sunflower oil

Chicken and Red Lentil Stew – a complete ONE POT meal (Suran & Red Lentil Stew)

February 3, 2014 by manjirichitnis 33 Comments

There are times when I really want a hearty meal but don’t have the energy to stand and cook an elaborate meal. It is at times like that I turn to One pot meals, served with a warm baguette it is a filling, healthy and easy and quick to meal option which NO compromise on taste whatsoever! Moreover, its homemade, has flavour and is a satisfying experience to make .

I had been meaning to try and cook a stew using red lentils (masoor – Marathi for red lentil )for some time , they are my most favourite lentils and I am ALWAYS stocked up on a large 2 kilo pack of dried red lentils split and without skin , from my local Indian grocery shop at Tooting called Dadu’s. Also since all the other fresh ingredients were procured from my local LIDL this dish is GREAT value for money too! Am totally in love with the FRESH fruits and vegetable selection at LIDL right now.I bought some bright red long crunchy sweet peppers, a pack of medium hot chillies, fresh chicken breast fillets, a very cute packet of garlic, mixed pack of cauliflower and broccoli florets and a packet of gorgeous looking Shallots.( I have always wondered why the lentils are called RED when clearly they are a lovely light orange colour !)

I love inventing a recipe as I go along and when I got my vegetable tray out on Sunday morning I had all these lovely vegetables staring at me and I just threw in what I thought would taste good together and VOILA ! A Steaming hot , thick, wholesome and tasty chicken and red lentil broth was born.

I love having some baby potatoes in stock and they are always handy in a stew , besides being quite the self-proclaimed ”queen of curries” I always am well stocked on Indian spices so bay leaves and cinnamon sticks aplenty in my kitchen larder – oh yes

Please don’t feel put off by the ingredient list , trust me they marry well together in the taste department and the end result is well worth your time and effort!

The biggest bonus of this stew recipe is that you can create your OWN vegetarian version by replacing the chicken with Quorn or if you don’t for some reason like or have never tried or have no access to Quorn then try replacing the chicken fillets with Suran/Elephant Foot Yam, it can be chopped into big chunks and it takes up flavours very easily. But with the yam the cooking time drastically will reduce as it can go from just right and chewy to soft, goeey or totally disappear into the stew ! My aai (mum) always used suran as a meat replacement and marinated it well in the spices we would use for chicken or lamb and made a thick gravy dish with it, when I was younger she has managed to fool me many times over thinking it was mutton 🙂 – Aai I miss you and all the food you cook – sigh…. no India trip in sight anytime soon 🙁

(Dangerous though it looks the elephant foot yam is very very tasty! )

Serves:4 Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking time:35 minutes

Ingredients:

Red Lentils / Massor Dal -3/4th cup
Chicken breast mini fillets – 750gm / Comparable Quorn fillets
5-6 baby potatoes
6 shallots approx 200gm
2 large sweet and crunchy pointed Red Peppers – approx 200gm
2 short medium hot chillies
2-3 bay leaves dry
red chilli flakes as per taste
sea salt as per taste
1 veg stock pot
3 dried red Kashmiri chillies
1 large roll of cinnamon
4 tbsp sunflower oil
a handful of Broccoli and Cauliflower florets
2 large tbsp of tomato puree or half of a large tomato finely chopped
Red chilli powder
Sugar 2 tsp

Method:

Wash and soak the red lentil in water to soften them so they cook more quickly then get on with all the other chopping and cutting prep’s.
Chop the shallots lengthwise.
In a large stew pot or huge saucepan heat the oil and add the bay leaves,cinnamon stick and dry red kashmiri chillies which I have a very big packet of and am trying to finish , they only add colour and no heat so if you don’t have these you can totally leave them out – no harm done here.
Now add red chilli powder and sugar and just when the sugar starts to caramelise add the shallots and shallow fry them till they reduce and begin to turn a lovely brown colour.
Now add the 2 large tbsp’s of tomato puree or half of a large tomato finely chopped and stir till it mixes well with the shallots.
Add the roughly chopped long red peppers and baby potatoes and saute’ for 2 minutes.
Add the washed chicken fillets/suran (elephant yam), soaked red lentils with the water it was soaked in.
Add the washed and roughly chopped Broccoli and Cauliflower florets and now add enough water.
I did not measure the water I added but add enough to get a nice thick stew , while the ingredients are cooking together on a low flame ,feel free to top up with more water as the lentils easily soak up as much water as you feed it with. Having said that you don’t want to end up with a watery stew so don’t add more than 3/4th cup at one go.
Season with sea salt , I love MALDON SEA SALT which I use and I have a few packets ALWAYS stashed away, great n salads it is!
Then sprinkle red chilli flakes and gently place a veg stock cube on top on this lovely pot of goodness bubbling away. I prefer the KNORR veg stock cubes , they have a great bouquet of flavour and are very handy at times when am exhausted and need to quickly cook up something tasty!
Stir well, cover with a lid and cook on a medium flame.
The red lentil will froth as they cook not to worry simply stir now and then and mix well, don’t allow the stew to get too thick we want enough lovely gravy to slurp this stew and dip the baguette into!

