Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu Chicken Stew

Imran Khan loves green chillies and rice. What better accompaniment with stew than rice or rice Appams! I found out during an interview that like every other Indian man, for Imran, dal-chaaval is the best meal. He even loves biting into green chillies while having his meals. His mom’s side of the family eats very spicy food and that’s where his love for chillies comes from. I know it is hard to believe but Imran loves spicy food.

So, on the occasion of the release of his new movie with Kareena Kapoor Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, I have made this spicy chicken Stew flavoured with lots of green chillies. I decided to make chicken stew with the coconut milk flavor since Imran has spent a large part of his young years in South India. This stew is also so called so because it is made of two main ingredients, Chicken and potato!

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu Chicken Stew

This is a chicken stew made with chicken and potatoes flvaoured with mint, green chillies and coconut cream.

Ingredients

Mint Leaves 1 cup

Green Chilli 4-5

Coconut cream (freshly scraped) 1 cup

Chicken, boneless, cut into cubes  2 cups

Ghee 1 tablespoon

Rai 1 tspn.

Curry Leaves a few

Chana Dal 2 tspns.

Urad Dal 2 tspns.

Onion, chopped ¼ cup

Potato, cut into cubes 1 cup

Turmeric a pinch

Salt to taste

Chicken Stock (Optional) ½ cup

Method:

Grind mint leaves, green chillies, salt and coconut cream into a smooth paste.

Marinate the chicken with 4 tablespoons of this mixture.

Heat ghee in pan, add in rai, urad dal, chanadal, curry leaves allow it to splatter in the pan. Add in the chopped onions, once they are golden brown add in the potato and a pinch of turmeric. Cover with a fitted lid and cook the potatoes on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

Add in the chicken and the remaining mint and coconut paste. Add in half cup of chicken stock or water. Simmer the chicken stew for 5-7 minutes.

Serve hot with appams, rice or bread. 

Get Me Through This Day! Chicken

It is only Tuesday! My boss is driving me crazy and I feel like punching my fist into a wall. I need some comfort food to get me through this day. For an awesome conclusion to a long day at work, I made this dish. I look forward to my dinner, sometimes it cheers me up and on other days it makes me sing!

Serves 2

Ingredients

Chicken Breasts 2

Mushroom, sliced 1 cup

Butter 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Pepper a pinch

Oregano 1 tspn.

Milk ¼ cup

Cheese Slice 1

Spring Onion Greens ¼ cup

Method:

Slice the chicken along the side parallel to the surface to open it out into a heart shape. Hammer the thick portions with a round spoon to thin them out.  Season with salt and pepper. Cook it slightly n both sides.

Saute the mushrooms and a little spring onion in butter with salt and oregano.  Stuff the cooked mushroom in the centre of the chicken.

Heat milk in a pan and add in a slice of cheese in it. Add spring onion greens.

Pour the sauce and serve with bread.

Enjoy comfort food on a weekday. Treat yourself!

An Ode To The Coconut Man of Agneepath! Krishnan Iyer yeM yeA

Wednesday evening. I need a drink. I appreciate the journey, but I prefer the grande finale! We still have two days away from the weekend. So, stepping away from all the spirits I am resorting to coconut water to drive up my spirit. Coconut water is mixed with a single dose of enthusiasm to pep myself for the rest of the week. This drink is dedicated to the love of Agneepath and the character of Krishnan Iyer yeM yeA missing in the new version. This drink is called Krishnan Iyer yeM yeA.

Krishnan Iyer yeM yeA

Ingredients

Coconut Water 1 part

Fresh Coconut flesh, scraped ¼ part

Pineapple juice ¾ part

Brown Sugar to taste

Soda to top

Pineapple a piece for garnish

Cherry 1, for garnish

Method:

In a blender add in all the ingredients except for the soda and pieces of pineapple and cherry.

Pour the drink in a chilled champagne flute and then top it up with chilled soda.

Garnish with a piece of pineapple and cherry on a toothpick.

