Leftover Takeover: Chicken Samosa

After the first re-heating, there are very few times that you want to go back for another helping of one paricular dish. And thats the time when you pull a rabbit out the hat and make something ingenious with the dish. Well, the author tries. This particular dish is not very ingenious but it is a tasty way to use up leftover chicken curry or masala and it certainly is a very good snack for evening tea. Vegetarians, stop right here.
I posted a recipe for chicken curry earlier which forms the basis for this dish. You can heat this up and vaporize all the water out of the curry. And make some dough for the curry to fill in to. If you are in the mood -  like I was - then you could make your dough from scratch. The recipe from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking gives excellent results. I am going to include the recipe here if you want to make your dough but otherwise you can buy store-bought samosa patti available in Spencer's or Big Bazaar. It cuts down your cooking time drastically and makes this recipe really leftover takeover. The trick is to get all your various dishes ready so as to assemble and fry your samosas quickly.

Samosa Dough:
1&3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oil
1tbsp salt
1/2 cup water
Sift flour and salt together. Heat all the oil.
Make a hole in the flour. Add the oil. Mix it together with a fork. The oil will be too hot to handle otherwise. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.
Add the water slowly and knead it to a smooth dough.

Making Samosas:
Chicken Curry
Samosa dough
Chopped onions
Lemon wedges
Oil for frying
Chop the chicken into small pieces. Mix with chopped onions. Sprinkle the juice of lemon and fold everyting together.
If you are using samosa dough, make balls and roll out into rotis. Cut it in half. Fold the half circles into one side. Fill the cones with the filling. Seal the edges with water.
Heat oil in a pan. When the oil becomes smoky, add the samosas. The oil should sizzle in contact. If it does not, you need to let it heat up for a few minutes more. Fry till samosas are golden brown. Serve hot with red chili sauce and a nice cup of tea.

Quick Pasta

When it is midnight and you are hungry, you just grab whatever is on hand and make a quick snack. Or you put out pretty bowls and make a batch of quick and easy pasta. And trust me it always works. Thanks to the many imports into the country and the boom of online grocery shopping, we have come in touch with a lot of culinary inspirations that earlier were rare to be found. Also, the Indian palate has changed over the years. We no longer make do with gluggy pasta with lot of milk and cheese. Instead, there is parmesan to be sprinkled over, breadcrumbs to be added or a little mascarpone to be touched into the regular tomato sauce.
And thank God for that. I prefer a little garlic and chili sauteed in olive oil and spaghetti tossed through it and served with a cheese grated over the pasta. And in those hours of midnight, this little treat is all you need.

Ingredients:
Spaghetti as required
1 packet of mushroom chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1tbsp red chilli flakes
1tbsp oregano
pinch of salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese grated as required
Olive Oil as required
Method:
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add spaghetti as much as you require.
As the spaghetti cooks, heat olive oil. Fry garlic and red chili flakes.
Add mushrooms and fry. Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper. Cook for ten minutes until the mushrooms is all out of its water. If you like you can add tomatoes and cook for ten minutes more.
Remove a cup of water from the boiling pasta. Drain spaghetti.
Add the pasta water to the pot. Adjust seasonings. Toss the spaghetti through the sauce.
Remove from heat and mix it all the way through. Portion into bowls and then add a little cheese on top.

Chicken Curry

This post takes some time to write. Mostly because the non-veg preparation of this post has always been an issue for me. I get slightly squirmy around raw meat or fish especially the cleaning and cutting. Fish I cannot stand but seafood and meat - slightly better. The author has taken a lot of time to get over this issue to cook a proper dish of chicken curry.

 If there is any universal classic all around India it would be chicken curry. And every home has its own variation for their Sunday lunches or entertaining guests at home. I mean you have the spicy curries with curd and cream, the sweet and sour Western ones, the masala ones that have come out of my own home kitchen, the coconut milk and curry leaf flavored Southern specialties. There are so many versions that it boggles the mind. Mutton, beef, pork - they are regional but chicken - it really is universal.

