Month: October 2016

Pork Ribs Recipe

It is my first preparation of a marinade for pork ribs which turned out as good as I expected. Previously, I had prepared pork ribs but it lacked some ingredient and marination time was less which is why I was reluctant to post it until now. I realized that this recipe turned out just the way I wanted. The excess marination gives it a nice roasted flavor with delicious, sweet and aromatic spice blend.

When marinating I initially thought the tomato ketchup would make it too sweet but it actually wasn’t sweet as it had a combination of other flavors. I really wouldn’t need to buy ready-made marinated pork ribs from the supermarket anymore, which I used to before, and they turned out too salty for me. This recipe just requires a few spices and its ready for the following day. It’s a perfect recipe even for a barbecue party and all you have to do is marinate the pork ribs few hours in advance.

 

Preparation time: 5 minutes (excludes marination)

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Pork ribs – 1 kg (1 lb 4 oz)

Vegetable oil / Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Garlic clove – 1 big, cut into half (or you can also add 1/2 tsp paste to the marinade & skip adding garlic clove when frying)

 

For marinade

Tomato ketchup – 2 tbsp or more if required depending on sweetness

Light soya sauce -2 tbsp

Chili powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp

Paprika powder – 1 tsp

Nandos peri-peri garlic sauce / sweet chili sauce – 1 tbsp

Salt -1/4 tsp

 

Directions

1. Wash the pork ribs and cut them into individual ribs.

raw pork ribs

2. Combine all the ingredients under marinade in a large non-metallic bowl.

marinade for ribs

3. Place them in a sealed zip-lock bag overnight or for 24 hours. Make sure you use all the excess marinade when placing them in zip-lock bags.

marinade for ribs sealed in a zip-lock bag for 24 hours

4. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of oil, add garlic clove and fry it in the oil for 1 minute. Toss in the ribs along with the marination. Fry each side tossing and turning every 1 minute. Fry for 5-7 mins.

pan-fry for few mins before placing in the oven

5. In an oven set at 200 degrees Celsius (395 degree Fahrenheit). Put the ribs at the center on the oven rack. Set on Grill mode if you using an electric oven. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes turning the side once after 12 minutes.

6. Once its nicely roasted or browned, remove them from the oven and serve.

roasted pork ribs in the oven

 

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Easy Cheese Pasta with Chicken Ghee Roast

Sometimes you get lazy and want to just relax. Times when you want to minimize kitchen time but still have a delicious dinner.

I loved this easy recipe of melted cheese mixed with pasta served with chicken ghee roast. Chicken Ghee Roast is a mouthwatering, spicy and highly aromatic recipe famous in South-Indian cuisine. I got a pack of chicken ghee roast powder when I visited India and it comes in handy when my taste buds feel the desperation of eating something fried.

It is a delicious dinner for two. A quick, easy recipe when you want something spicy to go with pasta. It’s a huge hit with my husband especially for a first try, win-win!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Spiral pasta – 1 cup (180 g), can use other variety of pasta

Butter – 3 tbsp

Cheddar cheese slices – 3 or more depending on the how cheesy you want

Mustard Sauce – 1 tsp

Dried herbs – 1 tsp

Tomato ketchup as required for pasta (optional based on taste)

Chicken Thighs – 2 large, cut into small pieces

Ghee – 3 tbsp

For Chicken Marinade:

+ Combine the following:

Yogurt – 2 tbsp

Salt – 1 tsp

Turmeric – 1/2 tsp

Ginger-Garlic paste – 2 tsp

 

+ Marinate the chicken pieces with the marinade. Place it in a zip-lock plastic bag for 4 hours or overnight.

marinated chicken with ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, salt and yogurt

 

For the Chicken Ghee roast paste (skip this step if you have a Ghee roast powder and follow the instructions on the pack)

+ Combine the following:

Chili powder/red chili paste – 2 tbsp (based on the spice level)

Cumin powder/jeera – 1 tsp

Garlic powder/paste – 1 tbsp

Natural spices / Mixed spices – 1 tsp

Salt -1/2 tsp

ghee roast marinade of chili powder, Cumin, Garlic, Natural spices and salt

 

Directions

Pasta

1. Fill a container with 3 cups of water, 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp olive oil, get water to boil. Add pasta (In the meantime prepare for Ghee roast). Cook [pasta until done. Using a strainer, drain the pasta. Set it aside in a plate.

