Chicken Momo

Momos or dumplings have been a around for centuries. You can find them under different names in China, Japan, Mongolia, etc..

The momo that has now become popular is of Nepalese origin. Inadvertently you will find that all the local momo boys in the markets are Nepalese. When the Nepalese started coming to India they bought along with them this simple yet wholesome food.

We are accustomed to only the normal chicken, paneer and veg varieties of momos. But there are so many variations of these dumplings. You can have them steamed or fried. The pan fried version is called Kothay. You can have them in soups and broths. And there are so many shapes you can make them in.

Today I am focusing only on a basic chicken momo.

Ingredients

For the dough

2 cups flour

Salt to taste

Water to knead

Mix the flour and salt. Use the water to knead a firm dough. Cover and keep aside for some time.

For the filling

500 gms chicken keema

2 onions, chopped fine

7-8 garlic pods, chopped fine

4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste

1 tbsp cold butter

I have found that if you want juicy momos you should include some chicken fat into the filling. However since I buy ready made mince it is not possible for me to add the chicken fat. The other alternative is to add some butter.

Mix all the filling ingredients.

Now make small balls of the dough and start rolling them out. The trick with rolling out the momo wrappers is to make the outer circumference thinner that the middle portion.

This is because you will be gathering up the outer rim and folding it into different shapes. The middle portion has to be thicker so that the momo does not break after being steamed.

Place a tablespoon of filing in the middle and fold the momo into desired shapes.

Steam them for 20-25 minutes. Have the hot, steaming momos with the red chutney.

Sweet Cucumber Relish

Now no more buying that bottled stuff. This sweet cucumber relish can be made at home in a jiffy with very basic ingredients. It keeps well in the fridge for a month or two. Use the relish in your pizzas, sandwiches and dips.


Ingredients

5 seedless cucumbers, sliced very fine
2 white onions, sliced fine
2 tbsp whole yellow mustard
½ cup white vinegar
½ cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp whole black pepper
3 green chillies, sliced

Put a big pan on flame. Mix together water, sugar and vinegar. Add chillies, whole mustard and black peppercorns. Boil till the sugar dissolves. Add the cucumber and onions. Cook till the cucumber turns translucent. Cool completely.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

If you want a quick and easy snack for a lazy day this is a very good option. Want to curl up on the sofa to watch your favourite movie then this is the perfect accompaniment. This recipe works best with chicken wings. However you can use boneless chicken or simple curry cut chicken.

Ingredients

500 gm chicken

1 onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbsp soya sauce

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp sesame seeds

½ tsp pepper powder

½ tsp chilli flakes

A pinch of salt (remember you are already adding salt through the soya sauce)

Whisk all the ingredients together and marinate the chicken in it for 2 hours. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Supernaturally Decadent Chocolate Cake

Why supernatural? It has the most amazing midnight black colour. It has the most out of this world unbelievable chocolaty taste. And because you simply can't resist it.


Ingredients

1 ½ cups flour
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cups cocoa powder
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
¾ cup milk
2/3 cup hot water
½ cup tootifrutti

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and sugar. Mix together eggs, oil, milk and vanilla essence. Beat well. Add the hot water. Beat again. Fold in the dry ingredients. Add the tuttifrutti.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 45 minutes.

Baked Bharwan Mushroom

In India we commonly get the white button mushrooms. And that too has been available in the last 10 years or so. Before that only the gourmet vegetable shops used to keep mushrooms. I remember going to INA market in Delhi specially to get the mushrooms.

Then there started a wave of mushroom cultivation. It takes a little bit of knowledge and expertise and anyone can do mushroom farming. So these white beauties became readily available in the smallest of veg shops. They are also available in the timed form.

I add mushrooms to pizzas, pasta, chowmein. They are great roasted or grilled. And they make a delicious curry. This Grilled Bharwan recipe is pretty simple. And you need only 2-3 ingredients. I have made a non veg version using sausages. You can replace them with paneer.

Ingredients

200 gms fresh button mushrooms

3-4 sausages

½ cup mozzarella cheese

Salt to taste

Wash the mushrooms really well. Rinse them at least thrice.

Chop of the stems of the mushrooms. Scoop out the insides of the mushrooms. Now chop all these portions very fine. Chop the sausages very fine. Heat some oil. Add the chopped mushroom portions. Saute on high heat till they wilt. Add the sausages and saute. Add a little salt for seasoning. Apply some oil to the button mushrooms. Stuff the sausage filling inside. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Bake the mushrooms for 10 minutes. Eat them hot.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

I am enjoying my second childhood. No I am not having juvenile episodes nor am I throwing childish tantrums. As a child we have only one task and that is to study. That seems to be the hardest thing to do. We look at our parents and elders and imagine they have it so much easier. Each and every child cant wait to grow up because that would mean an end to endless studies and then like grownups we will have a cool and easy life. HAAH!! 

