Roasted Spatchcocked Poussin with veggies

Fancy eh? Yeah thats what I thought too when I saw this lil bird at Sainsbury's, only to realize its nothing but a small chicken, something like a Cornish game hen. And spatchcocked is just a way the bird has been cut to suit grilling, baking needs. Anyways, I decided to work with it and was pretty apprehensive since I've never really had the guts to cook a full chicken ever! Even eating a full bird, was never my kinda thing because most of the time the masalas don't catch onto the flesh and if its a big bird like turkey, whatever you do its still bloody tasteless. Sunday roasts, this side of the world are a common thing and I decided to do the same, except I did so on a Saturday :)

The bird (yeah I know, sounds like I'm referring to a chick) was cleaned and had some pepper seasoning on it, but I was sure it would be bland and so jazzed it up a bit. The end result was something I'm very proud of. My first time with a bird (again, sorry to sound so kinky) and it was awesome. Since it was tiny, the seasoning caught on well and the veggies accompanying the roast was even better. I would definitely pick up more of this tiny lil bird for future cooking.

Spatchcocked poussin- 450 gms, skin on (trust me its an advantage when you roast it)

To marinate:

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice- a splash

Salt and pepper- to taste.

New potatoes- 8 to 10, quartered

Baby carrots- 12 to 15, washed

Asparagus- 8 to 10 heads

Chicken stock- 2 cups (i dissolved two Maggi chicken stock cubes in hot water)

Dried thyme- 1 tsp

Salt and pepper- if required

Olive oil- to drizzle

Mix all the ingredients in the 'to marinate' section together and generously rub onto the poussin. Keep aside till your veggies are half cooked.

In another heavy bottomed vessel, pour the chicken stock, the quartered potatoes, carrots and asparagus. 

Throw in the dried thyme salt (stock might be salty, so add after doing a taste check) and pepper (if needed) and bring to a boil.

After the veggies are half cooked, turn off the fire and keep aside.

In a roasting pan, place the poussin and snugly fit in all the pre cooked veggies around it. 

Drizzle some olive oil on to the bird and the veggies or spread it around with a basting brush.

Pour some of the stock over the bird and place on the middle shelf of an oven preheated at 190C for 45 to 50 minutes.

After about 15 minutes, take the pan out and pour some more stock on the bird and veggies and turn the veggies around a bit, if you can. This is to keep the bird moist. Continue doing so every 15 minutes.

At the end of the cooking time, cut a slice from the thigh or so and see if its cooked, the juices should run clear.

Carve the bird- since its small, each half can be easily gorged on by a person- pour a ladle full of stock over the meat and serve with some garlic bread.

Notes: Like I mentioned before there was already some pepper seasoning on the poussin which didn't really give out too much flavour and since we didn't want a spicy' too Indian' marinade, we went easy on the masalas. Go ahead and add as much chilli and cumin and coriander powder as per your liking.

You can throw in whatever veggies you want..parsnips, sweet potatoes, swede etc etc.

Left over (if any) can be shredded and used in a sandwich :)

Cod fish cakes with a cold potato salad

For a seafood hater, I seem to be posting quite a few seafood recipes right? I'm surprised myself..but Ro's new rule is that we should have fish atleast twice a week and me with all my nagging has cut it down to once a week. Honestly, if its masalafied and made as per my liking, I don't mind having them..which is exactly what i did with these cod steaks.

England is known for its fish and chips and when we had guests 2 weeks back, we took them to this authentic fish and chips joint called The Golden Hind. Of course there was nothing other than fish and chips and mushy peas and I decided to just have some batter fried squid rings which was an appetizer. Nope, my husband would not let me go with just that..so the other normal sounding item was cod fish cakes and so i ordered those. They were so darn fishy (if you know what i mean) that i couldn't finish it. Braved my way through one half and then traded it for Ro's Haddock which was bearable, but preferred to munch on the chips instead. So i thought I'd recreate it at home the way i like, and yes, it was bearable.

Yeah i know im a disgrace to all the mallu's out there..but hey, Ive atleast evolved to having fish once a week:)

Cod fish cakes

Boneless, skinless cod steaks- 350 gms (2 medium size fillets)

Asian shallots- 2, roughly chopped

Garlic- 2 pods, roughly chopped

Chopped parsley- a handful

Salt- to season

Pepper- to season

Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Vegetable oil- to fry

Potato- 1 medium, boiled, peeled and mashed

Egg- 1

Bread crumbs- 3 tbsp (optional)

Cut the cod steaks into bite size pieces and steam for about 5 to 6 minutes till flaky. Break it up into smaller flakes and keep aside.