I was so hungry that I didn’t click any photos of my lovely fresh ingredients but it was a brilliantly sunny day yesterday and after this wholesome stew for lunch we had to really force ourselves to go and get some much needed fresh air at Morden Hall Park – I happily left my smartphone behind so photos to share but suffice to say that it was a gorgeous walk through the huge grounds and we saw many happy families ,happy couples and cute old folks and even happier kids and dogs romping around in the muddy park fun! And because we were so good we treated ourselves to hot tea and a sandwich at a local Turkish Cafe 😉 hehehe

Am very happy and proud of this new original recipe creation from my experimental kitchen. Next time I make this stew I will smoke the sweet and crunchy long red peppers and peel off the skin , to add a deep smoky flavour to the stew and not have the skin floating around – double whammy I say 🙂

Tasty and Quick Pasta for two from ”nothing”

September 25, 2013 by manjirichitnis 21 Comments

We all have those days when we realise that all those reserves we had stowed away in various places – the fridge, the cupboard are well..not there and you are hungry and it’s too late to step out.

Panic not! There are ALWAYS a few things here and there which can be thrown in to make something superb! I made some very tasty and quick pasta yesterday and it was such a satisfying experience I cannot tell you how pleased I was with the outcome.

Please feel free to throw in stuff that you have, that needs using up.Waste not want not I say!

Ok so here goes.

Ingredients:

Pasta – whichever type you have left enough for 2 people – used tagliatelle and generally 2 rolls are good for one very hungry adult 🙂
Sea salt (basically just regular salt)
olive oil or regular vegetable oil 1 tbsp
Tomato puree/ 1 large tomato sliced and diced fine (I scraped off some leftover tomato puree in a can that was at the very back of my fridge – just in time !
Chilli flakes as per taste)
Chorizo – again I have a small portion lying around and it packs a punch in the taste department!
Spring onion finely chopped, I had a small bit left over from a bunch and it tasted awesome with the chorizo
Dried herb mixture – 2 tsp (or use fresh herbs off your kitchen plants – my dried herb mixture is a bit of left over artisan mix from one of the many food fairs I go to 🙂 it has garlic,parsley,chilli,sun dried tomatoes,salt and basil)
2 – 3 cloves garlic sliced very fine and deep fried to give a superbly crunchy deep taste
Some cheddar cheese, I had 2 different packs tied with a rubberband and lying quietly in a small corner of my fridge door – ha! perfect find for pasta I say!

Method:

Boil the pasta in a saucepan with a sprinkling of sea salt and drizzle some olive oil as it nears the point when it’s cooked completely, this will ensure it does not get sticky and stodgy.
As soon as the pasta is on the boil, in another saucepan,heat 1tsp olive oil or sunflower oil and fry the garlic until it is crisp, to get them to crisp slice them superfine,as much as you can manage to without slicing off your fingers;)
Then throw in the chorizo slices and as they cook they release a lot of oil and it really can add a lot of flavour and you don’t buy propecia want to waste that so quickly chuck in the chopped spring onion and the tomato puree,stir and cook this mixture for about 2 minutes on a very low flame.

Drain off the excess water from the pasta ensuring there is just a little bit to allow the pasta to remain smooth.
Turn off the heat at this point and mix well.Then add some chilli flakes and the cheese – as much as you have or as much as your waistline and conscience allows 😉
The heat trapped inside the pasta and the sauce will melt the cheese and it just disappears into the pasta giving it that perfectly cheesy not over-the-top taste,which is ex-actly what you want folks!The yummy deliciousness that this pasta is makes me want to dive right into the plate and its smoky garlicy flavour with just the right amount of chilli and chorizo which is my absolute personal favourite for pasta dishes,what more could one ask for!?! 🙂
I wish I had some smoked ham,fresh basil and some more chorizo – but hey this was so good I am going to make it again and again!
I hope you do too and if you do drop me a line here in the comments, I love reading what you have to say!I am most looking forward to those comments where you were in a similar situation and used the ”nothing” from your fridge and made pasta as delicious as mine – just use your imagination!

