Popcorn Prawns

Weekends are here, enjoy your movie with a bowl of popcorn prawns and ice tea. Thought of having a twist to the popcorn prawns by covering it with coconut instead of the usual bread crumbs. The result turned out to be too good to resist. The light sweetness and crunchiness of coconut is pure bliss and I would suggest everyone to try out this very simple recipe.

Ingredients:

For the marinade-
Prawns (Medium) - 500 gms, de-veined, cut to 2 cm chunks

Lemon juice - from 1 medium sized lemon

Coriander leaves - ¼ cup, finely chopped

Red chilly powder - ¾ tsp

Salt to taste

For frying-

Egg - 1, beaten, add ¼ tsp of salt to this

Dried coconut - ½ medium sized coconut, grated

Cornflour for patting the prawn chunks

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Mix in a bowl, lemon juice, coriander leaves, chilly powder, salt. To this add prawns, mix and leave it for 15-20 minutes.

Coat the prawn chunks in the corn flour, pat it to remove any extra corn flour. Dip into the egg and coat it with grated coconut. Deep fry on medium flame for around a minute till they are golden brown. Do not over cook the prawns else they become rubbery.

Enjoy popcorn prawns. Try out and let me know how it turned out for you.

Chicken Tikka

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts - 350 gms, cut into bite sized cubes

Lemon - 1

Hung curd - ¼ cup

Garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Grated ginger - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 inch

Cardamon - 5

Shahi jeera - ½ tsp

Nutmeg - ⅛ of whole nutmeg

Wooden skewers soaked in water

Melted butter

Method:

Prick the chicken pieces with a fork. Squeeze lemon over the chicken and mix thoroughly. Leave it for about 5 minutes. Dry roast and grind cinnamon, cardamon, shahi jeera and nutmeg. In a bowl, add curd, garlic, ginger, oil, red chilly powder, ground masala. To this, add chicken, cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven @ 200º C. Arrange the marinated chicken cube on the skewers, brush some butter on top and pop it into the oven. Cook for 25 minutes @ 200º C. After every 10 minutes, flip the skewers so that the other side of the chicken is cooked as well, brush butter on top before putting it back into the oven.

Once done, allow to cool and squeeze some lemon over top. Enjoy the succulent tikkas with onion rings.

Chicken Lollipop

Ingredients:

For the marinade -
Chicken Lollipops - 15

Lemon Juice - 1 ½ tbsp
Black pepper powder - ½ tsp, freshly ground
Salt to taste

For frying -
Bread crumbs - ½ cup
Egg - 1 large sized, beaten

Corn flour - 1 tbsp plus extra for coating the lollipops
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for marination and keep aside for an hour.

In a bowl, add cornflour, salt and egg, mix well. Coat the lollipops one by one in corn flour, pat it to remove any extra corn flour. Dip into the egg mixture and coat it with bread crumb. Deep fry on high flame for ½ a minute and then on a medium flame fry till golden brown and done.

Enjoy the lollipops with my oriental dipping sauce.

Crispy Golden Fried Prawns

Ingredients:
For the marinade -
Prawns (big/tiger) - 6 
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder - ½ tsp
Salt to taste

For frying -
Almonds - ½ cup, peeled and ground to bread crumb consistency
Bread crumbs - ½ cup
Egg white - 1
Cornflour
Oil for deep frying

Sweet chilly dipping sauce -
Ginger - 4cm, finely sliced (julienned)
Green Chilly - 2, de-seeded (julienned)
Light soy sauce - ½ cup
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Groundnut oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

De-vein the prawns, mix along lemon juice, salt and pepper. Marinate it for around 30 minutes.

Coat the prawns one by one in the corn flour, pat the prawns to remove any extra corn flour. Dip into the egg white and coat it with almond and bread crumb mixture. Deep fry on high flame for ½ a minute and then on a low flame fry till golden brown.

For the dipping sauce - Mix all the ingredients except the groundnut oil, whisk it nicely. In a wok heat groundnut oil, once it is hot enough, carefully add the mixture into the oil. Take it off the heat.

Enjoy crispy golden fried prawns with oriental dipping sauce.

Galouti Kabab

The very famous Lucknowi cuisine Galouti Kabab, was originally conceived for the toothless Nawab of Lucknow. So delicate that it just melts in your mouth.

Ingredients:
For the marinade -
Minced mutton - 350 gms
Raw papaya paste - 3 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

For the masala -
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Saunf - 3 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 1 ½ tsp
Ghee - ½ tsp
Nutmeg - ¼ tsp, grated
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Mace - 1 whole
Red chilly powder - ½ tsp
Garlic Cloves - 6-7
Gram flour - 3 tbsp
Black pepper powder - ½ tsp
Onion - 2 medium, finely sliced
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

For smoking the meat -
Coal pieces - 2-3
Cloves - 3
Green cardamon - 3, crushed
Ghee - ¼ tsp

Oil for shallow frying the kababs

Method:

Mix the minced mutton, papaya, ginger garlic paste and salt, marinate for around 4 hours.

Dry roast cumin seeds, saunf, coriander seeds, poppy seeds, keep it aside and cool. Meanwhile in a small pan, heat ghee to smoking point, switch off the heat and add nutmeg, cinnamon and mace. Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry the sliced onions till they turn crisp and brown. Grind to a paste, the dry roasted spices, pepper & chilly powder, salt, garlic, gram flour and the spices we had fried in ghee. Nicely mix the ground paste into the minced meat (use your hands if you wish).

Heat the coal pieces in an open flame till red hot and place them in a steel katori or any small bowl. Place the meat in a large bowl, make a depression in the middle and place the katori. Add ghee, cloves and cardamon on the coal. Cover the bowl with a lid or with aluminum foil. Leave it for around 15 minutes so that the aromatic smoke incorporates well into the meat.

Make 2 inch tikkis (patties) out of meat using both your palm(in case the mince sticks in your palm, you can dip your hands in water before). Take some oil in a pan heat and shallow fry the tikkis for around 4 minutes on both sides or until brown.

Serve the kabab with finely sliced onions.

Kalmi Kabab

Well, here I go with another recipe before the year ends. I guess the pre-new year resolution thing is working. This is a very simple and easy to make kabab. Follow the recipe and you should do just fine.

Ingredients:
Chicken thigh - 4
Garam Masala - 2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Green Cardamom - 4
Nutmeg - ⅛ of whole nutmeg
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Pepper corn - 5 to 6
Chilly Powder - 1½ tsp
Lemon - ½ of medium sized lemon
Hung Curd - ½ cup (Make sure you drain as much water as possible)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Butter

Method:

Dry grind cinnamon and cardamom together. Powder the pepper corns and nutmeg separately. I prefer to grind these spices separately so that their aroma don't mess with each other. Also so that these spice tastes distinctly in the marinade.  Mix all the ingredients (except butter) together in a bowl.

With a knife, make one or two very light cuts on the thighs (helps the flavours to penetrate through), prick the chicken thighs with a fork and then nicely massage the marinade on the thighs and into the slits one by one in the bowl. Cover the bowl and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

Cook the chicken in an oven (preheat oven to 200º C) @ 200º C for about 30 mins. Around 4 mins before the cooking ends, brush the chicken with some butter and continue cooking.

Serve with onion rings with lightly drizzled lemon juice. Kalmi kabab just melts in your mouth...Enjoy!!!