Farfalle with Bacon & Sausage

Farfalle is just a fancy aka Italian name for butterfly or bow tie pasta. I love the shape of this pasta and it gives the whole dish a character

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Farfalle Pasta
• 3 strips of Bacon
• 4 Chicken Sausages, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 3-4 Tbsp sliced green olives
• 2tsp oil

For the white sauce

• White Sauce Recipe here.
• 1/4 cup cheese (Add more as per to how cheesy you want)
• Italian seasoning: Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Basil - 1/4 tsp each

Preparation

For the Pasta

• Cook the Farfalle pasta to al dente.
• In the mean time, cut the bacon into small bits. Add 1 tsp oil into a non stick pan, add the bacon and fry them till they are crispy. Remove and keep aside.
• In the same pan, cook the chopped sausage using the fat released from bacon.Once they are cooked put them in a bowl
• Add 1tsp of oil, fry the chopped garlic till the raw smell goes. Add the onions and cook they turn golden brown.

For the White sauce

• Please follow the recipe given here.
• To the sauce add the Italian seasoning and cheese.

To Serve:

• Place the pasta in a bowl
• Add the onion, bacon,sausages and olives into the bowl. Toss them all around like a salad.
• Pour the white sauce and mix it well with pasta.

Serve it with garlic bread or have it on its own. 

Chicken in Oyster Sauce

My husband loves Oyster sauce and whenever we go to an Asian restaurant, his choice will always narrow down to an Oyster sauce dish.

I finally decide to give it a shot and try this dish at home. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 kg boneless chicken cut in cubes
• 2 medium sized onions cut in cubes
• 1 capsicum/bell pepper cut in cubes
• 1 carrot cut in cubes
• 1 tsp sliced ginger
• 1 tsp sliced garlic
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 cup Chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 5 Tbsp Oyster sauce
• 2 tsp Corn flour dissolved in water
• 2-3 Tbsp of oil

Preparation

• Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan and put the onions.
• Once the onions become translucent, add brown sugar and fry it for a minute
• Next add carrots and capsicum and fry for 2 to 3 mins.
  
• Take the them out and place it in a dish.
• In the same pan, add the remaining oil and fry ginger and garlic till you no longer get the raw smell.
• Add the chicken and fry till it changes color about 5 - 6 mins
• Add the chicken stock.
• Once the stock boils, add the soy and oyster sauce. 
• Put the cooked vegetables. Cover and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add the corn flour dissolved in water to make the gravy thick.

This dish can be accompanied with fried rice/ noodles. I served it on a bed of sticky egg fried rice.

NOTE: This dish is not spicy and for those who want it spicy can 2-3 green chilies while frying the onions. 

Cashew Chicken

Cashew nuts and chicken is a good combination. I have always wanted to make a dish with these two and most of the dishes that came to my mind were Chinese.

I came to know about this Maharashtrian dish called Kaju Chicken in Kaala Masala and I had give it a go but then again I gave my own twist to this curry. 

Kaala (black) Masala is a Mahrashtrian take on the garam masala with the addition of coriander seeds and cumin.

Ingredients

• 1/2 kg boneless chicken, cubed
• 50 g grated coconut/ 1 cup coconut milk
• 1.5 tsp of  ginger-garlic paste
• 1.5 tsp of coriander seeds
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds
• 2 whole dried red chillies (add more for spiceness)
• 3 cloves
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 50-75 gm cashew nuts
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 Tbsp of ghee
• salt to taste

Preparations

• In a frying pan, without any oil, roast the grated coconut(if using),coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies, cloves and cinnamon over a low heat.
• After 2-3 mins, add 25 gm of cashew nuts & onion and roast  for a further 5 -7 mins, stirring all the time. 
• Turn off heat and leave to cool. Grind the mixture along with ginger-garlic paste in a blender by adding coconut milk (if not using grated coconut) or water till it becomes a smooth and fine paste. 
• Grind separately 25 gm of cashew nuts with a little water to make a fine paste.
• Heat ghee in a cooking pot, add the ground spice mixture and fry for 5 mins over a low heat. Add the ground cashew nuts and salt to taste and fry for a further 2-3 mins.
• Add the chicken pieces, turn up the heat to moderate and fry for 5 mins. Add the remaining coconut milk(if using) and 1/2 cup of water. Else 1.5 cups of water
• Cook over low heat for 10 minutes covered. After that remove the lid and cook till chicken is done.
• In the mean time, take the remaining cashew nuts and fry them in ghee till brown. 
• Once the chicken is cooked, garnish it with the fried cashew nuts. 

This is a very mild curry and ideal for those averse to spicy food.  This will be a big hit in the family both for the adults and kids. This dish will go with rice as well as roti. 

Chicken Schnitzel with Mustard Cream Sauce and Roasted Vegetables

I have been watching a lot of Masterchef and been inspired to try out something different and yummy.

I did a little bit of research online and decide to a dish which collaborates recipes from 3 of the best chefs in the world. 