To check if it is done, taste and see for non-sticky soft texture.

Spiral Pasta in boiling water with salt and olive oil

 

2. Heat 3 tbsp butter in the same container on low heat. Add the pieces of cheese, mustard sauce and herbs. Mix until the cheese melts.

melted butter in cheddar cheese

mustard sauce

Melted Cheddar cheese, butter, mustard sauce and herbs

 

3. Toss in the pasta and mix well (prepare this one low heat without burning).

 

Chicken Ghee Roast

 

1. Heat a frying pan with 2 tbsp of ghee. Add the paste of ghee roast. Fry for a 2-3 minutes until the spices blend well.

Ghee

Chicken ghee roast marinade

Paste for ghee roast

 

2. Add chicken pieces. Fry one one side for a minute or two. Flip the side and coat the other sides with the spices.

chicken pieces for ghee roast

chicken ghee roast on frying pan

3. Cover and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and flip the sides every few minutes without the lid until the sides are nicely coated with the spices for 5-7 more minutes.

Cheese pasta with fiery chicken ghee roast is  ready. If you want your pasta fiery hot mix the ghee roast spice paste.

Easy Cheese Pasta with Chicken Ghee Roast

 

 

 

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Butter Biscuits

I love biscuits that are very light flavored, so I thought of baking something easy like the butter biscuit. I had this at Texas Chicken and I loved the idea of making it on my own. This recipe is similar to the recipe I found in allrecipes.com of Kentucky biscuits but I made some adjustments in the ingredients.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes: 13

Ingredients

Parchment paper for lining the tray

Top flour/Cake flour/Self raising flour – 2 cups

Baking powder – 1 tbsp

Cream of tartar – 3/4 tsp (see notes for a substitute)

Unsalted butter (solid cubes) or vegetable shortening – 1/2 cup, 4 oz

 

Milk – 2/3 cup

Sugar – 3 tsp

Salt – 1/2 tsp

 

For Brushing the biscuits:

Melted unsalted butter – 1/8 cup or 2 tbsp

Honey – 1/3 cup

melted butter and honey mixture for brushing the butter biscuits

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 200 degree Celsius. Coat a 12”x 8” (can use a bigger size) rectangular tray with butter and line with parchment paper. Grease the paper lightly with butter.

2. In medium bowl add the sifted flour, baking powder, solid butter cubes, salt and cream of tartar. Mix with your hands until crumbly.

preparing the mixture of flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and butter

3. Pour milk and knead to make a dough by pushing the dough down and out until it gets less sticky for 5 minutes.

dough for butter biscuit

4. Scoop out the dough by tablespoons and roll into balls. Space the balls 11/2 inches apart on baking sheet. Brush the balls with the melted butter and honey mixture.

balls of dough for butter biscuit

5. Place the tray in the center of the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 – 15 minutes.

6. Bake until golden brown or until puffy. Remove the tray out of the oven and brush again with melted butter and honey.

Fresh butter biscuit from the oven

Butter Biscuit

 

Note:

*If you do not have cream of tartar just substitute fresh lemon juice or white vinegar.

 

 

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Jackfruit Fritters (Mangalorean Cuisine)

Jackfruit  is an exotic produce popularly found in South India. If you haven’t heard of this fruit before, you sure must be wondering what in the world is that and how does it look like?  Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the whole jackfruit to share but will surely post it here when I do. It is extremely delicious, sweet and chewy. I have known of 2 varieties: One variety has a harder flesh with crunchiness. The other variety is very soft, stringy, juicy and slips easily through your fingers as you hold them. One can just swallow without biting.

I grew up in my native with these 2 varieties of Jackfruit trees in my granny’s yard. We rarely ate the softer jackfruits during those days. We used to just sit down for lunch with a big jackfruit and eat it until we became full.  My granny and mom are experts in cutting open a Jackfruit and it is a laborious one as it gets very messy because of its sticky white fluid that oozes from its core. To cut it,  a traditional Mangalorean Implement  called ”Adalo” in Konkani, which is a small stool that is attached to a sickle at one narrow end, is commonly used to cut big fruits or vegetables that would be usually hard to cut with a hand held knife.

