Tag Archives: recipe

Recipe: Pita Pan Pizza (15 mins only)

Egyptian Pita
Egyptian Pita

Dubai is all about options & variety. But in this abundance, I’ve struggled to find freshly baked pizza bases. You will find the frozen ones, but I’m not a fan. In the bakery section, what came closest was the flat, Egyptian pita bread. My only worry was if it would stand another round of baking or end up like a crisp tortilla. But how would I know without trying?

Ingredients:

  • Pita bread (pack of 4)
  • Tandoori or Shredded chicken (or leftover tikkas or other meat)
  • Mozzarella cheese
  • Tomato ketchup
  • Sliced onions, capsicum & tomatoes
  • Oregaon, Salt & Pepper to taste
  • Butter

Preparation:

Recipe: Grilled Chicken Salsa Sandwich

This is probably the laziest sandwiches I’ve ever made. Honestly, typing & formatting the entire recipe will take longer than it takes to make it.

The laziest sandwich one could make
The laziest sandwich one could make

Preparation:

  • Shredded some left over grill chicken, and mixed it with mayo, salsa and black pepper.
  • Sliced some lettuce & half an onion.
  • Buttered brown bread on both sides, and assembled as shown. You can add more veggies and cheese as you’d like
  • Put it into the griller for 6-8 mins until it toasted
  • Voila!

Recipe: Dahi Sev Puri

I love my sev puri crunchy. The trick I learned from my regular bhaiya was to add a layer of sev right after the potatoes so keep the base crunchy, and avoid sogginess once the chutney’s are added. Hope you enjoy it. Takes no more than 15 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:

  • Papdi puri
  • Mashed potatoes (I literally use instant mashed potato)
  • Nylon sev
  • Chopped onions, tomatoes, corriander
  • Chana dal
  • Tamarind chutney
  • Chili chutney (or Maggi Hot & Sweet sauce)
  • Yoghurt (whipped, sweetened)
  • Chat masala, salt
I love it crunchy!
I love it crunchy!

 Procedure:

  • Lay the puris on a flat plate and top up ingredients in the mentioned order
  • Garnish with nylon sev and corriander

Recipe: Baked chapatti rolls with chicken & veggies

Love is.. when food choices are diametrically opposite
Love is.. when food choices are diametrically opposite

Every relation demands trade-off & adjustment. It is nearly impossible to find harmony in all choices. Aditi & I also took a hit on compatibility in some areas – food was one. I am a complete foodie, and she’s a great cook. I love chicken & chapattis, while she loves fish & rice. But when I cook, I try to make things that will go past her choices. Like all kids who hate plain chapattis, she loved the variation of baked rolls with chicken, cheese & veggies.

Ingredients:

  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 1 green capsicum, chopped
  • 1 tomato, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • Tomato ketchup
  • Chilli powder
  • Oregano
  • Chat masala
  • Salt, to taste
  • Butter
  • 6 Chicken tandoori kebabs (or shredded chicken) – or replace with cottage cheese (paneer) for a veggie version
  • 4 chapattis
  • Cheese – grated mozzarella & slices for topping

Procedure:

Vegetable stuffing

  • Heat some butter in a pan,  and place garlic cloves
  • Add all vegetables, tomato ketchup and salt to taste
  • Saute vegetables until cooked
Key ingredients
Key ingredients

Assembling the rolls

  • Butter both sides of each chapatti
  • Place the vegetable stuffing at the center, and top with chicken or paneer
  • Grate mozzarella cheese, sprinkle oregano/chat masala to taste
  • Roll ’em up, and place cheese slices on top for an extra cheesy taste

Continue reading Recipe: Baked chapatti rolls with chicken & veggies

Recipe: Baked chicken sandwich

Continuing with recipes using shredded chicken as the key ingredient, here is another one that I was keen on trying.

