Sukha Chicken/सुक्खा चिकन ( Chicken without Gravy)

Sukha Chicken

Dry chicken is taken as appetizer as well as well as main course. In main course it goes especially well with Tandoori roti / naan. Being less oily it is easier to digest and tastes very good. My personal preference next to tandoori chicken is sukha chicken. 

Preparations Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time: 40-45 min.

Servings: 4-5 large servings

Ingredients Required To make Sukka Chicken :

• 1 kg. Chicken dressed, washed, and cut to pieces.

Chicken for Sukha Chicken

 For Marinade:

• 50 gm. Ginger-Garlic past.

Ingredients for marinade

• 100 gm. Thick Curd.
• 10 gm. Turmeric powder. 
• 10 gm. Red Chili powder.
• 1/4 Tea spoon freshly grated Nutmeg. 

For Masala/Spice mix:

• 250 gm. Onion.( finely chopped )

Finely cut Onions

• 50 gm. Ginger- garlic paste.
• 100 gm.(2 medium size ) Tomatoes.( chopped).

Tomatoes

•  2 Bay leaves.

• 3-4 Cloves.
• 1 Inch piece of Cinnamon.

Spices for chicken

•  5-6 Black pepper

• 1 Black Cardamom

• Salt to taste.
• Red chili powder to taste.
• 1 ml. Cooking Oil if cooking in non-stick wok / 10 ml. if cooking in normal wok

 Direction To Marinate Chicken 

• Poke the chicken pieces with fork .
• Mix garlic, ginger paste, curd, turmeric powder, chili powder, nutmeg.

Ingredients for marinade mixed in a bowl

• Beat them with a spoon or fork to form nice creamy mixture. 

Marinade for chicken

• Rub the mixer nicely on the chicken pieces and coat them with the mixer.

Marinade mixed with chicken and kept for marinating

• Cover and leave for 5-6 hrs. ( It can be kept in fridge ).

Direction To Prepare Sukka Chicken

• Take a thick bottom wok, put 2 teaspoon of oil in it and heat on gas till smoking hot.
• Add cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves and black cardamom.Cook for 1/2 min.
   

  

  Spices being cooked till they splutter in 2 teaspoon of Olive oil

• Add finely chopped onions and cook till transparent.

  

  Finely cut onions added to oil and spices mixture

Onions cooked to transparent state

• Add ginger- garlic paste and cook for 1 min.
• Add finely chopped tomatoes, and cook till tomatoes turn just tender.

Onions added after adding ginger-garlic paste

Tomatoes cooked till tender

• Add marinated chicken, mix nicely.

Chicken added to cooked onion, tomato and spices mixture

Mixed and being cooked on low flame

• Add salt, red chili powder and mix.
• Cook on low flame with constant stirring for 5 min. Juices from chicken will come out.
• Cover and cook on low flame till all liquid dries.

Covered and being cooked on low flame

• Cook on low flame with regular stirring and sprinkling of very little water till the chicken becomes tender.

10 ml. Water sprinkled and being cooked on low flame

State after 5 min. of cooking (After sprinkling water)

• Add garam masala and mix.
• Cover and remove from gas.
• Keep it aside for 4-5min. so as to allow the flavor of garam masala to seep in the chicken.

Sukha Chicken

• Remove the cooked sukha chicken in a serving bowl and garnish with ringlet of onions, tomatoes, sprig of coriander / celery / parsley.

• Enjoy the sukha chicken with hot Nan, Tandoori roti, Roomali roti.

Sukha Chicken

 Tips:

• Cook in non-stick container otherwise oil requirement will become 10-15 ml.

• Let the liquid of marinade dry completely before sprinkling water first time.
• Do not add too much water at one go.
• Cook on low flame. If the heat is increased to high then masala will get burnt.

 Suggested Variations:

• Cut chicken pieces to bite size and serve it as appetizer.

• Oregano can be added to the marinade replacing nut meg for a change of flavor.

• Olive oil can be taken for cooking as it is healthy medium to cook.

