Chicken in / with lemon sauce

Posted on December 3, 2011 by |eemz

This Chicken with lemon sauce recipe can be made in a matter of minutes. And another good thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t require a long list of items. Only a few items help create this aromatic, tangy chicken in lemon sauce.

You can adjust the seasoning according to your taste, adjust the consistency of the sauce, either you want it thick or thin is totally upto you. I like it thick so, I kept it that way.

What you need:

Chicken boneless———– 250 g
Salt———————— 1tsp
Corn flour—————— As needed for coating chicken pieces
Eggs———————— 1 or as needed for coating chicken pieces

For the lemon sauce:

Lemon juice—————– 1/4 cup
Water———————– 2 cups
Sugar———————– 2 tsp
Yellow food colour———– pinch
Salt————————- 1 tsp
White pepper————— 1 tsp
Green chili—————— 1 whole, slitted
Garlic cloves—————- 4 crushed
Oil————————– 3 tbsp
Cornflour——————- to thicken the sauce

How it’s made

  1. Thinly slice chicken diagonally or square shapes, around 1 1/2 inch long.
  2. Marinate chicken in salt for 15-20 minutes.
  3. Now take a clean, small bowl and beat eggs into it. Set aside.
  4. Now dip your chicken pieces in lightly whisked egg and then in cornflour, repeat coating them in egg and then again in cornflour. Set aside.
  5. Once all done, deep fry your chicken pieces on a medium flame.
  6. Now for the lemon sauce, take a pan, add oil in it and throw in garlic.
  7. Sautee garlic, add water and then throw in rest of the ingredients.
  8. Once it boils add in cornflour and thicken the sauce to your desired consistency.
  9. Once the sauce is done, throw in the fried chicken pieces and serve.
You can serve it with egg fried rice, buttered rice, or garlic fried rice. I served it with garlic fried rice. Will post the recipe for garlic fried rice in another post, insha Allah.
Have fun cooking people.
Happy cooking!
Posted in Chicken, Chinese, eggs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Chicken Haleem

Posted on December 1, 2011 by |eemz

I was looking for a good Chicken Haleem recipe for quite some time now and this seems to be just perfect. But, you need to have a jar full of patience if you want to cook this slow cooking delicious- worth the trouble dish. All your effort and hard work pays off nice and oh-so-good-tasting.

I like my haleem thick and chunky, so I kept it that way. You may keep it thin and smooth or any other way you prefer.

And this is your prize.

Qorma for Chicken Haleem

What you need

Chicken——————- 2 kgs with or without bone, up to you
Salt———————– 2 tbsp
Red Chili Powder——— 3 tbsp
Haldi powder————- 1 tbsp levelled
Dhania powder———– 1 tbsp heaped
Bhuna Cumin Powder—- 1 tbsp
Oil———————– 1 cup
Onions——————- 2 large, sliced
Water——————– 2 -3 cups
Yoghurt—————— 1 1/2 cup

Pulses for Haleem

Moong——————– 3/4  cup
Masoor——————- 3/4 cup
Channay ki daal ———- 1 1/2 cup
Maash daal (dhuli vee)—- 3/4 cup
Dalya——————— 2 cups

How it’s made

  1. It is better if you soak your pulses overnight but if you forget to, don’t fret because I forgot to soak them as well. If that happens just soak them for at least two hours and then boil them till they are soft and tender. Cook all the pulses together in one bowl. When you are boiling the pulses add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder and 3 tbsp of oil, this way the dalya won’t stick to the pan and burn.
  2. Now blend half of the mixture and keep the rest of the mixture chunky. Set aside.
  3. Now take another big pan, add oil to it and brown onions.
  4. Once they brown, add ginger/garlic paste in it and mix.
  5. Sautee ginger/garlic paste and throw  in chicken.
  6. Bhoonofy chicken till its water dries up completely. In the meantime add all the spices, as well as the yoghurt and bhoonofy till water dries.
  7. Once done add 2 cups of water and then cover the pan till the water dries up again and the chicken has cooked to soft and tender bits. Shred chicken and set aside.
  8. One the pulses are soft and tender, throw them into the shredded chicken + dry masala pan.
  9. Now this is the serious part where you need to be vigil and alert all the very time. If the mixture is too thick add 2-3 cups of water and keep stirring and ghootofy your pulses.
  10. After you combine these two, remember that you need to cook your haleem for further 2 hours for best flavour and texture.
  11. After the struggle and sweat of two hectic hours, your haleem will be ready to eat whenever, wherever and however.
Serve your haleem with hot naan, brown onions, green chillies, coriander and thinly sliced ginger.
Posted in Chicken, Desi, Pulses | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Custom-made Double Chocolate Cup Cakes

Posted on November 29, 2011 by |eemz

In more than one way, Cupcakes are more versatile than cakes. They enable you to explore new designs and techniques in cute little sizes.

