Bhuna Chicken

Bhuna Chicken

Last weekend I invited some of my friends at my place. I was thinking what to cook with Pulao. After reviewing many options finally I chose bhuna chicken. It was one of my favorite chicken recipe where the perfect blending of the aroma of whole spices and tenderness of juicy chicken gives an awesome relief to our taste buds. The thick and hot sauce of the preparation is a complement to the rich meat of chicken.

 The name bhuna derived from the cooking process as it cooks in whole spice for long hours. According to the sources; 'The dish "bhuna" is an extension of that process where meat is added to the spices and then cooked in its own juices which results in deep strong flavours but very little sauce.‘  The aroma of whole spices, the juice of onion, tomato and chicken and the gravy of curd make this preparation a household favorite. It goes well with rice dishes like biriyani, polao and with nun, tandoori roti and lachha paratha as well.

Ingredients:

Bhuna Chicken

Chicken: 1 kg

Onion: 5

Tomato: 2/3

Curd: 100 gm

Ginger Paste: 1 tbsp

Garlic: 1 tbsn

Red Chili Powder: 2 tbsn

Coriander Powder: 2 tbsn

Turmeric Powder: 1/2tbsn

Salt: As per taste

Oil: 2 tbsn

Ghee: 1 tbsn

Whole Spice:

Green Cardamom: 6

Black Cardamom: 1

Cinnamon Stick: 1 inch

Cloves: 4

Red Chili: 4 (Broken into two pieces)

Mace: 1/2 blade

Bay leave: 2

Method:

• Clean the chicken pieces and coat with lemon juice all over. Cover the chicken and keep aside for an hour.
• After an hour take two tablespoon of oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces. When the chicken pieces change colour, keep them aside.
• Then add some ghee on the pan. When the ghee is hot enough add the whole spices. Let it splatters for a minute.
• Now add the onion and fry till it changes color in a high flame. When the onions are golden brown, add ginger garlic paste. Cook in a low flame for another minute.
• Add the tomato pieces and cook until the mixture starts to leave oil.
• In a bowl mix all the powdered spices with salt and a little sugar. Add water to make a thick paste.
• Add the chicken to the work. Now add the paste with curd. Mix well in a light hand.
• Now add ½ cup water and simmer the flame.
• Cover the wok and cook for an hour in a low flame.
• After an hour, uncover the mixture and you can see the juicy chickens are smiling from a rich gravy.
• If you want you can add a little cream at the end.
• Now your Bhuna Chicken is ready, Serve it with Polao, biriyani, nun or paratha.  

Herb Cookies

Chef Sweta

Hello friend! Let me introduce our new guest blogger and a home baker Mrs. Sweta Dutta Nath. She is here with her all new Herb Cookies. But before indulging in the healthy affair of the these herbal beauty, we must know the creator behind. Cooking and baking is not a hobby of Sweta, she is a budding entrepreneur also. She has just introduced her home baking range Munchkins from her home in Kalikapur, Kolkata. But if you are out of the reach of her delicious baking range, don’t worry! We are here presenting various recipes from her diary. From today, you will get her culinary taste in Recipe Hut.

Herb Cookies

Now lets have a look at her new invention Herb Cookies. Cookies can cast magical spell on everyone. But the health conscious people resist themselves from taking an extra bite. But here Sweta presents an easy solution in form of Herb Cookies. These healthy, tasty and crunchy tidbits are also a great option for those who have sweet teeth. So don’t wait and start baking!   

Ingredients:-

Amul Garlic Butter -100gm

Flour-160gm

Icing sugar-1/4cup

Salt-1tsp

 Baking powder-1/2tsp

 Oregano-1tsp

Mixed herbs-1tsp.

 Method:-

1     1. Sieve flour,icing sugar,baking powder,salt together and keep aside.
 2. Beat butter until light and fluffy. 
 3.  Mix butter and flour mixture with light hand.
 4. Add oregano and mixed herbs and make a soft dough.
 5. Wrap the dough with cling film and keep it in fridge for half an hour.
 6. Roll the dough in flour dusted surface, shape the cookies by cookie cutter.
 7. Bake it at 160℃ preheated oven for 20 mins in microwave oven (in my OTG it takes 25-30mins)or  until light brown.
 8. Remove them and cool completely.
 9. Store the cookies in an airtight container and serve with a cup of tea.

Paneer Kofta or Cottage Cheese in Rich Gravy

Paneer or cottage cheese is one of the favourite ingredients of our household. Generally, in our house we consume vegetable meal on every Saturday. And it has become a national crisis for us to decide the menu. As like any other Bong family, we need a starter, dal, fry, one veg dish and one special dish with rice. In Saturday, the special dish is either paneer or Mushroom.  Generally we do paneer curry or mixed veg with rice. But sometime our taste buds want something special and spicy for the weekend. Then my choice is Paneer Kofta.