Kathal ke Kebab/कटहल के कबाब (Jackfruit Cutlets)

Jackfruit Cutlets Served with Hariyali Chutney

With the tree laden with Jack fruits in my garden I came up with the idea of making Jack fruit cutlets for my children and their friends. So what do you think happened? My Jack fruit cutlets served with crisp toasted and buttered bread along with cold coffee in the hot summer became instant hit.Since then it has been on regular demand from my children. 
It is imperative that the jackfruit should be raw , not even a bit ripened, else the cutlets will come out smelly and not good in taste.
These cutlets are made in bite size make very good starters and can be made to large size and serve as excellent vegetarian burger cutlets. The seeds which are not used for cutlets donot go waste as they can be used to make yummy savory of jackfruit.

Nutritional facts of Raw Jackfruit/100 gm.:

Calories 95

Total Fat 0.6gm

Sodium 2mg

Carbohydrates 23gm

Dietary fibers 1.5 gm

Protein 2.7gm

Sugar 19gm.

Vitamin A:2%

Vitamin C 23%

Calcium 2%

Iron 1%

Preparation time: 20 min. 
Cooking time: 15 min.
Servings: Medium sized15 - 20Cutlets /Depends on the size you want to make
Ingredients Required:

• 500 gm.Raw Jack fruit
• 3 Medium size boiled Potatoes
• 1 tea spoon Green chilies finely chopped.
• 1 teaspoon Red Chilly powder( optional).
• 1 tea spoon Garam masala.
•  Salt to taste
•  1 teaspoon  Coriander/Parsley /Celery  finely chopped
•  5 ml. Olive oil/any cooking oil

Directions for preparing Jack Fruit Cutlets

• Peel and remove the hard seeds from jack fruit, and cut to 3cm. pieces. The seeds can be used to make vegetable of jack fruit.

Seeds not to be used for cutlets

Cleaned, Seedless pieces of Jackfruit for Cutlets

• Take 1/2 Lt. water in a pan add 1/2 tea spoon of salt and boil it.
• When the water comes to boil add the jack fruit pieces and boil till they become soft.
• Drain the water and allow them to cool on a sieve.

Soft, Boiled Raw Jackfruit pieces

• Peel and mash the boiled potatoes,
• Mash the boiled pieces of Jack fruit and add to the potato mixture. Mix with mashing action for 2-3 min.

Mashed mixture of Boiled Potatoes and Raw Jackfruit

• A dd the following and mix thoroughly: 
• Green chilies
• Herbs
• Salt
• Red chilly powder
• Garam masala

Spices added to mashed mixture

• Knead so as the mixture becomes uniform. 

Jackfruit, Potato and Spices mixture

• Make small balls of the size of your preference and flatten them by pressing between your palms.

Ball of Mixture for cutlets

• Heat a non stick pan and spread one tea spoon oil and heat.
• Place the flattened balls on hot oiled pan and cook on medium flame, sprinkle 1 ml. oil while cooking. Cook one side till it becomes golden brown.

Cutlets being Panfried in very little oil (1ml.)

• Turn gently and sprinkle 1 ml. oil on them and cook till golden brown from both sides.

Golden Brown Cutlets Of Raw Jackfruit

Serve with Hariyali chutney or coriander mint chutney

Jackfruit Cutlets on the bed of Onion and Coriander leafs with Chutney

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/hariyali-chutney-raw-mango-chutney.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-coriander-and-mint-chutney.html

• Tips:
  • If the balls of the mixture are made small in size then the small cutlets make very good bite size eats with cocktails.
  • Apply little oil to your palms before making the balls, the mixture will not stick to your palms.
  • Remove the peel properly as it does not get cooked.
  • The fleshier the Jackfruit better it is.
• Suggested variations:

• Finely cut 1 medium size onion and 4-5 cloves of garlic can be added to the mixture of cutlets. 
• Roll the balls of cutlet in corn flour and allow them to stand for 5 min. then deep fry them to get crisp cutlets.

Banana Cutlets/Banana kebab /केले के कबाब (Less fat,Nutritious Snack of Raw Banana)

Banana Cutlets

Banana is very rich in vitamin c, carbohydrates and many micro nutrients. Banana in ripe or raw form can be made to different delicacies. Raw banana vegetable and cutlets are my favorite. Pan fried banana cutlets have very less oil and are very healthy as well as tasty. These cutlets can be taken as snacks, in vegetable burgers, or simply placed between two toasted bread pieces along with chutney and sauce for breakfast. Mothers of small children should make these at home and make the burgers which children love so much.

Preparation Time: 15 min.

Cooking Time :30 min.

