The Satay Croquette

Happy Friday! Today's dish is my intuitive recreation of something I had tasted recently in a restaurant. The trouble with blind recreations is that they never turn out exactly the way you remember them. Croquettes are meant to be fried, typically, but with all the gaining of weight I've done over the long weekend, I just can't. 

Presenting... Satay Chicken Croquettes 

 Boil about 700g boneless chicken (I prefer thighs over breasts) for 10-12 min or until cooked. Once cooked, shred the chicken with two forks and just pull it all apart. Cool in fridge. 

 For the Satay sauce: in a pan over heat, combine almost a cup of coconut milk with two tablespoons of peanut butter, half a grated onion, dried chilli flakes, a spoon of brown sugar, and a big spoon of dark soya sauce. Thicken to preferred consistency (add a little water if required) and take off the heat after 2-3 minutes. Cool in fridge. 

 Get the cooled sauce and chicken out and combine. Set up a breading station with flour, egg and bread crumbs. Make little oval croquettes with the chicken, dust flour, dredge in egg and then cover with bread crumbs. Deep fry or oven bake (200C) for 20 minutes. Serve with a nice noodle salad and some sweet chili sauce!

PS: the next day I tried the same recipe and fried the croquettes instead of baking them. They do turn out much nicer, but then again, it's deep-fried.

 

 

The Achari Boti

It's the Queen's birthday! The Queen loves some mutton! Just kidding. I do. And that's why I'm like ummmm why isn't anyone barbecuing mutton? So I did.

Barbecued achari boti kabab

So this is what you put in the best marination ever. Ground red onions, a spoon of achar, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, a drizzle of mustard oil, yoghurt, ginger garlic paste, red chilli paste, salt, turmeric, garam masala and a little cumin powder. Mix with diced mutton and marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Get that coal fired up! Barbeque with constant basting with the leftover marinade. Serve!

The Spicy Salmon

Suddenly, salmon is awesome.

I mean, look at all that omega-3!

Put the pieces skin-up a cutting board and sprinkle sea salt on top to help crisp up the skin. Heat a little oil in a pan and put them skin-down. Fry for 4-5 minutes before flipping. Turn the heat to low and fry for another 3-4 minutes until done. Don't overcook the yummy salmon!

For the pesto: throw into the grinder some ginger-garlic paste, chilli or chilli paste, a handful of cashews, a handful of parmesan, a spoon of tomato paste and a lot of coriander leaves with a drizzle of olive oil. Grind and serve on the skin of the salmon on a bed of baby spinach! Yum.

The Shahi Hubby

No, I didn't cook my husband. Not yet.

On Sundays, the man likes to cook to ensure that we get his favorite combination of rice and chicken for lunch. Here's his trademark curry recipe.

Grind a handful of cashews with some poppy seeds and set aside for later. Separately grind half an onion with two green chillies, garam masala, ginger and garlic paste, Kashmiri laal mirch (red chilli powder), salt and turmeric. Marinate chicken in this second mixture.

Heat oil and add 2-3 cloves and a chilli or two and fry. Add the marinated chicken with its entire marinade and cook. Add salt to taste and a tiny sprinkle of sugar. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. When the chicken is almost cooked, add the cashew poppy paste to the pan and simmer until you're happy with the consistency.

Dishes like these deserve naan on the side.

The Masala Wings

Fridays make for the perfect wing nights. But being a wing enthusiast, you run out of sauce ideas pretty quickly. BBQ sauce has too much sugar; I'm unhappy with buffalo sauce in Australia ... Not sure why I didn't think of this before, but behold! the masala-infused non-fried spicy wings!

You want to use ghee instead of oil for this. Heat a fat spoon of ghee in a wok and add ginger-garlic paste and cumin seeds. Grind a small onion and add to the ghee (don't purée it, you want texture). Once the onion is cooked, add salt and turmeric, and then a little cumin powder and red chilli powder. Maybe a dash of tandoori. Stir to avoid burning. Add a spoon of tomato paste and a little garam masala. Add the wings and stir. Wings cook pretty fast so you might get away with not covering the wok. You don't need to add water. Let the wings burn a tiny bit too. Towards the end, add a fat spoon of light cream cheese and mix. Once cooked and dried up, pour onto a serving platter. In the same pan full of greasy masala, quickly sauté a few cashews and use for garnishing, along with coriander leaves. Eat them all. Don't make it weird; use your hands.

The Alu Tikki

Ah, the multipurpose alu tikki. Put it in chat and it turns into fabulous street food; put it in a roll and it turns into a veggie burger. For that matter, serve it with breakfast and call it a freaking hash brown! Just kidding.

Boil potatoes. Peel and mash. Add salt, red chilli powder, a tiny bit of cumin powder and a dash of chaat masala. Mix well and let cool. Make balls and squish into little cakes. Dust in flour. Meanwhile heat oil in a large flat pan, enough to shallow fry. Put the tikkis (potato cakes) onto hot oil. Don't try to flip it too soon; wait till the bottom has browned enough for you to easily flip. Fry the other side. Serve with a fabulous mint-coriander chutney!

The Desi Green Curry

Happy Friday ! Here's a healthy yet hearty yum dish for the weekend.

Palak chicken

Blanch spinach in boiling water for 3 minutes and drown in ice water to stop the cooking of the leaves. Put the wrung spinach in a blender and make a paste. Put aside.

Purée onions. Heat some ghee in a pan with cumin seeds. Add the onion purée and stir till the oil starts to separate from the onion. Add salt, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder. Add a big spoon of tomato paste and some garam masala and fry together. Add the spinach paste, mix, and finally add chicken. Add a little water, cover and let cook, stirring occasionally. Add a spoon of sour cream to make the curry rich once the chicken is mostly cooked. Serve with a drizzle of cream!