Oven made Tandoori Chicken

Since I started my own little blog and have put up few recipes, I could feel how hard it is to maintain your blog and be creative every time you put up a new recipe. Especially if you are handling all the departments by yourself (i.e. Cooking, Food Styling, Plating, Food Photography etc.).

Writing and maintaining this blog is trying to get the best out of me :-). On the face it may look like writing a food blog is like a work flow, or a flow chart with a series of steps to follow. You simply follow the steps and you are done with it, right? Wrong... :-)

It actually takes a lot more than just following a flow chart :-).

Here is how...

First you have to come with an amazing recipe which you can pursue. Spend a good amount of time to cook it. Find creative ways to plate your dish. You name your dish like a new born baby. Narrate a story or history behind the dish as an introduction to the dish. Click some amazing pictures of your dish so that they look appetizing. 

So a food blog helps you to learn in every department. I am learning especially around plating and food photography. I have searched and gone through various YouTube videos and other web contents to gain some more knowledge around them.






















I would like to say in a very humble manner, that these pictures are best of me so far. I am still learning though... :-).

This time I decided to give it a try to Tandoori Chicken, in an oven. You might find a lot of recipes of Tandoori Chicken out there. However here is my attempt on home made Tandoori Chicken in an oven. This is the first time I tried Tandoori Chicken in an oven. 

The results were delicious, I hope you will like it too :-).

Ingredients:

Chicken Legs (I took 3) • Give it a few cuts • 3 tsp mustard or olive oil • 2 tsp yogurt • 2 tsp chicken masala • 2 tsp red chili powder (adjust as per your taste) • 1 tsp coriander powder • 1 tsp cumin powder • Juice of 1 lemon • 2 tsp ginger and garlic paste • 1 tsp soy sauce (optional) • 1 tsp black pepper (optional) • salt to taste 

Marination

• Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl and mix them well. 
• In the mix, add chicken legs, coat all the spices well on the chicken legs.
• Either use hands or a brush to massage it the chicken legs.
• Set it aside for at least 1/2 hour. The longer it marinates the better off it is. I marinate it for 3 hours in a fridge. Take it out 1 hour before cooking.

Method

• Pre-heat the oven at 375 degrees.
• Place the chicken legs on a oven tray.
• Place it in the oven and cook them for 40 to 50 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes and see if it needs more cooking.
• Take it out, plate it and you are done.

Photo Techniques:

• I decided to take this photo by my kitchen window, from where direct sun light comes in.
• I used aluminum foil, crushed it and used as light reflector to balance out the light.
• Photo is taken using iPhone 5 and edited using Google's Snapseed.

India's Invention... Butter Chicken

If you ask me, Butter Chicken is one of the greatest inventions ever made by Indian chefs :-). You will not find any non-vegetarian who does not love a perfectly cooked butter chicken. Why shouldn't they, it is really one of the delicious main courses of all time. Its rich tomato gravy is famous all across the globe. 

I always feel proud to tell anyone that Butter chicken was invented in India. The dish was invented by accident at Moti Mahal Restaurant in Daryaganj in Delhi, but it does not matter whether it was a mistake or not :-). Even the great Chef Gordon Ramsay visited Moti Mahal to taste the authentic Butter Chicken. 

There are various versions of Butter Chicken out there with different styles, techniques and ingredients. Some of the them are so technical that you may need special equipment for the preparations i.e. a Tandoor. I would like to show my version today, which can be cooked easily at home. I would just use a deep pan, a hand blender and my newly ordered chef's knife to cook it :).

Usually the authentic butter chicken is cooked in tomato sauce, however I prefer to add a bit of onion as well. Onion gives quantity to a dish. You can omit them if you want.

Usually the butter chicken is cooked in butter. However if you are one of those health cautious people like me, then I advise to use olive oil to saute the onion and tomatoes. At a later stage add some butter to elevate its taste.

The ingredients and method may sound little over whelming, however trust me it is not that complex. Please feel free to experiment with the spice level as per your taste.

Let's get to it.

Ingredients 

• 600 gms boneless chicken. 
• 300 gms curd. 
• 1 tsp red chili powder. 
• 1 mace. Optional.
• 4 green chilies.
• 5 cardamoms. 
• Salt to taste. 
• 2 tsp Chicken masala
• 2 tsp coriander powder. 
• 2 tsp cumin powder. 
• 4 to 5 tsp butter.  
• 2 cloves. 
• 1 tsp sugar. 
• Cream. 
• 1 tsp Fenugreek leaves. Hand crushed.
• 5 big tomatoes. 
• 2 onions. 
• Tomato ketchup. 
• Lemon juice. 
• Cilantro leaves to garnish. 

