Weekend lunch with Ghee rice and Chettinad Chicken...

Let me keep this post short and sweet. I am not in a mood to stay and chat. A lot has been happening work-wise, social-life wise. Been hectic but surely fun ! Like my better half perfectly quoted yesterday- "Life is all about spending time with your loved ones doing the things you want to and to be able to do it !". We both are more or less lucky to be doing that and the coming posts will stand proof to that. 

But meanwhile, I thought I must share this recipe with all of you and keep record it for myself instantaneously before I forget it or lose the heat of the moment. I have not been cooking lunch lately as we both are trying to skip rice over the weekdays. So being Friday (our weekend), my husband insisted that I make a rice dish which would be sort of a comfort food yet something different from our usual fare. And with the unbearable heat here, I just wanted something quick,easy to get it over with. So it never occurred to me to post it, until I actually served it on the plate just before we ate and I couldn't help thinking that this is really photogenic. In the pangs of hunger, I clicked away extremely limitedly which explains the sole photograph for the post. 

Off to the recipe..

GHEE RICE WITH CHETTINAD CHICKEN AND CHUNKY VEGETABLE RAITA

This is definitely a simple meal to put together and is great for a casual lunch or even for a party dinner. I strongly recommend you making this on weekends or holidays as you end up eating more than you actually want to ! End result which only a nice afternoon nap can resolve!

Anyways, I managed to blackmail my hubby into cleaning the chicken which expedited the process !

GHEE RICE WITH VEGETABLES (NEYCHORU)

Recipe and description adapted largely from Shab's cuisine

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients:

·         2 cups Basmati rice

·         3 cups +4 cups boiling water (Refer notes)

·         ½ cup chopped onion (3/4 of a medium size onion)

·         1 cup diced carrot (1 medium size)

·         1/2 cup beans cut into small rings

·         1.5 tsp cumin seeds

·         4 cardamoms

·         5 cloves

·         2 small pieces of cinnamon sticks

·         3-4 Tbsp Vegetable 

·         1 Heaped tbsp Clarified butter/ Desi Ghee

·         Salt – as required

Method:

• First wash the rice in running water for 2-3 times till you get clear water and soak it in the 3 cups of water for atleast 30-45 minutes.
• After the stated time, drain the rice well for atleast 15 minutes.
• Keep the vegetables ready.
• Heat the ghee and oil into a nonstick pan and add the chopped onions. Saute until translucent. Do not allow the onions to brown.
• Add the cumin and whole spices and sauté them until the aroma comes. The fragrance of the ghee, onions and the whole spices is already irresistible.
• Tip in the vegetables and mix well so that everything is coated with the ghee mixture.
• Now add the rice and combine well.
• Add the 4 cups of water and allow to boil on high heat. Keep stirring intermittently so that the rice does not stick.
• Once the water gets evaporated, cover the pan and reduce the flame to extremely low and allow to cook for another 12-15 mins or until done.
• Serve hot !

Notes:

•  Lately, I have been having some tough luck with cooking the rice perfectly for pulaos and biriyanis. And this is a slightly different method of cooking basmati rice from what I have seen . But found this absolutely brilliant and effective. Thanks Shabs !
•  I guess to make it even easier, you can add just the onion and do away with the other vegetables.

CHETTINAD CHICKEN

Serves 3-4 people

Recipe and decription fully adapted with minor changes from Tanvi and Kulsum

Ingredients:

For marination

• 1 kg whole fresh chicken skinned and cut into medium pieces·
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tsp salt

Spices to be Dry Roasted

• 1.5 tsp white poppy seeds ( I did not have them)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1.5 tsp cumin seeds
• 5 cloves
• 10 dry red chilies
• 4 whole green cardamom
• 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
• Water for grinding (about 1/4 -1/3 cup)

 Method:

• Add in the grated ginger and garlic, curry leaves & ground spice paste and turmeric powder. Cook for 2 minutes.
• Next, reduce heat to low, add the chopped tomatoes, mix in & cook uncovered for at least 12-15 minutes with regular stirring till oil starts separating on sides of the pot.
• Add in the marinated chicken next, mix, check the salt & adjust, increase heat to high and let cook for 3 minutes. Next, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot & let the chicken cook with the spices & its own juices for 12-15 minutes or till tender.

Notes:

• I used about 1 small and 1 medium tomato, which ended up a bit sour than I would have wanted it to be. I suggest using 2 small tomatoes or 1 medium and add lemon juice accordingly.
• Due to the hot climate out here, I eliminated using the extra red chilli powder and green chillies which worked for us. But probably, next time I would add ½- 1 tsp of red chilli powder.
• This is a semi-gravy kind of dish and goes best with rice/pulao/bread.

CHUNKY VEGETABLE RAITA

Ingredients:

• 1 tomato chopped roughly
• 2 cucumbers chopped roughly
• 2 cups of yoghurt/curds
• 1 tsp of Fab India Organic Raita mix ( which my darling Sis-in-law sent me and is so flavourful with the dried mint,basil and curry leaves.
• Salt to taste

Method:

 Combine everything into a bowl and chill until required.

