Chicken Croissants

An experiment that worked out great!! The buns were soft and delicate, a perfect compliment to the yummy filling in the center! And without all that butter that goes in regular croissants too!!! ;-)

Filling Recipe:

Ingredients:

Quarter kg boneless chicken breast, chopped into small pieces
2 small capsicum, red and green if possible, grated or chopped finely
2 tbsp sweet corn
1 grated carrot
1 small onion, chopped finely
1-2 green chillies, chopped
half tsp garlic paste
1 tsp chopped coriander
salt to taste
half tsp grinded cumin powder
a pinch of tandoori masala (optional)
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tbsp butter

Instructions:

Heat the butter in a non-stick pan, add the onions and stir fry until they're translucent. Do not brown them. Add the chopped capsicum and grated carrot, stir-fry for about 5mins until they start to soften. Add the raw chicken pieces and keep stirring until they start browning. Add the chillis, garlic, salt, cumin powder, tandoori masala and sweet corn. Saute until the chicken pieces become tender and well-done. If the mixture sticks to the pan and the chicken is not yet done, add a tbsp of water and cover until ready. Make sure that the mixture is completely dry. Finally, add the coriander and soya sauce, mix well and switch off. Pour the lemon juice on the mixture, and whilst still hot, use a wooden spoon to smash the small pieces of chicken so that they become shredded. Adjust salt/chilli to your taste.

PS: You can smoke the mixture with a coal and some oil to give it a nice bbq aroma. This mixture should be enough for around 16 croissants.

Dough Recipe:

Recipe for Dough (makes 8 croissants)

Ingredients:

2 level teacups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
half tsp instant yeast
quarter tsp baking powder
3 tbsp softened butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
warm milk mixed with water about half a cup (although you could need more or less depending on flour/altitude etc)

Method:

Sieve the flour and add the yeast, baking powder, yeast, salt and sugar. Stir it so that it's all well mixed. Add 2 tbsp of butter and 2tbsp veg oil. (Reserve the last tbsp butter for later). Rub into the flour using finger tips until the flour has a crumbly texture. Gradually add the warm milk+water, stirring it in with a wooden spoon at first until the dough starts to hold together, and then continuing to knead together with your hands until the dough has softened. You need this dough slightly sticky, it's a menace to handle but the result is worth the trouble. Just oil your hands slightly to help with the stickiness and keep kneading...adding a little sprinkling of flour when it gets too sticky to handle until the dough is nice and well-kneaded and formed into a ball. Apply a touch of oil all over the ball of dough, place in a container and cover with a damp towel. Place in an airtight cupboard (or even in the oven or micro-wave) and leave it to rise to about double it's original size. (40mins to an hour)


Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a huge circle of about 30cm diameter (use your fingertips to stretch the circle out when you feel you cant roll with the pin any further), then rub half of the reserved tbspn of butter all over this rolled out circle. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the circle into quarters, then divide each quarter again to form eighths.

Take the first eighth of the circle, place your mixture of choice on the edge (where the perimeter of the circle used to be). Roll carefully towards the pointed edge (where the center of the circle used to be), tucking the pointy end underneath (you can make a small slit near this pointy end just to give the croissants a nicer appearance, although this is not a must).... Curve down the edges of your rolled up croissant to form the crescent shape.

Place the croissants on a greased tray and cover them again for another half an hour so that the dough can rise again. Switch on the oven on medium high (around 175 degrees) and in the meantime, glaze the croissants with egg yolk to give them a nice colour. Bake for about 12-15 mins depending on your oven's heat.

When ready, remove and place them on a cloth, and take the remainin half tbsp of butter, and gently touch up the buns with it to give them a nice shiny soft finish...and they would smell heavenly too. Cover the buns in the cloth for about 10mins before serving. This gives the butter time to get absorbed fully into the croissants, thereby making them soft and extra delish. Serve warm!!

Butter Chicken

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken cut up into pieces.
2 tomatoes (blended)
2 onions chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
15 cashew nuts (made into a paste using water)
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp thick cream
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oil
Cilantro for garnishing

Marinade:
1 tbsp tandoori masala
1/2 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin powder
5 tbsp yogurt
Salt to taste
Mix all the above ingredients well in a bowl

Method:
1. Marinate the chicken in the marinade for one hour
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chicken for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and keep aside.
3. In the remaining oil, fry the chopped onions till golden, then add the ginger-garlic paste and fry sprinkling some water now and then till oil separates.
4. Add the cashew nut paste, chili powder, tomato paste and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Add the butter, cream and chicken. Mix well and cook until it is done.
6. Garnish with cilantro.
Serve with hot naan or paratha, or garlic bread.

Tasty Yogurt Dumplings Dahi Vadas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Urad Dal • 5 Green Chillies (chopped) • 4'' Ginger (chopped) • 4 cups Curd • 1 cup Milk • 1/2 tsp Roasted Jeera • 1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder • Oil for deep-frying • Salt to taste

Instructions:

How to make Dahi Vada:

• Soak two cups urad dal for about 6 hours. • Grind the soaked dal. Add salt, ginger, green chillies and little water to make smooth batter. • Beat this batter well, so that there are no lumps. • Heat oil in a pan. With the help of the slotted spoon, leave the batter in form of vadas in the oil. • Deep fry the vadas and keep them on a blotting paper to remove excess oil. • Now dip the vadas in cold salted water to extract their oil for few minutes. • Now squeeze out the water from vadas and keep them aside. • Add milk with the curd to whip the curd well. • Now add roasted jeera, red chilli powder and salt to the curd. • Put seasoned curd in a dish. Dip vadas in the curd. • Keep it in the freezer for half an hour. • Dahi Vada is ready to serve.

Yummy Mutton Dry

 I love how tender the mutton meat cooked this way turns out. It literally gets to an almost 'falling off the bone' tenderness, very enjoyable with pita bread or parathas or even baked potatoes.

 Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

 500gm mutton/lamb pieces with bone

 2 onions, sliced thin

 2-3 green chillies

 4 tbsp oil

 black pepper to taste

 salt to taste

 2 tbsp yogurt

 1 tsp ginger paste

 1 tsp garlic paste

 pinch of turmeric

 chopped coriander

1 tsp cumin+ coriander seed powder

 half tsp all spice pwd

 juice of half a lemon

grated cheese for decoration.

Instructions:

 Boil the mutton / meat with 1 grated tomato and 1 grated onion, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, half tsp garlic paste and half tsp ginger paste....until almost completely tender. Make sure you use just enough water such that it is not in excess. If a little water remains after boiling, it's ok, drain it from the meat and set it aside to be used later.

 In a separate pan, add the oil, followed by the sliced onions. Fry until golden, then add the garlic and ginger paste. Stir-fry for a minute, then add the boiled mutton pieces and fry them in the oil. Add the green chillies, yoghurt, the cumin, turmeric, chilli powder and black pepper. Keep the heat on low and keep stirring everything together until the yogurt is no longer visible. Now add the extra water if you want it to have a bit of gravy/moisture (you can add just a bit of regular water if none remained after boiling the meat). Let this simmer for a few minutes until the masala is thick, then squeeze the lemon and sprinkle the garam masala and chopped coriander and sprinkle the grated cheese over it. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Cover and keep on low heat for about 5 minutes then switch off and serve.

 You can garnish with sliced onions and chopped coriander or mint. You can even garnish with veggies or french fries.