In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and sauté the shallots and garlic till translucent.

Add the flaked up fish and mix well, season with salt and pepper and the parsley. Keep aside to cool.

Once cool, add the mashed potato, egg and bread crumbs and mix well with your hand till everything is combined well.

Make small patties and shallow fry in oil...about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Drain on paper towels and serve them hot with a salad.

Notes: Any white fish like haddock or cobbler can be used.

You can fill a saucepan with 1/4th water, place the cod in it, close and cook till it becomes flaky. Then drain the water and break it up into smaller pieces. I just used a steamer so it was much easier.

You can bake the patties if you prefer that...I'm not really sure how long ud need to keep them though.

I think this was so much more easier than cutlets... :)

Cold Potato Salad

Always a pleaser, this salad had made its entry quite a few times and is a life saver when I'm low on things to make :)

Baby potatoes- 5 medium, boiled and cut into cubes

Yoghurt- 2 tbsp

Garlic mayo- 1 tbsp

Chives- a handful

Orange pepper- one half, chopped into small cubes

Salt and pepper- to season

Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped chives. See I told you it was way too easy to pass:)

PS: Sorry i left this out..I would like to thank Neetz, Suja and Aipi for the wonderful awards they have showered upon me. Thanks a lot girls..its great to have such good friends in the blog world.

Spanish- style prawn and chorizo skewers

We have a George Foreman Grill which we put to continuous use...especially to grill burger patties and now, we even make pancakes in them. Since the weather in this part of the world is quite unpredictable, and since we've had bad luck with bbq's all the time, we have to depend on indoor grills like these to feel all summery. 

What i love about this grill is, how everything gets cooked so fast. I would also have to agree its a much healthier option, since the oil drips down. It has indeed made us highly fond of grilling and this prawn and chorizo on skewer is such an easy bbq/ grill idea that the whole thing is ready in a matter of 15 minutes, i.e, if you are really not keen on a half hour marinating period (like us) 

All said and done, George Foreman Grill or not, these can be whipped up in the oven or on stove top as well. So the next time you have a bbq planned, make sure this is def. on your menu.

King Prawns- 250 grams or about 25 to 30, deveined but preferably with tail on.

Mild paprika- 1 tsp

Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp

Garlic cloves- 2, lightly crushed

Olive oil- 2 tbsp

Chorizo sausages- about 15 to 16 small slices

Chopped parsley- 2 tsp (I used about 1 tbsp dried parsley)

Pepper powder- to taste

Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp (optional)

Wooden skewers- 8, soaked in cold water for atleast 1/2 an hour

Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl and marinate the prawns and chorizo in it for half an hour or more. I didnt have the patience, so i used it immediately and it tasted just fine.

Thread the prawns and chorizo, alternating, on to each skewer.

If using an electric grill or bbq cook for about 3 to 4 minutes max on each side.

If using the grill mode in the oven, then preheat the oven to 175C and grill for about 6 to 7 minutes, each side..the oil from the chorizo oozes out, so keep a baking paper on a tray and do the needful.

On stove top, heat a large enough frying pan or griddle pan and do the 3 minute on each side cooking method...again loads of oil will ooze out of the chorizo. Drain on paper towels if necessary.

You can squeeze a lime on top if needed...season with more pepper and serve as an appetizer.

Notes: Chorizo can be replaced with veggies as well..peppers, zucchini, onions etc.

I had guests waiting to dig in and so couldn't take pics of the end result.

Double layer chocolate cake filled and frosted with a Baileys Irish cream ganache

OK, this was definitely not easy and I don't think it would make its way back into my kitchen. Not something ud want to hear from a food blogger, but seriously, it was no cake walk. You might have noticed that chocolate has not really made its presence felt on my blog. Its not because I dislike chocolate, but I don't really like it an awesome lot to actually give it a major importance either, unlike Ro who would worship the chocolate god (if there was one). He will only order a chocolate ice cream at Thorntons, have the Belgian dark choc ice cream from Haagen-Dazs and buy chocolate bars with more than 70 percent cocoa to munch on..all other chocolates are not 'real' chocolates, I believe.