I used a new ingredient today i.e. Mace. I learned about this ingredient from chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Chef Harpal singh.

This picture is taken from http://www.justingredients.co.uk/

Method 

Chicken Marination 

• Cut chicken into manageable pieces in a bowl. 
• Add curd. 
• Add a spoon n half of ginger paste. 
• Add 1 tsp garlic paste. 
• Add 2 tsp chicken masala. 
• Add salt to taste. 
• Add lemon juice. 
• Add a tsp of red chili powder. 
• Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. More is better. I prefer at lease 4 hours.

The Gravy

• In a hot pan. Add generous quantity of olive oil.
• Add finely chopped onions. Saute them till they turn golden brown. Keep the heat on max. 
• Add a little bit salt. Salt helps to bring out onion's moisture. 
• Add chopped chilies. 
• Add ginger n garlic paste. 
• Add diced tomatoes. 
• Add cumin powder and coriander powder. 
• Add red chili powder.
• Add salt to taste. Mix them well. 
• Cook them well till oil separates from tempering. 
• Take the tempering out and blend the tempering in a mixer or hand blend it. 
• Heat the pan up and add butter. If you wish you can do entire dish in butter with a touch of olive oil, so that butter does not burn.
• On top of melting butter add back the tempering. Mix them well. 
• Add the marinated chicken. Mix well. 
• Simmer the heat. Put the lid on. And let the chicken cook. 
• Cook it for another 15 to 20 mins or until chicken becomes tender. 
• Add fenugreek leaves, 1 tsp tomato ketchup and cream when gravy is almost ready. Mix them well. 
• And that's it. 

Let's plate up

Serve hot with Indian bread, naan or basmati rice. I am not an expert, but I do hope you will like it.

Chicken Tear Volcano!!!

It's very cold in Vienna, Austria today. I feel like cooking something very hot! And I do mean very very hot!! Let me warn you this dish is not for faint hearts. I bet, this will be most spicy dish you would ever taste. If you are scared already then go back and check out some of my other recipes :-). 

Hmm you are still reading... That means you are among few of those brave hearts :-). So let's proceed further at your risk :-). 

This dish is all about spices, spices and spices and yes the flavors as well. It's like fire in the water. One of my friends would describe this dish as voodoo chilies and nuclear waste :-). Yeah its that spicy...

If you dare to cook it, you can serve it with vegetable rice/ pulao. Or eat it with Indian bread, naan. I cooked vegetable pulao today in a pressure cooker. Pulao recipe is for some other day. 

So let's get to it. Here is what you need. 

Ingredients 

• Lots of red chilies. I took 7. 
• Lots of green chilies. I took 3 big ones. 
• 1 tsp red chili powder 
• Ginger 2 inch piece. 
• 1 tsp Ginger and garlic paste.
• 3 medium size tomatoes.
• 2 medium size onions. 
• 1 bell pepper.
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds.
• 1 tsp Cumin powder.
• 1 tsp Coriander powder.
• 1 tsp Chicken masala.
• 6-7 chicken legs. 
• Salt to taste.
• Cream.
• And some guts :-).

Method 

• Chop onions, red chilies, green chilies, ginger piece in a chopper/ mixer. 
• Heat up a pan. Add 3 to 4 tsp olive oil. 
• Add cumin seeds. Let them crackle. 
• Add ginger and garlic paste. 
• Saute them for few minutes. 
• Add chopped onions and chilies. Fry them till onions become translucent. 
• Chop tomatoes in mixer. Add tomato paste. 
• Add chili, cumin and coriander powder. 
• Add salt to taste. 
• Cook them in covered pan. 
• Add chicken legs in the mix. 
• Mix them well. 
• Cover the pan. And let it cook till chicken becomes tender and soft. 
• Keep mixing them in between so that it does not stick. 
• Add cream and lemon juice. 
• Mix them well. 
• Cook it for some more time. And that's it. 
• You will be left with chicken pieces floating in tomatoes paste.

Let's Plate up

Plating Technique

• Take rice in a small bowl. Fill it till top and flatten it with spatula.
• Dump the bowl up-side down on a clean plate.
• Keep it like this for a minute or two, so that rice could take its shape.
• Remove the bowl.
• Take out the chicken pieces and decorate in a pattern on the side. 

If you find it very spicy add a bit of a sugar to pacify the spices. Serve hot with rice or pulao or Indian breads. 

You can also serve with plain curd, or flavored yogurt to control the spice level.

Hey #MNoExpert but I hope you will like it. Please share how your experience turns out to be :). 

Cheers.