Enjoy Wednesday!

Hot Green Puris on a January Morning!!

Bathua (Chenopodium/ White Goose-Foot/ Fat-Hen) Puri

Bathua is grown extensively in North India with wheat. Bathua is rich in iron and is used to make raitas, saags and puris. Bathua puris can be eaten with pickle for breakfast, at tea time or as bread with vegetables during meal times.

For 18-20 Puris

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Flour (Atta) 3 cups

Gram Flour (Besan) ¾ cup

Bathua, cleaned 1 bunch

Asafoetida (Hing) 1 tspn.

Red Chilli powder a pinch

Salt (Namak) to taste

Vegetable Oil (Tel) for frying

Method:

Clean the bathua. Blanch the bathua leaves and grind them into a smooth paste with a pinch of salt.

Take whole wheat flour and gram flour on a flat surface and add in the bathua paste, asafoetida, salt and red chilli powder.

Mix these ingredients with flour. Add a few drops of water if necessary. Bind the ingredients together and then knead it into smooth dough. Round it up and cover with a damp cloth. Rest the dough for thirty minutes.

Divide the dough into 18 -20 equal portions. Round up one part of the dough, flatten it and smear it with oil. Roll out the dough into a circle.

Heat oil for frying in a deep pan. Add in the puris one by one and deep fry them until golden brown. Puris should be cooked on both sides.

Try these rich in iron puris with lemon pickle!

7 Reasons To Eat or Not To Eat At Invitation’s Today; Sadanand Regency

Name: Invitation’s today, Sadanand Regency Hotel

Location: Ahead of National Sports Complex, Pune towards Hinjewadi. Located On the Mumbai-Bangalore Highway.

Date of Visit: 19^th January, 2012 (Dinner Hour)

 You Must Try Dum Ka Murgh at Invitations Today.

Reasons To Eat.

Reason 1: The Location. Being right on the Mumbai- Bangalore Highway and close to the offices in Hinjewadi as well as Infotech Park this place is elegant and affordable.

Reason 2: This place has great ambience for the price bracket it serves. They have a well-lit and well-spaced out setting in the dining area. The bar set-up really stands out and furniture is neat and classy. I have been to this place a couple of times and it is usually peaceful and non chaotic.

Reason 3: The items on their menu and the variety of cuisines they have to offer sets this place apart from others in its category. Although like many other restaurants Invitations Today offers Indian, Oriental and Continental dishes, their selection of pastas, unique starters and soups is a breath of fresh air from regular menus. Tired of regular soups? Try Beijing Soup at this place. It is delicious.

Reason 4: Value For Money. A dinner for six adults with beer and without desserts cost us a little over fifteen hundred bucks. They also offer a regular buffet spread without starters which costs about 250 INR per person as on 18^th January, 2012. With good ambience and good food, this is a good bargain.

Reasons To Not Eat

Reason 5: Recommendations by the Service Staff were not satisfactory. Simply because sweetish kebabs are not my favourite pick, the server ought to have mentioned that those moist, succulent kebabs he had recommended were sweet.

Reason 6: Continental Cuisine was not satisfactory.  The Spaghetti Milanese was very disappointing. The spaghetti was very sticky, dry and cold. The preparation was bland and substandard.

Reason 7: Dessert Selection. Although most multi-cuisine restaurants with an ala carte menu have limited items in the dessert section, since the menu of this restaurant was unique and special, a little more variety in desserts wouldn’t hurt.  

Clearly, the reasons to eat in this case are more than reasons not to eat. Do try out this restaurant at Sadanand Regency, it is clean, elegant and reasonably priced.

Ambience: 8/ 10 Very Good

Value For Money: 8/ 10 Very Good

Menu: 8/ 10 Very Good

Food: 7/ 10 Good

Service: 7/ 10 Good

That Thing About This Place: 7/ 10 Good

Very Good Ambience + Very Good Value For Money + Very Good Menu + Good Food + Good service + Good That thing About This Place = Very Good

Rating = 8/ 10