Sweet and Spicy Chicken ( oriental style )

Saturday is our usual grocery shopping day and  we buy everything in bulk for the whole week that day. But  sometimes if we have weekend plans we do shopping a day early on friday night and Friday night means S need some non veg, be it chicken or fish  so if we r going to supermarket on friday night, S will dissappear with trolley in between and I have to ring him on his mobile  to find him and most of the time he will be in  hot deli corner where they have a counter for  cooked chicken thighs and wings. If not there he will be cooked meal section looking for Non veg options or in Fish Monger section ! Coming to point, so  we always pick up something every time and a  sweet and spicy chicken wings has been our  favourite choice  for a long time but maybe after eating it repeatedly we  got bored of it and moved onto different options. But recently I tried a sweet and spicy chicken at home and we all loved it and I ended up making the same thing 3 times in few days gap and after the third time I decided to give it a break at least for a month but I did click the picture last time and I wanted to share this recipe as soon as possible as I might forget all about it  and I definitely  don't want to loose this recipe.

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

Chicken wings/drumsticks/thighs (skinless ) - 500 gm

for marinade

Soya sauce - 1 tbs

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs

Kashmiri chilly powder - 1 tbs

Sesame oil - 1 tbs

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Salt

For sauce

Honey - 3 tbs

Soya sauce - 1 tbs

Paprika powder - 1 tbs

Minced ginger - 1 tsp

Minced garlic - 1 tsp

Sesame oil - 1 tbs

Sesame seeds - 1 tbs

Method

• Wash and pat dry the chicken  with a kitchen towel.
• Marinate the chicken with ingredients mentioned under marinade and keep it overnight or at least 1-2 hours.
• Preheat the oven at 180 degree C and cook the chicken for 30 -40 mins flipping the sides in between.
• Take the chicken out and brush it with sauce on one side and cook for 2 mins  and repeat the same on the other side and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Chop some spring onions and garnish the chicken.

Semiya payasam/ Vermicilli Kheer

Semiya payasam is my absolute favourite, it's one of the easiest and tastiest payasam among all, don't you think so? I don't  think anyone can screw this up, but my first attempt on making this was an absolute disaster, I was new to cooking and had gut feeling that it's so simple to make and  didn't even bother to ask my mum or browse online to check it, but my overconfidence came with a price. I had guests coming in and since I was in the beginners stage,  payasams were the only dessert I wanted to attempt but little did I know that roasting vermicilli is important so I ended up with a messy payasam. I don't even remember what kind of mess it was, but I remember one thing, I couldn't serve it to my guests and I didn't even have icecream in stock so S had to run quickly to the nearby shop for ice cream !

Ingredients

Vermicilli  - 1 cup

Milk -4-5 cups

Cardamom powder -1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Sugar -1 cup

Ghee - 1 tbs

Sultanas -  1 tbs

Cashewnuts -1 tbs

Salt - pinch

Method

• In a non stick pan roast broken Vermicilli till golden brown in colour.
• Add 3 cups of milk to Vermicilli and cook for 10-12 mins,stirring occasionally to prevent burning .
• Add sugar, rest of milk, cardamom powder and bring it to boil.
• Finally add vanilla extract and turn off flame.
• In another saucepan add a tbs of ghee and roast cashewnuts and sultanas until cashews brown a little bit and sultanas have puffed up.
• Add this to the payasam.

Note

Paysasam tends to thicken as it cools down, add more warm/ boiled milk and give it stir if you like the payasam to be thin.Check the sugar if you add milk.

Uzhunnu Vada / Medhu vada/ urad dal vada

Whenever we go to South Indian restaurants here, vada always finds a way to our table. But sometimes they disappoint us when its not hot and crunchy as we want, but neverthless we enjoy it the way they serve with their 2 delicious chutneys and sambar , I am drooling just thinking about it. Lately I have been on a deep frying mode. Even S who is not a fan of deep fried things loves this so I wanted to make this badly before that deep frying phase dies out. Lil A calls this Vada Crispy doughnut and he too loves it and even if he bites to a chilly he never complains about it.He usually dont eat even the mildest curry but if its something he likes he will drink water and makes ZZZZZZZZZZZZ sound and still eat it :) 

 I made these Vadas for a tea get together at my home and all Vadas disappered in a few minutes, my considerate friends were repeatedly asking me to save few for S before they finish it, so yea expect that 2 ones which I saved for S, all were gone and one of my friend who joined later didn't even know that we finished Vadas even before she came as there was no trails left :)

Ingredients ( makes 12 vadas)

Urad dal /uzhunnu parippu  - 1 1/2 cup

Shallots - finely chopped ( 1/2 cup)
Green chillies - 1-2
Ginger (finely chopped ) - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs(torn into pieces )
Peppercorns crushed - 1 tsp (optional )
Water - Few tbs
Salt
Oil for deep frying
Water in bowl ( for making the palm wet )

Method

• Soak urad dal in water for 1-2 hours.
• Grind them adding a very little water to a thick batter.

