FRIED CHICKEN KABABS... Empire restaurant style!

Is there anyone out here who hasn't tasted the Empire Restaurant's (Bangalore) Chicken Kababs? I'm sure there are plenty and all I can tell them is ' you are really missing out on some good stuff!'. This was my most ordered, favourite item of theirs.I could eat as much as they would give me but they never gave more than 5 or 6 pieces and since we were in our college days, we needed our pocket money for more than just kababs ;-)

Usually when I think of Kababs/Kebabs, they are either baked or pan fried. This one is different from the rest as they are deep fried using a marinade. In Bangalore, you can find people selling these not only in restaurants but also in those road side shops which opens only after 6.30 pm and their menu doesn't go beyond Fried Rice and Chicken Kababs.

There was an old Uncle right across the street from our hostel who sold Fried Rice & Chicken Kababs and we were regular customers of his yummy food. He would make these in front of us but the marinade was made ahead of time and gave me no options to have a sneak peek of what's going into it. I remember asking him once to which he replied,' We use Bombay Kabab Masala'. I really have no idea if such a thing exists ! Once when Appan and Amma came to visit me in Bangalore, I bought them a plate of Kababs from that old Uncle's restaurant and ever since, if Appan goes that side, he buys it and eats them!

I didn't give up my hunt. I remember seeing a recipe in Vanitha for Empire Chicken Kababs and it was just flour,vinegar, chicken, food colour, Empire kabab masala (!?!) and salt. C'mon, when you give a recipe, it should be a whole recipe...how else will you know what's there in that Empire kabab masala? Never mind! I still wrote down that recipe in my favourite navy blue diary.

Like I mentioned in my previous post (Remember the late night Kadala Muttai?), I woke up one fine day with the thought of having the Empire kababs. Now where in Minnesota will I ever get it? Who in Minneapolis can make it for me? No one! I ate Jobin's brains,vented out on Facebook but nothing helped. So the hunt began...now you know where my hunt can lead me to! EMPIRE KABABS!!!! :-)

FRIED CHICKEN KABABS
Recipe from here

Ingredients:
4 tbsp maida/ all purpose flour
2 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
2 tbsp red chili powder
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 
2 eggs
1 tbsp cumin powder
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander powder
Juice of 2 limes (or to taste)
3 green chilies, finely chopped
1/4 tsp red food colour,optional ( I used it)
Salt to taste

1 kg chicken, with bones (I used chicken thighs)
Oil for deep frying

Method: In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients from maida to salt. Add a few extra drops of water if the batter is very thick. Add the chicken pieces and mix to coat well. Let it marinate, covered, in the fridge for 3-4 hours. Heat oil on high heat, in a deep vessel. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the chicken pieces, a few pieces at a time. Fry for 3-4 mins turning the pieces occasionally. If you fry it further, the colour of the coating will change from red to brown, if you used food colour. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with a few lime wedges & onions rings.

You are gonna LOVE it!

These kababs are as good as the ones we get in Empire or maybe even better! The chicken remains so juicy after frying that you need to hold a paper napkin underneath to protect your clothes!As soon as the first piece came out of the oil, I had to eat it. I must admit, it was so so good! Even Jobin said the same! When I was photographing these, I really couldn't resist the yummy smell of it and thought 'What the heck! After all it's for me  us!' That's the photograph you saw above :-)

Make this super easy appetizer for your next party and reap the compliments! There's nothing to go wrong in here!

LONDON CAKE / PEANUT BRITTLE / CHIKKI / KADALA MUTTAI

Ihave a problem. A serious problem.If I see a photograph of something that I really like, I have to make it then and there...no matter what time it is :) What would happen otherwise? I would dream about it and wake up hungry, it's that simple :-) Have you all faced such stuff? I do, most of the time...therefore inorder to get a good night's sleep, I have to cook and eat it!

This peanut chikki was one among them.This is such a favourite for all of us, in my family. Appan is super happy if he has a bar of it. I was,is and will always be happy if I have 2 bars of it. Ritchie is not as greedy as I am, so he is happy if he has a bar of it :-) Amma likes it too maybe not as crazy as we 3 are. Appan,his brother and my uncle Tom and my grandmother calls it a  London Cake ,don't ask me why? :-)

This peanut chikki was one of the items we had to make in our college lab for the candy making class. In our labs, we are not allowed to use a candy thermometer so after many burnt fingers, we all got different stages of  melting the sugar right.Whenever I came home on weekends from the hostel, I used to take 'Manna'(my fave brand) slabs (read many) back with me. The last time when I went home and shopped at the supermarket, those Manna slabs were staring at me and I did pick up a few. How can I leave them behind when they were my everything during the hostel days??