Servings: 10-12 medium size cutlets

Nutritional Value : (Approx. value for total cutlets made from 6 medium size bananas (120 gm eac approx.))
Calories: 675  
Carbs: 185 gm.
Sugar: 200 gm.
Protein: 10 gm.
Sodium: 550 mg.
Pottassium: 2.5 gm.
Fat: 4 gm.
Cholesterol: 0 
Dietary fibers: 22 gm.

Rich source of Vitamin A,B6, C and A.
Rich in Micro nutrient Potassium,Iron,Calcium and Zinc.

Ingredients for Making Banana Cutlets:

• 6 Raw Medium size Bananas (My banasnas weighed 650 gm total)

Raw Bananas

• 2 Medium size Potatoes

• 1 large onion(optional)

• 2 Green chilies

• 2-3 Sprigs of Coriander leaves(optional)

• 1 Tea spoon Red chili Powder

• 1 Tea spoon Garam Masala

• 1/4Tea spoon Turmeric Powder

• 1 Tea spoon grated Ginger

• 1 Tea spoon Amchur Powder

• Salt to taste

• Olive oil / any cooking oil of your preference

Direction for Making Banana Cutlets:

Boil bananas with the peeling till the banana peel crack.

Boiled bananas

Oeeled Boiled Bananas

•  Allow to cool.
• When boiled bananas get cool remove the peel and mash them.

Mashed Boiled bananas

• Boil Potatoes. Peel the boiled potatoes and mash them.

Mashed Boiled Potatoes

• Wash and cut the coriander sprigs fine.

• Cut green chilies fine.
• Cut onions fine.

Finely chopped Onions

Potatoes and Basnanas mash  

• Take

• Mashed potatoes

• Mashed Bananas

• Onions(optional)

• Green chilies

• Coriander(0ptional)

• Red chili powder

• Garam Masala

• Amchur

• Salt

• Mix all in gradients to homogenous and smooth dough.

Mashed bananas, Potatoes and all spices

Mixture for Banana Cutlets

• Make balls from the mixture of cutlets and flatten them by pressing between your palms.

• Roll the flattened ball in corn flour and keep aside for corn flour to stick to the surface.

• Heat a non-stick tawa / pan with 1 teaspoon oil on low flame.

• When sufficiently hot place the flattened balls on the tawa and cook on low flame.

• Sprinkle 2-3 drops of oil on each cutlet and cook till brown.

• Turn the cutlets and cook on the other side also.

• Sprinkle 2-3 drops oil twice while cooking on the flip side.

Banana Cutlets being cooked with Mininum Oil

• Remove when brown from both sides in a serving bowl and enjoy with chutney

Banana Cutlets Seved with Hariyali Chutney

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/greecoriander-and-mint-chutney.html http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/hariyali-chutney-raw-mango-chutney.html

Tips:

• When banana peel splits immediately remove the bananas from boiling water.

• Boil potatoes to firmness.

• Add salt after mixing all ingredients to make sure the mixture for cutlets remains firm.

• Do not make the mixture and keep for long time.

• If you want to make the cutlet mixture in advance then add salt only at the time of making the cutlets.

Suggested Variations:

• Omit potatoes from the ingredients to make these Cutlets #Diabetic friendly.
• Coriander sprigs can be replaced with celery / parsley / thyme / oregano / basil.

• Bread crumbs can be added to the mixture of cutlets. If 5-6 tea spoons of bread crumbs are added to the cutlet mixture then corn flour is not required for coating the cutlets.

• Finely cut nuts can be added to the mixture of cutlet.
• Corn flour can be replaced with rice flour.
• 3-4 Tea spoons of corn flour can be added to the mixture and kneaded to smooth dough. This will eliminate rolling the balls for cutlets in corn flour.

Patode/ Arbi ke Patte ki Vadi/ पतोड़े (Taro Leaf Spirals)

Patode with Red Chili Sauce

Patode are savories made from arbi ka patta and besan. Some prefer it deep fried but while deep frying the nutrients are lost and lots of fat and calories are added to it, so I prefer it shallow fried in minimum amount of oil. In Maharashtra it is known as Aloo chi Vadi.

Since it has green leaves thus it is rich in Iron and besan makes it rich in protein, so why spoil it by deep frying when better taste and nutrition can be gained by shallow frying.

