Sunday, December 30, 2012

Chicken cacciatore with garlic and rosemary focaccia


Chicken cacciatore with garlic and rosemary focaccia (by chef abdul rehman)

Ingredients
For chicken cacciatore

Chicken leg cut:  250gm
Red bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide slice:  10gm
Green bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide slice:  10gm
Yellow onion, cut to ¼-inch-thick wedges:  10gm
Zucchini, cut into thin rounds:  5gm
Yellow squash, cut into thin rounds:  5gm
button mashrooms:  8 oz
Jalapeno, sliced thin:  2gm
Tomato puree or tomato sauce:  100gm
Sea Salt:  to taste
White pepper:  to taste
Sugar:  to taste
Large cloves garlic,chopped:  2gm
Cilantro leaves:  10gm
Basil leaves:  1gm
Bay leaves:  1gm
Vinegar: to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil:  50gm
For garlic and rosemary focaccia

White bread flour, plus extra for dusting:  500gm
Water, at room temperature:  300ml
Sachets dried yeast:  15gm
Sugar:  10gm
Sea salt:  5gm
Ground black pepper:  2gm
Olive oil:  100ml
Bulb garlic:  20gm
Spring of rosemary:  5gm
Eggs:  2

Method:
For chicken cacciatore
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high flame. Add chicken, skin side down; fry for 5-6 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add garlic,salt,sugar,white pepper and onions to pan, and fry until just golden brown for about 2 minutes; then add remaining vegetables. Sauté vegetables for approximately 5 minutes, then pour in a little vinegar and add tomato puree or sauce and bay leaves.
Return chicken to skillet, arrange evenly in sauce: reduce heat to simmer and cook uncovered for one hour.
Turn off heat. Lift chicken from skillet and transfer to a deep casserole dish. Stir cilantro and basil leaves into the sauce: pour the sauce over the chicken.
For garlic and rosemary focaccia
Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Mix well. Heat water and vegetable oil until warm, and add to yeast mixture along with the eggs. Blend with mixer at low speed until moistened. Beat for 2 additional minutes. Stir in flour while beating, until dough pulls away from side of bowl. Knead flour on floured surface. Cover dough with a bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes. Place dough on a greased baking sheet. Roll out to 12 inch circle. Cover with greased plastic wrap and a cloth towel. Place in a warm place fpr 30 mintues.uncover the dough, and poke holes in it with a spoon handle at one inch intervals. Drizzle olive oil on dough, and sprinkle with crushed rosemary and garlic. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees c) for 17 to 27 minutes.
Serve with garlic and rosemary focaccia.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Sindhi Mango Chutney


Sindhi Mango Chutney

This is an adaptation of popular North Indian mango chutney. Do not hold back on the hot pepper. Because of its complex flavors, this chutney goes with almost any meat dish, as well as winter squash and pumpkin pie.



Ingredients

1.   Dried dates, pitted and diced 12
2.   Half-ripe mango, peeled, pitted and cut into thin strips 2 punds
3.   Garlic flakes (garlic cloves cut into paper-thin slices, lengthwise) 25 flakes
4.   Ground cumin 1 tbsp
5.   Cumin seed 1/2 tsp
6.   Cardamom seeds 1 tbsp
7.    watermelon rind, diced in small pieces 2 pounds
8.   Ground hot pepper  to taste
9.   Sliced blanched almonds 1/2 cup
10. Pistachio nuts (sliced in half or coarsely broken) 1/2 cup
11. Ground cardamom 2 tsp
12. Ground coriander 2 tsp
13. Ground cinnamon 2 tsp
14. Ground cloves 1 tsp
15. Sugar 3 cup
16. Water 1 cup
17. Sea salt 2 tbsp or to taste
18. Vinegar 1 cup


Directions:
Soak dates in warm water for 20 minutes or until soft. Then discard water. Combine dates, watermelon, mango and hot pepper in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine nuts, garlic and spices; set aside. Combine sugar and water in a large, open pan and heat over medium.
Boil until sugar completely dissolves and a thick syrup forms (about 10 minutes).Add mango mixture and salt, and cook over medium-high heat until mixture begins to thicken and is reduced by about half (allow 30 minutes).Add nut and spice mixture, then vinegar. Cook 5 minutes more. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

Potato cutlet (Aloo ki tikkiyan)


Potato cutlet (Aloo ki tikkiyan)



8 medium potatoes, fresh coriander, fresh mint, 6-7 green chilies, ½ ts pomegranate seeds, 1 ½

crushed red chilies, 1 ½ ts salt, 1 ½ ts cumin seeds, 1ts whole coriander, 1md onion, egg and oil.




Boil potatoes, mash roughly, grind pomegranate seeds and dry coriander, cut onion, green chilis,

 mint and fresh coriander finely, add every thing and mix, make tikkiyan dip in egg and fry.

Fruit chat


Fruit chat


Ingredients:

  1. Banana  3 (slices)
  2. Apple 1 (chopped)
  3. Guava 1 (chopped)
  4. Pear 1 (chopped)
  5. Mandarin orange 2 (slices)
  6. Pomegranate ½ cup
  7. Grapes ½ cup
  8. Chick peas ½ cup
  9. Sweet potato ½ cup (boil)
  10. Lemon 1
  11. Orange 2 (for Squeeze)
  12. Salt (to taste)
  13. Sugar 4 tablespoon
  14. Black pepper powder 1/3 tsp
  15. Fruit chat masala powder 1 tsp




Method
Slice bananas, squeeze lemon juice over, add mandarin orange slices, add chopped apples and chopped Guavas, add chopped pear, add sweet potato, chick peas, grapes and add pomegranate. Squeeze mandarin juice over all the fruit, and then add the Spices. If you don't have the dahi vada/chaat masala, it's OK u can make it with the lemon juice/salt/black pepper combo alone. Enjoy it.