This is life’s greatest irony. We look back at those childish desire and give a wry smile. Now we wish to go back to that carefree, responsibility-free life of luxury where the only thing we had to do was study. Now juggling work, house and kids, surviving maid problems, rude neighbors, traffic, pollution, population, crime, we wonder why we ever grew up!

Coming back to my second childhood. I sit with my on when he studies and I am enjoying the textbooks like I never did when I was his age. Teaching him, explaining things, making him enquire and explore I realise I am enjoying every moment of it. When I am teaching him about the structure of leaves and flowers we spend an hour in the garden and kitchen garden exploring the varieties of flora and fauna. We sit under the night sky and try to identify stars and constellations. And all the while I keep wishing that I would be a child again and learn these things again and this time take more pleasure in the whole process.

This post is becoming more like a Dear Diary entry.

Today’s chapter was about Microorganisms. We came to the topic of Fungi and he was mighty curious to know how we can eat a fungus. Explaining the concept of good fungus and bad fungus was not enough. So off we went to the market and bought a packet of pearly white button mushrooms.

So this post is dedicated to studies and mushroom.

Ingredients

1 packet button mushrooms

1 small onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

½ cup cheese, grated ( I have used 2 slices chicken salami)

For sealing the mushrooms

4 tbsp maida

2 tbsp cornflour

For the batter

¾ cup maida

½ cup cornflour

1 tsp tomato ketchup

½ tsp soya sauce

Salt to taste

Wash the mushrooms well. Now cut out their stems and with the help of a knife gently scoop out the centre. Be gentle or the mushroom may break.

When you have taken out the centres from all the mushrooms then chop those mushrooms bits. Keep the whole mushrooms aside.

Heat some oil. Add the chopped garlic and onion. Saute for some time and then add the chopped mushroom. Fry and add grated paneer or chopped salalmi, whichever you are using. Season according to taste. Now stuff the filling in the mushrooms. Keep it level and don’t overfill otherwise while frying the filling will seep out.

Now make a thick paste of 4 tbsp maida and 2 tbsp cornflour. Starting from the sides slowly cover the fillings so that they remain sealed inside the mushroom.

Make a batter of maida, cornflour, tomato ketchup, soya sauce and salt. Dip the mushrooms in the batter and deep fry.

P.S I bought two packets of mushrooms, one for myself and one for my son. This snack is from “his” pack.  Now I have to think of something to make from “my” pack.

Chocolate Peanutbutter Overload Cake

Happy birthday to me!! This is the birthday cake I baked for my birthday. When I first decided to make my own cake

I was pretty sure I needed it to be utterly sinful. What can be more sinful than chocolate and peanut butter. Then I came across this recipe from the browneyedbaker. The very name caught my attention. Yummm!!!

There are a few changes I made to the recipe mainly because of the extreme cold here. The temperature is around 2 degrees Celsius and butter simply does not melt. Any butter I put in the cakes makes the cake rock solid. So I have started making oil cakes. The recipe calls for buttercream. I have replaced that with whipped cream. Rest of the recipe is the same.

Recipe source : browneyedbaker.com

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups creamy peanut butter⅔ cup heavy cream

2 ½ cups + 1 tbsp all purpose flour

3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup+ 1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp salt

3 eggs

1 ½ cups buttermilk, at room temperature

1 ½ cups strong black coffee, hot

¾ cup vegetable oil

4 ½ tsp vanilla extract

For the Peanut Butter frosting

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup creamy peanut butter

For the ganache

2 cups grated chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

For garnish

½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line and grease 3x9” cake tins.

Mix together sifted flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. Divide the batter equally into three tins. Bake for 25 minutes.

Make the frosting. Whip the cream till it starts to thicken. Then add the peanut butter and whip till stiff peaks form.

Now layer the three cakes with the frosting. Use only half the frosting for the layering. Keep one cupful of frosting for piping and use the rest to cover the top and sides of the cake.

Make the ganache. Melt the grated chocolate on a double boiler. Add the heavy cream and whisk well to make it smooth and glossy. Pour over the cake and let it drizzle down the sides.

Pipe designs on the cake using the cupful of frosting. Garnish with roasted peanuts.

Baigan Bathua

One can never stress enough the importance of incorporating green leafy vegetables in our diet. I feel Indian cuisine is maybe unique in its use of all kinds of saag/leafy vegetables.

Come winter and the markets are flooded with varieties of saag be it spinach, mustard, fenugreek, bathau etc. These are just a few of the common ones that most of us are familiar with.

