EASY BUTTER CHICKEN

Butter chicken is one classic Indian dish loved by Indians and non Indians as well. We never fail to order this whenever we gorge on North Indian cuisine. Recently my Mother in law got a butter chicken recipe from a professional chef. She tried it at home and we all enjoyed it to the fullest. But that recipe calls for lots of ingredients and the entire process took one half day!!!So I never ever wanted to give it a try by myself. Though I love cooking, I don’t like to spend much time in kitchen. Then I happened to see this recipe here . Immediately i tried it with slight modifications.  I did  not use cream, instead I used milk. However it turned out as delicious as the one we get in Punjabi  dhabbas or restaurants .The actual recipe calls for the use of home made tandoori masala..The deliciousness of this curry greatly depend on that masala.I strongly recommend you to make it rather buying from stores.

While reading the methods you may wonder is this the easy butter chicken??Trust me only description seems elaborate, but the work involved is very less!!!

Ingredients For the tandoori masala

1.      Garam masala- 2tbsp

2.      Cumin powder-2tbsp

3.      Coriander powder-1tbsp

4.      Kashmiri chilly ppowder-4 and ½ tsp

5.      Kasuri methi-2tsp

6.      Turmeric powder-1tsp

just mix everything up by using mixie or even with a spoon.

Ingredients for the marinade

1.      Ginger,garlic- finely chopped,1tbsp each

2.      Curd-1cup

3.      Tandoori masala-1tbsp

4.      Tomato paste-1/4 cup

5.      Salt

6.      Ghee or butter-2tbsp,melted

Chicken-cleaned and cut into medium sized pieces,around750gm

Mix everything and marinate the chicken pieces well. Keep the marinated chicken in fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. Arrange the chicken pieces along with the marinade in a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven 200◦C for 30 minutes.

 Ingredients For the gravy

1.      Ginger ,garlic-chiopped,2tbsp each

2.      Tomatoe-4 medium sized,chopped

3.      Tandoori masala-remaining masala after the marinating process

4.      Kashmiri chilly powder-1/2tsp

5.      Salt

6.      Milk-1cup( see notes)

7.      Kasuri methi-1tbsp

8.      Coriander leaves-1tbsp,chopped

9.      Water- 1/2cup

10.  Butter-2tbsp+2tbsp

11.  Sugar-1/2 tsp

Method of preparation

1.      Heat butter in a pan. Saute ginger and garlic for a minute or until the raw smell disappears. Add in chilly powder and tandoori masala powder. Stir .Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook until it turns mushy. Let this cool down. Grind this into smooth paste by adding little water. Pour it back into the pan along with ½ cup of water. Bring it to boil.

2.      Add baked chicken along with the juice into the gravy. Close the pan and cook in medium or law flame for about 10 minutes. Check for saltiness. Add milk ,kasuri methi,chopped green chilly.mix well. Do not let it boil. Just heat it up. Lastly add chopped coriander leaves,sugar and remaining butter.Give a gentle stir. Switch off the flame. Keep it closed for some time.

Enjoy with any  flat  breads…

Notes: the actual recipe uses cream instead of milk. Since I did not have it on hand I substituted it with milk. If you use cream reduce the amount by ½ cup. If the gravy is too thick, more milk can be added.

PEPPER CHICKEN MASALA

I guess there is no standard recipe for pepper chicken. Ultimately the taste of pepper should be dominant. Pepper chicken varies greatly in each restaurant. This I have prepared in my own way. I made a gravy version since I wanted my curry to be paired with rice. Here I have not used chilly powder and all the heat comes from pepper also have used a bit more de seeded green chillies to add some extra flavor. Curry was delicious with rich gravy .It pairs well with rice or rotis.

Ingredients

1.      Chicken- 750gm,cleaned and cut into medium sized pieces

2.      Onion-2 large, thinly sliced

3.      Tomato-1medium+ 1 small, cut into squares

4.      Ginger-1 inch piece, chopped

5.      Garlic-1 small bulb, chopped

6.      Whole black pepper-1tbsp

7.      Whole spices-cardamom 4nos,clove 4nos,cinnamon 1medium stick

8.      Coriander powder-3tsp heaped

9.      Garam masala powder-1tsp

10.  Green chilly -6 or 7 de seeded

11.  Oil-3tbsp

12.  Salt

13.  Water-1/2 cup or more ( check the consistency of the gravy .Add water accordingly)

Method of preparation

1.      Heat oil in a pan. Add whole spices and pepper. When the aroma comes, add ginger and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add in onions and salt .Cook until onion turns slightly brown

2.      Add in all powders and one tomato. Stir until raw smell of powders disappears. Switch off the flame. Let this masala cool a bit. Grind this into smooth paste by adding little water.

