Chicken Lollipops with a Soy Chilli dipping sauce

Chicken Lollipops with a Soy Chilli dipping sauce

 

During my childhood years in Mumbai, it was a rare ritual at our household to dine out. But, whenever we did, one of my family’s favourite restaurant to dine at was called “Uncle’s Kitchen”, which specialized in ‘Indian – Chinese’ cuisine.

Whatever the occasion, this would always be our first restaurant of choice. We didn’t mind the long lines or wait time – the whole experience was something we did together as a family. And of course, we had our favourite dishes that we would order at the restaurant, without fail, with every visit or take away order.

At Uncle’s Kitchen with Mum, 2013

 

Our favourite entrée was called “Chicken Lollipops”, which is generally served with a Schezwan sauce (a spicy sauce, made with dried Kashmiri chillies, used quite liberally in Indian- Chinese cuisine). However, when I made this dish, I served it with a quick and simple Soy chilli dipping sauce as these Chicken lollipops are quite flavourful and spicy on their own.

Every now and then I tend to crave food that is not easily available to me here in Australia and what better way to indulge in a craving than to recreate it?

This recipe requires chicken wings to be ‘frenched’ (to look like a chicken lollipop). Each wing would give you 2 chicken lollipops when broken down at the movable joint and frenched; one very meaty piece, with a single bone and one not-so-much, with two parallel bones of which the smaller bone should be removed. This step can be a bit time consuming.

‘Frenching’ these wings involves cutting the ligaments near one end of the bone, carefully separating the flesh from the bone and rolling it over towards the other end to form a ‘Chicken Lollipop’.

My trial of this recipe was with 2 chicken wings, so I got 4 pieces of Chicken Lollipops. I would allow for a minimum of 2 chicken lollipops per person as these delicious little blobs of spicy heaven go down quite easy. Be sure to adjust the recipe quantities accordingly.

 

Chicken Lollipops

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 Chicken wings – ‘frenched’ into 4 pieces
1 tsp Garlic paste
1/2 tsp Ginger paste
1/2 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp Soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese Rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce OR Chilli paste
1/4 cup corn flour
1/8 cup plain flour
1 egg
Red food colouring
Salt to taste

2 Chicken Wings

4 Frenched Chicken lollipop pieces

Method:

Mix the frenched chicken, garlic paste, ginger paste, chilli powder, soy sauce, chinese rice wine vinegar, sriracha or chilli paste, egg and salt.

Mixing the ingredients in a bowl

 

Add in the corn flour followed by the plain flour, a little at a time, making sure to coat the chicken evenly while avoiding any lumps being formed by the flour. Lastly, add the red food colouring and mix well.

Batter prepped to be left to marinate for an hour or more

 

Leave the chicken to marinate in this batter for a minimum of an hour (which is what I did and the chicken was still quite well flavoured). Refrigeration overnight is preferred.

Deep fry the chicken lollipops (well covered in the batter) in medium heat until the chicken lollipops turn into their distinctive beautiful brown toned red colour, slightly crunchy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside.

Deep frying the Chicken lollipops at medium heat

Chicken lollipops – about half cooked

Cooked Chicken lollipops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serve hot with a Soy chilli dipping sauce (recipe below) or a Schezwan sauce (bottled Schezwan sauce is available at certain Indian stores).

*ahhhhhhhh*

 

Soy chilli sauce

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Green Chilli finely chopped OR 1 pickled green hot pepper finely chopped
1 Garlic clove, finely minced

Pickled green hot pepper

 

Method:

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a microwave safe bowl and heat  in the microwave on high for 30-40 seconds prior to serving.

 

And you’re all set to enjoy this delectable treat:

Plated

 

Delicious crunchy chicken lollipops with a Soy Chilli dipping sauce

 

‘Baath Cake’/ Goan Coconut cake topped with toasted fresh coconut

‘Baath Cake’/ Goan Coconut cake topped with toasted fresh coconut

 

Seasons Greetings everyone!

I hope you’ve all had a very Merry Christmas and are all set to gear up for the New year?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2015!