Paneer Kofta is a hot favourite in my house. It perfectly goes with both rice and roti. The rich colour of gravy and the loaded aroma will definitely tickle your taste bud. And the most comforting part of the recipe is that it can be made with common ingredients.

  Ingredients:

  Paneer: 300 grms

  Onion: 3 medium

  Ginger: 1 inch

  Garlic: 6 pods

  Tomato: 2 medium

  Green chilly: 4

  Turmeric powder: 1tspn

  Bay leaf: 2

  Cardamom: 4

  Cinnamon: 1.5 inch

  Mace and nutmeg powder: 1 tspn

  Garam Masala Powder: ½ tspn

  Red chilly powder: 1 tspn

  Cumin seed: 1 tspn

  Coriander powder: 1 tspn

  Chat masala: 1 tspn

  Coriander leaf: 1 bunch

  Salt: according to taste

  Oil

 Method:

First of all, grate the paneer. Now smash the grated paneer with coriander leaves, chat masala, coriander powder, and salt. Make small balls of the paneer mix. Add oil in the wok. When the oil is hot enough, fry the paneer balls. When the balls have become brown, set them aside. Now add some more oil in the wok. Make a paste of onion, garlic, ginger, green chilly and tomatoes. Add some cumin seed, red chilly and a bay leaf in the hot oil. Let them splatter for a minute. Now add the cinnamon and cardamom. When the oil will release a beautiful aroma, add the onion paste. Now sauté it in high flame. Add salt, sugar, turmeric powder along with it. When the mixture will start to release oil add the red chilly powder. Then add sufficient water. After adding water, put a tspn of mace and nutmeg powder. Cover it with a lid and let the curry boil for some minute. When you can see the rich gravy on the wok, add the garam masala powder and turn off the gas. In a bowl, place the paneer balls and pour the gravy from the top. Now your paneer kofta is ready. Serve it with hot rice or roti. 

Dum Aloo or Aloor Dum with Baby Potatoes

You can bring out a Bong out of Bengal, but you can not bring out Luchi and Aloor Dum out of a Bong. The irresistible taste of this two deadly combo works like a black magic for any Bengali especially for a Sunday breakfast or rather for a brunch. All over Bengal, there are many recipes of Aloor Dum or Dum Aloo. Some make it with onion and some make it without onion. It tastes good in either way. According to my taste bud, I like it more with onion.

Dum aloo can be made of any kind of potato but the baby potato is the best ingredient for it. I don’t get the supply of baby potato all over the year, so I follow the same recipe for any other kind of potatoes to make the Dum Aloo.

Ingredients:

Baby Potatoes: 500 gm

Onion: 2 medium (sliced)
Garlic: 5 Pods

Ginger: 1 inch

Green Chilly: 2

Tomato: 1

Cumin: 1 tspn

Dry Red Chilly: 1

Grounded garam Masala: 1 tbsn

Salt: according to taste
Oil: 2 Tspn

Method:

First, boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker until 1 whistle. Peel the boiled potatoes and sauté in a pan. Keep aside the fried potatoes. Now make a paste of ginger, garlic, tomato and chilly. Add oil in a wok. When the oil is hot enough, add the cumin seeds and red chilly and let it splatter for a minute. Now add the sliced onion. You can add ½ tspn of sugar to caramelize the onion. It also gives a rich colour to the dum. Fry the onion till it turns golden brown. Now add the ginger garlic paste and cook it well for few minutes. You can add bay leaf to this. When the mixture starts to leave oil, add the potatoes. Cover the potatoes with the mixture. Now add adequate water and cover it with a lid. Let it boil for few minutes. After the dum is done add the garam masala powder and switch off the gas. Serve it with hot Luchi or poori.

Double Decker Chocolate Barfi

This is the season of festivals. and Thoda sa Muh mitha is the most essential part of any Indian festivals. and nothing like home made sweets. And if the sweet has chocolate in it, then its the double bonanza. 

So here I am sharing with you Double Decker Chocolate Barfi which will be loved by every members of your family for sure.

Ingredients: 

Unsweetened Khoya Kheer : 200 gm

Milk: 2-3 Tablespoon

Suger: 1/2 Cup

Cocoa Poweder: 1 Tablespoon

Method:

Heat a nonstick fry pan. Put the Khoya kheer and crush very well. Now add suger and 2/3 tablespoon milk. Mix constantly with the spatula. After dissolving the sugar, take half of the mixture and spread it on a greased plate. Now add 1 tablespoon cocoa powder to the remaining khoya mixture. Mix well.Now turn off the gas and spread the chocolate portion on the khoya mixture and spread well. Let it cool for few minutes. Then cut nicely with a knife. your Double Decker Chocolate Barfi is ready.