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I am entering this recipe into the ”No Waste Food Challenge” for Jan ’14,hosted by the lovely Elizabeth who blogs at Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary and has taken on the baton to host this challenge from Kate over at Turquoise Lemons who initiated this very challenge,couldn’t think of a post more apt for this I say ! If you too would like to link up but find the details on Elizabeths blog. Find the whole round up here

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I am entering this frugal recipe for Credit Crunch Much hosted by Helen of Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla of FabFood4all and for Feb’14 hosted by Angela of My Golden Pear. Making use of ingredients which I wouldn’t have otherwise used together and finding things lurking in my fridge which have been salvaged and not chucked into a food bin a few days later, I think this recipe definitely fits the bill for this challenge.

Spicy Mexican Chicken Wings

August 16, 2013 by manjirichitnis 4 Comments

I was sent this amazing new product from the Gran Luchito Kitchen – their new Salsa sauce and ever since I laid my eyes on it all I wanted to do was make some spicy chicken wings and enjoy them on a summer evening with some chilled beer.

What I most love about this new HOT sauce from Gran Luchito is that it makes life so easy so if you want to make a quick ,tasty and easy starter dish and really impress your guests or you suddenly decide to take home the entire hungry gang you went for drinks with on a Friday evening(Egad!) this bottle of goodness is a going to be your life saver. It’s very versatile because I can think of so many ways to use this sauce. It’s also a great dip for that bag of tortilla chips which can do the rounds with some chilled beer or wine for your guests, or a lazy brunch on Sunday just make lots of wings to gr around for the family!It’s definitely my new spicy ketchup and will be a perfect pairing with a zillion foods!

Ok, so here’s a quick recipe for the Spicy Mexican Chicken Wings:

Serves: 2 – 3

Cooking Time: 15 minutes marination, on pan 10 – 15 minutes,chopping time 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

Grand Luchito’s HOT Sauce – 5 heaped tbsp
8 chicken wings
1/2 medium sized red onion sliced lenghtwise
Half a lemon
Smoked sea salt
2 large tbsp oil (I used refined sunflower)
Smoked Sea salt
Cumin powder 1 tbsp
An entire garlic with all its pods sliced through.

Method:

If you ask me this is one for the barbecue but since I have no access to one and work off a tiny urban kitchen which is literally a single small platform I love using my pan with grids to get those grid lines on my meat and pretend am in the garden with a nice barbecue going,sighhh, oh yes and my smoked sea salt is my best ally , giving my food that wonderfully smokey aroma -oak smoked it is !

Wash the chicken wings and in a bowl and pour about 1/2 a tbsp oil on them,add the smoked sea salt,cumin powder and 2 tbsp of Gran Luchito HOT sauce.Rub well and cover and set aside for about 15 minutes

On a pan with grids add the oil and allow it to heat till it starts to bubble slightly, add the chopped red onion and saute till it just begins to change colour,carefull to not brown them too much.
Now saute two heaped tbsps of the Gran Luchito HOT sauce on the pan.Stir for about a minute and then add the marinated chicken.Place the garlic face down allowing it to turn a delicious brown and release it’s magic kick into the onion and sauce mix and boost the flavour of the chicken.
Use tongs to turn when one side is properly browned and juicy but stir the sauce and onion sautee mixture which the chicken is sitting on not allowing it to stick to the pan or burn!
It should take about 10 -15 minutes to get to the right crispy and juicy stage for the chicken wings on a medium flame with this pan.(In case you need to do a large batch of chicken wings, scale up the ingredients proportionately and blanch the chicken wings in hot water for 5 – 7 minutes before marinating so that they are semi cooked , this way you can get them in batches on the pan and ready to serve, keep them warm by placing in a baking tray covered in foil – you could even keep bigger batches warm in a pre-heated oven if need be!)

The unique smoky taste of Gran Luchito with the sweetness of pineapple

I hope this product hits the shelves soon!To do this as quickly as possible Gran Luchito has partnered with Crowd Funding Network We Are The Million to raise some investment and create jobs too.Help Spread the word by reading more about the campaign here.

*Thanks to Gran Luchito for sending me some of their test sauce as a sample to review. As usual, all opinions are my own. No monetary compensation was provided for this post and I was not expected to write a positive review.

