Lamb Kofta with Pita

I made this a couple of weeks ago in the weekend...And Saugar ate the leftovers 2 days in a row. Now I have never seen that happen before so I assume it turned out pretty good. The whole thing was super easy so definitely a keeper

For the kofta:

Ingredients:

1 pound ground lamb

1 finely chopped onion

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 egg (beaten)

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp chilli powder (or more depending on taste)

1/2 tsp smoked paprika (optional I'm sure)

3-4 tbsp breadcrumbs

salt to taste

Mixed all the above ingredients together, and form the koftas. Preheat the oven to 350F and bake for 20-25 minutes. (I think mine were done somewhere in the middle but I guess it depends on your oven)

For the sauce:

1/2 cup greek yoghurt

1 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp mint flakes (i'm sure it would be even better with fresh mint)

1/2 cucumber finely chopped

Salt

Mix all of the above together

Toast the Pita pockets lightly in a toaster oven or the tawa. Stuff it with the koftas (I chopped each kofta in half an used 1.5 koftas per pita pocket and the yoghurt sauce.

Hope you enjoy it :)

Chocolate Lava Cake (def my fave dessert!)

I thought I had sent this recipe before but apparently now...this was SO good and SO worth it!!! (and moreover really easy)

I just made 2 portions since it was just for the two of us...

3 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate
3 oz. Butter - cut it into pieces
2 Eggs
4tbsp Granulated Sugar

2 and a half tbsp Flour


Preheat oven to 350°F
Melt chocolate on a double boiler (or if you dont have the patience melt it in the microwave - but make sure you take it out and stir it every 30s)

Stir in diced butter, until it melts.
Beat eggs and sugar seperately. Once it's frothy, stir in the melted chocolate butter mixture.
Add the flour to the mixture
Grease 2 individual Ramekins and put it in the oven for 10 mins (don't over cook otherwise there won't be any laval!)
Tip it out on to a plate (hence greasing is very important!) and serve hot!!

Hope you enjoy it :)

Easy Peasy Banana Bread

Ok this blog has been sooooo quiet lately. But made some banana bread/cake the other day which came out really good but more importantly was super easy and fast so thought I'd share

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 large ripe banana

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 egg

3 tbsp butter/margarine (i used salted - if not then add some salt to the flour)

3 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla essence

Handful of choc chips (optional) - a good alternative may have been a handful of chopped walnuts

I used a food processor to mix all the ingredients (except flour) together but you don't have to necessarily - just made the whole thing really fast

Add a chopped banana and mash it in the food processor. To it add the egg and sugar and run the food processor for a minute or so. Next add the butter (chopped up), sour cream and vanilla essence. Run the food processor for a couple of minutes till it's all a mash

In a bowl mix the flour and baking powder. Fold the wet mixture into it. Grease a baking tray and pour it in. Dot the top with some chocolate chips or nuts. (Don't add it to the mixture from the beginning cause they will sink, instead add it once the mixture is in the baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 350F and bake for 30 minutes (that's how long it took me - just test to make sure it's done by then)

Ciao! xoxo

Mustard chicken

Hello girlies..

 

Havent contributed to the blog in a long time!  This recipe came about when I was trying to copy a friend's chicken curry.  Trying to figure out the tastes in her curry this new taste just emerged and both Pudy and I really enjoy it now.. make it almost every weekend!!

 

So here it is:

 

Chicken marinade - We use chicken legs and get our butcher to take the skin off and chop then in small pieces.  We use about 3 chicken legs this means we have some left overs for next day too.  Yes we only cook once for the weekend.. hehehe.  Having the chicken with bone also adds to the flavour.  Anyway marinade the chicken pieces in:

• mustard oil (about 2-3 tbsp)
• lime juice (half lime)
• coriander powder
• garam masala
• red chilli powder
• chopped up coriander stems

The chicken peices should feel like they are fully covered with the oil, lime juice and spices.

 

Then in a frying pan with a bit of oil, I fry till they are soft and cooked well:

• one red capsicum
• one onion
• two tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tamato puree

Add some curry powder to this mixture.  Once cooked, cool it down a bit and blend it all in a blender.  Now in the same pan (which should still be a little oily) add cumin seeds, ginger and garlic paste.  Once cooked add the blended curry mixture.  Add water to this to your liking.  When the mixture comes to boil add the chicken pieces.  Let it cook through and towards the end add some nigella seeds.  these give a really nice flavour.  Remember though they have a very strong flavour, sort of like fennel but much stronger. so a little goes a long way.

