Chicken | Aapplemint

With Beau Cook (MasterChef) & Carol Selva Rajah

All, Featured, Non-Vegetarian 20 Responses »

Oct 052012

About 3 weeks ago I got a mail from a long lost school mate, asking if I’d like to be a part of a travel n food show. Its with Carol Selva Rajah a celebrated Australian Celebrity Chef and one of the Australian master chef finalists, he said. I was like sure, why not … anything for food. Now I must be really lucky, I blindly said yes, without really knowing the details, All I was told, is that they’d like me to do a little bit of Fusion Cooking. The day after that 8:30 pm sharp, they were at my door – The celebrity chef’s with their filming team. Its only then I realized how big this was, and how fortunate I was to have Beau Cook and Carol Selve Rajah in my house, let alone cooking for them !! They were shooting for this new series – Eat With Your Eyes, that will be out early in 2013. They had toured all over India and covered the food and culture and were now in Mumbai. After filming the popular street food, they were in my house, filming Beau n me, in my kitchen – Cooking ! I cannot even begin to tell you how that felt. I was nervous as hell initially – ya ! first time on camera : it can be pretty unnerving believe you me, plus an amateur home cook, cooking for pros. But it went off so smoothly. It was like one big house party. I didn’t realise where the time slipped by from the moment they entered that door. It was so much fun, just being around them, talking about food, sharing stories and experiences. It was the DP’S (camera man’s) birthday, so we cut a cake, ate, drank, and some part of me wished the night would never end. But as all good thing do, this had too, and thankfully just before they left I remembered to pull my camera out and get a picture of us.

Its only after they left, that I got to see my phone, n realised I had a over dozen messages. Half the girls of the city were envious and would give an arm n a leg to be in my place. Hahahaha … yes it was because of the very talented, extremely kind and sweet, not to mention cute as ever : Beau Cook. Turns out, MasterChef is very popular here, and Beau very famous. So this picture is for you ladies … eat your hearts out … lol :-p

Cherry on the pie is … A little interview with him for you

Me : Five things in your fridge right now ?

Beau : Lamb, chillies, lots of different cheese, lots of herbs and some left over bolognaise sauce

Me : Most memorable Master Chef experience ?

Beau : Going to Italy!! It was amazing to spend two and a half weeks on a food tour with my new MC family.

Me : Most challenging ingredient to cook with ? Why ?

Beau : Chocolate! Its something I never really cook with.. But I think I have my head around the basics now.

Me : Tell a story about your biggest cooking disaster that you turned around into a success. How did you do it?

Beau :I faced an elimination pressure test which happened to be a complex desert (not my strong point!) but somehow got through and pulled off an awesome desert

I just followed the recipe at every point and worked clean and efficient (pays to be clean haha!)

Me : Your dream dinner location? What one dish would you bring to the table?

Beau : It would have to be on a quiet beach in north Queensland, Australia.. And I would serve some delicious bbq prawns and a local wine or beer

Me : One cooking tip you’d love to share with your fans.

Beau : The key to good cooking is balance!! Always taste during cooking and make sure you have a good balance between sweet, sour, salty and spice

Me : Your most favourite thing to cook/make

Beau : Anything on the BBQ. Its an Aussie favourite and you can get pretty creative with it as well.

Carol Selva Rajah, is an award winning author of eleven cookbooks on South East Asian cooking. She has had international success as the first Australian woman invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard Foundation in New York, and subsequently on the QE11. She has worked as celebrity chef in hotels in major cities around the world and lectures to students and to interested cooking students and historians. Over the years, Carol has contributed to a diverse range of publications including the Australian Gourmet Traveler. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living Magazine and Kitchen Culture Food and Travel, Singapore. In 2001, she won the coveted Jaguar Gourmet Traveler Award for excellence in Gastronomic Travel for “Day trips to Asia” in Cabramatta which have become a template for other food tours today. Carol divides her time between Malaysia, Los Angeles, California and Sydney writing, teaching and pairing spicy Asian food with beer. She conducts yearly lectures to culinary historians in the US and is in the process of doing a couple of television shows. Carol, was very sweet, warm and I felt comfortable around her instantly. She’s a lady of great experience and yet so humble. She was too kind to give me an autographed copy of her book “Malaysian Cooking” from which I made Sambal Oelek today. The sauce was so good and it took no time at all to prepare it. Its so versatile, that you could make Prawns, Fish anything you like in it. Its great even on its own as a dip. I had some chicken so I just marinated it for a couple of hours in it, and made it a bit saucy-curry style to have it with steamed rice. Sambals are popular in Malayaisa, Indonesia, Singapore, Phillipines, Sri Lanka … Its a paste made from red chillis. I remember I fell in love with it last year, when our family went on one of our many Phuket Holidays. I bought back a jar from there, but after making this I would be silly if I ever bought one again.

