The No Effort Indo-chinese Spicy Chicken Fry

Ever had that feeling , when u really want to eat that spicy lip smacking chicken but you don't have the time to spend hours in the kitchen, making the masala, frying, refrying, cutting and chopping and the whole mess to clean after. That picture in your mind makes you not want to go there.

Well worry no more, I am here to recuse you :) This yummy lil quick fix will fulfil your craving and will leave you wanting more. It needs no chopping , no cutting no cleaning required , it's a one bowl , 15min recipe.

Its called the no effort chicken fry and it really needs no effort at all, well maybe a little, you have to get off that couch you know.

So here goes ,

The No Effort Indo-Chinese Spicy Chicken Fry ,

1kg of Chicken (with-or-without the skin)
1 cup curd
2tbs ginger garlic paste
4tbs of soya sauce
salt to taste
2tbs of aginomoto or MSG ( chinese salt) you can skip this and add a cube of chicken stock
15 curry leaves
Handful of coriander leaves
6tbs of oil
3tbs of red chilli powder

Method,

Wash the chicken well, add the curd, ginger garlic paste, soya sauce, aginomoto, chilli powder and salt.

Set aside for 20 mins if you have the time,

Heat a pan/wok and put the chicken in with out the oil on a low flame.

Leave it for 15 to 20 mins or until the chicken is done and the gravy becomes dry, stir occasionally, as we have curd in our mixture and it tends to stick tot he vessel.

Once the chicken is almost done and you have a dry masala, time to add the tadka.

Heat some oil in another pan, finely chop the coriander and wash the curry leaves. Add both to the oil and fry until fragrant and crisp.

While its hot transfer the tadka to the chicken and stir well. Give it a min or two and take off from heat.

And you are done.

Eat them as it is or with rice or chapathis :) enjoy.

The Fool Proof Chocolate Cake

We all have had our go's at the chocolate cake , and no matter how dry the cake turns out , or sinks at the bottom , we still eat it all up :P with lots of ice cream and cream :) why?? because its CHOCOLATE!! With this recipe I guarantee that you will never get a dry cake even if you try and it will not sink.

Like all my recipes, this can be made by anyone, in no time and with ingredients readily available in your kitchen cabinets. So here it is my fool proof chocolate cake.

 The Fool Proof Chocolate Cake (Recipe)

You will need,

1 cup of curd (yoghurt)
1 and 3/4th cup of Maida (flour)
1/2 cup of oil
3 tbs of coco powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 and 1/4th teaspoon of baking powder
3/4th cup of sugar
1tbs of vanilla essence
Nuts and choco chips optional

Method

In a bowl add curd, sugar and mix untill the sugar dissolves and the curd comes to a room temperature.

Next add the baking soda and baking powder to the curd mixture, mix and set aside for 5 min , or until it bubbles.

Now add the oil and the vanilla essence n mix. Take a sieve and sieve through the maida and the coco powder into the mixture (if u dont have a sieve , just make sure u mix all of the dry ingredients properly), mix all the ingredients properly , at this stage u can add nuts or choco chips.

Now place a tawa on the gas and turn on the heat to a low, grease your cake tin with oil or ghee (any vessel is ok , if it has a flat bottom) pour the mixture into the tin and place it on the tawa, now place another tawa to cover the tin (any heavy vessel that covers the tin is ok). Now let this cook on the lowest flame for 20mins, make sure you check it every 10 mins . This the only care you need to take. After 20 mins just stick a knife in the middle, if it comes out clean then its done . Take it off the gas and let it cool. You can eat it hot or cold. Enjoy .

Time for some tips:

1.Any type of curd is okay, home made or the one from market. Make sure its not spoilt
2.If you cant get any choco chips , you dont need to add them , you can chop up some chocolate.
3. You need to take care of the timing, you cannot just let it go in the kitchen, keep a timer, its just 20mins.
4. Try using brown sugar and let me know how it turns out :)
5. You can put any dry fruits of your choice.

