oeufs en cocotte

oeufs en cocotte is a french way of making baked eggs.
Its super easy and super yum. Here is how I prefer to make and eat them :)

Ingredients:

2 tea spoon creme fraiche

1 egg 

little bit dill for garnish/finely chopped coriander
oregano, thyme, chilly flakes
salt and black pepper for taste

Recipe:
-Put 1 teaspoon creme fraiche in a oven proof cup/ramekin
-Crack egg and drop straight on top of creme
-put salt and pepper for taste
-Add herbs and dill
-Put 1 teaspoon creme fraiche on top
- Take boiling water in oven tray, and keep cup in it. Bake on 180 degree celcius for about 20-30 minutes.

Note:

- French prefer to keep yolk little runny (just a tip)

- It can also be baked in double boiler.

- Creme fraiche is nothing but yogurt/dahi made of full fat/double cream. 

Tangadi kabab

Nothing I mean no other cuisine can beat a beautiful, moist, tender tangadi kabab. All time favourite starter for most of the Indians and I am no different than them :)

Here is my version for the same.

Ingredients (for 2 chicken thighs)
2 tsp coriander seed powder
2 tsp cumin seed powder
4 tsp salt
2 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp black pepper powder/fresh cracked peppers are even awesome
2 tsp hung curd
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic paste (fresh)
1 tsp ginger paste (fresh)

Recipe:
-Mix all ingredients in hung curd and make nice smooth paste.
-Make cuts on chicken thighs and nicely coat in marinade.
-Make sure marinade sets well in cuts, so that moisture retains inside chicken.
-Now apply oil on chicken thigh and let it seat in fridge for about 2 hrs minimum.
-Bake in oven on 230 degree celcius for about 20 minutes and then on 180 degree celcius for 5 minutes.
-If flesh is separated from bone, Thats the sign of perfect time and 100% cooked chicken.
-Let it rest in oven till you prepare side salad etc and then enjoy.
- Sprinkle chat masala and lime juice just before serving.

Chicken tangadi kabab served

Note: One can change level of hotness with adding more chilly powder or adding green chilly paste in marinade. But key thing is aroma of masalas.

Fish in exotic coconut sauce with lemon-herb rice

I had tried my hands in chicken, but never in fish before. Finally I was able to move on and got my hand fishy. So cooked fish fillets in rich, thick, creamy coconut sauce

Here is my journey for the same. I have used basa fillets for this recipe
1. I had them already
2. It has nice firm flesh and no smell at all.
3. It melts in your mouth :)


Ingredients for sauce:
1 medium size onion (finely chopped)
1 carrot finely chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp herb mix (Oregano, basil ,thyme)
1 tsp red chilly flakes
1 tsp all purpose flour
2 cup coconut milk (medium thickness)
4-5 Fish fillets chunks (you may season it with salt and pepper or whatever you like)
salt and white wine to taste

Ingredients

Method:
- Heat oil in pan and saute onions until they turn pink
- Add carrots and saute them til they are tender
- Add ginger, garlic paste with flour and saute for minute or two
- Add in 1-2 tsp of white wine and let it all evaporate.
- Add fish fillets to pan, and saute them for 2 minutes each side
- Add in coconut milk, and give a nice stir.
- Bring it to boil and add herb mix with chilly flakes.
- Give a nice stir and then cook through for about 10-15 minutes on low heat.
- Its ready to serve with rice

Fish in coconut sauce

Herb-Lemon rice

Ingredients:
1 cup raw long grain rice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp herb mix
lemon food color

Method:
- Soak rice for about 20-30 minutes.
- In a pot start boiling water, add in salt, herb mix and lemon zest
- On a roaring boil add in rice (be careful)
- cook till 90% done
- Drain and cover with muslin cloth for about 10 mins, this will allow rice to cook through in its own steam

Herb-Lemon Rice

Serve fish with rice, its a excellent flavorful meal :)

Served.

Enjoy.

Chicken chettinad

Honestly people, I have never ever tested chicken chettinad before, but have seen its images and from them I could tell this must be very tasty and juicy stuff. So I decided to prepare in home.

This recipe does not belong to me, I thanks for many contributors from Internet for sharing their own recipes. I have referenced few recipes and have come up with my own.

So here it is Chicken Chettinad, we are going to use custom spice mix than store bought spice mix, a fresh spice mix always brings out best flavors.

Marination:
1/2 kg chicken (with Bone)
2 tsp sambhar masala
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oil

Marinated chicken

Mix both masalas, salt with lime juice and apply this marinade to chicken. Make sure chicken is coated nicely in marinade. Next add oil and just coat chicken, this will help marinade to stick to chicken.


Spice mix:
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
2 Red whole chilly
1" cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom
3-4 cloves
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup grated coconut
1 bay leaf
1 piece of star anise

Spice mix 

Roast all above spices till aromatic, ground them in fine powder.
Next grind grated coconut along with spices and keep aside.


For chicken gravy:
I preferred thick gravy over thin gravy, but one can add more water as needed to make thin/runny gravy as well.

