French Madeleine

This is one of the easiest and delicious recipes to make. It may look intimidating but its really simple and tasty.  

Ingredients: 

• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Grated lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
• 3 drops of lemon juice

Method:

• Sift together the flour and baking powder. Using the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until it becomes thick and lightens in color, 2 to 4 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. Switch to a large rubber spatula and gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Cover the batter with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal, and chill for at least 3 hours.

• Place the madeleines pan in the freezer. The point of doing this is that everything needs to be really cold.

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C. butter and flour the pan.

• Put around a table spoon of the batter into the pan. Don’t worry about smoothing the batter, it will even out as it bakes.

• Bake madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and golden and spring back when touched. Pull the pan from the oven and remove the cookies immediately. Allow the madeleines  to cool on a cooling rack. They can be served ever so slightly warm or at room temperature.

Peas Pulao

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup- Basmati rice
• 1 Onion
• 3/4 cup Green peas
• 3 Green chillies
• 1 1/2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• Black pepper – 1/2 tsp
• 3 Cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1" Cinnamon stick
• 2 Bay leaves
• 10 Cashew nut
• 2 tsp Oil
• 2 tbsp Ghee
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup coconut milk

Method:

• Soak the basmati rice in water for 20 mins.
• Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.
• Add the star anise, cinnamon and cloves together.
• Add them once the cumins splutter.
• Add bay leaves and toss for few seconds followed by pepper.
• Add the onions and split green chillies and saute and then add ginger garlic paste.
• Combine them well and toss them till you get rid off the raw smell.
• Now add the peas and combine with the masala.
• Remove from heat.
• Now heat ghee in a pan, add cashew nuts and toss till it turns light golden brown.
• Drain the water and add rice to the pan and toss till it gets the flavor of ghee.
• Add the peas masala to the pan and combine with rice.
• Remove from heat and add the coconut milk.
• steam cook adding water in the ratio 1: 1 1/2 cup (for 1 cup rice -1 1/2 cup water).
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Stuffed Bhindi (Okra)

Ingredients:

• 25 to 30 Lady fingers (Okra)
• 2 tbsp Red chilli powder
• Coriander powder
• 2 tbsp Cumin powder
• ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 tsp Dried mango powder(Amchur)
• 1 Sliced onion (thick)
• 4 tbsp Oil
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Clean, wash and wipe lady fingers absolutely dry. Remove half a centimeter from both ends. Slit from one side and keep aside.
• Mix red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, dry mango powder, turmeric powder and salt.
• Stuff the lady fingers with the above masala. Keep the left over stuffing masala separately.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and cook for half a minute. Add stuffed lady fingers. Cook covered on a slow flame. Stir occasionally.
• Add rest of the dry masala when lady fingers are almost cooked.
• Cook covered on a slow flame till lady fingers are tender.

Chicken tikka masala ravioli

This was my first attempt to cooking chicken. And i think it was a big success. You can make this recipe fully vegetarian by skipping the chicken and just doing it with paneer. And also if you can't make the fresh ravioli you can get lasagna sheets or wanton wraps and put the stuffing in that.

Fresh Homemade Ravioli

7 ounces (200g) all-purpose flour
7 ounces (200g) coarse semolina
or 14 ounces (400g) flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Mix together the flour and semolina in the bowl of a stand mixer, or mix them up and create a mound on the counter top with a crater in the center. If using a stand mixer, add the eggs to the dough and mix them together with the paddle or dough hook until well mixed. On the counter top, crack the eggs into the center of the flour and semolina. Use your fingers to gradually draw the dry ingredients into the center, mixing them with the eggs. The dough will be hard to mix at first – a pastry scraper will help you draw it all together – but eventually it will come together and be relatively smooth.

Knead the dough with the heel of your hand for at least three minutes until the dough is very smooth. The dough should not feel sticky. If it sticks to your fingers, knead in a small amount of flour, just enough so your fingers come away clean when you pull them away. Wrap the dough and let it sit at room temperature for an hour.

(You can keep the dough for several hours at room temperature.)

 For the filling

·         2 Cups Yogurt

·         1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin

·         1 Tablespoon Curry Powder or Garam Masala

·         2 Teaspoons Chillie powder

·         2 Lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken breast

·         Butter

·         2  White Onions

·         1 Cup Paneer

·         1 28oz can Crushed Tomato or Tomato puree

·         2  Green Chiles

·         1 Inch Ginger

·         3 Cloves Garlic

·         1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

·         1 Tablespoon Butter

·         Cilantro

·         1/2 Cup Cream

Directions

1.      Make the Marinade: Combine the first 4 ingredients. Yogurt should be a nice shade of pink. Mix in chicken. Salt and Pepper Let sit in the fridge overnight.

2.      Grill Time: Slice the onions into rounds and butter, salt and pepper them. Skewer your chicken. Give everything a nice char on the grill, cooking until the chicken is cooked and the onions are soft. Brown char marks are important! Or cook it on the stove top.

3.      Make the Filling: Add the paneer to a bowl with the diced chicken and onion.

4.      Make the pasta: Make your favorite pasta recipe (or cheat with wonton wrappers) Roll out the dough to a medium thickness and prepare to stuff.

5.      Stuff the Pasta: Place spoonfulls of the filling in intervals on a sheet of pasta. Use water to outline the filing to help the ravioli seal. Place another sheet of pasta on top of the first. Cut out the shape and squeeze to seal and remove air. Liberally sprinkle with flour as you lay them on wax paper.

6.      Make the Sauce: Make a paste from the chiles, ginger, garlic, and curry powder. Saute this paste in butter for 1 minute. Add tomatoes. Add cilantro. Add cream. Simmer 5 to 10 mintues.

7.      Boil Pasta: Boil the Ravioli for about 6 minutes. They will float, so keep stirring to make sure they cook evenly, but be gentle!

8.      Bring it together: When the pasta is cooked, add it straight to the warm sauce. Serve right away! Sprinkle some cilantro on top.