Chicken Tikka Boti Wraps

Ingredients:

• Boneless chicken: 1 kg
• Chilli powder: 1 tsp
• Crushed red chilli: 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
• Paprika powder: 1 tsp
• Tandoori masala: 1 tsp
• Tikka botti masala: 2 tsp(optional)
• Salt: 1 tsp or to taste
• Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
• Garam masala: 1 tsp
• Green chili: 1 finely chopped
• Yogurt: 2 tbsp
• Fresh lemon juice: 2 tbsp
• Black pepper: 1/2 tsp
• Oil: 1 tbsp
• Coriander: 2 tbsp
• Vinegar: 1 tsp
• Soya sauce: 1 tsp
• Tortilla wraps: 8

Directions:

• Add yogurt in a bowl and whisk it
• Add all ingredients into it and mix well
• Add boneless chicken into it and mix well
• Cover and put it in a fridge for at-least 3 hours
• Grill it by changing sides of the chicken frequently
• Warm the wraps and fill them with Tikka Boti along with salad and mint chutney.

NOTE: To see how to fold the wraps see Chicken Fajitas recipe posted earlier

Rava Idli Recipe with Eno - Instant Rava Idli Recipe with Curd

Making your own idlis at home is a beautiful thing. In fact, I dream of always having homemade idli dosa batter in the refrigerator all the time but that's sadly not the case. I do buy and stock MTR rava idli mixes but it's not something I default to often. While I love rava dosa and the ease of making instant rava dosa at home, there's something to be said about being able to pour ladles of batter into a mould and just letting it steam away while you settle down with a book or just unwind from the day. Oh, I should probably mention that I almost always make these instant rava idlis for dinner rather than breakfast.

I have actually shared a recipe for rava idli before but this is a new and improved version that works so well that I actually make them about about once a month now for a weeknight dinner. If you make a large batch, you can even refrigerate the cooked idlis and lightly steam them the next day for breakfast (the batter can be stored before adding eno too, but I haven't tried this myself). Total win!

Just for the cuteness factor, I used the mini idli mould stand that my mom in law gifted me and made a batch of mini rava idlis. Dunked in a bowl of sambar, they make the easiest and cutest breakfast (or dinner) ever. If you don't own a mini idli mould, I'd urge you to remedy that as soon as possible. My mom used to pack these for my tiffin when in school and making this small batch myself brought back so many memories from years ago.

While sambar and coconut chutney are great combinations for idli and rava idli alike, I love mine with onion tomato chutney. Try it!

Check here if you are looking for how to make soft idlis. I've even included loads of tips and tricks.

RAVA IDLI (WITH ENO & CURD) RECIPE

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes ~ 12 idlis

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups of rava (semolina)
1 cup of curds (plain yogurt)
1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds
1 tsp of chana dal (soaked in water for 10 mins)
1/2 tsp of urad dal (optional)
A few curry leaves
1 tbsp of oil
1.5 tsp of eno salt (plain, unflavoured)
1/2 tsp of salt or as needed
2 tsp of roasted cashew nuts (optional)
1/4 cup of peas (fresh or frozen, optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the chana dal, urad dal, and curry leaves. Fry until dals turn golden.

2. Add the rava to this along with the peas, if using. Add salt and mix well.

3. Now turn off the flame and add the curds and 1 cup water.

Mix well to form a thick batter.

Get your idli moulds ready and lightly rub or spray with oil. Keep some water ready for steaming in whatever container you are using (pressure cooker, idli cooker, etc) and make sure it's hot before proceeding with the batter.

4. When you are ready to steam, add the eno salt to the rava idli batter.

5. The eno salt will bubble and fizz a bit when added to the batter. This is good. This is what will aerate your rava idlis and make them soft and spongy.

6. Mix lightly and immediately pour in the idli moulds. If you are steaming the idlis in batches, add eno only to the batch you are going to steam and then add the rest before the next batch goes on for steaming.

Steaming time will vary depending on your idli mould and size. I usually require about 10 mins. If you want, you can add a roasted cashew nut to the bottom of each idli mould dent before pouring the batter.

Serve hot with  Kerala sambar, green coconut chutney, and tomato onion chutney.

Note: you can replace eno salt with baking soda for similar results.

