Jerk Chicken

Finally I get time for breather. Today I officially finished my studies and has submitted all my paper works, it definitely calls for a celebration for me. All these days I have been opening my word for typing up assignments and it feels so good to finally write a blog post !

This post is long overdue, its more than a month since I made this Jerk chicken for our anniversary dinner and before I totally forget about this I wanted to post it mainly for my my own future reference and secondly for few friends who has asked me for this recipe. It was actually my hubby who came up with Jamaican  Jerk chicken recipe first. Once in a blue moon he gets into the mood of cooking and do all the search online for a recipe  and cooks for us , the only down side of him cooking is that  for  few hours he  goes on and on about what a good cook he is !!  Anyway coming back to topic, first time when he read this recipe here it mentioned that the scotch bonnet chillies are really hot so use as per your taste, but we both being mallus thought that this scotch bonnet would be something like  Kanthari (small hot green chillies)  and  we ignored that warning and decided to be generous and use 3 scotch bonnet chillies !! Oh boy we were wrong, our mouth was on fire, and the worst part was that we had some friends over for dinner and they suffered too..luckily as it  was my hubby  who made it, I could blame him for all that heat without spoiling my name J .Inspite of all that heat the chicken was still delicious and we all ate it. Second time I decided to take over and made this for our anniversary, but this time I was very cautious, I deseeded the chillies and used only 2 small ones and it made a big difference. It was perfect, we could enjoy the flavours without that heat and for the first time he admitted I cook better than him :) We made this again one more time after that and this is a winner recipe for us now.

Recipe adapted from BBC good food

Ingredients

Chicken thighs – 9

Lemon halves – 2-3 (optional)

For marinade

½ of a small onion

1 ½ inch ginger piece

Garlic cloves – 2

2 small scotch bonnet chillies (deseeded)

Thyme leaves – ¾ tbs

Juice of ½ lime

Soya sauce – 1 ½ tbs

Oil – 1 ½ tbs

Brown sugar – 2 tbs

Ground all spice powder – ¾ tbs

Salt

Method

Blend all the ingredients mentioned under marinade to a paste.

Marinate the chicken in that paste and leave it in the fridge overnight.

Bake the chicken in a baking tray in a  preheated oven at 180 degree C for 45 minutes flipping sides in between.

Minnie Mouse Cake and Mini Mouse themed cookies

No matter how tired or busy I am it’s so hard for me to pass any cake requests, so in spite of a having tight schedule till June end, I took up this Minnie mouse cake and Minnie mouse cookies for a little girl who loves Minnie mouse. I was really nervous about making the Minnie mouse standing up on a floral wire but luckily it turned out fine and was the wire was able to hold the weight of Minnie, but things can’t go really smooth every time can it ? An accident happened.. a major one I should say. All my cookies were done and decorated and just when I lifted the cooking rack in which my decorated cookies were resting,  ¼ th of cookies slid through the gap  from  the cooling rack  and crumbled on floor !!! I stood there numb without knowing what to do as I was really running out of time and this happened just when I was going to put them in cookie bag and tie a ribbon for delivery. I had guests coming next day so I was waiting for this cake and cookies to get done to prepare myself for the guests next day. I had to act fast and after the initial panic my brain started working again and I decided to bake it all over again. I have never baked anything as fast I did that day. In one hour cookies were ready but I had the challenge of cooling them before decorating it. So I had to cool them in fridge and freezer and just after mere 15 minutes from the oven , my cookies came to room temperature . I decorated it as fast I could and finally in less than 2 hours I managed to replace the crumbled cookies and delivered it ! All my effort came worthwhile when the birthday girls mum called me to thank me. She gave me a good feedback and  said everyone in the party loved it. After all that’s what matters really and I totally forgot all the stress I had that day!

Chocolate Date Walnut Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

I can’t believe how fast my half term holidays went by, now we have one more term to go and then its summer holidays! My studies are on its final few weeks and I (as usual) have kept all the assignments till the very end, so whenever I get time I am busy catching up with those works. Hopefully by July, I will be able to submit everything and will get some time to breath, enjoy some sunshine and of course do more blog posts!

It was our anniversary last week, 9 years to be precise! That morning was my day off and it was just like any other day. I was lazing around with no intention of cooking up anything special but then came a call in skype from lil sis with anniversary wishes. She wanted to know what am I baking and when she heard my reply “Nothing” she didn’t sound very pleased. She pointed out that I bake cake for everyone else and it’s not fair not to bake anything for our special day. Anyway that motivated me to whip up something special. A quick raid in the fridge and I knew what I wanted to make for main and starter. But when I checked for the cake ingredients, I was disappointed that I had only 125 gm of butter which wouldn’t be enough for cake and frosting. After brain storming a bit I decided to experiment my own recipe with the limited ingredients I had. It was inspired from my previous bakes of sticky toffee pudding and coffee walnut cake, so I came up with a new idea of chocolate dates walnut cake. It may sound boastful when I say it was one the best cake I baked in a long time but I have to stress that out again as it was absolutely delicious. The texture, moisture and the taste, a perfect bake indeed!! 

