Chicken Spaghetti in cream of cauliflower

Chicken spaghetti in creamy cauliflower white sauce.. ummm sounds good isn’t!! Well it tastes even better, and what more, its guilt free too, yes you are free from maida guilt ( recently acquired by Indians ). Personally I miss using maida cos I feel there is nothing like it. However with increasing maida consciousness, there is huge demand for maida free recipes by friends and family alike. I haven’t yet completely replaced maida in baking but its fairly easy to do so in cooking.

So I tried white sauce with maida for the first time. I have used cauliflower but it can be done using mushrooms too. But! don’t go overboard by mixing cauliflower and mushrooms both for the white sauce, cos I have a feeling, it will be a disaster.

They say no to maida (all-purpose flour) in the white sauce but can you do with out cheese? No! Guess someone should first find a replacement for cheese, and that someone would definitely be awarded with, I donno, may be the best International invention award!!!

So this recipe wasn’t bad at all and luckily I did not even miss the flour so much. So lets get on with it.

Ingredients (Serves 3 )

1 pack of Spaghetti
250 gms boneless chicken pieces
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cauliflower
2 big garlic cloves
1 large onion juliennes
1 tsp corn flour 
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 Amul cheese cube (or equivalent)
Black pepper as per taste
Salt as per taste
Thyme as per taste
2 tbsp butter
2 cups chicken stock (Maggi chicken cubes is a good alternative)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar


In a frying pan, add 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter. When the pan is hot, add crushed garlic, onions and sugar and fry on high heat stirring constantly till onions caramelize (turn brown).

Now, add the chicken pieces, and fry for exactly one minute on high flame with out turning them. This will brown one side of the chicken. Add the chicken stock, add salt if the stock doesn’t have any salt and with out mixing, cover the pan with a lid. Simmer the flame and cook for exactly 10 minutes, do not open the lid during this time. After 10 minutes, leave it to rest for another 10 minutes without removing the cover. All this is to ensure soft and succulent chicken pieces.

Separate the chicken pieces and remaining stock in two different containers.

Saute cauliflower in 1 tsp oil until al dente. Add some salt for seasoning. Puree after it cools down.

Mix 1 tsp corn flour in milk for thickening the sauce.

In the same pan, add butter, chicken stock, cauliflower puree, milk, amul cheese cube and seasoning (salt, pepper and thyme). Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning.

Boil spaghetti as per instructions on the pack.

Here comes the last step – plating. Put spaghetti on a plate, add chicken pieces, pour some sauce on top. Finally, add cheddar and sprinkle thyme on top.

Chicken spaghetti in cauliflower puree white sauce is ready! 

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Chicken Chettinad Pizza

When I told my friend I have lot of chicken Chettinad for Sunday, she suggested some varieties using the curry like sandwich or a frankie.. and I thought thats a brilliant idea! why have it with rice alone, why not a pizza!! Turned out to be a huge hit in my family! My husband even went on to say that you can open a pizza delivery outlet with just this one flavour 😉 Taste this once and I bet it will make it to your list of top 10 pizzas.

If you have already made chicken curry, you are just a few steps away.

Ingredients

Chicken chettinad curry (Please follow the link for recipe) 
Grated mozzarella cheese as much as you like
Onion julienne as much as you like ( I use a cup of onions for each pizza )
Other veggies like capsicum ( half of the amount of onions or as per your liking )

Pizza base (makes 4 pizzas)
315 gms sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sea salt coarsely ground
1 tsp sugar
160 ml warm water
11/2 tbsp olive oil

Sauce for pizza base (makes 4 pizzas)
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp chilli sauce
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp mixed herbs
Salt to taste

Making pizza base,

Add yeast to 4 tbsp water, gently stir and leave for 1 minute. Whisk once.
Add sugar, salt to flour. 
Add oil, yeast mixture, remaining water to the flour and knead until you get soft silky dough ball. Apply some oil on top.
Cover the vessel with a cling wrap and leave it to rise until it doubles in size (1-2 hours)
Now gently knock the air out of the dough.
Make 4 balls. Place a ball on flat oiled surface and roll out a 1/4 inch thick round or make it thinner if you like thin crust.
Preheat microwave at 230 degrees.