Having not being able to visit the family this year, I have been celebrating the festive season with near and dear friends who have spoilt me with delicious food and gifts. While growing up in India and Kuwait, it was not uncommon for fellow Indians, particularly Goans and Mangloreans, to exchange home made Christmas sweets or “Kuswar” during this festive season. I did receive some from a couple of my Indian friends here – the M & M’s, which reminded me of the traditions back home.

It is often a competition, to some extent, of who can make the most amount of sweets and the best tasting sweets, but all in good spirits of course. Mum, my grandmother (Mum’s side), my sister and I would often begin preparing large quantities of these sweets on weeknights after school or work in November staying up late to odd hours of the night in order to be able to begin distributing plates of these to close friends and family in early Dec with visits to their home for a cuppa and to drop off/ exchange sweets and wish them the seasons greetings. The best part would be after you came back home and had all these sweets to try out from what people had given back to you and it was interesting to taste variations in recipes of several of these Christmas sweets.

While there are several of these recipes that I love, my favourite one has always been the “Baath cake” or Goan coconut cake. So this year, I decided to make Mum’s recipe my own and reminisce with some of my fondest Christmas memories.

While this is a Goan Christmas recipe, it could quite easily be enjoyed throughout the year if you’re a fan of moist and fluffy coconut cake.

 

Baath cake/ Goan Coconut Cake

Adapted from – my Mum
(Serves 12-15)

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cups fresh finely grated coconut (preferred) OR desiccated coconut
2 cups Sugar
2 cups Semolina (also known as ‘Rawa‘)
8 Eggs – separated (whites and yolks)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
300gm Butter (melted)
1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder (optional)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder (optional)
1 tsp Rosewater (optional)

Butter to be melted

Separate 8 eggs

Separated eggs yolks and whites

 

Method:

Mix the butter, egg yolks while adding in the sugar gradually.

Butter, egg yolks and sugar mixture

Next add in the semolina a little at a time, followed by the 2 cups of grated/ desiccated coconut. The batter should start to get quite thick at this stage.

Lastly add beaten egg whites (to soft peaks) and fold in gently. Make sure the batter in mixed evenly.

Beaten egg whites

Gently fold in beaten egg whites into batter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover and leave this batter to rest aside for a minimum of 3 hours. 6 hours – overnight is preferred – this step allows the semolina to soak in the moisture and fluff up.

When you’re ready to bake, pour the batter into a suitably sized baking dish and spread evenly.

Pouring batter into a suitably sized baking dish

Batter spread evenly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spread the remaining 1/4 cup of grated fresh coconut or desiccated coconut evenly over the top of the batter.

Fresh coconut sprinkled on top

Baath batter topped with fresh coconut

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 200ºC and bake the mixture for 25 mins – the cake should progress slowly to a beautiful golden brown.

Light golden brown

Medium golden brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the 25 mins have elapsed, check if the batter is cooked by inserting a clean butter knife – if it comes out clean, the cake is ready – else you might need to bake it for a few more minutes. The coconut spread on the top should have toasted in the oven, if it hasn’t, broil the cake for a couple of minutes.

Golden brown baked cake

Toasted coconut topping

 

Remove the cake and set aside to cool slightly. This cake is best served at warm to room temperature.

 

Serving suggestions:

This cake is great served on it’s own, accompanied by a good cup of tea (preferably Masala Chai) or alternatively with some ice cream. I’ve served it both ways.

Suggested ice cream flavours if you decide to go the ice cream route –

Vanilla:

Moist and fluffy Baath cake with Vanilla ice cream

 

Mango and Coconut:

I have to say this version was my favourite. I also did have a nice cup of tea on the side.

Moist and fluffy Baath cake with Mango and Coconut ice cream

 

I do hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do!

Punjabi Samosa’s with Mint yoghurt dip and Tamarind sauce

Punjabi Samosa’s recipe

It’s really hard to decide on your first recipe for a food blog – so many choices so little time. After sifting away through several recipes, flavors and ideas – I found myself incredibly hungry. In recent times, my sister was visiting my Mum in Mumbai (India) and while she was there, our chats have included images and discussion about the various Indian ‘chaat’ and snack foods and the like that she was enjoying. The purpose of this anecdote is to explain how the humble Punjabi samosa became my first recipe choice – it was merely a result of a combination of absolute hunger from all that research and my recent craving for Indian snack-y food due to the recent delicious Indian chaat and snack food discussions with my sister.