Sambal Oelek

24 Red Chillis

2 onions ,sliced

10 cloves of garlic

2 inch piece of ginger

2 teaspoons of soft/shaved palm sugar

200 ml rice vinegar

salt to taste

2 tablespoons oil

Just grind all these ingredients together to form a smooth paste. In a sauce pan, bring to a boil and cook for 5 mintues till the water from the onions evaporates and the sauce reduces a bit. You can cool the sauce and store it in the fridge . Great for marinades and dips.

Chicken Sambal Oelek

Take one whole chicke, jointed and cut into pieces, Make gashes all over so that the sauce seeps deep into the meat. Take a few tablespoons of the sauce and rub it in the chicken and let it marinate about 2 hours.Take some oil in a non stick pan, and stir fry the chicken, making sure it gets colour on all sides. Now pour some more of the sauce , mix well and cover with lid. Let the chicken simmer for about 20 mins or till its done. Now lift the lid and check for seasoning. Add some light soy sauce and a pinch of salt if required. Serve with steamed rice.

This is a spicy dish

Vimto Chicken … One of its kind recipe !

All, Featured, Non-Vegetarian 16 Responses »

Apr 192011

Who writes the rules in cooking, who writes the Do’s and Dont’s ? In baking sweets yes I agree you need to follow a recipe to a certain extent. Baking needs that perfection, the right quantities the right temperature to achieve the perfect result, but with general cooking, you can just about do anything. We all own so many cookbooks, there are zillions of recipes out there … stuff we browse through, when we’re in book stores, books we order online. This one time I got some really good books from this site OLX Classifieds. And all these books showcase the authors and cooks style, recipes they created … they followed some rules, and made some of their own. Each one of us have that in us. We can all create … play a little God in the kitchen. And then pray to the real one up there that it turns out okay. As long as all the flavours come together, there is a balance of ingredients and everyone is smacking their lips n licking their fingers at the table, I guess everything is allowed. So all this start up is for a reason. Brother in law over in town, the whole family was eating together … Saturday lunch … scratching my head as to what I should make … leafed around a couple of magazines, but didn’t quite like anything .You know how we all go through, “I want to make something different today” days.’ Started faffing around my pantry looking for something new to add to my chicken … pulled out some spices, then some veg, n then I thought, why not add lentils? We Indian’s only use our lentils in Dal’s so this would be new … and then that extra something to turn the dish around, I thought Pomegranate molasses would be just perfect. But I just couldn’t find that bottle, instead I spotted a bottle of Vimto Cordial. And suddenly I thought why not ? Vimto is concentrated juice blend of grapes, raspberries, blackcurrants, herbs and spices. Not sure of how it might go on the table I added a tiny bit first, and it didn’t taste so bad. So then one more tablespoon, and it was just right. I knew that with the blend of all the spices, veg and lentils, this would end up being a delightfully different dish. And delightfully different it was ! How everyone fell on top of that chicken and polished off ! After lunch, when everyone couldn’t stop praising the chicken, I asked if anyone could guess the secret ingredient. They came up with all sorts of things, but no one could guess it. When I revealed it … no one could believe that Vimto in chicken could taste so good. I sat back and smiled …

Ingredients

1 full chicken – cut into 8 pieces with skin on
2 tsp cinnamon pd
2 tsp cumin pd
1 tsp crushed black pepper
4 star anise ground in a motar and pestle
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp fresh oregano
juice of 1 lime
1 cup puy lentils
1 big carrot
2 small potatoes
6 red chillis ( the not so spicy variety ) slit and deseeded
1 stalk celery
2 tbsps Vimto
salt to taste

Start with marinating the chicken. 1 hour is sufficient. In a mortar and pestle, crush the star anise to a fine powder and add to it the cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, fresh oregano, chilli flakes, salt, ginger , garlic, lime juice and give it a good stir. Rub this marinade on the chicken massaging it well for about 5 mins. Take 2 table spoons of the Vimto cordial and pour it over the chicken and give it one more good mix. Please do not hesitate to use your hands. Your meat needs that tender loving care from you. Let it sit outside for an hour. Meanwhile chop up the potatoes, carrots and celery. Boil the lentils in a sauce pan with plenty of salted water. When just about half done turn of the heat and pour off the excess water leaving behind some. Will need that while baking the chicken. Preheat the oven to 240 C . Taking a baking dish, and spread a layer of the lentils first along with some of the water. Then place the chicken pieces and squeeze in the veg evenly. Now sprinkle over the remaining lentils and bake for 20 mins on 240 C and then cover with foil and further bake at 160 C for another 20 mins or till the veg is soft and chicken cooked through. Garnish with the chopped up leaves of the celery stalk and fresh oregano. Serve with some extra lime and hot steamed rice.