Making pizza sauce,

Grind together all the ingredients for sauce. I like my sauce less sweet and more tangy, so added some sundried tomatoes. If you are fine with tomato ketchup, use it directly. If you follow this recipe for pizza sauce, it will be less sweet, bit spicy and some garlic flavour, consistency would be thick.

Shred chicken curry pieces using knife and fork. 

Spread the sauce into a thin layer on the base, leaving 1/2 inch around the edges.

Arrange the veggies and chicken pieces on top and sprinkle cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges turn brown and crispy.

One thing left to be done, EAT! The flavor of smokey grilled chicken chettinad pieces will make you go wow!!!

Chicken Chettinad

Coming from Tamil Nadu, chicken chettinad has found its place in every Indian’s heart. My friend and I recently visited Khane khaas in Bandra and ordered chicken chettinad, it was okay but nothing like chettinad, it tasted more like butter chicken and it was not surprising given that owner was a sardar ji! 🙂 I was still craving for chettinad and decided to make it that night. 

If you are in for some real spice, this is just for you. Here it goes..

psst.. chettinad tastes even better next day so make lots of it. This recipe is sufficient for 2 for at least 3 meals (including 1 or 2 friends 😉 )

another thing.. you will notice that there is boneless chicken too, I do that when I pack some of it for next day’s lunch. It is easier to have boneless chicken with roti.

Ingredients

1 kg chicken (curry cut)

1/2 kg boneless chicken

1 tbsp lemon juice

Pinch of turmeric

5 big onions finely chopped

2 tomatoes finely chopped

Salt to taste

2 tbsp oil for cooking

1 bay leaf

Garam masala paste

1+1/2 inch cinnamon stick

4 green cardamoms 

1 black cardamom

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

5 cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/4 tsp black peppercorns

1/2 star anise

2 tsp sesame seeds

3 tsp fresh grated coconut or dessicated coconut

1 red chilli

Ginger garlic paste

10-12 garlic cloves

2 inch ginger

3 green chillies 

Wash and clean chicken, drain excess water. Pour the lemon juice and turmeric, mix well and marinate until rest of the ingredients are ready.

Dry roast garam masala spices, grind by adding little water to form paste. 

Remove masala, use the same jar and grind together garlic, ginger and green chillies. Remove ginger garlic paste, pour some water and clean the jar, keep this water for cooking.

Add oil in pressure cooker, when hot, add onions and fry till they turn transparent. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 5 minutes, Add tomatoes, reduce the flame to medium and cook with closed lid for 5 more minutes.

Add chicken, masala paste, salt and chilli powder (optional) mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes on high flame. Add water from the jar and add some more  to cover 3/4th chicken curry in water. 

Pressure cook on low flame for about 10 minutes.

Remove the lid when pressure subsides, if you find excess water fry on high flame until gravy thickens to desired consistency. 

Spicy Chettinad Chicken is ready! 

Pasta and Meatballs

The movie Cloudy with a chance of meatballs had inspired me to come up with the name “Raining food”, so its time I make some meatballs.

If you have gone through this post on Scotch eggs you are half way through. Actually I had planned for scotch eggs alone but while I was preparing them it occurred to me that the meat mix would be just idle for meatballs and that is how I made them too.

I have always pictured the taste and texture of meatballs in a certain way in my mind and this recipe is totally coming from my imagination. I did not have Spaghetti so settled with Fusilli instead. Often wonder why Spaghetti and meatballs is such a famous combination, when it should work well with other types of pasta too. Anyway.. lets start with the recipe

Ingredients 

250 gms Fusilli (Serves two)

For meatballs (Makes 20 of 1.5 inch diameter)

2 eggs beaten
2 onions finely chopped
200 gms minced meat of your choice
1 cup of refined wheat flour
Lot of good quality white breadcrumbs (I used 6 slices of bread for this)
Dried herbs of your choice (I used oregano, thyme, sea salt)
1/2 tsp mustard sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder or 1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (You may increase the amount of cheese)
1 tsp black pepper
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

For marinara sauce (You can totally skip this by ready made marinara or pasta sauce with tomato base)

2 large onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes pureed
6 garlic cloves finely chopped or crushed
2 cups chicken stock (Use Maggi chicken cubes)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Optional)
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp butter

To prepare the meat, 
add 1/4th of the breadcrumbs, onions,herbs, cheese, pepper, mustard sauce, garlic powder and salt to it. Mix well.

