Egg Muffins

I often have bouts of high energy when I accomplish a lot of things during the day. On the other hand, there are days when I feel like doing nothing except reading and watching TV. On weekends my dream is to wake up to a cup of coffee with breakfast in bed. For some reason my husband did that for a year in our more-than-a-decade-long-relationship, not a day more, not a day less. In fact, in those days, I was stricter about our dietary choices because of his blood cholesterol level. I remember how he would reminisce about adding bacon in his omelette without giving it any thought in his pre-wife days. Strange thing is despite having bacon in the refrigerator these days, he seemed to have lost any interest in making a weekend breakfast. Guess I pushed him too hard 😄

However, I refuse to eat the same breakfast on weekends. So I want my weekends to feel different from weekdays. The only problem being the fact that I lose all energy by Friday night and wake up with no plans on Saturday. I then end up just rummaging through the pantry/refrigerator and make something with whatever I can find. One of these ad-hoc ideas were these egg muffins. They are quick, tasty and hassle-free.

Ingredients:
Eggs
Chopped onions
Chopped veggies of your choice, I used spring onions, bell pepper, green chillies, cilantro
Shredded Mozzarella
Salt, pepper

Recipe:
Lightly fry chopped onions, spring onions, bell peppers, green chilli, cilantro, shredded mozzarella with a pinch of salt or per taste
Bake for 20-25 mins, at 350. I used a 12 cup muffin pan. Fill 2/3rd of the cups leaving the muffins some room to rise

Perfect with Coffee!

Cilantro and Bell Pepper Chicken

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We spent our christmas hopping around theme parks this year. My son was super excited to meet his hero Optimus Prime from the Transformers movie at Universal studios. We had our share of fun with the rides at Disneyland, Universal Studios and Legoland and the amazing LA food, of course. I am planning to do another post with all the restaurants we visited during our Los Angeles visit. California never fails to please our appetite in its literal sense.

After coming back from a week long vacation, we were longing for some home-cooked food. My son was craving for some home-made chicken curry but I didn't feel like making the same old curry. Therefore, I decided to make something different. Here goes the recipe and the outcome. 

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

1 onion thinly sliced

2 tbsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

4-5 green chilies

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 a bunch of cilantro

1/2 tomato

1/2 red bell pepper

1 tbsp vinegar

Salt, sugar, turmeric and black pepper per taste

Mustard oil and vegetable oil

Recipe:

Blend the cilantro, bell-pepper, green chillies and tomato together with a little water

Marinate the chicken with salt, vinegar, ginger and garlic paste for at least about 2 hours 

Heat some oil in a pan. I used both mustard and vegetable oil together

Add the sugar and black pepper to the hot oil

Fry the onion very well until brown

Add garam masala

Then add the marinated chicken

Cook the chicken until half done and all the water is dried

Then add the cilantro-pepper blend

Cook it at medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes until oil separates, sprinkle water as needed to make sure the spices don't stick to the bottom

Simple Chicken Tandoori

It's been long since I posted my last recipe. Life has become crazy, literally. Especially with the kiddo at home for summer vacation and my folks around. It's fun but sometimes it can be too tiring. Cooking has taken a backseat now. I cook to eat instead of eat to cook nowadays. Hence, these days I am all for making one-dish meals. But one thing I realized years ago, that, simple or complex, it has to taste good otherwise we will eventually end up getting dinner from outside. I had some chicken quarters in the freezer last night, and I was craving for the chicken kabobs that we used to get in the San Francisco Bay Area. I miss those kabobs, cooked to perfection, with their juices intact, yummmmmm! Not a single day, do I remember them coming out dry or look too red, like we are used to seeing in many Indian restaurants. As the name suggests, it's hard to make perfect tandoori without a tandoor (traditional clay oven). This is what I tried and this was worth it. 