• 

  
  
• Add chopped shalots, green chillies, curry leaves, peppercorns  and salt.
• Meanwhile heat oil in a kadai or saucepan on medium high heat and when the oil is hot ,wet your palm with little water and scoop a little batter with the other hand onto the wet palm  and make a hole in the middle of the batter with your finger and slowly slide it  into the hot oil and deep fry them until golden brown.
• Serve it with coconut chutney, tomato chutney or sambar .

Parippu Pradhaman / Mung dal Kheer

The only time  I cook  exclusive Kerala sadya items is for our festivals Onam and Vishu and most of the dishes which I make for sadya's are not regular things in my kitchen, to be honest I cook these kind of food only twice in a year thats one reason you cant find many  Kerala special sadya items here. Every year during Onam and Vishu when I see my other blogger friends posting sadya items I too get excited about cooking a full fledge sadya and end up cooking an elaborate feast even if it is just us but after a long day of cooking I wont be in a mood to take out my camera, but this time I was dedicated. Even though I had to cook  for  8 adults and 3 kids I kind of preplanned everything and did a lot of things a day ahead.Even then photographing them was quite challenging, I didn't have the time for  styling it nor taking  pictures in different angles so I just went ahead and clicked few items. If I wait for good pictures  I am sure it will never happen. So this time I am aiming to post all the sadya items before Onam in september, oh yes I have still plenty of time but I am starting slowly so maybe for Onam at least few of my friends might find this helpful.

Making Parippu pradhaman is  quite a task back home as we take freshly squeezed  coconut milk from 1-2 coconuts  but here making  this hardly takes any time as coconut milk is readily available in tins. Did I tell you that this is my first attempt on Parippu paradhaman. Since  I was not fan of this payasam  I never kind of made it myself, but last year when my mum in law visited us she made this payasam for us and as I stood beside her watching her  making this without much effort  almost like an instant payasam without the fuss of extracting coconut milk impressed me , that's why I gave it a thought of trying it myself this time and believe  me I am in love with this payasam now and I am already  looking for another occassion to make this payasam some time soon.

Ingredients

Mung dal/ Cheri payar parippu - 1/2  ( 1/4 + 1/4 )

Jaggerry - 200-225 gm

Thick coconut milk - 1cup
Thin coconut milk - 4 cups
Salt - pinch
Cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp
Cahewnuts - 1 tbs
Sultanas/ Raisins - 1 tbs
Water - tbs
Ghee - 1 tbs

Method

•  Roast 1/4 cup of mung dal till its golden brown in colour 
• Roast the other 1/4 cup to a lighter shade, this is for some biting bits in payasam rather  than a completely mushy version.
• Mix 1 1/2 cups of thick coconut milk with 2 1/2 cup water for thin coconut milk and a pinch of salt.
• Pressure cook the dal with thin coconut milk for 2-3 whistles.
• Meanwhile melt jaggerry adding a tbs of water and strain to remove any impurities.
• Add melted jaggerry bring it to boil  and finally add  thick coconut milk and turn of the flame just before it starts to boil.
• In a pan add ghee and  cashewnuts  and sultanas and  roast until cahews are slightly borned and sultanas have plumped.
• Add this to the Payasam.

Light Whole meal bread and a recipe review !

Reviewing a recipe from  baking mad's website that has so many awesome recipes was quite challenging for me. I was lost in middle of all those great recipes so I have been postponing this review for sometime now and finally  this Light whole meal bread  made it to the list. It had already some great reviews  on the website so I was confident that this bread was going to taste great. What attracted me most was, it was so easy to put together, literally a one bowl bread  and it was under kid's recipes so there is no need to say that even a kid can make this bread ! When the bread came out of the oven I couldn't resist eating a slice and even before the bread had cool down I cut a slice and ate the hot bread just as it is. Usually I like to eat my bread with some spread on it but believe me the hot bread which comes out straight from the oven don't need anything, it tasted like  one awesome toasted bread and in the morning it became the softest bread ever with a great texture and tasted really good !