These cupcakes were made for a friend, don’t they just look adorable :D I loved the owls and the rose topped double chocolate cupcakes.

All of these cupcakes toppers are made from fondant and are totally edible.

 

Posted in Cupcakes, Made-to-order | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Creamy Fruit Trifle

Posted on November 28, 2011 by |eemz

The best thing about fruit trifle is that you can play with all the ingredients, throw in fruits as you please and omit according to your cravings. When I was making this trifle, I so wanted to make it with mangoes, so mangoes it was and boy it was satisfying ;)

There is no hard fast rule for this recipe. Add or omit as you please. You can use plain, marbles or even chocolate cake if you want to. Use any fruit you like, any flavour of custard, or just about anything and everything.

Below are a few points that separate a crowd-pleasing juicy trifle from a so-so dull dry trifle, so keep these points in your mind and do as you please.

Most Important for Trifle

  1. Your custard shouldn’t be too thick or too runny. It should be of medium consistency. It should smoothly fall off a tablespoon, because it WILL harden a bit as you refrigerate so if it is too thick, your trifle will not be juicy and moist and if too runny, you will have trifle soup rather than a trifle :D hehehehehe
  2. Keep your cake, which ever you are using, moist. Moisten it will fruit juices, sugar mixture or the juice that you get from tinned fruit cocktail, if you are using that.
  3. Take a deep bowl for trifle, it will fill sooner than you think (I always end up overflowing mine hehehehe).
  4. Always chill your fruit trifle for 3-4 hours for best results.

What you need

Vanilla Custard————— as needed
Packet Cream—————- 1 pack whipped to hard peaks with 4 tbsp of Icing Sugar
Jelly————————– 1 pack
Cake————————– medium sliced plain cake, marbled cake
Sugar Mixture—————- 3 tbsp sugar + 1 cup water = stir till sugar dissolves

Fruit suggestions

Apples– If you are using apples, soften them by cooking in a tbsp or two of butter till they are tender. Use them when they cool down.
Bananas
Mangoes
Grapes
Cherries
Tinned Fruit cocktail

How it’s made

  1. First make your custard as per the package instructions, however I am SURE you know how to make custard, you do right? Choose any flavour you like however I prefer Market bought vanilla custard or If I need white colored custard because the vanilla custard you buy from the market is yellow coloured not white. So I use this recipe to make my own custard if I want white coloured one, okay. Adjust sugar in your custard according to your taste as well.
  2. Make jelly according to packet instructions and set aside. Use jelly while its still lukewarm because as it sits and chills, it will start to solidify so act quickly.
  3. Once your custard is done, rest is just assembling of the cake, sugar mixture and then fruits.
  4. First of all, take a clean, dry bowl and assemble your cake. Don’t forget to cover the sides of the bowl.
  5. Now pour sugar mixture over your cake to make it soft and moist. Don’t over do it. You won’t like water running in your trifle.
  6. Now pour in half of your jelly mixture onto your drenched cakes.
  7. Followed by:
  8. Fruits
  9. Custard
  10. Cake
  11. Sugar mixture
  12. Fruits
  13. custard
  14. Whipped cream

Leave it to chill in your refrigerator for around 3-4 hours and enjoy for lunch, dinner oe even high-tea.

Posted in cream, desserts, Fruits, milk, Tea snacks | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Pasta Alfredo

Posted on November 25, 2011 by |eemz

(First of all, sorry for not posting any images in this post. It is because I made the pasta especially for this post but was so busy with some appointments and guests that I forgot to take the shots, so please spare me the lectures :p will post the images asap, i pomise :D

There are many different styles in which this Pasta Alfredo is cooked. Today I’m going to tell you how I cook it, and believe me it is the closest that you get in those fancy restaurants, tried and tested many times.

