Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and tossed Veggies baked in White Sauce

Let's first divide the individual components and prepare them before we head to assembling the dish.

1. Chicken

You'll need around 2/3rd Chicken breast. Marinate it with a mixture of

a. 1 tsp Soya Sauce

b. Italian herbs

c. Salt and pepper to taste

d. 1/2 grated ginger

e. 1 tsp Olive Oil

6. Little Sweet Chilli sauce

Leave it aside for around 30-40 minutes. Fry it in Olive oil in a pan till golden brown.

2. Mashed Potatoes

You'll need 1 medium sized potato. Boil it in salt water. After it cools, mash it or grate it and then mash it. Add salt to taste. Add Olive Oil - 1 tsp and cream for consistency (around 3-4 tsp min). Mix Italian herbs and 1 cube of grated cheese. Add black pepper powder. 

3. Mushrooms and Broccoli

Boil them in salt water and keep aside.

4. Bell peppers

Take 1/2 red and yellow bell pepper each. Cut them into julienne strips. Heat Olive Oil in a pan and toss the bell peppers in it. Add a dash of sweet chilli sauce and saute till light golden colour appears. Keep aside.

5. Cherry Tomatoes

You'll need around 8-10 cherry tomatoes. Simply wash them and keep them aside.

6. White Sauce

This is not your regular white sauce so it might have been made differently.

Bring milk to boil in a pan (around 250 ml) . Add 3 cheese cubes grated. Add cream (around 3-4 tbsps). Add cornflour paste (around 2 tsps cornflour mixed in cold water). Add salt and black pepper powder for taste. Black pepper is the main ingredient and hence add in proper quantity as per taste. Let it simmer and thicken. Keep aside.

To assemble

1. Line each portion in a vertical way in a oven-safe dish. First the mashed potatoes, then the mushrooms, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, chicken, bell peppers and then mushrooms again. 

2. Pour the white sauce mixture and cover teh entire surface.

3. Grate 1-2 cheese cubes.

4. Bake at around 160-180'C for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

CupCakes :)

Cupcakes Cupcakes Cupcakes!!! YummYumm Yumm !!!


Those yummy little cupcakes, brightly coloured look so delicious that you can't but grab a few. I decided that it was about time I tried my hands at them. Alas, I had not a beater/whisker so had to whip the cream with my hands :P It didn't turn out badly but better use a hand mixer !


Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup (113 gms) Amul butter (room temperature)

2. 2/3 cup (130 gms) powdered sugar

3. 3 eggs (room temperature)

4. 1 tsp vanilla essence

5. Zest of 1 lemon (outer yellow skin)

6. 1 1/2 cups (195 gms) maida (flour)

7. 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

8. 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

Procedure:

1. Take a big bowl and pour in the butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. I used a whisker and beat it manually. I suggest that you try this rather than using the blender. Beat slowly till the mixture is a smooth and fluffy paste.

2. Add the eggs one by one. Beat after every egg added. Once all eggs are added, beat for some more time to achieve a thick, yellowish, light and fluffy mixture.

3. Add the lemon rind (scrape the lemon) and the vanilla essence. Mix well.

4. In a separate bowl, sieve the flour and the baking powder together. 

5. Add the flour to the egg mixture slowly, mixing well alternately. Add the milk and mix some more. 

6. You need to use the paper cupcake moulds. Place the paper moulds in the metal cupcake moulds. One in each cavity. Then add the cake mixture in each mould till 3/4th of each mould is full. 

7. Bake at 180* Celsius for 16-18 minutes. Check with a  toothpick to see if its done. Repeat till the entire mixture is over. 

For the Frosting:

1. 2 cups (230 gms) powdered sugar

2. 1/2 cup (113 gms) margarine (room temperature)

3. 1 tsp essence (Mango / Strawberry / etc)

4. Food colours ( Yellow if you add mango flavour / Red if you put strawberry flavour )

5. Beat the above well till the mixture is light and fluffy. The mixture will rise to almost double the size.

6. Put it in a icing bag with the nozzle that you want. 

7. After the cakes cool down to room temperature, apply the icing on the cakes. 

Thai Ban

It rarely happens that I praise restaurants more than 50 times in the span of an hour! And I couldn't stop but thanking Tanay for taking us to this small Thai outlet, near Pali hill. Thai Ban is a 6-7 table restaurant which serves mainly Thai food alongwith some Chinese varieties. Serves both Veg and Non-Veg.


