Crispy Fried Chicken

I know I said that I would be sharing recipes for Roasts and sides in the weeks to come. I did however forget to mention that the sides would not just be dips and salads/breads but also meaty (protein - veg/non-veg) starters/bites. After all you need to prepare a complete meal for the upcoming #Thanksgiving, #Christmas and #New Year celebrations. So the Crispy Fried Chicken did resonate out of Mummy's recipe of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) - the recipe of which I will share another day (will not specify when ;) )

This is an all too easy recipe to create. I did mention in one of my recent posts of my little one's love for Chicken Drumsticks. Well this was to please my princess. I served this Chicken starter with the Coleslaw - the KFC way and some dips as well. Yes and this is one of those long overdue recipes that has been sitting on the back burner as well.

My little one raved about the crispiness of the chicken and to top it was all drumsticks. She loved it to the very last bite.

You need: 

• 7-8 chicken drumsticks, cleaned
• 3-4 cups of breadcrumbs
• 2 large eggs, whisked
• Salt to taste
• Ginger and Garlic powder (optional)
• 1 chicken stock cube (optional)
• Oil - for frying battered chicken

Ammo required:

• A large wok
• A large flat plate with breadcrumbs
• A perforated ladle
• A perforated vessel lined with kitchen towel/tissues
• A large bowl to whisk eggs and dip the chicken drumsticks

The Make
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes | Cook time: 20-30 minutes | Serves 4-6 adults

1.  The first step in the process of making the Crispy Fried Chicken is to lay out all the required vessels and ingredients. If using the ginger and garlic powder and the stock cube, make sure to powder the stock cube and add it along with the ginger and garlic powder to the breadcrumbs. Alternatively you can also add it with the egg but sometimes all of the egg does not get used.
2. In a large wok, heat the oil on medium-low heat. Meanwhile, roll the drumsticks in the whisked eggs draining off the excess back in the bowl and roll it evenly over the flat plate with the breadcrumbs already spread out.
3. Once the oil heats up, gently slide in the prepared drumsticks and line up without any overlapping or interaction between each drumsticks. After 2-3 minutes, using the perforated ladle, turn over the drumsticks and repeat after another 2-3 minutes. Ensure that the batter does not burn and if the oil gets too hot between batches, lower the heat and repeat. Each batch to follow would take lesser time to fry. The first batch may take up to 8-10 minutes depending on the size of your wok and weight of the drumsticks. Transfer the fried chicken to the perforated vessel to drain off the excess oil.
4. Once the batches of the chicken drumsticks are fried and drained off the oil, serve hot with your favourite sides. In my case, it was the coleslaw, hot chili sauce for me and hubby and tomato ketchup for the little princess. The tartar sauce was for the calamari -the recipe of which will follow soon enough.

Hope you and your little one(s) enjoy this make as well.

Jamie's Oozy Beans with Spinach

This recipe is long overdue and as I had mentioned my last blog post on Chicken Masala Roast with Soya Sauce, I will be sharing roasts as we get into the holiday season of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year to help you prepare your celebratory meal. This is a perfect side to your Roast. I had served this with Jamie Oliver's Perfect Pork Loin with Crackling. Of course Jamie's Oozy Beans were Borlotti Beans (aka Cranberry beans) served with Agretti. Since Agretti was unavailable, I substituted with Spinach and Parsley. Also since I had no idea of where to get Borlotti Beans from or if they were even available in the local market, I substituted it with black-eyed beans or black-eyed peas which in some cultures are served within a New Year meal as it is supposed to ward of evil eyes. As noticed above, I have also substituted a couple of ingredients owing to the fact that it was no available in the local market.

This has to be the most simple side dish you can prepare to go with your elaborate main course and it is incredibly healthy. 

