Chicken stroganoff

Today when I logged into my orkut account in the morning the first scrap that I read was from my school friend Devyani.She wanted me to post a chicken recipe in my blog.I debated what to make for dinner and that too a chicken dish.Dinner at my place is always a light affair,mostly baked or steamed,sometimes just an appetizing soup with a filler like pasta or rice in it and a nutritious salad.I make sure lunch is a proper balanced meal with dal, roti, subzi and curd on the table.Finally I decided on chicken stroganoff minus the butter and cream . The dish is cubed chicken and mushrooms simmered in tomato cream sauce,a little yoghurt is added to the cream to make the dish lighter.I use olive oil to make the dish more lighter and lessen the amount of cream .

So this is for you devyani,this is one of our favourite chicken preparation and a Nita Mehta creation.We had our delicious dinner with steaming hot rice and without forgetting the religious photography of the sizzling pan.Finally the chicken stroganoff is ready to blog about.

You need:
2 boneless chicken breasts ,cubed into 1"pcs
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion finely chopped
100 gms mushroom-each cut into 2 pcs( if big 4 pcs)
1 cup chicken stock or water
1/2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
3 flakes garlic chopped and crushed
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp thick yoghurt
1/4 tsp pepper and chilli pwdr salt to taste
1 capsicum chopped into cubes for garnish

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken pcs in salt,pepper and chilli pwdr for 15 minutes.
2. Heat 1 tbsp butter in a pan, add onion and cook till light brown.Add the mushrooms and cook for 1-2 mins,remove from the pan.
3. In the same pan add 1 tbsp butter and add the chicken pcs,stir fry till well browned on both sides, for about 4-5 mins. Add 1 cup of water and close the lid and simmer for 15 mins.Remove from fire.
4. take out 1/2 cup of chicken stock from the pan.Cool the stock and blend in the flour and mix well.
5. Return pan with chicken to heat.Add tomato puree,tomato sauce,worcestershire sauce,garlic and the fried onion mushroom to the chicken in the pan.Add salt pepper and the blended flour paste.Stir and boil.
6. Whip Cream and yoghurt well so that there are no lumps.
7. Take the pan off the heat,add cream yoghurt mixture and blend well.
8. Add chopped capsicum,heat on low flame and remove when it starts to boil.Serve with steamed rice.

Happy Eating!!

Lemon coriander soup-No croutons required

I am not at all happy with my blog snaps :(.....this is the first time i am using the camera for food photography and I am just not aware of the different settings of the camera. I think I desperately need my hubby's help!! I have been blog hopping the whole morning .....kudos to all you food bloggers! How do you manage to click such beautiful snaps?Please do help me out with your advice regarding photography.

Today i am going to post a refreshing soup,lemon coriander soup with mushrooms and carrots tried from Nita Mehta's new Chinese collection. It's got a hint of ginger in it which is quite soothing if you are suffering from a bad throat.I am a die hard fan of Neeta Mehta,her recipes turn out to be lip smacking and are meant for the Indian palate.So i will leave you with the ingredients and the method.Wish me luck.......for photography of course!!Enjoy the aromatic soup!!
I am sending this soup as my entry for "no croutons required" event started by Lisa of Lisa's kitchen and Holler of Tinned tomatoes.

You need:
Stock:
5 cups water
1 stick lemon grass chopped or 1 tsp lemon rind( i used 4-5 sticks dried lemon grass)
1/4 cup chopped coriander with stalks
1" pc ginger,sliced
2 laung ( cloves),1 tej patta (bay leaves)
2 seasoning cubes( maggi, knorr or any other brand)

other ingredients:
1/2 carrot or 1/4 cup carrot ,sliced paper thin diagonally
2 mushrooms cut into thin slices( optional)
1 tsp oil, a pinchof red chilli pwdr
salt and pepper to taste( the seasoning cube already has salt)
2-3 tbsp lemon juice,1/4 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornflour dissolved in 1/4 cup water
2 tbsp coriander torn roughly with hands

Method:

1.For stock, mix all the ingredients under stock with the 5 cups water,bring to aboil and keep on low flame for 2-3 minutes.Keep aside.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add apinch of red chilli pwdr and immediately add carrots and mushrooms.saute for 1 min at medium flame.
3.Add pepper,check salt and add more if required. Boil.
4.Strain the prepared stock into the vegetables in the pan.
5. Add the cornflour dissolved in water, stirring continuously.
6.Add lemon juice,sugar and corinder leaves,simmer for 2 mins.Remove from fire and serve hot.

Paneer Bhurji

Once I had this huge amount of crumbled paneer and out of sheer laziness I didn’t want to make something sweet giving an excuse to myself that it’s unhealthy. Koftas did come to my mind but it just needed too much of work, so I decided to make bhurji out of it though I didn’t have the recipe. Whatever little I knew of cooking that time I just went by my instincts and prepared it and it tasted yum. To this date I don’t use any other recipe while preparing this dish.:) I would love to share this simple yet tasty recipe with you all.

To make Paneer bhurji you need:

1 lt milk made into Paneer
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 medium sized tomato chopped
1 small capsicum chopped
¼ cup green peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp whole jeera or cumin seeds
½ tsp turmeric pwdr
½ tsp kasoori methi or dried fenugreek
1 tsp coriander pwdr
1 tsp garam masala pwdr
1 tsp chilli pwdr or to taste
¾ tsp amchur or dry mango pwdr
salt to taste
2-3 tsp oil
chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a non sick pan. Add the cumin seeds, cook till it turns golden.
2. Add the chopped onions and the kasuri methi, sauté till it turns pink in colour.
3. Add the ginger garlic paste, fry for ½ a minute.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric pwdr, and the chilli pwdr. Stir fry till the oil separates from the paste.
5. Now add the crumbled paneer and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.
6. Lastly add the coriander, garam masala and amchur pwdr and let it cook for 2 minutes.
7. Add the salt, mix well and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with parathas.

I use the left over paneer bhurji as filling in a grilled or toasted sandwich for breakfast or as a filling in a Frankie for my little one’s lunch box. From my experiences I have learnt that it is not necessary to follow the measures and ingredients of a recipe religiously. It is totally upto you to omit and substitute ingredients according to your taste and balance the flavours.

Paneer is called cottage cheese and is widely used in Indian cuisine. Its a healthy protein rich food. To prepare paneer lemon juice or vinegar or citric acid crystals is added to boiling hot milk to separate the curds from the whey. The curds are then drained in a cloth and excess water is pressed out. Tofu can be substituted for paneer as tofu has a similar texture and consistency.