Lemon Garlic Chicken

This is a delicious and quick recipe, which is perfect for a busy weekday or weeknight meal. It requires a few ingredients and takes just about 20 minutes to make including the cooking time. The lemon and garlic are the main flavoring ingredients and they enhance the dish. A light meal which can be paired with a side salad or steamed vegetables, to make a complete meal. Our family (the meat eater wing) love this recipe and it has become a favorite.

This is one meal where I don't have to ask the kids to finish their food. It gets eaten really quickly. So without further ado, here is how you make it.

Also here is the link to the youtube video with detailed instructions. These will help those cooks who  who may be new to cooking chicken and have questions about handling chicken and determining when is it cooked completely (without making it rubbery), like I did several years ago.

Ingredients
For the chicken
1 pound of chicken (2 chicken breasts)
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil

For the sauce
1 heaped tsp all purpose flour
2 large garlic cloves (about 1 tsp grated garlic)
1.5 cups broth (chicken or vegetable) - can also use water if you don't have broth
1.5 tsp butter
2 tsp lemon juice/ half of a large lemon
lemon zest

Method
If frozen, thaw the chicken breasts. Then slice the chicken into two pieces, horizontally along the surface of the chicken. You will have 4 thinner slices of chicken after this. Pound the thicker part of the chicken if needed, so that the chicken breast is uniform in thickness and cooks uniformly.

In a plate, mix the all purpose flour, black pepper powder and salt so that the flour is evenly seasoned. Heat the oil in a skillet and once it is hot, dredge each piece of the chicken in the seasoned flour and place in the hot skillet. Discard the remaining all purpose flour mixture.

Cook the chicken on each side for 2-4 mins till the chicken is browned. To check if the chicken is cooked, use an instant meat thermometer and insert it into the thickest part of the chicken breast. If the temperature is greater than 165F (74 C), the chicken is cooked. Remove it onto a plate and prepare the sauce.

Add 1 tsp of all purpose flour to the hot skillet, and half of the butter and roast it for a minute. Scrape any of the browned chicken bits. Next, add the garlic and cook it for a min. Then add the broth to mix, and mix well. Then add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Let the sauce cook and thicken and then finish the sauce with the rest of the butter which will give it a nice sheen. Add the cooked chicken breasts back to the pan and let them heat through. Garnish with lemon slices and serve hot.

Tips
Thaw the chicken in the fridge. Do not keep it out on the counter to thaw. Best way is to thaw it overnight. You can skip the butter if you want this to be a lighter meal. I have used very little oil and butter and you can also choose to increase the quantities to make it a richer sauce.  Using a thermometer ensures that the chicken is well cooked and also prevents over cooking of the chicken breast. This is an easy way to ensure that the chicken breast does not become chewy or rubbery.
If you line the cutting surface with parchment paper, it makes cleanup quick and easy. Make sure to wash your hands and clean any surface which has been in contact with raw chicken to prevent cross contamination.

Samosa Wraps

This recipe came about when I was trying to decide what to cook for dinner one weekday and all I could think of was eating samosas. Deep fried samosas; cooking them on a busy weekday evening in less than an hour's time seemed impossible. And I would have still had to cook something more to make it a balanced complete meal. Instead I decided to add lentil flour to whole wheat flour and make  rotis which would be a nutritious wrap cover. To make sure that it was well balanced with vegetables and a complete meal, I used cabbage and carrot for the stuffing which were the vegetables I was planning to use up that week. And then I roasted these on a flat pan/tava with about a teaspoon of oil per wrap. What could have been a regular roti sabji meal was now transformed into a delicious and exotic fare which the kids enjoyed thoroughly. It turned out so well, that I get requests to make it often.