Melon Pan Bread Recipe - How to Make Melon Pan Buns

Melon pan, melon bread, or melon bun is a popular Japanese bread (also popular in Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc) that's basically buns covered in a crunchy cookie crust. Interesting, eh? The method for making these melon pan buns seemed a bit complicated when I read the recipe but once I started making them on a Saturday morning, I realised it's really nothing but making a basic bread dough, some cookie dough, and layering them before baking. The resultant buns were soft inside and crunchy outside, a perfect tea (or coffee) time snack.

The criss-cross design on the buns make it super adorable and I chose to make them into smaller, almost two-bite-sized buns. While they are best eaten fresh and preferably warm out of the oven, you can warm them slightly before serving if keeping them for the next day. I don't recommend storing these buns beyond 2 days.

If you are looking for more simple bakes, check out these eggless garlic rolls, Indian pav, or just browse all bread recipes so you can pick for yourself.

MELON PAN BREAD RECIPE

Preparation time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 10 small buns
Recipe adapted from various sources

INGREDIENTS:

For bread dough:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
2 tbsp milk powder
1 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold water
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp sugar
25gm butter, at room temperature
For cookie dough:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
A large pinch of salt
60gm butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar (this makes a sweet bun)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sugar for dusting (I used raw sugar)

INSTRUCTIONS:

To make the bread dough, whisk together the flour, powdered milk, yeast, and salt in the bowl (or the bowl of your stand machine if using one). In a smaller bowl, beat the egg and cold water together with a fork till well blended. Add this to the flour mixture in the bowl.
Knead (on low speed in the machine) till it all come together as a dough and then (on medium speed) until you have a somewhat stiff dough.

Add the sugar and knead well.

Now add the soft butter and knead (first at slow speed and then on medium) until the butter is completely incorporated into the dough and the dough becomes smooth and elastic. I transferred it to a board dusted with flour and kneaded by hand for 5 mins until it became soft.

Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and keep covered in a warm place for an hour or until about 50% puffed up.

While the dough rises, make the cookie dough. In a bowl, cream the soft butter and sugar till well combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat till combined.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and add this to the bowl. Mix together until just combined.

Shape the dough into a cylinder (this will make the dough easy to divide and cut out later), and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate the dough until required.

Once the bread dough has risen, take it out of the bowl, flatten it gently with your fingers, and divide into equal balls. You can decide the size of the buns at this time.

Take out the cooke dough from the refrigerator and cut into equal pieces. Place each piece between two pieces of cling film and press down with the bottom of a small round container. This will form a dish of cooke dough (keep it to about 1/4" thickness).

Make smooth balls of the dough and place the cooke disc over it. Press over gently and bring to the bottom so the dough ball is mostly covered.

Dip this in sugar until generously coated.

Make criss-cross patterns with a knife, making sure it's deep enough to reach down to the dough layer inside (or else the dough will rise and the pattern will be lost). Repeat with all dough balls and cookie dough discs. Place on a greased or lined baking sheet. Let this rise for another hour.

Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 350F/180C. Bake the risen buns for 15-20 mins (longer if you shaped them larger) or until the top turns a light golden brown.

Serve warm.

Notes:
This video gives an idea of how to knead, shape, and make the buns. The recipe used above is a bit different
You can add chocolate chips to the bread dough for a variation. Adding lemon zest to the cookie dough gives it a nice zing too
Melon Pan Bread is this month's bread of choice of the We Knead to Bake Group managed by Aparna

Chettinad Pepper Chicken Masala - Spicy Pepper Chicken Recipe

I've shared a recipe for dry pepper chicken before but tha'ts before I tried this much better variation recently. I have been out of blogging action for a while thanks to a lot of stuff happening in my life right now (mostly good folks, mostly good) but obviously I am still cooking and eating as much as before, if not more. This gorgeous pepper chicken happened one Sunday night for dinner which explains the otherwise inexplicable lighting situation going on in the first two pictures of the dish.

Bloggers introduce their recipes with a dash of behind-the-scenes, what's going on in their lives, how they came to make this dish, etc. Sometimes we talk about how good it was and how everyone else must go ahead and make it. But anecdotes and stories that explain why others in their lives want repeats of a dish all the time are quite rare so when I saw Deepa talking about this dry pepper chicken masala her husband loves, I knew I had to try it. This is the first time (I think) I used freshly ground spices to such great results and I don't know how I'll ever go back to my lazy self that just adds store-bought coriander powder, etc, to my dishes.

