Hello, hello, Assalamu alaikum lovely people… I know I have been missing for the longest time again, even though I promised I would be back soon. In fact, the entire month of February, I was trying to do a post, so that I don’t feel like I have missed my blog’s thirteenth birthday, but I did miss it. The post is still in my drafts. And then came Ramadan, Alhamdulillah… One of my favorite Hadiths about this month is the below:

As usual, my onus is on creating easy meals especially during this month when the onus is on doing more good. Recently, I gifted myself a Nutripot, which is a competitor brand for the Instant Pot at a better price, when I found it on a great deal. The timing couldn’t have been better – my big pressure cooker was giving up on me and this deal comes up, making me jump onto the purchase. I am really glad I did, I have been cooking in it every second day, if not every day. One thing I really wanted to try was to make a biriyani.  I loved how easy it is. I already have a few pressure cooker biriyani recipes on the blog like this one, but since this is a electrical machine, the settings are different.

The ingredients are readily available in your pantry. The only thing is to keep the pieces of chicken smaller than usual to ensure proper cooking. The entire process gets done in around 40 minutes and keeps the biriyani warm till it is time to eat – I love this feature. If you get the chance and have some space on your counter, then I do recommend to get one. I am sure you will not regret it. Meanwhile, let me go share the recipe and I sincerely hope you will try it for yourself as well…

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Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

An easy chicken biriyani made in the Instant Pot

Course Rice

Cuisine Indian/ Pakistani

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 600 gm chicken cut into small to meduim peices

FOR MARINATION

• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tbsp yogurt heaped

FOR RICE

• 1 1/4 cup basmati rice washed and soaked for 30 minutes
• 2 tbsp ghee or oil I used mix, more if required
• Mix of whole spices cardamom, black pepper, clove, bay leaf
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 2 green chillies thinly chopped
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tomato chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander and mint leaves
• 2 cups water

Instructions

• Wash and drain the chicken well.
• Add all the ingredients under "for marination" and coat well. Set aside till time of use.
• Switch on the Instant pot, take off lid, leave the inside pot. Set on "Saute" mode. Mine automatically shows 15 minutes. Leave it at that timing.
• Once the inner pot gets heated, add the oil and/or ghee. Add in the whole spices if using and saute for a few seconds.
• Add in the onion with some salt and saute occassionally till wilted. Do note that Instant Pot cooks faster than your usual pan, so keep an eye on the same.
• Once wilted, add the ginger garlic paste and chillies and saute for a few seconds.
• Add in the tomato and give a good mix. Cook till the tomato is smashed. If the mixture is getting stuck at the bottom, sprinkle in some water and scrape the bottom well.
• Once the mixture is well cooked, add in the chicken along with all its marination. You may add a couple of tbsp of water to clean up the marination in the pan and add it to the pan.
• Saute occasionally, tossing the mixture well, till the chicken starts to look whitish in color. Cook for roughly 5 minutes.
• Add in the half the coriander-mint leaves and toss well.
• Add in the water, adjust seasoning, allow it to come to a boil. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, or till the "Saute" option goes off.
• Drain the rice. Add into the boiling mixture along with the remaining coriander-mint leaves. Put the lid on.
• Choose the "Pressure Cooker" mode, keep on high, keep the timer for 6 minutes and start the process.
• Once the cooking is done, keep the pressure on for 10 minutes and then release the pressure. If you want eldente rice, then keep for 5 minutes. (refer notes)
• Open the lid, fluff up the rice. Serve hot with sides of choice.

Notes

My family likes overcooked rice and hence I kept it for 10 minutes. Otherwise let the pressure go off in 5 minutes. 