Finally posted courtesy Mr. Mulagapathi Dilip, this one s for you :)

The NO Chop NO Mess Chilly Chicken Fry :)

Been a long time since I posted something, so here goes, for everyone who thinks cooking is complicated and it requires cutting, chopping and the whole clean up afterwards, well this ones for you.

My No chop No mess chilly chicken fry. I stumbled upon this recipe while making dinner with my JIJU (brother-in-law). He just threw in a hand full of thing in a mixer, marinated the chicken for 15mins, put it all in a huge pan, went ahead and watched the game on T.V while it cooked away for 15-20mins.

So I tried to remember what all he threw in the mixer and with a bit of help from mom , and my trusted friend cum amazing cook Numan , we came up this lip smacking recipe , which even my clueless best friend made all by herself,

So here it is,

The No Chop No Mess Chilly Chicken Fry

1kg Chicken (curry cut on the bone, with skin without skin your choice)
1 medium bunch of coriander leaves
10-15 long green chillies (increase or decrease the number depending upon the level of spice)
10 pepper corns
6-8 cloves
8 garlic cloves
1 1/2 inch ginger or 2 tbs of ginger garlic paste
10 leave of pudina (mint)
1 medium bay leaf
1 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
1 lemon (4 tbs of lemon juice)
4-5tbs of oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the coriander and cut the green chillies into halves. Wash chicken and keep aside.Throw all the above ingredients into a mixer, with 50ml of water to make a paste. (its ok if it's runny).
Now pour the mixture over the chicken and keep aside to marinate for 15 mins- 1/2 n hour.
If you are in a hurry, you don't need to marinate. Now take a big wok, and pour the oil, once it heats up throw in the chicken and fry, add a bit of water, to make the gravy. Now add salt to taste. Fry the chicken for 15-20 mins or until cooked through.

Server with Lemon wedges and Onion slices.

This can be eaten just like a fry or with rotis and rice.

To make gravy increase the amount of coriander and chillies and pudina and water, accordingly.

Hope you love this one, its a 3 step process,

1) Blend all ingredients
2) Marinate chicken
3) Fry chicken and enjoy

Will put up a pic soon of this one. Have made this 6 times for friends and family in the last two weeks, you should try this one out for sure. :)

Panna cotta ( Dessert )

Pannacotta is such a beautiful and an adaptable dessert. By adaptable I mean you can add so many things to it and make your own little pannacotta creation and show it off, just like ice cream :)

Though many food authors and chefs have their own versions of it, with combinations of milk and yoghurt, milk and cream, cream and yoghurt etc I am going to show you the most simple one , with ingredients easily available in your kitchen.

Here it is,

Simple Panna cotta.

You will need,

2 teaspoons of gelatin
1 cup of cream
1 cup of curd / yoghurt
1/3 cup of icing sugar or 3/4th cup of regular grainy sugar
2-3 teaspoon of water
3-4 tbs of honey
1 tbs of vanilla extract

Method:

Add 2-3 teaspoons of water in a small bowl and add gelatin to that, keep this aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatin dissolves in the water. Now place the cream, curd, sugar and vanilla extract in a saucepan over medium heat or until the sugar dissolves ( make sure u don't heat it too much or the mixture will spoil, just hot enough to dissolve the sugar and gelatin ) once the sugar dissolves add the gelatin and stir, make sure it's dissolved completely .Take the mixture off the stove and set aside to cool. Now get those beautiful set of glasses out from your crockery sets and place the 2 spoons of honey in it ( smaller the glasses the better 125 ml capacity or 4 x 1/2 cups capacity ) now slowly slide the mixture from the edge of the glass so that the mixture settles over the honey and does not combine with it. (If this sounds tricky then just place the honey on top of the mixtures after it sets in the fridge ) . Now place these in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until it sets.

and you are done :)

You can vary this dish by adding rose water, orange blossom, espresso coffee instead of vanilla extract.
instead of the honey spoon over other sauces like the strawberry crush or any Macro crushes. You can even make caramel and add that to the mixture. You can also make a jelly and serve it with that, u can either place the jelly mixture on top of the dessert once its set and let the jelly set over it, or make it in advance and  serve dices over it. For your dinner parties warm some water and rub the glasses around with it and pop out the set pannacotta on white plates and serve the sauce around it.

