Cheesy Coriander Bread

Cheesy Coriander Bread. *Sigh*  Oh the smell that was wafting around the house whilst the bread was baking...Aah, I could just live off that smell. If you and I are going to be friends, then there an are three things you need to know about me.

1) I love bread. I can eat it all day long. I love bread with everything. From my curries, to my jam, to my butter, to even my white sauce. Everything is fine with a little bread by its side.

2) I adore cheese. Nothing is too cheesy (excepting pick up lines :P ) Cheese is the Mary Poppins of the food world. You can put cheese in my tea and I might throw out the tea but rest assured the cheese will find its way into my tummy.

3) Coriander. The best herb ever. I love my curries and no curry is complete without coriander. Call it cilantro, call it coriander, call it what you may but if you are talking spicy and talking garnish, coriander better be on the plate.

So, cheesy coriander bread. Need I say more? 

Here are the things you need,

• 4 cups of flour
• 2 1/4 tsp of dry yeast
• 11/2 cups of warm milk
• a pinch of salt
• Finely chopped coriander, including the stalk. How much depends on how much you like its taste
• Grated Cheddar
• 3-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic.
• One egg

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix together the yeast and milk well until all the yeast has dissolved.
2. Now add the salt to the milk.
3. Then quickly add the flour little by little until it forms a ball. Knead for a minute or two until flour and milk is well mixed.
4. Cover the dough using cling film and leave it untouched for a couple of hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
5. In a different bowl, mix together the grated cheese, coriander and garlic and keep aside.
6. Once the dough has risen, knead if for a couple more minutes and divide it into 12 balls.
7. Roll out the balls into small circles, using a little flour to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin.
8. Now scoop a little of the cheese and coriander mixture on to each of the dough circles and seal off the edges to form a semi circular shape.
9. Arrange them on to a greased bread loaf tray, so that they overlap one another.
10. Let it rest for another 20-25 minutes
11. Once risen, brush them with egg and bake in an oven pre heated to 180 degree celcius for 30 35 minutes.
12. Serve!!!

Lemony chicken and chilly potato

So today I saw this recipe for a lemony chicken on TV that I just had to try. It looked so yum and tender on TV itself that I could only imagine how lovely it would be if I tried it out. Well, I added a few additional things to it to make it a tad more spicy. Nonetheless, you should try it out too..Its really minimalistic in terms of the ingredients but the final product is uber awesome. Infact, all you guys out there with access to TLC, you should check out their Family Food Fights. Its a treasure house of traditional family recipes.

Here is what you need,

Chicken - Leg or Breast pieces
Zest of one big lemon
Zest of one lime
Grated Garlic - 4-5 pods
Juice one 1 lemon
A touch of grated ginger
Black Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - One bunch, finely chopped
Potatoes - 2-3
Chilly flakes- 1 tbsp
Onions - 2 (cut into rings)
Salt to taste

Marinate the chicken using the zest of lime, lemon, coriander leaves, pepper powder, lime juice and salt and set aside for a minimum of 30 minutes. (The more the better)

Then, lightly oil a pan and fry the chicken until golden brown. Remember to cover the chicken as it fries to eliminate the need for more oil.

Once fried remove the chicken and rest it on kitchen tissues.

Now toss the already boiled and diced potatoes in to the pan in which the chicken was fried, along with the onions and chilly flakes.

Add a splash of lemon juice to the potatoes to give it a zingy effect.

Saute them for about a minute or two.

Serve the chicken on a bed of spicy potatoes and onion.

Fried Prawn Patties

So, this recipe is finger licking good. The good thing about this  is that its versatile. So, while I've used prawns here, the recipe lends itself fabulously to chicken, meat and even vegetarian options. You surely must try it out now. No excuses!

Here are the things you need,

For the patties:

Rice flour - 1 cup

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 1/2 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

For the filling:

Cooked prawns - 250 grams

Onion - 1 (Finely diced)

Garlic - 3-4 cloves (Finely diced)

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil  for deep frying

In a blender, mix together the grated coconut and fennel seeds thoroughly.

Bring the water to boil in a large bowl.

As it boils, add in the rice flour, the coconut-fennel mix, salt and mix well.

Remove from heat and knead the mix into a soft dough.

Make fist sized balls of dough and keep aside.

Heat a little oil in a pan and add the diced onion and garlic and allow it to saute.

Then add the salt, turmeric and chilly powder to it till the raw smell of the spices disappear.

Now, quickly add the prawns to the pan and mix well.

Since the prawn is already cooked, we only need to keep the pan on heat until all the spices and prawns are well mixed.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed dish. The oil must be really hot so that when we fry the patties, it does not soak up excess oil.

