Avocado and Chicken Rolls

I love avocados for their subtle buttery taste and goodness. I add them to rotis, dosas, salads, wanna try Cham's avocado cake recipe I am even thinking of trying a mithai with it ...cant have enough.

Do you love avocados? Then you will love the new Avocados From Mexico recipe website "Recipes From Avocado Lovers", where you can submit your favorite avocado recipes and share you avocado love with with other foodies like you.

This recipe is an amazing appetiser, the original recipe is from Guy Fieri , I have tweaked it to my taste. One thing I have realised is Avocados go great with chicken, try them together.

Ingredietns:

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup finely minced red onion

2 tablespoons minced ginger

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

2 cups chopped chicken breast

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 cup julienned green cabbage

1/2 cup shredded carrots

4 cups canola oil, for frying,

12 egg roll wrappers

2 avocados, sliced into 24 pieces

1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk

Jarred sweet chili sauce, for dipping

Method:

In a saute pan over high heat, add canola oil. Saute red onions until translucent. Add ginger, garlic, celery, chicken, and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Deglaze pan with soy sauce. Cool mixture.

In large bowl combine cabbage, carrots and chicken mixture.

In medium saucepan, heat canola oil to 350 degrees F. Oil needs to be deep enough to keep egg roll from touching bottom of pan. Add more oil, if needed.

To roll egg rolls, layout egg roll skin with corner facing you, place approximately 1/12th of mixture on roll and place 2 pieces of avocado on top of mixture. Fold corner over mixture, and then fold outside corners over the mixture, making a roll, 4 to 5-inches wide. Roll firmly, being careful not to tear wrapper, and seal the final edge with egg wash.

Dredge the egg roll in egg wash, allow excess to drain off and submerge egg roll in oil. Fry until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on sheet tray lined with a cooling rack.

*This sponsorship is brought to you by Recipes from Avocados From Mexico who we have partnered with for this promotion.

Sour cream Fried Chicken

I wish all my readers, each and every one of you, a happy, healthy and peaceful 2012!

If you want to take a break from tandoori chicken or tikkas or kebabs ... this is recipe you should try. Its a nice, refreshing break from the (nice, refreshing but) regular (ly used) flavor.
I have eaten (the halal) KFC only once in my lifetime n frankly speaking I am glad about it. Apart from all the "main stream concerns" , I felt it was very bland for my taste.

This particular recipe is very flavorful with the mustard and spices in the breading mixture. The original recipe asks to fry the chicken in vegetable shortening, but I have used vegetable oil instead. I bet frying in the shortening would certainly make a difference but ....

Ingredients:

Marinade

1/2 C whole milk

1 C sour cream
3 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
3 1/2 to 4 lbs Chicken (approx. 8 to 10 big pieces)

Breading

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp paprika/ chili pdr
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Oil for frying.

Method:

In a bowl, combine the ingredients for the marinade. Lightly season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place them in the bowl with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 12 hours.

In a plate, combine the ingredients for the breading mixture, toss the marinated chicken  until they are well coated with the mixture. Place the breaded chicken on a rack with a baking sheet. When all of the pieces are breaded, refrigerate them for 15 minutes.You can skip this step n fry the pieces directly, but refrigerating them, even if its only for 15 mins, will give you a crispier crust .

In a large skillet, heat oil over low heat until it reaches 350 degrees F. Test 1 piece first. The oil should bubble and react as you add the first piece. Use a pair of heat-resistant tongs to gently place the chicken pieces in a single layer in the skillet over medium heat. Cook, undisturbed, 5 to 8 minutes, or until you can see the underside of the chicken browning. Remove the skillet from the heat and gently turn the pieces on their second side. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it and transfer it to a rack. Serve immediately or keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Enjoy !

Murgh Malai Kabab Bites

A very Happy and Healthy New Year to all my readers and fellow bloggers !

Haah ! Its so good to see you ...

The new year has begun and I am glad I checked out one of my resolutions already :) posting here, before the first month ends that is.

A lot happened since we last met in Oct 2010. All of it involved a lot of cooking, some hits and some misses, and a lot of eating out too !

Lets see....we bought our first house, then came the moving , then it was eid-ul-adha (bakri eid), then we were settling down, we had friends visiting us, then the house warming, then of course we were travelling and shopping. Throw in few snowstorms and there you go, 3 months of madness in less than three sentences  :)

Now, as we are still settling ...(yeah...thts right... slowly but surely...) I am kinda trying to get back into the blogging mode, catching up, see all the deliciousness I have missed, welcome new friends, which reminds me , I wanna thank all of you who emailed me, left their comments, sent their wishes, Thank You very much , I am trying to reply all the comments / questions/ suggestions ASAP.

Coming to the recipe, when I say bites its not exactly an amuse-bouche, the kababs are may be 2 or 3 biters, but they are super delicious ...try any size ... I marinated the chicken overnight but half hour should also suffice.