Date: May 17, 2012
Time: 10 PM - 11.15 PM
Occasion: My birthday!
Place: Thai Ban
Location: Pali Hill, Bandra (W)
Ratings: ****1/2
Courses Tried: Thai
Decently priced.
Pricing: Around 150-300 per dish.
Quantity: 1 dish = 2 people
Address: Shop No 8/9, Gaspar Enclave, Junction of St. Johns & Pali Road, Pali Naka,
 Bandra West, Mumbai 
Telly: 022- 26459775
Closest Station: Bandra


Thai food closely resembles our coastal Konkani food with coconut used very generously in most preparations. Thai Ban comes across as a tiny restaurant, cramped for space (which it sadly is). But the food it has to offer more than makes up for that. And when you go to a Thai place, order Thai. Don't even think of meddling with Chinese. We were in a hurry as we had reached quite late and our tummies were making noises ( :P ) so we skipped the drinks and starters and directly jumped onto the main course. We ordered a plain Ginger Mushroom Rice. Its a basic rice with invisible mushrooms and ginger (or maybe I was too busy eating). You can't have it without a gravy so we ordered a veg. Phad Phak. It comes with zuccini and tofu of which we got the tofu replaced with paneer. And we ordered veg. Phad Khi Mao which essentially are flat noodles. In non veg. we ordered a chicken Gaeng Phed or the famous red curry. The flat noodles were very spicy and I had to resort to the honey-based sauce which lay on the table to temper the spiciness. The red curry was par excellence. Superlatively brilliant. I strongly recommend it.

Prices as on the abovementioned date -
Ginger Mushroom Rice - Rs. 165

Veg. Phad Khi Mao - Rs. 230

Veg. Phad Phak - Rs. 295

Chicken Gaeng Phed - Rs. 345

It's worth a visit or a few more if you really like Thai food. Lot of varieties and very nice preparations. 

Disclaimer: The publisher, writer, blogger, or otherwise of this blog accepts no responsibility of whatsoever is written hereinabove. No claims or suits in any court of law will be entertained. Any similarity with living or non-living beings and/or things is purely co-incidental.

Blueberry New York CheeseCake !!!

Yay! After ages of being sunk in chocolate till I actually go breathless, I decided to try out a cheesecake. The Occasion? - my best friend's birthday! Let me warn you though - it's easy on you but not on your pocket! So the next time you see the cheesecake being doubly as costly as the other pastries, you will be fully fit to empathize with them!

Let's start with where to buy the ingredients from.

You need Cream Cheese and Sour Cream - you get this at FoodHall, Godrej Nature's Basket, etc.

Blueberry Preserve - The same places

Ingredients - (Total Cost - Rs. 800 odd)

Cream Cheese - 450 gms

Sour Cream - 100 gms

Eggs - 2

Flour (Maida) - 4-5 heaped tsps

Vanilla Essence - Around 1 tsp

Powder Sugar - 1 1/3 cups full (approx. 300-350 ml) - Please taste before adding the entire quantity as per the quantity of sweetness on your taste buds!

Cookies (or Marie Biscuits) - 1 packet

Amul Butter - Almost 1 packet (100 gms)

Sugar (for the base) - as per taste

Procedure -

1. Crush the biscuits in a mixer. Take a vessel and add the butter and the sugar for the base in it. After it melts, add the crushed biscuits. Toss till golden brown!

2. Take a big bowl and add the cream cheese. Put the hand mixer / blender on low speed and start beating it lightly. Slowly add, one by one, the powdered sugar, the flour, the eggs, the essence and the sour cream.

3. Mix well and keep aside in the fridge.

4. Take a open base mould (if it has a removable base , the better! ). Cover the base with aluminium foil all the way till the top as an added protection.