Keep breadcrumbs, beaten eggs and flour ready.

Apply some oil on your hands and make meatballs 1 inch in diameter.

Now roll it in the flour and then dip it in the beaten eggs and finally roll it in breadcrumbs. Again dip in egg and roll in breadcrumbs. This will ensure a thick crispy layer on top in case you want to have them just like that with ketchup.

Heat oil for deep frying and set the burner on medium heat when oil is hot.

Gently dip each meatball in oil and fry till it turns golden brown. The heat should be low enough to be able to cook the meat for about 4 mins each.

If you want to avoid deep frying which you totally can, you can bake them in the oven and lightly roast them on a pan later (again, roasting is optional). Preheat microwave at 200 degrees and then bake for 20 minutes or the latest trend is that of Paniyaram or appe pan easily available online and offline too. Healthier and more convenient way of cooking, you may invest in one as it is definitely worth it. 

Okay now that your meatballs are ready, lets make some sauce for pasta.

Because we are adding lot of cheese to the meatballs, I prefer going for tomato based sauce and not a white sauce which is also cheesy. 

We are going to make some marinara sauce for pasta.

Heat butter in a frying pan, add onions and cook till they turn transparent. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add tomato puree and simmer the flame, cover the lid and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add stock, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt to taste and mix well. Check salt and add if required. If you find the sauce too tangy, you may add some fresh cream or milk as per need. Bring to boil

Add meatballs, cover and cook for 5 minutes. The sauce is ready. At this point, you may add some dried herbs of your choice.

Cook fussili,as per instructions on the pack.

One last step, Serve hot!

Caramelised chicken in pineapple sauce

Chicken makes for perfect dinner on busy weekends, but its not fun if you were to eat the same type of chicken everyday. So here is another variety, which again is extremely simple and yummy.

I had some boneless chicken and some pineapple and that’s how it all started.. Shredded chicken was marinated in some sauces and finally fried and caramelised in pineapple sauce. It was yummmmmmmmm Enjoy sweet, spicy and juicy chicken with sautéed vegetables.

Ingredients

250 gms boneless chicken shredded

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

4 tbsp pineapple juice

1 cup pineapple chunks

1 cup each of red pepper, yellow pepper

1/2 cup sweet corn

1 cup broccoli pieces

5 garlic cloves

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

3 tsp olive oil (for chicken)

3 tsp olive oil (for vegetables)

Salt to taste

In a bowl, add shredded chicken, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, crushed garlic cloves, pepper, salt, sugar and mix well. Leave the chicken to marinate for 30 mins

Meanwhile, stir fry all the vegetables in 3 tsp oil. After the veggies cool down, add salt and 1/2 tsp pepper.

In the same pan, add 2 tsp oil and fry chicken for 5 minutes on high flame, by continuously stirring. When chicken turns brown, add pineapple juice and stir on high flame till water evaporates. 

Serve chicken on bed of vegetables.

Tandoori chicken – Easy to make

Tandoori chicken – everybody’s favourite 🙂 This is a short and simple recipe. 

Ingredients

Chicken  
4 tsp Tandoori masala (for 6 pieces)
1/2 tsp dry ginger powder (sonth)
1/2 cup hung curd
1 tsp amchur powder
2 tsp ghee or vegetable oil
Sea salt as per taste

Mix all masala ingredients.
Prick chicken with a fork, apply masala. 
Marinade for 20 minutes.

Electric tandoor
Set to mode in which both the top and bottom grill plates heat up. Preheat for 5 minutes and cook for 10 minutes. Check once, if its cooked, leave it for another 5 minutes for char effect.

Microwave oven

Set in grill mode and cook for 20 minutes.

Chicken Semi Dry Curry

The best combination undoubtedly for any rice and non veg lover will be steaming hot rice and chicken curry home made style. This recipe is my mom special. 🙂

I feel that chicken goes well with rice as compared to mutton. Of coarse nothing comes close to sea food curry, say, prawns curry with rice. I will soon be posting prawns curry that tastes best with rice.