Ingredients ( serves 6-8)

Flour – 1 cup

Cocoa powder – 2 tbs

Salt – 1/4tsp

Baking powder – 1 /2 tsp

Eggs – 2 (large)

Oil – ½ cup

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Caster sugar – ½ cup

Light brown sugar – ½ cup

Dates (pitted) – 150 gm

Boiling water – 3/4 cup

Baking soda – 1/2 tsp

Walnuts (chopped ) – 25 gm

Method

• In a saucepan place 150 gm of dates and add boiling water to it. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
• Remove from fire and add baking soda to it. Blend it into a puree
• Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and keep it aside.
• In a bowl break 2 eggs, add both caster sugar and brown sugar to it and beat with an electric beater for 1-2 minutes.
• Add vanilla extract, oil and beat just to mix.
• Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold in.
• Add the dates puree and carefully fold in.
• Finally add the chopped walnuts and fold in.
• Pour the batter into two 6 inch greased cake tin and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

 Ingredients for salted caramel (yields 2 -3 tbs. of salted caramel)

Butter – 25 gm

Light brown sugar – 25 gm

Double Cream -50 ml

Salt – 1/8 tsp

Method

Place light brown sugar, butter, salt and cream in a saucepan on a low heat until the sugar dissolves and the sauce thickens and gets a  toffee flavour.

Ingredients for salted caramel buttercream

Butter - 100 gm - (approximately 1/2 cup)

Icing sugar - 200 gm (1 1/2 cup )

Double cream - 50 ml

Meringue powder - 1tsp

Vanilla extract - 1tsp

Salted caramel – 2 tbs.

Method

·        In a mixing bowl add 1/3 of the sugar, salt and meringue powder and mix.

·        Add cream to it and beat it for 5 minutes in an electric mixer with paddle attachment.

·        Add remaining sugar and beat for 3 minutes.

·        Add Butter little by little and beat for 5-7 minutes.

·        Add vanilla extract, salted caramel and beat for 1 minute.

Assembling the cake

Place one layer of 6 inch cake on cake stand and spread buttercream on top. Place the second layer and cover the whole cake with the rest of the buttercream.

Anniversary dinner !! Chicken Pilaf, Jerk chicken and Cake 

Carrot Halwa/ Gajar halwa

Its half term break again here and this time it’s a wet one. It has been raining pretty much all day since last few days. Our outdoor plans are all shattered and we are stuck at home. I am not complaining though as I am loving staying at home watching tele and doing activities with my little boy J All the empty  cereals boxes and tissue rolls have been put into good use making cardboard robot, house etc.

 Living in London has a great benefit when it comes to eating out options. There are many Indian restaurants and sweet shops here. It’s surprising that I never ate this from India and tasted it for the first time from an Indian restaurant here!! I loved it to core and after that first time I ate it lot of times from many restaurants and also from  friends place. The whole process of making this at home is a bit time consuming but I guess it’s totally worth it!

 Recipe source - vahrehvah

Ingredients 

Carrots - 4 cup (grated)

Milk – 3 cup

Sugar – 1 cup

Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

Crumbled paneer – 1 /2 cup (recipe for paneer here)

Ghee – 2 tbs

Sultanas – 1 tbs

Cashewnuts – 1 tbs

Method

• In a wide non- stick pan add 1 tbs ghee and add the grated carrots and milk and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour stirring occasionally until the milk has been absorbed and carrots are cooked and soft.
• Add sugar and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
• Add cardamom powder, crumbled paneer and cook for a minute or so and turn off the flame.
• Finally in a small pan add 1 tbs of ghee and fry cashewnuts until brown and sultanas until they are plum. Pour this to the halwa and mix.
• Serve hot or cold !

Vanilla Ice cream with step by step pictures

Finally the much awaited summer is near our doorsteps, we have been blessed with warm weather with descent average of 18- 20 temperatures during the days. Summer clothes, flip flops, sunglasses and sun hats are out and so are the people!

I have been gifted an ice cream maker by my hubsters good friend recently and I was waiting for the weather to get warmer to make ice creams. Ice cream maker makes the whole process much easier and I love it. I decided to go for a simple vanilla flavour for the first time.  This is a rich ice cream and it is custard based and calls for egg yolks. I saved all the left over egg whites from the eggs and it was put into good use by making egg white omelette which I liked better than usual egg omelette. I will share that recipe soon but till then enjoy the creamy and delicious vanilla ice cream!!

Recipe source- here

 Ingredients

Milk – 1 ½ cup

Double cream – 1 ½ cup

Sugar – ¾ cup

Vanilla bean – 1(split lengthwise)

Egg yolks – 6

Salt – pinch

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Method

•  Place the ice cream maker in the freezer 24 hours before you make the ice cream  
• Place sugar, milk,salt  and cream in saucepan and heat it on a low flame until sugar is dissolved.                                                                                                        
• Scrape the seeds from vanilla bean and add it to the milk mixture and turn off the flame. Let the flavour of the vanilla seep into the mixture for 30 minutes.                          
    
