Tag: herbs

INDIAN SUMMER CHICKEN CURRY…CURRY ON THE GO!!

“Playwrights are like men who have been dining for a month in an Indian restaurant. After eating curry night after night, they deny the existence of asparagus”
Peter Ustinov
peach+plum+ice+cream,+ricotta+tart1

The North Indian summer is always unbearably hot, & is meant to last a month or so. That is how we are programmed to survive here, because come July, we welcome the rains with open arms & hearts! This year has been different. It’s almost August & zilch; the rains didn’t come. We’ve seen the monsoons fail…The temperatures are still in the 40’s, & the days are HOT + HUMID = UGH!! An odd shower now & then makes life miserable. This year, we’ve seen cities across the globe also trying to cope with high temperatures. Vancouver is bad, & so is Seattle. Melbourne had a particularly bad summer with record breaking high temperatures.

Days like these call for light fare on the table, which is what I attempted to do today. I had chicken & I wanted to make curry. Hot weather calls for light curry. Light curry, full of summer flavour … mint, coriander, lime! Lots of mint because my mint patch is overflowing… A few readers mailed me asking me about my kitchen/workspace. Here are a couple of pictures. The kitchen is my playground & I just love it. It’s a largish kitchen, very minimally done on a very basic level…but I still love it. It is airy & lighted…& on most days I have free run of the place. This is when my recipes are born on the go. I thought of making a chicken curry this morning. Something light, something flavourful…& something that screamed summer. The heat can get to me!!

Stepped out in the morning to find mint reaching out to me. The beds are overflowing with mint. Pretty!! So I picked some & thought, hmmm, this must go into the curry. With no specific direction in mind, I marinated the chicken in basics – lime juice, garlic,salt & chili – to get it going. Lime, garlic & salt make a great first marinade for chicken, usually a first step for chicken tikka, tandoori chicken etc. An hour later, I decided to get more happening on the curry. Summer = light food = lots of yogurt! Yogurt is always a part of my curries, but summer means lots of yogurt. Fresh coriander & mint also sing summer to me, so I held an immersion blender & blended the yogurt with the two. I blended some tomatoes as well just in case I need them if the curry wasn’t ‘up to it’. As things went, the curry was more than ‘up to it’ & the tomatoes were resigned to the fridge. Will use them another day.
Turned out to be a finger-licking good, fresh & tangy curry. Light & breezy, the good thing being it required no spices at all, other than red chili flakes. Just very basic pantry ingredients and fresh herbs in here to give you this delicious curry! I made it with chicken on the bone, but I think you can make it just as well with boneless chicken.

The kids L♥VED it. The curry conversation went something like this…
“Mama, the chicken’s yummy! It’s really very nice & tangy. “
“What recipe?” (I think this generation learns young! I don’t recall ever using the word recipe till I was 16)
“None…made it from my mind as I pottered around… “
“What’s the name? Which book?”
“I said no book. It’s my own.” (Very unbelieving…)
“What’s it’s called? “
(Um mm quick thinking) – “Indian Summer Chicken Curry”…(which is how it got it’s name!)
“It’s YUM!!”(Phew…talk about getting interrogated!)

INDIAN SUMMER CHICKEN CURRY
Ingredients:
750gms chicken on the bone
5-6 cloves of garlic; minced
Juice of 1-2 limes (about 2-3 tbsps)
1/4 – 1/2 tcp red chili flakes
Salt to taste
1/2 cup chopped onions (about 1-2 small onions)
1 cup of yogurt
Generous handful of mint leaves
Handful of coriander leaves
1-2 Green chilies (deseed to decrease heat if you like)
Method:
  • Whisk the lime juice , garlic, red chili & salt together. Marinate the chicken in this for at least 30-45 minutes.
  • Blend the yogurt with the mint & coriander
  • Heat oil in a wok & fry the chopped onions till golden brown. Turn the chicken into it & stir fry on full heat till light golden. This seals the juices in.
  • Add the blended yogurt. Stir well, allow to cook on high heat, uncovered, until the sauce thickens. Stir minimally to ensure that the chicken doesn’t debone. Adjust seasoning if required, add 1-2 slit green chilies & simmer covered for another 5-7 minutes for flavours to mingle.
  • Serve with flat bread or rice. I served it with wholewheat risen flatbread. A simple recipe I’ve made. Knead 1 1/2 cups ot wholewheat flour with 15gms of fresh yeast (dissolved in water) + 1 tbsp oil + 1 tsp salt. Knead well to a smooth dough. Leave to rise in an oiled bowl for an hour until doubled in volume. (I intend to add some mined garlic next time)
  • Note: The curry tends to thicken as it sits. We like it thick. Add a little milk & simmer to thin it out if you like.

♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

GETTING MY HERBS RIGHT WITH PASTA & CHICKEN

“A man’s nature runs either to herbs, or to weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.”
Francis Bacon, Sr.

Do I know my herbs? Well I thought I did, & was basking in my limited glory until I saw Helen’s beautiful Thyme shortbread cookies @ Tartlette. Hmmmmm, I thought, how come my oregano looks like her thyme? I got the seeds a while ago, & my gardener planted them. He’d never seen these herbs & I’ve only seen dried ones that looked more like green tea most of the time! Helen wrote to me when I left her a quizzical comment. A few pictures exchanged, & my life was put on the right herb track by the lovely lady!!My first exposure to herbs was Simon & Garfunkel’s first masterpiece, ‘Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme‘, so you can imagine my childhood connections with herbs. They sounded so exotic, while the only herbs we literally grew up on here were mint, coriander & Indian basil/tulsi. Basil happened to me a few years ago when a friend gifted me a plant. I passed on her good deed, & got many friends addicted to fresh basil! Then one day, not too long ago, Coco @ Purple Foodie mailed me some fresh herbs from Mumbai. I was elated, treated them like gold … & was well & truly bitten by the herb bug! Thyme came to my notice on Val’s chicken post @ More Than Burnt Toast sometime back, & I couldn’t wait for the pot to flourish. Thankfully I saw Tartlette’s cookie post, or my thyme would’ve been oregano, & vice versa!! Here are 2 recipes I bookmarked, made & we enjoyed both immensely. They are light & healthy, great for the summer that is here now, & are quite fuss free. That’s what I liked about both. The chicken is from Val’s lovely blog @ More Than Burnt Toast, a blog I have been visiting for long. The pasta recipe is from Bron’s beautiful blog that I discovered recently @ Bron Marshall. She has stunning pictures & her blog is absolutely refreshing!
These are off to Bookmarked Recipes, being hosted this week by hosted by Tami @ Tamis Kitchen Table Talk. I often wonder what I would have done if blogging hadn’t happened to me, other than thinking thyme was oregano of course!!
.
HERB MARINATED THYME CHICKEN

Ingredients:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
1- 1/2 T fresh lime
2 T thyme leaves
4 garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
6 chicken breast; sliced horizontally into 2 each
Thyme leaves for garnishing
Method:

  • In a large bowl, whisk 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the lime zest, lemon juice, thyme, garlic and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper.
  • Spoon 1- 1/2 tablespoons of the mixture into a medium bowl, add the tomatoes and turn to coat.This is something that I really liked about Val’s recipe. The flavours ran right through the tomatoes beautifully.
  • Add the chicken to the large bowl and turn to coat. Let the tomatoes and chicken stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. (I leave the chicken overnight in the fridge sometimes)
  • Heat the grill pan. Add the chicken to the grill, season with salt and pepper and grill over high heat, turning once, until cooked through and lightly charred, about 6 minutes.
  • Serve hot with pasta, & the marinated tomatoes on the side.

Where did Spring go? Was here a couple of days ago … now it’s just sweltering HOT!!

TOASTED WALNUT & CHARRED RED CAPSICUM PASTA
as taken & adapted from Bron Marshall

Ingredients:
1 cup of shelled walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
2 Red Capsicums, charred, peeled and chopped
400gms of short pasta such as macaroni, penne. (Bron used a beautiful pasta called De Cecco -Galletti)
2 T olive oil
4 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped thyme & oregano, or another fresh herb
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepperMethod:

Toast the walnuts either in a dry skillet or oven at 200°C until golden and chop them roughly.

