February 22

For me it was Mac Donald which introduced me to the world of french fries and potato wedges. Before that I used to hate plain potato fry which mom used to make as a side for all our parathas and pooris. I was like who eats just fried potato, where are other vegetables with it! Obviously the tantrums would die soon as there was no effect of my protests on mom. But in simple words I didn't like when potatoes were served without anything added to it. Then came the Mac D and I started loving the same fried potatoes packaged in small red packets and priced 3 times higher! Well we always value a product by its capability of how fast to burn a hole in our pocket! 

While potatoes are deemed as the fried food world pioneers, I feel sweet potato wedges are more amazing. Sweet Potato Wedges make an easy and a very delicious finger food! Made with just a handful of ingredients, these sweet potatoes will definitely become a favorite!

Check Out the DIY Background I made for this shoot.

Pan roasted Brussels sprouts are also called pan fried Brussels sprouts, sautéed Brussels sprouts or pan sautéed Brussels sprouts - and all of them are basically the same. It is the process in which the delicate brussels sprouts are cooked in a fat medium over high heat. The best part about this recipe is that the ingredients are pantry staple - something you would already have at hand, recipe is very simple and the final taste is absolutely exceptional, buttery, flavorful and yet crisp.

Adding the nuts and cranberries give it a lovely crunchy Christmassy texture and pops in a little oomph factor into the simple dish.

Now when you try to get access to quality fruits like blueberry or cranberry it might happen that you don't get them year long. I have come across a brand True Elements which sells a lovely quality of dried blueberry, goji berries and cranberry which you can have as is or use in any of your recipe. They also have a plethora of healthy seeds and breakfast option. I have used the dried cranberries from them in this recipe and I really loved the taste. You can buy them from their site or even from Amazon. This is not a promotional post, since I really loved them I thought of again mentioning them.

Meanwhile the beautiful diary that you see in the frame is from the June Shop. I stumbled upon their website nearly at the beginning of the lockdown period and found a lovely set of spoons which I had purchased. Who ever saw that set would compliment me. It has been a long way from then and this brand grew wonderfully with so many amazing products on their catalog. Recently they were generous enough to send me this lovely name embossed diary to me as a gratitude gift. It was so unexpected that they would value and acknowledge me as their customer and I felt just amazing. So thank you The June shop for this lovely gift!

How to clean and cut brussels sprouts?

To clean the brussels sprouts, trim the ends (the hard parts if any). Most store-bought Brussels will have the stem mostly trimmed off, but if you want to really make sure there aren't any woody parts, take a sharp knife and just cut off the bottom hard part of the sprout.

Rinse them in a large bowl of cold water. (Try not to put under running water, as the brussels sprouts are tender and the leaves may come apart due to water pressure). Brussels sprouts do not usually have much dirt on them, but any dust or sediment should float to the bottom.

Once washed place them on a kitchen towel in a single layer and cover them with the towel and pat dry them as much possible.  

Once dry, for this recipe you need to halve or quarter them depending on the size. Since I had small ones I halved them. (Also they look better halved).

Check Out the DIY Background I made for this shoot.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes  

Marination Time : 30 minutes (Optional)

Procedure 

1. Start by prepping the brussels Sprouts as mentioned above. Now after this I like to marinate them a bit. Take a mixing bowl and put the halved brussels sprouts. Add salt, paprika, chilli flakes, crushed pepper and 1 tsp of olive oil. Give it a toss so as to coat the brussels sprouts with the spices. Let them sit for about 30 minutes. This is optional. You can straightaway go for cooking too.

2. Now in a heavy bottomed pan add oil. When it starts to sizzle a bit, add chopped garlic. fry them till golden and then drain the garlic and put it aside.

3. The oil in the pan will now be infused with a lovely garlicky flavor. Now crank up the heat if the oil is not hot. Then place the marinated brussels sprouts cut side down in a single layer on the pan. 

4. Cook until the brussels are deep , dark, golden brown on the face down. Then flip them and let the other side also get a beautiful caramelized sear in same way.

Note: Brussels are very delicate once they are cooked, so when you flip be gentle. I have heard chefs even use a tweezer to flip them in restaurants. That's how delicate they become!

5. Once both the sides are evenly caramelized take them out form the pan. Not to the remaining oil, add the chopped nuts and dried cranberry. Toss them until nuts are fragrant on medium flame. Now return the cooked sprouts pack to the pan. Add also the fried garlic and gently fold everything in.

Note: I used almonds in this recipe with skin on. I feel some nuts with skin on tastes better. Almond is one of them. But you can always take the skin off if you want.

 

Serve hot along with your meal.

Dec 14

Chicken Mandi has always been on my bucket list. The soft succulent meat pieces soaked in beautiful aromatics, the fragrant long grained rice having a dash of freshness form the lemon slices - if there is something I like over biryani at times is this meat & rice dish.

Mandi (مندي‎) is a traditional Yemeni dish that originated from Hadhramaut, Yemen.  It consists of meat and rice with a special blend of spices, cooked in a pit underground for long hours. It is a very popular dish in the Arabian Peninsula and also a staple dish in many areas like Egypt, Turkey, the Levant etc. Mandi has become equally popular in our country because it is less of a hassle than a typical biryani and yet has richness of flavors and taste.

Mandi is considered the main dish served during special events, such as Eid, weddings, and feasts in Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia. In Arabic themed restaurants, apart from the regular seating, there are some sections where you can sit on the floor cushions and rice & meat dishes are served in a large plate when two three people sit together and eat from the same plate. 