LONDON CAKE / PEANUT BRITTLE / CHIKKI / KADALA MUTTAI
Recipe source: Nithi & Sharmi

Ingredients:
1 c roasted skinless peanuts
3/4 c white sugar

Method: Crush the peanuts coarsely,using a mixie. Make a dry caramel (Melt sugar without water in a pan, till it dissolves completely. It will turn dark brown in colour).* Switch off the heat and add the crushed peanuts and mix well, quickly. Immediately,pour this over a greased plate/parchment paper,roll it into 1/4" thickness using a greased rolling pin and mark into desired shapes with a greased knife. Let it cool completely. Break into pieces.

* Timing is crucial in this recipe, so as soon as the last crystal/lump of sugar melts add the peanuts.Roll it out as soon as it is poured and mark into desired shapes.

After seeing a photograph of it on Facebook, I told Jobin that I wanted to eat Kadala Muttai. It was around 9 pm then and I was sure that I didn't want to ask him to take me to the store as the Indian stores would be closed by then :-) It's not just that, the peanut chikki, irrespective of the brand that I have tried here has always been soft,chewy and tasteless. I like them to be crisp, crunchy and brittle...they way they are meant to be.

Therefore without a second thought, I went straight into the kitchen and made it. It hardly took me 10 mins.The dinner was finished in seconds as I had my little quick dessert waiting for me :-)

GARAM MASALA VEGGIE PULAO

Last Friday, I was so out of ideas for lunch and since he was coming home I had to make something solid ;-) We were out of veggies and since it's the Lent season, I try and avoid eating non-veg on Fridays. Therefore I was left with very little options, since cooking anything vegetarian keeps me thinking for hours as I feel I cannot do justice to it! There was a time when I feared making a pulao but now it's as easy as breathing ;-)

By the time I planned on what to make I had only 20 mins left with me.Without wasting anymore time,I kept the cooker on the stove and started adding ingredients to it, one by one. It smelt really good and I knew the end result was going to be very rewarding. I was just hoping that the water - rice ratio would be fine. Usually you need 2 cups of water for every cup of rice but in this recipe, I used 1:1.

How could I serve it as is? We don't usually have raita or chutney with rice and having  no time to make any curry, I quickly deep fried some cauliflower florets using a simple spicy batter. It was a great accompaniment for the rice, some crunch and some veggies too! I am trying to incorporate more and more veggies into my diet,so looks like there will be more cooker pulao's happening here :-)

GARAM MASALA VEGGIE PULAO
My own recipe

Ingredients:
2 c basmati rice
2 c water
1 tsp ghee
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 onion, diced
5 green chillies, slitted
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 c frozen peas
1 c cauliflower florets
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 c cilantro, chopped

Method: On medium-high,heat ghee and oil together in a cooker. Crackle cumin seeds.Add onions,green chillies & ginger garlic paste. Saute till they are soft, 2 mins.Add the veggies and mix together.Add the powders, cilantro and mix well for a minute. Add the washed rice and fry carefully for a minute. Add water, salt and close the cooker with the lid . Cook for 1 whistle and keep it off the flame. Let the pressure go down on it's own. Fluff up the rice with a fork and serve hot!

When he got back home, I told him that the lunch wasn't ready ;-) C'mon, I need to say something as soon as  I see him :-) He was surprised to see a pulao and that too with some fried Gobi! I am sure he wondered what's up with her, today!

He really liked it and said  that it was very flavourful and that I should make this quite often from now on .I agree to that 100%. You can incorporate more and more variety of veggies into your meal this way. If you are serving it with a curry, let it not overpower the flavour of the rice. This pulao is very very flavourful and you will feel like eating more and more :-)

HOMEMADE GARLIC BUTTER NAAN {Eggless}

The other day, I was on a call with our friend D and as always our talks led to the new dishes that we tried recently. She was very excited to tell me that  her cousin S tried a new recipe for a naan and she told D about it and D was excited and tried that recipe for Butter Naan which came out really well. I was excited to hear about it because of all the recipes I have tried so far, none of them were that good! I know, we all have the limitation of not having a tandoor at home and no matter what, you just wouldn't get that taste without it.