You need:

• 1 small potato, cut in half
• 1 large tomato
• Water as required
• 3 cups of black-eyed peas/ black-eyed beans
• Bouquet of garni (as Jamie calls it - thyme, bay and sage leaves tied together. I used dried sage instead)
• Pinch of Soda Bicarbonate
• 6 tbsp + 1 drizzle of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 bunch of parsley, few basil leaves, chives, thyme leaves (as available), finely chopped
• 1 bunch of spinach, cleaned and chopped

The Make

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Soaking Time: 4 hours min | Cooking Time: up to 1 hour | Serves 4-5 adults

1. If you were using dry Borlotti Beans then you could soak it overnight in  a large pot with the beans covering only 1/4 of the pot and the rest covered with water and a pinch of soda bicarb. Then discard the water. In my case, since I was using the smaller black eyed peas, I soaked mine for 4-5 hours only.

2. In a large pot add the beans, herb bouquet, potato and tomato in full. Fill the pot up with water (twice as much as the beans).

3. Bring the beans to a gentle simmer for 50-60 minutes. When it is about to boil, turn down the flame. Resist the urge to cook these beans in a pressure cooker as the turn out would be different and so would the taste.

4. Next take out the potatoes, the herb bouquet, squish some of the tomato pulp with the back of a ladle into the pot and take the tomato out.

5. Next pour out 80% of the residual liquid from the pot into a bowl. Mash up the cooked potato halves and put some of it back to the pot to add a creamy texture.

6. Add the olive oil in the pot with the salt and vinegar and toss it over in the pot taking care not to mash the beans. Add one more drizzle of EVOO on top.

7. Add the chopped herbs and toss once more.

8. Cook the chopped spinach in salted, boiling water in another pot for 2 minutes and then drain it out and toss it in the roasting pan of your cooked choice of roast as if cleaning the roasting pan with it.

9. Add a bit of the reserved residual liquid from the pot which was set aside earlier to the beans pot and toss. Taste and add more EVOO and vinegar if required.

10. Serve the beans on a flat serving tray and top with the spinach tossed in the roasting juices. Then pour any residual juice from the roasting pan on top. Top with a slice of the pork loin or your roast and pour some of the roast's prepared gravy on top.

Jamie added a very important tip for those who hate beans for the obvious breaking wind ;) add Summer Savoury herbs. I checked it is available as an online buy on Ebay here. You can also add a few cloves of chopped garlic when cooking the beans.

Serve these Oozy beans with your favourite roast or Jamie's Perfect Pork Loin with Crackling.

Chicken Masala Roast with Soya sauce #Thanksgiving #Christmas #New Year

These days I have to admit are particularly hard for me to blog. Not because I am extremely busy but instead not too fine and dandy. I miss my Mum a lot and Christmas is a time to spend with family. These last 3 years Mum did not have Christmas celebrated at our ancestral home as 2012 we had lost my dad's youngest bro and 2013 Mum's youngest bro passed away. 2014 we lost our grandma (Dad's mom) and this year Mum was taken by Our Lord. So it is particularly hard this year as not only did I lose Mum but we didn't spend Christmas together for 4 years now.

Growing up Mum always designed our Christmas celebrations perfectly. I remember our childhood Christmases and there is not one thing I would change about it. Mum's roasts were raved about all year through be it her Turkey roasts over Christmas or all year through with our healthy Chicken roasts. Bliss! I am sure all our relatives who have attended our Christmas parties or any party thrown by Mum would vouch for her roasts and celebratory meals.

I have played a lot with the different roasts made over the years. So since we are not celebrating Christmas or the New Year, I decided that I would help you my dear readers with some of my best roasts made over the last year(s) (the recipes of which I have not posted yet) to help you with the upcoming Thanksgiving meal preparation (November 26, 2015), Christmas 2015 and New Year 2016. So my not celebrating does have it advantages, I am available at your disposal for any and all queries regarding your celebratory meal. And when you do try these out, do say a little prayer for my dear Mum and our family or send a positive thought in our direction. We really need it.