Potato, Celery & Chicken Soup

All, Featured, Non-Vegetarian 25 Responses »

Jun 262010

Addiction. There are so many kinds. Some good for you some bad. Obsession. There are too many of those too. Few that could do you good and few that could make your life a living hell. Is there a difference between the two ?? … I think there is. One is a state of mind and the other a physical craving … or so I’d like to believe … Well not that any of that is connected to my Celery and Potato soup I was just thinking so I thought I’d think out a bit loud. Maybe get to hear what you have to say. What are your obsessions? What are you addicted to ? Are you in control of them ?

As for the soup … Its raining outside , its gloomy and cold … might be running a slight temperature too. Times like these call for a light n clear ‘Get Well Soon Chicken Soup’ … tried that, but the taste buds are numb too … Now its got to be something a bit hearty and comforting. And I think this one just did it for me. A rich bodied potato soup with a refreshing celery flavour + all the goodness and nourishment of a chicken soup. And the seasoned potato croutons are the perfect topping to the subtly flavoured soup.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 medium sized red onion finely chopped

2 large potatoes peeled and chopped- fine dice ( 1 for the soup and 1 for the croutons)

2 large stalks of celery with the leaves

1/2 liter of a rich homemade chicken stock/or veg (with carrots, bay leaves, black peppercorns, celery stalks, spring onions …)

100 gms of the boiled chicken –shredded (opt out for veg versions)

A knob of butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt n Pepper to taste

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp Chicken Bullion powder (optional)

Start with making the chicken stock. Boil together the jointed/skinned chicken with the veggies for about ½ hr to 40 mins on slow fire. Once the stock is ready, strain it and de-bone some of the chicken for the soup. Take a heavy bottom saucepan. Pour in the olive oil and butter together. Sautee the onions till they turn soft and pink, add the potatoes and celery stalks and further fry till they are almost done. Add the shredded chicken and the stock. Let this boil well for about 5 mins and then blend it in the liquidizer to form a smooth consistency. Strain it and make sure you push the pulp well through the sieve. Bring back to a boil. Taste the soup and season it well. For the croutons, fine dice the potato and soak them in salted water for 5 mins. Deep fry till golden brown. Remove on a kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil and then toss them in some salt pepper and dried sage. When ready to serve, top the soup with these croutons and some of the celery leaves. Have it hot !

Quick Fixes For That Odd Hungry Hour

All, Non-Vegetarian, Vegetarian 36 Responses »

Apr 012009

Having a well stocked cupboard and fridge can make your life so easy and cooking such a pleasure. Make that effort once a week, get yourself organized and you’ll be sorted for the rest of the week. Have a well stocked cupboard with all kinds of spices, dried herbs, sauces, pluses and grains and a freezer full of your favourite meat cuts. I just always insist on really fresh seafood (preferably live), the rest of the meat is OK frozen. And of course, your fridge must always have all your basic veggies, dairy products, and a whole of fresh fruits and herbs. Have this section sorted out and you can throw together a fantastic meal any time of the day … in a jiffy ! I like to be organized … sometimes a bit too much, ‘cuz I’m always obsessing about food, and i needn’t necessarily be making fancy food all the time. Most of the time, its just really simple tasty home food, that just gives you that satisfying feeling, that no restaurant food can. Like for instance these 2 quick fixes i made for lunch. Extremely easy to make and so good to taste.

Back in Ghana my local Lebanese baker makes me these special mini pita breads. They fit on the palm of my hand and are always so soft and fresh. I use them for appetizers in parties or sometimes even for breakfast or lunch. There are like a million things you could stuff in there, and they look so cute and petit, that you wont be able to resist grabbing one( or a couple actually :p). These pita breads keep really well if you freeze them as soon as you get them from the bakery. When you want to use them, just leave them on the kitchen counter for 15-30 mins and its as good as freshly baked. The same actually goes for most breads, and i learnt to do this while i was in Africa, as its really troublesome to go so far everyday to buy some fresh bread. So i started freezing it. It really is a life saver. Trust me ! Well so this time i just made some spiced chicken burgers with a refreshing mint Greek yogurt in the mini pita bread and some pita-pizza to follow.