The post Instant Pot Chicken Biryani appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

Being a food blogger, there are a few habits that I find hard to shake off. For example, the wanting to do a blog post before I travel and leave the blog on its own till I come back. However, that didn’t happen. I started the post, but didn’t get the time to sit and complete it in the mad rush of going home. I have been finding it extremely difficult to keep coming up with posts for the blog, because cooking has become just for survival, rather than anything else. I miss the time when I used to cook and try new dishes, get excited about clicking and posting about it on the blog. I am hoping that now that I am back from the break and the weather is getting better, I will get a chance to try new recipes and post up on the blog. Just hoping for the best…

It has been long since I posted a rice recipe. You may know that I love Pakistani cuisine. I eat their food a lot, though I haven’t tried making too many and posting on the blog. I came across this recipe on Instagram some time ago. It used a pack of Shaan Pulao Biriyani masala. Usually, I don’t like to use packed masala powders, but I had to buy it. I was so tempted to make the pulao as soon as possible. I was very sure in my mind that it was absolutely flavorful. As expected, it was delicious. If you are looking to make a different recipe from the regular Pakistani pulao, then this is a must try… I have been trying to figure out why this pulao has its name as “Degi Pulao”, but I don’t seem to be finding an answer. If you know, do let me know. Off to the recipe…

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Deghi Murg Pulao | Chicken Pulao

Course Main Course

Cuisine Pakistani

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 6

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken cut into meduim peices
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1 tbsp whole garam masala cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, etc.
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 4-5 green chillies, slit
• 4-5 dried red chillies
• Salt to taste

FOR RICE:

• 3 cups basmati rice washed and soaked for 30 minutes
• 2 onions thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp oil or more, as needed
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp Shaan Pulao Biriyani masala heaped
• 2 potaotes peeled and chopped
• 1 large onion fried till golden for garnish
• 1/4 cup coriander and mint leaves chopped

Instructions

• In a pressure cooker, add the ingredients from chicken to salt along with 4-5 cups of water. Cook for one whistle and switch off. Release all the steam.
• Remove the chicken from the broth. Sprinkle with some pepper.
• Drain the broth, measure and set aside.
• Crush all the strained mixture and set aside.
• Heat oil in pan. Fry the chicken on both sides. Drain and set aside.
• Add the onion and saute till it is golden brown. Add the crushed strained mixture and saute for a couple of minutes.
• Add the chilli flakes and masala powder and saute till raw smell is gone. Add the potaotes and toss.
• Now add the chicken stock along with any additional water that may be required - should be a total of 4.5 cups and bring to boil.
• Add the drained rice and cook till water evaporates.
• Give the rice a toss. Spread the chicken on top. Sprinkle fried onion and coriander-mint leaves.
• Cover with foil and close the lid tightly. Cook on low flame for 15 minutes. Switch off and allow to rest.
• Serve hot with sides of choice.

Notes

For one cup of rice, 1.5 cup of stock. 

If you have bukharay (dried prunes), add a couple of them along with the potatoes. 

The post Deghi Murg Pulao | Chicken Pulao appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

I never intend to take long breaks with blogging but really, I don’t know how fast time is flying. Somehow before I knew, the first part of June is already over, and we are almost to at the middle of the month, and before we know, half of 2023 would be over. I am not going over there… At the moment, I am typing this blog post watching “Julia & Julie” in the background. The movie reminded me about my initial years of blogging, where I used to cook one new recipe every other day, get excited about how it turns out and then proceed to blog about it. It explains why I had a blog post almost every single day in the first few years of blogging, before it slowly started getting a little overwhelming and I had to slow down purposely. Now I don’t have to even do it, it just seems to happen… If not for the Blogging Marathon, I wouldn’t have even posted anything. This week, I am doing the theme of “Gravies for Flatbreads” in this week’s #147.

I have had this recipe on my drafts for a very long time. It kept moving from month to month since I made it the first time in February and repeated it again a couple of times. Maybe now is the time. I was seeing a lot of “Afghani Chicken Curry” on Instagram, that sounded absolutely easy to make and you know that I am not someone who won’t try anything that doesn’t need much of hardwork. I don’t know how authentically Afghani this is, but the gravy is very mild with a hint of spice. What I love about it is the ease to make, very similar to the Shinwari Karahi. The base can be made using one or a combination of your choice – cream, cashew paste and/or yogurt. I used a mix of cream and yogurt, since I feel that makes the dish feel less guilty. Hehe… Even though there are so many recipes on the internet with a little variation here and there, I decided to stick close to this one and cook my dish. All I can say is that with chapathi or with very hot roti, this chicken is really delicious… Off to the recipe…

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Afghani Chicken | Creamy Chicken Curry

An easy chicken curry made in Afghani style...