Ingredients :

2 C Chicken breasts, cubed

1 tsp.ginger paste, 

1 tsp. garlic paste,

1/2 tsp. chili pdr or to taste,

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1/2 C cream,

salt, to taste

1.5 tsp. dhania pdr

1/2 C panko (optional)

olive oil, for shallow frying.

Method:

Combine all the ingredients except panko and oil and let it marinate at room temperature for at least half an hour, or overnight in the refrigerator. Heat oil in a pan , dip the chicken pieces in the panko/bread crumbs and shallow fry on medium heat until both sides are golden brown. Drain on a paper towel/ tissue. Serve hot / warm.

I am sending this to the Ramadan Friendly Recipes event at "the halal foodie" blog

Enjoy!

Basic Chicken Stock

It happens to me all the time ...Taking a break from blogging is easy, getting back into the blogging mode really takes time. Before every vacation I feel excited about all the possible things I would like to blog about after coming back, till date it has never happened :) 

Nevertheless, while I am still struggling to get out of this, I thought may be I could share a simple recipe of how I make my basic chicken stock, may be some soup made using that would do the trick, may be I could post about the soup as a follow up. Well, though the later two still seem distant, let me tell you how I make the stock...

Where I live (in the suburbs)  we don't find halal chicken stocks at the stores (I mean the desi grocery where we buy our halal meat), so I usually make my own. I think a good stock can add loads of flavour to any thing you make out of it  and it sure is a very good thing to have in your pantry / fridge.  

Tender stalks of cilantro



I take 1 cup uncooked bones of chicken, its OK if they have some meat on it, you could shred it and use it in your sandwiches or soups. Add 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns,  one small onion chopped, 2-3 green cardamoms, 1/2 " stick of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 3 and half cups of water and cook on high uncovered for a few mins. Chop off the tender stalks of a small bunch of cilantro/coriander and add it to the stock. Season it with salt and let it cook until it reduces to half or a little over half. Your Chicken stock is ready to use. 

To store, let it cool and then store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 15 days. You can also freeze it in ice trays and store it for up to a month. I don't keep it that long and use it within a week in all possible ways, soups, rice, dal, to knead parathas,  curries, etc... etc. 

The recipe is pretty simple, I don't add the veggies or spices or even oil, which makes it very versatile and pretty basic, hence the name. 

By the way, Ramadan was the best part of the year as always and I thank you all for your Eid wishes. 

See you soon !

Update:

I am trying to catch up with all the new visitors to my blog, for those who did care to comment I add you to my Fellow Bloggers List. If you don't see your name in the list, plz, plz, plz let me know. 

Thanks!

Semi Home Made Event Round Up

The Semi Home Made Indian Recipes event is officially over and I am pleased to present to you the creative, smart and delicious round up. I am so glad I hosted this event coz this way I gotto know lots of new blogs and made new friends.

I would personally like to give a big hug and thank every one who did send in their contributions, who said they would try and even the ones who emailed me saying why they couldnt :)

One thing I would like to mention before going to the round up is that I am trying to include all the readers who comment (even if its only once) in my fellow bloggers list, if you have sent in your entry / commented and dont see your blog in the fellow bloggers list, please let me know.

Following are the entries in order I recieved them :


Yasmeen -- Salmon Burgers with Butternut Squash Fries

Ambika --- Egg Curry

Tazaika -- Egg Sandwich

Nithu -- Chilli Paratha

Priya -- Chilli Chicken 65

Priya -- Prawn Tikka Pizza

Asha -- Cinnamon - Brown Sugar Rolls

Asha -- Pickle Masala Dal



Kalai -- Fantastic Croissants

Swathi -- Vegetable Puffs

Ruchika -- Paneer Calzone

Divya-- Tomato Sevai

Priyanka -- Spiced Vegetable Couscous

SE-- Almond and Chocolate Rugelach

Preethi -- Chicken Tikka

Tazaika -- Curd Raita

Cham -- Vegetable Samosa

Cham -- Rasmalai

Jyoti -- Vegetable Stew

Cool Lassi(e)-- Tandoori Chicken

Cool Lassi(e) -- Chicken 65

Cool Lassi(e) --Ice cream lollipops

Cool Lassi(e) -- Sugarplum balls

Cool Lassi(e) -- Bread Pudding

Cool Lassi(e) -- Baked Mini Samosas

Cool Lassi(e) -- Malai Kofta

Nithu-- Pav Bhaji

Following are my contributions to the event

Grilled Indian Pizza

Raita

Vegeatble Korma

Gulab Jamuns

To choose a winner was the toughest, so we went for the lucky draw method and every entry was listed. If you sent more than one entry your name was included for every entry individually, and so the badge of honor goes to .....drum roll .... Cool Lassi(e) !!!

Congratulations, this is yours to keep :)

Have a great week y'all , hope to see you soon :D

Grilled Indian Pizza

Come Thanksgiving and you see a lot of material on what to do with the Leftover turkey. Whether we cook one or not everyone has some or the other leftover after a party night or even after a night out in the restaurant when you think you could eat everything you ordered but it finally ends up in a box instead.

So what do you do with leftovers ? I simply make a pizza ... its the semi home made way !