Whichever recipe I have tried so far, the naan wouldn't puff up when baked/broiled and if it's cooked on stove top,it doesn't look that good for me. They cook completely but when you tear the bread apart, it looks uncooked and not fluffy at all! There were some recipes which used direct flame to get the charred effect and unfortunately we don't have a gas stove so that option is also ruled out! What timing, right? :-)

So finally, I decided to give Naans a try, the FINAL trial. I always say that whenever I tried making them at home but somehow I could not give up. I was sure I would find my perfect dough someday and I did! I don't know whether you all would think the same but do give it a try, it's super simple and the results are really satisfying! Do not forget to keep them thick while you roll them out or else you will get hard almost crackers like Naans  :-)

If you are planning to try this at home, you can plan on making this just before serving as it hardly takes any time for the dough to rise and be made into soft naans. When broiling them, which is the method that is used for cooking them here, make sure you place the rolled out dough on the rack closest to the heating elements. That way the cooking time will be less plus you are not giving it a chance to get dried up.Also, keep an eye on them, if they turn very very brown, they will look pretty but it might be a bit chewy :-)

HOMEMADE GARLIC BUTTER NAAN

Recipe source: Aarthi

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c maida/all purpose flour
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
About 1 1/4 c warm water
1 tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
A few leaves of cilantro, chopped fine

Method: Pre-heat the oven on BROIL mode for 10 mins.

In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.Make a well in the centre and add enough water to form a smooth slightly sticky dough.Knead for a minute. Cover with a moist towel and let it rest for 30 mins. It would have doubled in volume by now, if not, let it rest until doubled.
Divide the dough into 6. Roll them out into 1/4 inch thickeness and pat the chopped garlic and cilantro over it. Roll the rolling pin over it lightly so that garlic and cilantro sticks to the dough. Place the rolled out naan onto a cookie sheet/ flat baking sheet and broil for 3-4 mins or until you see them puffed up with brown spots over it*. Flip over and broil for another minute. Take it out and brush them with butter and store them in a casserole.

*Don't get excited seeing the brown spots appear and leave them to brown a lot further,it will do no good! I got excited and was left with a not so soft one :-D

I regret for not having some curry ready beforehand, especially the Butter Chicken I made a few months ago! I cannot blame myself because this Naan came out as a surprise :-) I really really liked it! Soft, fluffy...the way I wanted it to be! Jobin ate them quietly and then said that these were the best I've tried so far but again, it does lack that tandoor flavour! :-) So if you are ready to give up on that last bit,you are definitely ready to try this at home :-) I think this is the closest I can get to making it at home!

HOMEMADE BOONDI LADOOS

There was a time when I didn't know how to track the no. of visitors on my blog and there was a time I used to look forward to see that number increase.It gave me such joy that 1000's find my little bloggie useful in many ways! Most of you guys come here for recipes, some to ask me about crochet and other needlework and some of you just to read my 'stories' and take a peek at the photographs of what I post  randomly.

If you ask me what these 'stories' are, I wouldn't have known you read them as 'stories' until you all wrote to me. Funnily enough, I still don't consider them to be like that because I just write the association I have with that dish, from my real life :-)

When I got lazy in between, you all asked me to get back to this blog and start blogging again. I did and now I'm reaping the joys of it when this little space of mine has 10,00,000 hits as of today! It is a big achievement for me as I never even dreamt of this day when I started this space.

Now getting back to the ladoos, these are mine and Jobin's favourites! I've made them succesfully before, photographed them but it never made to my blog...I still wonder why! Maybe these ladoos had another destiny...to be here, on this special day :-) I dedicate these little yellow balls of pure joy to ALL OF YOU, dear readers! I wish I could share these with you in person...maybe someday it might happen! :-)

HOMEMADE BOONDI LADOOS
Recipe source: Manjula aunty

Ingredients:
1c besan/chickpea flour
1/2 c plus 1 tbsp water
11/2 c sugar
1 c water
Seeds from 6 green cardamom pods,crushed
8 pcs of cashewnuts,broken
Oil for frying

Method:Make a batter using besan and 1/2 c plus 1 tbsp water. Pass it through a perforated/slotted spoon and see if you can get them to fall back into the bowl. If it doesn't, add a little more water to the batter and mix well.Bring the 1 1/2 c of sugar and 1 c water to a rolling boil and boil till it reaches 220F on a candy thermometer. Keep it off the flame. Meanwhile,heat 2 inches of oil on medium high and drop some chickepea batter into it and if it sizzles up right away, you are good to proceed. Hold the perforated spoon 2 inches above the oil and pour the batter through it.The batter will fall as round balls into the oil, which is what we want. Fry them till they stop sizzling and golden brown in colour.Repeat and make sure your wipe your perforated spoon in between all the batches.Add these fried boondi's to the sugar syrup and let them soak for 10 mins. Transfer the soaked boondi's to a plate to cool a little until they are still warm to touch. Form balls/ladoos by squeezing them in between your palms, it might test your patience but it's worth every squeeze!

