CHICKEN 65

 

Lockdown conversations: I find myself laughing at the silliest of jokes (which under normal circumstances would have merely provoked a snicker from me) and giggling even while having the most sedate of conversation. It must be my way of coping with the current situation.

The other day I was speaking to Honeylaze (yup, you read the name right, this is her gamer name) and typically our conversation revolves around books, food, parenting and work but here we were, discussing online games. Honeylaze told me she beat her children’s score at bowling and also sent me screenshots to prove her gaming prowess. Much against my better judgment, I downloaded the App and you will find me sneaking in a game between cooking and washing vessels.

I called my Uncle and our conversation went on for half an hour during which time he told me the recipe for homemade bird feed made with cat food!

Sky and I had a 10-minute discussion on which gravy would go best with egg fried rice.

I was checking with my lawyer friend if he knew of anyone who handled FRRO related matters and he responded saying he could take up Ferrero Rocher matters. *more laughter*

I pity my housemates who have to put up with my howls of laughter because all these conversations have ended with me laughing out aloud. It may not seem funny to you as you read this, but do feel free to give me a call and let us infect each other with laughter because laughter is the kind of contagion I could do with right now.

Stay home, stay safe and follow me on Facebook and Instagram (Lucidlucent).

 

CHICKEN 65

 

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken – 100 gms

Oil

For the marinade

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Curd – 1 ½ tbsp

Powdered pepper – ½ tsp

Corn flour – 2-3 tbsp

Turmeric – a pinch

Salt – to taste

Seasoning

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Chopped garlic – 2 tbsp

Green chilly (sliced) – 1

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt – to taste

Vinegar – 1 tsp diluted in 3 tbsp water

Powdered pepper – ½ tsp

 

Method:

1.     In a bowl, add the marinade ingredients, mix it well. Add a few spoons of water if required.

2.     Add the cubes of chicken to the marinade, mix well and set aside for a few hours or overnight.

3.     Deep fry the marinated pieces of chicken and cook until they turn crisp and golden. Drain and set aside.

4.     Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped garlic, curry leaves and slit green chilly and fry until the leaves turn crisp. Add red chilli powder, salt and sugar. To this add the vinegar solution and stir it quick until the mixture thickens.

5.     Quickly add the fried chicken pieces to it and stir until the pieces are well coated and turn off the flame once done.

6.     Done.

 

 

 

 

KUNG PAO CHICKEN

 

30.09.2020: I had the most horrifying experience photographing this dish.

The French doors in our dining room open up to a large and spacious balcony which also serves as my photography space for the blog. On most days, I leave these doors open to let in sunlight and fresh air.

The neighbouring Apartment to our left also houses a few pigeons which are a permanent fixture on their window ledges. When we had initially shifted to the second floor of our house, some of these pigeons had presumed they could continue lounging on our balcony until I began chasing them away by rapidly flapping my arms accompanied by loud shoos. These pigeons are now wary of flying close to the balcony and while some brave ones do dare to venture close and perch on the balcony railing, they fly away as soon as they see my face peek out of the door. Research says that if you shoo a pigeon, it is likely to remember you and keep out of your way.

The day I cooked Kung Pao Chicken, I placed the items required for the frame on the dining table. I went to my room to get my phone and when I returned, I heard a loud flapping of wings. I noticed a speckled pigeon on the tiled floor next to the table. The shoo wouldn’t escape my throat, my arms wouldn’t move and as I stood frozen, the bird flew out of the door after it noticed me standing there.

As I yelled out for R, she came running only to see my right leg violently shake.

Those who know me well, know of my ‘inane’ fear of a bird entering the house and flapping its wings. The sound of the flapping gives me nightmares.

I discerned R’s expression turn from one of concern to a struggle not to laugh after she figured out what I was trying to say.

 As I tried to calm myself and keep my hands steady to be able to click pictures, I asked R to keep a lookout on the balcony, while I arranged the bowl of chicken and other items. I looked at the pigeons on the window ledges to my left and noticed a glint of mockery in their eyes. R said she couldn’t see that far.

As I squatted to click a picture, with my back towards them, knowing R would give a shout of warning if one came flapping again, I wondered if I was a sitting duck in that position.