Ingredients
Very strong Whole meal bread flour - 250 gm ( I used Allison's)
Very Strong bread flour - 250 gm ( I used Allison's )
Easy bake yeast -  1 1/2 tsp / 7 gm ( I used Allison's easy bake yeast's 1 sachet )
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Runny honey - 2 tbs
Sunflower oil - 3 tbs
Warm water -  1 1/4 cup /225 ml

Method

• In a mixing bowl take flours,salt,yeast.
• Add honey, sunflower oil and warm water to it and knead it well until you get a smooth dough.
• Shape it and put into a greased loaf tin and allow it to proof with a cling wrap until double in size.
• Preheat the oven to 220 degree c and then immediately lower it to 200 degree C .
• Bake the bread for 30 minutes.
• If the bread is cooked  you will hear a hollow sound when you tap on bottom.

Disclaimer - This is not a sponsored post.
With thanks to Baking Mad for sending me some baking products.

Sticky Toffee pudding, A guest post for Manju @ Manju's Eating Delights !

Manju's Eating Delights is one of my favorite blogs which I check out on regular basis whenever she updates it, we both share the same passion when it comes to baking and cake decoration  and that's what brought us so close together.Whenever I update my FB status with cake related doubts or suggestion she never fails to respond and always pour down with her suggestions.The one thing which I like most about blogging is the way friends help each other with tips and suggestions  and Manju is one among them. I owe it to Manju for making an about me  page and recipe index on my blog :) 

When she asked me to do a  guest post as she is busy settling down in her new house I was so happy to help her out .I have been brainstorming for a recipe for few days now but she helped me out and  choose that a  cake would be apt  as it speaks about friendship. I kept bugging her again  whether she want this or that but unlike my hubby who never gives me an answer when I ask for a choice, she gave me a reply and made my job easier ! 

I have made this sticky toffee pudding before as well  and usually if I am not very happy with the taste of a cake I never make it again, so should I say that this is a delicious cake/dessert  indeed ? The plus point of this pudding is its a warm pudding so it can enjoyed and eaten even when the weather outside is chilly or freezing.

If you would like to see the recipe and explore her blog head on to her space and while you are there also take a look at her beautiful beautiful cakes ,especially her  Carousel cake and baby crib cake  and  you may also want to read her house warming ceremony post with beautiful pictures of rituals and also her valentines day dinner post which she posted 2 years ago which  left me dumbstruck :) One day I would definitely like to meet her and taste her amazing food but till then I will have to satisfy with the virtual treats which she  shares with us :)

Chicken Dumplings /Chicken Dimsum /Chicken Momos

I remember eating these beauties from a restaurant called  Mainland China in Pune. Nobody would think of making them at home if you have so many such Chinese eating outs around. But in London where we live we don't have good Chinese, so we have almost given up eating Chinese  these days .

Recently my  hubby who is a great sea food fan  found  a Korean shop nearby for buying fish and while exploring the shop, I found this cute bamboo steamer, which reminded me of the dumplings served in bamboo steamers in restaurants. I didn't even have an idea how to make dumplings when I picked the bamboo steamer, but while  I was flipping the pages of my old recipe book (with cut outs from news papers and magazines and some recipes which I wrote down from TV shows  ) I  found a dumplings recipe. So with basic idea from the book I made my own dumplings ! They taste so delicious and I have been making them quite often  but never got to click it , so this time I made it especially for clicking it. Here we get to buy ready made dumpling pastries in that Korean shop, they are rolled very thin in round shapes and makes my  job easier, but this time I made everything from scratch , which is a bit time consuming but totally worth trying !

Ingredients
For pastry
Plain flour - 1 cup
Warm water - as required
salt
oil
For filling
 Boneless chicken - 100 gm
Cabbage - 1/2 cup ( finely shredded )
Carrot - 1/4 cup ( grated  )
Beans - 1/4 cup (finely chopped )
Spring onions - 4 ( chop greens and whites separately )
Ginger - 1 tsp ( minced)
Garlic - 1 tsp (minced )
Soyasauce - 1 tbs
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt
Pepper

Method

• In a bowl take plain flour, salt, oil and add warm water and  make a smooth dough by kneading well .Cover the dough with a cling film and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.
• Cook boneless chicken adding salt, pepper and little water.Once cooked shred the chicken .
• In a big wok add oil and throw in whites of spring onion, saute till soft.
• Add ginger,garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.
• Add shredded veggies, salt, pepper, Soya sauce, sugar and cook until the veggies are done.
• Finally add shredded chicken, greens of spring onion and turn off the flame.
• Meanwhile make balls out of the dough and roll it out as thinly as possible dusting with some flour.I used a bowl to cut out a perfect shape.
• Place the filling in the middle and fold it like the picture below.

• Steam the dumplings for 7 minutes.I steamed it in a bamboo steamer by sprinkling some flour on it.
• Serve the dumplings with sauce of your choice.I used sweet chilli dipping sauce.