Butter Chicken - Murg Makhani

Ingredients:

• 1 kg boneless chicken skin removed
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to suit your taste)
• 6 cloves
• 8-10 peppercorns
• 1" stick of cinnamon
• 2 bay leaves
• 8-10 almonds
• Seeds from 3-4 pods of cardamom
• 1 cup fresh yoghurt (must not be sour)
• 3 tbsps vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil
• 2 onions chopped
• 2 tsps garlic paste
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 2 tsps coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 400g/ 14 oz of chopped tomatoes, ground into a smooth paste in a food processor
• 1/2 litre chicken stock
• 2 tbsps kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• 3 tbsps unmelted, soft butter
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Preparation:

• Mix the chicken, lime juice, salt and red chilli powder in a large, non-metallic bowl. Cover and allow to marinate for 1 hour.
• Heat a flat pan or griddle on medium heat and gently roast (stirring frequently) the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, bay leaves and almonds till they darken slightly. Cool and add the cardamom seeds. Now grind into a coarse powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder.
• Mix the yoghurt, above whole spice powder (from previous step), coriander, cumin and turmeric powders together and add them to the chicken. Allow to marinate for another hour.
• Heat the oil in a deep pan on medium heat. When hot, add the onions. Fry till a pale golden brown in color and then add the ginger and garlic pastes. Fry for a minute.
• Add only the chicken from the chicken-spice mix and fry till sealed (chicken will turn opaque and the flesh will go from pink to whitish in color).
• Now add the tomato paste, chicken stock, kasuri methi and remaining part of the yogurt-spice mix to the chicken.
• Cook till the chicken is tender and the gravy is reduced to half its original volume.
• Melt the butter in another small pan and then pour it over the chicken.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Naan and Kaali Daal.
• For an authentic and traditional cooked-over-the-coals flavour: When the Butter Chicken is cooked, make a small bowl shape with aluminum foil and place it on top of the curry ('floating' on it). Heat a briquette of charcoal on an open flame till red hot and gently put the charcoal in to the aluminum foil bowl. Cover the dish immediately. Remove the cover just before serving, discard the foil bowl and charcoal and serve. The curry will be infused with a smokey flavor!

How to make Egg drop soup

Strawberry Mousse

Ingredients

1 quart fresh strawberries
1 package (1.4 ounces) 4 serving-size strawberry gelatin
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
Whole strawberries and whipped cream for garnish

Directions

1. Wash and hull strawberries. Cut each in half and puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, pour boiling water over gelatin and sugar. Stir until dissolved.
3. Pour pureed strawberries into gelatin and stir until combined. The mixture should be room temperature at this point. If not, refrigerate until cool.
4. Whip cream until stiff and fold into gelatin and strawberry mixture until well blended.
5. Spoon into individual serving dishes or keep in bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.

Strawberry Shortcake Skewers

When I saw these adorable skewers on Lady Behind the Curtain, they were just too cute to pass up.  I had to make these for my daughter’s tea party!  They are made with pre-made biscuit dough so it’s super easy too.

Roll out one piece of refrigerated biscuit dough to about a 5 inch circle and cut into 1 1/2 inch circles.  Each one should give you 7 circles.  Make sure you use your handy-dandy homemade circle cutter.

Yes, this circle cutter was made by my Dad.  First let me explain the type of guy my dad is.  He can make ANYTHING!!  Really, he’s a general contractor by trade, but a mad scientist in the workshop. He whipped up this little cutter and just soldered it together and voila, I have a cookie cutter!

Place the the biscuit circles on parchment paper and brush with an egg wash and sprinkle each one with sugar.

They are done when they’re a nice golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Now prepare the strawberries.  First wash and dry all the berries.  Cut the tops off.

Then the small end.

Then slice in half, giving you two strawberry circles.

I stacked them together and the kept each of the two pieces together, so it would look more uniform on one skewer.

I cut my skewers down in size to about 6 inches so they would look nicer.  You don’t have to do that.

Now just start layering with the biscuit, whipped cream and strawberries.

Start and end with a biscuit.  Easy peasy.  It was fun to make and even more fun to eat.  These were a hit at the tea party and they are fun to slide right off and pop into your mouth.

Strawberry Shortcake Skewers

Biscuit Rounds:
1 can of grands biscuits
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
sugar for sprinkling
20 large strawberries, 2 slices per strawberry
Cream:
2 cups heavy cream
½ jar marshmallow fluff
3 tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
On a lightly floured surface, roll a biscuit into a 5-inch circle.
Cut 7 – 1-1/2 inch circles and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with non stick cooking spray.
Whisk together the egg white and water.  Brush on each biscuit and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown.
While the biscuits are baking prepare the strawberries.  Cut two 1/2 inch slices from each strawberry.  I also kept the two slices stacked on themselves, so I could use the same strawberry for one skewer.  This way they fit together better.  Once the biscuits are baked, transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before constructing the skewers.  Then start layering; biscuit, strawberry, whipped cream.  Do this twice ending with a third biscuit on top.  One can of biscuits made 20 skewers.  That’s WITHOUT using the scraps.  If you use the scraps you’ll need to adjust the ingredients for extra.
Cream:
In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream and sugar and beat until firm peaks form.  Add half a jar of marshmallow fluff until just combined.