While the oil is heating up, spread a little oil in you hands and flatten out the dough balls into approximately a pancake size using your hands. 

Scoop a little of the prawn mix into the center of the dough and bring the edges of the dough together. Seal the edges well by pressing on it hard, so that no oil gets inside the patty as we fry it.

Now, drop the patty into the oil and fry it until it turns nice and golden brown.

Serve.

While, I've chosen to do a half moon kinda shape for the patty, you could mold them into balls, squares or basically any shape that you fancy. The key here however is that no matter what shape you choose, remember to seal the edges cause otherwise oil will enter the filling and your patties will become soggy.

Creamy coconutty wheat soup

A yummy, creamy coconut soup that is at once both rich yet extremely healthy. Its flavours are amazing and its so filling that a small serving can be a meal in itself. Sometimes combined with a curry, this soup is a staple during the month of Ramzan, specially in the southern part of India.

Here are the things you will need,

Broken wheat/ Whole wheat - 1/2 cup

Boneless Chicken - 2-4 bite sized pieces

Coconut Milk - 2 cups

Ginger - 1 small piece

Cinnamon stick - 1/2 a stick

Shallots - 3-4 finely diced

Butter - 4 tsp
Salt - to taste

Cook the wheat, chicken, stick of cinnamon and the piece of ginger together till the wheat is well cooked. If using a pressure cooker, the average time for cooking is about 15 minutes.

1/2 a cup of wheat usually requires about 2 cups of water to cook. So remember to add water according to your measure of wheat.

Once well cooked, remove the ginger and cinnamon from the mix and blend the remaining items. 

Pass it through a strainer.

Now, add the coconut milk to the mixture and mix well. Slightly simmer it for a minute. Season

On a separate pan, add the butter and saute the shallots till it becomes translucent.

Now sprinkle the butter sauteed shallots on to the soup and serve.

The soup is just perfect in itself but for those lovers of spicy, try adding a a few spoonfuls of your left over chicken/beef/mutton curry to the soup and lo behold its godsend..Really!

Creamy Spinach

Here is yet another recipe to turn those reluctant veggie eaters into religious veggie eaters. Yum! Creamy Spinach!

Here are the things you need:

Spinach - 1 bunch, washed and dried
Onion - 1 (Roughly diced)
Garlic - 2-3 cloves (Roughly diced)
Lemon - One half
Cream - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tsp
Salt - To taste

In a pan, heat oil and sweat the onions and garlic.
Then add the cream and butter to the mix along with the salt and allow the mix to reduce slightly.
Once the reduction has begun, add the spinach to it and let the leaves wilt down.
Once the spinach has begun to wilt, remove the pan from fire.
Squeeze one half of the lemon on to the spinach and toss it well so that the sauce spreads on the leaves evenly.

This dish works perfectly with almost any main course and better still, almost any veggies can be used instead of the spinach. All you need to do is keep in mind the difference in cooking time of the different veggies.

Pic courtesy : Diana's kitchen

Mac n Cheese with Veggie surprise

So, who doesnt like Mac n Cheese. Kids especially gobble it up without a question, so I thought maybe I could hide in a layer of veggies in it and make the treat a tad more healthy.

Here is what you need:

Macaroni - 200 grams
Butter - 50 gram
Mushrooms - 500 gram
Milk - 1 cup
Flour - 1/4 cup
Pepper - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Cheese - 4 cubes grated
Onions - 1(Finely diced)
Garlic - 3-4 cloves (Finely diced)
Bread Crumbs - A little
Salt - To taste

Boil the macaroni as per the instructions on the pack and toss it with olive oil and keep aside. Remember to lightly salt the macaronis while cooking.
Now heat a pan and add the butter to it. Add a tsp of olive oil too to raise the burning point of the butter.
Now saute the onions and garlic in it.
Gradually sprinkle flour in to it until well combined.
Now remove from heat and very slowly add the milk to the mixture to form a nice sauce.
Bring the mix back to simmer and add the cheese until all of cheese melts. (Remember to save a same portion of the cheese for sprinkling on top of the final dish)
Now add the cooked macaronis into the sauce and give it a good mix.

In another pan, pour a little oil and add the mushrooms along with the turmeric, salt and  pepper.
Put a lid on it and cook the mushrooms until half tender.

In a baking tray, spoon in the in the macaroni mix. Top it with the sauteed mushrooms. Finish it off by sprinking bread crumbs on top and then a little bit of grated cheese.
Bake at 175 degree Celsius for 20 minutes.
Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.