Strawberry crush and Vanilla strawberry shake.

This is so refreshing and beyond words delicious. It is crazy delicious! Please do try it. Super simple and super yum. Strawberries are in season too.

What you need:
Strawberry crush, 4 Tbsp (home made, you can use the market one too)
Fresh strawberries, 5-6 chopped
Vanilla ice cream, 1 scoop
Milk, 300 ml
Ice cubes, 4-5

Strawberry crush, home made:
To make the strawberry crush you need to put some chopped strawberries (180 g) in a hot deep-cooking thick bottom pot (deep kadhai). Immediately add sugar to this and let it simmer on slow flame. Switch it off when the mixture looks blood red in color and is reduced. You can store this in the freezer and use it as jam or on a cake as icing or with muffins or eat just like that to satisfy your sugar craving. Should look like the pictures shown below.

Put everything (strawberry crush, milk, ice, fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream) in a blender and blitz. Garnish with chopped strawberries. And you are done! 

Herbed chicken

So I am writing a recipe after a long long time. Been busy with some things and also i hate to get addicted to the internet. Anyway here is something i tried yesterday. It was delicious. One of my favorite from now on for sure. And My apologies for the bad photographs. I am a terrible photographer. 

What you need:

2 chicken breasts
5 tbsp whisked curd, should be thick and not runny
7 crushed garlic flakes
Black pepper
Chilli flakes or chilli powder
Oregano 2 tsp, dried
Thyme 1/2 tsp, dried
Olive oil, 2 tbsp ( 1 for the marination and left over for the veggies)
Red bell pepper
Mushrooms
salt to taste 

Wash the chicken nicely and dry it with a kitchen towel to get off any excess water. Make small incisions on the chicken breast as to let the flavors penetrate nicely. Mix all the herbs, spices, crushed garlic and 1 tbsp olive oil together in a bowl. Now massage the chicken nicely with this marinade. Let the chicken marinade over night in the refrigerator or you can keep it for 4-5 hours too,if you are in a hurry.

Preheat the oven to 220 deg Celsius and  also Line an oven tray with some tin foil. Wash and cut your veggies (red bell peppers and mushrooms) into big chunks. You can more veggies of your choice like carrots, potatoes. Season the veggies with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Place the veggies on the tray to make sort of a bed for the chicken. Take out your marinated chicken and lay them on the bed of veggies. Pour the extra marinade in the bowl on top of the chicken breasts. Roast the chicken for 25-30 minutes. It tastes delicious with some spicy ketchup. Serve hot and i hope you enjoy this recipe.

Cloud Swiss roll

This is more of an eye candy apart from being an amazing recipe. Who doesn't like a good soft, spongy, creamy Swiss roll. I can just look at this dessert all day long with dreamy-eyes. It feels like you ate a cloud after you gobble this baby down. Its that time of the year again and this is my treat. Merry Christmas to all you lovely people! : D

What you need:
Sponge:
4 Eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
I cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup hot milk
Extra caster sugar

To fill:
Whipping cream, 150 ml
Icing sugar
vanilla essence, 1 tsp
Mango, chopped
grapes. diced
strawberries, chopped
strawberry crush

Set oven temperature to 190 deg cel. Grease a 30*25 cm tin and line the base and sides with butter paper. Beat eggs and sugar together for 8-10 minutes or until mixture is thick and creamy. Sift flour and baking powder 3 times. Lightly fold through egg mixture, then fold in the hot milk. Pour into prepared tin and gently shake into the corners. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until springs back when touched.

While sponge is cooking, spread a damp tea-towel on a clean table, place a piece of butter paper over the tea-towel and sprinkle with extra sugar. Remove your sponge from the oven and take it out on the butter paper.

Whip cream with icing sugar and vanilla essence and spread it on the sponge. Sprinkle fruits and strawberry crush, make sure you don't go on the sides only in between because once you roll it will spread to the sides. Very carefully roll the Swiss roll and seal it in a cling film or silver foil. Keep it in the freezer for sometime. Serve cold from the fridge. And we are done!

Instant chicken!

I cooked this chicken in a solar cooker and i can't explain in words how juicy it was. You can do the same by cooking on slow flame. Its going to be a tangy and chilli chicken. Serve with hot rotis or even rice.