Experiment with this dessert, it is so versatile, you will not go wrong with it.
My recommendation, try strawberry sauce and green apple flavouring.

Tip 1: use I teaspoon of gelatin for thicker substitutes like cream and curd and 2 teaspoons of gelatin for thinner substitutes like milk.

Enjoy :)

Callvins ( review )

We found this cute little place tucked inside the busy street on Kormangala . We were as usual breaking our heads about where to go and eat at 5pm in the evening when its too late for lunch and too early for dinner !!
So we spotted this place right next to Meghana Foods on the JNC road .

Callvins , first look - itsy bitsy place with a big shelf of breads , cakes, desserts, and then rolls and quiches , main attraction the duck and turtle shaped bread :) .

We ordered the chicken manchurian roll, chicken and cheese roll, veg manchurian roll , caramel custard , lovely chicken and barbaque chicken  , creme caramel , spinach and corn sandwich , and veg grill  .

We were in for a surprise , the rolls tasted amazing, the chicken manchurian roll was so juicy and perfect, the veg roll was spicy n yum for people who love their chilli . The chicken and cheese roll was decent , but it needs something to lift it up a bit more flavour I guess. The lovely chicken and the BBQ chicken were diced up juicy juicy chicken tossed in their respective sauces , where the first one had a bit of south Indian touch , with red yummy chicken' tangy lime and curry leaves ( not spicy and heavy at all) the later had a nice sweet tangy BBQ sauce with lots of garlic . Both were really good. We also tried the sandwiches , they tooK a while but were worth the wait, I haven't eaten a good sandwich in a long time , and these just made up for that, they were lip smacking , and the bread just melts in your mouth.

Now the star dish Srividya's absolute Favourite the caramel custard . First of all it looks daam cute and tastes better than it looks, should try this at any cost, just melts in ur mouth . The crème caramel however I would have liked if it was warmed up a little bit , but never the less it was good  and the owner recommend it.

Their fresh baked breads are also amazing , they are so soft that the whole slice feels like the middle of the bread, I cud just squeeze it into a ball ( childhood memories :) ) so soft .

We got more than we hoped for here, everything we ate was worth the wait and the money. You would be surprised by the prices, the rolls are 25-30 Rs. , the sandwiches are 35-45 Rs. , the chicken starters are from 70-80 Rs. , the desserts start from 30- 80 Rs.. .

We would love to try the other yummy things they offer next time, like the cakes , and the quiches , as the owners recommend it .
The quantities are also very good, you would be full with those sandwiches alone. The place unfortunately is small u have probably 4 tables , it cud fit in about 16 people . That is the only flaw , but its a bakery so I don't think I should be complaining, at least there is place to sit and enjoy those amazing treats they offer .

So I say u should go and check this place out , try the rolls, sandwiches and the caramel custard which are my top recommendations .

The Common Man's Pasta

I call this " The common man's pasta " for a very good reason.

1. because you only need a handful of things.
2. you don't need big time cooking skills to make this.
3. it requires minimum time and effort.
4. its great to raid your refrigerator grab 3 or 4 things and make something so yummy.

So here goes ,,,,

You will need,
1 pack of pasta ( macaroni or penne your choice)
1 large onion
5-6 tbs of olive oil or 4-5 dices of butter
6-7 packs of ur stack of pizza seasoning( from domino's or pizza hut etc) or 3 or 3 1/2 tbs of oregano.
3-4 packets of chilli flakes or 1 1/2 tbs of chilli flakes ( more if u like it spicy )
1/2 tbs of pepper
3-4 cloves of garlic (crushed or chopped)
salt to taste
water ( for the pasta)
1 cup of peas (optional)

