Something new something fresh - AGAIN

A couple years ago , I started a weekly series on my blog called " Cooking with friends "and brought something new something fresh to you every Wednesday, It was very well received and popular series and so I am back with it yet again:))

As I said back then , "Cooking for family, friends and fun is integral to my blog, this is where I publish stories and recipes around the three.Today I begin, a weekly feature on my blog Cooking with friends. Every Wednesday, I will feature a friend of mine and her wonderful recipe:)). I am very excited and hope you all enjoy reading it as well. "

Today's chef is my friend Mehnaz . We have a lot in common - the alphabet M in our names, our passion for cooking and love of food , our zodiac signs , the biggest year of our lives( we became moms within 2 days of each other, last year), and too many other things to discuss here. shes an absolute sweetheart and I feel lucky to have a person that's so pure of heart, as my friend .You get the drift right ? Every year on Id, biryani, sevaiyaan and kebabs are a must haves at her place -she runs out of food within minutes and I am never surprised.

Mehnaz and I at our combined baby shower last year

Today, I will share another one of her recipes which is finger licking good -Roghan Josh.

the story behind the dish -Roghan josh is an an aromatic lamb dish and is Kashmiri by origin.Originally Rogan josh was brought to Kashmir by the Mughals. Characteristically, by Kashmiri interpretation, the name Roghan josh is derived from the word rogan meaning color and josh meaning either passion or low-moderate heat and the dish classically involves slow cooking at moderate heat for prolonged period of time. Powdered chillies are never used but essentially an extract of grinded chillies devoid of seeds. Kashmiri chillies being mild do impart, at least partially the red color and yet still keep the food mildly hot, but the real color of the dish is attributed to the extract from dried flowers.Classically, garlic paste and paste of a local variety of shallots fried before grinding called prawn locally in Kashmir is typically as essential as is saffron, but a wide array of spices go into the making of this dish.( wikipedia.)

You need:

1 whole chicken, skin removed, cut into pieces.

1/4 cup desi ghee or oil

3 tablespoons minced garlic

3 tablespoons minced ginger

5-6 finely chopped green chili’s

2 cups finely chopped coriander leaves/hara dhania/Cilantro

6-8 crushed Almonds

6-8 crushed Cashew nuts

1 ¼ Cup hung curd

Few saffron (Kesar/zafran) strands

3-4 drops kewra water

1 teaspoon garam masala powder

1 cup crispy fried onions (crushed)

2-3 teaspoon coriander seeds (roasted and crushed)

Salt to taste

This is how you make it:

Marinate the chicken with hung curd, chopped green chilies, coriander, salt, crushed almonds and cashews. Set it aside for an hour. Heat oil or ghee in a skillet or karahi and sauté ginger garlic paste for 1 minute.Add marinated chicken (only pieces) to it, continue to fry until they turn brown.Add the remaining marinade, cover and cook on medium for 30 to 45min until the oil begins to leave the edges of the pan and gravy starts to get thick and creamy.Mix fried onions (crushed), coriander seeds (roasted and crushed), saffron and Kewra in a separate bowl.Then add the mixture to the gravy, cover and cook on low for 10 minutes. Add water if curry gets too dry.Garnish it with shredded ginger.

You can make Roghan josh with lamb or chicken . And you ask me why it was finger licking good. Look at the picture-enough said ! Serve this delectable Roghan josh with naan or rice.

Roghan Josh

Until next week , stay happy but not hungry. Also, try cooking with your friends - its a lot of fun :)

Something new something fresh–part 3

Dear friends,I am stoked at your comments and words of encouragement on this series. It has galvanized me and I hope to feature more and more of my friends every Wednesday. It was such a bummer that I missed last week’s entry but you all know why that was:) I am just very glad to be back and posting again. Check out part 1 here.and part 2 here from the Something new something fresh series.



So without further ado, let’s just jump right in and I’ll introduce you to today’s Chef. She is..... Aparna.Will you believe me if I tell you, that we have never met...even once.Yet, I feel like we have known each other for many years!!She lives thousands of miles across the world and we are connected only through the world wide web and yet we’ve been friends for 4 yrs now.I look at that as an achievement in itself. Wouldn't you:)?

We met on a social networking site,decided to take a chance on each other and look how that chance paid off ..because today I consider her a really good friend (we have talked about all things under the sun). She recently got married to the love of her life V,who’s a great guy and also a very good cook.Needless to say, Iam very happy for this creative and artistic woman. All the very best on the exciting new chapter in your life, my friend :))


Aparna on her engagement day, Feb 09

Aparna's recipe has a fabulous name.It's called Ali Nazik and is a Turkish dish. (Aparna had this dish at a friend's place and loved the taste so decided to make it herself. She customized it’s a bit to suit her taste buds and it turned out well despite apprehensions). The dish is served in 2 layers on a serving dish. First comes the vegetarian part of it, and the beef part is layered on top of that. This sounds so yummy that I have to try it soon.Let’s get cooking

You need:
For the beef preparation:
260gm ground beef (you could use ground lamb if you don't have beef).
1 medium onion, chopped.
2 medium tomatoes, diced.

