Chicken Haleem with Oats

Oats haleem for Iftar today :)

So if you find yourself having left over chicken, what do you do? You make a soup or better yet, oats haleem with it!

Take out the bones from the chicken. If your chicken is in curry form, you don't need the following:

Ginger garlic paste,

Onions,

Red chilli powder

If it's plain chicken, then add the above items and fry till onions turn soft.

If its' curry leftovers, you only need the following:

Lemon juice - to taste

Mint and Coriander leaves - chopped

Green chilli, finely chopped - to taste

Chicken stock - optional

Oats

Put the chicken into a pot, add the green chillies. Add chicken stock or water. One cup per person. Add coriander and mint leaves, lemon juice and salt if required. The chicken stock usually has sufficient salt in it.

Once the liquid boils, add the oats - about 1/2 cup per person, and allow to cook for 10 min. The consistency will be quite thick. Take it out of the stove and allow to cool. Then mash it up a little bit, and you will notice that it becomes a bit sticky in nature, haleem-style.

And thats it. Serve hot with fried onions and a wedge of lemon. Bismillah!

Vegetarian Panna Cotta with home-made Mango Jam

Most of us know this recipe. The Indian version actually. We actually call it "China Grass" for some reason. And the best part! It's vegetarian!!! I know it is a hassle for many to get hands on halal/kosher/vegetarian gelatin, so use Agar-Agar instead. Very simple. Very easy.

What you need:

500 ml of full cream milk (Half and Half if you can get your hands on it)

250 ml of agar agar (boiled and strained to remove any lumps)

1 cup sugar

2-3 drops of vanilla essence (Vanilla bean if you can get your hands on it)

Warm milk just up-to the point before it starts boiling. You don't want to boil it. Add sugar and dissolve. Add the strained agar agar liquid. Add the vanilla. Pour into molds. Allow to cool. Put it into the fridge for 4-5 hrs to set. Yay! It's done.

I'll put up the recipe for Mango Jam later on. You can serve with any fruit, or caramel, or honey, maple syrup...whatever moves you to tears.... 

Oh, what are those crystals you say? That is just clear agar agar with sugar and some cardamom powder for flavour. Totally optional. :D

Carrot Coriander Soup

So here’s a simple recipe that I tried out in just 15 minutes (one of Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipes). Most soups can be made with the same base – garlic, peppercons, bay leaf and any vegetable of your choice. Go on!! Try it!! 

Carrot Coriander Soup

You would need a teaspoon of peppercorns and a bay leaf.

Some garlic cloves, 5-6 would suffice.

 Around 400 gms of carrots and a medium sized onion.

Chop up the onion and the carrots.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pressure cooker. A heavy bottomed pot would do.

Add the peppercorns, garlic cloves, bay leaf and onions. 

Fry till the onions are golden brown. They should be soft by now.
Add the carrots to the pot.

Add a fresh bunch of coriander leaves along with the stems.

Add some water and allow to pressure cook for 10 min.

Allow to cool and then puree everything.

Transfer back to pot, add salt and pepper to taste. Add water to correct the consistency. Allow to boil.

And that’s it! Add a few drops of lemon. Serve hot. Some garlic bread would be nice.
And don’t forget to say Bismillah :D

Carrot Coriander Soup

Quick reference:

1 tbsp butter or ghee
5-6 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
5-6 garlic cloves
500 gms carrots
Coriander leaves with stems
Salt to taste
White pepper
Lemon

Method:
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pressure cooker. Add the peppercorns, garlic cloves and bay leaf. Chop up the onion and add it to the pot. Fry till the onions are golden brown. Roughly chop the carrots and add them to the pot. Add a fresh bunch of coriander leaves along with the stems. Add some water and allow to pressure cook for 10 min. Allow to cool and puree everything.

Chocolate Cake

Two things I have to say, my friends, just two things.

Homemade butter

and

Homemade sour cream

Those are the two awesomest ingredients that went into the awesomest chocolate cake.

It was hence, truly awesome.

 

Here's what you need:
1 cup plain floor

1 1/2 cups sugar (powdered or castor)
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
1 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and flour the baking tin, I used a 19 inch round casserole dish.

Make sure that the ingredients are at room temperature. Combine the dry stuff. Beat the wet stuff. Alternate and fold in the dry and the wet stuff.

Confused?

Oh come on, you guys!

What I mean is: Alternate the egg mixture (eggs, butter) to the flour mixture (flour, sugar, baking powder and soda) and fold in gently to avoid lumps. Okay?

Seriously! *Mumble Mumble.*

Once the batter is nice and smooth, pour into the cake tin in two batches. 25 min each should do it. Add 5 more if not done. Use the toothpick method to check if cake is done. Insert and if there’s no batter sticking to it, it’s done. Allow to cool between the bakes.