Course Main Course

Cuisine Afghani

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 500 gm chicken with bones, cut into meduim pieces
• 2 tbsp oil/ butter/ ghee
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp kasuri methi

FOR GRINDING

• 1 onion
• 4-6 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger peeled
• 3 green chillies
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves loosely packed
• 125 ml cream one packet
• 3/4 cup thick yogurt
• Salt to taste
• 3/4 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• Juice of half a lime

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients under "for grinding" and grind into a smooth paste.
• Add into the chicken and combine. Marinate for atleast a couple of hours or as much as possible.
• In a saucepan, heat oil or ghee, fry the bay leaves.
• Take out the chicken from the marinade and add into the pan. Shallow fry both sides till a little char, not necessarily cooked.
• Add around half to three fourth cup of water into the marinade and add into the chicken. Coat well.
• Cook on low flame, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking to the pan, till the sauce is cooked. (refer notes)
• Sprinkle the kasuri methi, give a good mix. Serve hot with bread of choice.

Notes

I kept my curry thick and without much of the sauce. If you want a little gravy, add a little more water almost at the end or some milk for extra richness. 

The post Afghani Chicken | Creamy Chicken Curry appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

The month end means it is time for the Shh Cooking Secretly Challenge. This is one challenge that I have been participating in since the inception of it years ago, and still enjoy doing the posts for it. Somehow, my blog seems to be having content only because of the Blogging Marathon and this challenge. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be making an attempt to make new posts. Somehow, cooking has become something that just needs to get done, as long as the folks eat what is being made. I haven’t even baked in a really long while, which explains a completely spoiled cake that happened in my kitchen over the weekend, that I wanted to cry. It is funny sometimes how I am still a “food blogger” when I hardly cook…

Anyway, this month, the theme for this challenge was “Cook what you like”. I loved the theme, because it kept the whole challenge open for everyone to choose what they want to. This time, I was teamed up with Priya Vijaykrishnan, with whom I am doing this challenge for the first time. Her blog is a treasure of vegetarian and vegan recipes. Even though I was very tempted to try push an idea of having a theme, I kept it to myself. I am sometimes known to force upon my ideas onto my teammates, which of late, I realize was not the best thing that I have been doing. Anyway, after a little discussion, she gave me the secret ingredients of mixed herbs and cream, while I gave her mustard and cumin. While I go on with my post, do check out what she cooked with her secret ingredients…

Ever since I found this way of making pasta, I have given up on making it the traditional way. I can attribute that mainly to my laziness to wash more dishes. Hehe… Then I discovered a way of just putting pasta along with all other ingredients into a baking tray and just allowing the oven to work on its magic. I actually wasn’t sure when I landed up on it. I had all sorts of questions – would the pasta be cooked, would the sauce be too runny, would the chicken be cooked, am I sure I want to do this, so on and so forth… But the ‘keeda’ in me really wanted to try it for myself and see how successful it would be. If you notice, I love my one-pot baked meals like this rice casserole and this chicken n veg casserole. They make absolutely easy and fulfilling meals. Now I add this pasta onto the list. It was a huge success and will be a must try for the pasta dinners – or lunches.

The prep time for this dish is absolutely minimal. All ingredients used are store cupboard ingredients, except the protein you end up using. I used boneless chicken breasts and cut them into small pieces to ensure that they get cooked. The tomato sauce, broth and cream are ingredients we would otherwise use. Once baked, you may feel that there is a lot of liquid in it, but when the pasta sits, it thickens and the texture becomes nice and creamy. I am sure that once you try it, you will be hooked onto making it each time you crave for pasta, without messing up your hands too much. Off to the recipe…

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No-Boil Baked Pasta {One Pan}

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 300-350 gm boneless chicken breast
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 400 gm macaroni of choice one pack
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes 400 gm
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chicken broth refer notes
• 1 tsp mixed herbs
• 200 gm mixed parmesan and mozarella cheese I didn't use

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Keep a baking dish ready, greased with olive oil.
• Cut the chicken into small peices. Toss with the garlic powder, paprika powder and salt. Spread on the tray.
• Open the pasta pack and spread on top of the chicken.
• Now layer in the tomato sauce, chicken broth and cream one on top of the other. Using a spatula, give a slight mix.
• Sprinkle in the seasonings. Cover the tray with two layers of aluminuim foil and pock at a few places for steam to escape.
• Bake for 50 minutes. Take out and remove the foil. Be careful of the hot steam.
• Sprinkle the cheese if using with more seasonings of choice and bake for another 10-15 minutes till the cheese melts.
• Serve hot...