I "heart" Pizza and I think you can showcase your creativity and come up with tons of different flavors and toppings. Like this one, I had some reshmi kababs, so decided to make an Indian Pizza.

Sure the home made pizza dough tastes much better and healthier, but having a packet of frozen dough really helps you fix a quick meal. To make it even quicker I use the store bought pita bread or roghini naan as my base and cook it on the griddle, yes this is a tawa top pizza :)

Though everything is store bought, I am splitting the list of ingredients to show how I made it the Semi Home Made way , as this is my first post for the ongoing event.

Ingredients:

Store bought / ready to use:

Whole wheat pita bread / Roghani naan,
Plain or flavored hummus,

Reshmi kabab / any kabab/ rotisserie chicken, chopped or shredded,

Bombay Sandwich spread (I used Swad brand, any chutney is fine)

ketchup,

chili powder,

pudina / mint leaves,

Colby cheese (use any cheeses you have handy),

cheddar cheese,

chaat masala.

Ghee. (optional)

Method:
Spread some hummus on the pita bread, then some ketchup, sprinkle the chicken , chili powder, cheeses, top with some sandwich chutney and fresh mint leaves. Heat a pan/ griddle/grill , put a little bit of ghee/ butter and put the pita bread with all layers , let it cook covered on low just until the cheese melts, sprinkle with chaat masala. Serve with chips and fruit juice.



This is my entry to the following events:

Sunday Snacks - Cheese hosted by Mirch Masala and

Semi Home Made Indian Recipes hosted by myself.

Tangdi Kabab

This is one of my favourites when it comes to Chicken. For this particular recipe I always deep fry the chicken but you can choose to bake it or grill it. If you don't have Greek yogurt handy you can use plain yogurt, just make sure to drain all the excess water overnight, so its really thick n creamy. One thing I like about this recipe is , it makes a great finger food and is ideal for entertaining, coz once you marinate the chicken, all you have to do is fry it.

Ingredients:
(all measurements are approximate, please feel free to suit your taste)

6 chicken drumsticks,
1 (5.3 oz) container plain Greek yogurt, (I used Oikos)
1 tbsp.ginger paste,
1 tbsp. garlic paste,
1 tsp. chili pdr, or as per your taste,
1/4 tsp. garam masala powder,
2 tbsp. tandoori chicken masala,
salt, to taste,
few drops red food coloring,
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice,
2-3 tbsp. cornstarch/ white corn flour.
chaat masala , for garnishing (optional)

Method:


Make a few deep slits in the chicken drumsticks and keep aside.


Its very important that the marinate is thick and not runny, so even if I use Greek yogurt I drain it for some time in a colander with paper towel. Now to the thick yogurt add ginger , garlic pastes, all the spices and lemon juice and mix well. Now add the chicken drumsticks n toss them so as to coat them with the marinate. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4-6 hrs. or overnight for best results.

Bring it to room temperature, sprinkle cornstarch, mix well before you deep fry or bake or grill them until nice and crispy. Serve with a lemon wedge. You could also garnish it with some chaat masala.



Enjoy !

Palak Murgh

This is another quick, simple, healthy and flavorful recipe. I usually follow the recipes I have , but this time I decided to cook it by memory and came up with my own recipe.

I am sending this to the Original recipe event created by Lore of Culinarty .

Ingredients:

2-3 tbsp. olive oil,

1 lb. boneless chicken,

1 small onion, thinly sliced,

1-2 tbsp green chili paste, to taste ,

1/4 tsp. turmeric powder,

1 tsp. coriander powder,

1 tsp ginger paste,

1 tsp garlic paste,

2 cardamoms,

1" cinnamon

nutmeg,

a pinch of cardamom powder,

salt to taste.

Grind together:

1 packet spinach, blanched,
small handful of coriander leaves,
1 small onion, roughly chopped,

Method:

Heat oil in a pan, add cinnamon stick, cardamoms, sliced onion and fry till the onions turn golden brown. Add chicken, ginger garlic, turmeric, coriander powder, season it with salt and fry for few mins. Add the ground spinach paste, green chili paste, cover and cook on low heat till the chicken is done. Sprinkle some cardamom powder and grate some nutmeg. Cover again . Serve hot or warm or cold , as you like it. Enjoy!

The Roundup- SOS Slow Cooker

Hi y'all , presenting the round up of the SOS Slow Cooker event. Since the time I announced the event I came across many good books featuring slow cooker reciepes and tips on how to enhance flavors and make the best use of your crockpot.

I would like to thank Yasmeen and Ivy for participating in the event and also all the fellow bloggers who were kind enough to email me and letting me know that they dont have a slow cooker so wont be participating.

Yasmeen of Health Nut shows us how to fuse health and taste with these recipes of 16 bean stew

and this mouth watering chicken shorba , dont forget to check out the dinner rolls too .

Ivy of Kopiaste.. made this yummy Pot Roast with Carrot Puree, Vegetables and Gravy



And finally my own entry - Kiwi Mutton

Hope you enjoyed your long weekend !