I quickly gathered all the items and moved indoors. I decided the lighting was not good on the balcony that day.

Yesterday I told R that the pigeon must have come visiting from another area as we had never seen a speckled one before. She assured me that the other pigeons wouldn’t dare disturb me while clicking pictures.

The Kung Pao chicken is sweet and spicy and makes a perfect accompaniment to steamed rice or noodles. The recipe is from Banglar Rannaghor.

KUNG PAO CHICKEN

Ingredients:

Chicken breast – 2

For the marinade:

Salt – ½ tsp

Pepper- 1 tsp

Soya sauce- 1 tbsp

Egg white – 1

Cornflour – 2 tbsp

For the stir-fry:

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp

Dry red chilli – 4-5

Brown sugar – 1 ½ tbsp

Soya sauce- 1 tbsp

Cornflour slurry – 1 tsp cornflour + ¼ cup water.

Roasted Peanuts / Cashews – a handful

Green onion – 4 tbsp

 

 

Method:

1.     Cut the chicken into bite sized bits.

2.     In a mixing bowl, add the salt, pepper, soya sauce and egg white to the chicken and mix it well. Add cornflour to this, mix well and marinate it for about 15 minutes.

3.     Deep fry the marinated chicken until the chicken is fully cooked.

4.     In a pan, heat some oil. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.

5.     Add the dried red chillies.

6.   Add the brown sugar, stir for a minute and add the fried chicken pieces to it. Add the soya sauce and mix .

7.   Add the cornflour slurry and toss the chicken pieces until it is well coated with the caramelised liquid.

8.     Add the chopped green onions and roasted nuts and give it a good mix.

9.     Done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOUBLE WHAMMY CHICKEN BURGER

 

 28.09.2020: I love, LOOOOOVE burgers. My favourite kind are the ones with moist, juicy patties topped with a sweet sauce or garlicky mayonnaise, caramelised onions, sauteed mushroom/crispy bacon and a side of fries or coleslaw. While I do have a few favourite burger joints in town and one at Mysore, not all of them serve burgers with my favourite accompaniments. This period of being cooped up at home has had me experiment with different burger toppings. I will probably write a separate post on Burger Topping ideas with ingredients easily available at home. 

For the health conscious, buns toasted in butter, two patties with a slice of cheese, bacon dripping in fat, onions fried in oil may not be the ideal meal. I thoroughly enjoyed my burger albeit halfway through I received a message from a client saying he wanted to discuss something urgent and my thoughts shifted from Bacon to Apartment Association Act and post meal, D dropped a bomb on limitation period for filing a complaint.

I think caramelised onions make all Burgers taste better. The other day I had teensy tea buns. I toasted them and stuffed them with salami and caramelised onions and they tasted heavenly. I also like buns with homemade butter and jam ( or as Hershey would call it, compote). Skip used to enjoy having them with honey after reading one of Enid Blyton’s books that had a bear eating buns and honey.

What toppings do you like on your Burgers? Do let me know.

 

DOUBLE WHAMMY CHICKEN BURGER (serves 2)

Ingredients:

For the Patty:

Chicken breast – 1

Medium sized potatoes – 2 (boiled)

Ginger – garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Chat Masala – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Bread crumbs

Rice Flour mixed in water

For the burger:

Buns - 2

Garlic butter - 2 tbsps 

Cheese slice - 2

Bacon strips - 4

Onion (medium sized) – 1 + 1/4 tsp salt plus 1/4 tsp sugar

 

Method:

1.     Add the chicken breast and other spices into a blender and grind to a fine paste.

2.   Mash potatoes separately ,add the ground chicken to it and mix well with a fork. Shape these into patties. 

3. Mix a little rice flour in water to form a smooth paste. Dip the patties in this mixture, roll it in bread crumbs. 

4..     Deep fry the patties until cooked.

5.     Place a cheese slice on one patty while its still hot. Keep aside.

6.     Slice onions length wise and fry them with ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp sugar. Fry until they brown. Set aside.