I have adapted the original recipe and increased the amount of spices to suit my tastebuds so if you like your chicken dishes on the dry and greasy side with lots of kick and heat from spices, then drop everything now and go make this. Unless you are vegetarian, in which case, try it with potatoes or mushrooms. Obviously, you can control the greasiness by reducing the amount of oil but I strongly recommend going with the full amount listed below. Trust me on this.

Other chicken recipes that I absolutely love and make often for guests, especially:
Butter Chicken
Chicken Curry in Coconut Milk
Chilli Chicken
Kerala Chicken Curry

CHETTINAD PEPPER CHICKEN RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 2-3
Adapted from: One Small Pot and Tasting India by Christine Manfield

INGREDIENTS:

250 gm of boneless chicken pieces, cubed
A fistful of curry leaves
2 tbsp of oil (I used coconut oil)
1 tsp of black mustard seeds
1/4 tsp of fennel seeds, saunf (optional)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp of ginger, grated or finely chopped
1 cup of onions, sliced
1/2 cup of cubed tomato or 1 tsp tomato paste
Spices
1 tsp of cumin seeds
2 tsp of coriander seeds
1-2 dry red chillies (adjust to taste)
1 tsp of whole black pepper (adjust to taste)
3" piece of cinnamon
3 green cardamom pods

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Dry-roast the spices (use the seeds from the cardamom pods) in a skillet until they turn a shade darker and fragrant.

2. Cool and pound coarsely in a pestle or mortar or using a spice/coffee grinder.

3. Heat the oil in a wide pan and turn to low heat. Add the mustard seeds and fennel and then they sizzle and pop, add the ground spices, fry for 10 seconds until fragrant...

... and then add the ginger, garlic, onions, and curry leaves.

4. Saute until the onions are soft and then add the tomatoes or tomato paste. Mix well.

5. Now add the chicken pieces and stir well to coat them with the spices.

6. Add 1 cup of water, bring to boil, lower heat to simmer, and cook covered for about 15 mins or until the chicken pieces are cooked through.

You should uncover and stir in between every 3-4 mins to make sure nothing is burning. After about 15 mins, the gravy should be thick and the spices should be coating the chicken. If this is not the case, cook in the open pan for a few more minutes.

All done! Serve hot as an appetizer, with rice, roti, dosa, chapati, parotta, anything at all. This lip-smacking Chetttinad-style pepper chicken goes with everything.

Notes:
- You can also use chicken pieces with bone, just cut into the size you desire and adjust cooking times accordingly
- I have a high spice and heat tolerance when it comes to meat dishes, so adjust your spice levels to your taste
- If you don't have curry leaves, please don't make this. Ok you can, but it won't taste as nice. Special thanks to Deepa for the fresh curry leaves from her mom's garden.

February 2014 Favourites List

This year so far has been one of reflections and revisiting some of the things I do on a day to day basis. Apart from the usual and cliched things like eating healthy, moving more, and enjoying everything Sydney and Australia have to offer, I have also been thinking a lot about this blog right here.

Here's something I probably haven't mentioned before. I love cooking but I don't always love it. I cook for this blog only on weekends and that too, not all weekends. So all other meals we eat are normal, everyday things that are mostly South Indian, vegetarian, and not fancy in any way. I do, however, spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internet. This is largely due to the nature of my job but I am also guilty of being that person on the bus or train who has her nose buried in her phone when she could be enjoying the beautiful golden sunset outside.

So all this time spent on the Internet has me curating things like crazy. Apart from Pinterest (follow me here), which has become more mainstream of late, I have always had various bookmark folders, note taking apps, post-it notes, and even old diaries where I note things down constantly. Long story short, I am going to attempt to share a part of that here on a monthly basis.

Obviously this is not my idea. A lot of bloggers share lists of their favourite things but I didn't realise until recently how much I actually enjoy reading them and discovering new things through them, especially when all involved parties are like-minded. So, here's my attempt at sharing some stuff that I enjoy as I go through my days, both online and offline.

