Hunters Hot Pot Chicken with Pineapple

Today's recipe is inspired by Chiappa sisters' hunters hot pot chicken recipe recently uploaded to you tube. Here you can check out their original recipe. 

I decided to give this dish a try but with a little bit of pineapple twist and some Indian spices. And I must say it really worked out very well. Pineapple really added a little bit of extra kick to the dish while keeping the original dish's integrity. 

Among the three sisters the eldest Michela is my favorite ;-). 

This dish is fairly straight forward and yet brings out a lot of taste and flavors. Here's what you will need for this dish...

Ingredients 

• 4 chicken legs with skin on.
• 3 green chilies finely chopped.
• 1 big onion chopped.
• 3 large tomatoes or tin tomatoes. I used tin tomatoes for this recipe, especially for the red color. 
• 2 capsicums cut into long strips. Or any veggie of your choice i.e. Carrots.
• 1 tsp red chili powder, black pepper, coriander powder and garam masala. 
• 1 lemon juice. 
• 3 garlic cloves finely chopped. 
• 1 inch ginger chopped. 
• Rosemary, finely chopped. 
• Pineapple diced. 
• 4 tsp Olive oil and butter. 
• Cream, optional.
• Salt to taste.

Method

• Take a non stick pan on high heat. 
• Add olive oil. Add butter. 
• Once hot add chicken seasoned with salt, black pepper, red chili powder, garam masala and lemon juice. 
• Fry it on both sides for a total of 10 to 12 minutes to get good brown color. 
• Take the chicken pieces out in a plate. Leave any oil, butter and chicken juices in the pan. 
• Add onions to the pan and saute them. 
• Add garlic and ginger. 
• Add tomatoes. Mix them well. 
• Add salt to taste. 
• Cook them for 10 to 12 minutes. 
• Add capsicum and chicken. 
• Cook for another 30 minutes and keep mixing them in between. 
• After 30 minutes add pineapple and cream. Mix them well. Because pineapple will take no time to cook.
• Cook it for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is tender. 
• And that's it. 
• Serve it with hot Indian bread, naan or basmati rice. 

Hey I am no expert but I do hope you will like this dish.

Shashuka Eggs

Easter has just gone by. Easter always reminds me of Easter bunnies and Easter eggs. My Easter bunny is my 2.5 years old son Vihaan :-) and Easter eggs reminds of me of a dish called Shashuka eggs, which I have been willing to try since long time now.

Shashuka eggs is a dish of poached eggs in onion, tomatoes, bell peppers mixture. 

Shashuka means "a mixture" in Arabic language. More information about this dish is on wiki. 

I tried it for the first time and I have fallen in love with the dish. If I were to explain the dish in Indian style cooking, its poached eggs on top of onion, tomatoes, and bell pepper tempering, with the spice level of your choice.

Its a very simple and straight forward dish. Here is my take on preparing Shashuka eggs.

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 tsp olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper and 1 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped.
• 3 tomatoes, finely chopped.
• 1 small onion, finely chopped.
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped.
• 3 to 4 eggs.
• 1 tsp cumin seeds.
• 1 tsp chili power.
• 1 tsp black pepper.
• 1 tsp garam masala.
• 2 tsp butter
• Salt to taste.

Method:

• Put a non-stick pan on medium heat. Add olive oil.
• Add cumin seed. Let them crackle. Roughly for 30 seconds.
• Add green chilies.
• Add onion. Saute them till translucent.
• Add tomatoes and bell peppers.
• Add red chilies, salt and black pepper.
• Add butter and mix them well. 
• Cook them with lid on. Roughly for 10 minutes or until the bell pepper becomes tender.
• Taste it and adjust the seasoning.
• Crackle the eggs on top of the tempering.
• Cook them for another 5 to 7 minutes with lid on. Or until the eggs are cooked to your desired consistency.
• And that's it.
• Serve it on top of a pizza base, or eat as it.