The word "mandi" comes from the Arabic word "nada", meaning "dew", and refers to the moist 'dewy' texture of the meat, which is result of the slow cooking it in a clay oven or tandoor, typically a hole dug in the ground. Dry wood pieces are burned in the tandoor and once it reaches a certain temperature the rice pot is then suspended inside the tandoor without touching the charcoal and the meat marinated with the special mandi masala is then placed on a wire rack on top of the rice. The tandoor is then closed and the meet and the rice is cooked on slow heat of the oven. The fat and the spices that drips from the steaming chicken infuses the rich flavors into the rice pot below, while the tandoor adds the smokiness to the overall meat and rice.

Even though it all sounds too elaborate and hard to replicate at home, but that is not the case. humans always find a workaround to do difficult things easy way. So today I will be talking about how we can make this amazing flavorful dish right in the comfort of your home without even having a tandoor!

And after all what better than to flag off the winter season with a heart warming plate of chicken mandi. I had a lot of fun cooking and eating it and hope you will enjoy too!

Marination time - 2 hours to overnight

Mandi Marination Paste:

• Mandi spice - 2 tbsp 
• Lime juice - 1 tsp 
• Ginger powder - ½ tsp 
• Red chili- ½ tsp 
• Refined Oil - 2 tbsp 

Mandi Chicken and Rice:

• Chicken with full leg pieces - 2 
• Mandi spice mix - 1 tbsp
• Long Grain Basmati Rice - 2 cups
• Cashews - 3 tbsp 
• Almonds - 3 tbsp 
• Raisins - 2 tbsp 
• Onion - 3 tbsp 
• Green Chilli - 2-3 (slitted)
• Dry whole lemon - 1 ( 2 weeks old lemon*)
• Garlic Ginger paste - 1 tsp 
• Salt - 1 tsp 
• Saffron Strands - 4 to 5
• Water - 4 ½ cups 
• Cooking oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• Ghee - 1 tsp

Flavouring Agent:

• Dry whole lemon - 1 ( 2 weeks old lemon*)
• Charcoal - 1 piece
• Ghee - 1 tsp

Procedure

1. Start by preparing the spice mix. Dry roast coriander, black peppercorn, cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks for about 1 to 2 mins flipping occasionally. Add all the roasted spices in a mixer grinder and add salt, ginger powder, red chilli, turmeric, and nutmeg ( coarsely ground) to it. Pulse it till you get a fine powdered spice mix. It will smell divine at this point!

2. Now to prepare the mandi marination mix, take about 2 tsp of the spice mix prepared above and to it add half a lemon juice and cooking oil. Mix well to prepare a thick paste.

3. Apply the paste on the cleaned chicken pieces and let it sit for about 1 to 2 hours. The longer the better.

4. Now take a steamer and let water boil. When the water comes to a rolling boil with lots of visible steam, place the chicken legs carefully on the steamer ( the steam will be very hot! so take precautions) and put the lid back on. Steam the chicken on 30 mins on medium heat. At half the time, just flip the chicken so that both sides are uniformly cooked.

Tip: Any steamer with ample holes would do. If you are using a pot with a lid which has hole, make sure you close the hole with a tissue paper to prevent the steam from escaping the pot.

Note: Use drinking water in the steamer because the masala that gets mixed with the water on steaming will be used later in the recipe.

5. While the chicken is steaming soak the rice in water. Also soak a few saffron strands in warm water and let it sit.

6. Once the chicken is steamed take it out in a plate. Reserve the stock. Now head up a griddle/pan and add some ghee + cooking oil to it. Once it is heated, place the chicken in a single layer and fry it for 2-3 minutes on each side, ensuring a light browning.

  

7. Take a deep bottomed pot and heat it. Add 2 tbsp of ghee and let it be fragrant. To this add cashew, almonds, raisins/black raisin and stir them till they start getting a little brown and fragrant. Remove from the pot and keep it aside.

8. Now in the same pot add some cooking oil, and once hot add the sliced onions. Fry until brown stirring occasionally. 

9. Stir in about 2 tsp of the mandi spice masala (dry), salt, dried lemon slices, slitted green chilli and ginger garlic paste. Fold everything in. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Tip: Dry Lemon slices are typically added to mandi rice as a flavoring agent. So I would recommend not to skip it. Have any fresh lemon sit outside at room temperature for about a week or two until the outer cover starts dying out and use that lemon for this recipe.

10. Add the reserve stock which was collected from steaming chicken the earlier. Bring it to a boil.

11. Now add the soaked rice to the water.

12. Add saffron water

13. Once the rice is 3/4th cooked, add the raisins and  steamed chicken leg in a single layer. 

14. Sprinkle some mandi spice mix over.

15. Cover the lid and block holes on the lid if any. Cook for about 15 minutes on lowest flame just like biryani. 

Note: If you do not have a thick bottomed pot then on the heat place a griddle or frying pan and put the pot on top of it. It will help distribute the heat evenly this way.

16. Now put a small steel bowl in the center of the pot on rice. Over a flame heat a charcoal by holding it with tong. When the charcoal is hot place it in the bowl inside the pot and add 1 tbsp of ghee on the charcoal. Cover the lid immediately. Let the steam collect inside the pot and flavor the rice.

17. When you are ready to serve, add the fried nuts as garnish on the rice and serve it with raita or salad.

Pro Tip: Do not cook the nuts with the rice on dum, as it renders the nuts soft. Adding the fried nuts as garnish instead preserves the flavors and the crunch of the nuts.

Please note: Ideally chicken mandi traditionally is cooked by placing the rice in the pot and putting a grill on top of the pot and the chicken is placed on that. So both chicken and rice is cooked together. But since I didn't have that big a pot hence I have broken it down to two step - steaming the chicken first, cooking the rice 3/4 and then cooking both on dum for the final outcome. Taste wise it is absolutely the same.

Brands I used for this recipe

1. Long gran basmati - Daawat

2. Black raisin - Vedaka

3. Almonds- Vedaka