Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Sauteed Hot Sweet and Spicy Shrimps on Pan Fried Bread














Ingredients: (for 5 - 6 people)

1 1/2 lbs shrimps, de-veined and with the tail on
1/2 cup red and green bell peppers, sliced
1/2 cup sliced red onions
1/2 cup chopped onions
About 1/3d cup cornmeal
1 tsp Madras Curry paste
1 tsp shrimp paste
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 tbsp ketchup
A little brown sugar
A little salt
1 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp garlic chilli paste
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
Green onions and cilantro for garnishing
Bread (5 dinner rolls, each cut into two pieces)
4 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp cooking oil.

To prepare:

Marinate the shrimps in Madras Curry paste, shrimp paste, a little brown sugar (maybe 1 1/2 tsp - just "eyeball" it),  salt to taste. Note the other marinade ingredients contain salt so taste the marinade before adding salt. Mix these ingredients, add shrimp, drizzle a little cooking oil, and leave for about an hour.

Heat the (rest of the) cooking oil and the chopped onions and sautee until translucent (not brown). Add the ginger and garlic paste and the chilli garlic paste. Take out the shrimps from the marinade and coat with cornmeal and add to pan. Sautee it until it look cooked but do not overcook. Once it looks "cooked" (translucent) remove immediately from heat; do not overcook. Cover and keep aside.

In the same pan put a little butter and stir fry the bell peppers and the sliced onions and keep aside. Put some more butter in the same pan, use to pan fry the bread, then arrange the bread on a plate.

In a small saucepan, combine a little butter, hot sauce, and ketchup and lightly warm the mixture over the heat. Arrange the sauteed bell peppers and onions over the pan fried bread. Arrange the shrimps over these and finally drizzle the butter/hot-sauce/ketchup mixture over the shrimp. Garnish with green onions and cilantro. Sprinkle the lemon juice (optional).




Monday, May 18, 2015

Butter chicken

Butter Chicken
Chicken kabab with garden salad

 Ingredients:

 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs

Marinade ingredients:
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup yogurt
8 cloves of garlic, minced
4 tbsps lemon juice
2 tbsps tandoori mix (make sure the packet ingredients do not contain artificial colors)
1/2 cup unsalted melted butter (some will be used for the sauce, below)

Sauce ingredients:
1 cup creamy tomato soup
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garam masala
1 cup of cream (or Half-and-Half)
Chopped cilantro for garnishing.
2 tbsp cooking oil.





 Preparation:

Marinate the chicken pieces in yogurt, buttermilk, lemon juice, and 3/4th of the melted butter, tandoori mix. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

- Heat oil in the pan.
- Sautee the onions with the ginger and garlic paste.

- Discard the marinade and add the chicken to the sauteed onions.
- Cover and allow to cook on low heat, until the liquid from the chicken dries up.
- Sprinkle some salt and pour in the soup.
- Cover once more and let it cook on low heat. When the chicken is done, turn off the heat and pour in the cream, mixing it properly.
- Pour the preparation in a serving bowl, drizzle the butter on top, and garnish with cilantro.

NOTE: If you want to make chicken kababs instead, then do not make a gravy. Pull out the chicken from the marinade and place on skewers and broil until it browns. Then take it out, brush it with butter, sprinkle some tandoori powder on it, and cover with squeezed lemon juice. Serve with garden salad as in the picture.
Chicken kabab broiling

Chicken marinade

Cooked butter chicken


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Steamed Cabbage Leaf Salad


This is a salad for 4 - 6 people

Ingredients:

- 1 whole steamed cabbage
- 6 to 8 steamed cabbage leaves
- 1/2 cup steamed cabbage

- 1/2 cup roasted chestnuts
- 1/2 cup roasted julienne(d) beetroot
- 1/4 cup julienne(d) red bell peppers
- 2 tablespoons chopped green pitted olives
- 1/4 cup sliced red onion- 1 cup sauteed shrimps in Shiracha hot sauce (or any other hot sauce)

Dressing: Chinese soya sauce in a owl

Served with avocado dip

Serve accompanied by chopped green onions,  chopped tomatoes and salted roasted peanuts

To prepare:

Steamed cabbage
Steam the cabbage.
This is a platter showing the olives, red bell pepper, beetroot, shredded steamed cabbage,
Avocado dip (avocado, garlic, olive oil, salt and lime juice crushed together).
Salted roasted peanuts
Sauteed shrimps in Shiracha sauce


Mix all the above ingredients together
Arrange the leaves and the topping on a platter. To assemble a cabbage leaf, first put the avocado spread, then the mixed vegetables and onions. Next sprinkle with chopped tomatoes, peanuts and green onions.
Lastly drizzle some soya sauce dressing
.
Squeeze lemon juice
Enjoy!