Method

Bring 4 -5 cups of water to a boil, add 1 tbs spoon of oil and 1 tbs of salt to the water. once the water starts boiling add the pasta, and stir occasionally (keep an eye on it or else it will over cook). Check every 5 mins by tasting the pasta, if it has a slight resistance in the centre and you think it needs 2 more minutes to cook switch off the gas and keep aside for 5 mins. meanwhile thinly slice the onion and chop up the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a wok and add the onions, keep it on a medium flame and let it fry until golden and soft. Now check on the pasta, it should have cooked through with the residual heat from the water. Drain the pasta and let it dry. Once the onions are fairly brown lower the heat and add the seasoning, the chilli flakes, pepper and 1 tbs of salt. Sauté for one minute and add the pasta. Stir well so that the pasta is coated well. Taste and add salt. Then raise the temperature and fry the pasta for 2 mins. Remove from the heat and serve hot, with some seasoning on the side.

Vary this dish by adding corn, peas, carrots, capsicum, beans or scrambled eggs and chunks of leftover chicken pieces.

If you are using butter add 1tbs of oil first, to stop the butter from burning.

Well that's the common man's pasta. Pasta, onions and good use of all those seasoning's stashed in your refrigerators and kitchen cabinet

I will soon post a more gourmet version of this recipe which will knock you socks off.

PS: This one can be eaten hot or cold.

THE AROMAS OF CHINA ( review)

Well my first review is about one of my absolute favourite buffet restaurant  THE AROMAS OF CHINA at the EVA mall 5th floor. It is heaven on earth !!!

It has this amazing ambience with the reds and the browns and the gold and of course the Buddha figures , u get a sense of calmness when you enter this place , i guess thats what we all look for when we go out to dine.

We ( me and my partner in crime srividya ) usually arrive at the place at around 12-12.30 and even if they are not ready they don't shoo you off, they let u in and serve you the soup while they prep the rest . The soup is very light not thickened with too much corn flour, but loaded with veggies and chicken, its yumm and decent for a start. Next comes the four amazing starters  chicken lollipops , boneless chilly fish , sui-mai , and chicken dumplings . The best thing bout these are they always change the sauces for the lollipops and the fish which by the way are melt in the mouth , also the fillings for the sui mai and dumplings change, which are always perfect and light served with two dips among which my personal favourite is the olive oil and soya sauce dip. The vegetarians have dumplings, spring rolls , baby corn and soup as well which are decent .

If you have stuffed yourself with the starters big time like us , ask for the jasmine tea and sip for a while , amazingly it just makes u feel like you have so much more place in your tummy to stuff it with the main course

So coming to the main course you have fried rice and noodles with a chicken gravy , a jumbo prawn gravy and a lamb gravy to go with it. The noodles are bright red and has the perfect spice to it, the rice is bland if eaten alone, hence the 3 choices of gravies , i recommend the jumbo prawns they are amazing, chicken is decent and the lamb does not quite suit my pallet . They also have the addictive sea food wafers yumm.  The vegetarians have stir fried veggies , veggies in Chinese white sauce , chopsuey with crispy noodles  , tofu gravy sometimes with eggplant or mushrooms with the fried rice.

Now the best part the dessert section, they have 15 on weekdays and 25 on weekends . They have chocolate fondue , in which you dip the marshmallows which melt in the mouth, some chocolate and vanilla cake dices , fruits , biscuits and wafers . apart from that you have a variety of different desserts everyday, you have a cake which can range from a cheese cake and a chocolate cake to kiwi and banana cake and mango moose well you get the picture , its different everyday. I have tried the blueberry panacotta , the mouses the tarts . the common ones are the honey noodles and date pancakes , with chocolate , vanilla and strawberry ice creams with an array of sauces for them . If you love your desserts then you will find your own piece of heaven on earth here just like Srividya does .

Everything here is hot and fresh , the starters are served to ur table, the sui mai's and the dumplings have live stations, there is also a live station for salads and stir fries .

If you love Chinese or just good food in general you should try this place. My top recommendation.
It is 380 plus tax on weekdays and 400 plus taxes on weekends ( only lunch buffet is available) . You will not regret it !!! :) :)