What you need:
Chicken 500 gm
Red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp
Geeen chilli, 1 chopped
Coriander powder, 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder, 1 tsp
Curd, 1 cup, whisked
Ginger-garlic paste, 2 tbsp, freshly pounded
Black salt, 1 tsp
Onion, 1 chopped
Oil, 2 tbsp
Garam masala, 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
Coriander leaves, chopped
Chicken masala, 2 tsp
lime juice, 1 lemon
salt, to taste

Mix everything (Red chilli powder, Geeen chilli, Coriander powder, Turmeric powder,Ginger-garlic paste, Black salt, onions, oil, garam masala, chicken masala, lime juice, salt, cumin seeds, coriander leaves) the whisked curd and put on the chicken. Make sure you do it nicely with hands. Keep it overnight.

Heat some oil. Put the chicken in the oil and leave it on slow flame for an hour (i used solar cooker). Stirring in between. Check after an hour if the chicken is cooked thoroughly if not keep for some more time. And we are done.

Exotic Fruit salad!

This is such a beautiful looking salad and also very nutritious. I have used dragon fruit here which is a gorgeous fruit, not easily available in India but you can get it from your nearby fruit mandi. It has a kiwi-litchi like flavor but much sweeter than kiwi. Have it for dinner or breakfast or in between meals, Very filling and extremely tasty.

What you need:
Seasonal fruits, I used-
Pomegranate
Dragon fruit/pitaya
Apple
Banana
Orange
Dried cranberries
Strawberries
Kiwi
Figs

Dressing:
Honey/powdered sugar
Lime juice
Slightly crushed cornflakes (i use hands to crush)
Toasted muesli, i used strawberry muesli
Mint leaves, chopped

Chop all the fruits and mix with the dressing. Make sure you add cornflakes and muesli in the end to maintain the crunch. You can eat this just like that or serve with some vanilla ice cream.

Amritsari chole with methi (fenugreek) poori..

This is a recipe most of us crave for while making cholle. This is my mother's version and it is so flavorful. Perfect for a Sunday brunch or even for a dinner with a few friends. You can even serve them with bun kulchas, plain pooris or parathas.

What you need for the chole:
Chickpeas/ Kabuli chana, 250 gm/5-6 handful, soaked overnight and boil with salt
Onion, 2 big ones
Ginger, 1 inch
Garlic, 5 flakes
Red chilli powder

Turmeric powder, 1 tsp

Coriander powder, 2 tsp
Garam masala, 2 tsp
Chole masala, 3 tsp
Tomatoes, 2 big
Cumin/jeera seeds, 1 tsp
Green chillis, chopped
Anardana powder/dried pomegranate powder, 3 tbsp (gives an amazing texture, flavor and color)
Coriander leaves, chopped
Salt to taste
Oil, 4 tbsp
Iron kadhai, optional, gives a nice natural black color to the dish

Poori:
Methi, chopped 1 cup
Wheat flour/ aata, 2 and a 1/2 cups
Garlic paste, 1 tsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Haldi 1/4 tsp
Sesame seeds/til, 1 tsp
Water, enough to make a good dough

Boil the soaked Chickpeas with some water, enough to cover the chickpeas and salt. It should boil in about an hour (first on high flame and then on slow flame). Grind Onions, ginger and garlic to form a paste in a mixer grinder. It should be coarse and NOT pureed. Heat some oil and add the cumin seeds to crackle. Add the onions and ginger- garlic now and saute them with some salt. Grind the tomatoes on the other side again do not puree, coarsely grind.

Once the onions start leaving oil add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, cholle masala, anardana powder. Now add the tomatoes you ground earlier and saute till the tomatoes are cooked and leave oil from the sides. That is when you know your tadka/tempering is cooked. Add the chopped green chillies and add this tadka to the boiled chickpeas. Mix it all together.

Make sure there is not much water in  the dish and if there is you must keep it on the gas and medium heat and reduce it. In the end add garam masala and garnish with chopped fresh coriander. Please taste the curry from time to time to make sure there is a good balance of flavors.

For the poori mix everything together and start kneading to form a dough. Water should be added in small amounts to make a nice dough. Make small pooris on a chakla-belan and fry them in hot oil. And we are done!

Saffron infused Apple jam!

This is my grandmothers recipe. Only difference is i used saffron to give some color instead of food color. Saffron works like magic in this recipe giving a beautiful natural color. Extremely simple and rustic. Do try it!

What you need:
Apples, 6 washed, peeled and grated
Lime juice, 6 lemons
Sugar, 2 cups
Saffron, 12-15 strands (you can use food color too, a drop)

Take a clean heavy bottomed pot and put all your ingredients in. Let it stay on medium heat for a while till you get the consistency shown below. Stir at all times.You can put it on high flame towards the end. To check if they are done put a drop on a steel plate and if the drop stays without leaving any water from the sides your jam is ready. Should take around 20 mins for 6 apples.