Ingredients

1/2 cup urad  dal flour

1/2 cup chick pea flour/besan

1/2 cup green mung dal flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt 

1 tbsp oil

water (1to 2 cups) to knead a dough that is soft to roll out the chapatis

1 napa cabbage head, shredded or finely sliced

1 carrot, grated

1 onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tsp tava fry masala

1/2 tsp garam masala

Salt to taste

Chili powder, optional, to taste 

1 tbsp oil

Oil to pan fry the samosas 

Method

Combine all the flours in a bowl and mix them. Mix the tbsp of oil and salt in and then add a little water at a time to knead the dough. It should not be too stiff. Cover and let it rest for 20 mins, if you have the time. If it is sticky, add a little more wheat flour.

Now, take a fistful of dough, and roll it out into a thin round roti/chapati/poli. And then roast each chapati till it is partially cooked, a couple of minutes on each side. Since it is going to be cooked again, make sure to not cook them through completely. Stack these up and keep aside. 

In a flat and large saucepan, heat up the remaining tbsp of oil and add garlic and onion to it when hot. Stir fry them till the onion is transparent and then add the carrot and napa cabbage. Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the tava fry masala, garam masala and salt (and chili powder if using). Mix well and let it cook till the cabbage is cooked through. The water should evaporate as it cooks. If there is any water left after cooking, drain it.

Heat up a flat saucepan or tava on which you can pan fry the samosas. Now cut each partially cooked chapati into a semi circle. Roll it up into a cone and then add the napa cabbage and carrot stuffing into the cone. Since the chapati is partially cooked, you will not be able to seal the cone opening. Spread a couple of tsps of oil onto the pan surface. Now place the stuffed chapati cone onto the pan with the open side face down, so that the open side gets cooked first. Now let this cook on medium heat till the chapati is cooked well and starts to crisp up. Then flip it over and cook the other side till crisp. You can cook a few samosa cones at a time. Be careful when flipping it over to make sure that the stuffing doesn't fall out and add oil as needed while pan frying them.  Serve warm with ketchup.

This can be a main meal for a weekday dinner as it is a wholesome, healthy and tasty meal.

Tips

Since the dough has a lot of lentil flour, the resultant dough maybe a little sticky. You can use some wheat flour or oil to reduce the stickiness.

Napa cabbage has a lot more water content than regular cabbage and hence a large open pan will provide enough surface area for the quick evaporation of the water that is released from the cabbage. If you stuff uncooked chapatis you will be able to seal it properly, however since the cabbage will retain some water, the result may end up being soggy and uncooked. Hence the chapati is partially cooked to reduce the moisture content. 

Place the cooked ones on a wire rack if possible as you cook the entire batch. This will help keep the samosa crisp till it is served. You can use the same recipe with a variety of vegetables. If you cannot find tava fry masala, add 1/4 tsp of fennel powder or 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds and 1/4 tsp of aamchur instead and increase the quantity of the garam masala to 1 tsp.

Vegetable Croquettes

This is a delicious recipe which is full of nutritious and delicious vegetables, has chickpea flour and bread crumbs and can make for a complete meal on a busy weekday. These are cooked in an appe pan also known as an abelskiver pan to keep them nutritious without impacting taste or texture. You can also deep fry them.

Ingredients

1/2 small cauliflower
3 potatoes, peeled
2 carrots, peeled
1/2 inch ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
15 green beans
1 green chili (can increase to make it spicy)
2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp haldi
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp dhania powder
Salt to taste
2 cups panko bread crumbs/ regular bread crumbs 
1/2 cup besan flour
Rava/semolina and bread crumbs to coat the croquettes
Oil

Method
Chop all the vegetables (except onion, ginger and garlic) and put them in a pressure cooker vessel. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles till the vegetables are mushy and completely cooked. Drain any water released from the vegetables and mash the vegetables. Then add the seasonings - salt, chili, ginger, garlic, onion, garam masala. Mix it wee. Then add the bread crumbs and besan. Taste and adjust salt and if you want to make it spicy you can add chili powder or more green chilies. Mix all of these ingredients well. The resultant mixture shouldn't be sticky but should come together like a dough. Spread bread crumbs or rava on a plate. I made some flat patties that were coated in breadcrumbs and rolled the ball shaped croquettes in rava. Rava can withstand the heat from the cast iron appe pan better than the breadcrumbs and the outer crust doesn't burn or char while the inner part of the croquette ball is cooked. 

