Methi or Fenugreek has a distinct flavour, whether in dried form(kasoori methi), fresh leafy form or seed form. Packed with medicinal properties, methi is used very commonly in India. Methi dal, methi paratha, methi malai matar, methi pakoda; there are very many Indian dishes that uses methi as one of it’s ingredients. My all time favorite methi dish has to be Aloo Methi (potato cooked with fresh fenugreek leaves)
Here is another one. Methi chicken. I have made this twice and both times my, with-fussy-eating-habit-kids loved it. Here is how I made Methi or Fenugreek Chicken Curry
Chicken – 1/2 kilo
Tomato sauce – 3 tablespoon
Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tablespoon
Red chilli / Black pepper powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Oil – 2 tablespoons
Butter – a inch stick
Curd – 1 tablespoon
Kasoori Methi – 5 tablespoons
Onions – 3 medium sized (finely sliced)
Lemon juice / vinegar – 1 teaspoon
Ready made chicken masala powder (I used Kadai chicken powder) – 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Wash and score* the chicken.
Prepare the marinade by bringing together ginger-garlic paste, pepper powder, 2 tablespoons of kasoori methi, 1 tablespoon of oil, lemon juice, pinch of salt, curd, chicken masala powder and tomato sauce. Rub this mixture onto the scored chicken pieces. Nicely massage it over and leave it for 30-60 minutes.
In a pan , heat rest of the oil with butter and toss in the onions, add a pinch of salt and saute well.
Add marinaded chicken, cover the pan and cook on low flame.
After 5 minutes and add rest of the kasoori methi. Turn the chicken pieces, cover the vessel, check seasoning and continue cooking until chicken is done.
Serve with rice or any form of bread
*scoring a chicken:Â Cut few light gashes about 1 inch apart over the entire surface of the meat using a sharp knife, then turn and move the other way and repeat the process. Scoring helps tenderize the meat and also ensures the flavour goes in deep.
I tried these unassumingly simple to bake and delicious to eat maize biscuits at a friends. I immediately took down her recipe and put maize flour on my grocery list. When my significant half, walked in with double the quantity of maize flour, that was actually mentioned in the list; I knew I had to stop procrastinating and get to baking those delightful biscuits soon. Here goes the recipe…(I have some alterations to it based on my baking experience)
Maize flour – 90 grams
All purpose Flour – 90 grams
Butter – 80 grams
Salt – a pinch
Egg yolk – one
Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon
Sugar – 70 grams (original recipe says 50 grams. Since I used salted butter, i increased the quantity of the sugar)
Water – 1 teaspoon
Chop the cold butter into chunks and add to it rest of the ingredients.
Mix all the ingredients well, gently breaking the butter with hands and incorporating it into the mixture.
Add water, only if you feel the mixture is not coming together. I mainly used water while I made balls out the mixture to plaster the cracks if any.
Place the balls on a cookie tray, lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a preheated over at 180 degree C for 15 minutes (original recipes says 160 degree C for 10 minutes). All depends on individual oven.
Ripe, juicy, yellow like sunshine mangoes, I love eating them i all forms; favorite form being the fruit as it is. But sometime I indulge myself with mango shakes and puddings. Here is one very easy recipe for you to try..
Mango Pudding
Ripe Mango – 1 (large)
Fresh cream – 200 ml
Gelatine – 2-3 teaspoons
Sugar – to taste
Soak gelatine in 1 tablespoon of cold water, then heat it up either on the stove or in a microwave for 30 seconds till it dissolves
Puree the mango
Whip the cream till fluffy
Combine the pureed mango, cream and gelatine and mix well. Gelatine should be combined well (without lumps)
Set in the refrigerator for minimum 4 hrs or keep it overnight
Serve with cut ripe mango cubes
To cut the sweetness of the pudding, I drizzled some frozen cranberry coulis over the top and the combination really worked. You can use fresh strawberries, blueberries, cherries or any acidic fruit as a topping.
I think this pudding will also go well with chopped nuts like cashew, almonds, pistachio or a slice of rich chocolate cake slice!
In want of spending the day productively and creatively, Tabita and I decided to try our hand at a deceptively hard dish called Chocolate Delices. Tabita is a friend and a baker who’s creations you can check out, on her Facebook page called Love Bites.
Armed with our recipe book and all ingredients we set off. And the outcome was this…
Chocolate Mousse (Chocolate Delices)
If you want to try your hand at this simple no bake dessert…here’s the recipe which we tweaked a little bit..