Pan seared chicken with boiled veggies

They say Indian food is awesome, insanely delicious, divine texture, great combination of exotic spices but... its very heavy and not healthy (because of the over use if oil, ghee and spices) especially for weight watchers. You know what would my response to that be? I agree, I would say :-). 

After watching Masterchef US all 5 seasons back to back (Yeah I know I am crazy), I decided to cook some healthy yet delicious dishes. Mind you this is my first time on this dish but after tasting the final dish its not the last time I will cook it.

I have been observing my weight since my childhood. But now I have realized if I keep consuming Indian food I am ought to gain weight. I know it sounds harsh but I am sorry its the reality :-). 

This dish is so light that my tummy is very happy with the dinner tonight :-) and is still craving for more :-)

Ingredients 

• 400 gms boneless chicken.
• Salt and black pepper. 
• Fresh coriander finely chopped. 
• Fresh vegetables of your choice. I took carrot, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli. 
• Olive oil, a cube of butter. 
• 1 clove of garlic. 
• 1 small tsp cumin seeds. 
• Lemon zest. And lemon juice. 
• Sweet chili sauce and mustard sauce. 
• And lots of love. 

Method

Pan seared chicken

• Take a pan on high heat. 
• Add 2 to 3 tsp olive oil. 
• Add cumin seeds. Let them crackle. Roughly 30 seconds.
• Season the chicken breast with salt and black pepper. 
• Lay chicken breast away from you on the pan. 
• Cook it for 2 minutes then flip them over. 
• Cook it for another 2 minutes on the other side then flip again. 
• Add butter. Add garlic. Add coriander leaves. 
• Reduce the heat to medium. 
• Cook it for 4 minutes with lid on. 
• Add lemon zest at this stage. 
• Flip the chicken and cook for another 4 minutes with lid on. 
• Take chicken out and let it rest for few minutes. 
• Chicken keeps cooking while it rests. 

Boiled veggies 

• Take a deep pan. Fill with water. Bring the water to a running boil. Add a pinch of salt. 
• Add all cut veggies but spinach. 
• Cook them with lid on for 7 to 8 mins. 
• Towards the end add spinach. Cause spinach takes no time to boil. 
• Plate the veggies out. 
• Plate them together, the way I have shown it. Season it with mustard sauce, sweet chili sauce and a touch of lemon juice.

Yummy treat for an extra hour

Finally its that time of the year when you want to save some more day light. Its time to roll forward your watches by an hour. How beautiful the longer days look! You can do so much more with that extra hour. Its time to enjoy the sun bit more. Its time to be happy for an extra hour. Its time to enjoy the company of your loved ones for an extra hour. If you are one of those lazy chaps then you get some more time to be a tad lazier :-). Its 6 pm already and sun is still shining as if summer is calling me out. 

It feels so refreshing. Feels like eating an ice cream or sipping a chilled beer or how about making a dessert for yourself :-).

As I already promised to come up with a doable dessert soon, so here I am with my first hand experience at a dessert. 

Ingredients

• 1 big apple diced. 
• 4 to 5 red strawberries. Take fruits of your choice.
• 50 gms any Sugar. 
• 2 to 3 pieces of your favorite chocolate. 
• Honey and flavored yogurt for plating.

Method

• Put a pan on medium heat. 
• Pour a small cup of water and add 50 gms sugar. 
• Add diced apples and strawberries 
• Mix them well in sugar syrup 
• Cook them with lid on for just 5 minutes or till apples become tender. 
• Take the lid off and add 2 pieces of chocolate. 
• Let the chocolate melt. This will give out chocolate brown color to the mix. 
• Add crumbled sweet bread of your choice. 
• Mix them well. 
• And that's it. Plate it and refrigerate.  

Let's plate up

I decided to plate them in two different styles. 

I am not an expert on desserts. I took inspiration from one of the dishes by Gordon Ramsay and added my twist of sweet bread and yogurt. I hope you will like the dessert. 

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.