  • Bron says…Scrape the blackened skin off the capsicum, resisting the urge to rinse it under water as this will remove a lot of the delicious smokey flavour. Discard the seeds and stalk, chop the flesh and set aside.
  • Cook the pasta in the large saucepan of salted boiling water for 10-12 minutes or until al dente.
  • Drain and return to the pan with the olive oil, finely chopped garlic, walnuts, capsicum, chives and or other herbs and toss well to combine.
  • Add sea salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with the grilled chicken & marinated tomato slices, & a little grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese if desired.

    • The pasta is also off to Presto Pasta Nights, the brainchild of Ruth @ Once Upon A Feast. This weeks round-up is being hosted by Katie of One Little Corner of the World.

    Posted by Deeba @ PAB

    HEY PRESTO…MIXED-HERBS PASTA

    “Life is a combination of magic and pasta”
    Fellini
    Psychgrad & Giz @ Equal Opportunity Kitchen are hosting the weekly round-up of Presto Pasta Nights this week. Presto Pasta Nights is the brainchild of Ruth & it’s amazingly on it’s 81st week. Pasta is a more than welcome option at home at any meal, so here’s an entry to PPN.I’ve had this Bon Apetit ‘Mixed-herb Pasta’ recipe from Epicurious in my bursting folder for long but the only herbs I had were basil…& loads of it. Then one day the courier came with a well packed box & beautiful handwriting. Excitedly opened it to find the sweetest smelling fresh sage that Coco @ Ambrosia mailed to me from Mumbai. I jumped with joy as I love fresh herbs; sage is something that has been elusive for far too long. Coco told me she’d send me some as there was a place in Mumbai that sold fresh herbs. She’d included some fresh oregano but unfortunately the leaves didn’t survive the journey. There was rosemary too, but someone nicked the box with the rosemary…grrrrrrrrrr! I wanted very much to make a loaf of bread with a great crust etc…but was BANNED from making anything ‘exciting‘ on the cuisine front since the daughter was going to be away for the next 3 days on a school adventure camp. She made me swear I wouldn’t bake bread while she was away…& so I didn’t! I eventually made some mixed herb pasta because the sage was calling to me. Made some sage-potato salad & some canapes using the sage too. I loved my first experience with this wonderfully textured velvety herb. Thanks Coco…I love blogging & fresh herbs even more now!!
    Mixed-Herb Pasta with Bell Peppers and Feta
    adapted from Bon Appétit April 2002
    Ingredients:
    Olive oil – 3 tablespoons
    Red bell pepper – 1 large, cut into thin strips
    Yellow bell peppers – 1 large, cut into thin strips
    Garlic cloves – 6 large, finely chopped
    Dry white wine – 1 cup
    Fusilli – 300 gms (the original used spaghettini)
    Mixed fresh herbs – Coarsely chopped 1 1/2 cups(such as basil, parsley, tarragon, mint, and sage)
    Feta cheese – 1 1/2 cups,crumbled

    Method:

    • Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add peppers and cook until crisp-tender, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes.
    • Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add wine; boil until reduced by 1/3, about 2 minutes.
    • Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta and reserved cooking liquid to pot.
    • Add pepper mixture, herbs, and cheese. Toss gently but thoroughly until cheese begins to melt. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
    • If you like, you can garnish the pasta with fried sage leaves.
    • Note: Don’t be tempted to decrease the quantity of herbs as the pasta will taste bland.

    This post is also off to dear Ning @ Heart & Hearth who is guest-hosting this week’s ‘Bookmarked Event’ for Ruth @ Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments. Have a good week Ning & happy hosting!! If you have anything bookmarked & if you’ve had the time to make it, do blog about it & send it to bookmarked recipes HERE. Remember to check out the round-up next Monday.

    Thought I’d also share some pictures of the ‘The Himalayan Bear Stream Camp’ which my daughter attended last week. The 7th graders from school went to this beautiful adventure camp nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas…& had a fantastic time.

    This is what came back after 3 days…LOL!

    Posted by Deeba @ PAB

    QUENCHING THIRST WITH A MANGO COOLER…CELEBRATING SUMMER!