You can cook it with any sort of pasta but in restaurants it is usually cooked with fettuccine pasta or rigatoni pasta so feel free to use any.

Never cook your pasta in boiling hot water, always throw them in medium hot, steaming water or it’s outer layer will get damaged.

What you need

For the White Sauce:

Butter———————— 2 tbsp
Maida/all-purpose flour——- 3 tbsp
Milk————————– as needed approx. 1 litre
Salt————————— 1/2 tsp
White pepper—————– 1 tsp
Cheddar Cheese————– 150 g grated

For Chicken Part:

Chicken———————– 350 g
Oregano————- ——— 1 tsp
Milk————————– 1 litre
Garlic————————- 5-6 cloves, paste form
Mushrooms——————- 200g sliced
Pasta————————- 200 -250 g boiled
Salt————————— to taste
White Pepper—————– 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper powder——— 1/4 tsp
Onion————————- 1 finely chopped
Spinach———————– 1/2 bunch, finely chopped leaves boiled, optional
Hard Boiled egg—————  2 finely mashed

How it’s made

  1. Take a clean pan and add butter to it. Try using white butter but if you don’t have white butter, you can also use regular Salt butter like Nurpur but do keep in mind that it has some amount of salt in it already, just keep that in mind.
  2. As the butter is melting throw in finely chopped onions. Sautee onions and throw in garlic and cook for a little while. Do not let the onions or the garlic to turn brown.
  3. Throw in sliced mushrooms and Sautee for a minute or two.
  4. Once done, add chicken to it and as the chicken is cooking, add salt, white pepper, oregano and black pepper powder. Cook till chicken is cooked and the water dries.
  5. Once it dries, take the pan off heat and set aside.
  6. Now if you know how to make white sauce, then go ahead and make it otherwise follow the directions given below.
  7. Take another pan, add butter and oil to it. Once the butter melts add flour to it. Cook flour for 1 or 2 minutes (it shouldn’t turn brown at all.) It’s done when the flour give some aroma or turn slight golden in colour.
  8. Once it turns slight golden add milk and keep stirring to avoid the formation of lumps in the white sauce.
  9. Cook till it thickens. Once it thickens add salt, white pepper along with grated cheese.
  10. When it is done, add boiled (finely chopped) spinach and throw in the cooked chicken. (hard boiled egg and spinach is totally optional, I don’t add spinach although I love spinach).
  11. Throw in your already boiled pasta and give it a good mix, check seasoning. Adjust according to your taste and serve with white rice, garlic bread or enjoy just as it is.

Posted in Chicken, Food for kids, milk, Pasta/Noodles, Side dishes, Tea snacks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Custom-made Love Cake

Posted on November 22, 2011 by |eemz

Double Chocolate Cake covered in fondant. Everything is totally and absolutely edible.

Posted in Made-to-order | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Looks can be deceiving

Posted on November 22, 2011 by |eemz

Although I am a die-hard fan of Chef Zakir but this Steamed Roast chicken was a complete failure. And if you look at the shots I took, they narate a completely different picture. But, this is my policy, I follow it as a rule, that if the recipe turns out to be pathetic, no matter how good the shots are, I never post the recipe for public.

I had high hopes for this Steamed Roast Chicken, been trying to make this for ages. With Chef Zakir’s recipe I had full faith in it, but guess I was wrong. This is the first one of Chef Zakir’s recipes that I have tried and it was horrible. None of his recipes failed, ever but I guess exceptions are always there and this one was one of them. The chicken was plain, tasteless and had no particular flavour whatsoever.

If you tried this recipe on your own and it worked for you, please do lemme know. I would love to be proved wrong :D

Happy Cooking!

 

Posted in Chicken | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Butter Chicken or Makhni Chicken

Posted on November 22, 2011 by |eemz

I’ve been wanting to post this recipe for quite some time now. But getting lazy day by day. Anyways, winter is right at the corner and this sizzling hot, rich, creamy, buttery chicken is just perfect for a winter lunch/dinner. So, enjoy and have fun people!

Happy Winters!

