Chicken Lollipop/Drums of Heaven

Whenever I plan to cook chicken, my only job is to end up cooking it afterwards. Most of the time, my hubby does all the chopping and cleaning. Today my daughter asked me to make some chicken lollipops for lunch. So I had to clean, cut and pull the flesh up to the end of the wing bone. It took me half an hour to finish pulling up the flesh of all the wings.

My daughter and son enjoyed them. No left over pieces were there. My daughter's lunch was only chicken lollipops. :)

UPDATE:
I referred to the vah chef and panlasang pinoy on youtube for the lollipop shaping procedure.

Now on to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Chicken wings - 550 gms (skinless)
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 1/2 tsp. (or as per taste)
Food colour - 2 big pinches
Ground pepper - 1/4 tsp.
Lime juice - from a small lime
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp.
Soy sauce - 1 tsp.
Red chilli sauce - 1 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Egg - 1 (beaten)
Plain flour/Maida - 2 tsp.
Corn flour/corn starch - 2 tbsp.
Oil (to deep fry)

Method:
Clean the chicken wings with turmeric powder. Wash well.
Drain water.
Cut the wings into two and pull the flesh to the end of bone (you can get this well instructed from videos on youtube).
Wash once and drain all the water.
In a big bowl mix all the ingredients except the chicken and oil.
Now add the chicken and mix well.
Cover and marinate for an hour.
Heat the oil for deep frying.
When the oil is medium hot, drop six pieces of chicken and fry till reddish brown colour.
Place the chicken pieces on tissue paper to drain the oil.
Continue with the remaining chicken pieces in batches.
Enjoy with szechuan sauce!

Note:
Wrap the aluminium foil at the tip of the bone which was missing at present.

 

 

Sent off to EP-Garlic and Turmeric and Cook Like A Celebrity Chef events.

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Egg Fried Rice & Gobhi/Cauliflower Manchurian

I had some capsicums left in the refrigerator and I just wanted to get rid of them by throwing them in some dish. I also remembered that my kids asked me to make a manchurian dish for a long time. Then I raided the fridge to find out if there were required ingredients. Fortunately there were some and I was too lazy to make vegetable stock for gobhi manchurian and instead I used water. As a surprise, I made these two dishes and served them as today's lunch.

Egg fried rice
Ingredients:
Rice - 1 1/2 cups
Eggs - 3
Spring onions (big white bulbs) - 2 (chopped)
Carrot - 1/3 cup (finely chopped)
Beans - 1/3 cup (very finely chopped)
Cabbage - 1/3 cup (shredded)
Capsicum (tri-color) - 1/3 cup (finely chopped)
Ginger - 1/4 inch (grated)
Garlic - 1 big pod (grated)
White pepper powder - 1/4 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Sesame oil - as required
Tomato ketchup - 1 tsp.
Sweet red chilli sauce - 2 tbsp.
Soy sauce - 2 1/2  tbsp.
Spring onions (green part) - chopped (to garnish)

Method:
Cook rice till 75% and keep aside. Grains should be separate.
Beat the egg and warm a tawa. Pour the beaten eggs into a thin omelette. Chop them into pieces and keep aside.
Heat the oil in a wide pan or wok and add white bulb, ginger and garlic in high flame. Saute till the raw smell fades away.
Now add the veggies and saute for a few minutes.
Add the chopped eggs and saute. Now add the sauces, ketchup and mix.
Add the cooked rice, white pepper powder, required salt and toss or mix.
Garnish with spring onion and enjoy hot.

Note:
Instead of making omelette, you use scrambled eggs and continue the process.
I have used uzhakku for measuring rice.
Spoons & cups are US measurements except for rice.


Gobhi/Cauliflower Manchurian

Ingredients:
Cauliflower florets (medium size) - 3 cups
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Cornflour/cornstarch  - 1/3 cup
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp.
(Kashmiri) Red chilli powder - 1 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Oil (for deep frying)

Method:
Drop the florets in hot water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Strain and keep aside.
Mix all the ingredients into a smooth paste/batter except cauliflower and oil.
Dip the florets in batter and drop in the hot oil.
Deep fry till golden brown.
Place them on an absorbent paper and keep aside.

