Chicken Puff Pastry

Preparation           : 10 minutes

Cooking time         : 60 mins

Serves                      : 4 pieces

Ingredients:

• Pastry sheet             - 4
• Boneless chicken    - 1 breast, around 300 grams
• Onion                        - 1 small, sliced
• Green chilli              - 2, finely chopped
• Ginger garlic paste - 3/4 tsp
• Cumin powder        - 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala         - 1/4 tsp
• Oil                              - 1/2 tsp
• Salt                            - to taste
• Eggwash                   - 1 egg+1 Tbsp water, mixed well.

Method:
1. To prepare the filling, Grill or boil the chicken breast until cooked. Remove from heat and allow it to cool. When cool shred it into small pieces using fork.
2. Heat a pan and add oil. When hot, add the sliced onions and green chilli and cook until onions turn translucent.
3. Add ginger garlic paster, cumin powder. Saute for 30 seconds.
4. Add shredded chicken. Add salt and garam masala and cover and cook for few minutes.
5. Preheat the oven at 350 F.
6. Open the pastry sheets. Put chicken filling in the middle diagonally. 
7. Brush the edges with water.

8. Brush the edges with water. Bring the diagonally opposite ends together and press the edges gently to seal.
9. With a fork press the ends gently.

10. Apply eggwash.
11. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the top turns golden brown.

12. Serve hot with ketch up and sauce of your choice.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Got this recipe from Hebbar's Kitchen. A great appetizer. 

Ingredients:

For bread dough:

• Maida/All purpose flour        - 1 cup
• Warm milk                                - ¼ cup
• Dry yeast                                   - 1 tsp
• Sugar                                          - 1 tsp
• Garlic cloves                             - 3 fat ones, finely chopped
• Chilli flakes                               - a generous pinch
• Oil                                               - 1 tsp
• Butter                                         - 1 tsp(at room temperature)
• Salt                                              - 1/2 tsp

For Garlic butter:

• Butter                                      - ¼ cup melted butter
• Garlic cloves                          - 3 fat ones, finely chopped
• Chopped Coriander leaves - 2 Tbsp

Other ingredients:

• Cheese                   - 1/2 cup(Any type of your choice)
• Chilli flakes          - 1 tsp
• Oregano                - 1 tsp
• Maida                    - for dusting

Method:

1. To prepare the dough, take warm milk, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix well and keep aside for 10 minutes for the yeast to get active.

2. Add salt, chopped garlic, chilli flakes, butter and maida. Knead well.

3. Apply some oil to the surface of the dough and keep aside for 2 hours.

4. Prepare the garlic butter by mixing melted butter, chopped garlic and chopped coriander. Keep aside.
5. After two hours knead the dough lightly. 
6. Roll the dough flat. (Do not make it thin, it should be thick enough).

7. Apply garlic butter to the rolled dough. Sprinkle some chilli flakes and oregano.
8. Add cheese. You can use any cheese of your choice. I used Parmesan.

9. Fold the dough and seal the edges properly. 
(Make sure the sealing is done well, else cheese might melt and come out)

10. Apply some more garlic butter on top. Sprinkle chilli flakes and oregano.
11. Make thin slits not too deep.

12. Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 15-17 minutes till it turns brownish.

13. Serve With dip of your choice.

Dimer Devil - Egg Devil

Dimer Devil or Egg Devil. A very popular snack from Bengal. Well I am not sure why such an angel dish is given the name "devil". Is it because of its alluring nature? Or is it because you can hog umpteen number of them and still crave for more? Or is it because your taste buds get so high on them that nothing else really appears as good as them? I really don't know the answer. All I know is I enjoyed preparing them as much as I enjoyed devouring them. 

There could a variety of this dish. It can be made using chicken keema or fish or potato. My version is done using potato. So this is an Eggetarian friendly recipe. :)

Ingredients:

• Eggs                            - 4
• Potato                         - 3 large
• Onions                       - 1 large, chopped
• Green Chilli               - 3, finely chopped
• Ginger                        - 1/2 inch, finely chopped
• Coriander leaves      - 1 Tbsp, chopped
• Turmeric powder     - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilli powder     - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin powder          - 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala           - 1/2 tsp
• Salt                              - to taste
• Oil                                - For deep frying

For coating:

• All purpose flour        - 3 Tbsp
• Eggs                              - 2
• Bread crumbs             - 3/4 cup

Method:
1. Boil the eggs. Remove shell. Cut into halves, sprinkle a bit salt and keep aside.
2. Boil the potatoes. Peel them and keep aside.

3. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. 
4. Add the chopped ginger and saute for a minute. 
5. Add chopped onion and green chilli and saute till onions turn translucent.

6. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and cumin powder. 
7. Mash the boiled potato till smooth and add.
8. Add salt, chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Sprinkle garam masala. Cook for another minute. Remove from pan and allow it to cool.

9. Take an egg half and wrap it up with the potato mix evenly and give it a shape of egg. Do the same for all the egg halves.

10. In a bowl break in the two eggs. Mix 2 Tbsp water and mix well.

11. Roll the egg devil in all purpose flour. Then dip in egg mix. Then roll in bread crumb. Shake off the excess and keep the devils in a plate. Do the same for all the pieces.

12. Refrigerate the egg devils for 30 minutes.

13. Heat oil for deep frying. 

14. Fry the devils one by one in medium heat until golden brown.

15. Remove from oil and place in paper towel.

16. Serve hot Egg Devil with chopped onions, ketch up and kasundi.

Samosa/Shingara

Samosa, called Shingara in Bengali is a very popular snack in every part of India. A hot plate of samosas with some fried green chili and a hot cup of tea is really something to die for. I think it would have been much easier for Menaka to break Vishwamitra's meditation if she had a plate of samosas in her hand, instead of she dancing and sweating and seducing him!

The stuffing widely used is potato but I have used potato, cabbage and green peas. 

Ingredients:

For outer cover:

• All purpose flour(maida)    - 1½ cup
• Ghee                                 - 2 Tbsp       
• Salt                                   - 1/3 tsp
• Oil                                     - for deep frying

For Filling:

• Potato                            - 2 medium, boiled, peeled
• Cabbage                         - 1 cup, chopped
• Green peas                     - ½ cup
• Green chilli                    - 3-4, finely chopped
• Coriander leaves             - 1 Tbsp
• Whole cumin                  - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder                - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder           - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder            - ½ tsp
• Red Chilli powder           - ½ tsp
• Salt                                - as per taste
• Oil                                 - 2 Tbsp

Method:

1. Take maida in a mixing bowl, add ghee and salt. Mix well with hand till you get a crumbly texture. 

2. Now add little water and knead the mixture. Keep adding water and kneading till you get a firm dough. Cover it with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside.

Let's prepare the filling at this stage. 

3. Heat oil in a pan. Temper with whole cumin.

4. Add chopped cabbage, chilli. Add salt and turmeric powder. Cook covered till cabbage becomes tender.

5. Add boiled potatoes, green peas. Add cumin, chilli and coriander powder and mix well.

6. Cook till all the ingredients are cooked and mixed well. Add chopped coriander leaves and remove from pan.

Here comes the main task, preparing the samosas. :)

7. Remove the wet cloth from the dough and knead it one more time. Divide the whole dough into 6 small sized balls. 

8. Roll the ball into a flat circular roti not very thin.

9. Cut it from the middle using a knife into two semi circular portions.

10. Using a brush or your finger tips, wet the straight edges of the roti.

11. Take one semi circle in hand and bring together the wet edges, one above the other, press and seal thereby forming a cone.

12. Stuff the samosa cone with the prepared filling. 

13. Apply water on the open edges of the cone and bring together the ends. Press and seal properly.

14. Prepare all the samosas 

15. Heat oil in a deep pan for deep frying the samosas. When the oil is hot add samosas in oil few at a time, lower the flame to low.
16. Fry till samosas turn golden brown in color.

17. Remove from pan and place in paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.

18. Serve hot samosas with fried green chilli, ketchup and green chutney.

Chicken keema chop(croquettes)

Chop or croquette is one of the hot favorites of Bongs. There are various kinds of it, fish chop, mutton chop, chicken chop, aloor chop and what not chop. I tried this out at home the other night, it was so good that we ended up having just these yummy chops for dinner. I did bring my twist and stuffed few of the chops with cheese and the aberration was really well appreciated.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast               - 1 piece, around ½ lb, finely chopped. (you can use keema, but I used whole piece)
• Potato                           - 2 medium sized, boiled
• Onion                            - 1 large, finely chopped
• Turmeric powder           - ½ tsp
• Red Chilli powder          - 1 tsp(Adjust according to your level)
• Cumin powder               - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder          - ½ tsp
• Garam masala powder    - ½ tsp
• Ginger paste                  - 1 tsp 
• Garlic paste                   - ½ tsp
• Eggs                              - 2
• Corn flour                      - 2 Tbsp
• Bread crumbs                 - ½ cup
• Oil                                 - for deep frying

Method:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan and add the chopped onions.

