Chicken Vindaloo ....and a break !

Usually I am not a last minute person when it comes to packing and shopping especially if it is for a vacation,but this time I was shopping even today and still a few more last minute shopping to do,Suitcases are still empty and I have a pile of clothes to iron, and finally cleaning the house before I leave ! phew its a long list,You might be wondering am I crazy to sit and blog when I have so much things to do ? But this time its going to be long break thats another reason for me to update the blog at this last moment. I will be back only on sep 11 th and after coming back I have my lil boys birthday party to organise.So far I have only booked a hall and an entertainer ,so its going to be hectic when I come back.So hopefully after all that I might be able to get back to blogging. So my friends enjoy the rest of the summer and Eid mubaraak to all in advance !

Todays recipe is adapted from Anjum Anand's Pork vindallo recipe from I love curry , I just replaced pork with chicken and I warn you all,its really spicy ,reduce the chillies according to your spice levels.I felt it was spicy the first day but got a little milder and tasted much better the next day !

Ingredients
Chicken - 500 gms
Onion - 3

for grinding

cumin seeds - 1tsp
Coriander seeds- 1 tsp
Kashmiri redchillies (seeds shaken )- 5-10
Peppercorns - 6
Green cardamom pods - 3
Cloves -4
Cinnamon - 1 stick

Ginger -garlic paste - 1 tbs
Salt

Method
1.Grind all the whole spices and chillies to a fine powder.
2.Marinate the chicken with the spice powders ,ginger garlic paste , salt and keep aside for few hours or overnight.
3.In a saucepan add oil and saute the chopped onions till brown.
4.Add the marinated chicken and fry till brown on a medium flame for about 3-4 minutes.
5.Reduce the heat and cook it covered it until cooked.

Rice Krispy treats and a small carving attempt !

This is one of the easiest treat that you can fix for ur lil ones in a jiffy..My boy used to get this from nursery sometimes on some special days when they cook in the nursery and he brings his share home and after that always used to ask for more,so I have been thinking to try this at home for sometime now and today finally I got some time and made this.Lil A loved it and as the quantity I made was quite a lot for him , I thought to be creative with the rest ! And this is what I came up with,his favoutite Mc Queen Car from Disney cars movie :) I carved the rice krispy treats with a sharp knife and then coated it with a little buttercream icing and covered it with fondant.Its nothing great but it bought a big smile on his face !

Ingredients

Rice krispies - 1 1/2 cup

Mini marshmallows - 1 cup

Butter - 1 1/2 tbs

Method

1. Melt butter in a pan and add marshmallows.

2.Stir until marshmallows are completely melted.Switch off the flame.

3.Add rice Krispies and mix until well coated.

4.Transfer this into a greased dish and press it .

5.Allow it to set and cut them to desired shapes.

Beetroot Thoran/ Beetroot stir fry

Eventhough I love betroot I hate the mess it makes to my kitchen tiles and my fingers after I grate it.This time when I got betroot I forgot to put them in the fridge and left it among my onions and potatoes outside.So after 2-3 days when I saw it lying outside ,the skin was really soft and it was impossible to grate it . Eventhough chopped betroots taste much better than grated one I always preferd later as it is easier ,but this time since I didnt have a choice I had to chop and I found that its much easier to chop soft betroots and the mess is also less(didnt make my tiles red) ! Normally I wouldnt post this here,but since chopped version is a special one for a lazy person like me I thought I should post it here !

Ingredients

Betroot - 4 medium ones

Onion - 1

Grated coconut /Dessicated coconut - 2 tbs

Curry leaves - few

Redchilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Oil

Method

1. In a saucepan add little oil and sputter mustard seeds.

2.Add chopped onions and saute till soft.

3.Add chopped betroot ,chilly powder,turmeric and salt and cook it covered.

4.When it is almost done add grated coconut ,curry leaves and cook for 1 minute .

Moist Chocolate cupcakes with Vanilla butter cream frosting

Till the Olympics started in London a week before, me and S were not really into sports that much,so we didnt even bother to bid for tickets in the beginning but the whole atmosphere in London has changed our attitude towards sports,we are now hooked onto T.V watching all sorts of events and has been trying for tickets continously ever since Olypmics started.Eventhough they were releasing last minute tickets online , we were unlucky with those ticketed events,but we still we didnt give up and decided to make the most of free events like cycling ,marathon,race walk etc.We went for two events in the last few days and the Mens 20 km race walk was the most exciting one as 3 Indian were among the group,we cheered them with all our voice and we were glad that Irfan from kerala,finished 10 th and made all of us proud !Still one more week of Olympics and we are planning to go for Mens marathon race next week and then we are off to India for a month.

