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.

Leftover Takeover: Open Faced Kebab Rolls

Living in Hyderabad means you get used to having awesome melt-in-the-mouth kebabs. You have to be really bad at cooking or eat at certain food courts to get kebabs dry and hard around this place. And no I am not going to name them. But, as a whole, there are some spectacular food places around the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and note to self: a review of Paradise to be written in the future. As it is usually is in our own Hindustan, the tiny little joints with slightly shady lighting and questionable cutlery are the best places to eat. During my tenure here, I have found many such gems with food with flavors that leave a indelible impression on your memory.

 

We have gotten off the topic. It was Friday movie night - we ended up ordering Murgh Malai Kebabs and Tangdi Kebab for our viewing of 2 States [good movie - go watch it if you have the time]. The thing with food in Hyderabad - you get a lot of it. The first time I had a meal in this place there was a mountain of rice to go with the limitless amount of curry, sambar and rasam at one setting. So, this takeaway was no different. We had a lot of kebabs and there was still a lot of it leftover. And I had with me a block to good Kodai Triple Layer cheese which trusts me is homegrown in its goodness. This particular cheese is available at larger chains like Auchan[Somajiguda/Banjara Hills Road no.3],Godrej Nature Groceries,Q-Mart[Road no.3, Banjara Hills] or HyperCity way out in Inorbit Mall. If you are living around these areas or can find the time to go to Kodaikanal, get your hands on this cheese. It is a good melting cheese that works well in French onion soups, grilled cheese, sandwiches, pizzas, white sauces for pastas etc. I used it for Breakfast today to make egg-in-a-hole sandwich with pieces of cheese in the middle.

But coming back to leftovers. It is so much fun to work with something cooked and adding stuff that will make for a delicious dinner. Sometimes a biryani is a biryani is a biryani. But, other times you can chop the chicken, toss some vegetables and make a rice salad with the kachumber as a yoghurt dressing. Or cutting up bits of vegetables to make fritters or filling for gozleme. This particular version takes its inspiration from the Mexican Taco and the Indian rolls or frankie if you will. The dough for the maida roti can be found in one of my other post. Except when you fry for the other recipe, here you only bake it in a tawa like you do a roti. The open nature of the roll makes it easier to prepare and you can have dinner in a matter of minutes. Also, this is a good recipe for a quick appetizer for a party so you can relax and enjoy a martini with your guests. Just order some kebabs, make the rotis in advance and you are good to go.

 

Ingredients:
Leftover takeaway kebabs of your choice.
Mint chutney
1 medium thinly sliced
1/2 cup Kodai Triple Layer Cheese grated
Red chili sauce
Maida rotis.

Assembly:
Make balls out of the maida dough. Roll into small puri-size rounds.
Heat tawa. Cook the rotis three minutes on each side.
Lay out the rotis on the plate.
Chop the kebabs into small dices. Grate your cheese and slice onions.
Spread mint chutney on the rotis. Place onions. Add the meat and finally sprinkle cheese on top.
According to my friend it tastes better with a little red chili sauce. So spray on some on your rolls before taking it out of the kitchen. Serve it on a giant platter and let friends and family have their way around with it.