Patode are very good starters / appetizers. They can also be used as side dish to main course.  Why I love making it? Because my family loves it and it is nutritious with no fat, very less calories. Should there be more reason for me to want to make Patode the moment I spot fresh green leaves of arbi ?

Preparation Time:10min.

Cooking Time: 40 min. 

Servings: 20-25 pieces.

 

Ingredients required

• 6 Fresh leaves of Arbi (Taro leaves)

Arbi ke Patte (Taro Leaves)

• 100gm. Besan ( horse gram powder)

Besan

• 1 Red Chili Powder

Red Chili Powder

• 1/2 tea spoon Turmeric powder
• 1 tea spoon Salt ( or to taste)
• 1 tea spoon Amchoor powder ( dried mango powder) 
• 1/2 tea spoon Garam masala powder 
1/2 Teaspoon Ajwain /Carrom seeds
• 1 tea spoon Olive oil or any cooking oil of your choice
• Water to make paste of  Besan and boil patode.

Directions to prepare Patode

• Wash and towel dry the Arbi leaves.
• Cut the stalk from the leaves. Keep the leavers with out stalks in a dry plate and stalks to be discarded.

Washed dried Arbi leaves with stalks removed

Stalks of Arbi leaves to be discarded

• Take besan in a bowl and add turmeric powder, Ajwain, salt, chili powder, garam masala and 2 tea spoon oil to it.

Spices and oil added to the besan

•  Add water slowly with continuous mixing till a smooth uniform paste is formed.

Paste of Besan and spices

• The paste should neither be too thick nor too thin . It should be of spreadable consistency.
• Take one leaf and keep the lower side of leaf facing up on a plate.

The side on which besan paste is to be applied

•  Put 3 tea spoon of paste on the leaf.

Paste on the lower side of the leaf

•  Spread the paste evenly on the leaf.

Besan paste spread on the lower side of the Arbi leaf

• Keep another Arbi leaf with the lower side of leaf facing up so that the besan paste is sandwiched between them.

Second leaf put on the leaf with besan 

• Apply 2 -3 tea spoons of besan paste on the second leaf.
• Start folding from upper pointed end of the leaf till you reach the base so that a roll of Arbi leaf with besan paste is formed.

Roll of Arbi leaf with Besan

• Fold the open ends carefully and closer with tooth picks.

Sides closed by tooth picks

• Repeat the same procedure with rest of the leaves and besan paste.
• Boil water in a broad mouthed container and cover it sieve.
• Place the rolls on the sieve and allow them to be steam cooked for 10 min all the time the gas should be on high flame. till they change the color and become hard.( the besan paste should become solid when cooked).

Patode rolls being steamed

• Turn over the rolls and steam them for another 10 min. ( the gas should be always on high flame)

Rolls being steamed after turning over

• Poke the steamed rolls with a tooth pick if it comes out clean it means rolls are cooked.

Checking with tooth pick

• The rolls will become firm after getting steamed cooked. 

Steamed cooked rolls

• Cool the rolls and cut them to 1/2 inches thickness.

Steamed cooked rolls cut to pieces

• Take a thick bottom flat plate (Tawa) / Pan and put 1/2tea spoon olive oil on it and heat on high flame. 

Tawa with olive oil being heated

• When the tawa is hot place the cut pieces of rolls on it and cook on medium flame till golden brown on one side.(approximately 10 min.)

Pieces of rolls being shallow fried on a nonstick tawa with minimum oil

• Turn them over and sprinkle 1 ml. oil and cook on medium flame till golden brown on the other side also.

Patode cooked to golden color on both sides

• Serve and eat hot Patode with Coriander-mint chutney / Red or green chili sauce / Hariyali chutney.

Patode with Red chili sauce

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.in/2011/09/red-and-green-chilly-sauce.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-coriander-and-mint-chutney.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-chilly-sauce.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/hariyali-chutney-raw-mango-chutney.html

Tips:

• Towel dry the leaves nicely.

•  Add water slowly to avoid the besan and spices paste from becoming thin.

• Use always non-stick pan this will reduce the use of oil.

• Olive oil is healthy medium to cook so use it

 Suggested Variations 

• The number of leaves can be increase the number of leaves can be increased depending upon the thickness of roll you prefer.
• Finely cut coriander leaves and green chilies can be added to the besan paste. This will change the flavor as well as increase the nutrition value of Patode because green chilies are rich in calcium and Vitamin C, and coriander leaves in Iron.