Daily Archives: October 21, 2014

Chicken nibbles

Preparation Time : 1 hour for marination + 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 3-4 minutes for each batch of chicken deep fried

Serving : 4-5 members

Description

Having my son home with me after he finished his boarding life as a student had to greet him home with an inviting spread on the table . There are days when you are pressed for time and not in the mood to play around ingredients and cook for too long and get your self stuck in the kitchen . This time the reason being me wanting to be with my boy more to enjoy his presence at home than whiling away my time in the kitchen . So just want ahead instantly with what i had stocked at home and went according to the flow of what came to me confidently knowing that my boy loves chicken bits deep fried to crisp . Lost in touch a bit with his likes and dis – likes about his food habits as he’s been in boarding for his entire schooling and collage . That’s nearly around 16 years and kids as they grow to become teenagers they do tend to become strangers to parents in a way mainly because of the new need of so called privacy as getting to be adults . They become more silent ( mainly boys ) that every thing is a mystery now to be solved on our own , observing them through out . oops coming back to the dish . As deep frying the chicken I had my boy around coming into the kitchen asking me what’s cooking ? It smells so good . Gave him the first lot out of the pan and he just gobbled the entire lot . I was just admiring my boy the true motherly way and enjoying his presence every bit for all the lost time with him before .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Bone less chicken bits	500 grams
garlic	2 flakes
Light soya sauce	1 teaspoon
chilli sauce	2 teaspoon
chilli powder	1 teaspoon
salt	to taste
pepper	1 teaspoon
green chilli	3 crushed
egg	1
cornflour	2 tablespoon
Flour / maida	2 tablespoon
water	1/ 4 cup or lesser to get a coating batter

Method

Blend all the mentioned above ingredients together except for chicken and water . Check consistency of ground paste and add water to get a semi loose coating consistency batter .
Marinate boneless chicken bits in this marinade for one hour or more . Heat oil to deep fry to medium heat .
Deep fry the marinated chicken bits with a good coating of batter in batches to golden brown in colour for about 2 minutes .
Drain and Serve hot with tomato ketchup , mayonnaise and French fries .

Notes

Vegetarians can do the same with cauliflower , panner ,soya chunks , potato or mixed vegetable bits .

Malaysian black rice pudding with coconut milk

Preparation Time : 40 minutes

Cooking Time : 25-30 minutes

Serving : 5-6 members

Description

Malaysian black rice pudding or authentically known as bubur pulut hitam in Malaysia and neighbouring countries in Singapore and Thailand . The first time I heard about this pudding ( it’s more like a thick porridge actually ) was through my aunt Shameem who was invited over for lunch to a friends place for Diwali where they served this black beauty to her . It’s not an easy job to get a good review from my aunt so this made sure that this mighty pudding is a sure must try . I did take note of the recipe from the telly through the hit series of food safari . Seeing the host of this show Maeve O’Meara go “umm ummm ” eating this pudding Was another intimation that made sure this one recipe is for keeps as this is her signal of saying the dish is too good to resist . Now the next problem is getting black rice to prepare this sweet Devine dish . Any out of station trip is not complete with out a gourmet shopping done for me . Like wise on a trip to chennai was going through the stuff in a gourmet store ( amma nana ) and to was delighted to see black rice . Grabbed two packets and the first thing I did when back home was to cook the black pudding as all the other ingredients required are every day cupboard friendly at home . As cooking half way , I was like how can rice with sugar and coconut milk taste really good . There’s no ghee , nuts or any thing to be added as well . But my doubts were put to shame as this black rice has an aromatic flavour that just soothes your taste buds and soul together . The colour does put you off but once you dig in , it’s hard to resist yourself from another helping . As usual I ended up gulping the entire lot with just one bowl had by hubby dear . ( shameless me :-)) ) after nearly a year or so after my try over this black rice pudding . We were invited to my hubbies niece engagement in a place called sivagankai in tamilnadu . My first time to that place and I was excited to see the cultural and culinary difference there . We were served lunch and the first thing served on the plantain leaf was the Malaysian black rice pudding . My eyes popped out literarily as I just could not under stand how did this dish end up in this corner of the world . Later to my surprise I was informed when asked that this is very famous dish here in kaaraikudi ( a neighbouring town ) where most of the chettiar community people of that region are linked to Malaysia through business . On my way back home this did bring a board smile to me thinking a dish that has travelled all the way from Malaysia to kaaraikudi a decade ago has just caught your attention a few months ago . Well culinary knowledge is a never ending journey and that’s why I guess I am in love with it.