Last week we had taken a Thorntons triple layer chocolate cake to a friends picnic party and Ro had been going on and on about how awesome it was and he wouldn't stop at that...but insist I bake a choc cake for him. My reaction was..if Thorntons tasted so darn good, why pester me..just head to Sainsburys and pick one up. Oh but that wouldn't be fun..he had to get his wife to slog it out and bake a choc cake which, by the way, I had already posted on my blog (My moms beat and bake chocolate cake which was the easiest cake ever). So something new I decided to try and since Thorntons was one of my inspirations or rather as a revenge I decided to go all out and bake a two layer cake and fill it and frost it. Bad idea, oh yes, incredibly screwed up idea, especially for someone whose concentration levels are zero, not to mention patience and laziness.

For starters, I only have one 9 inch cake pan and have to clean it, wash it, butter it and line it once I'm done with the first cake. This is such a waste of time because I have to wait close to 2 hours just to start on my second cake. So by the time I was done baking the cakes and cleaning up and bickering about making Ro happy, I was in no mood to frost and fill. So once the oven cooled down, I left them in there thinking I'd do it the next day. Went for a movie (Inception..awesome movie, its a much watch) which got over at 2.30 am, woke up at 12 the next day and was in a mood to have Saravana Bhavan meals for which we had to travel about an hour. So after all that chakkar, we got back home late and was again in no mood to frost and fill the cake (cake, what cake, by then I had actually forgotten about the cake altogether). When we were about to hit the sack Ro asked me like one lost puppy dog, 'can i have a slice of that cake you made yesterday,' and I suddenly realized I screwed up. Shouted at him for having no patience at all and promised I'd have it ready when he got back from work on Monday..and so I started the frosting and filling on two sad looking dry cakes on Monday. Not a pleasant experience working with ganache, and I really don't want to hear the word chocolate for a long long time. Even the photography session was an effort and it hasn't really come out well..apologies!

For the cakes:

Cooking chocolate- 200 gms, broken into pieces (good quality, preferably more than 60 percent cocoa)

Butter- 200 gms at room temp.

Instant coffee powder- 1 tbsp

Water- 125 ml

Plain flour- 85 gms

Self- raising flour- 85 gms

Soda powder- 1/4 tsp

Dark or light brown sugar- 200gms (I used dark)

Caster sugar- 200 gms

Cocoa powder- 25 gms

Eggs- 3

Buttermilk- 75 ml

Bring a saucepan with water to a boil. Simmer, place another heat-resistant cooking vessel on top of it and melt the butter and chocolate pieces. 

Dissolve the instant coffee in water and add to the chocolate mix. Stir well and keep aside.

Whisk together the plain flour, self raising flower, soda powder, both the sugars and cocoa powder. 

Whisk the eggs and buttermilk in a separate bowl and add to the flour bowl along with the chocolate mix. Stir well until just combined, do not over beat it.

Divide the batter and pour into two greased and lined 9 inch cake pans and bake in a pre heated oven (160C) for 60 to 70 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Once done, keep the cake on the rack for about 10 minutes, loosen the sides and insert on to the racks and wait till its completely cooled.

You can cling wrap it and keep it in the refrigerator a day before I guess (wink! wink!)

Baileys Irish cream ganache

Cooking chocolate- 150 gms, broken into small pieces (again more than 60 percent cocoa)

Baileys flavoured thick pouring cream- 285 ml

Caster sugar- 3 tbsp

Melt the chocolate like how I mentioned above and keep aside for a few minutes for it to lightly cool.

Add the whipping cream bit by bit, mixing well after each addition.

Add the sugar at last and mix well, till its dissolved completely.

Assembling:

Place one cake on a cake stand (ya I didn't have one and so struggled with it on a plate) and generously douse some of the ganache and spread it evenly.

Sandwich the other cake and pour the remaining ganache, making sure it spills to the sides and using a knife, smoothen it out (absolutely messy affair).

If you have left over chocolate, grate some onto the top, or dust some cocoa powder on top and dig in :)

Notes: I bought the Baileys pouring cream from the store, but add a 1./4 cup of Bailey's liqueur to the normal cream and ud be fine. Or you can even choose to avoid the baileys and go just chocolate.

Inspite of the cake being a bit dry, the ganache kinda made it ooey gooey..so no worries there.