For the vegetarian preparation:
3 medium sized egg plants.
5 green capsicums.
6 cloves of garlic, chopped.
200gm yogurt (you could reduce or increase this as per your liking).

Spices and garnish:
(The measurements for garnish and spices vary according to personal liking.)
A bunch of parsley, chopped.
5 to 6 green chillies - sliced.
1 teaspoon of black pepper.
2 teaspoons of chilli powder.
1 teaspoon of coriander powder (a spice that i added on my own).
Salt (as per taste).
Around 4 tablespoons of olive oil.


This is how you make it
The Vegetables
Broil the eggplants and capsicums in the oven. (If you like her, don't have an oven, you could roast them over open flame, something that's done for making baingan-bharta, but without the oil).
After the vegetables have cooled down, peel off the burnt layers. Rinse in water.
Dice the capsicums and the egg plant pulp and mix them up together.

(Note: Usually, the capsicum-eggplant mix is not cooked over flame. Rather, olive oil, chopped garlic, chilli powder is mixed into the mix. She wasn't sure, how well she would have taken to the 'raw' taste of the mixture, hence this variant.)

In a deep pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium flame.
Add the chopped garlic and saute (don't let the garlic bits burn).
Add in the eggplant capsicum mix into this, stir will. Add in salt as per your taste and chilli powder. Stir and mix everything well.
Take the mixture off the flame. Add in yogurt (as mentioned before, you can reduce or increase the amount of yogurt; depends on your personal liking). Make sure that the yogurt is not watery. The mix that you get by adding the yogurt should be of a nice and thick consistency.
Transfer this mix to the serving dish.

The Beef
Saute the chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep pan over medium heat.
Add in the diced tomatoes.
Add salt (as per taste), coriander powder, black pepper powder.
Keep stirring for a while so that the spices mix well with the onion and tomatoes.
Add in the ground beef and keep stirring until cooked.(Note: Its okay to add in some water in between, just make sure that the beef preparation is not 'watery' in the end).
After the beef is done, layer this beef mixture over the eggplant-capsicum mixture that you had put into the serving dish.
Garnish with chopped parsley and sliced green chillies.ENJOY


AliNazik

Christmas Recipe 3 - Cornish Hen with Fresh Herbs and roasted potatoes

And now onto the third and final recipe for the Christmas spread I prepared -Cornish Hen with fresh herbs and roasted potatoes.You will find a little backdrop on cornish hen Here.

Before I decided on a menu for Xmas I thought about Cornish Hen with great trepidation because I was scared of cooking it.Why,you ask ..because I have never cooked a stuffed or roasted whole bird..chicken or turkey.Picking up a rotisserie chicken at Safeways or Fred Meyers is as far as I have gone(giggling just thinking about it).Besides,Iam from the land of curry :-) A roasted bird with just a little bit of seasoning could be a little bland for my taste if not marinated with the right spices(kidding)

However,my sister cooked a delicious turkey this past thanksgiving (pics of which I shall post sometime)and that gave me hope.She said I could do it too ..Yeah ,I thought let me not do a 15 pound turkey or 5 pound chicken but a 1 pound cornish hen I can do.

So,I bought a twin pack of Tyson premium rock cornish game hen and after much cleaning ,seasoning and roasting I was able to turn out a fairly tasty and nice looking bird :).Try it , its fun I guarantee you.


A frozen tyson cornish hen

You need :
1 cornish Hen (without giblets)
6 small red potatoes
Salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 fresh sage leaves, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary and sage, plus extra sprigs for stuffing cavity and garnishing plates
3 lemon slices
3 slices Onion(red/white/yellow)
Kitchen string (optional)

This is how you make it:
Since this bird was in the freezer for a while,I set it outside to thaw a day in advance.(yes it takes a lot of time to thaw)

Preheat oven to 450°F.Cut potatoes into small,bite-size pieces;toss with salt and pepper,garlic, and sage and place in a large, shallow roasting pan.Set in the oven.

Rinse the hen inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.Fold back wings.Rub with butter and sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper.Sprinkle with finely chopped herbs,and place a few more herb sprigs into each hen’s cavity.Also stuff the onion rings and the lemon slices into the bird.You can tie the hen's legs together with kitchen string to hold shape,if you want.(I did not do so.)

Remove potatoes from oven and place the hen on top.Return to pan and roast for 50-55 minutes, or until the hen's juices run clear when thigh is pierced with a fork and a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 180°F.

Remove the cooked hen from the pan and cover with aluminium foil for 10 minutes before serving.(why ?? if you slice right away ,the juices will drip and the bird will be bland.But if you let it sit then the juices are reabsorbed,bird will be taste better).

Garnish with fresh herb sprigs .To serve, place some potatoes and a piece of the hen you desire alongside mushroom-shrimp pulao and bean salad.