Jerk Chicken and Coconut Rice

July 20, 2013 by manjirichitnis Leave a Comment

The first time I ate Jerk Chicken, was at a pop up Caribbean food stall near Haymarket Station, it was served with some tasty rice with red kidney beans and the most deliciously sweet plantain. Ever since I have been waiting to experiment and make this spicy chicken at home. Please resist the temptation of using a jerk sauce out of a bottle, it’s almost a crime because in the recipe I used from the BBC Good Food guide, it makes preparing the marinade a thing of joy. Not only will you learn how each ingredient lends its individual flavour but you can learn how to adjust the ”heat” in this amazing marinade. An advance warning, if you have sensitive skin PLEASE use gloves to marinate the chicken as Scotch Bonnet peppers are PACKED with heat. Ensure you THOROUGHLY wash your hands after you handle these ”hot babies” too! Humm now for the recipe, it’s essentially what was in the original but of course, I have added my own touches and I think they make quite an impact 🙂 So read on folks.

Jerk Chicken

Manjiri Chitnis

Caribbean Jerk chicken is an all-time favourite and tastes even better with a home-mademarinade

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 1 hr 5 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

For Jerk Chicken:

12 chicken thighs with bone
1 garlic sliced through the middle to go in the oven
2 lemons halved to go in the baking tray
1 pair of clean gloves if you have sensitive skin – to marinate the chicken

For the Jerk marinade:

4 Garlic Cloves de-skinned
1 small red onion
1 bunch fresh spring onion roughly chopped
1 portion ginger size that fits inside your closed fist washed, skinned and roughly chopped
1 tbsp thyme – I had none so I used 1 tbsp of Mixed Italian herb powder
3 scotch bonnet chillies de-seeded if you cannot handle very spicy
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oil – I used sunflower
4 heaped tbsp brown sugar – I used dark muscovado sugar
1 tbsp ground allspice powder
1 lime Juiced

Instructions

Blitz all the ingredients for the marinade in the mixer/food processor/blender and make a thick paste, do not add water as far as possible to ensure a thick puree like grainy paste
Wash and deskin the chicken thighs and make cuts using a knife
Then generously apply the marinade paste all over rubbing into the cuts made to ensure the flavour really seeps into the chicken
Marinate overnight in the fridge. Cover vessel with cling film
Keep about 2 tbsp marinade aside for adding in the baking tray
When you are ready to prepare the chicken pre-heat the oven to 180 – 200 degree Celsius, I have a fan oven
Prepare the baking tray by greasing with some oil, place the marinated chicken pieces and surround them with the lime slices and place the garlic halved
Cook in the oven for about 45 minutes or until juices run clear
When the chicken is in the oven start with the rice

Coconut Rice with Peas

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

200 g Basmati Rice
400 g Coconut Milk can
1 bunch fresh spring onion finely chopped
2 large sprigs of fresh thyme
2 large cloves of garlic skinned and chopped very fine
1 tbsp ground allspice
200 g green peas

Instructions

Wash the Basmati rice under cold running tap water
In a heavy-bottomed vessel, add the washed rice and coconut milk, chopped spring onions, thyme, garlic chopped and allspice
Add 300 ml water, mix and add salt to season
Cook with lid on a medium flame till water begins to boil
Stir with a wooden spatula and then add the green peas
Reduce flame and do not cover completely, leave a bit of space for the steam to pass
Cook until done

Although the recipe I followed, uses red kidney beans since I was already using them in my Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper Salad, I choose green peas for my Coconut Rice. I made my own homemade replacement for allspice powder too, it’s very easy and I intend to make it fresh each time I need instead of the store-bought one, simply because it is so quick and easy to prepare! Actually allspice is a spice by itself but it tastes similar to a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and pepper.

Also Known as: Jamaican Pepper or New spice

Home made all-Spice Powder recipe

Home made all-spice seasoning

Manjiri Chitnis

Try myeasy to prepare and store home-made all-spice seasoning

Print Recipe

Prep Time 2 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 7 mins

Servings 1 portions

Ingredients

1 tbsp Cinnamon powder or cinnamon stick – thumb-sized
1 small tbsp pepper powder
1 heaped tbsp of cloves
1 full nutmeg grated

Instructions

In a pestle and mortar mix the ingredients and grate the nutmeg into it
Then smash together to makes a grainy powder
Some bits of the clove you may not be able to grind fine, I wouldn’t worry about it unless you want a fine powder then the smallest attachment on your mixer. I have an Indian mixer which I use for my coconut chutneys and it has 3 jars I used the one with 3 blades. Or else just use the pestle and mortar it should work.
Store away the remaining homemade allspice replacement powder in a tiny airtight container

A note about the brown sugar vs. dark muscovado sugar

Dark Muscovado sugar is the unrefined form of brown sugar ,its stickier ,heavier,has a longer shelf life than refined sugars and adds a more intense flavour to marinades and since it is stable at high temperatures is great for baking.If you do not have brown sugar its ok to replace it with dark Muscovado sugar. Although as the water content dark muscovado holds is higher one should accordingly taper the use of water in the recipe.

