Saucy Baked Chicken

Was wondering what to cook for dinner and once decided to make chicken, I grabbed the Fauzia's recipe which I had been longing to do and eyed for long time :) . I couldnt resist to eat it once I made it it looked fabulous and smelled superb and tasted the best and this is the best ever baked chicken  by me :), a big hug and thank you to Fauzia. A must try easy recipe.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, without skin, cut into 8 or 10 pieces
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp tomato paste (if your tomato paste is of a good bright coloured type, then first use 2 tbsp and check how the colour looks when blended with the rest of the ingredients...if you find you need more you can then add as necessary)
1 medium red onion chopped
1 heaped tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp whole cumin
2 tsp salt
2 TBsp tandoori masala
1 big mug plain yoghurt, full
2 green chillis (add more if you want it spicier)
1 bunch coriander, with sticks (not just the leaves)
Juice of 2 lemon (if ur lemons are very juicy then use just the juice of 1)

Method:

Clean and wash, then drain the chicken and set aside in a bowl.

Put ALL the other ingredients into a blender. Blend everything together until smooth. If you find the colour is not as vibrant as you would like, add a tsp of tandoori masala and a little more tomato paste, and blend again. Then pour over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate, let it marinate preferably for about 2-4 hours, but up to overnight is fine.

Pour everything into a glass pyrex baking dish, cover with foil. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place your baking dish on the center rack and bake for 30-35mins. 

(At this point your whole house will have the most appetising aroma. So be warned, tummies will growl!) :D

Remove dish, open the foil and turn the pieces over. Baste them with some of the liquid, just scoop with a spoon n drizzle over the pieces to keep them moist. Replace foil and put the dish back in the oven. Bake for another 30-35mins.

Finally remove the dish from the oven and discard the foil. Turn the pieces over once more and baste again with the sauce just to retain moisture, then put the tray back into the oven (without the foil this time) for about 10 mins or so just to give the pieces a nice colour. (If you have a grill in the oven, turn it on at this point to give the chicken a fantastic finish).

Once ready, remove and cover loosely with the foil until time of serving so the heat is retained.

Serving options: This dish can be served  with many different things in the past, but the best accompaniment in my opinion is fries, some sort of bread like naan or pita or parathas, chappatis and a fresh salad and an icy cold drink.


Enjoy cooking and eating this fabulous Chicken:) 

Chicken Bread

I always had a craze to learn baked dishes and a few times I had tried a few recipes and always failed in one step or the other but always blamed my oven and kept cribbing that I dont have a right oven in place,   but in the same oven this is the first baking recipe which turned out absolutely perfect and fabulous. I learnt this also from a TV channel and is a unique recipe to impress your loved ones :) .  A must try recipe and vegetarians can  substitute veggies or anything they wish and amend the ingredients stuffing to their taste buds but never change the proportion of the dough as this is really a perfect dough for any kind of stuffing . 

Ingredients for Dough:

Maida or All purpose flour - 4 cups /16 OZ (1/2 Kg)
Milk Powder - 2 Tablespoon
Cooking Oil - 1/4 cup
Instant yeast - 1 tablespoon
Castor Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Salt- 1 teaspoon leveled
Egg -1
Lukewarm water

Dough Mixture Preparation:

Take a vessel add the flour and add all the ingredients as measured above, add yeast, milk powder, cooking oil, castor sugar, salt , egg and knead it well with lukewarm water to a chappati dough consistency and keep it in a greased vessel and brush some oil over the dough and keep it covered in a warm place for one hour till the dough becomes double.

