Spicy okra stir fry and a poll if you please!

Mondays are so blah, right? Its the start of another boring week and you are still in that chilled out weekend mode that you don't want to do anything...at least that's how I feel. Friday's however are the most active of days, and I always want to make something special or do an extra hour work out session at the gym. Today when I woke up I had major plans...I was supposed to go watch this Brit movie Tamara Drewe (cos Ro thought it was a chick flick), hit the gym, head to the library and then come home and make a pie for dinner, in that order precisely! Didn't do any of those, but sit on the couch, chat with friends online, check the movie time every half hour saying id go for the next show and was on skype with my folks. By the time I decided to head for the 4.10 movie at 4.05 (the movie hall is a hop, skip and jump away btw!), it started raining, well drizzling actually, but obviously that made the decision for me and I stayed at home. I was even lazy to make dinner and lucky for me there were leftovers and some okra which I thought I'd work on at about 6.

Strangely this stir fry ended up to be an awesome one, considering I didn't really pay much attention to the process. So before I forgot, I had to write this one too. 

Okra- 175 gms, washed and cut into 1 inch pieces

Besan flour- 2 tbsp

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida- a pinch

Cumin powder- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves- a sprig

Oil- 1 1/2 tbsp

In a large bowl stir together all the powders, add the cut okra, toss it around making sure it is coated well. Keep aside.

In a frying pan heat the oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the curry leaves, stir for a few seconds.

Dump the entire okra mix into the oil and keep stir frying on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or till the sliminess has disappeared.

Reduce heat to medium and continue sauteing at intervals till it is cooked through.

The 'crunchy goodies' as Ro calls it, is the best

Serve hot with rice or rotis, as a side.

Now coming to the poll...I was just wondering what it is that attracted you to my blog and have created a poll on the top of the side bar. I would really appreciate it if you guys took a moment and marked the appropriate box, or if that's too much of a pain for you, just leave a comment will ya?

Call it mid blogging crisis or whatever, I am actually in two minds about this space and wanted to figure a few things which you guys might help me figure and hence the poll..hope I'm not bugging you too much. Thanks in advance.

Welcoming Autumn with Chicken pot pie

Autumn is definitely here, I can vouch for that. Restaurants have even started advertising Christmas lunches and I have started seeing meat pies and the like in supermarkets.

After a spectacular and busy summer, we are back to gloomy, windy and rainy days. As strange as it sounds, I must say, I LOVE IT. Its time for soups, stews and one pot meals which brings us to this brilliant British delicacy....Chicken pot pie. This is one of Nigella Lawson's super easy recipes and I'm completely in love with the outcome. One thing I like about her is how she makes the process so simple, yet the outcome is extraordinary. This is an awesome brunch dish especially if you have a roll of puff pastry at hand. If you serve them in individual ramekins, its a perfect one pot dish. Yummeeeee!

Chicken breasts/ thighs- 250gms, boneless, cut into bite size pieces

Plain flour- 2 1/2 tbsp

Dried thyme- 1/2 tsp

Bacon rashers- 3 to 4

Onion- 1, roughly chopped

Butter- 1 tsp

Chestnut mushrooms- 125 gms, washed and dried

Green peas- 100 gms

Chicken stock- 325 ml

Freshly ground pepper- to taste

Salt- to taste

Olive oil- 1 tsp

Puff pastry- 2 rectangular size sheets, rolled

Put the diced chicken breasts, flour and dried thyme together in a zip lock bag and coat the chicken as evenly as possible. Keep aside.

Meanwhile, slice the bacon rashers with a pair of scissors and fry them till well done. Reserve the oil, but drain the pieces on a kitchen towel if you are feeling a bit psyched about the excess oil.

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the olive oil and bacon oil and sauté the onions till light brown.

Use the same scissors and slice the mushrooms and drop them directly into the pan along with the onion. Let them sweat it out for a while in there.

Add the fried bacon to this and sauté for about a minute or so. Season with salt and pepper if required.

In goes the butter. Once that melts, add the chicken slices and green peas and stir around a bit so that the flour and the onion mix are all well combined.

Add the chicken stock and on medium heat let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add more thyme if required at this stage. I did!

Get the pastry ready by that time. If you need to roll it out do so. I used already rolled out puff pastry, cut it in half and used it.