So until next time, Au Revoir ! 

Accidents Lead to Ribbon Pudding !

Are accidents life’s way of telling you “Slow down” or is it just a bad omen of the times you are going through?

You would have read in my this post about how I was elated and over the top about getting my car license. Then, you must also know that I met with three road accidents this year. But hasn’t this year just begun? Precisely, last 4 months = 3 road accidents in which in two of them I was doing the driving and alone for good or for bad ! And the third one, a week back was in company with the husband.

As the accidents have grown in number, they also grew in intensity. The first one being just a scratch on the car, second one being a little more major with the car’s bonnet and bumper needing care to and the third being the ultimate which culminated in the other vehicle being overturned. Fortunately and I would like to believe that due to divine intervention, there was no damage or as much as even a scratch to any human life.

But again, it was our brand new car which we both were so proud of.  Maybe is this God’s way of reminding us – Pride goes before a fall.

Though the car is back to its/ his (as the husband would like to say !) shiny new condition, I still shudder when I sit in the car and the old incidents keep playing in my mind over and over again. I always attempt to look at situations optimistically, so probably I would like to make myself believe that possibly even terrible times got averted with these accidents.

Meanwhile in such unfortunate times, only sweet treats can elevate one’s mood. So when I came across this recipe from Mrs. Lakshmi Nair, I knew it would do the trick and also combat the sudden soaring temperatures

She calls it the RIBBON PUDDING which I assume is because of the ribbon like appearance of the three flavours which comprise the pudding- Chocolate, Vanilla and Coffee. Couldn't possible go wrong , right?You can also have a look at her earlier pudding recipe, made by me posted here.

I have made some minor modifications. However have put the original measurements in brackets.

RIBBON PUDDING

I got a mini loaf pan+ fluted pattisserie pan

Yields 6-8 servings or serves 2 very sweet-toothed people !

• Milk – 3.5 cups = 3 + 0.5  ( 4 cups or 750 ml as stated by her which didn’t make sense to me, so I used 3.5 cups)
• Sugar-  1 cup ( or 1 ¼ cup)
• Vanilla custard powder- 1.5 Tbsp
• Gelatin – 3 Tbsp
• Cold water – ½ cup (or Ice cold water)
• Fresh Cream- 1.5 cups
• Coffee powder – 1.5 tsp
• Cocoa powder – 1.5 Tbsp
• Boiling water- ¼ cup + ¼ cup
• Vanilla essence- ½ tsp

Method:

• Heat 3 cups of milk and when the steam starts appearing from it, add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
• In another bowl,  add the custard powder  to the remaining 0.5 cup of milk, and mix till no lumps.
• Now add this custard milk into the first milk mixture and keep stirring on medium heat until the entire mixture thickens. This would take about 10-15 mins.
• Simultaneously, mix the gelatin in the ice cold water and leave aside for 15 mins.
• Once the custard-milk-sugar mixture thickens, add the gelatin which would have turned into a big jelly like lump.
• Keep stirring on medium heat, until the gelatin gets fully dissolved.
• Once done, switch off the heat and either transfer mixture into a larger bowl to allow it to cool faster else immerse the base of the pan in some ice cold water.  Allow the entire mixture to cool to room temperature.
• Whisk the cream separately with a fork and add it into the cooled milk. Fold the cream completely into the custard.
• Meanwhile, dissolve the coffee powder in the ¼ cup of boiling water and the cocoa powder in the other ¼ cup of boiling water.
• Divide the custard into three bowls.
• Since there is no actual measurement, what I did was halve the entire mixture and then further divide one of the halves into two portions.  One of the halves to be divided into 1/3rd and 2/3rds further and other half to be left as it is. Hope this hasn’t confused you further !
• The intention is the majority portion is for vanilla, the least for coffee and the medium for chocolate.
• Now, add the vanilla essence into the largest custard portion. The coffee into the least portion of the custard and the chocolate mixture into the medium portioned custard.
• What remains is only the setting of the pudding.
• Grease the pudding pans with some butter.
• First pour the coffee custard into the base of the pan and allow it set in the freezer for 15-20 mins.
• Once you are sure it is set, then only pour the vanilla custard and to set it again for 15-20 mins in freezer.
• Then to pour the chocolate custard and allow it to set.
• On setting, the pudding wobbles and jiggles like a beautiful belly dancer and ofcourse is now fit to be photographed !
• On setting, store in the refrigerator and serve cold as wedges/slices.

Note:

• This recipe can be made “Pure vegetarian" by using the china grass/ agar-agar like here.
• Since I made this late in the night, I just did not have the time to use the china grass as my setting agent as its utilization needs a slightly more detailed process.
• The flavours can be experimented with probably strawberry,butterscotch, mango anything which comes to your mind for that matter !

How we liked it?

I also served to some guests for a dinner get-together at home. The texture and its perfect blend of the three flavours was well appreciated . They also especially complimented its moderate sweetness. Me and my hubby relished it the next day as our post-breakfast sweet treat and the chilled dessert was so refreshing during the summer heat. I intend to try this with some different flavours next time.

Also sending this across to Amina's blog event.

So until next time, adios amigos !