 

Thats it! Add chopped coriander as garnish.. oh! and once you serve it with rice, squeeze a bit of lime over it.  Its yummy!!

 

Enjoy! :)

 

Spicy Gingery Chicken

This blog has been sleeping for way too long so thought I'd give it a bit of a wake up call

Made a random chicken dish yesterday that though simple turned out surprisingly well

Marinate about 1 pound of chicken (cut into average sized pieces) with 1.5 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 crushed green chilli, 1.5 tsp ginger garlic paste, 1 tbsp corn flour and salt

Leave it for about an hour.

In a pan heat some oil. Once the oil is hot add the chicken (it should sizzle so a crust forms). Once all sides of the chicken has browned, turn down the heat, cover the pan and let it cook. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pan. In the same pan fry 1 finely chopped onion (you can add more oil if you like but the pan should be greased enough), once the onion is translucent, add about 1 tbsp of finely chopped fresh ginger. Let the onion brown a little. Then add a couple of table spoons of soy sauce, a squeeze of lemon juice and 2 tsp of brown sugar. Mix it all together and then add the cooked chicken in. Toss it around on low heat so the onions stick to the chicken and also become caramelized.

Saugar finished the whole pan so I think it turned out pretty good! ;)

Thai steamed fish with ginger

Hey again.. 

Just realised I also didn't share a steamed fish recipe.. Ram bought a steamer recently (as i mentioned, he's big on a healthy diet at the moment) so I wanted to make something really yummy with steamed fish.. so here goes. I used a steamer for this but I'm sure you can try it in a rice cooker (they usually give the holey container with the rice cooker right, u cud make this in that container when cooking rice) or some form of steaming contraption (like a pot full of water with a colander on top or something? )

Ingredients: 

2 small fish fillets (i guess you could try it with any fish, i used tilapia)

2 tbsp soy sauce

some sesame oil

green (spring) onions

coriander leaves and stems

red chillies

a lot of finely shredded ginger

salt

Method: 

- Wash the fillets and rub some salt into them

- Cut coriander stems and green onion stems into around 2'' long pieces

- Divide the ginger, coriander and green onions into 2 parts; place the first (use only coriander stems in this) part on the bottom of the plate/dish you're making the fish in

- put the fish on top, add the sauces

- put remaining ginger, coriander leaves, onions and chillies on top

steam for about 20mins.. 

It was so yummy! I could eat the ginger pieces too since they weren't really pungent or anything.. Totally addicted to this now. 

Carrot & Pineapple Cake with Walnuts

Hey girls, 

It's been way too long since I put in something useful for our blog so here goes the recipe for the cake I made for Ram's b'day. I basically hunted for a not-too-complicated recipe that was reasonably healthy too (Ram's big eating healthy at the moment) so found this recipe which, with a few changes, came out yummy! :)

Cake: 

2 cups granulated sugar (i used raw sugar)

11/3 cups veggie oil (i used olive)

3 XL eggs 

1tsp vanilla 

21/2 cups all purpose flour 

2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional, i didn't have any so didn't add any but tasted just fine)

2tsp baking soda

1/2tsp salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup finely diced fresh pineapple (guess you can try crushed tinned too?)

Frosting: 

50-60g cream cheese (i used fat-free, used half of a 113g pot) at room temperature

200g unsalted butter at room temperature

1tsp vanilla 

some finely diced pineapple (optional)

confectioners sugar (i added according to taste)

Directions:

- Butter up and set aside 2 x 8inch round cake tins, preheat oven to 300F

- Beat sugar, oil, eggs in a bowl till light yellow and add vanilla essence

- In a separate bowl, mix 21/2 cups flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt

- Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in batches

- Toss walnuts in a tablespoon of flour

- Fold in carrots and pineapple 

- Add walnuts to the batter and mix well 

- Divide the batter into the two pans, bake for 60min

Frosting

- Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla until just combined.

- Add sugar and pineapple and mix till smooth

I used the frosting to layer the cake as well as as the final topping. Overall, it came out pretty yummy and didnt' taste overly sweet or anything. 

:)