Sweet & Sour Chicken Drumsticks

 OKAY!! Am now getting too bored of salad postings in my blog. Salads are good but nothing like a gourmet. :) So here I am with a super good recipe of a Chinese origin. yummmmy right?? One normal day, my letter box was filled with umpteen number of take away menu cards and Chinese take aways were the maximum. I just went through couple of them and found that everybody were giving out the very same dishes. It simply struck to me that why not I try one of those dishes right at home. It is not that difficult if your pantry provides almost all the Chinese ingredients (hey there all the sauces!!) for your cooking. And moreover Chinese cooking is so easy & fast, that you will end up cooking something so simple, delicious & grand in no time.  "Sweet & Sour Chicken Drumsticks" would be a perfect accompaniment to any kind of Chow mein or fried rice. It is quite quick to make apart from the deep frying bit which takes the maximum time. You will be very happy to see the outcome as it looks just like any Chinese Restaurant dish. Try it out once and do let me know. :)Ingredients:

• 6-8 chicken drumsticks (skins removed)

• 1 egg

• 5 tbsp cornflour(cornstarch)

• 1 medium onion (cut into 8 wedges)

• 1 bell pepper (capsicum) (chop into wedges)

• 1 big carrot (cut into wedges)

• 2 cups chicken stock (put 2 cubes of stock in 350 ml hot water)

• 4 tbsp vinegar

• 4 tbsp brown sugar (if not use ordinary granulated sugar)

• 1 ts soy sauce

• 1 tbsp sherry (if not available, you can use 1 tbsp hoisin sauce)

• salt & pepper to season

• oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Trim & remove the skins of the  drumsticks if you want.   

1. Beat the egg with 1 tbsp of water in a shallow bowl. Mix 4 tbsp of cornflour with required amount of salt & generous amount of pepper in another shallow bowl. 

1. Dip the drumsticks in egg, then in cornflour. Coat well & keep them aside. 

1. Drop the chopped vegetables (onion, pepper & carrots) into a small saucepan of boiling water & cook for 5 minutes. Drain well. Keep aside. 

1. Heat a saucepan and pour the hot chicken stock along with vinegar, sugar soy sauce, 1 tbsp of cornflour & sherry or hoisin sauce.. Bring it to boil & simmer down to 2-3 minutes until the stock thickens. Keep aside. (The sauce will be quite strong when tasted at this time but trust me, when it is coated with the chicken and veggies, it will be alright).

1. Heat the oil for deep frying & fry in batches, the egg-cornflour coated chicken drumsticks until golden & tender on all sides. Drain on a kitchen paper. 

1. Now add the boiled vegetables to the sauce & then add the chicken to it. Reheat for 2-3 minutes until the sauce has covered the vegies & the drumsticks. 

1. Serve as a side to any oriental noodle or rice dish. Ting!!

Paneer Couscous Salad

Last two weeks were so hectic for me that I didn't find time to even open my blog page. Lots of friends coming home, cooking, eating junk, visiting places, our famous festival "Vishu" came up  & finally I ended up getting sick. I am still in bed but was so frustrated doing nothing that I thought let me post one of my healthy salad recipes which I had promised earlier. I saw this salad recipe in one of the BBC cookery shows & was quiet eager to make it. The original recipe suggests the use of Halloumi instead of Paneer. Halloumi is a type of Greek cheese made of mostly Goat's milk. It has the same texture of that as Paneer, hence I used Paneer. Must say, It was quite filling and delicious, perfect for a Summer afternoon.
Ingredients:

• 200 gm couscous
• 200 ml hot vegetable stock / hot chicken stock
• 400 g can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 courgette/zucchini (sliced)
• 200 gm paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese), cut 1 inch length wise
• 2 medium sized ripe tomatoes (roughly chopped )

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves or mint leaves
• 1-2 tsp sugar

Method:

1. Put the couscous in a bowl & pour the hot stock over it & stir with a fork. Cover the bowl & leave it for 4-5 minutes or until it absorbs all the stock.
2. Meanwhile, put all the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl & mix well.
3. Fluff up the couscous with the fork & put the chickpeas over it. Pour half of the dressing over chickpeas & couscous. Mix well with the fork.
4. Take your serving plate & tip the couscous on to it.
5. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan & fry the sliced courgette for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Remove & keep aside. Cook the chopped tomatoes in the same pan for 2 minutes. Remove & keep aside.
6. Into the same pan, fry the paneer strips for 2-3 minutes on each side or until it becomes crispy brown on both sides. Switch off the heat.
7. Top the couscous along with the courgettes & tomatoes.
8. Place the fried paneer on top of the tomatoes & drizzle with the remaining dressing. Garnish with    coriander or mint leaves.

Indian Chickpea Salad

Salads! Salads! Salads! Am going to post some simple, quick, filling yet delicious salads in the coming weeks. Am going to start with my all time favourite Desi salad, i.e the Indian Chickpeas. I love the tanginess of the lime, crunchiness of the onion, sourness of the tomato & finally the chickpeas which helps in combining all these flavours to make your salad absolutely delicious. So let's bring on Summer with some yummy refreshing salads!!

Ingredients:

• 1 x 400g can of chickpeas
• 1 green chilli (finely chopped)
• 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 medium tomato (roughly chopped)
• 1 medium red onion (finely chopped)
• 1/2 cucumber (cut into batons)
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• 8-10 baby spinach leaves (washed, if necessary chopped)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper to season

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a non stick pan & add the cumin seeds, garlic & green chillies.
2. Now add the canned chick peas to the pan & toss for a minute. If you want, you can soak raw chickpeas overnight & boil it before making the salad. Its a time consuming process, so better use the tinned chickpeas.
3. Add the tomatoes to the chickpeas & toss for 30 seconds. Switch off the heat.
4. Pour 1 tbsp of lemon juice over the chickpea salad.
5. Add the chopped onions, cucumber batons & coriander leaves to the chick pea salad & toss once more.
6. Pour the remaining lemon juice & season with salt & pepper. Serve immediately.