Grilled Chicken with Hollandaise Sauce

Bonsoir my dear foody buddies, one more day my veggie-wannabe mum was secretly mad at me coz i made grilled chicken for dinner. This time grilled chicken included little challenge as i also planned to cook Hollandaise Sauce. Hollandaise is butter and egg yolk based sauce and it's one of the 6 Mother Sauces. As Im a seafood-person so enjoy it more with grilled/fried fish but it tastes awesome with chicken as well..

Ingredients:

Sauce:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
pinch of salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Chicken marinade (for 500 gm boneless chicken pieces)
dash of olive oil
1 tsp paprika
salt, to taste
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/4 tsp crushed peppercorns

To do the sauce..
1. Whisk egg yolks and lemon juice in a steel bowl, whisk quickly until the mixture is thick.
2. in a separate bowl, melt/soften some butter. Here we can use double boiling method: keep the bowl on a saucepan of hot water for a second.
3. add butter to the egg mixture and whisk all quickly, again put the bowl on top of hot water pan for a second and whisk thoroughly. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERHEAT IT COZ IT WILL COOK THE EGGYOLK AND WE DONT WANT THAT!!!!
4. Add pinch of salt and keep whisking for few minutes.

For the chicken
1. Mix all the marinade ingredients, rub it on chicken pieces and keep in fridge for an hour.
2. Cook them on grill on both sides for couple of minutes.

To check if the chicken is done while grilling: simply press it with spoon/tong and if its soft that means chicken is raw. It should be hard to touch.

Grilled Sole

So yesterday i again grilled some fish. For many reasons i like fish better than chicken/mutton and one is it gets cooked in minutes, you dont have to wait much... yesterday was Lohri, our traditional bonfire festival in India and people love it as lil break frm chilly winter and i decided to treat myself with some lovely spicy fish :)

Ingredients

500 gm fillets
lemon slices/wedges
chopped coriander leaves for garnish
2-3 tbsp oil for basting/grilling

Marinade:
salt, to taste
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. mix all the marinade stuff and rub it thoroughly on fillets.
2. grill the fillets on grill for few minutes, turn upside down when one side is cooked.

As fish is quite tender it is better to use electronic grill as it doesn't get too hot unlike the gas ones. It results into even cooking and avoids sticking at the bottom..

Grilled Lemon Chicken

I love times when i get to cook something i like and love it even more if its appreciated. I bought a tiny grill couple of months back which I didnt use at all. Recently i decided to cook something with it so this awesome chicken was the first to be grilled on that grill. It is almost oil free and quite good for those who are careful about their diet.

Ingredients
1 kg chicken breast
1-2 lemon wedges

Marinade:
2 lemons (juice only)
1 tsp crushed peppercorns
salt, to taste
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tbsp coriander powder


1. first of all pound the chicken pieces thin with a meat pounder. (i dnt have a meat pounder so used rolling pin, here you gotta be careful while pounding the chicken that you dont break it)
2. mix all the marinade ingredients and rub them thoroughly on chicken pieces.
3. cover the chicken and put in fridge for around 1 hour. but if you are in hurry then cook them right away.
4. Grill the pieces on both sides until they are tender.
5. Serve hot with lemon wedges.


While preparing marinade you can use your own creativity too. Instead of coriander powder, add some dry oregano or thyme. If you want to give indian touch then try adding some garam masala.

If you dont have grill then simply cook them in a frying pan with little bit oil and on medium-low flame.

Paneer Tikka

Now this one is a yummy vegetarian snack. Truth is I'm a huge nonveg-eater but for a change i go for something nice from veggie department, eg. these lovely yummy Paneer Tikkas ;)










Ingredients:

500 gm cottage cheese (cut into desired size)
1-2 onions (diced into 1/4 and opened)
1-2 red/yellow/red bell pepper (1" diced)
1 lemon

Marinade:
1 cup whisked curd
1-2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric (optional)
salt, to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander powder


1. Mix all the marinade stuff in a big bowl and add cheese and onion-bell pepper.
2. arrange cheese n veggies on skewer and grill for couple of minutes on all sides.
3. Squeeze a lemon on tikkas and serve hot with either sauce or chutney.



Many times we see fiery-red paneer tikkas at food outlets which look quite lovely and tempting but usage of artificial food colour is quite dangerous for health, specially for kids n pregnant women. So ALWAYS use natural food colours.

One thing more, try to cut cheese into big, 'cube' shape instead of fingers or slices coz they are likely to break while grilling if they are small in size.

Deep Fried Goan Fish

Fish is my favorite eatable in winter, love the deep fried one but grilled fish is healthier. Well weather its fried or grilled, i like the Goan style of marinade for it.










Ingredients:

500 gm fish(any type) pieces (fillets are better)
Oil for deep frying

Marinade:
salt, to taste
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper

1. Marinade fish all the above written stuff and deep fry for some minutes.


Before frying you can coat the pieces with some semolina for a crispy layer and better taste.

Sabz Korma

Korma is a beautiful cream, yogurt and cashew nut paste based gravy. It can be either veg or non veg. in non vegetarian, lamb korma is more popular than chicken one.

Ingredients:
200 gm mushrooms
50 gm green peas
50 gm cauliflower (small sized florets)
50 gm diced carrots
2-3 medium sized onions
50 gm soaked cashew nuts
1 cup yogurt
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1" cinnamon stick
1-2 green cardamoms
1-2 cloves
1 tbsp coriander powder
salt, to taste
5-6 tbsp ghee/olive oil

1. heat 4 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cardamoms, cloves and bay leaf.
2. add onions after some seconds and saute untill golden brown. remove them from pan.
3. put onions in a food processor, add cashews, yogurt and green chillies. make fine paste of all that.
4. heat 2 tbsp oil in a vessel, add veggies, salt and coriander powder. saute for few seconds and add onion, cashewnut paste. mix well and add some water to dilute the gravy.
5. cover the vessel and simmer untill the veggies are tender.
6. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with naan/parathas.

We can also use milk instead of yogurt as yogurt can make it somewhat tangy, so you can use either one to make it taste according to your preference. Also adding some butter or cream will improve the taste alot.

Pan Fried Cajun Chicken

Hello friends i cooked this sexy thing couple of days back (on new year eve). Cajun dishes are really yummy: slightly tangy and hot. Personally im a huge fan of grilled cajun fish and chicken, love them stuff in bread with some mustard sauce (hope that didnt sound crazy).

Ingredients for pan fried cajun chicken

500 gm boneless chicken
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Marinade:
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt, to taste
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp onion powder or 2-3 tbsp onion paste
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 tbsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp dry thyme

1. mix all the ingredients for marinade and marinate chicken for 15-20 mins.
2. heat oil in a frying pan and fry chicken pieces till they are tender and serve hot.

For cooking Cajun dishes we also have cajun seasoning available. that can also be used as marinade.