Friday, October 29, 2010

Kabab Masala

Well friends, my right arm is hurting bad, real bad following yesterday's physio.  And 6 weeks that I've been working from home with my left hand has taken toll on my left wrist.  I have been experiencing burning pain in my left wrist.  But no matter what, I've got to post this recipe that is so close to my heart.

Growing up, I remember mom used to make this in India a lot.  Dad would bring storebought kababs and mom would prepare this delicious sauce and then dunk the kabab pieces in it.  We would have it with fried rice, papadums and onion-tomato raita! 

I can't really go through all of your blogs lately and I apologize for that as I am not able to leave any comments for all those posts with wonderful dishes.
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This is a very versatile recipe. I've made it with different kababs, be it chicken, beef, tofu, paneer, beans. The sauce is the basic onion and tomato sauce with regular Indian spices. I make this sauce in batches, mostly once a month or so, and then keep a big container in the fridge and freeze the rest. That way, when I am running late from work, the sauce is ready for me and the only thing I have to do is cut up some chicken, paneer whatever I have on hand and throw in the sauce. I also use the same sauce for butter chicken. The only thing is, you need to strain the sauce so that you can get the smooth sauce for the dish.

Sauce
Ingredients
1 can(740 ml) of pureed tomatoes
2 large onions, finely chopped
Ginger, garlic and green chilles paste to taste
Salt to taste
2 cinnamon sticks, 2 medium bay leaves, 4-5 cloves, 1 tbsp black pepper, 1 big cardamom-everything whole
2-3 cardamom pods, deseed and powder the seeds
2 tbsp Kashmiri Paprika
1 tbsp roasted kasoori methi(dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp each cumin and coriander powder
1 cup oil

How to:
Heat oil in a sauce pot.
Add onions and the whole spices and fry till onions are golden brown.
Now add the rest of the ingredients and place the pot in 350° F oven, covered.
Cook the sauce for about 2 hours.
Keep stirring and add water if sauce sticks to the bottom of the pot.
Now your sauce is ready to use.

For kababs, you need to take mince meat, add salt, pepper, garam masala powder, grated onions, chopped mint leaves and little bit of gram flour(besan) to bind everything together. Make kabab rolls and either cook in the oven or grill them. They taste the best rolled up in hot naans with cilantro pesto and chopped onions and lettuce. The leftovers can be cooked in this masala to make a scrumptious dish that go very well with either pulav, rice or naans.

Enjoy!

Monday, October 25, 2010

An Update & A Quick Chocolate Mousse


My poor hubby has been too busy taking care of his injured wife! This has been 8th week of my accident and I've been told by my physiotherapist that it will take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to get my right arm back to normal!  It has been so difficult for me to sit at home, doing nothing!  I am still doing left hand typing but now am able to type faster. And I came up with this dessert that can be made even with one hand! Yay!

So here it is, another quick and tasty dessert that is ready in minutes, only requires 2 ingredients(!) to make and is 100% capable to wow anyone!  I accidently came up with this sweet treat when I had no sweets or chocolates in my home and hubby needs something sweet after every supper.  To satisfy his sweet tooth, I was going through the ingredients I had on hand and found Hunt's chocolate pudding cups!  Now I didn't want to serve him just that!  It's not me!  I HAD to personalized the pudding cups!  I always keep the tub of Cool Whip Lite in my freezer as I love to have my strawberries with it and I also make the cool mixed fruit custard using Cool Whip.  So I pulled out the tub and let it thaw for a few minutes.  Then, per 2 cups of chocolate pudding, I used 1 cup of Cool Whip, lightly folded it in the pudding and Voila! my signature dessert is ready for us to devour!  And again, this has become Mark's another favorite.  Don't we love it when family loves the dish we make and complement us on it?! 


Since I am not allowed or able to use my right hand, can't chop anything.  I guess I've just thought of another delicious and easy recipe!  Stay tuned!