Spanish Style Chicken with Saffron Rice

Spanish Style Chicken with Saffron Rice (estimated preparation + cooking time 45 minutes)

Ingredients (for 6 people):

12 pcs of chicken
1/2 cup dry white wine, (eg Pinot Grigio) of good quality
1 cup chicken broth
1 small red bell pepper
1 small green bell paper
9 cloves of garlic
2 whole shallots
1/2 of a large white onion
About 12 olives, pitted
4 whole canned tomatoes with the juice
2 teaspoons of tomato paste
1 bay leaf
Olive oil for cooking
Salt, pepper and (brown) sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
A pinch of saffron

Preparation:

- Slice the peppers and white onion.
- Mince the shallots and garlic
- Crush the canned tomatoes, and mix in the tomato paste
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken and coat it with the flour
- Dust out the extra flour
- In a skillet, heat two tablespoons of oil
- Lightly brown the chicken and take it out
- In the same oil put in the minced garlic and minced shallots and sautee until translucent in color
- Add the bell peppers and sliced onions, sprinkle some salt.
- Wait till it looks "fried" (not just "brown")
- Add the tomatoes and let it cook until it is reduced.
- Add the wine, the chicken broth, little salt and little sugar and saffron and mix
- Put in the chicken on top of that and cover the skillet
- Let it cook until you see the oil on top, the chicken is soft, and the gravy is reduced, stirring from time to time to avoid burning at the bottom
- Serve it hot with saffron rice and bread
 

 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Mini Meat Loaf


 
Mini Meat Loaf


 Ingredients (meat and to mix with the meat)

- 1 1/2 lbs of any ground meat of your choice
- 2 tbsps of garlic, ginger, and green chili paste
- 1 small chopped onion, fried
- 2 tbsps of yogurt
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/3rd cup of olive oil (or vegetable oil)
- 2 tbsps ketchup
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (preferably fresh)
- 1 tsp of ground spice (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom)
 
Mix all the ingredients together.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Take a cupcake pan, spray with oil, and put a small amount of breadcrumbs into each cup.

Press handful of the ground meat mixture into each of the cups and sprinkle with breadcrumbs on top. Once more, spray or brush oil on top.

Cover with a foil and put it into the oven (middle rack). Set the timer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes of baking with the foil, remove the foil and back for another 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, and leave the pan inside the oven for another 5 - 6 minutes. It should have a light brown color.

Remove the mini meat loaf from the pan and set aside. Reserve the juice.

For the sauce:

In a pan, put a little oil, saute two diced tomatoes. Add 1 tsp of tomato paste, 1 tsp of diced garlic, and a little salt and sugar. Pour the reserved juice into this. As the gravy thickens, pour it over the mini meat loaves.

Garnish with parsley and serve.


Coconut rice


Coconut Milk Rice

 NOTE: The quantity of rice depends on how many people you are cooking for. These measurements (4 cups jasmine rice, 4 cups of water, and one cup of coconut milk) are approximately for 12 persons.

Start with 4 cups of jasmine rice, washed and set to dry.

Dice one whole red onion.

Pour three tablespoons of any white cooking oil.

Heat the oil and then fry the onions till they are light brown in color.
Sautee the dried rice with the onions. Add salt to taste and a little sugar.

Pour four cups of water and a half cup of coconut milk. 



Cover it and let it simmer at medium heat, stirring periodically
When the rice is nearly cooked, pour in the other half cup of coconut milk and reduce the heat to low and cover it until the liquid is seen to be fully absorbed and the rice is well cooked but not pasty. Turn off the heat.
Add 1 or 2 tbsps of butter and stir it into the rice.
Garnish (for example) with cranberries or dried coconuts or nuts and serve.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Bhetki Narkol Mach (Fish cooked in coconut milk)


Bhetki Narkol Mach - how to cook, step by step



Salt the fish.

Fry them and put it aside.











Pour more oil in the pan and heat it.

Slice one whole onion.











Fry the onion with green chillies and bay leaves in the same pan where the fish was fried.

Add pounded ginger to the fried onion mixture.
Add coconut milk in the pan, add salt, and allow it to cook for some time.









  Put back the fried fish in the simmering coconut milk gravy and allow it to reduce turning the fish once within the gravy. Turn off the heat.








Pour a spoon of ghee (clarified butter) over the prepared fish.










Garnish it with green onions.










Serve with hot rice.