Sesame Chicken

A few of you might have tried this dish from local food courts in Singapore. It's a non spicy item that everyone enjoy as a side dish. Here I'm with a very simple recipe that anyone can prepare within minutes.

Ingredients
Boneless Chicken-1kg, cut into thin slices

Ginger garlic paste-2 teaspoons

Pepper powder-1 teaspoon

Soy sauce-2 table spoons

Honey-5 tablespoons

Vinegar-2 tablespoons

Sesame seeds-2 tablespoons

Sesame Oil-3 tablespoons

Spring Onions-2 tablespoons, chopped

Salt-to taste

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons sesame oil in a wok and add chicken pieces. No need to add water as there will be water coming from chicken. Saute until the chicken is cooked and ¾th water gets drained off. Remove the chicken pieces to a bowl and keep aside. To the remaining chicken stock in the wok, add ginger garlic paste, soy sauce, honey, vinegar and salt. Stir well until you get a creamy sauce. Now add the cooked chicken pieces and sesame seeds and mix until the sauce coats well on the chicken. Add pepper powder. Remove from the fire and add remaining sesame oil. Garnish with sesame seeds and spring onions.

Mathanga Payasam (Pumpkin Dessert)

As I always make palada, parippu or semiya payasam, thought of trying a different payasam for this Onam which I have never tried before. A few options came up in my mind like carrot, pineapple or pumpkin payasam. Pumpkin payasam is something which I haven't tasted before and was not confident enough to try. Finally I decided to give it a try and to my surprise it turned up a very yummy dessert. It's different from our usual payasams and easy to prepare too. I would recommend this recipe for all my friends who love to try something different. Please do try and let me know your feedback.

Ingredients
Pumpkin-2 cups, cubed
Almonds-10nos
Sago-5 tablespoons
Jaggery-1 ½ cups, grated
Cardamom-5, crushed
Thin Coconut Milk-2 cups
Thick Coconut Milk-1 cup
Ghee-1 ½ tablespoons
Cashew nuts-a few
Raisins-a few

Method

Pressure cook pumpkin cubes upto 3 whistles and low the fire for 5 minutes. Soak almonds in hot water for 20 minutes and remove the skin. Grind pumpkin and almonds until smooth. Boil some water and add grated jaggery to it. Mix until jaggery is completely dissolved. Allow it to cool and strain. Cook sago in boiling water and wash in cold water and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a pan and saute the pumpkin-almond mixture for 5 minutes. Add jaggery syrup and mix well. Add crushed cardamom and cooked sago. Add thin coconut milk and let it boil for a few minutes. Add thick coconut milk and simmer the fire. Let it boil for 2 minutes and turn off the fire. Fry cashew nuts and raisins in ghee and garnish the payasam.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients

Cauliflower – 1

Ginger – ½ inch piece, thinly sliced

Garlic - 3 nos, thinly sliced

Green Chillies - 2, sliced

Onion – 1 large, diced

Capsicum – 1, diced

Soy sauce - 1 ½ tablespoon

Tomato ketchup - 3 table spoons

Spring Onions – 3 tablespoons, chopped

Oil – as required

Water – as required

For batter

Corn flour - 3 tablespoons

Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 teaspoon

Salt-to taste

Water – as required

Method

Boil some water with turmeric powder and a little salt and keep aside. Cut the cauliflower into small sized florets and wash in cold water. Add the florets into the boiled water and cover it for a few minutes. Drain and pat dry the cauliflower florets.

Mix the ingredients listed for batter and make a smooth batter. Heat some oil in a pan and dip the florets in the batter and fry until it turns golden brown.

Heat oil in a pan and saute onions, ginger and garlic for a few minutes. Add green chillies, soy sauce, tomato ketchup and salt. Add capsicums and a little water and mix well. When it turns a thick consistency, add fried cauliflower florets and mix well. Cover and let it cook in low fire for 2 minutes.

Remove from the fire and garnish with chopped spring onion. A great dish which goes well with vegetable pulav, fried rice or chapati.

Paneer Butter Masala

Ingredients

Paneer – 300 gm

Onion – 2, peel off the skin

Tomato – 2

Ginger – ½ inch piece

Garlic – 3 no

Green chillies – 2

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Garam Masala – 1 teaspoon

Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Kasuri Methi – ½ teaspoon

Cashew nuts – 6 nos

Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Salt – to taste

Butter – 2 teaspoons

Fresh cream – 3 tablespoons

Method 

Soak cashew nuts in warm water for 30 minutes and grind to paste. Add onions and tomatoes to boiled water to make it soft. Cover and keep for 30 minutes. Peel off the tomato skin. Grind onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chillies in a blender.

Heat butter in a pan and add garam masala powder and saute for a second. Add in the ground onion mixture, turmeric powder and kashmiri chilli powder. Mix well. Add ground cashew paste mix with some water. Reduce the fire and add sugar and salt. Add in the fresh cream and stir well. Now add the paneer cubes to the mixture. Crush kasuri methi (use hands to crush it) and add to the boiling mixture. Boil until paneer cubes are soft. Garnish with coriander leaves and cream. Serve hot with roti or naan.

Notes : You can also shallow fry the paneer pieces.

Mushroom Thoran (No oil mushroom thoran)

Ingredients

White Button Mushrooms – 300 gm, sliced

Salt – as required

To grind

Coconut – 4 tablespoons

Cumin seeds – ¼ teaspoon

Green Chillies – 1

Shallots – 2 nos

Garlic – 1 clove

Curry leaves – a few

   Wash and clean the mushrooms. Heat a pan and add the mushrooms. (No need to add water as it will be coming from mushrooms) Add salt and cover the pan and cook for a minute. Uncover the pan and cook until all the water gets evaporated. Grind the ingredients under ‘To grind’ without adding water. Add the ground mixture to the cooked mushroom and stir well. Cover the mixture for a minute. Mix well. Remove from the fire and garnish with some curry leaves.

Chicken Fry

Ingredients

Chicken – 500 g

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper powder – 1 teaspoon

Fennel seeds powder – ½ teaspoon

Lemon Juice – 1 tablespoon

Salt – to taste

To Grind

Ginger – ½ inch piece

Garlic – 4 cloves

Green Chilli – 1

Mint leaves – a few

Curry leaves – a few

Curd – 3 tablespoons

Cut the chicken into small pieces. Clean and wash the chicken pieces. Drain the water and keep aside. Grind all the ingredients listed under ‘To Grind’ to a smooth paste. Marinate the chicken pieces with the ground paste and other ingredients. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat oil in a pan and add the marinated chicken pieces. Fry the chicken pieces on medium flame until they turn brown in colour. Drain onto paper towels. Fry some curry leaves in the same oil to garnish.

Kappa Puttu (Steamed Tapioca)

Ingredients

Tapioca – 1.5 cups, grated

Rice powder– 2.5 tablespoons

Coconut – ¾ cup, grated

Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon

Salt – to taste

Method

Wash the grated tapioca in cold water at least twice and squeeze out the water completely. Mix it with salt and rice powder. Add cumin seeds and half of grated coconut and mix well. Then put 1 tablespoon of coconut in the puttu vessel, then grated tapioca and again a little coconut. (Follow the normal procedure of making puttu). Steam it for 8-10 minutes. Serve kappa puttu with Kadala curry or with any non vegetarian dish.

Note – You can use wheat powder instead of rice powder. I used Wheat puttu flour.