If you have a taller cake tin, use that and then slice the cake into two equal halves, which would have made my life so much more easier.

PS: I have created a separate facebook account for my bloggie friends. Do add me if you are on FB. My id is mykitchenantics@gmail.com. You would probably see two Nisha Thomas profiles...do add the one that says Open Book by the side. I didn't want to mix my two accounts.

Filo parcels with a mince meat filling

I do not know how to knead and roll out dough. I do not know how to make chapati, paratha or any Indian bread for that matter...nopes not even poori. Thank god for frozen wheat chapatis we get at the local grocery, I really don't know what I would have done without it. Ro and myself have tried out all possible combinations and methods of dough mixes and fail miserably every time. We even bought one of those roti/ chapati press and it still didn't work. Well, if the kitchen/ food gods think we are not meant to learn and do it the right way..so be it. Shana frozen chapati comes to our rescue and when we feel a bit bored with the chapatis, we buy the theplas, the parathas and the kheema parathas (oh yeah!) in between. Please don't jinx me and say..let Shana foods go into insolvency or something like that...I'd be heart broken..really!

I was completely content with this arrangement when we were invited to a friends for dinner and she made the most amazing thing ( N & W if you are reading this..I'm so grateful to you for introducing me to this..its become an absolute fav of ours). She said it was called Murtabak (Murtabaq) and my husband claimed it was similar to Baida roti (yeah he's a closet Mumbaite). Whatever it was, I loved it..even more because there was no kneading and rolling since it was made with filo pastry. I got the recipe outline from her and incorporated my laziness into it, so my version of Murtabaq/ Baida roti/ Mince meat roti goes like this:

Basic mince meat recipe:

Minced beef- 250 gms

Turmeric- 1/4 tsp

Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 tsp

Kashmiri Chilli Powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

Pepper Powder- 1/4 tsp

Cumin powder- 1/4 tsp

Meat masala- 1 tsp (optional)

Salt- to taste

Mix all the powders and GGP along with the mince meat and pressure cook with about 2 tbsp water for about 10 minutes after you put the weight on (approx. 3 whistles). Let off the steam, open the lid and if there is a significant amount of water, cook on high heat for a few minutes till some of the water has evaporated. You can add salt, spice etc. at this point, if there isn't enough. Alternatively, heat some oil in a frying pan and throw in the mince meat along with the gravy and fry on medium heat till all the gravy has been absorbed and it becomes somewhat dry.

For the pastry:

Uncooked filo pastry sheets- 8 large rectangular sheets, each cut into 4 

Egg- 1, lightly beaten

Oil- to lightly grease the pastry sheets and to shallow fry

Assembling:

Place a pastry square (the one you cut out from the big rectangular one) onto a lightly greased plate and using a basting brush lightly brush some oil onto it. Top with another pastry and continue till you reach the 4th pastry which you shouldn't oil.

Top the fourth pastry sheet with about 2 tbsp (or more) of mince meat. Spread it out. You don't want to over fill it, so be sure you even it out.

Now continue with the remaining 4 pastry squares on top of the filled sheet, oiling each before topping. It would be like a parcel, with the sides all held together by the oil and the mince meat filling in between 8 layers. 

So you basically end up using 2 rectangular filo pastry sheets for each filled. (Am I confusing you..cos I myself am a bit confused now..but don't worry its not rocket science..you'd get what I mean when you have the pastries in front of you)

Continue doing this with all the 8 sheets and keep them ready to shallow fry.

Frying:

Heat a non stick frying pan and drizzle some oil onto it. 

Do an egg wash on one side of the roti and carefully place that side down on the pan. Yup it would sizzle away...and I had the smile of contentment on my face :)

Fry for about 3 to four minutes or till lightly crispy and golden brown.

Do an egg wash on the top side, and flip it. Wait for that side to become brown and crispy and then drain on paper towels.

Continue doing the same to all the 4 parcels.

Serve hot with curd and pickle or slice them up into smaller squares and serve as an appetiser with chutney or chilli sauce.

Notes: You can bake it instead of frying. N told me, it would be a bit dry if you do it in the oven, but if you are health conscious, you might as well do that. Just do the egg wash on both sides and place on a baking tray and follow the instructions given on the filo pastry packet as to how long you need to bake it..prob about 20 to 30 minutes in a 160C oven.

