Pizza from Scratch with Onions, Bell Pepper, Chicken Sausage and Corn

It is so surprising that I've never posted a pizza recipe here, because it's something we make so regularly. Although we love eating out, when it comes to pizza especially, home made is just so much better.

I love experimenting with different crusts, sauces and toppings, there are so many options. The crusts don't always turn out perfect, but cheese (just like chocolate), makes makes everything taste good.

Home Bakers Challenge is a new group started by Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes and we all baked Pizza  for our first challenge.The recipe below is by Giada Laurentis and the only change I made was substitute half the flour with wheat flour. The crust baked perfectly and it had great texture and was not at all soggy. Went along with a simple marinara sauce and some of our favorite toppings and cheeses. 

Pizza from Scratch

Dough:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water (105-110 degrees F)

2 tsps active dry yeast

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

3 tbs olive oil

Pizza Sauce ( I used the marinara sauce that I make often, recipe here )

Cheese, Mozzarella and Sharp Cheddar

Toppings I used:

Onion

Capsicum

Chicken Sausage

Corn kernels

Method:

Mix the warm water and yeast in a small bowl and let stand for about 5 minutes until the yeast dissolves.

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the olive oil and stir it in with your fingers. Add the yeast mixture and mix until the dough comes together.

Turn out into a lightly floured surface and knead for couple of minutes until smooth.

Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and set aside in a warm area until it doubles in volume, about an hour.

Punch the dough and divide into two equal balls.( Use the dough immediately or store refrigerated in an air-tight container for one day).

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Keep your pizza stone or a rimless baking sheet inside the oven as it preheats. Sprinkle cornmeal over a piece of parchment paper. Place the dough on the parchment paper and roll out or spread the dough with your fingers to your desired thickness, I like a thin crust pizza.

Brush the dough lightly with some olive oil.

Spread some pizza sauce over the dough and then sprinkle the cheese over the sauce, as much as you like.

Top with your favorite toppings and sprinkle some oregano and chili flakes and salt.

Take the pizza stone or baking sheet out of the oven and transfer the pizza along with the parchment paper onto it.

Bake the pizza until the crusts are crisp and brown on the bottom and the cheese has melted and is bubbly.

Kheema Paratha

Parathas are one of my favorite dishes for any time of the day. Serve them with some salad and they make the perfect meal. In my kitchen, leftovers from any dry dish preparation end up inside a paratha or in a sandwich. Kheema paratha is a rare indulgence, but a dish we love. Here's how I make it...

Kheema Paratha

Dough:
Ingredients:
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs oil
water as needed

Method:
Mix the flour, oil and salt in a bowl. Add water gradually to form a soft dough. Cover and let the dough rest for atleast 30 minutes.

Kheema:
Ingredients:
1 lb lamb mince
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 small tomato, finely chopped
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
1 tsp red chili powder or to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
3/4 tsp garam masala powder
salt to taste
big squeeze of lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

Method:
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and saute the onions until golden. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for a few seconds.
Add the tomato and cook till soft and pulpy. Add the spice powders and fry for a few seconds.
Add the kheema and mix well to break down the lumps. Add salt and mix until combined. Cover and cook on medium low heat for about 10 mins.
Uncover and cook off the excess moisture. Finally stir in the lemon juice and chopped cilantro. Keep aside to cool.

To make the parathas:
Divide the dough into about 10 portions. Roll one ball of dough into a small circle, slightly thicker in the center. Place about 1/4 cup of kheema in the center and bring up the sides to cover and pinch the ends together to seal the opening. Flatten with your hand to form a disc. Dust with flour and pat the disc with your rolling pin to flatten and distribute the filling evenly. Roll gently to make slightly thick parathas.
Place the paratha on a hot griddle and cook on both sides till puffed and done. Smear with some butter/ ghee and serve hot with raita and pickle.

This goes to Indian Food Palooza.

Easy Chicken Curry

We have chicken about twice a week and its usually a dry dish we can can have with dal rice. I prefer quick stir fry dishes than the ones with a rich curry. But sometimes I really want gravy, to dunk some bread in it and enjoy the soggy goodness. On such days I usually cook something like this dish. Its very easy to prepare, using basic everyday ingredients. It's looks rich, but is actually a very light and flavorful curry.

