Whole Baked Chicken Indian recipe

You will need:

• 1 whole chicken (5 lbs)
  
• 1 cup yogurt
• 2 tbsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp paprika (or a pinch of red colour)
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp garam masala powder
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp salt

Step 1:

Wash the Chicken

Wash the chicken with some turmeric powder and with salt.(Removing skin is optional, but i like with skin). Make slots with knife in the chicken, so that the masala will go inside of the chicken also.

Step 2:

Marinate the Chicken

Rub the ingredients onto the chicken and let it marinate for atleast 8 hours. I prefer overnight in a refrigerator.

Step 3:
Bake

Preheat the oven to 350F. Take the marinated chicken out from the refrigerator and let it to come room temp. Then rub the chicken with some more garam masala powder. Transfer the chicken to Aluminum foil or to a baking tray, cover it with a aluminum foil and bake it for 1.5 hours.

Then transfer the chicken to another tray. (Becoz we will get so much of fat. so better scoop out of that fat ot transfer chicken to another tray.

Now again bake the chicken uncovered for 15 mins. Turn the chicken and again bake it for 20 mins to get nice brown crispy skin outside.

Handy Hint:

Eat with mint chutney, lemon slices , sliced onion and tomato.

Homemade Pizza

Making the Pizza Dough

Makes enough dough for two 10-12 inch pizzas

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F)
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast (check the expiration date on the package)
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour (can use all-purpose but bread flour will give you a crisper crust)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Step 1:

In the large bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer (such as a Kitchen Aid), add the warm water. Sprinkle on the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. Stir to dissolve completely if needed at the end of 5 minutes.

Step 2:
Attach a mixing paddle to the mixer. Mix in the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar on low speed for about a minute. Remove the mixing paddle and replace with a dough hook. Knead using the mixer and dough hook, on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix and knead by hand.

Step 3:

Place ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place (75-85°F) until it doubles in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. If you don't have a warm spot in the house you can heat the oven to 150 degrees, and then turn off the oven. Place the bowl of dough in this warmed oven to rise.

At this point, if you want to make ahead, you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Preparing the Pizzas

Ingredients

Olive oil
Cornmeal (to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)
Toppings such as
Tomato sauce
Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, shredded
Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, thinly sliced
Chopped basil (I used dried basil)
Ground Turkey cooked (Can use chicken, beef,mushroom)
Onions, thinly sliced
Coriander leaves chopped

Handy Hint:

Saute the onions and the coriander leaves for few seconds, if you dont like the raw onion smell.

1. Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

2. Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough in half. Form two round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes.

3. Working one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface. Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further. Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter - 10 to 12 inches. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker.

4. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings). Use your finger tips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Let rest another 5 minutes.

Repeat with the second ball of dough.

5. Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) with corn meal. Transfer one prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel. If the dough has lost its shape in the transfer, lightly shape it to the desired dimensions.

6. Spoon on the tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza. (About a third a cup each of tomato sauce and cheese would be sufficient for one pizza. )

7. Sprinkle some cornmeal on the baking stone in the oven (watch your hands, the oven is hot!). Gently shake the peel to see if the dough will easily slide, if not, gently lift up the edges of the pizza and add a bit more cornmeal. Slide the pizza off of the peel and on to the baking stone in the oven. Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 10-15 minutes. If you want, toward the end of the cooking time you can sprinkle on a little more cheese.

Fish Biryani

For Rice:

• 2 tbsp Ghee
  
• 4 Cardamom(Elakka)
  
• 4 sticks - cinnamon(Karugapatta)
  
• 4 Cloves(Grambu)
• 1 tsp Pepper powder
  
• ½ cup Onion(sliced)
• 1½ cups Basmati rice
• 3 cups Boiled water
  
• 2 tsp Salt
  

For fish masala:

• ½ kg King fish (neimeen in Nagercoil, Vangiram in Tamil)
• 1 tbsp Chilly powder
• ½ tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• Oil as reqd
  
• 2 Onion(sliced)
• 2 tbsp Ginger-garlic-green chillies paste
• 1 Tomato(chopped)
• 1 tsp Garam masala powder
• 1 tsp Biriyani masala powder
  
• 1 tbsp Curd
  
• 1 cup Coriander leaves(chopped)
• 2tbsp Mint leaves(chopped)
• 2 tbsp Ghee

For garnishing:

• Cashew nuts(roasted)
• Raisins(roasted)

For preparing rice:

1) Heat ghee in a pan.