Mini Spiced Chicken Burgers with Mint Greek Yogurt

Chicken mince – 250 gms
Chopped red chillies – 2 ; seeds removed – adjust if to your taste. I used Scotch Bonnet , but even Thai red chillis are fine
Chopped Garlic – 3 cloves
Finely chopped Red Onion – 1
Chopped Corriander – handful
1 tsp Red Chilli pd
1 tsp Cumin pd
1 tsp Kafta spice
Salt to taste
Lebanese cucumber sliced with skin on
Greek Yogurt
Chopped fresh Mint
Few leaves of fresh crunchy lettuce

For making the Chicken burger, bring together in a mixing bowl, the mince, spices, corriander, chillies, garlic and onion. Mix it well with your hand and form flat patties and fry them in a few drops of olive oil on a non stick pan or even better if you have a griddle pan. Meanwhile whip together the Greek yogurt, mint and some salt. Warm the pita bread slightly on the naked flame of the gas and then slice it open, place the lettuce right at the bottom, then place the burger and top it up with some yogurt and a few slices of the cucumber. Its a very nutritious and well balanced snack … spicy vs cool, soft vs crunch, hot vs cold, juicy & meaty vs green & sharp … what more could you ask for !

And this one – The Pita-Pizza i think says it all. I’m still such a sucker for my margarita pizzas, I always like it simple – tomato sauce and cheese – no nonsense ! So this one is an a quick fix for that pizza craving at yet another odd hour, when you don’t have any pizza dough at an arms length, then you go for the frozen pita breads. They make an amazingly crunchy base, so thin and light, and bakes in no time at all . Just pour your (homemade) spicy tomato sauce on top, break some fresh buffalo mozzarella over it, bake and enjoy !! yum yum !

Macau – The New Vegas

All, Non-Vegetarian, Places & Travel 61 Responses »

Feb 252008

2, 500 HK $ – thats how much i won this New Year gambling in Macau. Not bad ‘eh …. wait till u hear how much my hubby made … 7000 HK $ !!! Oh yes, we started the year with a bang. We gamble once a year … usually on new years just to test the water and see what the new year has in store for us. We’ve been to Vegas and now to Macau and trust me when i say … Macau is the new Las Vegas of the east. It is a former Portuguese colony, which was handed over to the Chinese govt in 1999 . Its an hour away from Hong Kong by ferry. A gambling mecca from the Portuguese times, it has attracted gamblers from all over the east for decades. Now a planned city, with big casinos like Venetian, MGM, Wynn, Sands …. i mean all the works …. this city is booming with tourism. Macau’s annual gambling revenue has already surpassed that of Vegas.

The pictures below are that of Macau’s Fishermans Wharf, it is the first of its kind theme park in Macau, a place you should never miss if you planning to come visit. It offers live music shows, nightly explosions of the complexes 40-meter-high volcano, war games, daily jet-ski stunt shows, beautiful monuments and artificial vintage towns, shopping and eating. There are actually three major themes: Dynasty Wharf, East Meets West and Legend Wharf. Each one better than the next.

Macau is a paradise for gourmands. It would be hard to find another city with such an abundance of restaurants with so many different types of cuisine ranging from that of China’s Guangdong Province to Portuguese, Thai, Korean, Japanese, Vietnam, Indian, American, African as well as other western countries. Among all these wonderful restaurants, there is one that stands out most.
” Restaurante Solmar ” !

Established more than 40 years ago this Portuguese restaurant, is historical and famous for its elegant Portuguese cuisine. In the early 60′s, Solmar served only customers from upper class in private membership basis. Its food was so famous that the members used to smuggle the food out for their non member friends to taste. And then after public outcry to the government the restaurant was opened to public. And how i thank God for that. We went there the first time as it was highly recommended by our friends, and tried their famous African chicken. This dish remains popular in the Portuguese colony of Macau. It shows the influences of Portugal on Asian cooking, most notably by their introducing ingredients like peppers and peanuts as they travelled from Africa to Asia. Macau was for centuries a place where East met West, and that is reflected in the cooking there to this day. This particular Solmar’s African Chicken recipe is a very well guarded secret by the chef and u may find many versions of this on the net, but nothing comes close to it. I have tried to re create the dish, according to what i think comes closest to the real thing. Hope you like it.