Caster Sugar – 1/4 cup (55 grams)
Whipping cream – 200 ml
Fresh cream – 225 ml
Dark chocolate – 450 grams (roughly chopped)
Gelatine – 5 grams (roughly 1 and 1/2 teaspoon)
Egg – 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
For Ganache
Cream  155 ml
Chocolate – 100 grams
Line your ring moulds with transparency sheet (used for projectors) cut into circle for the bottom and rectangle to line around the ring. We used loose bottomed moulds which made it easier to take the chocolate delices out of the mould
Place sugar and 1 tablespoon of water in a pan over high heat. Do not stir. Once you get a dark caramel gradually add 125 ml of fresh cream and stir using a metal spoon..(I did my research to find out why only metal spoon and apparently metal spoons are less likely to carry trace amounts of fat, air bubbles, or other food particles than a rough-surfaced wooden spoon. These foreign particles can also cause the sugar to crystallize). Stir it till the caramel dissolves.
Place 100 grams of chocolate in a bowl and pour the above hot cream mixture. Stir until melted and combined. Pour into the mould and put it in refrigerator for about 30 minutes to set it. This is our truffle base.
To prepare the mousse, place 150 grams chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted. Keep aside to cool.
Whisk 200 ml of whipping cream to stiff peaks. Chill it in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes to firm.
Add few tablespoons of cold water to the gelatin and soften it (it takes about 3 minutes). Microwave it for 30 seconds and leave it to cool.
Place 100 ml of fresh cream in a pan and slowly bring it to boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin until dissolved.
Add the gelatin mixture, egg and egg yolk into the melted chocolate and mix.
Fold in the whipping cream.
Spoon or pipe in this mixture into the mould with truffle base.
Refrigerate overnight.
For ganache, boil the cream and pourit over roughly chopped chocolates.
Pour ganache over the mousse, and level it. Chill for atleast 3 hours to set.
Serve with strawberry coulis*
* You need caster sugar and water to boil. Add chopped strawberries (or any berries) and cook till its soft.Puree it.
TipÂ
Add dash of orange liqour into the mousse for that added flavor. Orange and chocolate goes very well…
You may add the liquor to puree if not the mousse.
You can serve it with fresh fruits too, since the dessert in itself will be too sweet and chocolate-y! 🙂
As per the legend, the creation of chocolate chip cookies was a complete accident. Â One day while making cookies, Ruth Graves Wakefield ( inventor of the Toll House brand of chocolate chip cookies) realized she was out of an ingredient for the recipe she was using. She had run out of baker’s chocolate, so she substituted it with a semisweet chocolate bar from Nestle. However, unlike the baker’s chocolate, the chopped up chocolate bar did not melt and mix into the batter like Ruth thought it would. The small pieces of chocolate only softened and the chocolate chip cookie was born.
What a yummy accident! 🙂
Here’s a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie from A’s Chocolate Factory, run by a young and talented Ann Benjamin in the city of Kochi.
Chocolate Chip Cookies Pic: Ann Benjamin
All purpose flour (Maida) – 1 and half cups
Unsalted butter – 100 gms (melted)
Caster sugar – 1/2 cup
Dark brown sugar– 1/2 cup
Egg – 1
Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon (tsp)
Baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon
Salt – a pinch
Chocolate chips – 1 cup
Optional :
Cornflakes (crushed)- 1 cup
Rolled oats -1 cup
Combine maida, baking soda and salt well. Keep aside.
Preheat oven at 150 degrees for 10 mins.
Line the tray with parchment paper.
Add both the sugars to the butter. Whisk it until the mixture is thick.
Add in the egg and vanilla essence. Whisk it again for about a minute.
Add in the dry ingredients.
Form a dough using hands and then add the chocolate chips,cornflakes and rolled oats.
Make equal sized balls and gently press the top while placing on the baking tray
Team Hudson Canola recently sent me a package with their brand new Canola Oil. Frankly, I had never heard of Canola Oil, however was willing to try it out. On going through various sites, I learnt that its high ration of mono-unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids makes it one of the healthy oil for consumption.
Hudson Canola oil comes in a nice packaging, the oil being light yellow in color. On using it for my daily cooking, I could hardly make out the difference in terms of taste. Coming from pressed canola seeds, I was surely expecting some distinct flavor to it. However, I found it neutral. Having read about the oil’s high smoke point, I decided to try frying some pakoras in it ( also because the beautiful weather – with rains and breeze lashing at your window, demanded some hot snacks :))
Here’s my mom’s recipe for crispy onions pakoras!
Pakoras & Canola Oil
White Onions – 2 nos (finely chopped)
Ginger – 1 tsp (finely chopped)
Garlic – 1 tsp (crushed &Â finely chopped)
Ghee – 1 Tbsp
Gramflour (besan) – 4-5 Tbsp
Rub ghee into the onions nicely with hands.
Add the gramflour and mix.
