in the bottom of serving dish. You will need to cover the bottom of the dish, so only use as many lady fingers as needed to do so.

4. Take refrigerated whipped cream and fold into the cheese mixture.

5. Spread 1/3 of mixture over lady fingers and dust with cocoa powder.

6. Repeat steps 3 and 5, ending with the cheese mixture on top.

7. Take the reserved 1 cup of whipping cream and 2 tablespoons of sugar and whip till soft peaks are formed. Spread mixture over top of cheese layer and garnish with cocoa powder. 

7. Chill tiramisu for at least 2 hours before serving!

Garnish: Instead of using cocoa powder, you can use hershey's syrup or chocolate shavings. I prefer to use both the hershey's syrup and the cocoa powder. It's delicious!!

Pasta Fascination

I usually cant cook up a good red sauce pasta. So taking up this as a challenge and trying to hunt for the best, EASIEST as well as a rich creamy red sauce recipe , I stumbled through the page of BBC's recipes. After mixing and matching couple of ingredients and throwing some creativity in, I ended up with an edible dish of Pasta Arrabiata

Here is the recipe for all those amateurs Pasta makers :)

1 can of Del Monte Red Pasta Sauce ( Available at the super market near you)

4 cups of Penne ( or any pasta of your preference)

Mozzarella Cheese (the super market guy recommended this ;))

1 onion sliced

babycorn ( my creativity) (optional)

Mixed Herbs

Paprika

10 -12 cloves crushed Garlic

Black Olives (optional)

2-3 tbps virgin olive oil

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Firstly saute onions and garlic in olive oil till they are pinkish brown or till cooked. Simultaneously cook the pasta in boiling water and salt as per the instructions on the back of the pack. 

Once the onion-garlic mixture is cooked, add the tomato paste and let it simmer. Add the mozzarella cheese to the tomato paste. You will notice the paste getting thicker once the cheese melts. So you might want to add a little water to it which is optional. Add the boiled pasta and mix it well. After switching off the flame, sprinkle the pasta with herbs, paprika and olives.

Enjoy the pasta while its hot!

P.S. I had boiled babycorn alongwith the pasta and added it to the sauce. Lot of people might not want to add it.

My first blog post:

Thanks to all the food bloggers i have been interacting with at www.foodbuzz.com and the scrumptious recipes which has motivated me to join the food bloggers. The impending weekend and the awesome weather is just right for me to post delicious dessert recipe which i am planning to make today. i have sourced it from KeepItSweet. This heavenly dessert is called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars. I am sharing this amazing recipe hoping you will enjoy making it. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars

Servings: 12-16

Ingredients

• 1 batch prepared chocolate chip cookie dough (recipe below)
• 3 cups vanilla bean ice cream
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. Cover prepared cookie dough layer with vanilla ice cream; cover and freeze for an hour
2. Once ice cream is frozen, place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl
3. Melt chocolate in microwave in 30-second increments, stirring in-between
4. When chocolate is melted, spread evenly over ice cream layer, cover and re-freeze for an hour or until ready to serve
5. Cut into bars and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 tablespoons milk (I use skim)
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. To Make the Cookie Dough:
2. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy
3. Mix in milk
4. Gradually mix in flour and salt
5. Stir in chocolate chips
6. Press into a 9x9 pan lined with wax paper

 P.S. This recipe reminds of the Gelato of the same name that i keep relishing :)