Restaurant style Chicken 65

Chicken 65 is one famous non vegetarian dish every nonveg lover must have tasted atleast once from that menu card in a restaurant.Ever wondered why its called so?I just looked up the internet and found that the very famous food pioneer A.M Buhari who is the founder of the Buhari chain of hotels in Chennai, India was the one who introduced this dish to the world and it was in 1965 which is why the name Chicken 65.Check here for more details. 

 

Lachha Parathas and a simple snack - Chilli chapati

I make these parathas at home for my LM often but wasn;t aware of the name until I stumbled upon it at Pallavi's space.These parathas are better than the kerala parotas we love at our home for obvious reasons : they are whole wheat parathas and also consume lesser oil in their making.So now whenever LM asks for parotas this is what she gets  - chapati parota (we renamed it!) and she;s happy!I gave this quick make over to the humble chapatis and it was a super duper hit!

Lachcha parathas are layered chapatis they are not tedious to make and easy to work on.You can see the layers in concentric circles once they are cooked too.Thanks to Blog hop wednesdays for introducing us to new partners' and their spaces.BHW has turned 1 and congrats to Radhika for coming with such a wonderful idea.I have met so many wonderful blogger friends through BHW.Check out Pallavi's version here

You can make chilli chapatis if you have left over chapatis sitting in the refrigerator which are stiff as wood.This dish will vanish in seconds along with the leftover chapatis.

 You need

Wheat flour as needed
Water as needed to make a nice soft dough
Salt to taste

• Knead the above into a soft dough as for chapatis.Let it rest for about an hour in a zip lock bag.
• The lachcha parathas are layered and i have a step wise picture below showing how to make the layers.You have to roll out the dough into a normal chapati then apply oil/ghee on the chapati and sprinkle a little bit of flour onto this.Now make pleats/folds on the chapati and roll into a ball,flatten this ball with your hand and roll it out into a paratha. 

• Cook this parathas on a hot griddle or pan with oil or ghee.Serve hot with any side dish of your choice.

To make the chilli chapatis


You need

Chapati/lachcha parathas 1 torn into bits

Onions 1 small chopped finely

Tomato 1 small

Cucumber cubes 2 tablespoons
Cilantro/coriander leaves 2 sprigs
Tomato sauce 1 tablespoon
Soya sauce 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Pepper 1/2 tsp
Oil 1 tsp

Additional garnish : Sev/mixture, lime juice

• Heat oil in a pan, add the onions, tomatoes and fry well until soft.Then add the sauces and fry well.Now add the chapati bits and mix well in the sauces.
• Serve this hot with cucumber , cilantro and sev sprinkled and lime juice sprinkled over it.

• Enjoy chilli chapatis with hot tea :) 

Tips:

- If you're a newbie at making chapatis and incase the dough becomes too loose or sticky, leave the dough covered in a ziplock bag for about an hour and then roll it out cold it would be harder and much easier to manage.

Sending this to BHW @ Tickling palates , Love Lock series - Breads, Lets cook - Appetizers/Starters, Kids delight , Serve it - Griddled , Ramadan friendly recipes, Tell me your kitchen secret , Desi-Videsi Food festival

Lachha Parathas and a simple snack - Chilli chapati

I make these parathas at home for my LM often but wasn;t aware of the name until I stumbled upon it at Pallavi's space.These parathas are better than the kerala parotas we love at our home for obvious reasons : they are whole wheat parathas and also consume lesser oil in their making.So now whenever LM asks for parotas this is what she gets  - chapati parota (we renamed it!) and she;s happy!I gave this quick make over to the humble chapatis and it was a super duper hit!

Vermicelli and Vegetable baked Spring Roll

Spring rolls - such a yummy snack/appetizer.I remember i used to always sit and wait for it to come at any restaurants.It used to take the longest to prepare i guess...so even after everyone got their orders i used to be waiting...How glad am i, to be able to make it at home and that too a baked version...double plus!

I've looked enough in local stores for puff pastry sheets so i can try my hand at some baked good..but in vain.Can't find them anywhere close to me.So I decided to use the same outer cover recipe i used to make my irani samosas for this one too.The verdict....the spring rolls were crispy but a bit chewy.I will definitely try to improvise on the wrapper recipe.

The filling was wonderful....i wanted to have it as it is :)) You can get as innovative on the filling i needn't tell you all.I have used vermicelli and vegetables.I even thought of other fillings but i was out of stock of them.
   

 You need

For the wrapper:
Equal parts of wheat flour and all purpose flour i used half cup each
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil 1 tsp
Baking soda 1 generous pinch
Water as per need

• Mix all of the above to make a nice soft dough and leave it aside for about 1 hour.

For the filling: 

Vegetables - carrots, cabbage, beans, capsicum 1 cup 

Vermicelli quarter cup (cook it according to directions)

Salt to taste

Soya sauce 1 tsp

Oil 1 tablespoon

• Heat the oil is a pan, add the beans,cabbage,carrots and capsicum in that order and saute them until soft with salt to taste.
• Add the cooked vermicelli and soya sauce and stir in with all the vegetables.
• Leave this filling to cool.