Heat the appe pan and add a little oil to each appe mold. Place the croquette balls in the appe and roast them evenly by turning them throughout the process on medium heat. Add a few drops of oil as necessary when rotating the balls. 

Cut croquette to show how a completely cooked croquette looks from the inside

You can also flatten them into patties and roast them on a pan. To cook the flat patties, I added a couple of teaspoons of oil to a pan and roasted them well on both sides, till the bread crumb coated crust was golden brown. 

You can also deep fry these croquettes on medium heat.

Tips

You can steam cook or boil the vegetables till cooked to a soft texture where they can be mashed.

Buckwheat Crepes

The first time I ate crepes was about a decade ago. I was was at a very upscale French restaurant for dinner and ended up ordering the crepe with cheese and spinach. While it was tasty, I couldn't eat more than a fourth of it because it was just too heavy. So, I was a bit put off by crepes after that experience. I didn't order crepes again for  a while.  The next time I tried dessert crepes. These were delicious and had fruits fillings. I thoroughly enjoyed them. However, I was never motivated to try making these at home.

All this changed after a visit to Montreal. There was a shop there selling amazing ice cream and crepes. We ordered the desert crepes there and I noticed that there was something different about the crepes. They didn't seem like they were made of all purpose flour and had a great texture and taste. They didn't get chewy even when they had cooled down as all purpose flour ones do. We enjoyed the crepes so much, that I finally asked the person making these what was different about these crepes. This was when she told me they also had buckwheat flour in addition to the all purpose flour. I had never heard of this grain before and I looked for it as soon as I cam back home.

I experimented with the recipe and was able to create one which tastes the same as the one we had in Canada. Once you have the crepe batter ready, you can use it to either make savory or sweet crepes.

Ingredients
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 all purpose flour
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence (necessary for sweet crepes. optional for savory ones)
1/4 tsp salt (if using to make savory crepes. do not add for sweet crepes)
2 tsp sugar (if using sweet crepes. do not add for savory crepes)

Method
Melt the butter. Put all the ingredients together in the blender and pulse a few times till the batter is well mixed. The batter is ready to use.

The key to making good crepes is to have them be very thin. For this just enough batter to cover the base of your non-stick pan in a thin layer. You may have to make a couple to figure out how much batter you need. I generally need one large layer for a 12 inch skillet. Heat your pan and coat it with a little oil. You can either use a spray or a paper towel dipped in little oil.  Oil is needed because you don't want to heat an empty non-stick pan.  Once the pan is hot, pour the batter using a ladle into the pan and swirl the pan around in one direction to coat the base of the pan. Since the pan is hot, you will not have enough time to use a spatula to spread the batter before it starts cooking. So it is important to swirl it fast enough to spread it around.

Cover the pan for a minute or so. Remove the cover and check if you can easily move the crepe. If so, flip the crepe over and cook it on the other side for another minute.

This is the basic technique to make the crepe. Stack the crepes on top of each other.

You can stuff it with any stuffing you want. Desert crepes can be stuffed with a combination of berries, banana,  sweetened cream cheese or nutella. You can stuff crepes with savory filling of spinach and ricotta cheese. Last time, I made a stuffing of fresh mozarella, spinach, basil and tomato.  This was based on the caprese salad. The crepe was delicious.

You can be creative and try out different options.

Tips
Always use a non stick pan. Do not apply oil after the first crepe. Since oil is applied to the pan surface before the first crepe is made, this crepe may not spread well. You can heat your oven to 200F and keep the stacked crepes in it on a wire rack to keep the stack warm.
The batter will last for a couple of days, if refrigerated.
If you are making savory crepes, and do not want to taste the egg, you can add some spices like a mix of oregano, basil and rosemary or any one of these spices to mask the egg taste. If you decide to add vanilla, reduce the amount you add because vanilla essence makes the crepes smell sweet. 