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, about 2 lbs, cut into small pieces
1 big onion, sliced
5-6 red chilies or to taste
3 big garlic cloves, grated
2 tbs ginger, grated
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tbs garam masala
1 tbs kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves), crushed
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsps coriander powder
2 tbs yogurt
salt to taste
big squeeze of lime
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbs oil

Method:
Mix the yogurt, grated ginger and garlic, turmeric powder and salt and marinate the chicken in this mixture for atleast 30 mins.
Heat 1 tbs oil in a pan, add the red chilies and fry for a few seconds. Then add the onions and saute until golden. Add the tomatoes and cook until soft and mashed.
Grind this mixture into a fine paste.
Heat the remaining oil on medium heat. Add the dry spice powders and heat for a few seconds. Add the ground paste and mix well. Cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the chicken and kasoori methi and mix well. Add about half a cup of water and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat, cover and cook until chicken is tender. Adjust the seasonings and the consistency of the gravy. Squeeze some lemon juice into the curry and mix well. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini Tomato Yogurt Relish

Happy Thanksgiving! After seeing all the roasted turkeys on TV, I really really wanted to roast one myself, but I chickened out at the last moment, just like the last couple of years. I even had a recipe finalized this time, but I kept thinking of what I'd do with the entire bird. How many sandwiches or casseroles can two people eat! But I really wanted to have turkey, so I settled on making these yummy burgers. We had them with Baked Sweet Potato Fries and I also made some Eggless Chocolate Pumpkin Tarts for dessert. It was a simple meal, but very satisfying.

Indian Spiced Turkey Burgers with Zucchini Tomato Yogurt Relish

Ingredients:
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
1 tbs finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
4-5 green chilies, finely chopped
1 lb ground turkey
handful of cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

3/4 cup greek/ or other yogurt
1 small zucchini, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin powder
lemon juice to taste
salt to taste

lettuce or other greens
Cilantro Chutney
Burger buns

Method:
Heat 1tsp oil in a pan. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and saute till the onions are soft, there is no need to brown. Take off the heat and cool.
Take the turkey, onion mixture, cilantro, chopped carrot, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt in a bowl and mix well with a fork or you can use your hands.
Shape the mixture into 6 patty's and brush each one with a little oil. Heat a griddle or pan on medium heat and brush with oil. Cook the patty's till done, about 5-6 mins per side.

Yogurt Relish:
Mix together all the ingredients and refrigerate for about an hour.

Toast the burger buns if you like. Spread some cilantro chutney on each half. Make the burgers with some greens, one patty and some yogurt relish. Serve hot with some sweet potato fries.

Sesame Orange Chicken

I love cooking, but I love the occasional  take out too. Especially Chinese take out and we are crazy about the food at Panda Express. But the occasional was happening too often and reading the calories on each item really started to worry me, especially their orange chicken which is was my favorite. So we decided to stop going there for a while. Every time we passed an outlet, I would stare at it longingly and my cravings were just becoming unbearable.
So I started my hunt for an easy lower fat recipe. I read several, that called for ingredients I didn't have in my pantry and I wasn't going to buy any more sauces! So I just put together whatever I had, drawing ideas from what I'd read and came up with this. Were my craving satisfied?? YESS!! Different from what they serve at Panda, but really really good. Plus the satisfaction of it being home made and non-fried...I was one Happy Gal!!


Sesame Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
2 tbs all purpose flour
2 tbs cornflour
1 small egg
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
3 tbs orange marmalade
1 tbs sugar, more or less depending on the sweetness of the marmalade
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp red chili flakes, adjust according to taste
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs chopped ginger garlic
1 tbs toasted sesame seeds

Method:
Take chicken, flours, pepper powder, ginger garlic paste, egg and salt in a bowl and mix everything together.
Heat 1 tbs oil in a wok on medium high heat. Add the chicken mixture and stir fry till the chicken is browned and cooked completely. Take care not to overcook the chicken. Keep aside.
In a small bowl mix together orange marmalade, sugar, soy sauce, red chili flakes and vinegar with a whisk.
Heat the same wok on medium heat with 1 tsp oil and fry the ginger garlic for a few seconds and then add the marmalade mixture. Simmer for a couple of minutes and add the chicken. Mix till all the chicken is well coated with the sauce. Check the seasoning and then stir fry for another minute and then mix in the sesame seeds. Serve hot.