If you do not want to cut the rectangular pastry sheet into 4 square sheets, then you can do the exact same procedure as is and finally when you are about to fry it, cut it into two halves. You can then slice them up into how many ever you want just before serving.

Fillings can be anything..mutton, pork, veggies etc.

Cherry Muffins

Its been quite some time since I posted something sweet here. Well, its not because I haven't been making any at home, its just because they all have a specific recipe and measurements I follow and can be checked any time, whereas the savoury stuff is all from here and there and if I don't pen it down as soon as possible, I completely forget and it just stays in my drafts forever. I have quite a few of those still lying around.

We went over to a friends place for dinner about 2 weeks back and after brainstorming on what to take, I decided on cherry muffins because the cherries at the supermarket were too good and in plenty to resist, needless to mention, I kinda ended up eating quite a bit while pitting.

Since I've seen loadsa cherry recipes on blogs, I thought I'd join the bandwagon and share a cherry recipe myself.

Have a great weekend peeps.

Cherry muffins (yields 12)

loosely adapted from Smitten Kitchen's peach cupcakes

Plain flour- 1 1/2 cups

Baking powder- 1 1/4 tsp

Baking soda- 1 1/4 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Nutmeg- a pinch (optional)

Butter- 3 oz

Granulated white sugar- 3 oz

Packed dark brown sugar- 3 oz

Eggs- 2

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp1 1/4 cup

Buttermilk

Cherries- 1/2 to 3/4th cup (pitted)

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Keep aside.

Cream the butter and both the sugars together in a free standing mixer, using a hand blender or with a wire whisk, till light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla and then buttermilk bit by bit.

Fold in the dry ingredients, making sure no lumps are seen.

Add the pitted cherries and mix again, lightly.

Line a cup cake tray and pour in about one ladle full of batter into each (about 3/4th full) and bake in a pre-heated oven (176C) for 25 to 30 minutes or till golden brown on top and after the skewer test comes out right.

Take them out and cool on a wire rack after about five minutes.

Notes: I have halved the recipe here, double it for 28 muffins.

They were perfectly sweet with the slight tartness of the cherries, which were perfect for me, but if you need it sweeter, you can add some more sugar.

A bowl of green goodness

Two posts in a day..how awesome is that? Well pretty awesome, considering that I was busy the last three days and didn't have time to even check facebook leave alone write a post :)

But I thoroughly had a nice time taking some of our cousins around London and visiting a few museums and places, I actually hadn't been to. They were getting back from a 10 day Euro trip and since I thought they would be sick of eating bland food, I made some Indian grub. Went to pick up stuff for the meal and saw these green and luscious asparagus spears which I couldn't resist. I have only baked with asparagus and wasn't really sure how good it would be adapted into an Indian dish. Well..that's what experimenting is all about right? So I decided to try out the usual thoran recipe (vegetables sauteed with coconut and spices), you know the authentic side dish to every  mallu meal, and it turned out so darn good, its definitely making its way back into our lives. Being in a place where Indian vegetables are scarce, I don't have a choice but to use veggies like brussels sprouts and broccoli and asparagus for Indian cooking. Needless to mention, I'm totally loving it. I hope you do too.

Green asparagus spears- 500 gms, cleaned

Shredded coconut- 3 tbsp or more

Green chillies- 3, slit lengthwise

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds- 2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Mustard seeds- 1 tsp

Oil- 1 tbsp

Curry leaves- a sprig (optional)

Cut and discard the woody base and chop the asparagus heads into small pieces.

Crush the coconut, green chillies, turmeric powder and cumin seeds together to a coarse mix, either with your hands or with a pestle and mortar.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil and splutter mustard seeds. 

Add the coarse coconut mix and the curry leaves (if any) at this stage. Sauté for a few seconds on medium heat, but make sure you don't burn them.

Add the chopped asparagus heads and salt. Stir well, making sure the coconut mix and the asparagus is combined evenly.

Close the lid and cook on medium heat, stirring in between and if it sticks to the bottom, pour about a tsp water.

The thoran should be ready in about 12 to 15 minutes.

Notes: If you want the asparagus a bit crunchy...under cook it a bit and it would taste just as good.

You can replace cumin seeds with a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cumin powder.

Sending this to Side dishes from India hosted by Suma of Veggie Platter.