The gravy is not very soupy, its thick. I personally prefer thick gravy with rice and soupy with roti/paratha.

A tip for busy women/men in kitchen who pack lunch to office – It is a fact that chicken curry tastes best when it is with bones, but highly inconvenient to eat in office! So I always buy half boneless and half with bones and cook together for dinner. While you can finish off pieces with bones at dinner time, you may keep the boneless pieces curry along with rotis for your lunch box the next day.

Here are the ingredients for this simple and delicious recipe.. there is twist in this recipe keep reading.. 🙂

Ingredients
250 gms chicken with bones
250 gms boneless chicken
4 onions finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 cup chopped fresh coriander
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp kashmiri lal mirch (Gives good colour but not very spicy, just what we want!)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp levelled turmeric 
Pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste

Heat oil in kadhai, add asafoetida, when it turns brown, add onions and green chillies. Fry till onions turn transparent, add ginger garlic paste and fry till oil separates. Add chicken and sprinkle turmeric, mix well.
Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle salt, chilli powder and mix well. Add just enough water to cover all pieces. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Now comes the twist! turn off the flame and add garam masala. Mix well and cover the gravy with lid. Give a standing time of 5 minutes and then serve! The twist is to add garam masala after the curry has cooked and flame has been turned off.  This gives a very interesting and aromatic flavour, try it to believe it!

Sprinkle fresh coriander at the time of serving.

Grilled chicken

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Ingredients
2 chicken breast pieces(each cut into half), 2 chicken leg pieces

1 egg

1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp salted butter, melted
2 tbsp corn flour
Paste of 5 garlic cloves
Salt to taste

Make some slits on the chicken pieces with a knife.
Break one egg in a bowl and mix all the ingredients except corn flour.
Spread corn flour on a plate.
Dip the pieces in egg mixture and ensure they are nicely coated with it. Roll each piece in corn flour and place it on a wire rack.
Grill for 20 minutes in microwave (grill mode)

Enjoy simple and yummy chicken grill 🙂
Looking forward to your comments/suggestions!

Semi Dry Chicken Curry

Here is a recipe of semi dry chicken curry.. it is almost a fry but not completely.. will go well with rotis, steamed rice.

Ingredients
2 chicken breast pieces (cut into small pieces)
4 chicken drumsticks
[You may choose any type of pieces. I chose these because they are succulent and easy to dig in with roti]
1 cup yogurt
3 medium size onions finely chopped
5 whole kashmiri lal mirch 
[They are less spicy, rich in texture]
1 heaped tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
6-8 garlic cloves coarsely crushed

Spices
1 cinnamon stick (2 inches)
5 cloves
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp Asafoetida 
1/2 levelled spoon turmeric powder (haldi)

Salt, red chilli powder as per taste
2 tbsp oil

Make a fine powder of kashmiri mirch and keep aside. Beat the yogurt and keep aside.

Heat a non stick kadai and add oil.When its hot, add all the spices. Roast for 4 seconds and add onions. Fry the onions till they turn transparent, add ginger and garlic paste and stir well for 2 minutes on low flame.
Add chicken pieces and stir on medium flame for 2 minutes until the pieces get coated with all the spices.
When the chicken pieces brown on the edges, add salt, chilli powder and mix well. Simmer the flame and cover the kadai with lid for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle the coarsely ground garlic on top evenly and add the yogurt and mix well. Cover the kadai with lid and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Cook till fat separates.

Chicken semi dry curry is ready 🙂

Please do leave your valuable comments and feedback..!  🙂

Grilled Chicken Drumsticks

A yummy and quick chicken starter.
Note : This will be little bit sweet.

Here we go

Ingredients (Serves 2)

4 chicken drumsticks

For marinade
1 tsp Olive oil
1 tsp mustard sauce (or Dijon Mustard)
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp black pepper
Salt to taste

Make some slits across the chicken pieces.

Mix all the ingredients of marinade and coat chicken with it. 

Refrigerate the marinated chicken for 1/2 hour.

Grease (with oil) a rotisserie and insert chicken pieces.
Skewer for 20 minutes in microwave – grill mode.

Grilled chicken is ready in minutes.