Coriander Coconut Chicken Curry

Notice the 4 C's in the title :)....I was just wondering what to name this curry. What better way than listing the prominent ingredients right? I made this the week after Onam mainly to use up the left over coconut milk and because I was really craving for some meat after a weekend of just vegetarian food...this was my first I'm sure.

The curry did turn out great and after some quick pictures, gobbled down most of it with some rice:)....

Butter Chicken

Butter chicken is one of my favorite dishes and the best I've had is at Grand Central restaurant in Chembur. I've never been satisfied with what we get at the restaurants out here, so I've just stopped ordering the dish. Last week we had dinner at a friends place and was I excited when I saw butter chicken on her table. It was really yumm, so of course I had to get the recipe. Noted it down and tried it today. It turned out great, was rich and delicious and was perfect with some parathas.

Taste n Create : Shrimp Fried Rice

For the past few days I have been browsing through Nicole's blog, For the Love of Food. Nicole has a beautiful blog with stunning pictures and a diverse collection of recipes. I was so glad to be partnered with her. Loved reading about her family and her travels. There were so many dishes to choose from, but after all the sweets and other heavy stuff I've been having for the last couple of weeks, I really wanted to make something simple. The shrimp fried rice looked delicious and was a perfect choice for lunch today.

I just had mine and the rice was so flavorful and steaming hot, it was just the perfect meal.

Check out the recipe here.

Have a great weekend guys!

Chicken Stew

I know its Tuesday and a little late to be talking about the weekend, but I had such a great time. We went to San Francisco for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival and had some fabulous chocolate treats. I especially loved the tarts, pies, gelato and the brownie samples were to die for. We had a chocolate overload and yet I'm craving for more:)...

I made this curry this weekend and had it with dosas. Its best with appams but any dosa will do. I even like to have it with chapatis.

Ingredients:
4 chicken leg quarters, cut into small pieces

1 tbs oil

5 cloves

2 cardamoms

1 cinnamon

10 peppercorns

1 big onion, sliced

8 green chillies, slit

2 tbs ginger, finely chopped

10 curry leaves

2 tsp coriander powder

3/4 tsp garam masala

salt to taste

2 cups thin coconut milk

1/2 cup thick coconut milk

Method:

Heat 2 tbs oil on medium heat and fry the cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon and peppercorns till fragrant.

Add the onions and green chillies and fry till onions are soft and transparent. Add the ginger and fry for a min.

Next add the curry leaves, coriander powder and garam masala and fry for 30secs.

Add the chicken and fry on high heat for 2 -3 mins to brown a bit. Reduce the heat and add the thin coconut milk and salt. Mix well and cook covered on low heat till the chicken is done. Check the seasonings.

Remove from heat and stir in the thick coconut milk. Place the pan back on low heat for about 2-3 minutes. Just take care not to boil the gravy or the milk may split.

Enjoy with dosas, appam or any other bread.

Pomfret Curry and Fry

It's so hot since last week, cooking is the last thing on my mind nowadays. Infact I've been having curd rice most of the days and sometimes cup noodles. Anything to avoid standing in the kitchen for too long. I made this dish sometime last week, it's one of my favorite curries. It's really simple and reminds me of mom, coz I just love it when she makes this.

Ingredients:

2 pomfrets, cut or another similar white fish

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp salt

80 gms fresh coconut

2 tsp coriander seeds

3-4 dry red chillies or to taste

4 small red pearl onions

4 cloves of garlic

1 small piece of ginger

2 pieces kudampuli (gamboge), washed and torn into pieces

1 sprig fresh curry leaves

1 tsp coconut oil

Method:

Marinate the fish with the turmeric powder and salt for a couple of hours.

Grind together the coconut, coriander, chillies, onions, garlic and ginger to a fine paste with some water.

Take the mixture in a wide bottomed pan. Add the gamboge, curry leaves, some salt and enough water to make the gravy. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil. Slide in the fish pieces gently. When it returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook till the fish is done. Take of the heat and drizzle the coconut oil on top.

This dish tastes best if its allowed to sit for a few hours, it's even better if it's made the previous day.

For the fry I just marinated the fish in some red chilli powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder, lime juice and salt for a couple of hours and shallow fried it till crisp and done.