2) Add cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and pepper. Stir them.

3) Add onions and fry for 5 min.

4) Add rice and stir for 5 min.

5) Pour boiled water along with salt and cook till it's done.

For making fish masala:

1) Marinate fish pieces with chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt
for 1 hour.

2) Fry the marinated fish pieces in oil.

3) Heat the same oil used to fry the fish in a pan.

4) Add sliced onions and fry on a low flame, till it becomes slightly brown.

5) On medium flame, add ginger-garlic-green chilly paste and tomato.

6) Stir it for 6 min.

7) Add garam masala powder, biriyani masala powder, curd, coriander leaves and salt and stir it for 5 min.

8) Add fried fish pieces and reduce the flame.

9) Cook till it starts to boil.

For making fish biryani:

1) Take a deep bottom vessel and layer fish masala rice.

2) Pour 2 tbsp of ghee and tightly cover with a lid.

3) Keep it on a very low flame for 10 min.

4) Garnish with roasted nuts and raisins.

Handy Hint:

Pour 2tsp of pineapple essence or some small pieces of pineapple before putting the lid on.it will give a very nice smell
:-You can use prawns or chicken instead of fish

Doughnut recipe

You will need:

• 4 cups All purpose flour (Maida)
  
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Step 1:

Whisk the eggs and the sugar

Start your doughnuts by putting the 2 eggs and sugar into a mixing bowl. Whisk them briskly until their appearance becomes very pale and fluffy.

Step 2:

Add the milk, vanilla, salt and butter

Next, you will need to introduce the milk, vanilla, salt and melted butter to the dough and mix it all together briefly.

Step 3:

Mix dry ingredients and allow it to chill.

You can now add the baking powder to the bowl of flour and mix them together a little bit. Next, add this dry mix to the egg mixture and combine them thoroughly. The dough will be sticky. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

Be careful not to over-mix the dough or the resulting doughnuts will turn out tough.

Step 4:

Roll the dough out and cut it

Begin forming the doughnuts by sprinkling some flour upon the work surface and then dusting your hands with a little more flour. Now roll the dough out to a thickness of about half of a centimetre. Next, use the large cutter(you can use coffee mug also) to cut out the doughnuts. You can then use the small cutter (i used cola bottle cap :) ) to cut out their centres.

Set the doughnuts aside and combine the leftover dough with some new dough.
Roll it out again and repeat the process until all the dough is used.

Step 5:

Fry

It is now time to fry your doughnuts. Place a saucepan with the oil over a medium heat. While waiting for the oil to heat up, you can prepare a tray by lining it with some paper towel. Now place the doughnuts into the hot oil a few at a time. Let them cook for about one minute until golden brown and turn them over. Cook the other side and place them on the tray. Repeat until all the dough is used.

Step 6:

Powdered doughnut:

Place your doughnuts on a plate and liberally dust them with powdered sugar. Your doughnuts are now ready to serve!

Glazed doughnut:

Drain the doughnut with paper towel briefly and then dip into the bowl of hot glaze.Dip in a vanilla glaze (recipe below)and drain on a wire rack set inside of a baking sheet.

They can be glazed with strawberry, chocolate, or raspberry sauces. Enjoy !!!

Vanilla Glaze:

• 3 cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
• ¼ to ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon strawberry extract

In a medium mixing bowl big enough to dip your doughnuts, stir together all glaze ingredients until there are no lumps. Set aside until ready to dip the hot doughnuts.