Assembling:

Divide the chicken gravy between individual ramekins (or a big casserole dish) till about 3/4th full.

Wet the rims with water, cut a few thin strips off the pastry and crown the ramekins (as shown in the pic below).

Cut a rough circle from the remaining pastry and place them carefully over the ramekin, covering the top fully.

With a fork, make pretty designs around it just to let the pastry puff up and also, like Nigella says, it looks pretty.

Its ok if the puff pastry is uneven, the more rustic the better. It gives that homely look you know :)

Make sure you pierce a few holes to let off steam.

Place the ramekins on a baking tray and shove it into an oven pre-heated at 220C for about 30 minutes or till the pastries are nice and puffed.

Break the crunchy pastry into the hot chicken gravy, and dig in I say :)

You can of course add a few slices of garlic bread as well.

Notes: The veg. version would be to omit the chicken and probably add spinach or corn.

If you want it a wee bit spice, feel free to add some chilli powder :)

French Yoghurt cupcakes with glazed icing

If someone said, 'bake me a cake as fast as you can,' then these lil darlings will save your day. It was all done in under half an hour, not to mention the use of very few cooking vessels making cleaning up easy as well. Soft and spongy and melt in your mouth, they taste delicious even the next day. These cakes also act as a great base for upside down cakes as well..you get a very pudding like consistency which I love.

There was something to celebrate in our lives today and since I wanted to do something special, other thank popping open a bottle of bubbly, these cupcakes which took very lil time was the perfect end to a glorious meal.

Makes 6 large cupcakes

Granulated sugar- 1/2 cup

Eggs- 2 small

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Plain yoghurt- 1/4 cup

All purpose flour- 1/2 cup

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Salt- a pinch

Flavourless oil- 1/4 cup

In a mixing bowl whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and yoghurt till well combined and a pale yellow..approx 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.

Add the oil and fold in lightly, don't have to whisk vigorously.

Arrange 6 muffin liners on to a muffin tray and pour the batter 3/4th full.

Place in a pre-heated oven (175C) and bake for 20 to 22 minutes.

Take them out and leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.

While the cake is baking, make the glaze

Icing sugar- 1/2 cup

Milk- 1 tbsp

Red food colour- a tiny drop

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and keep stirring over a water bath (boiling water) until smooth and the coats the back of your spoon.

Once the cakes have cooled down, pour the glaze over the cupcakes.

I used very little since i don't like it too sweet.

Steamed rice with chicken

Saturday night dinner out was sorta like a tradition when we were small and there is this hotel in Trivandrum (where I'm from) called Horizon which was our favourite joint at that time. We used to go there every other week and had this standard fare we'd order one of which was, 'Steamed rice with chicken.'

Then we grew up, went to college and was too embarrassed for family dinners. The Taj and the Leela's set their foot in Trivandrum and Horizon was long forgotten, well at least my brother and myself did. On our visits back to Trivandrum, we always chose Taj or the newer hang outs over Horizon and always complained about the food. Horizon had the yummiest Chinese grub and my dad, till today, would only agree for a dinner out if it was at Hotel Horizon. We used to always argue with him saying we needed variety and what was so great about Horizon, any way.

I got the answer yesterday when it was pouring outside and one of those Horizon dinners came to my mind. I had this weird craving for some steamed rice with chicken and immediately called up home, in spite of it being 11pm in India. My mom had tried to recreate it at home quite a few times and even though it wasn't exactly the same, we were all mighty pleased with the outcome. Mom gave me the recipe and procedure and I created the Horizon masterpiece yesterday at home. All through dinner I kept telling Ro that the next time we head to Trivandrum, we are definitely going to Horizon and gorge on their tasty Chinese food. Dad, if you are reading this, I will never question you about Horizon ever again :)

For the marinade:

Chicken breasts- 300gms, cleaned and cut into bite size cubes

Dark sauce sauce- a generous dash

Pepper powder- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Ginger- a fat 1 inch piece, julienned

Garlic- 4 big pods, roughly chopped

Carrot- 1 medium size, chopped in circles

Green chillies- 2, slit lengthwise

Chicken stock- 2 cups

Corn flour- 2 tsp

Spring onions- 3 medium size stalks, trimmed, greens and whites chopped lengthwise

Celery- 1 stick (optional)

Soy sauce- 1 tsp

Pepper powder- to taste

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Basmati rice- 1 1/2 cups, cooked as per instructions, with enough salt

These chubby chillies are from my garden..well er, actually I now have a garden because I flicked a whole lotta plants from my cousin relocating to Aussie land ;)

Marinate the chicken pieces with soy sauce, salt and pepper and keep in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

In a wok, heat the oil and add the ginger, garlic and green chillies, sauté till they turn a light brown.

