Chicken Seekh Kabab

Originally seekh kababs are made on skewers and grilled. You could try different kinds of minced meats and flavors. It entered Indian cuisines centuries ago. We love appetizers and this one is very simple and a quick recipe. I tried making them on one of our Friday snack parties and it was a hit. I served it with some sriracha and tomato sauce. You could also cut them in cubes and roll in a tortilla or add to a salad.

I was running out of skewers, so just shaped them and cooked in oven. You could also cook them over a grill or pan.

Ingredients:

1 lb minced chicken

2 medium sized onions

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

3 tbsp coriander leaves

1 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp chilli/paprika powder

1 tsp garam masala /All spice powder

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 to 5 tbsp oil

salt to taste

 

Method:

1. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan, add in finely chopped onions and saute. Once onions have sweat and turned golden brown add in the ginger garlic paste. Cook it for 5 minutes and set it aside.

2. In a bowl add all the above ingredients with cooked onion, ginger garlic except oil, mix them well with your hands. Rest the mixture for 30 minutes. Apply a little oil on your palms and get a handful of the mixture and shape in rolls as shown in picture.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit. Lay aluminum foil on a baking sheet, spray cooking oil and place the rolled kebabs on the baking sheet.

4.Bake for around 15 minutes initially, get the baking sheet out and put the uncooked side down. Cook on all sides. Bake for 10 more minutes. It took me 25 minutes altogether.

Serve it with your favorite sauce.

Baked Chicken Wings

I was first introduced to them by my beloved Hubby and this is his version of the dish. I like them because they are easy to make and yet tasty and are a good appetizer for any party.  And yes healthy too as they are baked and they taste better than the deep fried ones.

 

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

12 Chicken wings (With skin preferably)

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp dry fenugreek leaves

1 tbsp Ginger/Garlic paste

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp Indian Pickle (Any kind) or 1 tbsp olive oil

Salt to taste

 

Method:

1.Wash chicken wings and keep the skin on. Give 2 to 3 cuts on each of them.

2. Mix all the other ingredients and make a thick consistency paste. Apply on each chicken wing, try and make sure you get the masala in between the cuts too.

3. Keep this marinated for a hour at least or you could do this much in advance and refrigerate it.

4. Heat the oven at 375 degree Fahrenheit and arrange the chicken wings on a aluminium foil lined tray.

5. Bake the wings for 25 to 30 mins and broil it for 3 to 4 mins.

Serve as an appetizer or goes great as a side.

Rechad Bangdo- Stuffed Mackeral

We konkani’s love our fish and yes its our staple diet. Rechad masala(spice paste) is a made of a variety of ingredients and you can always make it in advance and refrigerate. Today here I am presenting stuffed Bangdo also called mackerel. Mackerel is a very common fish and is available most of the year in west of India.

After coming to US, this was my first time I was having mackerel in last 10 months. And we were exited to discover a Chinese market where it is available every week.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

Spices to be ground:

10 red dry chillies (Kashmiri chillies)

5 peppercorns

3 to 4 cloves

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 inch ginger

4 to 5 garlic cloves

1/2 lemon juice

1/2 tsp tamarind paste

1/4 tsp turmeric

3 to 4 strands of coriander leaves.

salt to taste

For frying:

3 to 4 tsp semoline/rava

4 tbsp oil

2 medium sized mackerels

Method:

1.Soak chillies in warm water for 5 to 10 mins, you can reduce the spice by slitting the chillies and getting the seeds out.

2. Grind in all the spices to a fine paste with 2 to 3 tsp of water. The outcome should be a thick paste.

3. Make sure the fish is cleaned and cut laterally, apply the ground paste generously inside the fish and also apply it on the outer skin.

4.Coat the fish with semolina/rava, put 2 tbsp of oil in a skillet pan and place the coated fish. Make sure the heat is set on medium.

5. Shallow fry it on both the sides. Serve it with salad or rice and curry of your choice.

Notes: You could refrigerate the excess masala/spice. The key to a good shallow fry is the heat should be at medium in beginning and keep it low towards the end,it will cook in its own juices. Hope you will enjoy this recipe.

Spinach Cheese stuffed Bread

I go to this Italian restaurant near my place and always order this Spinach Cheese stuffed Bread, I have fallen in love with it. And since I have started baking my own breads, taught to give this a try.

I have made this using sour wheat dough and below is the link .

https://konkanfood.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/basic-sour-dough/

 

Here is the Recipe, it  will make 1 medium sized stuffed bread

Ingredients:

Baking sheet/dough

100 grams spinach

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese

6 to 7 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp of Cajun

1/4 Oregano

salt to taste

1 tbsp of olive oil

Method

1.To a skillet add 1 tbsp of oil and sliced garlic. Saute it for 2 to 3 minutes, add the chopped spinach. Let spinach wilt  completely, sprinkle a dash of salt.

2. Spread the dough with your hands on a baking tray, roll it to make it little thin and preferably in oval shape . Spread Parmesan cheese along the length, top it with spinach mixture and then mozzarella cubes and finish it with Cajun and oregano powder.

Now wrap it along the length and then seal the sides( way we wrap a gift paper,there will be a little overlap), put sealed side down on the tray. Make slight cuts on the bread, giving some air to breath.

 

3.Preheat the oven at 400 degree Fahrenheit, give 30 mins of standing time. Bake the spinach bread for 20 mins.

The bread comes out choosy and yummy.