Stuffing Chicken Mixture:

Ingredients for stuffing:

Chicken 1/2 KG boiled with salt and shredded ( or use boneless peices and boil with salt and shred)

Butter- 3 tablespoon

Onion- One big onion finely chopped

Maida or All purpose flour - 2 tablespoon

Salt- one tablespoon

Black pepper powder- 1 tablespoon

Green chillies- 4 nos chopped finely

Garam masala Powder -1/2 teaspoon

Milk- one cup

Tomato Sauce- 1 tablespoon

Coriander leaves- Finely chopped 2 tablespoons

Method to prepare stuffing:

• Take a non stick pan or tawa , heat it and add 3 tablespoon butter and add the chopped onion and fry till it turns pink and then add 2 tablespoon maida and mix well for a minute and then add salt, pepper powder, green chillies , garam masala powder and mix well and add one cup milk, and mix well in low fire till it becomes thick and now add the boiled shredded chicken and mix well for 2 minutes and then add tomato sauce and coriander leaves and mix well and then remove from fire. The mixture should be thick and not watery.

Dough Stuffing:

Ingredients:

One egg

one tablespoon til/sesame seeds

Kead the doubled dough well using hands for a minute and then take a big handful size of dough and roll the entire flour into oval shape with 1/4 inch thickness like the thin crust pizza and then make small cuts on the sides of the rolled dough till the end on both sides and keep the prepared mixture in between and start overlapping the cuts from both the sides as shown in the picture and once done , brush the bread with egg and sprinkle some til /sesame seeds on top of the bread and keep it aside for another half an hour to rise and then bake it 200 degree centigrade for 20 minutes till it browns on the top .

You can also make make small croissants using the same filling and bake in the same procedure.

You can also do your own kind of stuffing with vegetables or eggs or mince meat as per your choice but see that the stuffing stays thick.

It is a worth trying dish which suits for partys and dinners :)

Thanjavur Spicy Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 Kg with bones
Onions - preferably shallots one cup chopped roughly ( for grinding)
Onions - preferably shallots one cup chopped roughly ( for seasoning)
Tomato - 2 big ripe ones chopped finely
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tablespoons
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tablespoon
Coriander Powder - 3 tablespoons ( always use 1:3 ratio chilli powder and coriander powder)
Tumeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds- 2 tablespoons
Fennel Seeds - 1 tablespoon
KhusKhus / Poppy Seeds - 1 tablespoon
Bay leaves- 1 peice
Cinnamon- 1" stick
Cloves -3 nos
Green cardamon - 2 nos
Grated fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves a handful
Coriander leaves to garnish
Oil as required
Salt as required

Method:

For Grinding:

Take a tawa and heat 2 tablespoon oil and add 2 tablespoons cumin seeds and curry leaves and once it splutters add one cup onion and fry well till the onions turn slight brown and then add one tablespoon fennel seeds and one tablespoon khus khus and also add the grated fresh coconut 1/2 cup and mix well for just a minute and remove from fire , cool and grind it into a very fine paste and keep aside.

For Curry:

Take a pressure cooker or use a thick bottomed vessel and add 5 tablespoons oil, once hot add a peice of bay leaf, 3 cloves, 2 cardamons, a peice of cinnamon stick and fry well then add 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion or shallots and curry leaves, once the onions starts turning brown, add 2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste and fry well till starts sticking to pan and then add the 2 finely chopped tomatoes and to it add tumeric powder 1/4 teaspoon, and add enough salt ( salt will allow the tomatoes to cook quickly) and once the oil starts leaving the tomatoes, add 1 tablespoon chilli powder and 3 tablespoons coriander powder and then add the chicken peices immediately and saute them well for 5 minutes without adding water.

When the chicken turns white then add the grinded masala and adjust water and salt and close the lid and let the chicken cook till done. Dont add too much of water and the gravy should be not very watery nor very thick.

For Tarka:

Transfer to bowl and if you wish you can take a small pan and add 2 tablespoon oil, add 1/2 spoon mustard seeds , 3 whole red chillies and a bunch of curry leaves and pour it over the curry to get a fabulous texture on the curry and the flavor is really amazing.

This curry can also be done with mutton and I personally feel the mutton curry is more yummier than the chicken curry using this recipe.