So, what's up on the dinner menu

Hello folks... The weather here in Vienna is kinda making me lazy and stuck up in bed. So last night I planned to call over some friends for dinner at my place to get rid of "weekend boredom". The chef for the dinner was my wife who recently joined me from India. The menu that we served up was curd chicken and an italian American pasta salad for appetizers. For the main course we had delicious Indian food chole masala and aloo gobhi, the recipes for which shall be uploaded soon.

It just struck my mind to take a look at my previous recipes and see if they could fit anywhere in a dinner menu...?

I was delighted to finally categorize Curd Chicken and Italian American Pasta Salad as appetizers. And Chicken Haleem, Tempering Rice and Palak Paneer for the main course. I'm still working on a doable dessert. 

So if you find yourself in a state of confusion about setting up a dinner menu, this idea may be of little help there. 

Spinach Chicken

After four months my wife and my little kid are back in Vienna to stay with me. We are once again a happy little family together. We had a great family union over the weekend. Although it did not go entirely as I planned as I kept sleeping and did not go to pick them up from airport! Ouchhh... I know... :-)

So to cover up I decided to make an awesome dish together as a family. We are a family of three and its my third month of blogging. So our next dish will be a combination of three differently style cooked items. 

This dish is popularly called Palak Chicken or Spinach Chicken. Let me remind you that even I will cook this dish for the first time. 

I already stressed enough in one of earlier spinach (Palak Panner) recipes that how healthy spinach really is!

To put it simply this dish is a combination of boiled spinach, deliciously cooked chicken and a mouth watering tomatoes and onions tempering. 

So let's get to it...

Here's what you will need:

Ingredients 

• 350 gms Spinach 
• 400 gms Boneless chicken 
• 3 spoon ginger garlic paste
• 2 green chilies 
• 2 tomatoes chopped 
• 2 onions chopped
• Salt to taste 
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp Black pepper
• 1 tsp Chicken masala
• 1 tsp Lemon juice 
• 1.5 rsp Red chili powder 
• Butter
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• 1 tsp Fenugreek leaves
• Fresh cream

Method

• Let's first marinate the chicken and keep it aside. 
• Take chicken pieces in a bowl. 
• Add 1 tsp ginger garlic paste. 
• Add 2 tsp olive oil. 
• Add salt to taste. 
• Add lemon juice. 
• Add 1 tsp Chicken masala
• Add 1 tsp red chili powder. 
• Mix it well. And keep it aside while you cook rest of the dish. 

Let's make the tempering

• Take a pan. Add olive oil 4 to 5 tsp olive oil. 
• Add chopped onions. Saute it till they change their color. Add salt. 
• Add 2 tsp ginger garlic paste. 
• Add 2 green chilies finely chopped. 
• When onion are golden brown add dry spices. 
• Add coriander powder.
• Add cumin powder. 
• Add tomatoes. 
• Mix them well. Keep saute them till oil separates out from masala. 

Let's saute the chicken 

• Take a pan. Add olive oil. 
• Lay the marinated chicken pieces on the pan. Lay each piece away from you in clockwise direction. So that you know how to turn them up for an even cook. 
• Add some butter. 
• Keep flipping the chicken pieces every 5 to 7 minutes for an even cook. 
• Once chicken is cooked add it to tempering with all the olive oil and butter mix. 
• Please make sure that the chicken cooked well. Mine was left a little undone. 

Spinach

• Bring the water to a boil in a deep pan or pressure cooker.
• Add spinach to the water and let it boil, without the lid.
• After 5 to 7 minutes take out the spinach and make a puree out if it. 
• I used a hand blender which my wife brought from India. 
• Add the spinach puree to the chicken mix. 
• Let it all cook up with the mix. 
• Add garam masala and fenugreek leaves in the end. 
• Give them a nice mix. And let them cook for another 10 minutes. Add fresh cream. 
• And that's it. 

Let's plate up

Serve it hot with Indian bread, naan or rice. It came out really delicious. Hey I'm no expert but I hope you will like the dish.