I prepared Jackfruit Fritters (also called as Ponsache Gariyo in Konkani) from rice grains, a traditional way my mom used to make during the season of jackfruits. Also, make sure to check out my previous post on Banana fritters in case you haven’t which can be prepared using flour. Jackfruit fritters are brown and crispy on the outside. The inside is yellow and soft, full of fruity sweet flavor. You can double the ingredients for more fritters.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes: 15 – 20

Ingredients

Raw rice/white small grain + dosa/idli rice or Surai – 1/4 cup (mixed together in equal proportion)

Jackfruit – 280 g / 10 bulbs

Cardamom pod – 1, seeds to be used

Grated Coconut – 2 tbsp

Jaggery cubes – 50g, powdered (for sweetness as required)

Pinch of Salt

Vegetable oil for deep frying

Directions

1. Soak the raw rice and dosa rice mixed together covered in water for 2 hours.

Raw rice, ponni rice

Raw rice

idli rice, surai

Idli rice or Surai

2.Remove the seeds from the jackfruit bulbs.

jackfruit

Place the jaggery cubes in a zip lock bag and pound them to fine powder.

jaggery cubes

jaggery mash

3. Combine the rice, jackfruit, cardamom seeds and puree in a blender until smooth.

Jacfruit

Jacfruit batter

4. Transfer the puree to a mixing bowl. Add coconut, jaggery, salt and mix until well combined.

coconut

palm sugar, jaggery

2. Heat oil in wok on medium heat. To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a pinch of batter. If it bubbles around then its hot enough.

oil

Now, drop in a tablespoon of batter. Cook several at a time, but do not overcrowd the wok or the temperature of the oil will be lowered. Flip the them after it turns slightly brown until it turns golden brown let it cook. Lower the heat and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve warm

Jacfruit Fritters

Jacfruit Fritters

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Spicy Chicken Recipe

This Spicy Chicken recipe uses a hot chili pepper called “chili padi” (bird’s eye chili) commonly used in the Malaysian Cuisine. It is also called as Kung Pao Chicken, a spicy stir-fry dish made with chicken, peanuts,vegetables and chili peppers.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 – 20 minutes

Ingredients

Chicken – 250 g, cut into 1 inch cubes or smaller

Egg white – 1

Ginger-Garlic paste – 1/2 tsp

Peanuts – 20 g

Garlic – 2 cloves, minced

Red chili padi- 2, chopped

Cucumber – 1, chopped into 1 inch size

Chili powder – 1 tsp

Sesame Oil – 1 tbsp (optional)

 

For the sauce

Chicken stock – 1/2 inch cube

Soya sauce – 3 tbsp

Sugar – 1/2 tbsp

Corn-starch powder – 1 tbsp

Water – 1/2 cup

 

Directions

1. Prepare the ingredients and the sauce. Marinate the chicken with egg white, ginger-garlic paste, mix and set side for 15-20 minutes.

chickeb, ginger-garlic paste

Heat the wok with 1 tbsp oil and fry the peanuts for 2-3 minutes. Set it aside on a plate.

peanuts

 

2. Using the same wok with oil. Add garlic and red chili. Fry for half a minute until you get the fragrant smell of garlic. 

garlic, chili padi

3. Add the chicken cubes, stir, then add the sauce. Stir fry until cooked. 

chicken

chicken, stock

 

 

4. Add the cucumber, 1 tsp chili powder, sesame oil and peanuts. Mix and cook for 1 minute.

cucumber, chili powder

chicken., peanuts

Can be served as a side.

Spicy Chicken

 

 

 

Note:

*The smaller the pieces of chicken the better.

*Step 4: I cooked the chicken for 15 minutes as I used a stainless steel wok. If you’re using a non-stick stir-fry pan, you just need to stir-fry until cooked.

*Red chili padi is very hot. If you want it mild hot or less, remove the seeds before frying.

 

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