Dinner for 2

This is one of my quick fixes when hubby dear suddenly realizes he feels hungry. I boil chicken and freeze them in different zip-lock bags and freeze them. I use them in a variety of ways, sometimes shredded for soups or salads or even for fried rice and other times I just fry whole chicken pieces in a little oil and serve it with some cooked rice and broiled broccoli. 

For the chicken:

1 sliced onion

1 sliced tomato

1 whole chicken (with bones)

3 pips garlic cleaned and cut

1" ginger chopped fine

1 teaspoon black pepper powder

salt to taste

Fill a sauce pan with 2 cups of water. Cook the chicken along with all the ingredients for 15 minutes on slow fire or till the meat is cooked. Once done let it cool and bag it to freeze or use it immediately to fry. 

TIPS:

I have added a few tips that I use and have learnt from my extremely talented mum, mum-in-law and my aunts. 

1. To add to the taste you can fry thinly sliced potato in the same oil that the chicken was fried and serve with the chicken stock/soup.
2. The chicken stock that you get after cooking the meat can be used in making soups.
3. The chicken stock can also be frozen in ice trays and used for future use in cooking to improve the taste of chicken dishes.

Sauteed Chicken

Who doesn't want a quick and easy recipe when time is a major constraint and you do not want to sacrifice on taste and healthy stuff..Here it is

Ingredients:

• Salad mix
• 2 boneless chicken breast(cut into small slices)
• 2 tablespoons chilli garlic sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato ketch up (optional)
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• Salt to taste

I buy boneless chicken breast and make strips. Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil and add the ginger garlic paste and stir it. Then add the chicken strips and stir gradually adding the  soy sauce, salt and pepper powder. When the chicken is half done add the chilli garlic sauce and let the chicken cook. Stir the chicken occasionally, cover and cook till fully done.

Serve some of the salad spring mix on to a plate and toss the freshly cooked chicken on the mix. This makes for a light and healthy dinner. 

I make my own home sauces and hence if you are using store bought sauces you can add a little vinegar (1/2 tsp) to better the taste of the dish.

Beef Brisket

I have always loved trying and tasting different cuisines and ways of cooking. It has always intrigued me how the same ingredient is cooked in multiple ways depending on which part of the world you come from. The same food which is a delicacy for some becomes a taboo for the rest. For me however food is food and I have enjoyed trying out various recipes with beef.

                      As a little girl I would accompany my dad to the market and wondered how he managed to chose good meat every time. As I grew up I began reading more about it and learned that each part of the animal is divided and the cooking time and taste varies based on the cut of the meat.

                      One evening on our way to the meat store my husband and myself felt a little adventurous and decided we should try making beef brisket at home instead of having to eat it at restaurants every time. We went and luckily for us we had a lovely 4 pound piece waiting just for us. We picked it up and there started our adventure. 

After the first formalities of cleaning the meat and wiping it dry, my husband and me just stood and stared as to what we should do next. I decided that we should rub the meat with oil after forking it for a while and letting the oil penetrate into the meat. This helps the meat retain the moisture. We then decided to make a rub which would add flavor to the meat. I was also particular to get a crust on the meat since each time I had beef brisket at my favorite restaurant it had the same delicious crust.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoon chilli powder

4 teaspoon mustard powder

2 tablespoon onion powder 

5 teaspoon white sugar 

1 tablespoon cayenne powder

5 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoon black pepper powder

2 tablespoon salt or as required

1 packet webers chipotle marinade mix (optional)

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl and rub it on the brisket which has already been rubbed with oil and let it marinate for a few hours.(it is best marinated over night) 

                       The brisket is a very tough cut of meat and needs to be cooked on slow fire for a long time. Keeping this in mind and reading all bout the long cooking hours I decided to make best use of my slow cooker. I cooked the meat over night in the slow cooker for 10 hours. After the long hours of slow cooking since I was particularly interested in the crust, I broiled the cooked brisket without the soup in the oven for 10 - 12 minutes.

Make thin slices and you can use them to make sandwiches, in pita pockets and even just chomping on a few pieces is simply delicious..

                   

Tinker Bell Cake

Birthdays are special days in our lives..As kids we enjoy celebrating it with a cake and with friends and family. Since we were having friends over and their little girl celebrated her birthday recently I decided to surprise her with a tinker bell cake.

                The flavor of choice was red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting...The summer heat was being unfriendly when it came to the icing on the cake. I however managed to decorate the cake and found a little candle of tinker bell to adorn the cake. 

    Happy birthday Tara               

                                                                  

Chicken Alfredo Sauce

Alfredo sauce is white creamy sauce that can be served with pasta. It usually goes well with fettuccine. it can be combined with chicken or shrimp and will taste just as good. the basic ingredients that goes into Alfredo sauce are cream, butter and parmesan cheese.

1/4 cup butter (substitue italian herb flavored olive oil)
3 pips minced garlic
1 small onion, chopped
2 chicken breasts sliced to thin pieces
2 cups cream (substitute whole milk)
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
1/2 tsp cornflour
Crushed chillie flakes (optional)


Melt butter over medium heat in a sauce pan ( if you want to try being healthy you can use the substitute of italian herb infused olive oil- I buy this at http://athymeforallseasonings.com). Once the butter melts throw in the chopped grlic and the chopped onion. Add and saute the chicken pieces. (Mix the cornflour in the milk if you are using milk but if you plan on using cream then you will have to use all purpose flour/maida) Once the chicken is cooked add the milk/cream , cheese, black pepper and salt and simmer. Do not let the sauce bubble. Keep stirring continuously. Add the parmeasean cheese and cook for 6-8 minutes or until done. Add chillie flakes for extra spice and flavor.

PASTA:
            When sauce cooks simultaneously bring pasta to cook as per the boxed instructions( I used 1 cup uncooked wheat penne pasta in this recipe). Once cooked drain the pasta and spoon pasta onto serving plates with alfredo sauce poured over the top.

VARIATIONS:

1. Shrimp: Instead of Chicken you can substitute it with shrimp and make it shrimp Alfredo. Shrimp cooks fast, so take care not to over cook it.
2. Spinach: Cook the spinach along with the chicken to get a spinach & chicken Alfredo.
3. Mushroom: is another choice and can be substituted for the spinach and chicken.