7.     Fry bacon and set aside.

8.   Slice the bun, slather it with garlic butter. Toast it. Place the patty with the cheese slice on it and then place another patty on it.

8.     Top it with caramelised onions and bacon.

9.     Done.

 

 

Recipe Notes:

·       I made cutlets the next day with the leftover potato chicken dough.

 

 

 

 

 

SHAHI CHICKEN KORMA

02.07.2020:  I had chicken lying in the freezer and was dreaming of butter chicken and paranthas for dinner. I opened the fridge in the evening to pick juicy, red tomatoes only to realise there were none. Who runs out of tomatoes!!! While I stood staring at the fridge, unblinking, wondering if I could make butter chicken without tomatoes, I remembered a recipe I had come across on the ‘Your Food Lab’ channel that had an onion-cashew based gravy with no tomatoes. I had saved that recipe to cook on a day when I might run out of tomatoes and have chicken in my freezer and crave for butter chicken and paranthas.

I’m a huge fan of Sanjyot Keer’s recipes, especially his gravy-based dishes. They are always thick and creamy and even if you leave out a few spices from his list, they taste great. In this recipe, he makes his own garam masala, I’ve just substituted it with store bought. I’ve also skipped mace and nutmeg. These are ingredients I never have at home.

If you love thick, creamy, rich (butter chicken kinda) gravies, you MUST try this recipe. The onions are fried till they completely brown (like the crispy fried onions used in Biryanis) and they are then ground with cashews. This flavourful sauce gives the restaurant kind taste to the gravy.

Music: In my room
Musician: LoveFine

Skip’s preference in non-vegetarian food keeps changing. He’s currently eating only Crab (to be more specific, crab claws). I tried to get Skip to eat a small chunk of the chicken, he ate a spoonful of the gravy, contorted his face, held back a gag and refused to eat more. When asked why, he said “the gravy tastes of chicken”.

Sigh.

Do not wait to run out of tomatoes to cook this dish.

SHAHI CHICKEN KORMA (serves 4)

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

Chicken – 500 gms

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp

Turmeric – 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

For the onion-cashew paste:

Ghee/Oil – 4 tbsp

Onions (medium sized) – 4

Powdered cashews – 10

For the gravy:

Bay leaf- 1

Green cardamom – 2

Cloves – 2

Black peppercorn – 1 tsp

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch

Curd – 1 cup

Red chilli powder – 2 tbsp

Coriander powder- 2 tbsp

Ginger(sliced) – 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Garam masala powder- 2 tsp

Method:

1.  To the cleaned chicken, add ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Mix well and marinate for about 15-20 minutes. Set aside.

2.  Heat ghee/oil in a pan. Add sliced onions to it. Cook on medium heat until the onions are nicely browned and crisp. Remove from pan and set aside on a thick paper towel.

3.     Once the fried onions have cooled, grind them with the powdered cashews into a thick, creamy paste.

4.  Into the same pan, add bay leaf, green cardamom, cloves, black peppercorn, cinnamon and add the marinated chicken to it. Fry the chicken on high flame until its partially cooked. Reduce flame.

5.  To a cup of curd, add chilli and coriander powder and whisk well. Pour the curd mixture to the fried chicken and stir continuously as you are adding it. Bring it to a boil.

6.    Add sliced ginger and salt.

7.  Cover and cook the chicken on medium flame for about 20 minutes. Stir at regular intervals.

8.   Add the onion-cashew paste. Stir well and cook for further 5 minutes. 

9.   Add garam masala powder and cook chicken until done.

10. Done.

Recipe Notes:

•       Do not place your fried onions on a paper napkin, they’ll stick to it. We may have eaten bits of paper with our korma.
•       I’ve used chicken with bones.

DRUMS OF HEAVEN

30.06.2020: Last August, P and I went to SkyDeck by Sherlock’s for her birthday and enjoyed a plate of barbeque chicken wings. I love the sweet, sticky sauce and stripped the meat clean off the bones. I have been intending on replicating that dish in my kitchen since ages. The other day I had ordered a batch of chicken lollipops. Dinner was Indo-Asian and supposed to be vegetarian but the last minute I decided to use the chicken.  Typically, I spend some time researching and comparing recipes on the net but this time I just ‘winged’ the recipe. I remembered the SkyDeck sweet and sticky chicken and while Sky doesn’t like his savoury dishes with a hint of sweet, I absolutely LOVE it.