For sauce:
Ingredients:
Spring onions (big white bulbs) - 4 (chopped)
Bell pepper/capsicum (red and green) - few (cubed)
Green chillies - 2 (chopped)
Garlic-ginger paste - 2 tsp.
Vinegar - 2 tsp.
Soy sauce - 4 tbsp.
Water - 2 1/2 cups.
Salt (as per taste)
Cornflour/cornstarch - 1/4 cup
Sweet red chilli sauce - 1 tsp.
Tomato ketchup or sauce - 1/4 tsp.
Spring onions (chopped) - to garnish
Sesame oil

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add onions, green chillies, bell peppers, ginger-garlic paste. Saute till the raw smell fades completely.
Add the sauces and salt to taste and mix
Add 1.5 cups of water and bring it to a boil.
Mix 1/4 cup of cornflour with 1 cup of water without any lumps.
Add the cornflour water to the boiling mixture.
When the sauce starts to thicken, immediately drop all the fried cauliflower, vinegar and mix fast.
Garnish with spring onions.
Enjoy hot with fried rice.

Note:
Sauces already contain salt, so add the salt according to taste.
If dark soy sauce is used adjust the quantity.
Spoons and cups used are US measurements.
No added MSG (Aji-no-moto).

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Veg Hakka Noodles

Ingredients:
Hakka noodles - 1 packet
Cabbage (shredded) - 1/2 cup
Green capsicum - Half (cut into long strips)
Carrot - 1/2 (cut into matchstick-like shape)
Spring Onions (leaf)- 2 (chopped)
Onion - 1 (sliced)
Garlic (optional) - 2 (crushed)
Ginger - 1/2 inch (julienne)
Red chilli sauce - 1/2 tsp.
Soy sauce - 1/2 tsp.
Chilli vinegar - 1 tsp.
White pepper - 1/4 tsp.
Salt - 1/4 tsp. (or according to taste)
Oil

Method:
1. Cook noodles as per instructions.
2. Heat oil in a wok and add onions and saute till translucent. Add ginger and garlic and saute for a few seconds.
3. Add cabbage, carrot and green capsicum and fry for a minute in high heat.
4. Now add the noodles and toss.
5. Add red chilli sauce, soy sauce, salt, white pepper and finally add the chilli vinegar. Saute in between.
6. Add spring onions and mix. Remove from heat and enjoy with Manchurian.

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Sweet & Sour Vegetables

Ingredients:

Onions - 1 (diced)
Ginger - 1 tsp. (grated)
Tomatoes - 2 (scoop out the seeds)
Carrots - 1 (medium)
Capsicum - 1
Baby corns - 3
Broccoli florets - from a small bunch
Green chilies - 2 (slit half)
Sesame seeds - 1 to 1 ½ tsp.
Chinese sweet and sour mix - 1/3 cup
Oil

Method:
Cut baby corn, carrot and capsicum into bite sizes.
Dry roast the sesame seeds lightly and keep aside.
Add water to the Chinese sweet and sour mix (without any lumps) and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat.
(Sorry, I forgot the measurement of water)
Heat oil and add carrot, broccoli florets and baby corn.
Fry in high heat for 3 minutes by stirring and tossing.
Reduce the heat, cook the veggies till tender by covering with a lid.
Remove from heat and keep the veggies on a plate.
Again heat oil and add onion, ginger.
Fry till the onions are translucent.
Add the capsicum, tomato, green chilies and fry for a minute.
Add the sweet and sour water.
Add the veggies and bring it a boil.
Finally add the sesame seeds and serve hot.

Note:
The sweet and sour mix has enough salt. If you want, you can add more salt to the dish.
Source: Magazine

Sent off to Priya's "Cooking with Seeds" event.

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Chilli Paneer

Ingredients:
Cottage cheese - 2 cups (cubed)
Onion - 1 (diced)
Red capsicum - ½ (diced)
Yellow capsicum - ½ (diced)
Green capsicum - 1 (small-diced)
Black pepper powder - ¼ tsp.
Garlic paste - 1 tsp.
Green chillis - 2 (chopped)
Soy sauce - 1 ½ tsp.
Chilli sauce - 2 tsp.
Tomato ketchup - 1 ½ tbsp.
Vinegar - 2 tsp.
Corn flour - 2 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Oil

Method:
1. Shallow fry the paneer cubes till they change to a golden color.
2. Heat oil and add the diced onions and fry this fast.
3. Add the capsicums, garlic paste, green chillies and fry.
4. Now add the chilli sauce, tomato ketchup, soy sauce & vinegar one by one and mix well.
5. The flame should be high and you have to work fast without burning.
6. Now add the paneer cubes and toss.
7. Add salt & pepper and mix well.
8. Add little water to corn flour and add it to the paneer cubes.
10. Mix well. Remove from heat.
11. Serve hot and enjoy it!


