Shami Kebabs (Mince meat patties)

Hello Everyone!

Ramadan Mubarak to you all! Ramadan is almost finished and  it’s unbelievable how the time flies. Here I am sharing with you one of my favorite Kebab recipes of all time. Since the days are longer here in Summer, we have'nt got much time to eat, literally. Sun sets here at 9:50pm and the Fajr Azan goes off at 2:45am. I always aim to reduce some weight as we have'nt got much time to eat and try myself to stay aloof from indulging into snacks and sweet goodies. Probably, that's why, all I want to devour is fried snacks!! But, I stop at that and dont eat anything else. No main course, just the unhealthy, yet delicious fried snacks. I am trying to comfort myself here, you see.

When Lubna asked me if I could do a guest post for her, I was delighted! It is her blog that springs in my mind when it comes to Ramadan recipes and I look forward to her Ramadan posts for recipe ideas. She has fabulous collection of recipes and I love her Ramadan series in particular. If you want to see the amazing compilation of recipes from all over the world, hers is the blog you want to be.  I have come across many amazing blogs through her blog, which other wise I would have missed. Check her blog out, and don't forget to get the recipe of my shami kebab there.

Restaurant Style Chicken 65

It looks like it’s been a while that I posted some recipes here. I have plenty of recipes pending in my drafts, I am not sure when I am going to be done with all those. I am caught up with loads of stuff for the past couple of weeks and I am going to be busy for the coming weeks as well. So, I am hoping my posts are going to sporadic, until unless I prioritize blogging over several other things like I used to do before. 

 

Back home, Chicken 65 is one of the most popular starters in an Indian restaurant menu. They are not seen in the menus here somehow, but these are the ones we always order for the starters, if they are available. The Indian restaurants here have very different menus as that to India, something that not only taste different, but looks quite different as well. I have to agree to the fact that, Indian food in Indian restaurants back home tastes so much better than the ones in here.

There are many stories about the origin of this recipe, I am not certain with any of them though. I read that, it uses chicken that is 65 days old. Some says it is the 65^th recipe on some restaurant menu. Whatever the story is, all I can tell you is, this is a great, simple and easy chicken recipe with great depth of flavour.

I always believed that we can never recreate the restaurant-like food at home and this recipe proved me wrong. I was quite surprised at its outcome, as it tasted as good as the ones we get in the restaurants if not better. It is not only scrumptious, but equally easy and quick to prepare. The outcome is always juicy, tangy and spicy chunks of meat slathered in goodness! I have already prepared it several times, many a times it being the starters for the party and I got rave reviews for it. I usually prepare it with chicken breast, as it is easy for the little ones to eat, but they are more tasty and tender with meat on bone.

Restaurant Style Chicken 65

Serves about 12-15 as starters

Recipe adapted from Shashirecipes

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 mins

 

 Ingredients:

 2 lb, 900g chicken breast, or legs cut into small bite size portions, about 2 inches

 Marinade:

1 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp black pepper powder

1 Tbsp coriander powder

1 Tbsp Red chilli powder*

½ tsp cumin powder

½ Tbsp Paprika**

¼ tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp corn flour

2 large eggs

3 Tbsp lemon juice

few drops of red colour

salt to taste

Others:

½ of a large onion finely chopped, ½ cup

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic

2-4 green chillies

1 tsp pepper powder

2 strands of curry leaves finely chopped

2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped

Vegetable oil to deep fry

Preparations:

1. Marinate the chicken piece with all the ingredients listed under marinade until the chicken is evently coated and leave it in the fridge for couple of hours or overnight in the refrigerator for the marinade to seep in the meat.

2. Heat oil in a kadai or a large frying pan and pour enough oil to deep fry the chicken. Oil should not be heated to smoking high heat, but retained at a medium heat to cook the chicken pieces.

3. Once the oil is hot, add few chicken pieces in the kadai and let them cook for about 3-4 minutes undisturbed until the bubbles starts to come down. Using a slotted spoon, flip the chicken pieces over and cook for 3-4 more minutes. At a medium heat it just takes about 7-8 minutes to cook each batch, but check the doneness by taking out couple of pieces. Make sure it is cooked through and you don’t see any pink in the middle. Over cooking them can make it hard and chewy, so make sure you cook it for sufficient time to keep it juicy and moist. Once done, drain them in a kitchen towel to remove excess oil.

4. For the tadka, in another oan, add 2 tbsp of oil and throw in chopped onions. Once they trun golden, add in the ginger garlic, curry  leaves and green chilli and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the raw smell fades.

5. Add in pepper powder and coriander leaves and sauté for few seconds and then add the chicken pieces and mix well. Serve hot with rice, chappathis or naans or as starters.