Coming to todays recipe its a moist chocolate cupcake which I made to take to a friends place,You can see from the pics that my frosting didnt cover the cupcakes well as I ran out of the frosting .I didnt want to make it all over again so I kind of decorated it with what I had :)

Ingredients
Flour - 1 1/4 cup
Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Sugar - 1 cup
Oil - 3/4 cup
Egg -2
Milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Method
1. Sift flour,baking powder,soda,salt and keep it aside.
2.In a mixing bowl beat eggs and sugar well.
3.Add oil,vanilla extract and whisk.
4.Add 1/4 th of sifted dry ingredients and fold in followed by little milk.
5.Continue adding flour and milk until all used up.
6.Line a muffin tin and pour the batter until 3/4 th full.
6.Bake in preheated oven at 175 degree centigrade for 20 - 25 mins or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

You can find the recipe for frosting here

Barbecue Chicken

Much awaited London 2012 Olympics finally had a colourful opening here yesterday night .The best bit I liked in the ceremony was Mr Beans performance and James bonds entry !! Hope you all watched the ceremony and enjoyed that bit :) Eventhough we havent won any tickets for olympics I am very excited about it.I still hasnt given up my hope for tickets and still checks for tickets for any event at a reasonable rate !

Coming to todays topic, now I can strike one thing off from my "things to do list "in summer, a barbecue !! Have been planning to do a barbecue with our friends since a long time,but like I mentioned in my post earlier rain spoiled all our plans,but finally we got few glorious days last week and we decided to do BBQ this weekend quickly before we leave for a 4 weeks vacation to India in 2 weeks time !I prepared two item for our BBQ, Tandoori chicken and this sweet and sour BBQ chicken.Tandoori chicken was obviously the best among the two but the BBQ chicken was a change from normal chicken recipes that I usually make,So give it a go if like a change from usual ones !

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from here

Chicken breast - 500 gms

Paprika powder - 1 1/2 tbs

Honey - 3 tbs

Dijon Mustard - 1 1/2 tsp

Pepper - 1tsp

Tomato Ketchup - 3 tbs

Orange Zest - from 1 orange

Olive oil - 1tsp

Dried chilly flakes - 1tsp

Salt

Method

1.Dice the breast fillets into small cubes.

2.Marinate the diced chicken with all the ingredients and keep it aside for 1-2 hrs in fridge.

3.Insert the chicken on skewers and place them on BBQ flipping the sides in between until its cooked.

Strawberry Marshmallow Mousse

Until last week there was no sign of summer in London or in U.K ,it rained and rained and the much hyped drought turned into flood in some parts ! We didnt do anything exciting this summer like last time.Picking Strawberry,doing barbaque,beach trips we had so much plan but the horrible weather spoiled all our plans..but finally sun is out and from 15-18 degree centigrade it jumped to 28-30 just in 2 days time !! Thats the U.K weather for u :)Anyway to celebrate the rare sun here I am posting a summery dessert for u all !! It can be made in a jiffy with few ingredients and its a perfect dessert for all strawberry lovers.This can be served as a dessert on its own or if you have some sponge cake serve it with some vanilla cake and its a lovely combination !

Ingredients (serves 2 bowls)

Recipe halved from here

Strawberry - 125 gm
Sugar - 2 tbs
Marshammlows - 70 gms
Double cream - 100 ml
Water - 50 ml

Method

1.Place the strawberries and suagar in a pan with water and cook until strawberries are soft.
2.Mash the strawberries with a fork
3.Add the marshammlows to the hot strawberry mixture and mix until marshamllows are melted.Allow it to cool.
4.Whip the double cream until peaks are formed.
5.Add the whipped cream to the strawberry mixture and fold in.
6.Spoon them into 2 bowls and chill for 2 hours.

Oats and Berries Milk shake !

I have to thank Julie of Erivum Puliyum a lot for introducing this healthy breakfast drink to me, believe me its a regular in my home these days,I started stocking my freezer with frozen berries so that I never run out of them.S and me equally loves to have it every morning and its super healthy ! You can find the original recipe here which is a smoothie but I liked milkshake version better than smoothie so I always add milk and omit sugar as the fruits and milk makes is sweet enough for me !

If you are not a person who eats a kings breakfast I guess just this drink should be enough for you,but for S and me our main meal is breakfast ,so we always fill up the gap with some cereals :) Eating Indian breakfast 7 days a week is something that we gave up long time back for eating healthy atleast 5 days a week .Eating cereals doesnt mean healthy does it ? but we eat sugarless,saltless muesli and S find that its much more filling than our Dosha/idly/upmav etc so he always prefer to eat muesli during weekdays and if on one day I cook something he complains that he gets hungry by 11.30 !! So thats another reason for not cooking breakfast during weekdays,but still during weekends we both love to have our elaborate Indian breakfast ! But during weekdays this drink and a small bowl cereals makes my day :) So if you are a person who doesnt have time to eat breakfast during weekdays this one is for you :)

Ingredients (serves 2 glass)

Oats - 2/3 cup

Banana - 2

Strawberries - 10 nos

Blueberries - 15 nos

Milk - 1/2 cup

Method

1.Blend all the ingredients into a smooth milkshake.