2. When onion turns translucent add ginger paste, garlic paste, red chilli, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder. Cook for a minute.

3. Add chopped chicken. Mix well and cook till chicken is cooked.

4. Add salt, garam masala and mix well. Remove chicken from pan and allow it to cool.

5. Put the chicken mix in blender and blend it till it becomes crumbly in texture, not really a paste.

6. Mash the boiled potatoes. Mix potato with chicken and mix well. 
7. Divide the mix into small equal sized oblong balls(chop).
(I did a twist in few of them and stuffed shredded mozzarella cheese, which turned out pretty good)
8. Take a bowl and break in the eggs. Add 1 Tbsp water into it and beat it using a fork to form a smooth thin mix. Take corn flour and bread crumbs in two other plates.
9. Roll the chops in corn flour to get a slight coating, then dip in egg mix and then roll in bread crumbs to get an even coating.
10. Refrigerate the chops for an hour.

11. Heat oil for deep frying.
12. Add the chops one by one or multiple at once and fry them till golden brown.

13. Remove from oil and place in kitchen towel to get rid of extra oil.

Serve hot chop with onions, ketchup and mustard sauce.

Chingrir bora - Shrimp pakora

I got this awesome recipe from Bongmom's Cookbook. It was worth taking this risk with the shrimps. I usually don't like experimenting with shrimps for some reason, probably because they are my favorites. Anyways, I did not end the recipe with the bora(pakora). I made a curry with half of these boras and named it chingrir borar daalna. I will post the recipe later. For now enjoy these hot shrimp boras.

Ingredients:

• Shrimps                - 10-12, medium
• Red Masoor daal   - 1/3rd cup
• Onion                   - 1 medium, finely chopped
• Green chilli          - 3-4, finely chopped
• Salt                      - to taste
• Oil                       - for frying

Method:
1. Soak masoor daal in a cup of water for half an hour.
2. Chop the shrimps into small pieces.
3. Put daal and shrimp in a blender and make a smooth paste.
4. To the paste add chopped onion, chopped green chilli and salt. Mix well.

5. Heat oil in a pan. When hot, using a table spoon add small scoops of mix in the oil.
6. Fry in medium heat for a minute. Flip the side gently and fry the other side. Fry till both the sides turn golden brown.

7. Remove from pan and place on paper towel to get rid of the extra oil.

8. The tasty yummy shrimp pakora is ready to serve. Serve with chutney or sauce.

Chicken stuffed bread roll

I saw this recipe in Hebbar's Kitchen which used potato in stuffing. I took inspiration from there and tried it with chicken and it really turned out delicious. This Sunday experiment really made my day.

Here is how I did it: 
Ingredients:

• Chicken                       – 1 cup, minced or finely chopped
• Onion                          - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
• Green chili                  - 2-3, finely chopped
• Coriander leaves         - 1 Tbsp chopped
• Ginger                        - 1 tsp finely chopped
• Turmeric powder        - ½ tsp
• Red chili powder         - ½ tsp   
• Jeera powder              - ½ tsp
• Cheese                        - 2 Tbsp, grated. I used parmesan cheese.
• White bread slices       - 7
• Oil                              - deep frying
• Salt                            - as per taste

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Add ginger. Add green chili. Fry for a minute.
3. Add onion and keep frying till onion turns translucent.
4. Add chicken. Add salt. Stir well. Cook till chicken is cooked.
5. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, jeera powder. Mix well and fry for another minute.
6. Add green coriander and remove from stove.

7. Let the chicken mix cool. Add grated cheese.

8. Mix well and mash with hand to form a tight dough. Divide the dough into small equal portions. These portions will be stuffed inside the bread rolls. 

9. Cut the sides of bread slices.

10. Flatten the bread by rolling it using a rolling pin.

11. Brush the edges with water to soften them so that the stuffing gets properly sealed.

12. Place the mix in the flattened bread slice and roll it till end. Seal the ends by pressing with your fingers.

13. Heat oil for deep frying in a deep pan.
14. When oil is hot, place the rolls and fry from both sides till golden brown in color.
15. Remove from oil and place in paper towel to absorb the extra oil.

16. Serve with tomato ketchup and dip of your choice.