• Whisk 6 egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add the milk mixture to it stirring continuously.                                                                                                     

• Place everything back into the bowl and heat it on a low flame stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula until it custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon, might take up to 15 minutes.                                 
  

• Sieve the custard if necessary and stir in vanilla extract. Cover and transfer the mixture into refrigerator and chill for 8 hours or overnight.                                         
  

• Transfer everything into frozen ice cream maker and churn for 20-30 minutes until you get the desired consistency.
  

• Transfer it into a freezer safe container and freeze for few hours. Before serving take it out of the refrigerator 10-15 minutes before and scoop out the delicious ice cream and enjoy!

Bharwa Baingan/ Stuffed Brinjal

I was never a brinjal fan. In fact till few years back , I used fish them out from  curries and keep it aside !! On the other hand, when it comes to certain things I just love baingan. Baingan bhartha, brinjal fry and then this bharva baigan are few of my favourites. I guess roasting and frying takes this veggie to a new level and it might be hard to dislike it even for someone who hates this veggie as such.

Usually the English brinjal variety is quite big and is called aubergine and doesn’t taste good like the brinjal but me being sluggish still pick those to make my chopping easier. Few weeks back when I saw this super fresh brinjals in our local Indian shop I couldn’t resist picking it up and they looked perfect for stuffing. I rang up my friend  A who makes super yummy bharwa baingan for her recipe and with few modifications of my own I made her bharwa baingan for our dinner and one super easy bharwa baingan was ready in about 30-40 minutes !!

Ingredients

Small brinjals -6

For masala

Shallots/ cheriya ulli – 4-5  or 1 medium sized onion( finely chopped)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- ½ tsp

Coriander powder/ malli podi – 1 ½ tsp

Garlic cloves – 2 (crushed)

Besan powder / kadala mavu – 1 tbs

Salt

Method

• In a small pan/ kadai add little oil and sauté the chopped onions until soft and translucent
• Add chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and fry for a minute and switch off the flame.
• Grind it in a blender to a paste.
• Add crushed garlic, salt, besan to the paste and mix well.
• Make two deep slits on brinjal (like a cross) from bottom keeping the stalk intact.
• Take each brinjal and stuff it with the masala paste through the slits.
• In a non -stick  frying  pan or thick bottomed pan add oil and shallow fry the stuffed brinjal on a very low flame by covering it for 20-25 minutes by  flipping the sides in between.

Serve hot with rice/ roti !

Baguette and Garlic bread from scratch with step by step pictures

Garlic bread is something which we all love at home.Usually when  we go for a pizza night, we order  garlic bread and some chicken wings  to go with it and  more than the pizza I enjoy the garlic bread and chicken wings .Supermarkets here sell descent garlic bread  so I never bothered to make it from scratch..Couple of weeks back, me and my blogger buddy MJ did a baking workshop for a couple for some lovely ladies at my place. I was in charge of cake and MJ  did  a bread, and the taste and  smell of freshly baked home -made bread totally inspired me to get into bread baking.

When I first moved to UK  it really amazed me when I saw breads in all size and shapes with all fancy names..till then I have only tasted the soft white everyday  bread from bakeries and they were simply the best. My first impression after I ate the bread from here was “ eww its not sweet and its not soft "  I didn’t like the breads here at all , after all  it’s not easy to adjust to an acquired taste is it ?? Can’t remember when I started enjoying the breads here  and developed a liking for brown bread over the white ones and then later on I  explored the fancy breads in all shapes...crunchy outside soft inside ones became  my favourite  ….now I am converted.I like my bread the way we get here and if u can make them at home it tastes even better!!

Coming to todays bread, its Baguette.. a long french bread which is crunchy outside and soft inside and its so easy to bake too !

Recipe source from here

Ingredients for baguette

All purpose flour/ Maida – 2 ½ cup

Instant yeast -  1 ½ tsp

Sugar – 1 tbsp

Salt – 1 tsp

Warm water – 1 cup

Egg yolk – 1(dilute the  egg yolk with  1 tbs of water)

Method

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup of warm water and let it froth for 5 minutes
• Measure flour and salt into a bowl.
• Add the yeast solution to it and knead it well for 5 minutes into smooth dough.
• Cover the dough with a cling film or a damp cloth and let it rise for 1 hour or until double.
• Divide the dough into two halves.

• Roll the dough into rectangles of  8 inch * 12 inch 

• Roll the sheet from the 12 inch side tightly to a log. Repeat the same with other half of the dough.

• With a knife score a line (2 inches apart) on both  logs.

• Cover it with cling wrap and let it rise for another 30-45 minutes.

• Give it an egg wash and bake it in a preheated oven at 190 degree C for 25 minutes.

For garlic bread (recipe adapted from here)

Baguette – 2 ( sliced )

For spread

Softened Butter – ½ ( unsalted)

Garlic cloves – 3 ( crushed)

Parsley leaves- finely chopped – 1 tbs

Salt ( optional)  If u like ur bread with salt ,use either salted butter or add little salt.

Method

Mix all the ingredients for the spread and spread it lavishly onto both sides of the sliced bread.

Arrange them in a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 5-8 minutes.

Serve hot   and enjoy!