After my Piano lessons last night, we went shopping to the Malayali store here and found some sweets stacked up in the cooler. I gazed at them for a while and in the meantime Jobin pinpointed his favourites and even I pinpointed mine and finally we both pinpointed at the Boondi ladoos together! I asked him if he wanted me to pick up a box and he said, 'No, I want the ones you make, I like them the best!'. Now, no matter what, I had to get that request fulfilled! :-)

Now,with my feet up on our Lazyboy, watching the snow fall and with the warm ladoos sitting next to me,I'm waiting for him to get back from work and start digging into these along with him. These laddoos doesn't stay long in our house, they are so yummy!

HEARTS & ROSES CAKE... as we turn 2!

Time sure flies! We both observe a moment of silence when we think of how fast the time flew by! It's just because we both still cannot believe it's been 2 full years! I am sure every single one of you, who are happily married,feels the same.It's been a year since I found out a way of doing that checkerboard cake without adding another set of baking tins into my already bursting drawer.It's been a year since we went for a ride on a dog sleigh! Life's is beautiful!

Whenever I bake a cake for any personal occasions, I look forward to having a twist in it.If it was a checkerboard cake last time, it's something else this time. I am just loving how my brain can think and my heart wanting to do it even if I lose my sleep over such petty issues :-) Really! I go to sleep thinking of colours,combinations or even what platter I should place the cake on! Aren't these supposed to be the little things that we shouldn't be worrying upon? Actually, I always feel, life is all about tackling the small issues that come by us and not waiting for that big one,which we think is the most important.

Anyway, why waste this good day on such thoughts! Let's move on! So, I got this idea from my fellow Minneostan food blogger, Amanda.  Somehow, being the lazy self that I am, I didn't want to bake another cake for the centre part instead wanted to get away with a filling. I was just hoping that my idea wouldn't break my heart when we cut into the cake on this BIG day! I asked Amanda what she thought about it and got a green signal with a 'chill it well' advice.

Now, this is how it looks like :-) What do you guys think about it? We felt it was really cool! I enjoyed piping the roses over the cake and filling with a girly pink frosting. I wondered if Jobin would pass a comment on the colour but he didn't!

BLACK MAGIC CAKE with PINK BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
Recipe source for the cake: Hersheys
Recipe source for the frosting & filling: Alice

Ingredients :
Cake
1 3/4 c flour
2 c sugar
3/4 c cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 c oil
1 c buttermilk
1 c strong black coffee
1 tsp vanilla

Method: Pre-heat the oven to 350C and line two 9 inch baking tins.
In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients to it and beat well for 2 minutes. Pour into your baking tins (halfway) and bake for 35-40 mins or till done. I used three 6 inch baking tins but used just 2 cakes for the final assembly.


Frosting:
1 c /2 sticks unsalted butter,softened
3 c powdered sugar,sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
upto 4 tbsp milk

Method:In a large mixing bowl on high, beat butter for a minute until it's soft and fluffy.Add the sugar and beat on low till well combined. Add salt, vanilla and 2 tbsp milk and beat on medium for 3 minutes.Add colour if needed and beat for a minute. I needed a stiff frosting for the centre filling and a soft frosting for the roses, so after I filled the cake, I added another tablespoon of milk to the frosting and beat  it for a minute.


Assembly: Cut the cakes as shown below and fill it with buttercream.

Sandwich the two edges using melted chocolate.The cake with the pyramid goes on top. Give it a crumb coating with the buttercream and then pipe roses with 1M tip from Wilton. 

Our celebration cakes are always meant to be a surprise for Jobin. Therefore he was banned from using or even touching the refrigerator starting from last evening. Indeed that had it's effects when he saw the cake this morning !

This cake is super moist and the buttercream perfectly sweet.It compliments each other very well!