Kathi rolls

Ramadan Kareem. The holy month is here, a time for prayer, reflection and togetherness. As much feasting as fasting. Every Ramadan I struggle not just with waking up early for seheri but also with trying to come up with non fried decent tasting iftar snacks. Over the years the husband and I have become increasingly averse to the idea of deep frying anything, though we enjoy the occasional samosa or vada, it's not some thing that we naturally gravitate towards in our cooking. So kathi rolls which are essentially a meat / veggie filled spicy wrap makes for a great snack post a whole day of fasting. My husband is a total sandwich and wrap guy who loves rolling his roti sabzi also into a wrap before eating, so this dish won his approval hands down.

Kathi rolls probably originated in Calcutta, but are hugely popular here in Bangalore as well. The most common fillings are chicken, paneer and egg. It can be modified as per one's personal taste, I like egg in mine and since my hubby hates raw onion, I stir fry the onions before adding them.

The kathi roll essentially consists of the roti, any maida based roti works well, roomali or the frozen layered malaysian paratha. I made my own roti using equal parts of maida and atta, they turned out to be quite soft and not rubbery.Next, comes the filling as I said it's per your taste. You can do kebabs or stir fried meat. Can use bite size pieces or shreds.Onions laced with a nice spicy green chutney finishes this tasty snack quite well.

Ingredients

Roti
I did not measure out the quantity of flour but just used 1:1 wheat flour and maida/ all purpose flour
salt to taste
1 table spoon oil and water for kneading
3 - 4 table spoons of ajwain (caron seeds) and zeera(cumin seeds) coarsely ground in a mortar and pestle
Oil

3-4 eggs beaten with a teaspoon of salt added

Filling
1/2 kg boneless chicken cut into nbite size pieces
1 table spoon ginger and garlic paste
a pinch of turnericpowder
1 teaspoon dhanya (coriander seeds)powder
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
juice of a lemon
oil for frying
salt to taste

1 1/2 cup of onion, bell peppers and carrots cut into strips
5-6 green chillies slit and deseeded

Green chutney
I do not have exact proportions but these are the ingredients that I use for making the chutney- mint leaves , coriander/cilantro leaves, garlic,green chillies, salt, lemon juice and zeera powder

The prep can the done a little in advance and ideally the rolls should be put together just before eating, street food style. I, however made these 2-3 hours in advance and rolled them in aluminum foil and they stayed pretty good. The key is to use a roti that does not become soggy or rubbery, the filling should have no water and the chutney should be added at end just before serving.

Prep

Filling
Add oil in a pan and add the ginger garlic paste stir for a minute or two
Add the chicken and cook for 5-7 mins.
Add the spice powders and cook till the water from the chicken dries up
Add the lemon juice.

In a separate pan stir fry the veggie strips and green chillies with salt red chilli powder.

Roti

Knead the dough with oil and water until its soft.
Take small lemon sized ball, flatten, add the zeera ajwain mix on in and roll it chapati style.

Make the green chutney by blending all the ingredients in a hand mixer.

Assembly
Take a flat non stick pan, add oil and about 3-4 table spoons of egg (equivalent to that of a small omlette) once the sides of the egg curl up and it begins to cook place the roti on it. Turn the roti in the pan around to ensure that the egg coats the roti and is completely cooked.

Place the roti on a flat surface and put in the filling meat and veggies.

Pour in the chutney.

Roll and seal with a toothpick.

I've never taken part in a blog event, but I came across this ramadan food festival over at this blog while scouring for iftar recipes. I don't know how hyderabadi is my recipe but here goes my entry for the The Hyderabadi Ramadan Food Festival 2012.

Whole spices and tomato chicken

Who does not love a chicken curry? who does not love a chicken curry that is easy to cook and tastes heavenly. This curry recipe uses whole spices , cinnamon , cardamon and caraway seeds to give this lingering yet not overpowering aroma to the dish. Apt for everyday lunch or an elaborate dinner.

1 kg chicken
6 tblspoon oil
3 medium onions sliced

Whole spices
4 cloves
4 green cardamom
3, 1/2 inch cinnamon  sticks

1tsp garlic paste
1tsp ginger paste
2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
 3 medium tomatoes pureed
few saffron strands soaked in milk
2 tbsp coriander leaves

Method

Wash and clean the chicken and drain out the water. Add about a table spoon of salt and mix well, leave this aside while you prep the rest of the ingredients.