I think for me the best chicken curry that I have had is my grandfather's chicken curry. My sister and me, we go over for Sunday lunches at my grandfather's place where there would be an entire kadhai full of chicken curry with hot dal and gobi pakoras cooked by my grandmother. We would have big thalis full of steamed rice, pakoras, dal, curry with salad and raita. My grandmother would be sitting right next to the both of us making sure that we would have second  helpings and possible thirds if we didnt protest on account of extremely distended stomach.
This post has come after a long series of kitchen trials. Chicken curry is not something that you get right on the first time. Not to discourage you, but to cook chicken to perfection takes a lot of practice. And that is what the author was involved in. Trying to hit upon the recipe that becomes a personal signature. And perhaps she has found it. For this recipe, make sure you get the spice paste right and follow the steps exactly as specified in the post. After that, you will be an expert on making chicken curry.

Marinating Chicken:
1kg boneless chicken legs
1 tub of yoghurt
1tbsp salt
1tbsp red chili powder
1tbsp turmeric.
Bring chicken to room temperature. Make incisions with a knife. This will help the marinate soak into the chicken.
Add the rest of the ingredients into the chicken and then mix everything together. Marinate for at least three hours.
Making spice paste:
Grind 3 medium onions, 9 cloves of garlic, 2 inch of ginger, 5 green chillies and a handful of mint leaves with 2 tbsp of water into a smooth paste.

Making the Curry:
5tbsp oil
1tsp cumin powder
3 cardamon smashed
6 cloves
1 bay leaf
2tbsp red chili powder
2tbsp coriander powder
2tbsp cumin powder
2tbsp kitchen king powder
2tbsp garam masala
salt to taste
coriander leaves for garnish
Heat oil. Splutter cumin, cardamom, cloves and bay. As the aromas release add the spice paste. If the paste needs more oil then add a little more. It takes around fifteen minutes to cook the paste. But go for twenty if you are not sure.
Add the marinated chicken along with the spice powders and the salt. Simmer the chicken for twenty minutes until all the masala is cooked out and the chicken is cooked through. Adjust your seasoning and spices. If the masala is sticking then add a little water. Check if the chicken is cooked all the way through. If the curry needs cook for a few minutes more. Add coriander leaves and mix it all the way through.

Kadhai Mushroom

Remember that episode in The Big Bang Theory - The Vegas Renormalization where Sheldon talks about the merits of Kadhai Paneer. It was folksy the way he bungled around the Indian words [ he might not object to the word folksy] but somehow this particular dish stuck with me. I have already made Kadhai Paneer in one other post. This post started out as a way of having mushrooms for dinner. Since the author had re-watched the episode a couple of days back, her unconscious well it had its own direction for this recipe.
For this recipe's unique flavor, you need to have two things - one sliced capsicum and the other its spice paste. After that all you need is some sliced mushrooms and onions and you are off to make a cracker of a dish which even Sheldon Cooper would think delicious enough to be enjoyed in his Fortress of Solitude [if he is not locked out that is]

Making the Spice Paste:
2 medium tomatoes chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 green chilly chopped
1tbsp of water.
Grind to make a smooth paste. I am making this with readymade ginger-garlic paste. If you are using fresh than add 1inch ginger and 6 cloves of garlic.

For the curry:
1 cinnamon stick
1tbsp of cumin
1bay leaf
1 medium onion sliced
2tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/4cup of the paste made above
1 packet button mushrooms sliced
1 large capsicum sliced
2tsp red chili powder
2tsp cumin powder
2tsp coriander powder
a pinch of turmeric
2tbsp garam masala
salt to taste
2tbsp water
Oil for frying

Method:
Heat oil. When it is hot, splutter the spices. When they start to sizzle, add the sliced onion and brown. This on high heat takes around eight minutes.
Add the spice paste. Cook for three minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook the whole lot for ten-fifteen minutes. Add the spice powder except garam masala and a little water. Cook for five minutes.
Add mushrooms and fold everything in. The mushroom will need another ten minutes to cook. At this time also add the garam masala and the salt. If it is a little dry then add some water.
The final result needs to be the masala coating the mushroom. Adjust seasonings. Serve it with some hot rotis.