Sent off to Saraswathi Iyer's "Say Cheese" event.

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Veg. Fried Rice and Chilli Chicken

I deleted the original post accidently. Re-Posting the fried rice and chilli chicken. Many of you posted your comments. I am sorry, your comments are lost.

Many of us do have occasional urge to try Chinese food. In my home (country), the Chinese food is customized to our local taste. When I was newly married, my husband held a party for his colleagues in Bombay. There were quite noisy discussions about what dish to order. Many of them opted for Chinese food. When the food arrived, everyone got busy immediately with Chinese food. I could not tolerate more than 2 spoons of that fried rice because the rice was half-boiled and vegetables were crunchy (UGH!). I could just drink my favorite pomegranate juice. At that time, the Indo-Chinese was a strange food to me. All of them gobbled the food with complete satisfaction and I could see that their little satisfied faces. My husband wanted to order food of some other cuisine and I objected to it. And I was shy at that time. After I reached home, I had to gulp the warm milk. My husband’s intrigue in this food prompted me learn those Indo-Chinese recipes. Rice should be 50% or 75% boiled (Some people may have some digestion problems. The rice should be fully boiled in order NOT to be sticky for those who have digestion problems). After experimenting with recipes from Sanjeev Kapoor, Yan can cook, and other TV shows, I have built up this recipe. The real food tasters (kids) liked it.

Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Rice – 2 cups

White Onion (chopped finely) - ¼

Or

Use the white onion bulb of the spring onion (chopped) – 5

Spring Onion (chopped) – 3

Carrot, Beans – ½ cup finely chopped

Ginger (grated) – 1 teaspoon

Garlic (grated) – 1 teaspoon

Soy Sauce – 2 tablespoon

White pepper powder – ¼ teaspoon

MSG (ajinomoto) - 2 pinches *optional*

Salt – required quantity.

Sesame oil

Method:

Boil the rice up to 50% to 75%.

Let the rice cool.

Add the oil in a cooking wok (heat – very high, work fast!)

Then toss in the ginger and garlic and sauté them.

Immediately include the onions and continue stirring.

After that, add the vegetables and fry.

Add the rice quickly into the wok and sauté them too.

Then pour the soy sauce, salt, msg (if needed), white pepper powder and mix well.

All the morsels (each and every one of them) of rice should be covered with the mixture. Remove from the stove.

Garnish them with spring onions.

Note: I didn’t add too much soy sauce.

Chilli Chicken

Ingredients:
Skinless Boneless Chicken – 1 lb.

White Onion – ½ diced

Ginger (grated) – 1 ½ teaspoon

Garlic – 1 teaspoon

Green Chillies (fresh) – 6 (slit lengthwise)

Spring onions (chopped) – 3

Red chilli sauce – 3 tablespoon

Soy sauce – 4 tablespoon

Red capsicum – diced half

Cooking Vinegar – 1 teaspoon

Corn flour – 2 tablespoon

Aji no moto – 2 pinches *optional*

Oil for sautéing and deep-frying

Salt as required.

Marinating ingredients:

White Pepper -1/2 teaspoon

Corn flour – 1.5 tablespoon

All purpose flour/maida – 1/2 tablespoon

Salt – You know how much

Soy sauce – ½ teaspoon

(Some chefs recommend egg here. I did not use eggs.)

Method:

In a mixing bowl, add the corn flour, all purpose flour, salt, soy sauce, white pepper, chicken (cut into bite-sized pieces) and mix well.

Cover the bowl and keep it aside for 30 minutes.

For deep-frying, oil should be medium hot.

Add the chicken pieces and fry the both sides of the pieces by turning them.

DON’T OVERCROWD THE PAN WITH SO MANY CHICKEN PIECES!!!

Remove when color changes to light golden brown (Don’t fry so crisply).

In a wok, heat the oil, and add the onion, ginger, garlic and fry them (on a high heat).

Add the green chillies, capsicum, spring onions and sauté.

Add the chicken pieces and fry.

Add the soy sauce, red chilli sauce and sauté.

Then add the vinegar, aji no moto (optional!), salt, and fry.

Add one cup of water, and mix well.

Meanwhile mix the corn flour with half cup of water without any lumps.

Add this to the wok and mix well for 2 minutes.

Enjoy with fried rice!

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