Potato fry stuffed with Keema

I made this dish years ago while I was living in Irvine for a bunch of friends and they loved it. It can however be a bit time consuming, but well worth it. Ingredients for the Keema: 1Lb Lean Ground Beef or Turkey ( which ever you prefer) 2 to 3 Cardomom Pods 1 inch cinnamom stick 1 Bay leaf 2 onions Finely Chopped 2tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste 1 1/2 tsp Geera 1tbsp Danya 1 tbsp Garam Masala 1/2 tsp Cumin 1 1/2Tbsp Chili Powder 2 large Green Chilies finely chopped 5-6 Medium sized potatoes First boil the potatoes till they are fork tender, drain and set aside. Clean the ground beef or turkey well and drain any excess liquid from the meat. Now take a non-stick pan and set on medium high heat with 4 tbsps oil. Once oil is hot add the onions and fry till they are translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and fry for about a couple of minutes. Now add the green chilies and stir for about a minute. Now add the cardomom pods, the cinnamom stick, and bay leaf. stir and fry for a couple of minutes. Now go ahead and the spices, Geera, Danya,Cumin and chili powder. Fry all the ingredients well, add a bit of water and let the spices cook well. Now go ahead and add the beef or turkey and incorporate all the spices well with the meat, keep frying till the meat is cooked, add 1/2 beef stock and cover and cook on low heat for about ten minutes. After ten minutes uncover and cook on high till all the liquid has dissolved and meat is dry, at this time add the Garam Masala and salt to taste and give it a good stir. Once liquid has evaporated, set aside. and let it cool. While the dry Keema is cooling, peel the potatoes and mash them up finely. You can wait for about another half hour before putting this together. Keep a bowl of water while your sitting down and doing this as your going to need it. Take a handful of mashed potato and make a ball out of it, then use your thumb to make a pocket, dip your hands in the water little by little to avoid having the potato stick to your hand like glue. Take a small spoon of beef or turkey and put it inside the pocket and close it up with some more potato. Repeat this process till you have finished all the potato and meat stuffing process. Now in on plate beat up about three eggs ( if you find you need more later on then beat up some more) and on another plate have refined bread crumbs. Now heat enough oil in a pan to deep fry these. while oil is heating up, dip the stuffed potato pieces in the egg and then the bread crumbs and make sure to coat them well. Once oil is hot enough (you can test this by dipping a drop of water and you will notice the oil coming together in the center) drop the potatoes three or four at a time and fry till golden brown. Remove and place on paper towels so excess oil is soaked up. You can serve this with tomato chili sauce which you can buy at any Indian store. This is a great appetizer, though its so yummy you might fill yourself up.

Oven Roasted Asparagus with bacon and Spring Onions in a Wine Based Cream Sauce

Simple, Easy and yummy Ingredients: One bunch Asparagus Hadful1 of Bacon chopped coarsley Salt to taste Freshly ground black pepper to taste Bunch of spring onions chopped coarsley Olive oil thyme leaves 1tbs Flour 1/4 cup Wine or Sherry 1/4 cup heavy cream In an oven roasting pan spread out the asparagus (make sure to remove the stems and you do this by breaking it off where it snaps very easily) , bacon and spring onions. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and few thyme leaves, along with a little bit of olive oil and mix well. Preheat the oven to 375F. Roast for about 20 minutes. The asparagus should be crisp and cooked. Now remove the Asparagus, Bacon and spring onions and set aside on a serving plate. Remove any additional fat from the roasting pan and set on medium high heat, and add about 1/4 cup white wine or sherry (which ever you prefer)and scrap the bottom of the roasting pan to get the flavors incorporated well. Thicken the sauce with the heavy cream and let this simmer on low for about 7-8 minutes or till sauce has reduced by half. Pour sauce over Asparagus dish and enjoy

Herbed Butter Marinated Chicken With a White Wine Sauce

Something I came up with today. Fairly simple and should not take more then 40 minutes to make. I call it comfort food after a hard day at work Ingredients: 4 Chicken Breasts 1 stick of butter 1 bunch thyme (you can use 1 tbs dry thyme as well) 1 bunch rosemary (Same case here) salt to taste pepper to taste along with green chilies if you want it spicey 1tbs Flour 1inch piece ginger (chopped roughly) 4 cloves Garlic White wine (any good cooking wine should do) Instructions: In a blender blend the butter, thyme, rosemary, salt,pepper (and or green chilies) ginger and garlic to a paste. Now slather the chicken breasts with the paste (make sure to make slits in the chicken breast so the marinade really gets in). Set aside for a couple of hours. When chicken breasts have been marinated, heat a oven proof skillet with some more butter on low to medium heat, you dont want the butter to burn but should be hot enough, so that chicken will sizzle when it touches the pan. Once browned put the chicken in a 350F degree oven for about 30 minutes, (make sure you check the chicken to make sure its cooked through), if you feel it needs more time go ahead and cook for a little bit longer. All ovens vary and this is why i say this. Once done, remove and set the chicken pieces aside on a plate and use the same pan to make the sauce. Turn the heat on to medium heat, once pan is hot, add about a cup of white wine or whatever kind of wine you want actually, and make sure to scrap all the good stuff from the bottom of the pan. You can add some Flour to thicken the sauce. When adding the flour make sure to incorporate it completely so no clumps form. Now add the chicken pieces back to the pan along with the sauce and simmer on low heat for about ten minutes. This would go great with a side dish of roasted carrots and mashed potatoes. I will put the recipe for the roasted carrots up soon. As you can see this recipe is not for those on a diet, but making it once in a while wont kill you either. Enjoy!