I need to specially thank three people in life, my dear friend Shireen (Shirs) who helped me get back on track with writing on my blog (Thanks Shirs my motivator) , my buddy Suzanne (Sue) who needed some help with her upcoming Thanksgiving meal prep (Thanks Sue I got a wake up call through your request) and my darling hubby (always thankful to you for your motivation and pep talks) who gave me a jolted shake this morning to get out of the gloomy valleys and move up hill. I also thank my many readers who were/are looking out for simple roast recipes. I hope the upcoming recipes along with the previous ones on Turkey Roast Delight (which can be adopted with the humble chook as well minus the cook time) ,  Lemon and Herb Roast Chicken , Jamie Oliver's Perfect Pork Loin with crackling , etc. helps you prepare your perfect albeit simple Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year meal. I am available on gginazkitchenette@gmail.com for any of your queries regarding these meal preparations or any others. Also my dear vegetarian and vegan friends/family/readers, I am  available here to tell you how to cook your perfect vegetarian celebratory meal.

Now on with the recipe:

What you need:

• 1200 gms of  perfectly cleaned chook or chicken with skin on
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp heaps of Garam Masala
• 2 tbsp heaps Chili Powder
• 1 tbsp pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 2-3 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1" pc of ginger
• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• A drizzle of oil
• Water as required

The Make:
Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Roast Time: 1 hour | Serves 6-8 adults | Marinade and resting time: min 1 hour 

1. In a large wok, heat some oil and toss in the ginger and saute for half a minute, then add the garlic for about 20 seconds and saute on low heat.
2. Then add all of the ingredients except the chook and saute well for about a minute.
3. Add a drizzle of water as required to form a thick marinade paste. Keep adding water as required taking care to retain the thick paste texture and not be to watery.
4. Saute for another minute until the masala leaves the sides of the pan or is cooked.
5. Set aside to cool for a few minutes and grind the paste to a fine consistency.
6. Next marinate your chook well all over and in the cavity as well. Let it stand for about half hour at least and up to 4 hours (in the refrigerator if required).
7. Preheat the oven to 200°C.  Next prepare the roasting pan either well oiled or with foil paper and grease lightly. Place the chook carefully on the roasting pan. I always advise my readers to add their favourite veggies either inside the cavity of the chicken (depending on their stuffing type it would take more than an hour to cook the chook) or at the sides of the chook (in which case it would take up to the hour).
8. Slide the roasting pan into the oven on 180°C. Lightly cover (do not tuck the foil at the sides) the chook's breast with a foil paper to keep the breast tender and moist.
9. Roast for about an hour checking at the 30 minutes and 45 minute time to see if tenderised and cooked. Uncover the foil at the 45 minute mark and allow the chook to roast for the remaining 15 minutes without the foil. If required continue for another 10-15 minutes until the breast in nice and springy and the limbs seems soft enough to pull off with your fingers (do not actually pull the limbs off at this stage :) )

If using an oven without a top flame oven, please turn the chook over at the 30 minute mark. This requires some amount of skill to avoid burning your hands/fingers. However a good pair of tongs and a large ladle always helps. It would also help to slide out the roasting tray at the 30 minute mark in this case before turning over the chook.

Serve hot with with your favourite sides, salads, choice of breads. Flat breads would go well with this make of roast.

Turkey Roast Delight- A Thanksgiving Special for Christmas!

Seasons Greetings all! Its a season to be jolly...falalalala...lalalala! Hope you have not been too naughty this year! ;)

Thanksgiving is celebrated in various parts of the world. Although we do not celebrate Thanksgiving, Turkey used to feature in our Christmas lunches at home almost every Christmas and I would like to share this attempt at Turkey that I tried my hand in after arriving to India. I must say it was a task as we did not get the prepared Butterball variety. So I actually had a tedious turkey cleaning process last Christmas.

This is the first of my Christmas recipes for this year. Hope you enjoy making them. My guests certainly enjoyed the meal I whipped up for them last year.

Mummy's cooking always woos us and her Turkey lunches for Christmas is greatly missed..sigh! After moving to India, I don't think she has had the chance to make us her famous Christmas meal although whatever she makes is amazing!