Aussie Food Blogs

When I moved here, I didn't personally know a single food blogger but one lunch meeting later, I now have my small group of buddies. I must call out Amanda for her gorgeous pictures, Deepa for her lovely nostalgic posts, and Sarah for her great restaurant reviews. We even went apple picking around Sydney together. Go check them out! 

Cookbook of the Month

As with many people I know, I collect cookbooks and don't use them as much as I should. I know this but I still can't resist the glossy pages and the stunning photography that's become a norm in pretty much all cookbooks now. I research extensively and check a ton of reviews before I make a purchase though, and I often try at least one recipe from it before it enters the dark recesses of my bookshelf. My latest favourite has been Mastering the Art of Baking my Anneka Manning. It offers steps of baking as well as lovely pictures of the final dish. I made my sweetheart sugar cookies from this book and I am totally loving it!

Silicone Spatulas

If you haven't jumped on the silicone spatula bandwagon yet, I suggest you take the leap as soon as possible. I don't remember life before them, that's how much I love them. I started off with the Le Creuset silicone spatula spoon but soon realised there are cheaper and possibly better options out there. I bought the Nordicware 3-piece set next and shared it with the mom and sis. It works really well and my only gripe is that it's a bit heavy and the handle is thicker than it needs to be, which the price sort of makes up for. However, last month I found the prefect in-between choice and bought this set from Tovolo - great quality and great price, highly recommended. [Update: I ran the spoonula, on the extreme right in the pic below, in the dishwasher and the silicon head split by an inch :( So, I guess you have to wash these by hand, which is a bit of a deal breaker for me. Thought you should know]

Breakfast at Google

Food in Google offices across the world is terrific. My most favourite in Sydney is this breakfast menu - beautiful brioche french toast with poached pear, maple syrup, and whipped fresh ricotta cheese. With a glass of cloudy apple juice, this breakfast can keep me happy through the day.

Flavoured Yogurt

Jalna sent me two tubs of flaoured yogurt to check out - their new sweet and creamy Greek yogurt and a lemony flavour they call Citrus Splice. Flavoured yogurt makes a great snack and I am loving exploring different ways to make them interesting. So far, berries and yogurt are my favourite combination. I have also been loving the Mango and Blood Orange flavoured yogurt from Gippsland. 

Matcha Green Tea Powder

In all honesty, I find green tea bitter and not very tasty. I know it's good for health and all the rest of it, but I was not a fan of the taste or aftertaste. So when I was offered a sample of Kenko tea matcha powder, I was more intending to use it for baking and such. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how mild the tea tasted and how vibrant the colour was. This is some seriously high quality green tea powder we are talking about, folks! The right quality can make a real difference and I am drinking it almost every day. Picture below shows the tea before using the bamboo whisk to aerate it a bit. Gorgeous!

The Tastemade Channel

If you love food and cooking, or even if you don't, you are seriously missing out if you haven't checked out the Tastemade channel on YouTube. They have a great line up of cooks and my absolute favourite series is Thirsty For... that focuses on drinks from around the world. Their videos are just my style and my personal favourites are - Aloe Vera Juice and the Masala Chai video below. Actually, they are all good. Happy binge-watching!

That's all for this month. I hope you found something new and interesting in this list. Let me know if you have any thoughts on what sort of stuff you'd like to see included in the list. Now let me go discover new things that hopefully becomes favourites in March! 

Apple Cinnamon Rolls - Easy Low Fat Apple Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Apples and cinnamon are a match made in heaven and while I am not a huge fan of cinnamon playing the major role in any dish, it does bring out the subtle flavours of apple and its inherent sweetness. I have been wanting to make some sweet cinnamon rolls for the longest time and even had a never-ending long list of bookmarks just for sweet bread rolls. Typical to my nature, I overlooked all those bookmarks and adapted this from an entirely new recipe. I had to use up all those freshly picked Aussie Apples from my apple picking trip to Bilpin.

While making breads, I often find that the amount of flour mentioned in many recipes is too little for my dough. I have even ended up adding more than double the amount of flour mentioned in the original recipe which really baffles me. Even if you factor in flour type and humidity and what not, it still shouldn't be that different. But anyway, this is just a word of caution for those who are trying this recipe - start from the lowest quantity of flour I have mentioned and add more only if your dough needs it.