So without further ado – the Punjabi Samosa!

This recipe allows for 2 Punjabi samosa’s per person.

Punjabi Samosa

(Serves 4)

Ingredients – Dough:

2 and 1/2 cups Refined flour (Maida)
1 tsp Carom (Ajwain) seeds OR Thyme
1 tsp Salt
4 Tbsps Clarified butter (Ghee)
Water

Butter – to be melted (Substitute for Clarified butter/ Ghee)

Dried Thyme

Method – Dough:

Knead all the ingredients together into a firm, yet bouncy dough. Cover the dough with a cloth to rest aside.

Dough mixture – to be mixed by hand or electric dough mixer in a bowl

Kneading

Required dough consistency

Note: Amount of clarified butter used is key to getting the right dough consistency. As a general rule, the ratio of ghee to flour is approximately 1 Kg Flour TO 200 gm of clarified butter.

Ingredients – Filling:

2 Tbsp Clarified butter (ghee)
1 tsp cumin seeds/ powder
1 tsp ginger paste OR 1 inch piece of fresh ginger finely chopped
1 Tbsp garlic paste OR 5 garlic cloves finely chopped
5 Medium potatoes (Boiled and Mashed)
1 and 1/2 tsp Dry Mango Powder (Amchur) OR 1 Lime (juice)
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Red chilli powder OR 1 red chilli chopped
1 tsp Garam Masala (preferably Punjabi)
Salt to Taste

Optional Ingredients – Filling:

The following ingredients can be added to your liking.

1 cup Green peas (boiled OR steamed OR canned – Optional, but traditionally added in)
1 tsp Whole coriander seeds (dry roasted in a pan and ground/ pounded to a powder – Optional)
1 tsp Dried Pomegranate seeds (dry roasted in a pan and ground/ pounded to a powder –Optional)

Method – Filling:

Sauté all the ingredients in a suitably sized saucepan and mix evenly.

Spiced potato filling

 

Method – Punjabi Samosa:

The covered dough should now be uncovered. Make a ball slightly bigger than a golf ball and roll well.

Small ball of dough to roll out

Roll out into an oblong shape, about 4mm thick, to about the length of your palm. Cut in half.

Rolling out the dough

Rolling out the dough to an even oblong shape

Rolled into oblong shape and cut in half

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fill a little water into a small bowl. Dip finger in water and apply around the cut edge of one half and seal to make a cone.

Seal cut edge to make a cone

Fill the cone with the potato filling mixture, while leaving about 1cm space all around. Make a back bone of samosa and seal using water as before.

Filled up samosa prior to sealing it

Filled up samosas ready to fry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deep fry samosas in low to medium heat until lightly golden brown and crisp. Samosa’s are ready to serve and enjoy!

Finished batch of samosas

Removing the cooked samosas

Deep drying in low to medium heat

Beautiful golden brown samosa’s

I generally serve these with either bottled sweet Tamarind sauce, which I got from an Indian shop and/ or a fresh Mint yoghurt dip (recipe to follow).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mint yoghurt dip

Ingredients:

6 Tbsps Greek Yoghurt
2 Tbsp Fresh Mint (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp Fresh Coriander (finely chopped)
1 tsp Chaat Masala
1 tsp Sugar
Seasoning (Salt and Pepper)

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and you’re all set!

Chopped coriander and mint with yoghurt and seasoning

Mint yoghurt dip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And tadaaaaaaaaaaa:

Plating

Punjabi samosas with a Mint yoghurt dip and tamarind sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drink serving suggestions (from my personal experience):

The first time round I tried the Samosas as a snack with Rekorderlig Cider – Mango and Raspberry flavoured – and it was delicious.

Rekorderlig – Mango and raspberry

The second time round I had F over for dinner and she brought over a beautiful bottle of Ruffino Chianti (similar to another Italian wine that I quite enjoy) that also paired quite well with the Samosa’s as an entrée.

Ruffino – Chianti

Dinner with F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alternatively – most Indian food pairs well with tangy drinks or soft drinks.

Do let me know how you go with this recipe or if you have any suggestions!