5. Preheat the oven for 5 minutes at 160 degree Celsius.

6. In the meanwhile, layer the base of the mould with the biscuit mixture. Spread it evenly and press it gently to make a think base.

7. Pour the cheese mixture in it and level.

8. Bake for around 50-60 minutes at 160 degree Celsius.

9. Remove it and let it cool in the fridge. Remove it on a separate dish and apply the blueberry preserve on it.

10. Last but not the least, see the happiness on your friend's face and ENJOY the Cake! Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Torte Cake !!!

Trust me, this is the best ever cake I have ever made!!! The occasion is my best friend's birthday and to be very honest was not in the mood to make a cake. But suddenly in the evening, I decided to go for it. I have been making brownies for a long time and had left making cakes, so it had to be a self-made recipe. I looked for a good recipe online but to no avail. So I had to make a 1 egg cake as I did not want to take risks.

Here goes the recipe

1 cold egg

1/6 cup margarine

45-50 gms chocolate

1/6 cup powdered sugar

1/3 tsp vanilla essence

1 flat tsp baking powder

3 1.2 heaped teaspoons of maida

The procedure is as follows

1. Separate the egg yolk and white and leave them to come to room temperature.

2. Beat the egg yolk with the sugar for around 3-5 minutes on medium speed till it thickens and becomes around 2-3 times of the original amount.

3. Beat the egg white separately till it thickens and becomes white in colour.

4. Melt the chocolate in double boiler or microwave.

5. Add the vanilla and molten chocolate in the egg yolk mixture.

6. Sieve the maida with the baking powder and add to the egg yolk mixture.

7. Mix the egg white to this mixture. Beat a little.

8. Grease the baking dish. Bake for 160' C for 20 minutes and 180' C for 10 minutes in a convection oven.

For the frosting

1. Take Amul or any other fresh cream around 3 teaspoons. Beat it well for around 7-8 minutes with 2 tsp of powdered sugar.

2. Melt around 40 gms of chocolate. Let it cool but not till it hardens. Add to the cream.

3. Add around 2 tsp of cocoa powder.

4. Beat a little. Add extra sugar/cocoa if needed.

Let the cake cool down. Remove it on a plate. And the apply the frosting.

I cooked all this !!!

Chocolate Donuts !!!

donuts, Donuts and more Donuts!!!! Like most other people, I too am Mad over Donuts !!! But due to unavailability of good donuts at frequently affordable prices, I decided to make them myself. To add to the occasion was Gaurav's birthday too ! So one fine evening I set out collecting the ingredients, searching for appropriate recipes, making my own changes to the finalised recipes and coming out with my OWN recipe, arranging the stuff in the kitchen and finally begin the process of making delectable donuts !!!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Active Dry Yeast (Caution: Smells BAD !! )

60 ml Warm Milk ( 40' C )

Li'l more than 1 tbsp Non-Salted Butter ( I used Margarine )

67 ml Sugar

1 Egg

500 ml Maida (flour)

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp each of Powdered Nutmeg and Cinnamon

Few drops of Vanilla Essence

Procedure:

1. Place 50 ml of the warm milk in a bowl and add the yeast therein. Set aside for five to ten minutes or so. Make sure you check the temperature of the milk. Hot milk will kill the yeast.
2. Mix the butter and sugar with the remaining milk. Add this to the yeast mixture.
3. Stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla essence. The mixture will thicken. Mix the dough well.
4. If the dough gets very sticky, add a li'l dough and if its too dry , then add li'l milk.
5. Knead the dough well and shape it into a ball. Keep in a buttered bowl for a few hours for the yeast to rise to nearly double the size.
6. Punch the dough and knead it further. Make flat 1/2 inch flat rounds and cut small circles with a rounded vessel ( a cup or glass would do too ). Let the donuts rise for another hour or so.
7. Take the rounds and stuff chocolate chunks in them. Cover the round dough around the chocolate pieces and make a ball. Try flattening them and place the donuts into a butter-paper lined baking tray.
8. Bake for around 8-9 minutes at 190'-200' C. Do not let the donuts get too brown.
9. Melt chocolate in a separate bowl and dip the baked donuts head first. Sprinkle powdered sugar on the donuts and serve hot!!!