Notes

I made the chicken stock by combining 2 cubes of stock into one litre of warm water. 

Instead of using one whole cup of cream, you can use milk for half the quantity. 

Be creative with your seasoning.

I used chunky tomato passata, you can use any tomato sauce of your choice. 

I didn't use cheese since I ran out of cheese in my pantry. But remember, cheese makes pasta better, so use it...

The post No-Boil Baked Pasta {One Pan} appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

SubhanAllah, we are on the last ten days of Ramadan. How fast time is flying… Every year, we look forward to the last ten days, which Allah has declared includes the best night in the whole year, the Lailathul Qadr – “Khairun min alfi shahar” – better than 1000 months, easily more than our one lifetime. We are asked to look out for the day and increase as much as good deeds we can do during these last ten days in anticipation of the blessed night.

However, as women, we may face our periods interfering with our days and we get upset that we may not be able to do as much as we can, especially since prayers are not allowed. Allah is Ar-Rahman, and hence expecting His Mercy while we make our sincerest intention, we can make as much as zikr our tongues can handle, listen to some beautiful recitations like this one and recite along with it, give charity, cook food for our neighbors, listen to lectures to learn new things about our religion, the list is endless…. At night, when everyone runs towards the Qiyamulail, we can sit on our prayer spots and make our dua. We don’t need to be clean to do that. It is a condition that Allah has given us to let us take things slow, since He knows how much we put a lot of stress on ourselves. So let us be His thankful slaves and do the best we can, InShaAllah…

My dear blogger friend Meena, who loves my collection of Emirati recipes, once messaged me saying that she had found out this recipe that uses broken wheat called “Jereesh” and I must try it, since it was really easy to make and absolutely delicious. As soon as I read through the recipe, I felt it like a cross between the Harees and the Arseeyah. Moreover, it had been a really long time since I had tried a new Emirati recipe. So I took the opportunity and decided to make it.

Jareesh is nothing but broken wheat. It is a little bigger than the regular nurukk gothamb we use and hence has a higher cooking time. Just like the Harees, it is very much a one-pot meal and uses chicken as its protein. To make it quite rich, it uses yogurt and cream as well. Top it with some ghee and fried onions, and you have a soulful dish at hand. It is said that Jareesh is more of a Saudi Arabian dish – in fact, it is declared as their national food – with little variations in the end result. Immaterial of it, it is still delicious in its own way… Try it during Ramadan or maybe even as a lazy lunch or dinner meal any day later, InShaAllah… There are variations that include tuna with a little spices, also the Saudi version of mixing jareesh with a little rice, which I must try gradually…

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Emirati Jareesh | Broken Wheat with Chicken and Yogurt

Course Main Course

Cuisine Emirati

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 1 cup jareesh
• 1 large chicken breast refer notes
• 1 stick cinnamon small
• 2-3 cardamom
• 2 cups water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 stock cube
• 1 cup yogurt
• 125 ml cream one pack
• Melted ghee and fried onions for topping

Instructions

• Soak the jareesh for at least 2 hours or more. Clean and drain.
• In a pressure cooker, add the jareesh, chicken, water, cinnamon, cardamom, chicken stock cube, salt and pepper. Pressure cook for around 5-6 whistles on meduim-low flame.
• Allow pressure to go by itself.
• Whisk the yogurt and cream together.
• Open the cooker, add the yogurt-cream mix. You will see the mixture is dry, the chicken is all shredded.
• Bring the mixture to cook for around 10 minutes on low flame. Adjust seasoning.
• Using a hand blender, blend the mixture till smooth.
• Serve hot, with ghee and fried onions.

Notes

You can use chicken with bone for more flavor, just make sure the pieces are small so that it is easy to discard the bones. 

