Patak's Chicken Tikka Masala - Quick and authentic in taste!

 I made today classic Chicken tikka masala- Undoubtedly the most famous Indian dish in Britain!   

That looks yummm...right ...so here is what you will need to make this dish

 Chicken + a jar of Patak's Tikka Masala + yoghurt! 

That is all...quick, easy and hassle free way to make Chicken Tikka Curry at home away from home. 

I added my own twist to the recipe. I marinated the boneless pieces of chicken in red chilly powder + salt + lemon juice. 

Stir fired the chicken pieces first to seal the flavours and make Chicken tikka ...then we will add the Patak masala for making the sauce. 

  Then added a jar of Patak's Masala Sauce and 2 whole green chillies as I like it hot. 

Then added 2 tablespoon of yoghurt to make the sauce much more creamier. That was me done! All ready to dig in with my hot naan in the Chicken Tikka Masala. 

The best part of cooking this was that there was no chopping, crying required for the onions ....and no after cooking cleaning. Quick and easy but still the same flavour I would have got following my traditional recipe.

This is a quick click of my kitchen after cooking and the empty jar that did the work of  my recipe paper (seen here with the spurts of curry and masalas on it....has been my guide through soo many cooking experiences!) 

 Happy Friday Everyone!!

First attempt to make Fresh Cottage cheese (Paneer)!

I had semi skimmed milk in the refrigerator which was going off date and had to use it. I thought to make Cottage cheese (paneer) from it. 

But I haven't made it earlier so looked up for a recipe. I found an easy to follow recipe here: 

http://www.journeykitchen.com/2011/11/how-to-make-paneer-at-home.html. 

I used 2 pints of milk to make paneer. 

How I made Paneer? 

Ingredients 

2 pints Fresh whole milk 

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

 You will need cheese cloth (butter muslin cloth), I had regular muslin cloth and used that. Regular muslin cloth is better in making cheese. 

Method:

Heat the milk to a gentle boil 

 Add one tablespoon of juice and quickly stir it in. At this point, you will start to see small curdles in the milk but no whey. Add another tablespoon of juice and again stir it in. 

 The curdles will increase and you will slowly begin to see the greenish whey. Switch of the gas immediately at this point. 

 Line another pan with muslin cloth. Drain of the whey (collected in the pan below the muslin cloth). Wash the curdles, by running it through cold water to remove the lemon taste. Drain of of all the liquid.

 Wrap the ends of the cheesecloth over the paneer. Then place weight on the cheese to make it flatter and drain out extra moisture. I placed it on my cutting board with kitchen towel on it to soak the draining liquid. Kept a heavy pot on top for 15 minutes. 

 My cottage cheese is ready....fresh and moist. I used it in my salad for lunch with pepper, drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice for dressing. 

 What about the whey? Well, you can use it to cook rice or any vegetables. Also add it to roti dough for super soft rotis. 

 I also had to share with you all a photo of my pot of rose plant. It has got many fresh roses that have bloomed on it. These roses remind me of my grandmother. She had a lovely rose plant in the garden. She used to wait anxiously for the buds to bloom  into light red-pink roses. 

Friday Fish and Chips - The Indian Style!

Its been a while since I have written a post. I have been missing from action as I have been busy working on the launch of the diet food hampers, that I have been building from the last 6 months. Take a peek of the website www.tinaodoherty.com. 

It feels like I have not cooked with patience from a long time...precisely 10 days! I miss being in my kitchen. 

Today is Friday and a day off...so it meant enjoying the traditional Friday meal of Fish and Chips! But going to make the fish in Indian flavours. 

Friday is traditionally a day where fish and chips are eaten all around the UK.

Why is this? (I din't know the reason myself, so read more about it)

This is historically for religious reasons. The Roman Catholics observed a tradition of not eating meat on Fridays. Chips were an accompaniment to fried fish because the oil in which the fish was fried often became too hot for good frying. Potatoes were added to lower the temperature. Also some people say, Friday was pay day and fish and chips were bought as a treat.

I pan fried my fish that was marinated in Indian masala. It was hot and crunchy. I ate a small portion of baked chips and a large portion of salad which was a mixture of lettuce, carrots, bean sprouts and Edamame.  

Enjoyed my lunch.....but I was excited all along to put this recipe up on my blog! So here is the recipe to share with you all. 