    “Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. “
    Russel Baker
    Cooler anyone? Make mine mango…
    With summer here, a cooler is just the perfect way to chill out. And with mangoes in every avatar flooding markets, how cool would a mango cooler be. In North India, this is a traditional thirst quencher, considered a good way to beat the heat & was made throughout homes across the North. Just the right thing to gulp down when you walk in from searing temperatures hitting 40 degrees C & upwards, & for many, the only way to escape a heatstroke. Aam panna, as it is called locally, served up a healthy mix of sugar & salts to balance the electrolytes that the body lost in the the HOT Indian summer.

    My favourite way to serve this thirst quencher is in a tall steel glass

    Aam Panna is an Indian drink renowned for its heat resistant properties. It is made from Green Mangoes and it is used as a tasty and healthy beverage to fight against the intense Indian summer heat. Apart from being tasty this drink also looks good due to its refreshing light green color. Green Mango is a rich source of pectin, which gradually diminishes after the formation of the stone. Unripe mango is sour in taste because of the presence of oxalic, citric and malic acids. Aam panna which is prepared using raw mangoes, sugar and an assortment of spices is an effective remedy for heat exhaustion and heat stroke. It also quenches thirst and prevents the excessive loss of sodium chloride and iron during summer due to excessive sweating.
    The kids like their cooler in tall stem glasses topped with mint….

    Raaga @ Singing Chef posted her mother’s recipe of a mango cooler ‘kairi panha‘. In North India we call it ‘aam panna‘. It is almost similar & in the past I have always made it differently. I usually wash the mangoes well, cook them under pressure with skins on for 5-7 minutes. Once cool, squeeze the pulp out & then continue the same way with the blending etc. Thought I’d give it a shot in Raaga’s Mom’s style as it looked decidedly different. The cooler came out very nice…fresh & exciting; tasted just like I make the other way. The son loved it & frequently asks me to make it.
    The recipe as adapted from Raagas‘…
    Ingredients:
    Raw Mango – 1 cup, peeled and diced ( about 2 mangoes)
    Roasted Cumin Powder – 1 tbsp
    Rock Salt – 2 tsp powdered
    Sugar – 2-4 tbsp
    Red chili flakes – 1/8tsp
    Mint leaves – a handful

    Method:

    • Place all the ingredients, except mint leaves, in a microwave safe bowl with a little water and microwave on high for 3 minutes (till soft).
    • Allow to cool, add the mint leaves & run in the blender. Dilute this concentrate with chilled water, pour into tall glasses over ice-cubes, top with mint & celebrate summer! Can be made 2-3 days in advance. refrigerate until use.

    Meeta @ Whats For Lunch Honey has Monthly Mingle #23 on now, which is celebrating Mango mania with all things mango for the entire month. So I thought I’d share this with the nice lady…
    Fresh mint finds place in a almost everything I make…
    …& also with Dee @ Ammalu’s Kitchen who is running Herb Mania. Her choice of herb for the month is one of my favourites…MINT. I just can’t seem to get enough of this refreshing herb, & it seems to wiggle into most of what I make, as a garnish at the least, if nothing else. There you go Dee.
    First it’s mango mania & then herb mania, am feeling like quite a foodie maniac after this post…

    This post featured on

    • Chicago Sun Times Southtown Star
    Posted by Deeba @ PAB

    PEST of a PESTO… but then onto PASTA! ‘PUTTING UP’!!

    “How could such sweet and wholesome hours
    Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers?”
    Andrew Marvel

    Basil Almond Pesto…

    Snip,snip,snip…all I could hear out in the garden was snip, snip, snip. Sunday morning, me lazing in the study with my cuppa cold milk…one day I like to steer clear of the kitchen in the morning. The snipping didn’t seem to end & I got suspicious. Stepped out to find the gardener trimming away my beloved basil bushes to pretty shapes…I almost passed out! There, lying all around, were bunches of my precious basil! He felt it had overgrown too much & decided it was time to clean it up; for him it was just another part of the overgrown hedge!Leaves galore…

    Grrrrrrrrrr…& that’s how Sunday morning began. I made him bag the leaves & then got them in & set to work. In temperatures as high as we have here, leaves wilt in next to no time. The only good thing was that I was coerced into doing something I had been procrastinating about for far too long…I had finished my last jar a while ago.
    Convenience reigns supreme; if the pesto is on hand,
    then can pasta be far behind?
    Ingredients:

    Sweet basil – 2 cups approximately
    Almonds – 1/2 cup , with skins
    Garlic – 4-5 cloves
    Olive oil – 1/2 cup
    Freshly ground pepper

    Leafing through pesto…

    Method:
    • Grind the almonds with skins in the food processor in short pulses.
    • Add the garlic, pulse. Add the basil leaves & pulse again till they are all shredded well.
    • Now continue to pulse while slowly pouring in the olive oil till it comes together. Add some freshly ground pepper, mix well & bottle. Refrigerate. Makes 2 small jars.

