Recipe> Chicken Legs in Tandoori Masala

Image: Delicious home-made chicken legs in tandoori masala

Text by: Tanya Munshi

On my recent visit to Dubai, I had picked up Rajah Tandoori Masala (Spice Mix) to add to my spice collection. But obvious, I didn't want to make the typical dhaba style tandoori chicken, it won't be possible to get the authentic taste, so I decided to try my own recipe with it.

Ingredients:

• Chicken legs - 4-6 nos.
• Onions - 1 small, finely sliced
• Garlic - 5-6 nos, crushed and finely chopped
• Salt - to taste (add little, as the tandoori masala has salt in it)
• Vinegar - 1 cap full or
• Lemon - 1 whole
• Black pepper - 1 tsp, freshly ground
• Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup, finely chopped

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken legs for over an hour with salt, tandoori masala and lemon juice/ vinegar

2. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add the crushed garlic, black pepper and onions. Saute till brown.

3. Now add the chicken legs and the juice. Mix well and cover with lid.

4. Occasionally increase the flame and check to see it doesn't burn. The moment it begins to stick on the vessel, lower the flame and pour a cup of water.

5. Reduce the water to a thick consistency and check whether the chicken has been cooked.

6. Add the coriander leaves, cover and cook for a few minutes more and serve hot with roti or steamed rice and daal.

Recipes> Chicken Fry in Roast Style

Image: Chicken Fry in Roast Style
Image by: Kent Wang

Text by: Tanya Munshi
My aunt had taught me how to prepare chicken roast, which happens to be one of my favourite dishes. Unfortunately, I don’t have an oven in which I can roast the chicken, but I tried this experiment at home along with my aunt and even today I keep improvising the same. So here goes…

Ingredients:

• 500 gm chicken (try getting the legs, breast and the wings as these portions have more meat)
• ½ a cup onions - finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic – finely chopped
• Salt – to taste
• 1 capful Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon honey
• ½ teaspoon back pepper powder
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 capful white vinegar

For the marinade:

• In a bowl, mix the chicken pieces with Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, salt, honey and white vinegar.
• Allow the chicken to marinate in the mixture for minimum ½ hour or for a couple of hours before cooking

Method:

• Heat olive oil in the wok and add the onions and the garlic. Sauté till brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic, as burnt garlic tends to lend a bitter flavour.
• Then add the entire chicken along with the juices that have come out during the marinade.
  Cover and cook and keep checking for doneness.
• The chicken should be well cooked, with a golden brown to a slightly dark brown colour.
  Check with a fork or a knife for doneness. The fork or knife should smoothly go inside and come out from the meat, without much effort.
• Serve hot with soup and garlic bread combination, or simply dig in with steamed rice.

Recipe> Chicken & Onion Soup

Text by: Tanya Munshi

As a home remedy for common cold, I suggest you have a bowl of chicken and onion soup. The days you don’t feel too hungry, don’t skip a meal, have a bowl of soup and that should fill your tummy.

Normally when I buy chicken, I keep a portion of soup bones and some chicken meat away that comes handy when I make the soup. These are the type of pieces that you can skip adding in a curry. By the way, you can add the usual chicken pieces too if you want.

Ingredients
250 gms of soup bones/ small chicken pieces
1 large size onion rings
5-6 nos. garlic cleaned, but not chopped
A pinch of thyme
A pinch of dried lemon grass
½ tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of low fat butter/ olive oil
2 cups water

Method

• Heat a pressure cooker and add the butter/ oil.
• Now add the onion rings and garlic and sauté very lightly. We don’t intend browning the onions and garlic. We only want to coat them well with butter/ oil.
• Now add the chicken pieces and mix well.
• Pour 2 cups of water and add salt, black pepper, thyme, lemon grass and mix well.
  After the first boil, cover the lid and give it 2-3 whistles.
• Allow the steam to escape completely and once it cools, take out all the chicken pieces and bones.
• Pour the entire soup in a mixer-grinder and mix well.
• Heat before serving, place garlic bread/ bread sticks on the side.

Note: You must be wondering, what happened to all the chicken pieces I took out? There’s another recipe for that too! Read on.