Tamarind Chicken with Spinach in a Tomato spiced sauce

Hey all finally got a new recipe and its delicious for all the chicken lovers out there. There are alot of steps to this, so please follow carefully and all should be fine. Ingredients: 4 to 6 tomatoes boiled and peeled 1 tbs Geera seeds 1 tbs mustard seeds 1 inch Ginger chopped finely Indian standard about 4 garlic pods, western standard about two large chopped finely 1 tbs Danya Powder to taste 1 tbs Geera Powder to taste 1 tsp Garam Masala 1/2 tsp cumin powder 3 tbs oil 4 to 5 cups spinach Ghee sugar 4 chicken breasts Marinade for the Chicken: Soya Sauce (however much you want) worsterchire sause (however much you want) 1 tbs Danya Powder 1 tbs chili powder 1 tsp garam masala touch of salt 2tbs Tamarind Powder also known as dry Tam or you can use liquid Tamcon Mix up the marinade in a small cup and set aside. Now butterfly the chicken breasts and smash each one till they are flattened out and tenderized. Pour the marinade on all four chicken breasts on both sides and rub it in well. Set the marinated chicken aside in the fridge up to 2 hours or you can leave overnight. Now in a nonstick pan heat up some Ghee and add the spinach. Once spinach has wilted and it will do so fairly quickly add about a tsp of sugar (this brings down the acidity level) give it a quick stir and set aside. For the Sauce: Boil the tomatoes till the skin starts to crack. Turn the heat off remove the tomatoes,peel and chop up into small bits, not too fine though. In another nonstick pot or pan (please beware that the pan needs to be deep enough for both the chicken and the sauce later on) on low to medium high heat, heat up 3 tbsps oil. Add the mustard seeds and once they start to pop add the geera seeds. Stir till Geera seeds start to change colour, add the ginger and garlic. Stir and fry for a few minutes. Now add the Danya, Geera and Cumin powder stir and mix well. Now take the chopped tomatoes and add this to the pan continuing to stir. Bring it to a simmer and then lower heat and cook for about ten minutes covered. You can add any extra marinade used for the chicken at the end and just add it to the tomatoes. Add salt to taste and garam masala powder in the end, cook for another 5 minutes or so. If you want the liquid to reduce uncover and cook on high. Now for the chicken: Once chicken has marinated for a couple of hours, take the spinach and add a bit of spinach to each of the chicken breasts. Now roll the breasts and seal them with toothpicks or you can sew together so that they are completely sealed. In a nonstick pan heat up enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan on high heat. Once hot (you should hear a sizzle when you add the chicken)put all four chicken breasts in and fry both sides till they are a golden brown colour. Do not over cook the chicken, you just want that colouring on both sides. Turn the heat of and carefully remove the chicken and add the pieces jently to the sauce. You will then need to add some water (enough to cover the chicken pieces till they are almost covered). Turn heat on, bring to a boil, cover and cook on low for about 20 minutes. The tomatoes will add more water content to this, so if it is too liquidy, just uncover in the end and cook on high for another 5 to ten minutes. If the chicken is fully cooked through remove the chicken pieces and just reduce the liquid. Remember to remove the toothpicks and or thread used to bind the chicken, serve with rice and enjoy!

Mutton Curry

Manab's Recipe and great to boot!

Half a kilo Boned Mutton
One Star Anice (dont know if I am spelling that right)
Four Cardommon Pods (broken and then fried)
Two big Cinammon sticks broken into pieces
I large onion sliced into pieces
four large chilies sliced into half
Two Tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste 
Two Bay Leafs
Two Tsps Garahm Masala
1/12 Tsps chili powder
1/12 Tsps Turmeric powder
2Tbs Mutton Masala
One medium sized potato chopped into four pieces

Intstructions:

Heat oil in pressure cooker till hot, add cardamom pods, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add the onions and chilies and fry till onions have a translucent colour.  Now add ginger garlic paste and fry for another couple of minutes.

Now add Garham Masala, Turmeric Powder, Mutton Masala, Salt (to taste), and chili powder and fry for a couple of Minutes till all spices are incorporated finely.

Now add half a cup of water to mix masala well, reduce heat to low, add the star anice.  Now add the chopped potatoes and Mutton.  Mix all well, close the pressure cooker and let it whistle for about three times.

All done and enjoy!

Bitter Gourd

Honestly I hate this vegetable, but thought I could tweek it so I could eat it and it worked.

Ingredients:

Two large bitter Gourd's slice how you like
about a tablespoon of ginger garlic paste
3 medium sized red onions
Flour, 3/4 cup
Salt to taste
Chili Powder 1 tsp or more ( depends on how spicy you like it)

This is a very simple recipe and great as a snack. 

Instructions

Bitter Gourd needs to be peeled first, once done, slice anyway you like.

Add a bit of flour, chili powder, salt, ginger garlic paste and mix well. Fry the onions first till they are a dark brown colour and set aside. Now fry the bitter Gourd to the same. It takes a while and you need to deep fry it, so patience is the virtue here. 

Once all is fried well, mix the onions and bitter gourd together add some more salt and chili powder, mix well and enjoy!

Like I said I hate this vegetable, but was amazed at how much I loved it after I made it this way and after speaking to mom, found this was the way she used to make it as well, so it must have been stuck in my memory somewhere.  I cant take full credit for this, I give it to Amma!