Margarita Grilled Chicken

Grill, Grill, Grill !!!! That's my motto these days. I am putting the grill to maximum use. Oiless cooking. Sounds so great. This can be served as an appetizer. But we ate it as main course along with bread. I have been thinking of grilling chicken mixing with wine or some other alcohol for a long time. Mixing it with alcohol, sounds interesting, right?? Chicken which gives you a kick. Marinate the chicken breasts overnight in margarita mix. This is a delicious and easy recipe. First I tried to grill one chicken piece because I was little skeptical about being the taste so bland without any masala. And boy I was right. It was very bland to my taste. Then, I added our Indian masala's to it. The effect was an alcoholic spicy chicken. It was too good. Remember, no oil in it !!!

Recipe : My Own

Ingredients : 

skinless & Boneless chicken breast - 4 pieces

1 cup bottled margarita mix

pepper Powder - 1 tsp

Chilli Powder - 2 tsp ( Both depend upon your spice levels)
Salt - To Taste

Directions :

Pour the margarita mix into a large resealable plastic bag. Add the chicken breasts, and press out as much of the air as possible before sealing. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Preheat the grill. Lightly oil the grill grate. Remove chicken from marinade, and discard the marinade. Apply all the powders and keep it aside for 2 hours. Grill chicken 4 minutes per side, or until juices run clear.

PS: I didn't marinate the masala for 2 hours because I decided to put in the masala in the last minute. Marination will add the flavor. I used George Foreman Grill.

Award Time

Priya of  Now Serving has given this One Fine Desert Award for participating in her event Best Western Desert. Priya, Thanks so much for passing on the award.

I am also thankful to fellow blogger Ambreen of Simply Sweet 'N Savory passing this wonderful award to me. Thanks for the support and encouragement !!!

The rules of this award are:

1. Accept the award. Post it in your blog with the name of the blogger who has given you this award with a link to his/her blog.

2. Pass it on to 15 other blogger friends…. to keep the ball rolling.

3. Let the nominated blogger know about their award [leave a comment in their most recent post].

I am passing this to my fellow bloggers:


1. Jaisy James of entepachakashala

2. Priti of Indian Khana

3. Ramya of Hot From My Oven

4. Hasna Jabeer of Kachuss Delight

5. Divya of Easy Cooking

6. Suma Rowjee of Cakes And More

7. Tina of Kaipunyam.com

8. Pavithra of Dishes From My Kitchen

9. Nithya of 4th Sense Cooking

10. Vidhya of Sugar N Spice 

11. Rose of Magpie Recipes

12. Aliena of What's Cooking

13. Dhivya Karthik of Chef in you

14. Prerna Singh of Indian Simmer

15. Soma Rathore of eCurry

Paneer & Sweet Corn Curry

I am here again with our all time favorite Paneer. I am trying out all posibble combinations with paneer. Whenever I go to a north Indian restaurant i will order paneer butter masala. You can see the recipe here. It is one dish I love to cook often. Anybody tried adding sweet corn to paneer?? Yes, my mom had done it. As usual I was even more happy to try out yet another dish of hers. After I started blogging always I try recipes from internet and other blogs and have kept aside my mom's cook book. Yesterday I thought to prepare one from it. I knew it will never go wrong. After all it's my mom's recipe. When I was in high school, My class teacher used to put my names for elocution and recitation. They will give the subject for elocution so that students can prepare on it. If I am preparing by myself then I won't be having the confidence but if my mom prepares it, then I am sure that I will win. She writes so well. I can't stop counting her talents. She is good at cooking, gardening, writing and what else... Whoever visited my humble home will definitely agree with the gardening part!!! Let's come to the recipe now. Otherwise I will keep on writing about her.

Ingredients:

Paneer - I cup cubed

Sweet corn kernels - 1 cup (Boil & Drain)

Grind : Half a handful of broken nuts in 2 Tbs warm milk for 20-30 minutes. Then grind along with 3 cloves garlic ans a very small piece ginger.

To Crackle: 

cinnamon - 2 pieces

cardamom - 2 pieces

Jeera - 1/4 tsp

To Fry : Onions 1 ( Here onions are very big, use 2 onions if they are small)

Powders: 

Chilli Powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Tomatoes - 2

Curd - 1/4 cup

Cream - 1 1/2 Tbs

Sugar -  1/2 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp

Salt - To taste

Method :

Heat oil. Crackle the items. Add the onions and fry till brown. Add the powders and roast lightly. Add the cashew paste and the tomatoes and fry.  Add rest of the ingredients except paneer and corn and simmer till oil seperates. Add the paneer and corn and mix well. Enjoy !!!

Date Pickle

Anybody in the mood for sweet, tangy, spicy pickle??? Well, both of us are very much in the mood. I have never tried my hands at making pickle. I never knew it's so simple and easy process. I love spicy food and I don't have to mention how much I am fond of pickles. When I was in hostel my roomie and myself used to survive on mom's homemade pickle. It used to get emptied very fast. All of us in my office will also be waiting for the spicy goodness. Whenever I go home I will be getting demands from my colleagues to bring packets of it. I remember stocking up her fish pickle in my hostel room and whenever the food is bad, pickle becomes our Saviour.

I usually don't like to do much of cooking during weekends. Saturdays are resting day for me and I won't be in a mood to cook anything on sunday after church. Lunch will be from church on all sundays and by the time we reach home it will be almost evening. This weekend was little different. 'A' was preparing for a certification course and I was having all the time in the world. Both of us don't like to eat dates in the raw form. But recently when we visited one of our relative they had yummy date pickle and I forgot to ask them about the recipe. I started searching relentlessly on the net. Finally I got some recipe to hang on. Now I am sure this one will top my list of favorite pickles !!!

Here goes the recipe:

Seedless Dates – 500 gms

Ginger-garlic paste – 4 tbsp

Chilli powder – 5 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

Salt – 5 tsp

Sugar – 3 tbsp

Vinegar – 1/2 cup

Water – 1/2 cup

Oil – 5 tbsp

Method :

Cut each date into 4 pieces.  Heat oil in a pan and add the ginger-garlic paste. Fry on a low flame till the aroma comes out. Add chilli powder and turmeric powder. Stir and add vinegar, water, sugar and salt. When it starts boiling, add the chopped Dates. Simmer till the gravy is thick and it coats well on the Dates. Put off the fire. Cool and transfer it to a glass jar. This pickle can be served immediately. Store in the refrigerator. It has a long shelf life. Enjoy!


I am sending this to Kerala Kitchen contest hosted by Magpie Recipes 


The details about the group can be seen here.

Paneer Jhalfrezi

Jhalfrezi is an anglicized version of dry or gravy-less curry. This recipe can be prepared in jiffy when you have very less time in hand. Paneer and capsicum are our all time favorite. So I thought of making paneer jhalfrezi. It goes well with paratha, roti or pulao. Couple of days back I got an invitation for Bay Area Food Bloggers Meet. It will be fun to meet people who share same interest. I am looking forward to meet everyone. I will update about the meet in my next post.

Recipe Source  : My Mom


Ingredients:

Paneer - 200 gms
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Corriander Powder - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Onions - 2
Capsicum - 1
Tomato - 1
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbs
Jeera - 1 tsp

Method:

Heat 2 Tbs oil. Crackle jeera. Add the capsicum and onions and when transluscent, add the powders and roast. Then the ginger- garlic paste and roast. Add the tomatoes and fry. Then add the paneer and lemon juice and cook for 2-5 minutes.

Chocolate Cup Cake

"When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile".

 Anne Byrn

Good things come small. A cupcake is a small cake designed to serve one person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations such as sprinkles are common on cupcakes. A standard cupcake uses the same basic ingredients as standard-sized cakes:  butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Nearly any recipe that is suitable for a layer cake can be used to bake cupcakes. Because their small size is more efficient for heat conduction, cupcakes bake much faster than layer cakes.You can serve cupcakes for parties , as there is no mess of cutting it like layered cakes. Different shaped cup cake stands are available in stores. You can use these for birthday celebrations, bridal shower and for weddings. I am adding few pictures of different varieies of cup cake trees and stands.

Recipe Source: joyofbaking.com

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method :

Chocolate Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. You can either spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula or if piping, use a large Wilton 1M open star tip to make lovely swirls.

Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes).

Corn Meal Crusted Chicken

I had planned to make this post long time ago. But it just got delayed. 'A' used to tell me about George foreman grill quiet often. The grill is known to remove excess fat from the meat. The most common use of a George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Grilling Machine is to cook cuts of meat, but you can also grill vegetables, make quesadillas, and fry bacon on these machines. It's best to fry bacon . You will get a shock when you see the amount of fat stripping from the bacon while you grill it. If you are frying it in a normal sauce pan remember that all those excess fat are going to your stomach. The grill focus on healthy cooking and it has got an easy-to-use grilling function. The smaller version of Foreman's Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine is terrific for preparing fast, low-fat meals--particularly for couples or single people. I love grilled food. You can eat it guilt - free. 

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast halves, boneless/skinless

 2 large eggs

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Dash of salt, if desired

1/4 cup grated fat-free Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons lime juice

Directions:

Rinse and drain the chicken breasts. Set two shallow bowls or pie plates on the counter. Place the egg  in one bowl and the cornmeal mixed with the lemon pepper, red pepper, salt, and cheese in the other bowl. Rub the chicken with the lime juice. Dip one piece of chicken at a time in the egg and then coat evenly with the cornmeal mixture. If you have time, place on a wire rack to dry out a little.

Make sure the grill is very hot. Spray the grill fairly heavily with vegetable oil cooking spray, then place the chicken on the grill and spray the top of each piece lightly. Cook for 8 to 15 minutes, turning as desired, until the chicken is tender and lightly browned.

Serve with salsa if desired.