The post Emirati Jareesh | Broken Wheat with Chicken and Yogurt appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

Tortillas have become a regular in our grocery list. Azza loves to make different things with them or simply make them into a sandwich. I love them filled with the fajita filling. It is also one of the best bases to make quick fix pizzas. So while I signed up for the theme of “Dinner in 30 minutes” for this week’s Blogging Marathon #144, I definitely wanted to make something with tortillas. And here it is… Hehe…

The major inspiration for this recipe came from here, but I used my own list of ingredients based on what was available in my pantry. I usually have cooked chicken in my fridge and it came in very handy for this recipe. If the chicken isn’t cooked, it may add just another 10 minutes to your cook time – or even easier, order some rotisserie chicken and shred it. All you need to do is toss up the chicken with the condiments, roll them in cooked tortillas, arrange them, spread a lot of cheese and bake them just till bubbly. Apart from the 30 minutes to make this, it hardly took 5 minutes for the empty pan to end up in the sink. Hehe… My family definitely adores such meals as much as they can… Really… Off to this recipe…

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Super Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded cooked chicken you can use rotisserie chicken
• 2 tbsp cream cheese heaped
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 6 tortillas meduim sized
• 100 gm mixed cheese I used a mix of cheddar and mozarella
• Chilli flakes and fried shallots for topping

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Spray a small baking pan and set aside.
• In a bowl, combine together the chicken, cheese, hot sauce, spice powders and give it a good mix. Divide into six sections.
• Toast the tortillas both sides for 10 seconds, spread one portion of the chicken mixture, roll and set on the tray.
• Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
• Sprinkle the cheese, red chilli flakes and fried shallots on top.
• Bake for 15 minutes or till the cheese is melted. Dig in hot!

The post Super Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

There are times when my girls just don’t want to have any carbs. In fact, my girls aren’t fond of them, whether it is rice or chapathis. They just like to have their food as is. Some dry chicken dish on the side and cucumbers are their favorite meal any time. Unfortunately, my Indian mother head can’t accept it at times, even though it makes my life easier. After three months, I am back to doing the Blogging Marathon #144. This year, the format has changed to two posts per week for the chosen theme, instead of three. It can be done anytime within the week. I seem to like this format, making life easy yet keeping us motivated to create and keep the blog alive. For this week’s theme, I chose “Dinners in 30 minutes”. I already have a lot of “under 30 minute” recipes on the blog, ranging over all sorts of courses. So I am glad to be adding two more to that long list. Also, this marks the beginning of a new tab on my blog called “Azza Cooks”. Azza loves to cook, especially easy recipes that keep popping up on her Pinterest. Since I noticed that she was cooking more than I am, I decided to include whatever she tries on the blog. Why not, right? So here is the first recipe on the blog, that was cooked from start to finish by her.

I buy chicken wings once in a while because my girls love the chicken lollipop. But then once when I had planned to make it, Azza asked me if she could make these sticky wings that she had come across somewhere. I helped her a bit with the baking, but she did the rest. It was so delicious, that we wiped off the pan completely. The recipe is also very easy to make. I used chicken wings that we cut in the middle, and hence baked faster that full wings. I would have added some spring onions too but I didn’t have them. But if you do have it, then go ahead and use for that authentic Chinese look. You can serve this with plain rice or simply have it with a huge bowl of salad and soup as sides. It felt very similar to the sweet and sour chicken, though with a different set of ingredients. Off to the recipe…

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Sticky Chicken Wings

Course Starter

Cuisine Indo Chinese

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 300 gm chicken wings
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• Oil for spraying

FOR SAUCE

• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 4 tbsp red chilli sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp white pepper powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sesame seeds and spring onion for sprinkling

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray.
• Toss the chicken wings with the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Line on the tray and spray some oil on top. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping the wings in between.
• Five minutes before taking the wings out, heat oil in a saucepan. Sizzle the garlic.
• Whisk together the sauces and honey, add into the pan. Keep on low flame.
• Add in the spices and allow the mixture to heat up. Adjust spices.
• Add the baked wings and toss completely till coated. Cook for another two minutes.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and spring onion if using and serve immediately.