Btw I deeply apologize for the dull shots this time, I don’t know what was I thinking or was I even thinking about anything at all :S A thousand apologizes :S

 

 

What you need

For Chicken part

Chicken———————– boneless 1/2 kg 1 inch cubed
Garlic paste—————— 1 tsp
Salt—————————- 1/2tsp
Red chili powder————- 1 tsp
White butter—————— 2 tbsp
Coconut milk powder———- 2 tbsp
Onion————————– 1 finely chopped

For the buttery sauce/ Makhni gravy
What you need

White butter—————– 50 g or 2 tbsp heaped
Fresh garlic paste———- 1/2 tsp
Sliced ginger—————- 1 tbsp
Oil—————————- 1 tbsp
Tomato paste—————- 3 tbsp
Salt—————————- as required
Red chili powder———— 1/2 tsp heaped
Garam masala powder—– 1/2 tsp
Corn flour——————– to thicken 1 tsp
Lemon juice—————- 1tbsp
Sugar———————— 1 tsp
Cream———————– 2tbsp
Coriander to garnish —- 2 tbsp
Water———————– 1 cup

How it’s made

The Makhni Sauce

  1. In a deep sauce pan, throw in butter and oil, together on medium heat.
  2. Once it gets relatively hot, throw in ginger and garlic.
  3. Sautee them for 1 -2 minutes and throw in tomato paste.
  4. Stir and add in salt, red chillies, garam masala powder and sugar.
  5. Give it a good mix and cook for another 2-3 minutes before pouring in 1 cup of water.
  6. Once the water starts to boil add lemon juice and thicken it with corn flour. Do not thicken it too much and it shouldn’t be watery as well so be careful.
  7. Once it thicken, mix in cream, and cook for another 2 minutes on slow flame and your sauce is done, throw in fresh coriander in the end, set aside.
For the chicken part
  1. Now take a clean pan. Throw in butter and onions.
  2. Once the onions turn slight pinkish, add garlic.
  3. Sautee garlic and throw in chicken boneless.
  4. Give it a good mix and add spices like, salt and red chillies powder.
  5. Cook chicken for another 3-4 minutes.
  6. Add 4-5 tbsp of water to coconut milk/cream powder and throw it into the chicken part. cook for another 3 minutes and it’s done.
  7. Now for the final assembly, add the makhni sauce to the chicken part and cook till the sauce thickens in about 3-5 minutes.
Enjoy with Naan or Tandoori paratha.
Posted in Chicken | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Your opinion is needed, peej

Posted on November 19, 2011 by |eemz

Thechefinme has participated in Pakistan blog awards so please be kind enough to vote/rate for us over here and comment too peech. It doesn’t require any registration or anyhting so It won’t take much time, i pomise…

http://pakistanblogawards.com/2011/11/18/best-food-blog-haleema-mohammad/

5stars would be lovely and if you are feeling generous, comment as well.

Posted in help | Leave a comment

Creamy white Curry Chicken

Posted on November 18, 2011 by |eemz

For lunch I wanted to make some, aromatic, creamy chicken which would also be in the form of curry. I searched for the recipe but all in vain, didn’t quite like any recipe I laid my eyes on so, I thought of being more adventureous and made my own recipe which turned out to be all three things I wanted and much more.

It was so creamy and scrumptious and exactly what I was looking for. Hope you try it and then share your views with me.

What you need

Chicken————————————— 1/2 kg with bone
Yoghurt—————————————- 1 cup
Salt——————————————— 1 tsp
White Pepper——————————– 1 tsp
Bay leaves———————————— 3-4
Onion—————————————— 2 finely chopped
Desi ghee———————————— 1/2 cup
Oregano————————————– 1/2 tsp
Black cardamom————————— 3-4
Cream—————————————- 100 ml
Garlic paste———————————- 1 tsp
Ginger paste——————————— 1 tsp

How it’s made

  1. Take a clean, dry pot and add desi ghee in it. You can also use oil if you like but for best flavour, add desi ghee.
  2. Once desi ghee gets a bit warmer, throw in finely chopped onions.
  3. Do not cook onions too long, just when they are light pinkish throw in bay leaves, black cardamom and chicken.
  4. Cook chicken for 10-15 minutes or until slight golden and add garlic/ginger paste, salt, oregano and white pepper.
  5. Give it a good mix and add yoghurt.
  6. Bhoofy for another 10-15 minutes and on a slow flame, pour in cream, and cook till everything gets a good mix.
  7. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and it’s ready to please you family and friends.
Best served with plain rice, naan or tandoori roti.
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments