Classic Tomato Salsa

I love classic tomato salsa. It is tangy and fresh. Though I don’t like raw onion so much, the fresh tomatoes with the lime juice is yummy! I like it with tortillas, chips, simply like a dip. It is so easy to make and so refreshingly tasty.

INGREDIENTS:

4 big tomatoes
1 large white onion
1 large bunch of cilantro
1 lemon juice
¼ sp sugar
3-4 chilies (Serrano chilies if available)
Salt

METHOD:

1. Chop the tomatoes into small cubes.
2. Chop the onion also into cubes.
3. Roast the chilies.
4. Deseed the roasted chilies and chop finely.
5. Mix everything together with lemon juice, salt, sugar, and lemon zest.
6. Add chopped cilantro.
7. Mix and set aside in the fridge for cooling.
8. Serve cold.

Chicken Fajita

It is a rainy day today, and good time for eating chicken fajita with tortillas. Moreover, I was eating it after a long time. I like Mexican food. And this is just so easy, quick and tasty dish. I also like the accompanying salsa sauce. The tangy and fresh taste of tomato and lemon is refreshing and appetizing. To me fajita is interesting because of its freshness. It is juicy with the pepper giving it certain kind of crunchiness. I used bought tortillas and guacamole sauce today; however, I plan to make the latter soon, when I get some good avocados. Thus I enjoyed my Sunday lunch with the fajita and tortilla, and though there wasn’t any sour cream, it was still good..
I had originally got the recipe from some Mexican cookbook and used that with some little modifications.

INGREDIENTS:

800gm chicken breast
1 lime
½ sp sugar
2 tbsp oregano
1tbsp cayenne pepper
1sp chili flakes
½ sp ground pepper
2 onions
3 bell peppers
Salt
Oil

METHOD:

1. Pat the chicken breasts dry with a kitchen cloth and cut into thin strips.
2. Add into it lime juice and zest, sugar, oregano, cayenne pepper, chili flakes, salt, pepper. Mix thoroughly and marinate for around half hour.
3. In meantime, cut pepper into thin strips.
4. Finely slice the onion.
5. In a pan, heat oil.
6. Stir fry the chicken until it starts getting the golden color.
7. Add the onion and pepper.
8. Cook on high heat until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are soft but still crunchy and juicy.
9. Check the seasoning and add more salt if required.
10. Serve hot with tortillas, salsa sauce, guacamole sauce and sour cream.

NOTE:
If the vegetables leave water while cooking, cook until water dries.
One can increase the amount of cayenne pepper or chili flakes according to desired amount of spiciness.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

I was planning to cook this from the time when I had had it for first time in a Thai restaurant, and finally got the opportunity to make it today. The Thai Green Curry Paste I had got was also lying in the shelf for months. Finally I got all the ingredients and tried making it today. I used the curry paste from the market as it I was not getting all the ingredients for the paste easily, and wished to not make my own substitution, keeping it more authentic. After looking at the many recipes online that had different ingredients cooking method, I decided to use pepper and cherry tomatoes along with chicken. But while shopping I saw a can of bamboo shoots in water and decided to put that in too. However, I couldn’t find lemon grass and simply used the lemon grass powder for the flavor. Served with jasmine rice, it turned out like I remember from the restaurant. It was a perfect blend of the spicy curry paste and coconut milk, with the lime giving it a pleasant refreshing flavor. I have more curry paste left and will be glad to cook it again soon, maybe even for guests!

INGREDIENTS:

700gm chicken breast
400ml coconut milk
140gm bamboo shoot
1 big red pepper
10-15 cherry tomatoes
1 shoot of lemon grass (I used 2tbsp lemon grass powder)
1 small onion
1inch ginger
6tbsp green Thai curry paste
6-8 Kaffir lime leaves
1 lime
Salt
1sp oil

METHOD:

1. Chop the onion and cut the pepper in thin slices.
2. Drain the bamboo shoot pieces and keep aside if you are using it from a can.
3. Chop the lemon grass.
4. Finely grate the ginger or make a paste.
5. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces.
6. In a wok, heat 1sp of oil.
7. When heated, add the sliced onion and vegetables.
8. Let it fry for 2-3min on medium heat. Stir from time to time so it doesn’t turn brown.
9. Add the Thai green curry paste, ginger and lemon grass. Let it cook for a couple of minutes until the
10. Fragrance of the spices come out.
11. Add the coconut milk, and on medium heat let it come to boil.
12. Add the chicken, lime leaves and cherry tomatoes.
13. Let it cook for around 15mins, until the chicken is tender and there is the subtle fragrance of lime and coconut.
14. When done, add salt if needed.
15. Stir in the juice of 1 lime and let it cook for 1 more min.
16. Garnish with lime leaves, lemon grass and serve hot with rice (Thai or Jasmine rice).

NOTE:
If you are using Thai green curry paste from a store, it may have salt added, so check it before adding salt in the gravy.

Chicken with Mangold

It is Sunday, and the morning saw me waking up without a mood for doing anything at all. It was lazy, and I was lazy to cook even. I was even thinking of ordering a pizza for lunch. But somehow with even less than half the wish, I decided to cook the lunch. There was only mangold (Chard or Spinach Beet) and some chicken breasts to cook. Yesterday I somehow thought I will cook the chicken into some sauce and make mangold separately. But today I was too lazy to think of what kind of preparations to make and was rather wishing for a short cut. So, the easiest way was to cook the chicken with mangold in some sauce. And I put in it randomly some spices I got hold of, both Indian and European. I didn’t much think of how it will turn out, but the end result was quite satisfying. It had an interesting and unusual taste, some kind of spices saltiness, which I liked. And it was quite good with hot Basmati. I am really pleased and happy with how it turned out. And it lifted up my mood too. At the end, on a day when I had no mood for cooking, I cooked something that was good, something that I will like to cook again, and even for guests!!!

INGREDIENTS:

300gm chicken breasts (2-3 pieces)
200gm mangold leaf
1 small onion
2 big cloves of garlic
1 bayleaf
1sp whole black pepper
1sp Mediterranean spice mix
1/2sp ground black pepper
1/2sp ground coriander
1/2sp ground Indian cumin
Sea salt
Salt
Sugar
Oil

METHOD:
1. Wash and coarsely chop the mangold leaves (I didn’t use the stem).
2. Pat dry the chicken breasts and fork them lightly. Rub each with Mediterranean spice mix, ground black pepper and sea salt.
3. Chop the small onion and crush the garlic cloves.
4. Heat oil in a frying pan. And when it is hot, add the whole pepper and bayleaf.
5. When it crackles, add the onion and garlic.
6. Wait until they turn pinkish brown and add the coriander and cumin. Stir for half a minute.
7. Add the chicken breasts. Put it to medium heating/flame.
8. Fry them until both sides turn golden brown and the meat turns soft.
9. Next add the chopped mangold leaves. Stir, and cook it covered for around 10-12mins on medium heat/flame.
10. When the leaves wilt and the chicken is tender, uncover and cook for another minute to evaporate a bit of the water that the mangold had left.
11. Serve hot with plain rice.

NOTE:
One can use spinach or any other similar leaves instead of mangold.
The Mediterranean spice mix had the usual thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley, pepper, salt etc. One can also use some spice mixes for grill/tandoor to have similar effect and taste.

Methi Palak Prawn

I made this dish first time for the Durga Puja this year. I planned to cook prawn. It is a fish available here easily, and also simple to cook. Moreover, I really like prawns. My wish was to cook a not common preparation of prawn, and was thinking of making up something on my own. Spinach I thought was a good choice to make the gravy with, something similar to palak (spinach) paneer, a popular Indian dish. However I did not like the idea of using the usual whole cumin seeds. Though I like the flavor of cumin very much and like to put it in almost everything possible, it was puja and I was in mood of trying some new flavors and combinations. Therefore, I decided for fenugreek seeds. It is a seed used in Bengali vegetarian cuisine sometimes along with a few other whole spices or alone. I don’t use it too often and so thought why not give it a try with prawns. I must admit the result was quite surprising. The rich aroma of fenugreek seeds blended perfectly well with the taste of prawns and spinach. A lot of fenugreek and a bunch of spinach worked wonders with the prawns!! It turned out as some unconventional dish that can be cooked when guests are invited.

INGREDIENTS:
500gm prawn
1 bunch spinach (palak) - coarsely chopped
2tbsp fenugreek seeds
1 big tomato - chopped
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Oil

METHOD:
1. Heat oil in pan, enough for both frying prawns and cooking.
2. Fry the prawns until they turn gentle golden, and set aside.
3. In the same oil put fenugreek seeds. When they turn black, take them out.
4. Now in the oil put tomato and spinach together.
5. Add salt, sugar and pepper.
6. Cook in low heat for 5-10 mins so the tomato and spinach get cooked and form gravy like consistency. No water is required.
7. Now add the prawns, mix well and add a few table spoons of water. Cook for another couple of minutes.


NOTE:
This preparation goes well with rice.
Fry the prawns and cook in the same oil, this will give the flavor of the prawn in the preparation.
The fenugreek seeds are taken out after frying, as if left behind it will give a bitter taste when chewed. If you take the seeds out, it gave the flavor without the bitterness, and you can use it in large quantity.
You can add a bunch of fresh fenugreek leaves along with spinch.