Ingredients:

3 Chicken quarters
Tandoori spices, store bought
Ginger 2 tbsp
Vinegar 1 tsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp or to taste
Mustard oil 1 tbsp
Salt and sugar per taste
Ghee for brushing





Recipe:

• Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients except ghee
• Preheat the oven at 375F and bake for 50-55 minutes or until chicken is throughly cooked
• Brush ghee on both sides during baking to keep the chicken from drying
• At the end broil on each side for 2 mins or to your liking

Duck Egg Curry

Duck egg curry is considered a delicacy in Bengal. Since it isn't easily available in the US, I look forward to Summer when I could buy them from the farmers' market. Our cooking lady was allowed to make a very spicy duck egg curry, as it was prepared once in a while. I also prefer making it a little on the spicier side because of the powerful taste the eggs have. Here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients:
12 Duck eggs boiled
2 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 chopped onion
1.5 tbsp garlic paste
1.5 tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin powder
.5 tsp mace powder
2,3 green chilies chopped
1/2 can tomato juice
Salt and sugar per taste
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chili powder

Recipe:
Boil the eggs and cut in halves
Heat oil, add some turmeric, salt and red chili powder to color the oil
Add halved eggs to this oil to fry well. Eggs will take a beautiful red color
take out the eggs, add some more oil
Add onion to this oil, fry well
Add ginger garlic paste, and saute till oil leaves the spices
Add the dry spices
Add tomato juice instead of water to make sure spices don't get stuck at the bottom
Add green chilies
Add some water to this and bring to the boil
Add the eggs to this gravy, yolk side up
Take out the eggs carefully
Pour the gravy on top of the eggs

One Pot Chicken with Worcestershire Sauce

After a tiring day who doesn't want an easy and simple dish that will taste good. This recipe is inspired from a dish cooked by a friend who visited us. It's hard to believe how a dish this simple can taste so yummy.

Ingredients:
3 Chicken leg quarters
2 tsp garlic paste
Salt for marination
1 tsp black pepper or to taste
1/4th cup worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp stock
3 skinned medium potatoes cubed
1/4th of a big onion, cubed
1/2 big tomato cubed
Veggies of your choice, I took carrots, green beans, bok-choy


Recipe:

• Marinate the chicken with salt and garlic paste, 30 mins to 3 hours
• Heat some oil in a dutch oven
• Add the chicken pieces fry for 2 minutes, turn over and fry for 2 minutes
• To this add the onions, cook for 2 minutes
• Next add the cubed tomtoes, and cook for a minute
• Add the sauce and the stock
• Add potatoes
• Cover and cook till chicken is tender
• Add the vegetables one by one
• cover and cook for sometime or until the vegetables are done exactly to your choice
• Add some fresh pepper before serving

Serve in a soup bowl with some baguette, if you like. Perfect comfort food.

Egg Chicken Roll

Street food is a big part of Indian culture. The city I come from Kolkata, has a rich history of street food. The variety of food available roadside is mind-boggling, which can range from light fares for breakfast and snacks to full-fledged meals for lunch or dinner. One of my favorite snacks that is quintessentially Kolkatan is the egg roll. You will be amazed to see how many variations of this mouthwatering delicacy have been concocted. Starting from egg roll to egg chicken, double egg, double egg chicken, egg mutton, egg paneer and so on. Today, I am going to share the egg chicken roll recipe that is a slight variation from the original egg roll. Also, this is an easier and quicker method where I have used a few store bought items. 

Ingredients:
Kawan Paratha
Eggs beaten well with salt (2 eggs per 3 paratha)
Onion (thinly sliced)
Green Chili (chopped) 
Sheekh kebabs (I have used Mezban chicken Kebabs)

For the sauce:
Maggi hot and sweet tomato ketchup (can be bought from any Indian grocery store)

Maggi Tamarind sauce

Lemon

Black Salt & Black Pepper

Recipe:

• Cook the chicken kebabs for 7/8 minutes on medium heat
• Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients
• Fry the Parathas first, kawan parathas don't need additional oil. Set aside
• Add oil to the pan. Put 1/3rd of the beaten eggs
• Put one paratha on the egg before it's fried so egg sticks to the paratha
• turn the paratha stuck with the egg, fry till crisp
• Put one kebab, sauce and onion slices on the paratha
• Roll and serve