• Preheat the oven to 200C and grease a baking tray.
• Pinch a small ball of dough and roll it as thin as you can (as for a chapati) you should be able to see the surface beneath (well, almost!) , keep as much filling as you need and seal the ends with a paste of flour and water mix - this acts as a glue.Place the prepared spring rolls on a greased tray.Smear oil on the spring rolls before baking them.
•  Bake the spring rolls at 200C for about 20 minutes on each side or until the outer layer is brown and hard when tapped.

• Serve hot with tomato sauce or have it as it is!! 

Notes:

1. Roll out the dough as thin as you can, i left it round in shape itself.Placed a tablespoon full or more of filling towards one end of the round wrapper, applied the glue paste on the edge and folded the bottom edge first then the sides applying the glue mix to all folding sides.
2. Non vegetarians can add cooked chicken or meat to the filling too.

Sending this to From fried to Favorite @ Uk-Rasoi , Bake fest, let's party- go bake it, Kids delight, I love baking #6

Vermicelli and Vegetable baked Spring Roll

Spring rolls - such a yummy snack/appetizer.I remember i used to always sit and wait for it to come at any restaurants.It used to take the longest to prepare i guess...so even after everyone got their orders i used to be waiting...How glad am i, to be able to make it at home and that too a baked version...double plus!

Fish cutlets

These I can say, are my mom's signature dish.Any party/getogether she'd be requested for these. Mom makes them well even people who detest fish will just gobble down a few and won't believe its got fish in them.

I started making it some time ago i thought it was way too much work, i used to help my mother roll the cutlets and bread them but now the basic process.Anyway I was allergic to cleaning meats and fish before my marriage and after marriage i have no choice do I!

I wasn't too fond of fish until i returned from London.There somehow we never cooked fish and chicken was the only non veg we had.I used to buy frozen shrimps.The day i came back i asked my mom to make fish curry for breakfast that's how badly i missed the fish!!

This is not complicated and you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate it,and fry it when you have to serve it.

You need to do this in 3 steps :

Step 1:cooking the fish


King fish 5 slices/pieces (you can use any fleshy fish)
Cinnamon stick 1 inch
CLoves,cardamom 3 each
Turmeric powder/haldi 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp

- Pour some water enough to submerge the fish and drop the spices and fish into the water and cook until the fish is soft and tender.
- Once its cooked, remove the fish and pour the water away, peel the skin of the fish and remove any bones.Shred the fish with your fingers or a fork into tiny bits.

Step 2:Preparing the cutlet mix

You need
Onions 1 large chopped finely
Tomato 1 small
Ginger garlic paste 2 teaspoon
Garam masala 1 tsp
Green chillies finely chopped
Coriander leaves/cilantro chopped finely
Potato 1 large boiled and mashed
Salt to taste
Cloves 3,cinnamon an inch long piece,cardomom 3,peppercorns 1tsp,fennel seeds 1tsp (roasted and powdered)1 tsp (you can store this in the refrigerator and use later)
Oil 2-3 tablespoons

- heat oil in a pan, add the onions,green chillies and fry until onions are translucent and soft.
- Next add the ginger garlic paste to this,add the tomato and let it mash well.
- Add the garam masala and let it fry well until the raw smell goes away.
- Add the mashed potatoes and shredded fish.Check for salt.Add the roasted and powdered whole spice powder.Turn off the heat.
- Add the chopped cilantro.Let this cool.
- Once cooled you can shape the cutlets into any desired shape and let it rest.

Step 3:Breading the cutlets

You need
Egg 1 beaten well with salt and pepper
Bread crumbs
Oil to deep fry

- Take each rolled cutlet and dip it into the egg mix and then into the bread crumbs.leave it on a plate until you repeat for the remaining cutlets.
- If you are going to freeze it at this stage store in a airtight container and stash in the freezer.Before you fry it leave it at room temperature for some time.

ready to be frozen!

-Fry them in hot oil and drain the excess oil on kitchen towels.

- serve crunchy fishy cutlets hot with tomato sauce.

Sending this to HOLI hai@MyCookbook,Midweek Fiesta@Food Corner

Kabab mela @ Cooking $ all seasons

Fish cutlets

These I can say, are my mom's signature dish.Any party/getogether she'd be requested for these. Mom makes them well even people who detest fish will just gobble down a few and won't believe its got fish in them.

Falafels and wraps~Guest post for Edible Entertainment

I was super thrilled when Kavitha@Edible entertainment asked me to make a post for her 'Cooking with Kin ' series! Its always special to do something for friends.

Thanks Kavitha for giving me my first guest post :) Kavitha has a gallery of interesting and healthy dishes.I loved her recent post on chocolate-really informative.