I had made an elaborate Christmas dinner last year that I seriously had no time to reach out for my cam nor click the Turkey in its full form although it would have been worth it after the immense effort I went through in making this bird. I do hope I get a chance to post the Turkey picture in whole the next time I roast one. So please excuse me this time.

To make this delightful Turkey meal,

You need:

For the Turkey roasting:

• 3 kgs of Turkey (Butterball usually has a conversion of lbs to number of servings, however after much research, I came up with a 1:2 ratio, so 3 kgs of turkey would serve 6-7 adults. Necessity is a mother of invention would rightly apply in this case)
• Olive oil or melted butter
• 1 large shallot
• 1 leek stem finely diced (optional)
• 2-3 carrots, half diced for stuffing and rest for topping (when served)
• 1 bunch of celery
• 1 half boiled potato, quartered (optional)
• 1 bunch of fresh parsley
• Sprigs of thyme or rosemary (you can also use a combination of both)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp of paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

* Mum would usually not add the celery, rosemary or thyme but I added it for extra flavour.

The make:

Preparation Time: overnight + 1 hour | Cooking Time: 3-3.5 hours | Serves 6-7 adults

Tip:Remember to defrost the turkey overnight or the morning of as it does take time to bring it to room temperature. While doing so some tips to remember, let the turkey defrost in the packing/plastic in the refrigerator (not freezer) on a separate pan overnight so the juices would be confined to the pan. Do not immerse in hot water to speed up the process as the skin would pull away. If you are defrosting it the morning of, then you can leave it to defrost outside, just make sure you keep it the pan itself and cover with a net or a foil sheet to avoid contamination. Clean the turkey as if you were cleaning chicken and remove any left over feathers or stubs. In case of stubborn stubs like I found in the one I got last Christmas, use a new scrubber (which you can discard after use to light scrub the stubs out and/or pick out with previous washed and sterilised tweezers or just use a new pair of tweezers). Pat dry with paper towels. Reserve the spare parts such as the neck and giblets(heart, liver, gizzard) to make stock for the stuffing.

1. Marinate the turkey with the juice of half a lemon both on the inside and oil. Next rub on some of  the olive oil or butter  and some pepper and salt both on the inside and out.
2. Preheat the oven to 215○C (approx 400○F).
3. Stuff the inside of the turkey with the carrots, tops and bottom of the celery, sprig of thyme and a sprig of rosemary, half of the shallot - peeled and quartered, diced bunch of parsley, half of the carrots diced, the potato and leek. Add a ball of foil paper in the body cavity to prevent the stuffing from falling out. Next carefully tie the legs of the turkey with a kitchen string (avoid colored string or any other strings other than the ones used for roasting as you may end up like Bridget Jones with a coloured turkey bottom or maybe in whole!). You can also use metal skewers to close up the turkey cavity.
4. Stuff the turkey neck with some parsley and rosemary sprigs and close it up with string and thin skewers. Make sure to fasten the turkey wings with a string around the body.
5. Rub more butter or olive oil on the outside of the turkey with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and/or paprika.
6. Now depending on the type of oven you use, flip the turkey on its breast side first or the roasting  rack with a roasting tray at the bottom of the rack to retain the juices that drip from the turkey. The idea behind this is to ensure that the turkey breast retains the juices of the turkey and is succulent. Add sprigs of thyme and/or rosemary to the outside of the turkey as well for extra flavour.
7. Now cook the turkey on a high 215○C (approx 400○F) for the first half hour. For the next two hours, reduce it to 200○C and for the last hour at 180○C. You can flip the bird on its back on a high of 250○C for about 3-5 minutes, in case you want the breast side slightly more brown. You can either monitor the temperature of the turkey using a meat thermometer or just use a butter knife to insert into the breast, the juices should be clear and not pinkish. Once you take out the turkey from the oven, wait about 10-15 minutes before you carve the meat.
8. Serve on a bed of cleaned romaine lettuce with remaining diced carrots, rosemary/thyme sprig and with choicest rolls or spiced rice of your choice! Serve with Turkey Stuffing and Gravy! Enjoy!