Take oil in a thick bottomed pan and fry the onions to a golden brown, the edges should turn crispy. Reserve half the onions for later.

Add the whole spices to the onions and fry for about two minutes. Add the chicken and fry for about 10 mins, adding water as required.

Add the ginger and garlic and fry with the chicken. Add the spice powders next and mix in.

As the spices mature and the chicken starts turning light brown add the tomatoes.

Turn the heat high and stir strongly for 5 mins to create a cohesive gravy.

Add some more water (about 1 cup) and the saffron milk. Let the gravy cook on medium heat till the oil separates.

Crush the fried onions and add to the curry.

Serve garnished with coriander with rice or roti.

Pad Thai, from an Indian kitchen

Pad thai, is one of those dishes that are universally liked, many times re-ordered, always saved as leftovers and  ordered by the non red/green/yellow curry eating person at a thai restaurant. I was first introduced to thai cuisine in the US, where I found myself switching  from the eaten - since - childhood - indo -chinese - food to the lemon grass and basil leaves spiced thai cuisine as my go to comfort oriental food of choice. I was fortunate find a few decent thai restaurants in Bangalore to keep the love going. And on a trip to singapore where thai food is extremely popular I found some very delectable versions of this noodle dish.

When I chanced upon some flat rice stick noodles at a local grocery store I knew that I had to make them, so I  quickly searched for pad thai recipe on  my phone and picked up the rest of the ingredients as well, technology well used.

Making a pad thai involves essentially five steps - boiling the noodles, making the sauce, preparing the meat and veggies, stir frying the ingredients and garnishing the dish. I've used this recipe which is a modification of various versions that I found on the internet. I think the end result was pretty decent, if I were to change something for the future I would make my sauce more tangy and use sesame oil instead of olive.

Ingredients
200 g  rice stick noodles
1.5 tablespoons dark tamarind paste
1/2 cup fish sauce
2 table spoons brown sugar
1 table spooon chilli paste
1 chicken breast (you can use shrimp/large prawns too)
2 eggs
1 spring onion
1/3 of a capsicum
4-5 mushrooms
1 lime/ lemon
5-6 garlic pods
5 table spoons peanuts
white/black pepper to taste
salt to taste
oil as required ( would recommend using sesame oil)
Most major supermarkets in Bangalore like Spar or Spencers stock the thai ingredients.

Preparation:
The sauce: In a saucepan, mix in the fish sauce, brown sugar and the tamarind paste ( I used the boxed one, you can me this paste from tamarind too but make sure it is concentrated). Add little water if required. once all ingredients are mixed in and the sugar is dissolved ( about 5-7 minutes) add the chilli paste. Taste the sauce and adjust the tanginess.

The meat and veggies: Chop the mushrooms, finely cube the capsicum, and finely chop the garlic. Take the chicken breast season with salt and pepper and grill or lightly fry after 20-30 mins. Chopped the chicken breasts into small cubes.

The noodles: Cooking the noodles is the tricky, its is suicidal for the dish to have overcooked soggy noodles. Follow the instructions on the pack carefully. Most rice stick noodles can be cooked by simply soaking in warm water as opposed to actual boiling. When in doubt leave the noodles slightly undercooked and cook gradually by sprinkling water.

The garnish: Take the eggs in a separate pan and scramble them to bits and keep aside,  take the peanuts and dry roast  on a hot pan and lightly crush, chop the spring onion to 1 cm long bits, cut a lime or lemon into 4 pieces and remove the seeds. The long bean sprouts are commonly seen as garnishing, I didn't have any hence I skipped.

The frying: Once all the prep is done take a wok (or a kadhai) and heat it up on high heat. Make sure you break down the pad thai ingredients into smaller portions according to the size of your wok so that you can work in batches. One the wok if fuming hot add 3-4 table spoons of oil and reduce the flame marginally (I did this because I was using olive oil). Add the capsicum first followed by the mushrooms let it fry for half a min and then add the garlic, and in go the chicken next. Traditionally the chicken would have been put in raw and then cooked in the wok itself but I precooked it, perhaps if you are using shrimp you can add them directly. Add the noodles stir vigorously to avoid clumping (I took the help of spaghetti tongs to move them apart). Add in the sauce so that all ingredients are coated with the brown liquid. Add in the salt and pepper to adjust the flavor.
Add in more oil if required. The entire frying should not take more than  8 minutes. Finally just before turning the the flame off add squeeze the lime and add the egg.