You can have the rest of the batter, if you like. No one's looking.
Now, prepare the icing:

The Icing:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter
Semi sweet chocolate chips
Hershey’s chocolate syrup
2 tsp cocoa powder
2-3 tbsp sugar

Combine ingredients. Warm a little untill all is dissolved. Keep stirring and remove from flame. Cool. I put it in the refrigerator for a while and it thickened. Once the cake is cool enough, apply a thin layer of icing on the first cake. Use a plate to carefully flip the other cake on top. Pour remaining icing over the cake and use a spatula to even out the surface. Voila!

Allow the icing to set. I had to refrigerate it again for a few min. That’s it. Serve with some extra icing or chocolate sauce. Yum.

The icing will taste sweet, but it’s alright. It will taste just right with the cake.

 

Those are not my fingers, for your kind information.

Moong dal Halwa

I had this recipe book in my room since a long time. Never bothered to look through it much before. But recently I wanted to see if I could try something out since it was written by Sanjeev Kapoor(you know, the smiley guy who comes on Zee). :D I tried out two recipes from there so far and both were lip smackin good. Not sure how many of you have heard of moong dal halwa before but it really is quite an interesting sweet to make. I've usually had moong dal as a savoury dish, but this was the first time I had it sweet. Try it out!

What you need:

Moong dal/ Spilt green gram, skinless 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Saffron a generous pinch
Milk 1/2 cup
Mawa (khoya) 3/4 cup
Ghee 1 cup
Almonds 10-12

Preparation

Wash and soak the moong dal for six hours. Grind coarsely using very little water. 

 

Prepare one string syrup with sugar and one cup of water. 

 Soak saffron in some milk.

If you got mawa or half and half with you, then crumble it all into fine granules and keep aside. I made my own mawa by boiling milk for a long long time till it reduced to a thick consistency.

 

Blanch almonds in boiling hot water for five minutes. Cool, peel and cut them into fine slivers.

Heat Ghee in a thick-bottomed pan and add the ground moong dal.

Keep stirring over a low flame till the dal turns a lovely golden brown. Please dont get tempted to hurry through this.

This will take a while. So please be patient and do not rush through this step. 

 Dont be too patient please. Keep an eye on it.

Add the sugar syrup and saffron milk, stir till they are thoroughly incorporated and the halwa is of dropping consistency. Add mawa and cook till it dissolves.

Notice how the colour is now a deep golden brown.

Serve hot, garnish with almonds.

Thank you Sanjeev Kapoor.

P.S: it's quite yummy when served hot with roti or poori. Enjoy!

Chocolate Brownie

Right then, so I had a big smile on my face. Why? I had just bought 3 bars of dark chocolate.

3 bars!!! of Dark Chocolate! You know what that means, don't you?

Brownieeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!

I was about to make my very first batch of chocolate brownies. I used to dream about this day. Yes yes, my precioussss....my first browniesssss.

So I checked with Jamie Oliver. And went about gathering the ingredients as mentioned in his website. Why Jamie Oliver? Coz he's cute.

Just kiddin, coz that's one of the searches the googleman showed me.

Anyway, so I was too excited to click some pictures of the whole baking process. I had to get the batter into the oven and get my gums into all that lovely stuff asap.

So enjoy the recipe from Jamie Oliver's website. I skipped all the optional stuff, so you can too. It was brilliant. Warm, chocolatey, gooey, yummy, crispy on the top, soft in the centre. It was perfect. :D

Sniff, *wipes away a tear* :)

Bloomin Brilliant Brownies

Cabbage with yogurt

So, the other day, when I came across this recipe in the newspaper, I was excited. Excited because I was curious. Curious as to how the yoghurt would go with the cabbage. And I tried it out. This recipe is a must-try. It's meant to be served with roti, but I couldn't help myself guzzling it down by itself. It's so yummy.

And so healthy. I dare all you cabbage-haters to try it.....Go ahead!

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Peanut Oil or Canola oil: 2tbsp

Black mustard seeds: 2 tsp

Urad dal: 2 tsp

or 1 tsp each of urad dal and channa dal

Cumin seeds, lightly toasted and ground: 1 1/2 tsp

Dried red chillies: 2

or 1/4 or 1/2 tsp cayenne

Ground coriander seeds: 2 tsp

Turmeric: 1/2 tsp

Medium onion, cut in half root to stem, then thinly sliced across the grain: 1

Small cabbage cored and shredded: 1

Salt to taste

Grated coconut (to taste): 3-4 tbsp

Plain low-fat yogurt: 1 cup

Method:

Heat the oil over medium heat in a wok or skillet, and add the mustard seeds and dal. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, and the cumin, chillies or cayenne, coriander seeds and turmeric. Stir together, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, about three minutes. Add the cabbage. Cook, stirring, for one minute, until it begins to wilt. Salt generously ,stir together, cover and the turn the heat to low.

Cook for about eight minutes until the cabbage is just tender. Stir in the coconut, taste and adjust seasoning. Keep warm. Place the yogurt in a bowl, and place the bowl in a pot of hot water. Stir until the yogurt is warm. Scrape into the pan with the cabbage and fold in. Serve warm with rice.

Thank you Madhur Jaffrey