Add the soy sauce and let it lightly start to boil and at that stage add the sliced carrots and mix it all together.

Add the marinated chicken pieces and on high heat stir fry for 4 to 5 minutes till they become light brown.

Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook the chicken till well done.

Mix the corn flour with the stock and add to the wok.

Season with salt (check and then add) and pepper, stir well and cook on high.

Add half of the spring onions and celery (if adding) and continue cooking till the gravy thickens a bit.

Just before you take it off the flame, add the remaining spring onions, give one final stir and serve on top of the steamed rice.

Its a perfect Autumn meal I would say:)

Notes: Its OK if you don't have time to marinate the chicken for an hr...the 15 minute or so you take to prepare the previous steps is sufficient enough

I used 2 Maggi chicken cubes, diluted it in 2 cups warm water and used as stock. Veg stock is good enough

I didn't have so omitted it.

Be very careful while adding salt, because the stock and soy sauce may have enough and more. If its too much, reduce the salt that goes into the rice.

For a veg. option, use mushrooms and corn, but whatever it is add loads of spring onions which impart that particular flavour,

Cake Pops

Of course everyone knows Bakerella who introduced cake pops to the blog world. I love going through her website and just gawking at those numerous recipes and ideas and reading all the fun stuff. It was when I saw a video promo of her recipe book that I decided I had to try the pops. She made it look so goddamn easy that I would be a fool to not try out something so easy and incredibly cute. Boy was I wrong...the easy part still in tact, but the fool I am, decided to act all brave and try a few extra stunts, only to goof up big time, waste ingredients, time and energy and by the end of it something as easy as making pops turned out to be a time consuming, nail biting, husband torturing experience. The outcome was brilliant, but not one I enjoyed so much after the goof ups. 

Note to self: always stick to the recipe and don't ask the husband for help when the whole process involves melted chocolate.

For starters, I just couldn't find candy melts in any of the stores, second, I couldn't find lollipop sticks unless I decided to buy a packet of 50 lollipops, threw away the hard candy and preserved the stick (not a great idea..yes, but it did cross my mind you know) and third, no styrofoam to hold the pops. Whined about my 'issues' to Ro and obviously 'Mr. know it all' had all the answers and solutions. He asked me to use chocolate instead of the melt and so I decided to use white chocolate. For the sticks, he nicely cut out our left over bbq skewers into equal halves and for the styrofoam bit, he spent some half hour making holes on a cardboard piece which would then hold the pops. Yeah yeah he's brilliant, I know!

But the problem arose when I decided to act a lil smart and pour some double cream into the melted choc and there...it curdled..it frikking curdled. I almost cried. Threw away that entire set and rushed to the nearest grocery store, picked up a bar and hurried back. Again, the smart ass that I am, wanted a pink  pop and decided to add some red food colouring to the melted choc...this time a lil part of my brain was working and so I at least had the common sense to take a spoon full of melted choc and try it out first. Lucky I did that, cos that curdled too. So my idea for pink pops were down the drain. So white it was and I must say, it still looked so awesomely pretty.

Any flavour cake- 1/4 kg (250gms) (I used a golden syrup cake)

Philadelphia Cream Cheese- 100gms, at room temperature

White chocolate bar- 150 gms

Lollipop sticks- 16 (I used wooden skewers, cut in half)

Styrofoam- to stick the pops in for drying (used a cardboard with holes in them)

If you are baking a cake, wait for it to cool completely and then crumble it in a large mixing bowl (you can also wince a bit while doing this to a perfectly baked cake)

Add the cream cheese frosting to this and mix thoroughly with your hand (so you can lick it later), without leaving any specks of cream cheese.

Keep a baking tray with baking paper ready and roll the mix into small balls and place them on the tray. I got about 16 of them, but it would depend on what size you want really.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. I kept mine over night. Bakerella says you can even freeze it to speeden up this process

Break up the white chocolate and melt them in a bowl over boiling water or in a microwave as per instructions. 

