Nutella filled French toast

Hungry Kya??? Here's a tasty quick bite recipe...

Ingredients:

Bread - 4 slices
Nutella - 4 Tbsp
Egg - 1
Milk - 80 ml
Butter - 1 Tsp
Sugar - 1/2 Tbsp

Procedure:

All the ingredients need to be at room temperature before you get started with the prep.
You would need a shallow plate. Take butter and whisk in the milk. Now put in the egg and sugar and whisk till everything is incorporated well.
Apply 1 Tbsp Nutella on each slice and make 2 sandwiches. Put pan on low heat. Dip the sandwich in the milk mixture to coat both sides and put it on the pan to fry. Lid not required. Let the pan be on medium heat. The sandwich got to become nice golden brown on either side before taking it off the heat.
Let it rest for a minute before you relish the soft chocolaty french toast.

Chinese Chopsuey - chicken

I love Chinese cuisine... & for all those in the same boat...check out this delicious home made recipe of Chinese Chopsuey - chicken...

Ingredients for Chinese Chopsuey - chicken:

1 Pkt - Plain noodles (standard - 3 cubes)
4 Tbsp - Olive oil
3 Tbsp - Cornflour (to sprinkle onto the noodles)
2 Tbsp - Parsley
1/2 kg - Chicken (boneless - diced)
1 Tbsp - Garlic (finely chopped)
1 Tbsp - Ginger (finely chopped)
1 Tbsp - Ginger & Garlic paste
1 Tsp - Soya sauce
1 - Green capsicum (diced)
1 - Red capsicum (diced)
1 - Yellow capsicum (diced)
3 - Cabbage leaves (diced)
1 - Carrot (diced)
5 - Spring onions (diced)
Shredded Broccoli (optional)
Salt & Ajinomoto to taste
Cornflour as required to thicken the sauce.

Procedure - Chinese Chopsuey - chicken:

Noodles:
Heat water in a deep container, put in the noodles & let it come to a boil. Pour in 2 Tbsp olive oil in the water. Once the noodles are cooked, strain the water. Spread the noodles in a wide container, sprinkle & mix in the cornflour, so that the noodles do not stick together. Let them rest for 5-10 min. Now deep fry the noodles in small portions till they get crispy. Make sure the noodles do not turn brown in colour. Store them in an air tight container, till service.

Chicken:
Marinate the chicken with parsley, soya sauce, ginger & garlic paste & set aside for 1/2 hour in the fridge. Now shallow fry the chicken pieces and let them rest. The chicken should be taken off when they are just enough cooked and not till they turn brown. That's when the meat retains its moisture.

Sauce:
Set a deep dish on low heat. Pour in 2 Tbsp olive oil. Drop in the finely chopped ginger and garlic. Now throw in all the veggies and let them saute (light fry) a little. Pour in 2-3 lts water and let the veggies come to a boil. Put in salt, ajinomoto & parsley and taste. This is the time you drop in the fried chicken pieces into the sauce. Mix cornflour in a small bowl of water and add it to the sauce while continuously stirring (the thickness of the sauce has to be same as sweet corn soup). Depending on that, do add the cornflour. Get it to a last boil & take it off heat.
** Do not over cook/fry the chicken & veggies. All of them have to retain their colours and crunch for the dish to look picture perfect.

Plating:
Serve the crispy noodles and then pour in the yummy sauce with chicken & veggies and enjoy your Chinese Chopsuey - chicken.

Serves 3-4.

Chocolate Lava Cake

For all of you with a sweet tooth, here's a easy home-made chocolate lava cake recipe...

Ingredients for Chocolate Lava Cake:

150g - Dark chocolate (120g for batter & 30g as small cubes)
120g - Unsalted butter
2 - Eggs
1/3 cup - Sugar
1/4 cup - All purpose flour (Maida)
100g - Cocoa powder
** 1 Cup = 200g

Procedure - Chocolate Lava Cake:

• Melt 120g of chocolate in a microwave. Add butter to the melted chocolate and stir it till it melts.
• In another bowl, blend eggs & sugar.
• Then add the chocolate mixture to the sweetened egg mix.
• Finally sift the flour into the chocolate mixture.
• Blend thoroughly to avoid lumps in the batter. 

Tips on melting the chocolate:

• Always use a glass bowl and not microwavable plastic containers.
• Even after the timer goes off, the chocolate retains its shape. However, take it out and stir it so that it melts with the heat it holds.
• Do not over-heat the chocolate as it may end up burnt.

Pre-heat the oven for 5 min at 350°F/180°C.