1 whole chicken jointed and cut into 8 pieces
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped garlic ( don’t be scared … its not strong… the intense flavours of garlic sweeten as it cooks )
1 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
3 scotch bonnet red chillis chopped ( or more if u like it very hot )
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon Koon Yick Wak Kee curry powder ( a fragrant ainseedy pd found in Chinese stores) or alternately use 1 tsp 5 spice powder
2 potatoes peeled and cut into 4 pieces each
salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

In a big saucepan, heat the olive oil and sweat the garlic, onion and chilli till soft – about 5 -6 mins. Add the tomatoes and salt and stir till they have broken down and disintegrated forming a sauce. Add the peanut butter and curry powder and give it a good stir. Now remove some of this sauce and set aside for later to serve with the chicken. In the remaining sauce in the saucepan add the chicken and potatoes and mix everything well together, add in a splash of water if it looks to dry and cover it and let it simmer on low heat for an hour. Now just serve with lightly toasted warm french loaf and some lime, and don’t forget that extra sauce u removed. The potatoes in this dish are always way tastier than the chicken itself , and usually we all fight over them. Yet u should never add to many to the dish or they ‘ll soak all the flavour up.

… So now i have two posts with chicken and potatoes in a row

Don’t Talk … Just Eat !

All, Baking, Non-Vegetarian 56 Responses »

Feb 212008

Oven Baked Chicken With Potatoes & Garlic

1 chicken jointed and cut into 8 pieces
100 gms melted butter
fresh thyme
sage
10 whole cloves of garlic
2 potatoes sliced
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

This time, fortunately for you guys i have nothing to say, no boring stories and no gibberish … just Food !!! This is what i had for lunch, a very aromatic and tasty meal. Start with marinating the chicken in melted butter, thyme,sage, salt, pepper. Keep for a couple of hrs. When ready to bake , slice the potatoes, dizzle some olive oil and season to taste. Throw in the whole cloves of garlic and bake for abt 10 mins. Now add the chicken and toss everything and further bake for 20-25 mins turning once after 15 mins. Serve warm with some freshly baked bread. The garlic and potatoes absorb all that rich chicken n herb flavour. Also the lovely juices from the chicken and all that melted butter makes a lovely sauce for dipping the bread.

Chocolate Banana Cake With Walnut Streusel

* recipe to follow soon, i tried 2 recipes before i got this one right. This one was another experiment with my own proportions and it turned out really moist and rich and nice. I didn’t really take not of the measurements but i’ll be making this one soon and will put up the recipe then.

Sizzlin’ Hot !

All, Non-Vegetarian 19 Responses »

Aug 232007

I don’t really know the exact origin of this dish, though I’d like to believe in from the northern region of China. I’ve been eating versions of this dish ever since i was a kid. Sizzlers are very famous in Bombay and I’ve been lucky enough to try some in China too. The ones in Bombay differ a lot from the Chinese ones, and i ‘d choose the Chinese ones over any day. Of course as there’s no particular recipe to follow, i just about put anything that i fancy on these sizzling hot iron plates. This time i was once again standing with a blank face in my store room figuring out what to make for lunch. It had to be Chinese and chicken and noodles, but how ? Then my hubby walked in, took a look at my face and in a flash opened the cupboard and got out the sizzler plates, ” lets have sizzlers today ! u can even put it on your blog

)!” He just adores food that sizzles. It fills the room with the rich aroma and dense smoke and makes even a stuffed person hungry. When i travelled, i got along with me a carton full of my Chinese ingredients from Hong Kong. Foodies that we are, half our baggage from anywhere in the world always comprises of food. So here for lunch i used shrimp noodles stir fried with veggies and stir fried chicken and baby corn.
For the noodles : Boil the noodles for 2 mins , strain , run through cold water and toss in seasme oil – set aside. Julienne french beans, carrots, green capsicum, spring onion and thinly slice a red onion. In a wok heat some peanut oil and stir fry the veggies except the spring onion. Add 1/2 tsp of white pepper and add in the noodles.Mix well and then add a couple of splashes of light soy sauce. Check the salt add the spring onion and turn off the heat. Keep this aside .

