Monday, August 24, 2015

Lemon Glazed Chicken Tenders

I usually don't prefer deep fried things but sometimes even I can't say no to stuff because it makes me curious. Curiosity kills my weight watch routine just like it kills the cat.

I was surfing through a blog and I found this delicious recipe. Where you make the simple chicken tenders but you also make an Asian style dressing with it made up of a different mix of sweet and salty ingredients.

This recipe can be named in any way but I like to call it Lemon Glazed Chicken Tenders. Yes it sounds like a really long Arabic name.


Ingredients:

1 kilogram of boneless chicken breasts cut into strips

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 cup of buttermilk(easy to prepare and I will tell you before i start the actual recipe)

1 cup vegetable oil

salt and pepper to taste

For the GLAZE:(I don't know but I like to scream GLAZE!!!!)

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic paste






Now comes the question "WHAT THE HELL IS BUTTERMILK AND HOW DO WE MAKE IT?"

Simple, take a bowl, pour the milk in the bowl, add one small lemon juice/1 tablespoon vinegar in it and look at the cup for 5 to 10 minutes.

While looking at the cup think about your life. Think about the things you've done, the things you should have done, the things you should haven't done, did you do anything for others or did you just wasted your life on your own meaningless desires.

After a lot of thinking you'll get your buttermilk and probably some other eye opening answers about your life.

Now you need to make the glaze first.

For that you combine garlic paste, honey, pineapple juice, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, soy sauce and olive oil in a non stick pan.

Make it boil and then cook it for 10-12 minutes on low heat or until it thickens to a caramelized liquid.









Now you marinate your chicken by putting salt and pepper on it according to your taste. Let it marinate and you meanwhile heat a cup of vegetable oil in a deep pan on medium high heat.








Now put the flour in a wide pan and coat the chicken first in the flour, dip it in the buttermilk and again give it a final coat in the flour. This will complete your coating and you can start frying nowin batches one by one.









Fry till dark brown and then take it out on a plate covered with paper towels. Pour the GLAZE on it and its ready to serve.







Somethings are really hard to decorate like this one but I tried my best DON'T JUDGE or I can do nothing about your way of thinking.

Join your hands together for Lemon Glazed Chicken Tenders.




Sunday, August 23, 2015

Bang Bang Prawns Pasta

I know its not winter.

I know seafood is preferred in winters BUT if you're a true seafood lover than you know that seafood has no season just like most of us have no shame, religion or humanity because who needs that?

Today's recipe is very easy. So easy that a new born can make it AND if you cannot make it then shame on you for existing. Simple!

It's called Bang Bang Prawns Pasta or BBPS is you're not in the mood of saying the whole thing but please do not even think about relating this recipe to Boom Boom Lala or Shahid Afridi.

Ingredients:

250 grams of linguine pasta


250 grams of medium prawns peeled and deveined

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1 teaspoon paprika powder

salt 1/2 teaspoon

black pepper 1/2 teaspoon

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley or coriander

For the sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise


1/4 cup sweet chili sauce

1/2 teaspoon garlic paste

Juice of 1/2 lime or 1 lemon, can add more to taste

1 teaspoon Sriracha


1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes








First you have to boil the pasta according to the instructions on the packet and drain them and keep them aside.







Now you have to marinade the prawns for 15 minutes. just add olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic paste and paprika to it and mix it in a bowl. Set it aside as well.








Meanwhile this marinades make the sauce. In a bowl whisk together, mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, sriracha sauce, garlic paste, chili flakes and lemon juice.







Now fry the prawns in a non stick pan on medium high heat about for 2-3 minutes until they curl but don't overcook them as they'll get chewy.







Now everything is ready and its just the matter of mixing up things. Put the pasta in a big bowl and top it with the cooked prawns and sauce. Mix it. Then add the chopped coriander or parsley and mix again.

Bang Bang Prawns Pasta is ready to serve.












Ladies and gentlemen, eat well, do good and love each other. I'M JUST KIDDING wreck each other and this world but make some noise for Bang Bang Prawns Pasta





Sunday, August 16, 2015

Gushtaba

My ancestors come from a land far away known as Kashmir which obviously makes me a Kashmiri.

The weather of Kashmir is cold and usually the places where the weather is cold the food is heavier in terms of calories so the human body can cope with the extreme climate.

Kashmiri cuisines are mild in taste but rich in flavor with exotic ingredients.

One of the most tasteful Kashmiri recipes which I've tasted many time but made for the first time myself is Gushtaba.