Dip one end of the stick into the melted chocolate, shake off excess and insert it onto the rolled cake balls carefully, going a lil less than half way.

Holding the stick, dip the ball into the melted chocolate till it is fully covered, rotate to have an even coating, tap off the extra chocolate gently...not too hard because the cake can fall off (trust me, I know) and fix them on the styrofoam piece or onto a cardboard on anything that can hold it upright.

I chucked it immediately into the refrigerator for it to harden a bit.

If you want to add a few sprinklers do so after you have dipped it in the chocolate, because then, it will stick on easily. 

And like Bakerella, you can of course paint away ..anything you want. I definitely didn't have the patience after all that drama.

Notes: What you need to do is crumble an already made cake and then make balls out of it. Now who would want to painstakingly bake a cake only to crush it and crumble it? Not me for sure. So I used a store bought cake and continued with the steps involved. You are free to bake any flavour cake you like and then use the same. I just wasn't sure I'd go ahead with the crumbling bit once I made a pretty, fluffy cake. Didn't want to take any chances there. Also, I was lazy. I used a golden syrup cake for the pops and paired it with a white choc covering. Since the cake is your own choice, I decided not to pass on a recipe as such, but you can follow it from here if you are interested though.

Do check out Bakerella for more ideas and tips.

Since I'm pretty sure kids would love these pops I'm sending it to Srivalli's event 'Kids Delight- Finger food.'
Its can definitely be gorged down in one or two bites and so sending the same to 'Sugar High Fridays' event hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen where this months theme is 'Bite Size Desserts.' This long running successful even is the brain child of Jennifer.

Brinjal and spring onion bhajis

The weather sure has started changing this side of the world and I'm completely dreading winter. This morning we had a wee bit of sunshine and made use of it by having coffee on our balcony. About an hour after that it was super windy and started drizzling....ladies and gentlemen, that's the UK weather for you, although...it turned out to be perfect weather for hot bhajji and chai.

Anyhoo, a cousin of mine was leaving London for good and I went over to her place to flick all her unwanted things and I found a cookbook she had kept aside to throw. I flicked it from her saying Id just keep it to fill the 3/4th empty bookshelf in our living room, knowing for a fact I'd never be cooking a single thing from the book. Well, well..surprised I was when I ended up flipping through it last night and stumbled upon this spring onion bhajji recipe and was a wee bit interested in finding out how it tasted. I am not a fan of bhajji at all, and was pretty sure I wouldn't really like it, but decided Ro might (he actually hates it too, kinda) and went about making it. I also suddenly decided it was 'finish everything in the fridge' day and so decided to use one brinjal which was crying out to me for attention. So I have basically adapted the recipe to use brinjal too. The outcome was pretty satisfying and a perfect accompaniment to an evening tea, especially if the rain is pitter pattering on your roof. Enjoy!

Recipe loosely adapted from River Cottage Everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Brinjal/ Eggplant- 1 large, washed, patted dry and sliced into rounds

Spring onions- 100gms, trimmed and diagonally chopped

Gram/ Besan flour- 60gms

Plain flour- 20

Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp

Fresh coriander leaves- 3 tbsp, finely chopped + enough to garnish

Water/ Beer- enough to make a thick batter

Salt- to taste

Pepper powder- to taste

OIl- to deep fry (I used about 3 tbsp to shallow fry)

In a big bowl sift together the flours, coriander powder, chilli powder, pepper powder and salt.

Mix in the spring onions and the coriander leaves and then add enough water or beer to until you get a smooth, thick batter. Not too loose though.

Add the brinjal slices to the batter and stir until well coated.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and keep it on medium heat. Getting the oil to the perfect temperature is a trick I suppose. The book says, drop a slice of bread and it should turn crisp in about a minute, no faster.

Scoop in about 4 to 5 slices of brinjal into the oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, till cooked through. Do not over crown the pan and cook in batches if required.

Drain on paper towels, sprinkle some coriander leaves and serve with raita or chilli sauce.

Notes: If you are not using brinjal, Its fine...just that instead of adding the spring onions along with the coriander leaves, do it only after you make the smooth batter and then drop heaped teaspoons into the oil and fry.

I would add about a half tsp cumin powder as well the next time.