2 medium size onions (finely chopped)
2 medium size tomatoes (finely chopped)
chopped coriander
10-15 curry leaves

For gravy

Final showdown:
- Add little oil in frying pan, and once its hot sear off chicken over high heat from both sides (2-3 mins each side) and set aside, keep juices as is in pan

Seared off chicken 

- Now saute onions till they are cooked and then add spice mix that we had made earlier, saute well.
- Add in tomatoes and saute till everything has been cooked.
- At this point add in chicken and saute for 3-4 minutes.
- Add a cup of water, mix well and bring it to boil.
- Put lid on and let it on simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
- chicken should be done by now, if you prefer thick gravy, turn on high heat and let water get evaporated.
- If thin gravy is preferred then just check for doneness and turn off heat.
- Garnish with coriander and lime wedge

1 Chicken chettinad served :)

Enjoy :)

Swiss roll

I had attempted making swiss roll once before, however I had failed miserably. So I tried again and atleast sponge wise I got successful. Since my oven is small I was not able to make beautiful long cake, ended up, cutting perfect square cake in rectangular shape and then divide in 2 sheets LOL :D.

So it appear bit mess but it was perfect sponge and delicious. Yeh I admit pattern is mediocre, but given I was very afraid of trying it again, I used my lucky charm, yeah my daughter's name :) I know there are lot expert bakers out there who can mend this recipe more perfectly.

Enough talking here is what I followed:

For pattern:
1 egg white
30 gms granulated sugar, need little more if using powdered sugar
40 gms all purpose flour
20 gms butter

- Mix sugar in egg white with wire whisk or spoon, till its nicely glazed.
- Add in butter and mix well, here you can add any food color.
- Mix in flour to make smooth batter.
- Fill it in piping bag, and make pattern over parchment paper
(If you are choosing some writing as I did, then make sure your writing should be mirror imaged.)
- You can get pattern templates online as well, so you can put them below parchment paper and then simply trace them over parchment paper, make sure parchment paper is greased a bit, this avoid pattern stick less on paper while baking.
- Put tray/paper in freezer for atleast hour before baking. So that pattern shall become hard.

Cake with pattern

For Swiss roll:
5 eggs yolks
5 eggs whites
2/3 cup granulated sugar (Divided in 2 equal portions (i.e. 1/3rd )
1 tsp - orange juice (lemon juice can be substituted)
1 tsp - orange zest (lemon zest can also be used) (If you don't have orange flavor put more zest)
2/3rd cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp salt


- Whisk egg yolks with orange juice and zest, add sugar slowly and whisk until nice and fluffy.
- Whisk egg whites till soft peaks are formed. At this point start adding sugar slowly and continue whisking till hard peaks are formed. At this point whipped mixture shall not fall even if bowl is inverted :D
- Now fold in yolks to egg whites, make sure to fold it gently so that egg whites are not much deflated. Fold in melted butter at this stage.
- Fold in half of flour at a time, till all flour is folded in.
- Bake on flat tray for almost 10-12 minutes on 375 F or 190 C.
- Once baking is done, slowly flip the cake, and take out parchment paper very very slowly, so that pattern shall separate from paper.
- Again flip the cake and let cake cool down a bit, once its cooled down. Put any stuffing you want, I used simple whipped cream, you may use butter frosting or cream cheese etc. and roll cake sheet nice and tight, from the opposite end of pattern, so once you are finished pattern will be on top.

Rolled cake with whipped cream filling 

Enjoy your cake and be creative in patterns :)

Mushroom cream sauce

Mushroom cream sauce is on of my most favorite and easy preparation. Here is how i do it.

Ingredients:

1 cup sliced mushrooms (use any mushroom of your choice)

1 cup cream

dash of white wine

1/4th cup mixture of finely chopped onion, celery and carrots 

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp basil, oregano, rosemary each

salt and pepper for taste

Method:

Saute onion, celery and carrots on butter along with mushrooms till they are cooked.

Add dash of white wine and cook through till it evaporates, this will infuse wine's flavor in all mixture. 

Add cream and mix well, add in herbs, salt and pepper and mix well.

Bring to boil and let it become bit thicker. 

Your sauce is ready, enjoy with your favorite dish or with some meat preparation. 

Enjoy :)

chicken meat loaf

I had watched some recipe for meatloaf on TLC channel, so I wanted to try out something similar but with chicken. So here is my try for the same

Ingredients for meatloaf:
500 gms of boneless chicken / minced chicken.
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumb
1/2 cup diced cheese cubes
1/4th cup cream
1/4th cup spring onion finely chopped
1/4th cup finely chopped carrots
1/4th cup finely chopped celery (optional)
1/4th cup finely chopped tomatoes
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp red chilly powder
1 green chilly in 4-5 small pieces
salt and pepper for seasoning, feel free to add

Method:
- Saute together onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes with ginger garlic paste and rest of ingredients, till they are cooked.
- let it come to room temperature and then make fine paste of it in grinder.
- Mince chicken along with cooked paste.
- Add diced cheese cubes (Once baked cheese just oozes out and taste delicious :) )
- Add egg along with cream to mixture and knead well
- Start adding breadcrumbs to this mixture, here mixture shall start to become thick. Add enough breadcrumb so entire mixture gets bread dough kind of consistency.
- preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius or 350 degree F, grease up loaf pan with little oil
- Put mixture in loaf pan and make sure to spread mixture evenly.
- Bake for about 30-45 minutes until its done, check for internal temperature of 160 F or 70 degree Celsius.
- Meat loaf is done. Cut thin slices and serve with garlic bread and mushroom cream sauce or any other sauce.

Here is my version or how I served it:
Meat loaf slices with mashroom cream sauce with garlic toast and sangria and fruity leafy salad.

Tip:
For a moist meatloaf, put loaf pan in water bath while baking.
If you don't have breadcrumbs, use all purpose flour or corn flour.

Enjoy :)