Friday, October 31, 2008

Grilled Chicken Livers

This is what Hubby has requested I make this evening to have with drinks...
Its an extremely simple recipe, practically cooks itself...and with delicious results.

Chicken livers, cleaned.
Cajun seasoning
salt
neutral oil

Sprinkle the Cajun seasoning liberally over the chicken livers and let it marinate for a while. Add salt too.
Heat some oil in a non stick pan and fry the livers quickly over a high flame. Reduce heat after a minute and let it cook further. Don't cover, let the moisture evaporate while cooking. Once the livers have turned pink inside, they're done.
Serve in a pretty platter with toothpicks and napkins.

In case you don't have Cajun seasoning, make a mix of some fried garlic, chilli flakes, a little pepper, salt and you get quite ggod results using this combination too.

Sorse Ilish or Ilish in Mustard Sauce

We were at the fish shop this morning and I chanced upon a small Ilish, all silver and glistening. We have friends coming home for dinner tonight so I snapped it up. As soon as I got home I called up my mum and asked her how to cook this Bengali classic dish.

Here is what I did-

Sliced Ilish pieces, washed.
3 green chillies
Mustard paste
mustard oil
kalonji seeds
salt
turmeric
Fresh coriander leaves.

Wash the fish pieces and coat with salt and turmeric. Keep aside. Heat the mustard oil in a kadai and drop in the green chillies and the kalonji seeds. Let them all splutter. Slide in the fish pieces and fry on a low flame. Be gentle as the fish tends to break. Pour in the mustard paste and some water. Let it cook covered for a few minutes till the fish is cooked through. Remove to your serving bowl. Pour a tablespoon of mustard oil on the dish and sprinkle with well washed fresh coriander leaves.
Serve with hot rice.

Photobucket

This is one of the very few recipes where neither ginger nor garlic paste, not even onions are used. It is an extremely simple recipe, ready in less than 15 minutes....but sublimely delicious to eat.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Chicken Salad with Home-made Honey Mustard Mayo

This divinely simple salad is what we had for dinner yesterday...thanks to my dear hubby..

We were both tired of the usual rice/roti/dal/subzi routine and I was a bit off the cooking wagon. So hubby volunteered..

The salad is quite simple-

Take a cup each of cubed carrots, potatoes and medium cut french beans, all boiled but firm. Boil them separately. Cool and combine in a bowl.

Boil some chicken with salt and pepper. Once cooled, chop into small cubes or strips. Add to the veggies.

For the mayo-

Crack two eggs in your blender, add a tablespoon of honey, a good squeeze of mustard, a pinch of salt, two tbsp vinegar, some pepper and start blending with a thin stream of neutral oil. About a cup or a bit more is what you'll require.
Once the mayo is done, add as much as required to the salad and refrigerate the rest in a closed container.

Mix the salad and add a dash or two of tabasco for a bit of bite.

Serve the salad absolutely chilled.

Of course you can add other veggies to the salad- beetroot, cucumbers, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, whatever you fancy. Of course ham, salami, chopped boiled eggs will work wonderfully well too. Hubby used what we had at home.. The true joy of the salad of course was in the mayo- not your generic store bought variety but home-made and absolutely delicious and simple.

Hubby's tip- use chicken leg meat, preferably as breast meat tends to dry out and taste stringy.

As usual it was polished off before I could take a picture...