The post Sticky Chicken Wings appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

If you have been reading my blog religiously, you would note that every December for the past few years, I have been participating in the Bakeathon, where a group of bloggers get together to prepare 13 baked dishes over the month. I was supposed to start posting on Friday, however, I very unexpectedly won a giveaway on Instagram to travel to Georgia for 4 days, grabbed that opportunity and was there with Famidha in 24 hours. Apart from being hardly prepared to bear the extreme cold, we had an amazing time and returned back yesterday afternoon. It was her and mine first solo trip without any strings attached and we had so much fun. From the greenery, to the mountains, to the cold, rains and snow, and the tours to historical places, we managed to cover a lot in those days. I have already shared a lot of stories on my Instagram account and hence I am not to elaborate more on it here. Travel is not something that I have been able to do, even though I would love to, thanks to a lot of restrictions, and hence any opportunity I get, why wouldn’t I jump up on it?

OK, so coming back to the Bakeathon, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, there will be a post. Since I missed last Friday, you will see a post sneaking in one of the days. This time, I decided to go with the theme of “Main Ingredients 5 or less”. That means that any recipe you will see this month will use only five or less main ingredients – the quantity has to be more than 1/2 cup to qualify as “main”. There will be small quantities, of course like salt and baking powder, to be playing side characters. I thought it would be a challenge for me and it has been. Sincerely hoping you will enjoy the posts in this theme…

My first post this month is a very easy baked chicken dinner casserole. All you need to do is throw into a casserole dish small pieces of chicken along with vegetables that you can land your hand on, especially frozen vegetables, pour a creamy sauce all over, sprinkle in lots of cheese and some additional toppings, to finally bake it and dig in. I love baking casseroles – like this rice one or Sheperd’s Pie – since they are always a filling meal. It is an even better thing that my family enjoy such meals too. This casserole went into the same. And why I loved it? It is literally the easiest meal I have made in a long while. Hehe… So let this be to the start of a set of bakes with not too many ingredients…

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Easy Chicken and Vegetable Casserole

Course Main Course

Cuisine International

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

FOR CHICKEN

• 400 gm boneless chicken
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil

FOR SAUCE

• 10 gm butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 cup milk
• 1 tsp chicken bouillion powder or 1 stock cube
• Salt and pepper to taste

OTHERS

• 300 gm frozen vegetables
• 100 gm frozen spinach
• 200 gm mozarella cheese
• 1/4 cup black pepper
• Seasonings of choice refer notes
• Dried parsley as needed

Instructions

• Cut the boneless chicken into small strips. Toss into the paprika, garlic powder and salt.
• In a frying pan, add the olive oil and saute the chicken for around 5-7 minutes, just till partly cooked. Set aside.
• Thaw the frozen vegetables and the frozen vegetables.
• In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the olive oil. Fry the flour for a couple of minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and give a good mix. Just cook until thick. Set aside.
• Toss the bread crumbs and spices.
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Keep a large baking pan ready.
• Spread the chicken and the vegetables all over. Drop the sauce in random places all over.
• Spread sufficient mozarella cheese. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over it and then sprinkle the dried parsley.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes till the cheese is melted.
• Serve hot immediately.

Notes

I spiced the bread crumbs with Creole seasoning. You can use Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. It is only to add an extra layer of flavoring. 

The post Easy Chicken and Vegetable Casserole appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

For the Blogging Marathon #140 theme of “Pick One Cuisine – Anglo Indian”, here is a delicious yet mildly spiced chicken curry, that goes amazingly well with the Yellow Rice. When I found this recipe online, there were a few versions available with little variations. But the story was quite interesting. It seems that this curry was made with the country chicken that was grown in the yards of the Britisher’s own bungalows. This curry was a result of the ‘memsaab’ wanting a mild curry that her children could enjoy.

The lack of spice was what my girls loved about this curry. The curry uses a lot of whole spices at the beginning. The spice powders added are in minimum quantities. The best part about this gravy is the use of country chicken. Country chicken is much smaller and less fatty than the broiler chicken that is wildly available in the market. Since they are organic, they are on the pricier side too. I remember that in my childhood, D would buy this once in a while, but we loathed it, because the meat was pretty chewy. But this time, the one I bought was very flavorful and soft. The stew will be a little watery, since country chicken doesn’t have any fat to release and thicken the gravy. If you are unable to find country chicken, you can use regular chicken, but I urge you to try this curry with country chicken for maximum flavor.

