Roasted Stuffed Chicken - Desi Style

Thanksgiving Day is not quite celebrated in India with as much status it has in the western world. So though a christian I have really not had my fill of Stuffed Turkey " THE dish "  for thanksgiving days.

In the umpteen T.V soaps I have always liked the part where the family celebrates the Turkey carving as big gettogether event. I think I have been highly influenced by Monica ( Courteny Cox)  in Friends on this.

But eating a whole portion of  turkey or chicken is too much for mild non veggies like me, so wanted to adapt it to chicken breasts or thighs. Here is the recipe of stuffed chicken desi style..

Ingredients :

Chicken : 500 Gms  ( Chicken Breast Boneless)

Slice chicken longtitudinal, such that the same piece can be used as a single bigger piece, This is requried for folding in the stuffing and then securing it. Flatten the chicken piece slighlty using a rolling pin.

Make braises on the chicken so that the marinate sticks well. Its good to do on both sides of the chicken.

Marinate :

Curd / Yoghurt   - 2 -3 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 3 tsp
Lime Juice  - 2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
Pepper Powder - 3 tsp
Thai Seasoning -1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Prepare the marinate. Coat chicken well with the marinate. The lime extract helps in making the chicken tender and easy to cook. Refrigerate for about 2- 3 hours. Accidently I kept for about 5-6 hours and I think it turned out better that way.

Filling :

I used the Jugal Sausage Salad left overs, recipe is here http://tangyroute.blogspot.com/2010/10/sausage-salad.html
Otherwise, minced chicken, onion, tomato & potato gravy etc can be used for filling.

Spead the filling over one half of the chicken piece, Roll the other portion of the chicken. Secure using toothpicks or tie it up with a thick string.
Roast this prepared chicken in a pan with a little oil for about 3-4 mins. Turn sides and let it roast for another 4 mins. Now transfer contents into a microwavable plate and bake/ grill for about 10 mins at 180 deg C. Turn sides and grill for another 10 mins.

Serve Hot

Jugal Sausage Salad

This is completely an inspired recipe after a mad day at the grocery store where I picked up veggie's in random without anything particular in mind. Its easy to cook and can be served as salad or topping for a pizza, along with noodles or may be even as stuffing..

Chicken Sausages : Skinless ( 4-5 ),
Button Mushrooms : Cleaned ( 4 - 5 )
Onion : 1
Tomato - 1
Capsicum ( Yellow / Blue / Red ) - 1/ 2 each, make as colorful as possible
Red Peppers  : 2 to 3
Parsley Leaves : 1 or 2 ground
Olive Oil  : 1 tsp
Thai Seasoning : 1/2 tsp
Salt to Taste
Coarsely Ground Black Pepper - 2 tsp
Soy Sauce - 1 tsp

Cut Sausage & Mushrooms into small cubes. Capsicums & Peppers into long slivers. Heat a pan and toss fry all the ingredients for about 7 - 8 mins. Do not add any water, mushrooms when heated will release some water content. Serve hot. Garnish with lettuce leaves

Aloo Poshto

Aloo Poshto is a bengali everyday dish.. Poshto or Poppy Seeds or Khus- Khus as it is known in certain parts of the country originates from Poppy flowers..well it does have a connection to Opium which is secreted from the same flowers, but dont worry Aloo Poshto is definetly not a sedative but a delight it is...

Interstingly these seeds are protien rich and used as a thickening agent in both Indian and Jewish cooking. It is also a a prevalent spice in Greek cooking and used in baking too.

The recipe listed here is a slightly modified Poshto recipe..

Aloo ( Potatoes) - 3 / 4 medium sized

Poppy Seeds - 3- 4 tbsp

Green Chillies - 6 no:s
Ginger Paste - 1 tbsp
Shallots - 6 - 7 no:s
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt  - as per taste

Turmeric - 1 tsp Optional.

Oil - 1 tbsp (  Mustard oil preffered)

Coriander Leaves - For Garnishing

Brinjal Rava Fry

For the last 2 weeks my kitchen is completely on the veggie regime and both of us are loving it for a change. There is actually so much to make in vegetarian food. So here is something new that I tried last week.Original recipe is by my colleague who bought this as side dish for lunch the other day.

Brinjal / Bhaigan or egg plant is something which is an easy to cook and highly nutritous vegetable.It is high in pottassium and calcium with apt amount of dietary fiber.

Aviyal

Its Onakalam again.. and time to make my fav dish..aviyal. Explained in english, its a concoction of many vegetables cooked in yoghurt with mildly flavored coconut..

Aviyal is said to have a very interesting origin. There are many stories which link it to royalty. Most commonly said is that it originated during Mahabharata when Bhima ( the strong man amongst the Pandavas) was working as a cook in a palace and while the king walked into the royal kitchen he saw lots of vegetables being left over. As the King did not like waste of any kind, he ordered all the remaining vegetables to be made into a dish..and our dear old Bhima cooked the veggies in some curd and coconut seasoning..& voila a new dish was born.

Interestingly the term " Aviyal " is used colloquially for variety or for mix and matches. There is even a Kerala rock band by this name in which there is a mix of various music genres.

I make aviyal for pretty much the same purpose - to use up left over veggies and also to because its one of the most tasty recipes for having a wide variety of greens..

Baby Potatoes with Spinach ( Parsi Dish)

I had this dish at a Parsi restaurant in Bangalore ( Daddy's Deli ) and loved it and decided to try it at home . It tasted quite like the one we ate.  This is how I went about it -

Ingredients

500 gms - Baby Potatoes ( also called Potato sprouts)
500 gms - Green spinach ( cut finely)
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tbsp
Onion - 1
Salt - to Taste
Oil - Cooking (1 Tbsp)
Mustard & Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp each
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Boil the Baby potatoes, de-veil it and cut into 2. Cut Onion finely.
Splutter the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add the Onion and stir on low fire for about 3 mins. Add chilli powder, salt &  turmeric. Add spinach and stir for another 2 mins before adding the cut potatoes. Stir well till the spinach is well cooked.
Once the potatoes are boiled, it can be made pretty easily ( especially on work week days ) and serves as a good side dish along with roti's or even rice.

Kerala Beef Fry..

theOn a sunday morning  if you drive by a christian neighbourhood in kerala you are sure to know that there is some variant of beef on the stove. Nowadays it is cooked rarely ( may be in alternate weeks) becuase of all the negatives of red meat.