For the chicken : I used canned baby corn-cut in halves, chicken cubed, garlic grated, one small onion quartered. In a wok heat some peanut oil , fry the garlic till fragrant and add the chicken cubes and cook till fully white. With a slotted spoon remove the chicken and add the onion and baby corn and fry for a min. Add to it some shao shing rice vine, a spoon of knorr chicken concentrate sauce and some rice vinegar. Bring back the chicken and 1/2 cup chicken stock to the wok and cover and let it cook. There is no need to add salt as the knorr sauce is very salty. Finish off with adding some cornflour water to thicken it. Turn off the heat and add some greens of the spring onion.

Now with these 2 ready we have to make hot the sizzler plates. Lightly oil them and put them directly on the gas flame till they are piping hot. Very carefully lift them and place them on the wooden dish and place the noodles first. Then add the chicken with the sauce. At this moment it will start sizzling violently.Be careful and serve immediately.
You can really do anything with these. Stir fried sizzling prawns , beef , fish ….. anything. Just make sure it has some sauce or gravy to sizzle away . Excellent for entertaining !

Healthy Routine

All, Non-Vegetarian 8 Responses »

Apr 082007

Hey everybody, its been almost 2 weeks since i got here and boy am i happy to be back!My sister is in town visiting and actually have been really busy with her shopping and traveling and just basically bonding which i haven’t had the chance to do since that last 5 yrs.I had taken these pictures the day before she had come and was planning to put them up then but never got around doing so.I have lots more but I’ll put them up later.Lots to share with u guys but I’ve just managed to squeeze in some time this Sunday for my blog which has been crying for being neglected .This time as i have no recipe to share with you … but here’s how i spent my day…

This is the mind blowing view from my gym.The Hong Kong sky line with the fantastic harbour right in front of my eyes.

While i’m running on the treadmill i feel as if 1 am running on water.My Ipod and this beautiful scenery can keep me going for ever n ever.

This is by far the best gym view i have ever come across.It really makes working out a sheer pleasure, i actually look forward going to the gym.

One of the million reasons to be happy about getting back is this lovely dragon fruit.Soft centered and very juicy this fruit is available all over eastern Asia.

And after getting back from a great work out this super healthy sandwich of grilled rye bread with left over grilled chicken with a cranberry yogurt smoothie just made my day.

Bowled In !

All, Non-Vegetarian 6 Responses »

Mar 152007

The ICC Cricket World Cup has begun and its really got us all hooked onto our screens.Group matches have commenced and so has our betting.Sadly i lost 50 bucks yesterday on Pakistan vs West Indies but i hope to recover today on Zimbabwe vs Ireland.Really looking forward to 6 weeks of pure cricket pleasure.I’m glad that I’m in Africa now as the timings are perfect.Once i get back to HK we’ll have to stay up all night to see the matches.But it doesn’t really matter.Once in 4 yrs is a good enough excuse for that.We are supporting South Africa for the world cup champions as they are in excellent form.So keeping my fingers crossed….will definitely keep u all updated with the World Cup.Yesterday we had really simple lunch …the Lahme, and so i thought i’d indulge a bit today.Actually i thought of it last night and marinated the chicken beforehand.And that’s half the work done.At noon i simply grilled the chicken and made some lovely aromatic lemon rice.This for me ladies and gents is comfort food.Enjoy.

Ingredients for chicken marination (overnight)

700 gms chicken
3-4 tbsps sour yogurt
1 tbsp crushed ginger
1 tbsp crushed garlic
3-4 green chillis chopped
hand full of mint
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp freshly toasted and ground cumin powder
salt

Rub all these into the chicken and cover and refrigerate overnight.

Ingredients for Lemon Rice

1 cup basmati rice
1 onion chopped
1 green chilli chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
few Indian curry leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 tbsps chopped corriander
1 lime
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

In a pot heat the oil.When smoking hot add the mustard seeds and as they splutter add the curry leaves, onion and green chilli.When they soften a bit add in the washed rice and fry it on high flame for 1 min.Add the turmeric powder and salt and stir.Now add 1 and 1/2 cups water and cover and let it simmer on slow heat.When the rice is done add the corriander and squeeze the lime juice into it.The rice is ready.

Remove the chicken from the fridge 1 hr prior to cooking it to bring it to room temperature.Now from the prepared rice take about 2-3 tbsps and fill it in the cavity of the chicken and then tie up the chicken and drizzle some olive oil on top and grill in the oven for about 45 minutes.Remove and wrap in foil and allow it to rest for about 15 mins.To serve, cut open the thread and serve the chicken on the bed of the remaining rice.Onion rings go really well with this dish.