Chicken Egg Salad

This chicken salad is my go to recipe. It's simple, easy and tastes great! Can be used for making sandwiches and wraps or you can serve it with tortilla chips. You can skip mayonnaise and

Baked Chicken with Vegetables and Lemon Sauce

Nicely baked, rich in flavours, loaded with vegetables with a side of lemon sauce, this baked chicken was a perfect dinner.

Baked Chicken with Vegetables and Lemon Sauce Recipe:

Aamras Puri Recipe

aamras, ajwain puri and chole masala 

As a tribute to the royal alphonso of kokan, we had this royal platter for dinner a few days ago 😋

Aamras is considered a delicacy, not just in kokan but in many other parts of India. It's nothing but the mango pulp cooked with a few more ingredients and served with crispy puris. I made

Aloo Samosa Recipe

The most popular Indian snacks are Samosa and Pakora. There are many varieties of samosa but the most common is Aloo Samosa or also know as Punjabi Samosa. You can easily find aloo samosa anywhere in food streets to high end restaurants here in India.

The spicy potato filling wrapped in flaky pastry with added carom seeds is sure to please your taste buds and satisfy your hunger pangs. ;)
So, I am sharing my homemade punjabi aloo samosa recipe which is very easy to make and always a hit.

Aloo Samosa Recipe

Here is how to make dough to get a flaky crispy covering:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon carom seeds
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• Water for kneading

Mix all the dry ingredients with the help of a fork so that flour seeds and salt are well incorporated. Pour in oil and mix vigorously till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Now add water as needed and knead stiff dough. Keep it dough ball in a bowl and wrap it with cling film and proceed to prepare the filling.

Ingredients for filling:

• 2 large potatoes
• 1 cup dried green or white peas (soaked for at least 4 hours) or fresh green peas
• 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• 2 inch piece of ginger
• 1 green chilli
• 1/4th teaspoon of asafetida
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1 teaspoon mango powder
• 1 teaspoon chaat masala
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Boil potatoes and peas in a pressure cooker.
2. Peal and mash the boiled potatoes.
3. Make paste of ginger and green chilli using little water.
4. Heat oil in a wok and add asafetida (if using) when is crackles add chopped parsley and ginger and green chili paste sauté for a minute then add all the spices and salt. Stir well and finally add mashed potatoes and boiled peas. Mix well and let it cook covered on low flame for 3-5 minutes.

Making samosa:

Divide the dough in golf ball sized portions and roll out 1/8” thick in oval shape. Cut the rolled dough lengthwise, take one half and put a spoonful of filling in the center and bring in the pointed edges over the filling making a triangle. Gently press the open edges to seal the cone and voila! You samosa is ready. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

When you are done with making samosa, heat oil in a deep frying pan. Check the temperature of oil by putting in a bit of dough if it takes a few seconds to come up your oil is at right temperature for frying the samosa, if the dough comes up immediately, lower the heat. Fry samosa at low to medium heat till golden brown and crispy. Serve hot with sweet tamarind chutney.

Savoury Cheese Sticks

Mozarella cheese fingers covered with chicken  and vegetable mixture seasoned with desi spices that create unique blend of flavours. Can be frozen for two weeks. As it's loaded with goodness of vegetables and packed with protein from chicken and cheese, it make a healthy treat of you bake instead of deep frying.

Savoury Cheese Sticks Recipe

Ingredients:

• 200 g Mozarella cheese block
• 1 cup boiled and shredded chicken
• 1 large potato
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup sweetcorn kernels
• 1/2 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• Salt as per taste
• Beaten eggs for coating
• Bread crumbs for coating
• Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Cut Mozarella cheese into thick 2 inches long sticks and keep in fridge for later use.

2. Wash, cube and pressure cook all the vegetables adding just half a cup of water, a little salt and ginger garlic paste. Vegetable should be mushy but there shouldn't be any excess water.

3. Take cooked veggies in a mixing bowl and add shredded chicken and all the spices and mix well. If it's too sticky, add some seasoned bread crumbs.

4. Now take a little portion from above mixture and spread on a flat surface, place a cheese stick and close ends in such a way that cheese is well coated with chicken and veggies mixture.

5. Give egg wash and coat with bread crumbs. You can in freezer and deep fry or bake till golden while serving.

White Sauce Croquettes

White sauce because we were bored of potatoes and bread and lentils. So, tried this new base for croquettes and it was a hit instantly! Though the mixture is very soft and sticky initially but when you keep it in fridge for an hour it becomes easy to handle and you make shapes of your choice.

I have used chicken and spinach filling but again, you're free to throw in whatever you want!