Falafels have been my childhood favourite.Being brought up in the middle east, shawarmas are an all time favourite.Falafels are deep fried patties/balls made of chick-peas and served with pita bread,salads and tahini based sauces.Read more about falafels here.

healthy wraps with falafels

Check out the step by step recipe posted here at Kavitha's space.

Sending this over to Cooking with Kin@Edible Entertainment,WTML@Gayathri's Cook Spot,CC@Srav's Culinary Concepts,Holi Hai@My Cook Book,Cooking with spices-Coriander seeds-hosted by Sizzling tastebuds and started by Anu, Kabab mela@Cooking 4 all seasons

Falafels and wraps~Guest post for Edible Entertainment

I was super thrilled when Kavitha@Edible entertainment asked me to make a post for her 'Cooking with Kin ' series! Its always special to do something for friends.

Thanks Kavitha for giving me my first guest post :) Kavitha has a gallery of interesting and healthy dishes.I loved her recent post on chocolate-really informative.

Falafels have been my childhood favourite.Being brought up in the middle east, shawarmas are an all time favourite.Falafels are deep fried patties/balls made of chick-peas and served with pita bread,salads and tahini based sauces.Read more about falafels here.

Masala Eggs

I just realised while making this dish that i haven;t a single egg recipe post on the blog yet!!!Surprising!Eggs come to my rescue when I haven't chopped any vegetables for lunch and I hate chopping first thing in the morning.They are really versatile and yea everyone knows how delicious and proteinous they are and ofcourse bakers know what magic eggs can create!!

My mil usually makes this recipe a quick toss to the hard boiled eggs.I feel eggs are already yummy why give them a make-over?I knew the answer to that when i made them last weekend :)

Preparation time : 5 mins+ eggs cooking time

Serves 2

You need

Hard boiled eggs 2 sliced in quarters

Oil 2 tsp

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Curry leaves a few 

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Turmeric/haldi powder 1/4 tsp

Rice flour 2 tsp

Water 2 tablespoons

Lime juice few drops

• Peel and cut the eggs into wedges.Now add the masala powders - haldi, red chilli powder, and rice flour with salt and lemon juice - mix well.Add a little water if needed so the masala coats the eggs.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard,curryleaves and let it pop.Add the eggs and a little water so the pan heat reduces a bit.

• Toss the eggs until the water is completely gone and the spices nicely coat the eggs.
• Serve hot as it is or with steamed rice and curry or any variety rices like here and here.

ABC series-Egg@Ramya's recipe



Just 4 fun@Sobha's GoodFood



Show me HITS @Spicy Treats

Masala Eggs

I just realised while making this dish that i haven;t a single egg recipe post on the blog yet!!!Surprising!Eggs come to my rescue when I haven't chopped any vegetables for lunch and I hate chopping first thing in the morning.They are really versatile and yea everyone knows how delicious and proteinous they are and ofcourse bakers know what magic eggs can create!!

Prawn on toast

My favourite starter at Chinese restaurant!We had this tiny little Chinese restaurant near my home and all the dishes were drool-worthy :) .Drums of heaven and prawn on toast were our regular orders!We used to be there almost every other weekend, even the chef became our dear friend!

While I was trying to fall asleep (yea don't think I'm going crazy) few nights ago, I felt like having this crispy crunchy snack!I looked for a few recipes and i dished this up in about 10 minutes since i had the prawns marinated and waiting already!I watched someone make it on tv and thought wow thats sooo easy!

Serves one hungry person or 2 :)
Cooking time 10 mins + prawns cleaning time (15 mins)

You need

Prawns cleaned 5 cut in halves or whole
Capsicum slices 5 6 slices
Baby onions/spring onions 1 tablespoon
Egg 1(beaten with salt and pepper)
Soy sauce 1 tsp
Chilli sauce 1 tsp
Vinegar 1 tablespoon
Bread 2 slices cut into halves or quarters
Salt to taste
Pepper optional
Oil to deep fry

• Trim the edges off the bread and toast it on a pan so it dries.
• Meanwhile in a mixing bowl mix the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
• Beat the egg with salt and pepper and leave aside.
• Chop the bread into 4s and spoon a piece of prawn and some of the sauce onto the bread.
• Dip this whole assembled bread + prawn mixture into the beaten egg and deep fry until golden on both sides.
• Serve hot with sauce of your choice!or have it as it is :)[ I had it with some vinegar chilli (just add a cap-full of vinegar to a few tablespoons of water and add the finely chopped green chilli].

• Tips:
• The prawns i used were marinated in chilli powder,salt, and coriander powder) but plain ones will do.Because of the sauces' in the marinade.
•  You can add other seasoning or salad leaves and vegetables.
• You can use chicken instead and for vegetarians paneer and mushroom can be substituted.Egg cannot be substituted as it has to bind all the seasoning to the bread.
• I read somewhere that toasting the bread leads to lesser soaking of oil in the bread.

Sending this to Cooking with winter vegetables@Recipe Junction