Naan Pizza - Indian Flatbread Pizza

This is one of the simplest and fastest dishes you could make. Definitely something that you can make in a jiffy if you are pressed for time. And while it can be made fast, you do not have to compromise on the taste. I was inspired by my greek pizza recipe. I thought "if pita bread can be made into quick pizzas then why not naan (which is an Indian flatbread)?" Naan is a flat bread, made in a hot kiln or tandoor. The dough is fermented and then stretched into a triangular shape before being baked. It is one of the most popular Indian breads and can be found in most Indian restaurants.  In fact it is becoming so popular that I have seen ready made naans popping up in local grocery stores everywhere. I no longer need to drive all the way out to the Indian store to buy frozen naans. I can just walk into the nearby grocery store and buy fresh naan. Another feature of the recipe is that you can use any vegetables that you have on hand to make the toppings. Quick, easy and delicious and kids love it too!

Ingredients
4-5 naans (Indian flatbread)
1/2 cup crushed tomato
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ginger -garlic paste
salt to taste
red chilli powder to taste (optional)
1/2 cup grated cheese
 sliced red onions
1 cup baby spinach or regular spinach

Method
Heat the crushed tomato and add the garam masala, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder and salt. Reduce this to a thick consistency. The consistency should be similar to ketchup consistency. Take this off the heat and add the ketchup. Let it cool down till warm. You can make this sauce in advance and store in the fridge in an airtight container for a week or freeze it for a few weeks. Then take the naans and apply an nice even coat of the sauce over one side of each naan. Then sprinkle about 2 tbsp of grated cheese on each naan and add the onion and spinach toppings. You can add any vegetables you want as toppings. Bake these in the oven till the cheese starts to melt. You can cook it for an additional time if  you want the base to get crispy.  Serve hot.

Tips
If you have bought frozen, pre-cooked naans then cook them according to the instructions on the packet before adding the sauce and toppings. The ginger and garlic proportions are about equal in amount. So, if you are using fresh ginger and garlic, add about half a tsp of each. If you are using fresh tomatoes, then you will need to dice them and cook these down to a thick sauce (ketchup like consistency) before use. If you use a very watery sauce (this applies for any pizza), your base will become soggy, especially in the center.

Rainbow Chickpea Salad

This is a beautiful salad, tasty and filling too. In fact, you can eat this salad with a piece of some bread and it will be a complete meal. I saw a wonderful chickpea salad recipe one afternoon on a Rachel Ray "30 Minutes Meal" episode. I realized that I had most of the ingredients and could make it with a few substitutions. So, I tried it the very same day and I must say I absolutely loved it. This recipe can be tailored to your tastes by swapping the ingredients with other vegetables and beans. Once you try this salad, you will want to experiment with other bean salads too. It is so colorful that I thought the "rainbow" adjetive might suit it. It is pleasing to the eyes and the taste buds. And since it's so colorful, it maybe an easy way to get your kids to eat their vegetables and proteins.

Ingredients
2 cups chickpeas/garbanzo beans/kabuli chana (cooked - see tips for directions)
1 cup red onion diced into small pieces
1 cup bell peppers (red, yellow and orange), diced into small pieces
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed into a paste
2 tbps red wine vinegar (you can use any kind you have on hand)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Method
Whisk together the vinegar, oil and some salt and pepper. Mix together all the diced vegetables and the chickpeas. Pour over the vinegar-oil dressing and toss the ingredients together, so that the vegetables and beans get well coated with the dressing. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

This makes a great mid afternoon snack as well.   