Palak Chicken

Heyy...hope you all had a great weekend. I really enjoyed mine. We had friends over for dinner on Saturday, it was a potluck I was hosting and we had some awesome food. Then on Sunday we had arranged a surprise baby shower party for a friend at Round Table, played some games and had great fun.

Cooking took a back seat except for my contribution to the potluck, which was the Chicken fry I had posted a while back. The rest of the meals we just managed with some leftover's from last week which also included Palak Chicken that I had made on Thursday. I love to add spinach to gravies in which they won't taste so obvious and I love the green color it gives any dish. This is one such dish I like to make often and it's really yumm.

Palak Chicken
Ingredients:

150 gms spinach

4 green chillies

2 lbs chicken

1 big onion

1 tbs ginger garlic paste

1 tomato

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala

1/2tsp cumin powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/4tsp turmeric powder

2 lbs chicken

salt to taste

8-10 curry leaves

Method:

Blanch the spinach and grind to a smooth paste along with the green chillies.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion till golden. Fry the ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute.

Add the tomatoes and cook till the oil separates. Add the masala powders and fry for a minute.

Add the chicken and mix well. Add the salt, cover and cook for about 5 mins. Add the ground spinach and curry leaves and mix well. Add some water if necessary.

Cover and cook on low heat till the chicken is done.

Check the seasonings and remove from heat. Serve hot with naan or chappatis.

Portobello Pizzas

You know how I'm always talking about losing weight and I have this long list of foods I try to avoid or at least reduce in my diet. How strictly I follow that list, is another story altogether, one I just avoid thinking of. I added pizzas to my list as part of my new year resolution, and I'm really proud that I've stuck to it (you'd be too if you knew how crazy I'm about pizzas), except for a couple of slices I had to eat at a friends b'day party, well I just didn't want to upset her on her big day...Isn't that a perfect excuse:)...

Anyways I had been to the farmers market last weekend and there were these amazing portobellos on sale and I immediately thought of a recipe I'd seen on Food Network a while back. I bought four of them and made these pizzas for lunch. I must say I no longer feel sad seeing Pizza on my list, the mushroom base is such a wonderful alternative, adds so much flavor and I don't have to worry about making bread anymore.....

Penne in a Creamy Pesto Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes n Chicken

Orchids, is my favorite restaurant in Chembur, Mumbai (that's where I'm from) and I really miss their food. I had a lot of favorites and I remember taking an awful lot of time to order as it was really difficult to choose one dish over the other. I love the choice of Italian food and one dish I ate often was the Pasta alla Genovese. This is one of the most popular Italian sauces, basically fresh pesto tossed with warm pasta. Their version was so creamy with lots of chicken.

This is my version of that dish and though not the same, it's just as creamy, rich n delicious.

Coriander Chicken

This wonderful recipe is one of Nimmi Paul's. For those who don't know her she has a cooking school in Kerala that's quite famous, even internationally. I have tried a number of her recipes and have loved each one. I got this one from the book, Savoring the Spice Coast of India. A wonderful fragrant dish, it tastes great with rice and rotis.

Ingredients:

2 tbs oil

1 big onion, thinly sliced

1 heaping tbs ginger garlic paste

2 green chillies, chopped fine

12 fresh curry leaves

4 tsps coriander powder

1 tsp black pepper powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

3/4 tsp garam masala powder

salt to taste

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

1/2 cup canned coconut milk

1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions till golden. Add the ginger garlic paste, green chillies and curry leaves and fry for 1 min.

Add all the spice powders and salt and roast for 1 minute. Then add the chicken to the pan and fry till the pink color disappears and its well coated with the spices. Take care that the spices do not burn.

Add 1/4cup coconut milk mixed in 1/2cup water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer till the chicken is cooked completely.

Remove from flame and stir in the remaining coconut milk and chopped cilantro.

Turn the flame to the lowest setting and cook till you see the first boil.

Remove from heat and serve hot.

*********************************************************

This is my entry to Potluck - Chicken hosted by Viki at Viki's Kitchen.

Also sending the below entries to the same event....

Chicken Biryani

Lemon Pepper Chicken

Chicken Manchurian

Chicken Korma

This is the first time I tried making chicken korma at home and was really satisfied. I got the recipe from a book I got from the library, 'Savouring the Spice Coast of India'. It's a great book and I'll be trying a few recipes from it. The gravy was rich and delicious, Of course you can't have something like this everyday, but its a wonderful recipe for an occasional treat.