White Sauce Croquettes Recipe

Ingredients:

For base:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups full cream milk
1 cup grated cheese
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
1/2 dried oregano

For filling:

1 cup chopped spinach
1 cup shredded chicken
1/2 cup boiled sweet cornkernels
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/2 mixed vegetables of your choice like carrot, bell peppers, mushrooms, green beans etc.
2 tablespoons hot and sweet sauce
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

For coating:

Beaten egg
Seasoned flour
Bread crumbs

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add ginger garlic paste, hot and sweet sauce and salt and then add rest of the ingredients for filling and saute well till everything is crisp.

2. Remove from the fire and let the mixture cool down completely.

3. Now prepare white sauce for base. Heat butter in a pot and put in grated garlic cloves. As the garlic turns slightly golden Add chili flakes, pepper powder and oregano and then immediately add the flour and whisk well. Slowly mix in the milk to form a smooth mixture. Let it cook for a minute on high flame with continuous stirring. Turn off the flame and add one cup grated cheese. Mix well.

4. Once the sauce is cooled down a bit, add in the prepared filling and mix well then keep in the fridge for an hour so that it becomes thick and pliable.

5. Take out of the fridge and make croquettes shapes. Immediately roll in Seasoned flour keep in a tray. Repeat till you are done with all the mixture.

6. Now dip the croquettes in beaten egg on by one and roll in the bread crumbs.

7. Freeze for half an hour and then deep fry till golden. Serve warm.

Half Moon Pies

This recipe is best for freezing as it stays fresh for more than two weeks hence its always on the menu for frozen Ramadan items.
The crispy covering is the result of pate a choux dough which is then deep fried. We prefer creamy filling for this pastry as it goes just perfect with the crispy melt in mouth covering. But the best thing about such pies is, you can always experiment with fillings.

Half Moon Pies Recipe:

How to prepare choux dough for half moons:

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg (optional)

Directions:

1. Take butter, water, milk and salt in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. When the butter has melted completely, put off the heat and add all the flour and mix vigorously with wooden spoon and again place on medium heat. Let the dough cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes or till it makes a ball with shiny surface. Keep stirring with wooden spoon. A thin film of flour may form on the bottom of the pan while cooking the dough.

2. Take the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium low till the dough is warm to the touch. (Instead of using electric mixer you can cool the dough manually by tossing the dough with a metal spatula.

3. Once the dough is cool enough, add beaten egg, if using. The dough will become very sticky and after adding the egg but it will hold back together as you keep on kneading. (To avoid this mess you can skip egg).

4. As dough cools down completely, divide it into small balls. Roll out small and not very thin discs.

5. Put filling on one side of the disc and apply some beaten egg or water on edges with brush or using your finger and then flip the other end making half moon shaped.

6. Dip the pastry in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs and store in freezer safe container. Deep fry and serve when needed.

Creamy Chicken filling for Half Moon Pies:

Ingredients:

1 cup boiled and shredded chicken
1/2 cup boiled green peas
1/2 cup boiled sweet corn kernels
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt and pepper as per taste
1 teaspoon olive oil

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and toss well. Keep in fridge for an hour before using.

You can adjust spices as per your taste.

Crispy Bread Pockets

Just another way of eating sandwiches that's even more sinful than the regular ones because the bread itself gets breaded and then deep fried till crispy. So, basically there are loads of calories! But who counts calories when it's Ramadan? ;)
You can make filling of your choice to fill the pockets. Here I have used stir fried chicken and vegetables and topped it with loads of cheese! Because it's cheese and I love it. :D

How to make Crispy Bread Pockets

For making bread pockets you will need:

Sliced Bread (white or brown)

Beaten Egg

Seasoned Bread Crumbs (or you can use plain bread crumbs)

Water for sticking the edges

Oil for deep frying

Round shaped cookie cutter

Directions:

1. Slightly roll out the bread slices on a plain surface with the help of a rolling pin and cut with cookie like this

2. Apply little water on edges of bread discs and stick two discs.

3. Dip in the beaten egg then roll in bread crumbs and keep in the fridge for some time.

4. Heat oil for deep frying and fry the prepared bread discs till they puff up and are nice golden in colour. Remove on kitchen paper and let them cool down. Then cut into two equal halves. Your pockets are ready!

Recipe for the filling I have used:

Ingredients:

1 cup boiled and shredded chicken

1/2 cup chopped bell peppers (green and yellow)

2 Tablespoons chopped carrot

1 small red onion chopped

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon mixed herbs

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon chili flakes

Salt as per taste

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Method:

1. Heat butter in a pan when it bubbly add onion, bell peppers and carrot and stir fry for 2-3 minutes then add chicken and all the spices and fry on high flame for 2 minutes.

2. Place 1 teaspoon of this filling in prepared bread pockets.

3. Mix Cheddar and Mozarella cheese and top the bread pockets with cheese.

4. Serve at room temperature.