 Ingredients

Serves 2
2 fillets of haddock fish

2 teaspoon cooking oil (for pan frying fish)

Marination Mix: 

2 tablespoon gram flour

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

1 green chilly, chopped

1 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 teaspoon of red chilly powder

1/2  teaspoon turmeric powder

About 1 teaspoon salt

Marinate the fish (I used haddock) in the marination mixture. Add little water to the marination mixture to coat the fish well. 

Pan fry the fish on medium heat for 10 minutes till golden brown. That is you done! Nice and quick.

I surely missed sharing my days with you all!! 

British Egg Week

Get cracking with British Egg Week

1-7 October 2012

It's the last day of the British Egg week and Sunday morning also , thus my breakfast has to be eggs! 

While making our usual fare of omelette- 2 whole egg omelette for my husband and 2 egg white omelette for me, I realised that this is dilemma in everyone's mind Does egg taste good without the yolks??

So here is a egg citing fact! 

2 whole eggs are 180 calories

 

 Eggs contain cholesterol, and high cholesterol levels in our blood increases our risk of heart disease.However, the cholesterol we get from food – including eggs – has less effect (when limited to 1 egg yolk) on the amount of cholesterol in our blood than the amount of saturated fat we eat. Two yolks contain 420 milligrams of cholesterol, which far exceeds the maximum recommend daily intake of 300 mg.

Most of an egg's nutrients are found in the yolk, especially the essential fatty acids, B vitamins and anti oxidants. 

2 egg white are 34 calories

So it is true that egg whites are a low-calorie food, and it contains absolutely no fat and cholesterol. In one large egg, protein content in the egg white is 3.6 grams, which amounts to 7 percent of daily value. 

 I thus avoid the egg yolks more to save my calories and fat intake at the beginning of the day! 

Made our omelettes with the same ingredients: tomatoes, onion, green chilly, coriander and salt. 

Here are our omelettes. Spot the difference!

Even if you have spotted the one with/without the egg yolk, I can tell you that my husband din't find a difference in taste. But yes when I told him that he was having 180 calories in his omelette and me only 34 calories, his face was 

So You may be throwing away the yolks to cut calories and reduce cholesterol, which is fine or having a whole egg to get all the nutrients. 

Think about keeping a few yolks every once in a while!

Lets all enjoy eggs- a healthy and quick breakfast. 

National Potato Week

National Potato Week takes place from 1-7 October this year; as it is the start of the main season for crop harvest.

Potatoes are a personal favourite of mine too, but need to watch how I have them though.

Potatoes are good for you when had in small portions as they are starchy. It is often not the potato itself that makes the dish calorie dense but the way of cooking!

 Potatoes contain high-fibre and high-potassium and a great combination when mixed with other vegetables.

Keeping in the theme of National Potato week, here is a traditional Indian recipe cooked with potato, aubergines, drumstick vegetable (glad I found them) and peas. 

This recipe has been handed down from my grand mom to my mom and ten to me. It is a simple,easy and one pot dish which is made very often in Indian homes.

The summer that never really felt as one, is now over! I can feel the cold and the wind of autumn and thus remembered this dish as we used to have it more often in winters. It has a lovely broth to it which is served piping hot and keeps the body warm.






Recipe for Potato (Star of the week) with aubergines, drumsticks (you can make this without drumsticks also) and green peas.

Ingredients

Serves 3

1 teaspoon cooking oil

3 medium potato, cut into halves

1 medium aubergine

1 cup of green peas 

500 gm drumsticks (used Taj Drumsticks)

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

 1 green chilly, sliced

1 teaspoons whole cumin seeds

A generous handful of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

11/2  teaspoon of red chilly powder
11/2  teaspoon of coriander-cumin powder

1/2  teaspoon turmeric powder

About 1 teaspoon salt

Cooking Method

Heat the oil in a wide pot over a medium flame. When hot, add whole cumin and green chillies.

Add potatoes, drumstick and green peas and let it dry cook. Do not add aubergine at this stage as it then becomes too soft and mushy. 

Add chopped tomatoes and fry for a couple of minutes with some juiciness left.

Now add the aubergine.

Mix thoroughly and let it cook in a covered pan under the steam. After 5 minutes add 2 glasses of water and cook in closed pan.

 Garnish with fresh coriander and that is you done!

To complete your meal serve with rice-lentil combination. I made my rice with red gram lentil. 

It is a nutritionally complete meal as it has different vegetables, starch from potato and rice and protein from the lentil. 

It was so tasty and filling!


After an hour while writing the post had grapes and pineapple.

A lovely and well spent evening after work- tasty and well balanced meal-sharing it with all of you there- and fresh fruits to add a topping to a nice experience!