Ingredients:
3 tbs cashew nuts
1/4 cup fresh coconut, grated
2 tbs oil
1 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped

1 tbs ginger garlic paste
1 cup tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbs coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 - 1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbs yogurt
salt to taste
2 lbs boneless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces

Method:
Grind the coconut and cashews with little water to a smooth paste.
Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions till golden brown.

Add the green chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 mins.
Add the tomato, cilantro and the spice powders and fry till the tomato is mashed and the oil separates.
Add the yogurt and stir for a min till well blended.
Add the chicken and salt and fry for 2 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil and cover and cook on medium heat till the chicken is almost done.
Add the cashew paste and mix well. Simmer for another ten minutes.
Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves. Tastes best with rotis.

******************************************************
This is my entry for "Lets go Nuts - Cashew nuts."

Chicken Biryani

My weekend starts today...I'm off to LA for a few days. Can't explain how excited I am, this is a much awaited trip. Will be back on Tuesday, so I'm gonna be on  a break from blogging until then. Though I would be carrying my laptop, I'm not sure I'd be able to check regularly. So wishing all of you'll a happy weekend in advance. 

As a parting shot, thought I'd serve some chicken biryani, a dish I wouldn't mind having for breakfast:)....

Chicken Biryani

Ingredients:

500gms chicken, (preferably leg pieces)

1/4cup yogurt

2tbs ginger garlic paste

1tbs lemon juice

1/2tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

1 tsp ghee/ oil

1 cup basmati rice

10 peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick

5 cloves

4 cardamoms

1 star anise

2 bay leaves

2 cups water

1tbs oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3-4 green chillies, finely chopped

1/3 cup coriander leaves, finely chopped

1/4 cup mint leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbs coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

salt to taste

Method:

Wash the chicken well. Make a marinade by mixing yogurt, ginger garlic paste, lemon juice, turmeric powder and some salt. Mix in the chicken, cover and marinate for a couple of hours.

Wash and drain the rice. Heat 1 tsp ghee in a pan and add peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, cardamoms and bay leaves and fry for a few seconds. 

Add the rice and fry  for about a minute till glossy and all the water has evaporated. Soak the rice along with the spices in 2 cups water for 30mins.

In the meantime, heat 1tbs oil in a pan and fry the onions and green chillies on medium heat till brown. Add the coriander leaves, mint leaves, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala. Fry for 1min.

Add the chicken with the marinade. Mix well and cook on medium heat till the chicken is almost done and there is no gravy left. The dish must be almost dry.

Add the rice and water and salt to taste. Mix well and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low heat for 15mins. 

Turn off the heat and keep aside covered for another 15mins (do not uncover the pan in between cooking or when resting).

Fluff up the rice and serve hot with a raita of your choice.

P.S. Please do not forget to send in your entries for the cashew and chocolate event. Eagerly looking forward to your contribution. See you guys next week.

Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry

We had gone camping over the weekend to Yosemite and had a wonderful time. We had our share of snow and the waterfalls were in their best form. Just beautiful. Returned home late Sunday night and was so exhausted that I spent most of yesterday sleeping and catching up with some pending work. I just checked my dashboard and I've got a lot to catch up with. I may not be able to comment on all your wonderful posts, so please excuse me. 

This stir-fry was something I made for dinner last night. Was too lazy to cook something elaborate. We had it with some salad greens and it was awesome.

Shrimp and Vegetable Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

250 gm shrimp

2 bell peppers, cut into cubes (I used one red and one yellow)

300gms broccoli, medium florets

4 scallions, white and green parts separated, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 1/2 - 2tbs soy sauce

1tbs red chilli sauce

1tsp white pepper powder

salt to taste

1tbs oil

Method:

Clean the shrimp well. Steam the broccoli till almost cooked. It should still be crisp.

Heat oil in a wok on medium high. Add the garlic and fry for 30 secs. 

Add the chopped scallions ( whites only) and bell peppers and fry for 2mins. 

Add the shrimp and cook uncovered for 3-4mins till almost done. 

Then add the broccoli, soy sauce, red chilli sauce, pepper and salt and stir fry till well blended and dry, about 2-3 mins. Stir in the scallion greens and serve hot.