Bubur pulut hitam

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
black rice	1 cup
Water	3 cups
Salt	1/4 teaspoon
sugar	1/2 cup or more to taste
Thick coconut milk	2 cups

Method

Wash and soak rice in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes . Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles .( the authentic way is to slow cook in a heavy bottomed pan with a lid for 3-4 hours ) rice will be cooked but still wet .
Stir in sugar and 1 1/2 cups coconut milk and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thick and rice is tender but still slightly chewy for about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool to warm or room temperature . Just before serving, stir pudding . Serve in individual pudding bowls topped with a good drizzle of remaining coconut milk on top .

Cheese crisps

Preparation Time : 40 minutes

Cooking Time : 3-4 minutes for each batch deep fried

Serving : 4-5 members

Description

Every holiday of my daughter here at my place with out my son- in – law ( wait a sec people , Uff comedy nights with kapil’s repeat telecast on air , it’s just not letting me go ahead here with you all . Have changed the channel and now I can peacefully be with you all ) is a real hard task for me to keep her entertained here . And every now and then end up in the kitchen with some wired experiments together . This snack was also done on a similar day as such by both of us . My gal Anisha likes a local savoury snack called diamond cuts and was craving for it . So we wanted to make it at home . I took all the required ingredients out but my gal made a big fuss saying no way are you going to use flour ( maida ) substitute it with wheat flour . The health freak in her does bug me always and I was so sure this dish is going to be a flop show with soggy wheat diamond cuts . Told her and she was like no way mom . Fine request accepted , then she says why not make a twist of adding Italian flavours by adding cheese and dried herbs . I was like go ahead and do what you want to and silently helped her with her demands as I hate it when other people get bossy over me at my kitchen . She changed the diamond shape to strips and deep fried .drained and it was soggy . I was all giggles , teasing her . But once cool and at room temperature it was crisp . She just took over and knocked me out teasing me in return . We made a mayonnaise dip and devoured the entire lot watching the telly not knowing how much each one of us ate . In one hours time I could feel my chest burn with acidity and felt as if all the cheese just stuck to my heart . Started walking vigorously and my gal was like what’s wrong with you mom ? I told her what was going on with in me and she laughed her guts out saying you should always have portion control over what ever you eat . Nothing got into my head as all I wanted was the irritating sensation in me out of my soul . As I started feeling a bit better my gal is like ” mom , even I am feeling the same as what ever you mentioned ” I burst out laughing teasing her to the core and there she was walking vigorously just like me :-)) . All in all a day that we took turns to tease each other but later we did find out that the culprit that caused the acidity was the mayonnaise dip and the over eating as well . So happy portion eating peeps .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Wheat flour	1 cup
Cheddar cheese grated	1/4 cup ( I used amul cheddar cheese )
Milk	1/2 cup
Black pepper powder	1/2 teaspoon
Mustard powder	1/2 teaspoon
Baking powder	1/2 teaspoon
Oil	1 teaspoon
Dried herds	1 teaspoon ( oregano , thyme , rose Mary , basil )
Salt	to taste ( be careful as we are adding cheese that is salty too )
Oil	to deep fry

Method

Mix all the above ingredients together except for oil and milk . Add milk and knead to a smooth dough .
Set aside for half an hour . Roll the dough out to a big , thin circle . Prick all around with a fork . Cut into long thin strips . Heat oil to deep fry to medium heat .
Fry the thin strips in batches to a light golden brown . Drain and cool completely to get a crisp texture . Serve with any dip of your choice . Tastes good as is is as well .
Can be stored in air right containers up to 4 /5 days at room temperature .