A successful sunday cooking experimentation which made my day worthy…
Whenever I get into the kitchen to whip up lunch or dinner, I feel like I am a novice in cooking. I cannot think of a single day when I actually would have entered the kitchen with the pro feeling. Initially, I was a real novice and as I got better, I was hoping that this feeling would fade way after a while. But it hasn’t yet changed a bit, I still feel the same. Honestly, this is the worst feeling ever.
So this is what happens the moment I enter the kitchen:
As a novice I enter the kitchen, I wander around cluelessly for a while. I open the pantry and refrigerator at least ten times. I even stare at certain veggies or fruits or other ingredients a few times, something triggers my brain, my hands and legs seems to co-operate together. I get into action, I witness myself involved in sauteing, stirring, flipping and frying; at this point I act and feel like a pro. Finally, a spectacular dish would jump out of the cooking pan, now comes my favorite part: plating the food I’ve made and the verdict made by my hubby and my taste buds. If they approve, the-novice-feeling vanishes at once. This repeats all over again the next day…
All of the above things happened yesterday too when I entered the kitchen to whip up lunch, it was already 3 pm so I should rather call it “cooking for linner”. And I came out with a delicious Almond chicken. I was hoping to save any leftover for next day lunch, but there wasn’t any leftover it got finished so fast. Do I have to say any more to prove how this dish tasted?
Browned Spicy Almond Chicken:
Ingredient
- Chicken breast, boneless, diced- 3 breasts
- Black Cumin seeds- 1tsp
- Red pearl onions or small red onions, cut lengthwise- 15
- Ginger-garlic paste- 1tsp
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
- Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
- Cilantro, chopped- 1/4 cup
- Salt- to taste
- Oil- 3 tbsp
To make into a coarse paste:
- Whole cardamom- 3
- Whole cloves-2
- Cinnamon stick- 2 inch
- Dry Red chili- 3
- Ground fennel- 2 tsp
- Almonds, sliced- 1/2 cup
- Water- enough to make a paste
Instruction:
- In a blender, blend the above mentioned ingredients to make into a coarse paste with enough water, may be 3 tbsp or so and keep aside.
- Heat a wide non-stick pan over medium heat, add oil and add black cumin seeds to it and saute.
- Add chopped red pearl onions along with salt and saute till it gets slightly browned.
- Add ginger-garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes away.
- Add turmeric powder to this and saute for a minute.
- Now, add the coarse almond paste to the browned onion, also rinse the blender with little water and pour the water into the pan, saute till the oil starts to ooze out of this mixture.
- Add chicken and cover the pan with its lid and let the chicken cook in its own water.
- When the chicken has cooked well, remove the lid and stir fry till the chicken gets browned and all the water evaporates.
- Add chopped cilantro, ground pepper and salt, stir fry for some more time.
- This is a dry dish so there won’t be any gravy, however this dry dish will not disappoint you.
- Adjust the spice level by increasing or reducing the amount of ground pepper accordingly.
- Serve with Plain Basmati rice and Raita.
Almond chicken stir fried with Basmati Rice:
- Transfer the chicken to a separate dish.
- In the same pan used for cooking chicken (without washing it, as it has all the yummy flavors from the chicken buried in it) combine the chicken and rice depending upon how much you need and stir fry it for 2 minutes.
- Serve this with Raita.
Tips:
- Make sure to brown the chicken after cooking it, this enhances the taste of the chicken.
- You could also increase the amount of almonds for more nutty flavor according to your wish.
- Chicken breast, boneless, diced- 3 breasts
- Black Cumin seeds- 1tsp
- Red pearl onions or small red onions, cut lengthwise- 15
- Ginger-garlic paste- 1tsp
- Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
- Ground pepper- ½ tsp
- Cilantro, chopped- ¼ cup
- Salt- to taste
- Oil- 3 tbsp
- Whole cardamom- 3
- Whole cloves-2
- Cinnamon stick- 2 inch
- Dry Red chili- 3
- Ground fennel- 2 tsp
- Almonds, sliced- ½ cup
- Water- enough to make a paste
- In a blender, blend the above mentioned ingredients to make into a coarse paste with enough water, may be 3 tbsp or so and keep aside.
- Heat a wide non-stick pan over medium heat, add oil and add black cumin seeds to it and saute.
- Add chopped red pearl onions along with salt and saute till it gets slightly browned.
- Add ginger-garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes away.
- Add turmeric powder to this and saute for a minute.
- Now, add the coarse almond paste to the browned onion, also rinse the blender with little water and pour the water into the pan, saute till the oil starts to ooze out of this mixture.
- Add chicken and cover the pan with its lid and let the chicken cook in its own water.
- When the chicken has cooked well, remove the lid and stir fry till the chicken gets browned and all the water evaporates.
- Add chopped cilantro, ground pepper and salt, stir fry for some more time.
- This is a dry dish so there won't be any gravy, however this dry dish will not disappoint you.
- Adjust the spice level by increasing or reducing the amount of ground pepper accordingly.
- Serve with Plain Basmati rice and Raita.
- Transfer the chicken to a separate dish.
- In the same pan used for cooking chicken (without washing it, as it has all the yummy flavors from the chicken buried in it) combine the chicken and rice depending upon how much you need and stir fry it for 2 minutes.
- Serve this with Raita.
You could also increase the amount of almonds for more nutty flavor according to your wish.