Spaghetti with Chicken Meatballs

This weekend was a dull one, with nothing planned, we spent it at home just lazying around. For the first time I didn't even cook anything, we survived on bread and some leftovers from the week before. 
The meatball marinara is my favorite sandwich from Subway, but I've never had spaghetti and meatballs. Since I've decided to give up red meat (atleast for now), I thought of making chicken meatballs. It was different, but delicious!! Be very careful to not overcook the meatballs, that is the most difficult thing about this very easy recipe!!. The meatball recipe is adapted from here. Its really simple and you could even serve the meatballs as a starter, its really yumm. Enjoy!

Spaghetti with Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients:

For the Meatballs: 

(Yields about 20 meatballs)

1tsp oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 lb minced chicken

1 large egg

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 big cloves of minced garlic

1tsp pepper powder

2tsp dried oregano

salt to taste

For the sauce:

1tbs olive oil

2lbs ripe red tomatoes

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2tsp red chilli powder

1tsp pepper powder

1-2 tsp sugar

1tbs dried basil

salt to taste

1lb spaghetti

Grated Parmesan and pepper flakes for garnishing

Method:

Both the meatballs and sauce could be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator or in the freezer for a longer time. 

For the Meatballs:

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking tray with foil. Coat with non-stick spray.

Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions on medium heat just until transparent. 

Remove from heat and add to the chicken mince. Add all the other ingredients and mix with a fork just until combined.

Lightly grease your palm and shape into small balls. Place on the tray and bake for 15-20 mins till done.

For the sauce:

Blanch the tomatoes and peel off the skin. Chop roughly. 

Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Fry the garlic till aromatic and golden.

Add the tomatoes, chilli powder & pepper powder and cook for about 10-12 mins. Crush the tomato as you stir. When thick, add the sugar and salt and stir for 1min.

Cool and pulse in a processor to make a sauce. Add the dry basil and check seasonings.

This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator, re-heat as needed.

To Assemble:

Heat the sauce and meatballs together on low for a few mins. Add some water if too thick and adjust the seasonings.

Cook the spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and arrange in a dish. Top with the meatball mixture. Sprinkle fresh Parmesan, pepper flakes or other Italian seasoning and serve hot.

****************************************************

Sending this to Presto Pasta Nights # 107 hosted by Ruth

and to Sanghi's FIL - Tomato event.

Farfalle with Chicken Curry going to Presto Pasta Nights # 106

Aquadaze of Served with Love is hosting the 106th instalment of Presto Pasta Nights. I had so many ideas of what I wanted to send, but unfortunately I couldn't get around it. So sending one of my archived entries to this wonderful event.

Farfalle with Chicken Curry

Spicy Fried Fish

I wanted to tell you guys that I did manage to get 12 jars from Ikea in the sizes I wanted inspite of the heavy rush. Was I relieved and happy! The sale was well organised, there was a lot of security, apparently the last sale almost led to a stampede. It was really amusing to hear people talk about the madness in the last sale, I mean could people be that desperate? Obviously yes!

Anyway, I was quiet pleased with myself for sticking to my list and not buying every other thing that caught my eye. We returned home about 5hrs later totally famished. Luckily our meal was already planned. 

Nothings more comforting than simple dal rice with a piece of fried fish. So here goes...

Spicy Fried Fish

Ingredients:

1tbs ginger garlic paste

1-1 1/2tbs red chilli powder

1/2tbs pepper powder

1/2tsp turmeric powder

1tbs lemon juice

salt to taste

500gms fresh fish (I used king mackerel)

semolina/ rava for breading

oil for shallow frying

Method:

Clean the fish and pat dry to remove excess moisture.

Mix together the ginger garlic paste, chilli , pepper and turmeric powder, lemon juice and salt to make a thick paste. Add water only if necessary. Check the salt before marinating the fish.

Coat the fish well with the marinade and keep aside at least for 1 hour. 

Heat a shallow pan with a little oil on medium heat.

Take the semolina in a dish. Coat the fish on both sides evenly. Shake the piece a little to remove any excess coating and place gently on the hot oil. Cook on each side for about 5mins or till done. Cooking time will vary according to the thickness of the fish pieces.

The semolina coating gives the fish a great crispy crust and also protects the marinade from sticking onto the pan.

Serve hot with rice. 

Use boneless fish and serve as a starter with some salads and lime wedges.