Spicy Chicken Rice

Sometimes you feel that today you want to prepare something quick, hassle free so that you can be out of the kitchen in a jiffy,  then this is an apt recipe.   This was one day that I felt so and thats how I prepared this spicy chicken rice.

Ingredients
1 Cup Basmati Rice
1.1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
1 Inch piece Cinnamon
2 Green Cardamon
1 Badi Elachie
1/2 Teaspoon Shahijeera
3 Cloves
3 Peppercorns
1 Large Onion - sliced
1/4 Cup Curds
Salt to taste
1 Cup Boneless Chicken Pieces
2 Tablespoon Oil / Ghee

Grind to Paste
4 Bedki Chillies
2 Kashmiri Chillies- remove the seeds
1/2 Teaspoon Cumin seeds
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
3 Flakes Garlic
1/2 Inch Ginger

Method

Soak the dry red chillies in warm water and then grind with the rest of the ingredients. 

In a pressure pan heat oil add the whole garam masala, fry till it crackles. Add the onions and saute till light brown. Then add the ground paste, curds and saute till oil leaves the sides, add the chicken and saute for 3 minutes. Then add the rice and saute them lightly for 3 minutes. Add salt and chicken stock. Close the pressure cooker and take 2 whistles. Serve hot with raita. Enjoy !!!

Labels: Chicken, Rice, Healthy, Main course, Vegan,

A combo post for French Baguette and Tomato Basil Loaf

For Day 3 of our Blogging Marathon we have to do a combo post with the bread that are prepared on day 1 which is the French Baguette and on day 2 Tomato Basil Loaf.

With French Baguette I made Bruschetta, the recipe as follows.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoon Potato - boiled and finely chopped

1 Tablespoon Carrot - finely chopped and praboiled

1 Tablespoon Fresh Peas - boiled

1 Tablespoon Capsicum - finely chopped

1 Teaspoon Butter
Salt and pepper to taste.
Grated Cheese
Butter for brushing the bread

Method

Heat the butter in a pan add the capsicum and saute for a minute then add all the other veggies and saute for 2 minutes add salt and pepper to taste.  Take off the flame cool.

Apply butter to both the sides of the bread and keep this on a baking tray.  Place the veggies on the top sprinkle grated cheese and bake it in a preheated oven at 200 degree for 3 minutes or till the cheese starts melting.
Cool and serve.  We enjoyed this as our evening tea time snack.

The Tomato Basil Loaf we had it with Cheese Corn Tomato Soup - A bowl of goodness (click here for the recipe).

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46.

Labels : Breakfast,  Blogging Marathon, Bruschetta, Sandwiches

Cheese Corn Tomato Soup - A bowl of Goodness

Tomato soup is my all time favorite soup and you if you serve me this soup daily for dinner I, will happily enjoy it. This soup is very satisfying and filling, very easy to make. Most of us think that making soup at home is very cumbersome and time consuming, so avoid making and buy a packet of ready soup and have it. But this is a misconception, making soup at home is very easy, healthy and without any preservatives you have a bowl full of goodness in 1/4 the price of the packet and that too 2 servings.  So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Butter
1/2 Tablespoon All purpose flour or Whole wheat flour
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Water
3 Tablespoons Sweet corn - boiled
6 Large Ripe firm Tomatoes - cut in large pieces
1/4 Cup Beetroot - cut into small cubes
2 Flakes Garlic.
Salt and Pepper powder to taste
Cheese according to your taste

Method

In a pressure cooker add the tomatoes, beetroot and garlic and take 3 whistles. Cool, then blend and strain, keep this aside.

In another pan add the butter, flour and stir on low flame cook for a 2 minutes then add the milk and whisk well till you get a smooth liquid. Add the water and mix well when the sauce starts to thicken add the a teaspoon of cheese and mix well. Then add tomato puree then stir and let it cook on slow flame till starts boiling adjust the thickness of the soup according to your taste by adding water. Switch off the flame add the corn, salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, with some cheese on top. We enjoyed this with the Tomato Basil loaf, you have it with the bread of your choice.

Labels : Soup, Tomato, Healthy, Blogging Marathon, Cheese, Corn,Cheese Corn Tomato Soup

Whole Wheat Tomato Basil Loaf

For November - Day 2 - Taming the yeast Veena has shared her Whole Wheat Tomato Basil Loaf that is adapted from Italian cookbook by Tarla Dalal.
This bread is  very flavourful, with all the goodness of the whole wheat, tomato and basil.
Since half the flour is whole wheat flour, the bread tends to be a little dense, but this bread was soft and moist.  This bread when it was being baked the aroma was awesome.  For this recipe I made the oven dried tomatoes at home and stored them for further use in the deep freezer click here for the recipe.

I have used regular aata, you can use all purpose flour instead.

Yield: One loaf
Ingredients:
1 Cup Whole wheat Flour
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 ½ Teaspoon Instant yeast
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
¼ Cup Sun Dried Tomato 
¼ Cup Fresh Basil
2 Tablespoon Tomato puree
3 Tablespoon Olive oil
1/3 Cup to ½ Cup Warm water - Add more only if necessary

Method
Measure all the ingredients and keep it ready.

Mix the flours together with salt.

Add the yeast to 1/3 cup of warm water with sugar and let it rest for 2 minutes.Add this mixture and tomato puree to the dry flours and knead well for 5 to 7 minutes to make it into a soft pliable dough.

Oil a wide mouthed bowl and transfer this dough to it. Keep it covered in a warm place and let it double for nearly an hour.

Now punch down the dough a little and add the sundried tomatoes, basil and knead again

If need be add a little more flour and knead applying olive oil. Dust the rolling surface and roll it into a rectangle approximately ¼” in thickness and then shape it into a loaf by rolling it from long side.

Prepare a baking tray, (either grease it or use a parchment paper)

Place the shaped loaf on a prepared tray , cover it loosely and let it rise again for 30-40 minutes.

At the end of 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 180

Now brush the top with egg wash or milk and bake it at 180C for 20 minutes or till done.

Let it cool and slice it

Serve warm with some soup ! 

Note:
To get a more soft bread use only all purpose flour

Use 1 tsp instant yeast instead of active dry yeast but skip the process of hydration.

Since used homemade oven dried tomatoes I did not soak the same, used it directly.

Check tomorrow's post to see what we had this bread with.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46.

For other recipes on bread check Recipe Index.


Labels: Breads, Continental cuisine, Vegan, Blogging Marathon

Oven Roasted Sun Dried Tomatoes - Homemade

This is my second attempt at dried tomatoes in the oven. The first time, I made it, was a year back before I was blogging and we had it with pasta. It taste's really yum. Oven dried tomatoes have a tangy flavour which I am sure that you too will love.

Method

Slice the tomatoes into 4 large pieces.

I placed  a big whole pod of garlic, sprinkled a pinch of mixed herbs, salt and olive oil before placing the tomatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet.

Keep the oven at the lowest temperature i.e. at 100 degrees

Keep the oven slightly open for about 3-4 mins, every 15 minutes to let the steam out and fasten the drying process.

The end product should be leathery and non-sticky tomatoes which are all shrivelled up. Then place them in a jar filled with olive oil. Store in the freezer for further use.

Labels: Continental Cuisine, Vegan, Healthy, Homemade, Sun Dried Tomato,Masalas