Brown sugar is white sugar and molasses and hence the colour and soft texture. It has the light and dark brown sugar varieties and the lighter it is the milder the flavour.

Easy and healthy one-pot chicken noodles

June 17, 2013 by manjirichitnis 4 Comments

It was one of those days when I wished the dinner made itself ,but hey you know what I am saying right?Like it’s ONLY Monday and am wishing it was the weekend again , ya, ya that kind of a horrible feeling- gaaahhh! Happens to the best of us , yes even me , ok ok I will get on with the recipe.I had this vegetable stock packet in my kitchen cupboard that had to be used or else! And I had some tomatoes, bright red chillies, half a red onion sliced , some unused tiny onions, a juicy lime and a spanking new bottle of Kafir Lime leaves .

Since I had spent the better part of the day, well on facebook 😉 I got my lazy,fat a** out of my house and walked to the supermarket.Some chocken thighs ,a mixed bag with chopped carrot and brocolli on reduced price , just what I was looking for!

Ok so here’s a list of all the ingredients I threw in and managed to make something that made hubby go from ”hummm ummm” to ”interesting” to ” u came up with this recipe like now?” the best compliment, ok am showing off and that sickening right?

Serves:2 , Cook time including serving time :25 miutes

Ingredients:

500ml vegetable stock
100ml water
1/2 of a medium sized red onion sliced lengthwise
2 -3 shallots chopped lengthwise
2 cloves of garlic with the skin on
1 tiny pinch of cumin seeds
2 Kaffir lime leaves – no more ,they are POTENT!
2 bright red chillies slit lenghthwise
1 small tomato chopped into tiny pieces
3 pieces of chicken with the skin taken off
Red chilli powder as per taste
Salt as per taste
1 portion of thin egg noodles – 100 gm approx
1 small palmfull of diced carrot – 100 gm approx
2 -3 bits of broccoli cut into smaller bite sized portions – 100 gm approx
1/4th of piece of lime to squeeze onto the chicken
2 tbsp sunflower oil
A smile on your face because you are going to make a new yum dish super quick and you n yours are gonna love-uh it!

Preparation:

Wash the chicken pieces and remove the skin
Pan on hob and add one tbsp oil ,saute the thinly length-wise sliced red onion saving a few bits to go into the stock pot.
place the chicken pieces and lower the flame, turn the pieces in a few minutes after they start to fry, do not cook them fully as this pan fry bit is to ensure flavour on double impact and get the chicken to release it’s juices
at this stage add the tomato bits into the pan and flatten with a spatula after they have sizzled for a bit, this will make the sauted onion flavour marry with the tomato and lock in the chicken juices,squeeze the lime onto this
add about 2 tbsp of the vegetable stock to the chicken in the pan and simmer on as low a flame as possible,keep checking to ensure it does not dry up!
Now add 1 tbsp in a saucepan and when it’s hot throw in the 2 big red chillies which have been split lengthwise,followed by the cumin,crushed garlic cloves with skin, some of the red onion chopped leftover from what went in the pan and the shallots chopped lengthwise.Keep the saucepan on a low flame to prevent burning of these ingredients.

When the garlic is done and the pungent chilli and garlic gives off its trademark punch of aroma throw in the Kaffir lime leaves ,when the onion is totally pink n garlic crisp , throw in some of the vegetable stock and some water , add the noodles carrot and broccoli ,cover and bring to a boil, at this stage the carrot is almost cooked and the noodles too, scoop in the chicken and the thick onion-tomato gravy it was in, ensure you get every last bit of the thick sauce from the pan to not loose any of that wholesome goodness!

Now throw in all the remaining vegetable stock and water and add salt and red chilli powder as per taste.
cook on a low flame with lid till done, the chicken should just fall of the bone easy and the carrot should be well cooked but not squidgy.
Serve hot with soft boiled potatoes in butter and herbs or a crisp baguette.

At 2 small spoons of oil and how it fills you, this one dish stock pot is filling, wholesome,relatively easy and a good for a weekday dinner when you are feeling well BLAH 😉

please leave comments to let me know if this recipe rocked your boat or totally sucked !

Love,peace and good night bloggy world ,I love ya !