The good news is that these apple cinnamon rolls are really fail-proof. i ended up messing up the filling and it was way too watery and I just wrapped everything up into a gloopy muddle of rolls and they still emerged golden, fragrant, and fluffy from the oven.

I love making bread rolls in a round pan because of the shape they bake up in but you can use a loaf tin, square pan, pretty much anything you want, just ensure it's the right size to fit your rolls comfortably and allowing enough rising space before baking.

These rolls would go fabulous with some caramel sauce but I didn't want to add any more sugar or fat than necessary so this is pretty much a low-fat albeit less 'interesting' version of apple cinnamon rolls.

Also check out one of my most popular recipes, the eggless garlic rolls, the adapted eggless pesto rolls, and this amazing eggless garlic cheese pull apart bread recipe.

APPLE CINNAMON ROLLS RECIPE

Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 8 rolls
Dough recipe adapted from: Gimme Some Oven

INGREDIENTS:
2.5 cups of flour
1 tsp of instant yeast
1/4 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of sugar (I used raw sugar)
1/2 cup of milk (any kind)
1/2 of a beaten egg
2 tbsp of butter, at room temperature
2 cups of small cubes of apple (no need to peel)
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

0. Pre-heat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a pie or loaf pan with some melted butter and set aside.

1. Add 2 cups of the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast to the bowl of your stand mixer (see below for kneading by hand) and with the dough hook on, mix gently on low speed until combined.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, heat the milk and butter together until warm. When you insert a finger in this mixture, you should be able to withstand the heat. Add this and half an egg to the flour mixture and run the stand mixer on low speed until the dough comes together.

3. If the dough is very sticky and seems too moist, add more flour as needed. I needed the entire 2.5 cups but you may not. Transfer this dough to a floured surface and gently knead in with your palm until it's not super sticky anymore.

4. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap or a plate, and set aside in a warm place to rise for 30-40 mins.

5. Meanwhile, heat a pan and add the chopped apples. On low heat, cook until they turn slightly soft, taking care not to cook the apples to a mush. I added the cinnamon and brown sugar at this stage but realised it made the filling extremely watery. A better option would be to layer it on the dough before rolling so ignore my slightly irrelevant pictures below and follow the procedure I am explaining. As I always say, just learn from my mistakes :)

6. Once the dough has been rested for 30-40 mins, lightly punch it down and roll into a long oval. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and layer it all over the dough evenly (as mentioned, I added it to the apples so ignore the below picture in terms of how the filling looks).

7. Layer the cooked apples evenly over the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture. In my picture below you can see what happens when the filling is too watery - I made quite a mess when rolling.

8. Roll the dough with the filling inside and cut into 8 pieces. Lay it on the greased pan cut side down. Mine look all wonky due to the watery filling!

9. Lightly cover with cling wrap and set aside for another 30-40 mins until the dough has puffed up again like below.

10. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20 mins or until the top turns a lovely golden brown. I find that breads usually brown too much on top in my oven so I loosely cover the pan with aluminium foil while baking. Try this if you have the same issue.

Yum! The rolls will be super fragrant and comes out of the oven looking gorgeous. I brushed some melted butter on the hot rolls as soon as they came out of the oven.

Best eaten warm and on the same day but these apple cinnamon rolls lasted 2 days in an air tight container at room temperature for me. Note that Sydney is not very hot or humid so if you live in a warm place, refrigerating and then re-heating in the oven or microwave just before serving is a better option.

NOTES:

1. If you want to knead the dough by hand, follow the same procedure as above. It will be a bit annoying since the dough is quite sticky and you will need to knead (heh) for about 10 mins or so to get the right consistency
2. Adding some caramel sauce over the rolls would be a great move, so go for it if you feel so inclined
3. These also make great breakfast rolls, that's what I did with my leftovers
4. I don't like a very heavy cinnamon flavour but if you do, increase the amount of cinnamon by another 1/2 tsp or so
5. You can use any type of apples in this recipe although granny smith would probably work best
6. The Feburary theme in the We Knead to Bake group started by Aparna was to bake anything we like so these apple cinnamon rolls are my contribution