Add little water. Mix. You should have a thick batter (not runny).
Fry in hot oil.
Remove on an absorbent paper.
Serve with your favorite sauce.
Canola Oil is believed to have many health benefits and a fast emerging oil of preference almost at par with Olive oil. It can be used while baking (I tried it for cupcakes), or salads or soups, deep frying etc. The taste of the oil is so neutral that it doesn’t kill the flavor of the ingredients used in a dish. Â That was my experience with Canola Oil
A big thanks to the Hudson Canola team, for sending me sample bottle along with a recipe booklet. Am sure going to try out some recipes 🙂
A steak refers to a cut of meat that is actually cut perpendicular to the fibers of the muscle. There are a number of ways of preparing a steak. It can be grilled, pan fried, broiled, baked, cooked in sauce and the like. If applied without any specification then it refers to beefsteak.
The more tender the cuts of a beef are, the more easily are they cooked. The levels of cooking a steak vary from the dish that you are preparing with it. It however can range from very rare, rare, medium, medium well done or well done. Unlike other meats, beef do not require to be cooked through.
The reason for steakhouses dotting every town in America is that most of us cannot resist our taste buds from dancing to the calls of a juicy and perfectly cooked steak. Based on what you are looking for and how much you exactly want to pay depends what cut of steak you chose. Let us explain this in details:
• Flank steak has a killer flavor. This however is tough and needs to be cooked and sliced properly.
• It should not surprise you if we say that tenderloin is true to the “tender” label! However, this is expensive and can be a little insipid
• Rib eyes are a great steak for grilling as they have a lot of fat marbled around and they are very tender as well.
• A T-bone or Porterhouse has got tenderloin on one side of the bone and a strip steak on the other.
• A sirloin steak is large but is thin and lean like a flank steak.
Steaks are a great choice for any kind of occasion. In fact preparing a steak for dinner or lunch does not call for any occasion. There need not be a particular reason for your cooking a deliciou dish with steaks. You can cook for friends, family or for yourself. Let us have a look at one such recipe that does not require an occasion to be prepared.
Sirloin steak with chunky chips
Ingredients for the chips
• 3 large potatoes
• Vegetable oil for deep frying and brushing the steaks.
Ingredients for the steaks
• Sirloin steaks that need to be removed from the fridge around 15 minutes before cooking.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Ingredients for serving
• Grilled tomatoes
• Mustard
Cooking procedure
• For the chips, you need to peel the potatoes and cut into square chips. These cuts can be about 7cm long. You must ensure that the chips are more or less of the same size so that they are evenly cooked. You need to rinse the chips in cold water as this removes the excess starch. Then you must dry them thoroughly with kitchen towels.
• The next step is to fill a deep-fat fryer pan two-thirds full with vegetable oil. The oil is to be heated to 140C-160C/285F-300F.
• Now, the chips can be placed in the hot oil and cooked until just cooked through. You can after a certain time turn the heat up slightly to increase the temperature of the oil to 160-180C/320-355F.
• The next step is to heat a ridged grill pan until hot. This is done for the steak. You require brushing the steaks with some of the vegetable oil. Seasoning is required on both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Now you can place the steaks on the hot grill pan. With the passage of a few minutes, turn the steaks 90 degrees in the pan. This gives the diamond-patterned grill marks.
• You can continue the process by turning the steaks over and repeat on the other side until they are cooked to your liking. For rare steaks, you can brown them on both sides as described and cook for an additional minute. For medium rare you can cook for an additional 2-3 minutes or 4-5 minutes for well done. The exact cooking times however depend on the thickness of the steaks.
• The next step is to remove the steaks from the pan allowing them to rest while you cook the chips for a second time.
• Cook the chips in the oil and fry for 2-3 minutes or until crisp and golden. Remove from the hot oil with the help of a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
• You can now serve the steaks and chips with tomatoes that are grilled and mustard on the side.
This recipe is a major hit among steaks lovers all across the world. When served with lots of beer, you will feel your taste buds getting stirred like never before.
Take sabudana in a flat plate and sprinkle water. Keep mixing with hands to gauge how much more water is required. It should be nice and moist (not wet and sticky). Leave it aside. Sabudana actually soaks up the water nicely and increase in size.
Heat oil and add onions to it. Fry nicely
Add peanuts, chopped coriander, potatoes and sabudana. Mix gently without breaking the potatoes
Add salt, chilli and turmeric. Mix
If you still feel the sabudana is hard and chewy. Sprinkle water and close the vessel. Cook for few more minute on low flame.
In the end add sugar and lemon juice. Mix well
Garnish with fresh coriander
Serve immediately
*In North India people have this during fast, for which you can omit onion. Add more potatoes instead!
Akshayapatram 