Beef and Rice Cake Skewers

Ingredients

10 oz NY striploin beef, cut into 1/2" thick strips (cut 3/4" longer than rice cakes)

1 lb fresh rice cakes

a bunch of green onion, cut into same length as rice cakes (using only white and light green part)

3 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Korean soy sauce for soup

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

dashes of freshly ground black pepper

1/2 small onion, grated

1/4 Asian pear, peeled and grated

1/4 kiwi, peeled and grated (optional)

some bamboo skewers, about 4" long

1-2 tablespoon canola oil 

 

Directions

1. Make a marinade by combining soy sauces, sugar, sesmae oil, garlic powder, black pepper, grated onion, grated pear. and grated kiwi (if using) in a shallow bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup of the sauce in a another container and set that aside.
2. Place the beef in the marinade mixture and toss together and let it sit for 10-15 minutes to soak up the flavor. Toss the rice cake with the reserved 1/4 cup of marinade in another bowl.
3. Skewer beef, rice cakes, and spring onion one by one to the bamboo skewers. (2-3 strips of each ingredient in one skewer)
4. Heat skillet over med-high heat and drizzle a little oil. Place skewers on the hot skillet and brown them about 1-2 minutes on each side. Add a little more oil if the pan seems too dry.
5. Serve warm or at a room temperature.

No-Bake Mini Heart Cakes

Ingredients

• 1 (16 oz) frozen poundcake, not thawed

      Icing

• 5 1/4 cup(s) (about 1 1/2 lbs) confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) milk
• 3 tablespoon(s) light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoon(s) almond or vanilla extract
• Red liquid or paste (icing) food color
• Decorations: tubes of white, red and pink decorating icing, each fitted with round piping tip; red crystal sugar; and tiny candy hearts (available in many supermarkets, crafts stores and cake-decorating and party-supply shops)

Directions

1. Have ready 2-in. and/or 2 1/2-in. heart-shape metal cookie cutters.
2. Using a long, sharp knife, trim rounded hump off poundcake so top is flat. Trim crust off sides. Slice cake horizontally in half. Cut hearts from each half.
3. Put hearts 1 1/2 in. apart on a wire rack set on wax paper to catch drips.
4. Icing: Stir ingredients, except food color, in a bowl until smooth and as thin as maple syrup. Divide between 2 bowls; cover 1 bowl with plastic wrap. Tint icing in other bowl pink.
5. Spoon pink icing over half the cakes, completely covering tops and sides. Stir drips on wax paper into icing in bowl; cover airtight. Let icing set 30 minutes. Meanwhile repeat with white icing on rest of cakes.
6. Thin remaining pink and white icings with a little water as needed; give cakes a second coat. Let set at least 1 hour.
7. To decorate: With decorating icing, pipe designs and words on cakes as shown, or create your own designs. Add red sugar and candy hearts.

Choc-a-block trifle

• Ingredients

• 4 good-quality chocolate brownies (about 85g each)
• 1/4 cup (60ml) Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur)
• 275g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 tbs caster sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 600ml thickened cream
• 150g white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup (30g) toasted chopped walnuts
• Dark chocolate curls (see note), to decorate

• Method

1. Step 1
   Break up brownies into small pieces and place in the bottom of a 1.5 litre dish or 6 x 1 cup (250ml) serving glasses. Drizzle over the Kahlua, then set aside.
2. Step 2
   Place dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water). Allow to melt, then stir very gently until smooth. Remove from heat and add 225ml boiling water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring to make a sauce (don't add water more quickly or the chocolate will 'seize' and become grainy). Pour sauce over the brownies, then cover and chill for 2 hours.
3. Step 3
   Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together in a bowl with electric beaters until thick and pale.
4. Step 4
   Heat 300ml of the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until just below boiling point. Pour the hot cream mixture over the egg mixture, stirring to combine. Transfer to a clean saucepan and place over low heat. Stir for 2-3 minutes until a thick custard forms.
5. Step 5
   Place two thirds (100g) of the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Pour the custard into the bowl, stirring until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is well combined. Cool completely, then pour over the chocolate brownie base. Chill for 2 hours.
6. Step 6
   Place the remaining 50g of white chocolate in a food processor with the walnuts and pulse until fine. Whip the remaining cream to soft peaks, stir in the walnut mixture, then spread over the trifle. Chill for at least 2 hours until set, then serve decorated with chocolate curls, if desired.