Pepper Chicken Bake

This is a recipe that my mother prepares at home quite often. Yesterday, I made it slightly different as I partly don’t remember her recipe and I was in a hurry to call her up to ask her eyeballed measurements. So I prepared the way I remember and it was nice. My mom serves it along with Arabic bread, boiled vegetables or salad and yogurt or hummus. She sometimes strip the chicken into small pieces, lay then on the Arabic bread, throw in some cucumber, carrot, onions and drizzle in some yogurt or hummus and wrap it up to make a delicious wrap. It is a nice comforting dinner and something quite easy to make and requires minimal amount of time. I usually make it as a side dish for chappati when the curry is usually a vegetable or dal based. The leftover chicken is usually cut in to strips, and is made into wraps with tortillas and some salad with some dressing or mayonnaise. Delicious!

I made it with the whole baby chicken, but you can also make it with thighs, chicken breast or anything that you fancy and bake it. And if you dont have an oven, you may fry it as well, turning couple of times until it is cooked through. Yoy may grill them as well.

Ingredients:

1 baby chicken, ~ 850g

2 ½ tsp pepper powder or as per taste

1 ½ + 2 tbsp tbs lime juice plus to squeeze after baking

½ tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp each ginger and garlic minced fresh

2 green chilliesminced *

¾ tsp salt or as required.

2 tbsp oil, vegetable or olive oil

Preparations:

1. Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients except oil. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours.

2. Line a tray with foil  rubbed with oil.

3. Place chicken on the lined tray, drizzle a tablespoon or two of oil all over and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 40 minute turning once or twice halfway until chicken is cooked through. To check the doneness, poke the breast of the thick part of the chicken with a skewer. If it’s done, juice will ooze out through the poked area. Cooking beyond this will over cook the chicken making it dry and rubbery.

4. Squeeze with more lemon juice if needed.

Notes:

* If you want it less spicy, you can scoop out the seeds from the chillies before you mince them.

Cabbage Thoran / Cabbage Varavu/ Kerala Style Cabbage Stir-fry

Certain foods, songs and places bring lot of old memories. For me it takes me down the memory lane and I get lost in them. It usually happens when it comes to songs and certain foods. I can truly relate each incident to each food or song. Recently I downloaded an application on my phone where you can access to worldwide radio stations. I now have access to some fantastic stations that play continuous 90’s Hindi hit songs which I used to listen while I was young. Boy, did it take me back to my childhood days from the time I first left for UAE to my school days through to my college days. Those were one of the best times of my life, no worries, with all siblings together under one roof with lot of chaos, noise, fights, chit chat and with loving parents to care and love for. I miss all of that innocent part of my life and I just wish if I could go back in time.

Certain songs and foods also take me back to my good old days with my dearest granny, one of my favourite personalities. May her soul rest in peace. I used to spend loads of time with her during our vacation back home, sit out in the veranda during monsoon, watching the rain and reading newspaper or just random talks and nibbling on some pistachios. And I cherished every moment I spent with her and I wish she was still with us. At times, I miss her a lot. How I wish the time never changed, people never changed and life never changed. It makes me very emotional at times, few tears dripping down my cheeks when I go through those memory lane and think of the people whom I love in my life and have left us.

This cabbage thoran is one that takes me back into my first school days in Kannur. We used to have lunch from our school canteen and rice, thoran, pappadom, sambhar, pickle and fish fry was one menu that I remember. Cabbage thoran was one that appeared on regular basis and something that I never liked so much. Recently, after making spring rolls I had quite a bit of cabbage leftover and I planned to use it up by making some thoran. It came out well and we really liked it. Those old school memories just came to me, un-invited. Cabbage thoran also contributes to Kerala Sadya.

Cabbage Thoran / CAbbage Varavu/ Kerala Style Cabbage Stir-fry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

400g/ 3 heaped cups of thinly shredded cabbage

½ a cup finely chopped onion

2 green chillies slit

2 tbsp coconut oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

¼ - ½ tsp turmeric powder

1 twig curry leaves

1/3 cup freshly grated coconut or frozen

salt to taste

Preparation:

1.Heat oil in a saucepan, splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and green chillies and sauté for 30 seconds.

2. Throw in onions and add salt. Sauté until onions go soft. Add in turmeric and sauté for few seconds.

3. Add in the shredded cabbage, turmeric and mix well. Cover and cook until almost done

4. Add coconut, mix well and cook till done.

Serve alongside plain rice and other curries.

Note: If the cabbage is releasing lot of moisture, open the lid and cook on high heat. Here the cabbage is quite tough and so I add couple of spoons of water, cover and cook it.