A Taste of Goa

This is going to be a long post on the food that I have had the chance to experience in Goa. Let me just say that I have finally found the perfect place where all forms of cuisine come together in a beautiful symphony. And, no I am not high right now. Lets look at the checklist shall we? Dreamy, sunscape - check. Beach and water - check. Beautiful churches and architecture - check. Awesome, delicious food - check. You can also check the tripadvisor site for some great options for your travel itinerary

The View from Fort Aguarda, Goa

It is cliched - I know but moonlit walk down the beach with water lapping your feet - is one of the most beautiful feeling you could experience. The hair was a mess at the end of it but appetite was rolling. And we stopped for a snack at one of the beach shacks. Yes, it was all candlelights, waves and hot, crispy potato skins.

Day 2: Took a bus down to Old Goa through quaint cottages and ferries moving busily on water. It stopped right in front of Basilica of Bom Jesus. My sister and I visited all the churches in the area from Se Cathedral to St. Augustine Ruins. And the walk had to end with authentic Goan Cuisine. So we went down NH-17 all the way to Martin's Corner at Colva.

This place is an institution and no trip to Goa is complete without it. You sit on comfortable armchairs while live music is being played. There are stands with the catches of the day on display. Lobster, squid, prawns, fish all on ice for your perusal. We went for squid for appetizer which was not that great. It was tough and the butter drowned any flavor that it could have. But, the highlight of the dinner was definitely the Pork vindaloo with steamed rice and the Chicken Cafreal. If you do not like pork, you can go for the chicken or the prawns. Either one of them are a good choice. The Vindaloo is almost ketchupy in taste with spice notes dancing on the tongue. And the Cafreal - words fail short in describing the taste of this dish. So definitely give it a go.

Day 3: This was the day of North Goa where we went from Fort Aguarda to Ashwen Beach all on a Honda Pleasure.  And after the steep climb to Chapora Fort and back with its breathtaking view it was time to put on a dress for a Greek night at Thalassa, Vagator Beach. 

And it was totally worth it. We began with a shot of Ouzo, a Greek aniseed flavored drink.  There is a procedure to this - you drink it bottoms up and then slap the table while saying Opa. The author scared a couple of diners but she felt really good. We ordered the Mushroom Saganaki - the combination of feta, tomato, garlic which was to die for. The main course was Veg Souvlaki and Chicken Gyros. The quantities are so huge that you really dont need dessert afterwards. The chicken flavored with lemon and oregano and served with pita chips, tzatziki[yoghurt and garlic dip with cucumbers] and fries. Oh the author struggled with her plate but she could not stop stuffing herself. The sea below and the full moon flitting between the coconut trees was the perfect accompaniment.

Day 4: This was all down to South Goa. With its gorgeous houses and white sand beaches - we did not want to come back. Unfortunately the author was vegetarian for the day so dinner ended up being mushroon Xacuti and Garlic Cheese Naan. So vegetarians dont worry - While Goa may be inclined heavily towards the meat loving there are some great options for you guys. Like Mickeys at Colva where you can have Korean Pot Rice and KungPao Paneer to accompany it. Or Claudi's Corner at Bogmalo Beach where the author had delicious Xacuti with Garlic Cheese Naan. The latter was a delicious discovery. The chesse is layered inside the naan and sprinkled on top for an all cheese effect. Having it with the spicy, coconuty Mushroom curry was a match made in heaven.
So finally - the verdict. Go forth and treat your tastebuds to one of the most delicious places in all of India. And you will be happy at the end of it whichever way you lean.