Pour the batter in the cocoa powder coated ramekins (ceramic bowls) as in the picture. Fill 3/4th of the ramekins & not till the rim as the batter will rise while baking. Insert the small cubes of chocolate in each ramekin, in the middle of the batter.

The cooking time should range between 8-10 min. The moment you see the top of the cake cooked totally, just poke in a toothpick to make sure there is liquid chocolate inside and not totally baked cake. That's when you take them out.

Serve hot! do not let it set for long as the heat of the ramekin will bake the cake completely. Dig in immediately to enjoy the gooey lava effect of your Chocolate Lava Cake.

Herb Chicken in Lemon Butter sauce

If home-made continental food is your thing & you enjoy the flavor that is as subtle as it could be to the palette. Here's an interesting recipe for you,

Ingredients:

 1Kg - Chicken breast

 6Tbsp - Extra virgin olive oil

 3-4 - Green chilly

15 - Garlic cloves

1 - Onion

200ml - Chicken stock

3tbsp - Butter

1 small - Lemon

1/2tsp - Parsley

1/2tsp - Chilly flakes

1/2tsp - Thyme

1/2tsp - Rosemary

1/2tsp - Oregano

Salt & Pepper to taste

Marinade:

Mix 3 tbsp of olive oil with salt & pepper. Rub down the chicken with the mixture. Leave it to set in the fridge for 1/2 hr.

Chicken Stock:

Get a chicken stock cube available at any super market. Add the cube in 200ml of hot water.

Procedure:

Put 3tbsp olive oil in the low heated flat-bottomed pan. This is to make sure that all the chicken pieces cook evenly. Put in the finely chopped garlic, onion and chilly. Let them saute a little. Make sure they do not turn brown. Immediately, put in the chicken and sear them on both sides. Pour in the chicken stock, lime juice & add butter and let the meat cook on low heat till a boil. This makes the chicken absorb the flavor of stock, lime & butter. Then add the herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano & chilly flakes). Let the dish get the aroma of the herbs. Taste for salt & pepper. Cover with lid and allow the chicken stock to reduce to a thick liquid at the bottom. By this time, the chicken should be all cooked & tender. Leave the lid on and let the dish rest for about 5-10 min before serving. 

TIP: All along the cooking time, keep flipping the chicken & basting it with the liquid. This keeps the chicken moist and avoids burning.

Plating:

Plate the chicken piece and drizzle the reduction over it. 

It can be accompanied with garlic bread or butter rice, recipes of which will be up soon.

Simple & Easy Burger at home - burger sauce - patty preparation

My first simple recipe....Could seem a little undone but trust me it tastes yummmm...

Weekend is at hand...so my 1st quick bite would be a simple burger sauce....

No matter which patty or what veggies in a burger, it is always the sauce that makes the burger juicy n yummyyyy. Here's the tip..Just 3 main ingredients....Tomato sauce, mustard sauce n mayonnaise...Blend all 3 of them in accordance to your taste. My personal choice would be..50% mayo, 30% mustard sauce & 20% tomato ketchup. You can add pepper, salt n chilly flakes to add a zing to the sauce.
And dats how the juicy burger with yummy dripping sauce turns out to be..as in the click...

Try it & Enjoy Folks....

Detailed description of the whole burger

Ingredients:

• Burger bun
• Cheese slice - 1
• Tomato slice - 2
• Capsicum rings- 3
• Lettuce - to your hearts content
• Onion rings - 3 
• Non-veg/Veg Patty - 1
• Butter - 1 tsp
• Burger sauce - to your hearts content

Patty Preparation:

Non-veg:

Mince the meat and marinade it with salt, pepper, parsley & chilly flakes. Then coat it with egg white and then bread crumbs.Leave it in the fridge for half an hour. Then take out the patty and dab it with oil on both sides and fry it on a flat pan. Deep frying is also ok. Golden brown or crispy coat is the time to take it off heat.

Veg:

Same procedure with your own choice of veggies. Boil and mash the veggies. Recommended ones - Potato, radish, cauliflower, small sweet potato. 

Burger sauce preparation:

As mentioned in the 1st part of the post. Simple 3 ingredients.

Burger plating:

Cut the burger bun and apply little butter on the inner sides and toast it. Order- Lower burger bun, onion rings, tomato slices, capsicum rings, burger sauce, lettuce, cheese slice, Non-veg/Veg patty and again little burger sauce & the upper burger bun. Then heat the entire burger for few seconds in the microwave for the cheese slice to melt in as well and enjoy the juicy burger in the rainy weekend...
TIP: Let not the burger bun be too thick as it would snatch away the taste of all the ingredients in the burger.