    And then came the pasta in a pesto cream sauce…
    Ingredients:

    Fussili – 250 gms
    Garlic – 3 cloves
    Cream – 200ml
    Cheese – 50 gms / grated
    Pesto – 2 heaped tbsps
    Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
    Method:
    • Boil the pasta until al dente.
    • Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan. Ad the garlic & saute for a minute or so. Add the cream + cheese & simmer till it comes to a boil & the cheese melts.
    • Add the pesto + salt + pepper to taste.
    • Once the pasta is done, add to the pesto cream sauce & mix through. Serve with fresh grated Parmesan shavings.
    • I served this with a tomato-cottage cheese-basil salad, grilled chicken & oven roasted garlic potatoes.

    The chicken was marinated in a lovely flavoursome marinade I got off from Amy @ Familia Bencomo…’Marinata Diavola‘; I didn’t have the rosemary but made it nevertheless. Fabulous fabulous results! Do head over to her place & check out the original HERE!!

    My jar of pesto, virtually, is on it’s way to PUTTING UP, an interesting blogevent hosted jointly by Pixie @ You Say Tomahto, I Say Tomayto, & Rosie @ Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake. They are 2 of my favourite UK bloggers & are very busy in their spot of the globe! Rosie was one of the first bloggers I got to know when I began blogging, & she’s gone from strength to strength since! The focus of this event are the Jams & Preserves. I checked with Pixie, & she confirmed that pesto qualifies. Thanks Arundhati for your suggestion…I’m on my way!!

    Posted by Deeba @ PAB

    EASY YOGURT DIP…Serve with Chips/Crudites.Always a hit at any gathering!

    “Food is so primal, so essential a part of our lives, often the mere sharing of recipes with strangers turns them into good friends. That’s why I love this community.”
    Jasmine Heiler, about recipezaar.com

    HUNG CURD (YOGURT) DIP

    A really simple, extremely addictive, & tangy dip which is a great add-on to any menu. Its one of those ‘quick to put together’, ‘nothing can go wrong’ sorta recipes, which is a great hit and good for finger food. For kids I serve it with chips, and always add veggies like steamed broccoli, cucumber sticks,baby carrots, baby corn etc on the side. Every single time I have served this, I have been asked for the recipe. Its hilarious to see people begging to remove it from their sight as it’s so addictive. I have to add that the dip is very nutritious when served with veggies!

    Sometimes I include it as a sauce in a grilled chicken/cottage cheese (paneer) wrap as well; in which case, I saute some sliced onions, bell peppers & capsicum to the wrap with the chicken/paneer & top it off with the dip. Adds a real burst of flavour!

    Ingredients:
    Curd (yogurt) – 250ml
    Cream – 1 tbsp (20-30 % fat)
    Garlic – 3-4 cloves / finely chopped
    Green chili – 1-2 / finely chopped
    Juice of 1 lemon (increase or decrease as required)
    Fresh coriander leaves – 2-3 tbsp/ finely chopped
    Salt to taste

    Method:

    • Hang the curd (yogurt) in cheesecloth for 2-3 hours till all the whey drips out. If you have Greek yogurt, then you may not need to hang it.
    • Whisk the curd till smooth. Add the cream and lemon juice and whisk well again.(Omit the cream for a fat-free version; the dip still tastes great)
    • Add all the remaining ingredients, and mix in well with a spoon. Adjust seasoning (lemon juice, salt etc).
    • Put in a bowl, garnish with a sprig of fresh coriander.
    • Serve with chips, crudites (steamed vegetables like broccoli, baby corn, cheese sticks, baby carrots etc)

    This recipe is off to an event with a fab theme “Power” less Cooking at Simple Indian Food. I think its a really novel idea!

    Posted by Deeba @ PAB
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