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Country Captain Chicken Curry

Course Main Course

Cuisine Anglo Indian

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 1 country chicken around 250-300 gm
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 cardamom
• 1 clove
• 5-6 black pepper
• 1 pc cinnamon
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 onion sliced
• 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 small tomato crushed (optional)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder increase for spiciness
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves for garnish

Instructions

• Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Briefly fry the whole spices and garlic.
• Add the onion and sauté till golden brown.
• Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté till raw smell is gone.
• Add the chicken along with tomato, spice powders and salt. Give a good mix.
• Add water just enough to cover the chicken, close the lid and cook for 30-40 minutes on medium-low flame, or till the chicken is done.
• Adjust seasoning and finish off with coriander leaves.

Notes

There wont be much stock released by country chicken, so add sufficient water.

You can use regular chicken to make this curry as well. 

The post Country Captain Chicken Curry | Anglo Indian Chicken Curry appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.

Sometimes, we learn the actual name of a dish in mysterious ways. There is this old restaurant in Ras Al Khaimah that serves something called “chicken cutlets”. B took us there, saying that the restaurant was very well known for it. I was wondering, now what is so special in that, since we love our cutlets. We settled in and he ordered in the usuals – of course, it wasn’t his first time. They served a flat piece of breaded chicken, along with a mayo dip and some khubbus. First bite of it and it was love… Hehe… Sounds cheesy? We have gone to that restaurant multiple times later but when we ask the name of the dish to the waiter, he would still say, “chicken cutlet”. A little bit research and I realized that he was right. A cutlet is a British term for a breaded chicken piece. So what is Schnitzel? It is the German name for the same thing, but can be made with fish and veal as well. So there you go… I am so upset for being confused for basically the same thing. Did you know that the Japanese have a similar version called “Katsu”? Talk about global cuisine…

This is my second post for the Blogging Marathon #140 theme of “Restaurant Specials”. This dish is so easy to make, that you will not want to eat it again at a restaurant paying such a hefty price. I have used boneless chicken thigh, since they are much juicier than breast pieces. Flatten the boneless chicken to at least 1/4 inch and keep all pieces equal so that they cook similarly. They are first dunk into the flour, then beaten egg and finally coated by breadcrumbs, usually panko, but I used regular one and it is fine. The simplest seasoning is just salt and pepper, but I used some more spices. Some recipes use Parmesan cheese mixed into the breadcrumbs, so if you do have it, then feel free to add in a few tablespoons. But let me tell you, even if you don’t add the cheese, once finally fried, it does taste cheesy. HD kept asking if I had added cheese and despite me telling him not, he just wouldn’t believe me. In fact, the first time I made these were in my sister’s kitchen, with the side of mashed potatoes and mushroom sauce, and I got asked the exact same question. Off to this simple recipe…

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Chicken Schnitzel | Breaded Chicken Cutlets

Course Main Course

Cuisine International

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 500 gm boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs whisked
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 3/4 tsp black pepper powder
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Instructions

• Divide the chicken breasts into four equal pieces. Flatten each of the pieces using a rolling pin, close to 1/4 inch thickness for even cooking.
• Arrange in three plates - all purpose flour with little salt, the eggs and the flour whisked with all the spice powders and some salt.
• Heat enough oil to shallow fry. Keep a draining rack on a baking sheet ready to drain the chicken.
• Dunk one chicken piece into the flour. Dust off excess flour.
• Coat well with the whisked egg. Then dredge into the spiced breadcrumbs and coat all over, including the sides.
• Drop into the hot oil. Cook on medium low flame in order to cook the chicken well, making sure not to burn the sides, and flip to cook the other side. Make sure both sides are fried till golden brown.
• Drain onto the kitchen rack, and let the excess oil dip.
• Serve with salad or sides of choice.

Notes

You can just use salt and pepper in the breadcrumbs and skip the rest of the spices.

You can add 2-4 tbsp of grated Parmesan cheese into the breadcrumbs for more richness.

Discard the leftover flour.

There will be leftover egg and breadcrumb mixture. Mix them together, flatten and fry them briefly. They taste good on their own, like a snack.

The post Chicken Schnitzel | Breaded Chicken Cutlets appeared first on The Big Sweet Tooth.