Ingredients:

Baked Sandwiches
Baked Sandwiches
  • 8 slices of Multi-grain/Whole-wheat bread
  • 2 Tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 Onion, chopped
  • 1 Garlic clove
  • 1 Egg, whipped
  • 2 tbsp Milk
  • 4 Cheese slices
  • Olive Oil (or butter)
  • Shredded chicken
  • Barbecue sauce
  • Mustard sauce
  • Pepper
  • Chili flakes
  • Lemon juice
  • Thyme (optional)
  • Red wine (optional)

Procedure:

Setting up the layers
Setting up the layers
  • Add Barbecue sauce, Mustard sauce, Pepper, Chili flakes, Lemon juice, and if available Red wine & Thyme to the shredded chicken. Leave it to marinate for an hour
  • Heat some butter in a saucepan to saute the onions with garlic. Once cooked, add the chicken and mix well.
  • Grease the baking tray and lay bread slices.
  • Layer the chicken, tomato slices, cheese and sprinkle salt/pepper to taste. Cover the top with a slice.
  • Add some milk, and beat the egg. Pour this over the top slice.
  • Place the tray in an oven, and bake at 375′ for 30 mins.

Serve hot!

Recipe: Shredded Chicken

Getting ready
Getting ready

In an earlier recipe, I mentioned my plans to write a cookbook, exclusive to recipes using shredded chicken as the key ingredient. This post is chapter 1: “Preparing your key ingredient“. As simple as it sounds, boiling chicken is an art. The trick is to cook the chicken without leaving it too dry. And here is how:

Procedure:

  • Take enough water in a large vessel to fit the chicken pieces and bring it to boil – WITHOUT the chicken
  • Cut the chicken breasts (or other pieces) into sizable chunks
  • Once the water is boiling, reduce the flame & drop the chicken pieces into the vessel
  • While the chicken boils, keep skimming the foamy protein that floats on the top (as shown below)

Continue reading Recipe: Shredded Chicken

Recipe: Oven-toasted Chicken Bruschettas

At some point in time, I am going to write a book about cooking: “A Husband’s guide to quick recipes – a.k.a. all you need is shredded chicken”. The possibilities of what you can do with shredded chicken are limitless. I’ve used it with enchiladas, salads, nachos, pizzas and what not. Here is another easy one.

Ingredients:

Oven-baked bruschetta
Oven-baked bruschetta

Continue reading Recipe: Oven-toasted Chicken Bruschettas

Crackerjack Popcorn Fail

A year I tried this recipe for Homemade Cracker Jack and it turned out great! Crunchy peanuts glued to caramel pop-corn making for a nice sweet-and-salty snack. Just a few days back, I bumped into a question on Quora that asked ‘When do you realise that you are good at something?‘ to which I said: When repeating ‘it’ no longer worries you. Or when You dont need revision or preparation, and when others seek your opinion or value you experience.

In an attempt to get good at Crackerjack (and to satisfy my craving on a slow Sunday evening) I went ahead and tried it again. Only to realize that I still need to improve. The peanuts just didn’t glue with the pop-corn because my caramel sauce should’ve had more butter & water. But I’m glad that I attempted to perfect it, traced the cause of my failure and that I’m still eager to perfect it.

The caramel topping
Putting it together

Recipe: Cheese Nachos with Baked Beans

Ingredients:

Basic ingredients
Basic ingredients
  • Cornito (or other) Corn chips
  • Canned Baked Beans (Sil @ Big Bazaar)
  • Mozzarella Cheese
  • Finely chopped vegetables: tomato, onions, capsicum, olives, jalapenos
  • Salt, pepper, oregano to taste

Procedure:

Preparing to bake
  • Arrange the nachos at the bottom of the baking dish
  • Spread vegetables and then baked beans over the nachos
  • Then shred the mozzarella cheese as per your dietary requirement 🙂
  • Add additional layers if you’d like to bulk-produce
  • Bake in the over at 180c for 5 mins before serving

Continue reading Recipe: Cheese Nachos with Baked Beans