 
Tips
If you have pre-cooked canned garbanzo beans, rinse them our and use that. However, if you are starting off with dry beans, then soak them overnight. Next morning, you will see that they will swell up and become rehydrated, so that you can easily eat it. Then, either boil it in water for about 20-30 minutes till they are cooked through and softened or pressure cook them. Don't overcook them. They should not be so soft that they become mushy. They should still be firm.
As I have said in previous posts, the pressure cooker is a wonderful device. It reduces the cooking time to the fraction of the original cooking times and as you cook the ingredients for a shorter time, you retain more nutrition.

Garden Pasta with Almond Basil Pesto Sauce and a Dinner Menu

Fresh pesto sauce is an absolute delight to the tastebuds. You get great readymade pesto in the grocery store and it is very handy to use, so if you don't have the ingredients or time to make, you can definitely use a store bought version. However, once you have tasted fresh pesto, you will not want to use the refrigerated version. The sweet basil, pungent garlic and creamy almonds make this a delectable dish. It is a very elegant dish and doesn't take a lot of time to make. It is just the perfect dinner party dish. You can scale it to make large quantities easily and it will impress your guests for sure.

Here is a great menu for your next dinner party. I am sure this will wow your guests.

Garlic Bread
Tomato Basil Bisque soup
Garden Pasta with Almond Basil Pesto Sauce

Ingredients
For the pesto
1 cup basil
5-6 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or more to give the pesto a thick sauce consistency)
1 cup of almonds, peeled or blanched
salt to taste
pepper to taste (optional)

For the pasta
1 box (about 1 pound) of sphagetti - cook it per the directions on the box.
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (pesto has a lot of oil in it already, so don't use a lot for the veggies)
3-4 cloves of garlic - finely diced
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 cup bell pepper (red, yellow, orange), sliced
1 cup broccoli florets - blanched 
1 zucchini - sliced into semi circles
salt to taste

Method
To make the pesto

Add the basil, garlic, almonds to a food processor or blender. Add the salt and pepper and then start processing. As you process, add the olive oil through the feed tube in the processor/blender. Add just enough oil so that the resultant mixture has a  thick sauce like consistency. If it's too little, it will not spread well when added to the pasta and if its too much then the taste will get diluted and the pesto will not stick to the pasta.

To make the pasta
Cook the pasta per instructions. You can keep it "al dente" where is slightly undercooked, or well done. If its "al dente" it has a slight bite to it. Keep this aside. Reserve the water the pasta was cooked in.

Heat the oil in a broad pan, to this add the garlic. Once you start getting the aroma of garlic being cooked, add the onion slices. Cook these till the onion begins to get transparent. Then add the bell pepper, cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the zuccini slices. Next add the cooked broccoli and cook all the vegetables for another minute. Don't overcook the vegetables, they should still have a little bite and not be mushy. Season the vegetables with salt at this time. Remember there is some salt in the pesto, so add just a little salt. Then add the sphagetti and toss it well with the vegetables. If the pasta and vegetable mixture seems very dry at this point, add a little of the water reserved from cooking the pasta and mix. Turn off the heat. Then pour the desired amount of the pesto sauce over the warm sphagetti and toss well to coat the vegetables and the sphagetti with pesto. Garnish with a basil leaf and grated parmesan (parmigiano reggiano) cheese.

Tips
There are many varieties of basil available, so make sure you are picking up the one used in Italian cooking and it's not the sweet basil used in Thai food because the tastes are starkly different. Most pesto recipes call for a lot of olive oil. I try to use as little oil as possible in my preparations, so you can increase the oil in the pesto based on your preference and how much oil you need to get to the sauce consistency.
To blanch the broccoli, boil water and add the broccoli to it. Let it cook for a couple of minutes till you see it turn a bright green color. Keep a bowl of iced water ready and add the cooked broccoli to the iced water so that it stops cooking. At this point, the broccoli will be semi-cooked and a lovely bright green.  To peel almonds, soak them in water overnight. Next morning, you will be able to easily peel off the skin. If you don't have the time to pre-soak it, add them to the boiling water and remove after a minute. This is similar to blanching the broccoli. Then peel the loosened skin. You also can buy blanched and sliced almonds from the store and use it directly.