Gary Mehigan's  Chicken Schnitzel

Martha Stewart's Mustard Cream Sauce

Jamie Olivers's Roasted Vegetables

Chciken Schnitzel with roasted veggies & mustard cream sauce

Don't get overwhelmed by seeing all the ingredients and length of the recipe. Trust me its easy peasy. I'm as lazy as you all are and want to spend less time in the kitchen as possible. 

Let's start then with the easy and time consuming bit

Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

• 2 tomatoes 
• 2 onions 
• 2 red/green/yellow Peppers aka Capsicum
• 1 tsp of Ground black pepper
• 1 tsp of Rosemary
• 1 tsp of thyme
• Salt to taste
• Olive oil to drizzle

Preparation:

1. Preheat  the oven to 200 degree centigrade. 
2. Halve and deseed the capsicum and then cut each half into 4 pieces. 
3. Peel and cut the onions into 8 wedges. 
4. Quarter the tomatoes
5. Put all the cut veggies into a bowl
6. Add the black pepper, rosemary, thyme and salt. Mix it well
7. Drizzle the olive oil and mix it well like tossing a salad so everything is coated well.
8. Spread the veggies into baking tray or dish and roast it in the oven for around an hour till the veggies have become soft and cooked properly.

Jamie's tip in roasting vegetables is to make sure that they are not crowded otherwise the veggies don't get cooked evenly. Its better to do them in batches. 

Let's get on to the Chicken Schnitzel next while the veggies are getting roasted. 

Chicken Schnitzel

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken breast fillet
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk
• 70g flour
• 1 tsp of rosemary
• 1 tsp of thyme
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 200g bread crumbs
• 50g grated parmesan cheese(I used cheddar)
• Olive oil for frying 

Preparation:

1. Mix the bread crumbs, cheese, herbs, salt & paper and transfer to a plate
2. Cut the chicken horizontally into thin steaks.
3. Place chicken between 2 sheets of cling film/butter paper and pound with the flat side of a meat mallet. (I didn't have a meat mallet. I used a frying pan and pound that chicken)
4. Whisk egg and milk in a bowl. Spread flour onto a plate.
5. Take a piece of chicken and coat it with flour on all sides. Dunk it into the egg mixture
6. Finally coat the chicken with the bread crumb mixture. Press it firmly to coat. 
7. Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium heat and cook the chicken on each side for 4-5 minutes till it is tender and golden.
8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 for the remaining chicken pieces.

Voila your schnitzel is ready. All it needs is some sauce to drizzle.

Mustard Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chicken broth (I made it using Maggie chicken cubes)
• 1/2 cup cream (I used Amul cream)
• 2 tbsp of Dijon mustard (see note)
• 1 tsp of oregano

Preparation:

1. Pour the chicken broth into a hot skillet
2. Whisk in cream, mustard and oregano
3. Cook and stir for about 2 mins

Note: Dijon mustard is not as same as regular yellow mustard. From what I have read here, Dijon mustard can be replaced with regular. I had a bottle of Dijon at home so I used that. I have not tried it with regular mustard. 

Do let me know if anyone gives it a shot with regular mustard. 

Plate it up with a side of roasted veggies, a portion of chicken schnitzel drizzled with the mustard sauce. 

Trust me its worth it! Its bliss!! Pure bliss!!

Molly Aunty's Chilli Chicken

My mom has taught this recipe to all of the girls in the family just before they got married. Her advice was "Go woo your husbands with this Chicken Chili recipe!!" It's been officially renamed to Molly Aunty's Chilli Chicken recipe.

I share with the rest of the world now.

Molly Aunty's Chilli Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1Kg Chicken cut in small pieces
• 1.5 tbsp. Chili sauce
• 1.5 tbsp. Soya sauce
• 1.5 tbsp. Tomato sauce
• 1.5 tbsp. Vinegar 
• 1.5 tbsp. sugar
• 1.5 dessert spoon chopped Garlic
• 1.5 dessert spoon chopped Green Chili
• 4 diced onions
• 2 diced capsicum
• Salt to taste
• Oil to cook (3-4 tbsp.)

Preparation:

• Mix soya sauce, tomato sauce, chili sauce, vinegar & salt in a bowl and keep aside.





• Heat oil in a non stick vessel. Add sugar and fry it till it becomes brown in color / has caramelized.
• Once the sugar is caramelized, add garlic and green chili into it. Fry it till the raw smell goes away.
• Add chicken and mix properly. Cook it in high flame.
  
  

• Fry chicken till it becomes white and then add the sauce mix.
• Cover the vessel and cook for 15 minutes.
• After that reduce the flame and cook till the chicken is cooked  properly. 
  
  

• Once chicken is cooked, put it into a bowl.
• In the same the vessel, add oil as required and put the diced onions and cook till they caramelize.
• Half way through add the diced capsicum. 
• Once the onions & capsicum is cooked, put the cooked chicken into the vessel and mix it well.

Serve it with noodles, fried rice or even rotis(its yum with rotis). 

This dish can be served as a starter too.

What you waiting for? Go give it a shot! Give your feedback on Molly Aunty's Chilli Chicken!