Gushtaba is made of milk, yogurt, khoya meatball of chicken/mutton/beef and desi ghee.

YES it sounds like 6 million calories but its completely worth it.


Ingredients:

1 kilogram finely mice mutton (850 gram meat + 150 gram fat)

1 cup yogurt

1 cup khoya

half liter milk

4-6 dried red kashmiri mirch

4 tablespoon desi ghee

2 table spoon saunf powder (1 for the mince mutton and other for the gravy)

2 teaspoon black pepper (1 for the mince mutton and other for the gravy)

2 teaspoon salt (1 for the mince mutton and other for the gravy)

2 teaspoon garam masala (1 for the mince mutton and other for the gravy)

2 tablespoon of finely chopped mint leaves.

2 cups of mutton broth (chicken broth can also be used)









Put 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and 1 tablespoon saunf powder in mince meat, mix the mince mutton and make meatballs which are also known as koftas.

NOTE - If you laugh at my koftas I will break your koftas.

Refrigerate the koftas for 15 minutes.






After 15 minutes put two cups of chicken/mutton/beef stock in a pan and steam cook the koftas for 15-20 minutes.






Meanwhile but milk, yogurt, khoya, kashmiri red chilies in a blender and make the gravy mixture out of it.

Put the gravy mixture in a non stick pan and start cooking it on medium heat. Adding 1 tablespoon saunf powder, 1 teaspoon black pepper and 1 teaspoon salt.










After the meatballs/koftas are cooked add them in the gravy and cook them for 15-20 minutes more.

Add desi ghee and finely chopped mint leaves and cook for 5 more minutes.






Gushtaba is ready and it looks beautiful than any gori I have ever met in America.






Eat it with naan but a true Kashmiri will recommend it with Kashmiri Pulao which I will make sometime later.

MAKE SOME NOISE FOR GUSHTABA.



Saturday, August 15, 2015

Cashew Chicken

世界餐福事工 - 餐廳員工沒精打采老是打盤子


I hope you understand this Chinese text because I don't. Anyway today I am going to tell you all how to make one of my favorite Chinese recipe with my favorite dry fruit aka cashew nuts.

This is very easy to make with just a few ingredients and you can also top it up with the vegetables of your choice.

I personally like my food green because I bleed green because 14th August ya'll.

Basically my point is that this recipe is very easy and can be prepared by a 5 year old and if you cannot make it then I feel sorry for your loss of doing something good in your life NOT only for your own sake but for the sake of the people who depend on you.

JUST KIDDING

Ingredients:

500 grams chicken cut in 1.5 inch cubes

100 grams unsalted cashews

1/2 cup chicken stock/broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 table spoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 diced spring onions, white and green part separated

Optional Vegetables:

1/2 cup of boiled peas

1 small onion cut in cubes

1 can of mushrooms

1 carrot diced





CHEF'S NOTE - Do not and I repeat DO NOT think about your past, present or future while holding a knife.


Okay so in the beginning we will just sprinkle some salt and black pepper on the chicken.

Mix it well so the its properly coated. Let it rest for a while.





Unsalted cashews are not roasted so they are soft and sometimes a bit soggy. To roast just place them in a bowl and put them inside an oven. Adjust the heat on high and microwave or put in the oven  or about 2 minutes. They will be very hot but still soft. They will get crunchy as they cool down.






Now heat oil in a non stick wok or pan and start frying the chicken. Add ginger garlic paste right after you start stir frying the chicken.

As the chicken starts changing color add the chicken stock and let it cook in it.





The chicken will take sometime to cook as the broth dries up.

It's time to stir fry the vegetables. 

REMEMBER - whenever you stir fry your vegetables, do not put them in the pan altogether. Always put the hardest one first.

Put a tablespoon of oil in a non stick pan on high heat and fry the carrots first. Then add the oyster sauce. Fry for a minute and add the mushrooms. Then again after a minute add the onions and you don't need to cook the peas as they are already boiled so add them in the last with a pinch of black pepper.

No need for salt as the oyster sauce is very salty itself.










Vegetables are done. Turn down the heat.

Going back to our chicken. We add soy sauce and vinegar in it. Let it cook for a minute.

Now add the cashews in it and let the cashews absorb a bit of the sauce.

Add the rest of the vegetables and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Cashew chicken is made.

Sprinkle the spring onions on it and keep some separate for garnishing as well.






You can eat it with noodles or fried rice but since I'm a Kashmiri I prefer rice over everybody.







Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Cashew Chicken.




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