Prawn Biryani

Making a biryani is such a tedious job for me....but eating it is something I'd like to do any given time or day. Unfortunately for me, there is no one to serve it on a platter and if I'm craving it, I need to get off my lazy ass and make it on my own. When we were in Chennai we had a tradition of having beer and biryani on Sunday afternoons. Didn't really have to slog it out because we had an awesome cook (Asha) whose speciality was chicken biryani. We used sit out on the balcony glugging down mugs of beer and then dive into the steaming biryani Asha used to make, without any qualms.

Here, the story is different. Sunday lunch is usually left overs from Saturday brunch or when we are so craving a biryani, we both split the job and make a rather biriyani-ish kinda dish while glugging beer or cider simultaneously and then sit down and eat it with half an appetite because you are already famished after all that cleaning, chopping and cooking. It somehow ends up tasting a 100 times better when and if we have it again for dinner :)

I have a standard chicken biryani recipe which I somehow managed to whip up from here and there, and religiously follow. In spite of noting down intricate details, I have still managed to screw it up- more like a biryani sadam a lot of times. Same has happened with prawn biryani too, but this time, even though it almost gave me a scare half way through, it turned out pretty decent. If i had been a bit more patient, I'm sure I could have hit the right spot. Nevertheless, the recipe is a keeper and I had to jot it down before I forgot.

We paired it with a glass of Chianti red wine and loved the outcome.
And before I forget, here's a biiiiiiiiiig thank you to all you guys who sent in those lovely comments about my blog header..I'm thrilled :)

For the rice:

Basmati rice- 1 1/4 cup

Cardamom pods- 3

Cinnamon- 1 inch stick

Cloves- 3

Bay leaf- 1

Lime juice

Ghee- 1 tbsp

Boiling water- 2 cups (approx)

Salt- to taste

To marinate:

Jumbo Prawns- 250 gms, deveined and cleaned

Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Lime juice- 1/2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Masala:

Onions- 3, medium size, finely chopped

Tomatoes- 2, finely chopped

Green chillies- 2, slit

Ginger paste- 1 tbsp

Garlic paste- 1 tbsp

Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/4 tsp

Garam masala- 3/4 tsp

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves- 1/4 cup + enough to garnish, cleaned and roughly chopped 

Mint leaves- 1/4 cup, cleaned and roughly chopped

Yogurt- 2 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Oil- 2 tbsp

Marinate the prawns with all the ingredients under the 'to marinate' section and keep aside for at least 30 minutes.

Also wash and soak the basmati rice. Keep aside.

(In the mean time you can chop the onions, tomatoes, mint and coriander leaves)

In a heavy bottomed pan (with lid), heat the ghee and splutter the spices- cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and bay leaves till nice and fragrant.

Drain the rice and add to the ghee. Fry on medium heat till they start spluttering a bit.

Add the boiling water to this, add salt and lemon juice and close the lid.

Cook till about 3/4th done...about 8 minutes as per my timing.

Drain using a colander and set aside.

In the same deep pan, heat the oil and add the onions. Sauté till they are translucent..about 6 to 7 minutes.

Throw in the green chillies and the ginger and garlic paste. Mix well and sauté till the raw smell disappears.

Add the tomatoes and sauté again till it all becomes a mushy paste like consistency.

Add the powders- chilli, coriander, garam and pepper powders and salt and mix well. Saute on medium heat till the oil starts separating.

Throw in the marinated prawns at this time and mix well to coat the prawns with the masala.

Add the yogurt, coriander and mint leaves and little water and mix well till they are all combined well.

Close the lid and cook on medium heat till the prawn is cooked through...about 6 to 7 minutes max.

If there is too much gravy, then leave the lid open and cook on high heat for a few more minutes.

Now comes the assembling bit...tip in the entire cooked rice onto the top of the prawn gravy, spread it around well, throw in some coriander leaves on top and cover with a tight lid.

Keep the heat to very low and cook till you see steam rising from the top. I keep it this way for about 15 minutes.

When you are ready to serve, either mix well, or dig right to the bottom and serve a ladle full, garnished with coriander leaves.

Serve with pappad, raita and lime pickle.

Notes: You can do the same in an oven as well...keep it for about 30 minutes or so...

I don't do the proper dum method, because i find this much more convenient

Sending this to the Festive rice event over at Torviewtoronto