Griddle fried chicken thighs with Worcestershire sauce marinade.

Today griddle fried chicken thighs with worcestershire sauce marination prepared with generous quantity of ginger,garlic,green chilies,red chili powder . This sauce has nice tangy,bitter,mild sweet,salty taste and acidic aroma . It infused well with other marination ingredients and helped to enhance taste and texture of chicken and made caramelized marination mixture more zesty.

Ingredients :

• 4 Chicken thighs - boneless cut into two pieces each.
• 1 Tb.spoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 inch piece of ginger - finely crushed
• 7-8 garlic cloves - finely crushed
• 4-5 green chilies - finely crushed
• 1 Tb.spoon red chilli powder
• 2 Tb.spoon cooking oil

Method of cooking :-

1. Take 4 chicken thighs and debone them. Make 2-3 pieces in each thigh.Wash it under running water and place them in a bowl or plate. Sprinkle little salt over thighs and rub with fingers. (Worcestershire sauce has mild salt content so use less salt)
2. Pour 1 Tb.spoon Worcestershire sauce, Add crushed giner+garlic+green chilies,red chili powder. Rub it thoroughly over chicken. Set aside for half an hour.
3. Heat griddle ( anodized metal works great for Indian Tava recipes) and pour 2 tbspoon cooking oil. Maintain medium temperature.Place chicken pieces on griddle. Make sure you coat them neat with marination masala. Save leftover marination masala for blasting chicken pieces during later stage of frying.
4. At regular interval turn chicken pieces with tongs. After ten minutes reduce heat to medium low. You will notice that little marination mixture sticks to the griddle..sprinkle little water and avoid marination mixture from burning.
5. After 15-20 minutes apply remaining marination liquid over chicken to retain moisture.Keep turning chicken at regular interval.
   
6. It will take total 30 minutes to fully cook chicken thighs. Once they are done place them in a plate...gently scrape stuck marination from pan and apply over chicken pieces and serve with roti /rice or enjoy as appetizer.

Marination Stage

Griddle Frying Stage

Note :- This Tava recipe will work best for lean, boneless pieces of chicken which are not thicker than half an inch. If you wish to use big bone-in pieces like chicken drumsticks,leg quarter,whole breast then use oven or out door grill for frying by using the same marination mixture.

Singoda & Rice flour Eggless Mini cakes with Dates & Pistachio

Today I enjoyed baking eggless cake without using All purpose flour (Maida). There was no exact recipe to follow...Singada flour was in mind...with mix and match of few Indian ingredients at end, I baked mini eggless cakes in heart shaped muffin pan. Lovely cardamom aroma, light delicate texture of singada flour, dates, pistachios all together gave very delicious Indian twist to the cake.

Ingredients :-

• 1 Cup Singoda/singada flour (water chestnut flour) - Roasted
• 1/2 Cup rice flour
• 1 Tb.spoon Soy flour
• 1 Tb.spoon golden flaxseed meal - soaked in 3 tb.spoon hot water for 10 minutes.
• 1/4 cup Pistachio - roughly chopped
• 10 Dates - cut into tiny pieces ( 1 cup yield)
• 10-12 Cardamom - finely powdered
• 1 Cup dark brown sugar
• 1 Tspoon - baking soda
• 1/4 Tspoon - baking powder
• 1/2 stick butter
  
• 2 Tb.spoon Ghee or butter for roasting chestnut flour.
  
• 2 Tb.spoon oil
• 1/4 Cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup milk

Method Of Baking Cake :-

1. Roast singada flour in heavy gauge pot for about 10-12 minutes on medium heat by adding 2 tbspoon Ghee or butter. You need to stir frequently till color changes to one shade and flour releases aroma. Keep it aside to cool.
2. In a deep bowl add half stick butter - beat it for 1 minute. ( I used hand mixer)
   
3. Add soaked flaxseed meal and cardamom powder - beat along with butter for 1 minute.
4. Add 1/4 cup whipping cream and 2 tbspoon oil - beat for another 2 minutes.
5. Add brown sugar and half cup milk - beat until incorporated.
   
6. Mix water chestnut flour,soy flour, rice flour and baking soda, baking powder - stir in with spatula. Beat with hand mixer for 30-40 seconds.
   
7. Mix chopped dates and pistachios - Fold in with spatula until evenly distributed. Scrape down all sides of the bowl with spatula. Your cake batter is ready.
   
8. If you are using similar muffin pan or mini cake pan scoop the batter in each greased mould and smooth the top. Sprinkle few chopped pistachios. Place rack in center of the oven and Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes . Reduce oven heat to 300 and let it bake for another 5-6 minutes. To check for doneness insert toothpick in the center of the cake; if the toothpick comes out clean, you can remove the cake from the oven after two minutes.
9. I poured remaining cake mixture in small loaf pan. It took 20 minutes to bake @ 300 degrees F . Once toothpick came out clean, I left cake pan in oven for another five minutes and then removed out of oven.
10. If you are using cake pan then don't fill cake batter more than 1 1/2 inch thickness. My loaf pan cake took more time to bake than muffin pan mini cakes. Adjust your baking time based on your pan and thickness of batter.
11. After cake is cooled down cover it with plastic cling wrap. Enjoy!! these light and rich mini cakes as snack or dessert.
    

Green Split Peas & Whole Masoor Dal Curry with kalonji tadka

Pressure cooker is one of my best gadget in the kitchen. I cook lentil/bean dals, soups, sambar, non-veg curries, rice, pulav, biryani, Kheer in pressure cooker. Today I cooked delicious Dal with Whole masoor and green split peas. This combination was easy and quick One-Pot-Recipe. I made slight variation to this Dal by giving kalonji tadka (nigella seeds), it infused curry with nice aroma. I avoided using any masala powder but spiced it with ginger and green chilies. Green split peas bring mushed up texture and brown lentils stay intact yet soft and tender.