3.      Pour grinded masala back into the pan. Add water and enough salt. Bring it to boil. Add chicken pieces in. Reduce the flame. Cover the pan and cook until chicken is cooked through and gravy thickens. Lastly add remaining chopped tomatoes and switch off the flame.

Let it stand for some time.Serve with plain rice,pulav or rotis

JAM ROLLS

Jam roll was in my to do list for long time. But the thought of getting it right made me stayed away from it. But once I made this, I realized how simple and fun rolling a sheet of cake.jam rolls are my brothers favorite. He buys this on every bakery purchase. Definitely anything sweet is my favorite too :)

For making this, very few ingredients are needed.Success of the recipe totally lies on the beating of eggs.So make sure you beat the eggs till fluffy.When I googled I could see lots of recipes which doesn’t call for any leavening agent but I was bit skeptical about the result.So I chose this recipe which uses baking powder.Anyway i am glad that I got it the way I expected it to be..

Ingredients

1.      Maida or All purpose flour-3/4 cup

2.      Eggs-3nos

3.      Sugar-1 cup

4.      Baking powder-1tsp

5.      Salt-1/4tsp

6.      Vanilla essence-1tsp

7.      Water-60ml

8.      Powdered sugar- around ¼ cup

9.      Jam-100gm

Method of preparation

1.      Preheat the oven at 200◦line a baking tray with foil paper or butter paper. Grease with oil or butter sprinkle flour all over .invert the pan and tap to remove excess flour.

2.      In a bowl beat eggs for 5 minutes until thick and fluffy. Add in sugar and beat again. Add water and vanilla essence and give a gentle mix. Now add the flour, baking soda and salt. Gently fold in.

3.      Pour into the prepared baking tray. Bake at 200◦ for 10-12 minutes or until the inserted tooth pick comes clean.

4.      Mean time, keep a clean cloth ready. Spread it on a table or kitchen top. Sprinkle powdered sugar over this with the size of the cake.

5.      Once the cake is cooked, loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and carefully invert the tray over the cloth sprinkled with powdered sugar. Then remove the foil carefully.

6.      Beat jam with a whisk or a fork to loosen it. Then apply this all over the cake .Gently roll the cake along with the cloth. Keep it tightly wrapped for 10 minutes. Then remove the cloth .A log of jam roll is ready. Slice and serve..

                                                                                                                       

WHOLE WHEAT CARROT MUFFINS

Here I have used the same recipe of my carrot cake with very few variations. I made this ‘n ‘number of times. This has become our family favorite. When I prepared this last time, I thought to make it healthier by substituting Maida with Wheat flour and I converted it as muffins. I did not have any clue how the texture would be as the cake with wheat flour tend to become little dense. But to my surprise, it was as soft as the one with all purpose flour. More over it tastes more delicious. Over to the recipe…

Ingredients

1.      Carrot grated -1 n 1/2 cup

2.      Whole wheat flour or atta-1 cup

3.      Egg-2 nos

4.      Sugar-1 cup

5.      Baking powder-1tsp

6.      Salt-less than ¼ tsp

7.      Refined oil-1/2cup

8.      Vanilla essence-1 tsp

9.      Cinnamon powder- 1tsp (optional)

Method of preparation

1.      Preheat the oven to 150degree.

2.      Line  a  muffin tray with paper liners or just grease the tray.

3.      Combine flour, baking powder and salt together. Keep it aside.

4.      Beat egg till frothy. Add sugar in and beat again. Add oil,  grated carrot and vanilla essence. Give a gentle stir. Now add the combined flour mix. Fold in gently using a spatula or a spoon.

5.      Fill only 3/4 th of each liner. Bake at 150 ◦ for 20 -25 minutes or till the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

6.      Transfer it into a cooling rack. Let it cool completely.

With this measurement I got around 9 medium sized muffins.

 

thats my little one trying to take the  cakes while i was picturing it :)