While making most of the Indo-Asian dishes, I use a combination of soy sauce, tomato ketchup and Thai sweet chilli sauce. I also sprinkle a little sugar at times. This time I decided to use honey and it made the chicken lollipops taste quite similar to the ones I had had at Skydeck’s.

These pieces are crunchy and perfectly coated with a combination of sweet and salty sauce. The honey, besides lending a sweet flavour helps the caramelised onion and garlic bits cling to the chicken. Not one to lick my fingers, I found myself not only licking the bones but my fingers also!

This recipe is quick and simple and requires ingredients readily available at home. As I was typing out this post, I looked up the recipe for homemade barbeque sauce which requires apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce. All this dish requires is soy sauce, onions, garlic and honey and I think it tasted pretty close to what I had at a restaurant.

When it was served, V pointed at it and asked if I had made Drums of Heaven, a name that I hadn’t thought of while cooking it. I solemnly nodded and decided that I had cooked Drums of Heaven at home.

DRUMS OF HEAVEN

Ingredients:

Chicken Lollipop – 12 pieces

All- Purpose flour (maida)– 3  tbsp

Cornflour –4 tbsp

Onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Garlic (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Soy Sauce – 1 tbsp

Tomato Ketchup – 2 tbsp

Honey – 2 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp  

Salt – as per taste

Water – as required

Method:

1.    Make a thick batter out of the cornflour and all-purpose flour. Add a little salt. Marinate the chicken in it for some time.

2.      In a pan, heat some oil and fry the marinated chicken pieces until it turns golden brown. Deep frying is quicker but you may also shallow fry. Set aside.

3.      In a pan, heat some oil. Add chopped onions and fry till they caramelise. Add the chopped garlic and sauté for a minute more.

4.   To this, add the soy sauce, tomato ketchup and honey. Mix it well and immediately add the fried chicken and give it a quick stir until the pieces are well coated with the sauces and onion-garlic bits. Sprinkle red chilli powder on the chicken, give it another quick toss and remove from heat.

5.      Done.

Recipe Notes:

·     Do not sauté the fried chicken pieces for long in the sauces else they lose their crispiness.

CHICKEN FRITTERS

17.06.2020: Cooking disasters are usually funny in the retrospect. Skip was away at my parents’ place for a week and I ordered chicken for Sky and myself. On Day 4, I was left with about 100 gms of boneless chicken and I decided to make cheesy chicken balls and was beaming, thinking of the slo-mo video I’d be putting up on the blog, of the crispy chicken ball being pulled apart and the gooey, cheese stretching within. As you can see from the name of the post, things did not go as planned.

I had all ingredients ready in the blender and the boiled potatoes and bread crumbs were kept aside. I absentmindedly added the potatoes into the blender and ended up with a mushy, gloopy, drippy mix of chicken and potato. I put my hand in and scooped out the gloop and dejectedly looked on as it slithered down my palm.

 The cheese went back into the freezer. I heated  the oil, scooped a little of the chicken-potato batter with my fingers and since I had breadcrumbs ready on a plate, sprinkled some on the batter for good luck and dropped it into the hot oil. We ate delicious, crispy chicken fritters that night.

CHICKEN FRITTERS

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken (or minced chicken) – 250 gms

Onion (finely chopped) - 1 medium sized

Coriander leaves (finely chopped) – 3 tbsp

Chilly (finely chopped) – 1

Ginger –garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Chaat masala – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Soya sauce – 1 tsp

Potato (boiled)- 1

Bread crumbs – for coating

Method:

1.Add all ingredients to the blender other than the bread crumbs and blend for about 15 seconds until a thick batter like consistency is obtained. 

2.Using either your hands or a spoon, scoop a bite sized portion , sprinkle bread crumbs on it and drop it into hot oil.

3. Deep-fry in low-medium flame until it turns golden brown.

4.Done.

Recipe Notes:

·        These taste best with mayonnaise.