Serve immediately in individual serving plates topped with spring onions, peanuts, sprouts and lime wedges.

Chatpate Chicken kabab

This is a very simple dish that goes well as a snack as well in sandwiches. Its chicken kabab with a lot of sweet and sour masale. It does not require a lot of oil so I basically just added a few drops of oil and a good non stick pan to cook. Also its super quick to make.

Ingredients
1 pound minced chicken
1 tbl spoon chaat masala
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tblspoon lemon zest
2 tsp amchur (dry mango)
2 tsp anardana powder (pomegranate seeds powder)
4 Green chillies chopped finely
salt to taste
oil for frying




The kneaded chicken



The kababs after frying

Method
1 In a big mixing bowl mix all the ingredients except for oil
2 Mix it well to make a uniform 'dough'
3 Make out small kababs in your desired shape
4 Heat a flat non stick pan to high
5 Reduce the heat to medium and add a few drops of oil
6 Lightly fry your kababs in the oil
7 Serve hot

Haleem

I made haleem a couple of weekends back . My first real Hyderabadi dish after getting married !

Ingredients:

Onion 2 sliced very flinely into thin rings
Cracked wheat – ½ pound
Chicken kheema 1 pound or boneless chicken
Youghurt 1.5 cups
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tblsp ginger garlic paste
8 cloves
2-3 tblsp Redchilli powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 quill cinnamon
whole pepper 5-7
Juice from 2 limes
1/3 cup oil
Salt to taste

To serve

Melted ghee (optional)
Ginger cut into thin strips
1/2 cup chopped cilantro and mint
Lime wedges to serve

1) Cook the wheat by boiling it with enough water for about 15 mins or so till its soft
2) Meanwhile in a pressure cooker put chicken ,water youghurt , redchilli ginger garlic paste,and a tablespoon of oil. Let it cook for about two whistles
3) Heat oil in a kadai and fry the onion in batches on high flame till its crisp
4) Using a wooden spoon smoothen out the wheat to form a paste
5) If using chiken pieces not kheema ,with your fingers and break apart the boneless pieces
6) Add the chicken to the wheat do not throw out any of it
7) Leave in on medium to cook for 15 mins , add water if needed
8) Add the spices and half the fried onions crushed by hand
9) Cook till the raw taste is gone add lime juice just at the end
10) Serve hot swith the green leaves ,ginger limejuice and fried onions

This is a meal in itself so u dont need any bread or rice to go with it !

Jerk seasoned chicken with redchilli and lime sauce

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Biryani, khorma,tandoori chicken, kababs, kheer,haleem , jalebi, 20 different kind of shrimp dishes, kofta,as newlyweds (got married a month back) this is just a sample of the pleasures our tastebuds received .Unfortunately our digestive system and worse our waistlines did not take to kindly these delicacies.
So we resolved to go low fat/low calorie, in our everyday dishes. With zero expectations from Indian cuisine I rushed to cook up some thing american. At the foodnetwork website I came across a bunch of jerk seasoned recipes, made my own taking something from each and used for my grilled chicken. But the proportions were too low so my chicken turned out bland so I made the sauce to go with it. I've fixed the proportions so hopefully it should turn out ok.

4 limes
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 white onions finely chopped
2 green chiles
2 tbl spoon cups low sodium soy sauce
2 chicken breasts cut into smaal pieces
3 tsp black pepper
2 tsp redchilli flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
3-4 strips capsicum
salt to taste
oil if not using non stick grill

For sauce

red chilli flakes + tomato sauce or red chilli sauce
salt to tase
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preparation

1) Wash and cut chicken,apply salt and leave aside till you make the rest of the seasoning . The salt helps reduce the smell.

2) Cut the lime into two and microwave for a min . The rind oils should come out . Leave aside after microwaving to cool and squeeze it out. Grate some zest in.

3) mix all the other ingredients except oil and grind in blender to make a paste .

4) Leave cover and marinate for 2-4 hours

5) I used my foreman grill(see pic) coz I can grill with out oil i love tht thing

6) Meanwhile mix the sauce ingredients to gether to make a paste , adjust the flavour according to your taste .

7) Serve hot with rice or bread