 We Bengalis have a very interesting tradition. The day before Diwali we make a dish called “chodoh shaag” which means 14 kinds of saag. We cook all 14 varieties together. With growing urbanization it is extremely difficult to find 14 different varieties. Apart from the ones commonly found we also use mooli saag, matar saag etc. On a different note it is worth mentioning that matar ka saag is also very delicious.

Bathua saag is also known as Lamb’s quarter. It is a winter leafy variety which is a distant cousin of the spinach. Needless to say it is a good source of vitamins, minerals, iron, fibre, potassium and phosphorus.

Ingredients

1 bunch bathua, chopped

1 medium baigan, cubed

3 tbsp mustard oil

1 tsp kalonji

2 green chillies, slit

½ tsp turmeric powder

 Salt to taste

Wash the chopped saag at least thrice to remove any dirt or grime. Heat the mustard oil. Add the kalonji and slit green chillies. Saute the brinjal pieces. Add the chopped saag. Lower heat, cover and cook till the saag is wilted. Add the turmeric powder and salt. Saute for a few minutes. 

Peshawari Chicken Kabab

Sitting in -20 degrees in Leh gets to be a bit boring at times. You can not go out much because of the bone chilling cold.

You are stuck within the four walls and there is just so much television you can watch and just so many books you can read. The best way to ward off the boredom is to keep yourself busy. I do so by cooking.

In extreme winters all the mountain passes get blocked basically cutting off all supply from the flatlands. People here have to survive on dry rations. The locals start stocking up on dried turnips, apricots, carrots, etc from the month of November. What we do have in ample is chicken. The aircrafts bring in loads of frozen chicken and that is what sustains us for these four months.

So it is the time to experiment everyday with new dishes. Many are major flops and few turn out really well!!

Ingredients

600 gms chicken mince

1 tbsp ginger, coarsely pounded

1 tbsp garlic, coarsely pounded

2 large onions, chopped fine

2 large tomatoes, chopped fine

4 green chillies, chopped fine

1 egg

1 tsp black pepper, pounded

1 tbsp roasted cumin, pounded

1 tbsp roasted coriander, pounded

2 dry red chillies, pounded

4-5 tbsp besan, for binding

Green coriander, chopped

Salt to taste

½ tsp amchur/chat masala

Keep the chopped tomatoes aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients. We have not included the tomatoes now because it will release water and the mixture will become soupy.

Keep aside for 2-3 hours. You have to add the tomatoes just prior to frying the kababs. Add the tomatoes and mix well. Make small, round patties. Shallow fry.

Chocolate Muffins

I have a baking addiction. And I am not ashamed to admit it. There are times when I have to be away from home for a longish period of time. Circumstances!!!

There is no place like home and there is no better part of the home than my own kitchen with my gadgets and pots and pans. I can bake to my heart’s content there. But when I am away from my bakingdom I miss it sorely. I start getting these urges to have cakes and pastries. I go to bakeries and browse. I look at the goodies displayed and I realize I can make these easily and make them better too.

It is a catch 22 situation. I want them yet I feel so critical and judgmental about the shop bought cakes. Same is the case when I go to birthday parties. I look at the cakes and go “Huh!! I can bake better ones!!” Thank god I don’t say that aloud or I might stop getting invited to any more birthdays.

Not to stray from the topic..I was not able to bake at my mom’s place for about a month. Finally I made these simple chocolate muffins with the basic items available.

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking powder

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

½ cup butter, melted

1/2 cup chopped chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Beat together eggs and sugar till soft and fluffy. Add the melted butter and mix some more. Fold in half the flour mix and then half the milk. Fold in rest of flour and milk. Add the melted chocolate.

Pour into muffin cups. Bake for about 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if the muffins are baked properly. 

Paneer Jalfreize

I have always loved this dish. Not just because it tastes great but because it is a virtual riot of colors.

The combination of red tomatoes, yellow paneer, green capsicums, yellow bell peppers make it as beautiful as a painting. It is easy to make and pairs well with naan, roti or parathas. I, unfortunately, did not have any bell peppers handy. If possible do try to incorporate yellow and red bell peppers if you make it. It is a known fact that vibrant colors of food not only are tempting to the eyes but also bode well for our health.

Ingredients

250 gms paneer, cut into strips

1 capsicum, cut into strips

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips

1 tomato, cut in strips

1 tsp whole coriander seeds, pounded

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 onion, sliced

2 tomatoes, pureed

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tbsp coriander powder

 1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 dry red chillies

A pinch of sugar

Salt to taste

Heat some oil. Add the dry red chillies, cumin and coriander seeds. Add the ginger gartlic paste and saute. Add the sliced onion and cook till translucent. Add the tomato puree, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, salt and sugar. Cover and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the sliced capsicum, bell peppers and tomato. Toss well and then add the sliced paneer. Sprinkle garam masala, cover and cook till the paneer is well coated with the spices. Garnish with some chopped green coriander leaves.