Parotta - Tamil Nadu style

You will need

• 4 cups maida flour
• ¾ cup yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• oil as reqd(more oil gives more taste)
• water as reqd
  

Step 1:

Mix together maida, salt, baking powder and sugar in a vessel. Beat egg separately and add with the flour mixture. Add oil, yogurt and water to make a soft dough. Make sure to knead the dough hard on a clean surface to make it soft.

Cover the dough with a wet cloth for atleast 4 hrs.

Step 2:

Take the dough and knead it once again. Make small balls.. Take each balls and spread it lengthwise then curl it(as shown below) and keep it aside for 30 minutes.


Step 3:

Heat the thava in medium flame. Pat the curl gently to flatten (to the size of parotta) and place in thava till the parotta is ready.

Step 4:

Once done pat sides of the parotta to get the layers. Happy cooking.. Need more patience and some skill to make this.:)

Serve with favourite non-veg curries.. Enjoy!!!!

Myself and my hubby had fun making these parottas on Columbus day holiday.. It was fun to do something together.And we got good result too..

Masala Biscuits/cookies

You will need

• 2 cups all-purpose flour(Maida), plus more for rolling
• 3 tsp sugar
• 1 ½ tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• ¾ cup buttermilk, plus more for brushing

Step 1:

Preheat the oven

We need to set the oven 375°F before beginning to make the cookies.

Step 2:

Slice the butter

Using a knife, cut in the butter until it is the size of small peas.


Step 3:

Preparing dough

In a medium bowl, whisk 2 cups of flour with the sugar, garam masala, baking powder and salt. Combine the ‚butter into the flour mixture. Then add buttermilk and stir until it turns into a dough.

Step 4:

Roll

Roll the dough on a floured surface until it is about half a cm thick. Select a pastry cutter, and starting at the edge of the dough, cut out the biscuits. Have some fun with the variety of shapes you can make. Place the biscuits straight onto the baking tray.Brush the tops with buttermilk.

Step 5:

Bake

Place the baking tray into the oven and cook until golden brown. This should take around 16 minutes, but watch carefully to make sure they don't burn.

Step 6:

Cool and serve

Take the tray out of the oven and leave it to cool. Then transfer them to a wire rack to become nice and crisp. Serve with a cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy!!!!

Potato and Spinach recipe

Step 1:

You will need

• 2 potatoes
  
• 1 bunch of spinach
  
• 1 medium onions
• 2 medium tomatoes/ 2Tbsp tomato paste
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 green chillies
  
• 1 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
• some salt
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp sambhar powder
  
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• ½ bunch of coriander leaves for garnish

Step 2:

Chop and Boil

Peel and finely chop onion, then 4 tomatoes and 2 green chillies.

Then peel and chop potatoes and also spinach.

Boil the potatoes in the microwave for 4 minutes or boil with water for 5 mins.

HANDY HINT
Use a scissor to cut chillies or dip your fingers in oil before you do this to stop the chilli juices from stinging your fingers.

Step 3:

Start frying

Put a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add
3 tablespoons of olive oil

Add the chopped onion and 2 green chillies to the pan, and fry for about 5 minutes or until the onions turn light golden brown. Stir frequently to stop the onions burning.

Step 4:

Ginger and garlic

Now add 2 tbsp of ginger and garlic paste. Stir well for a couple of minutes.


Step 5:

Spices

Add
½ a tsp of turmeric powder,
1 tsp of sambhar powder,

1 tsp of garam masala powder,
and fry for 5 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently.

Step 6:

Tomatoes

Add the finely chopped tomatoes followed by 2 tsp of cumin powder fry for 2 minutes.

Step 7:

Spinach and potatoes

Add chopped spinach and stir for 2 mins and then add the potatoes. After adding the potatoes stir in some salt, then close the lid and allow it to boil. If it is very dry, add some water and allow the potatoes to cook through.When the potatoes become soft, turn off the heat.


Step 8:

Garnish and Serve

When its warm mix 1 tsp of lemon juice. Then finely chop the coriander leaves onto the curry and serve


Serve with Chapathi, Kulcha or with rice.