Ingredients :-

• 1 Cup Whole Masoor Dal (brown lentils) - picked and rinsed.
• 1/2 Cup Green split peas - picked and rinsed.
• 1 medium size onion - finely chopped. ( 1 cup yield)
• 1 inch piece of ginger - finely crushed
• 6-7 Garlic cloves - finely crushed
• 5-6 green chilies - finely crushed
• 1 large size tomato - diced
• 1 Tb.spoon oil
• 1 Cup fresh cilantro - finely chopped
• 1 T.spoon - turmeric powder
• 6-7 Cups water

Whole Spices for Tadka /Tempering :-

• 1 Bay leaf - 2 inch long
• 1 T.spoon - Kalonji
  
• 5 cloves

Method of Cooking :-

1. Thoroughly rinse masoor dal and green split peas - Soak them in 5 cups water. Keep it aside.
2. Finely crush ginger,garlic and green chilies - Keep it aside.
3. Heat 1 Tb.spoon oil in pressure cooker or pressure pan (4 liter size). Add Kalonji - let it sizzle for 20 seconds. Add bay leaf and cloves - Saute for 15-20 seconds.
4. Add chopped onions - saute for 3-4 minutes on medium high heat.
5. Add finely crushed ginger, garlic, green chilies - Mix with onions and stir fry for one minute.
6. Pour in rinsed brown lentils and green split peas with total 5 cups water. Add 1 tspoon turmeric powder and salt. Leave it to simmer on high heat for 10 minutes.
7. Once it reaches boiling point - close pressure cooker lid with whistle on top. Maintain medium high heat, after it blows two whistles and as pressure starts building for third whistle - shut off the gas. It is o.k if third whistle blows. Transfer pressure cooker on heat proof surface.
8. Once it cools down transfer it back on stove. Add diced tomatoes, little chopped cilantro. Adjust salt level and add 1-2 cups water. Let it simmer on medium heat for 10-12 minutes without lid. Keep stirring at regular interval.
   
9. Add remaining cilantro and shut off the heat. Enjoy with rice, roti or as delicious soup.

Quinoa & Samo Rice Spicy Pulav

Quinoa is an ancient grain like seed. It is gluten free source of good protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Quinoa is easy to cook, tastes great and has nice unique texture..it excellently pairs with various cooking dishes. I have used Quinoa in mix lentil-grain curries and it perfectly cooks like any other grain, brings great enrichment and texture to curry. This is my first attempt in making main dish with Quinoa. I added equal part Samo rice and it complimented well in Pulav..This dish turned out very aromatic with nutty and spicy taste.

Ingredients :-

• 1/2 cup Quinoa - thoroughly rinse and soak in water for half an hour.
• 1/2 cup Samo Rice (Variche tandul) - thoroughly rinse and soak in water for 15 minutes.
• 1 medium size onion finely chopped - ( 1 Cup)
• 1 inch piece of Ginger - finely crushed
• 4-5 Garlic cloves - finely crushed
• 4-5 green chilies - finely chopped
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 Tb.spoon cooking oil

Whole Spices :-

• 1 Bay leaf - 3 inch long
• 1 inch piece of cinnamon
• 1 Star anise
  
• 2 cardamom
• 5-6 cloves
• 25-30 whole pepper corns
• 1 T.spoon shahi jeera
  

Method of Cooking :-

1. Heat 1 1/2 tbspoon oil in heavy gauge pot. First add bay leaf, cinnamon, star anise - saute for 20 seconds. Quickly add cardamom, cloves and pepper corns - saute for 15 seconds.
2. Add chopped onions and saute. Add shahi jeera after 2 minutes.. saute onions for another 2 minutes.
3. Add finely crushed ginger, garlic, chopped green chilies - saute for 1 minute.
4. Add carrots and two cups water. Increase heat to high and let water boil for 3-4 minutes.
5. Drain out all water from soaked Quinoa and Samo - add it to the pot. Add salt. Mix well.
6. Immediately reduce heat to lowest heat setting. Cover pot with lid.. let it simmer for 7-8 minutes.
7. Now add corn and green peas. Combine all in pot. If needed add 2 tb.spoon water. Cover lid and let it cook on extreme low heat for another 12 minutes...at regular interval gently stir pulav. At this stage you will find that all water is absorbed and quinoa, samo grains are fluffy/tender. Switch of the heat and let it stay for another 5-6 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!!.

Bing cherry, Beetroot & carrot salad with Raspberry flavor.

Today I cooked Bing Cherry and Beetroot salad for dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day...preparation was simple. Bright color and fruity taste made a sweet addition in Valentine's Day spirits.

Ingredients :-

• 1/2 Cup Beetroot - cut half inch long in broad stick pattern.
  
• 15-20 Bing cherries - cut each cherry lengthwise into 4 pieces, discard seeds.
• 1/2 Cup carrots - cut in mixed shapes of - discs, half circle, slivers.
• 2 Tb.spoon - Raspberry spread.
• 1 T.spoon - vinegar.
• 2 - green chilies - finely chopped.

Method of making Salad :-

1. Boil beetroot in microwave for 4 minutes...drain and keep it aside.
2. Boil Carrots in microwave for 2 minutes...drain and keep it aside.
3. In a bowl mix Raspberry spread, vinegar, green chilies and 1 tspoon beetroot drained stock. Whisk all well and make thick dressing.
4. Combine Beetroot, carrots, Bing cherries in a bowl. Drizzle above dressing and mix until well blended. Keep it covered with plastic wrap for half an hour before serving..... Enjoy!!!