Baked Chicken with Veggies

1 Kg Chicken
1 full pod of garlic
2' pc of ginger
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp dark soya sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp Rosemary
Mixed vegies like 1 floret Brocolli, 2 Carrots, 2 Capsicums (choicest vegetables u prefer)- cut them into long thick strips.



Trim the excess fat from the chicken. Wash it and pat dry. Leave it aside in a strainer to strain the water.

In a chopper finely chop the ginger, garlic & green chillies.

In a big bowl add black pepper powder, oyster sauce, soya sauce, rosemary & sugar. Add to this the chopped mixture. Add the sesame oil.

Now rub this marinade to the whole chicken. Make sure to rub it below the skin as well inside. Leave it to marinate for 3-4 hours.

In a baking tray bake the chicken for 40 minutes on 200 deg C. Make sure you flip the chicken on the tray every 10 minutes. Now brown the top for 5 minutes on high flame then turn it again and brown the other side. Keep basting the chicken with the drippings whenever you turn the chicken (this will keep the chicken moist). Once chicken is baked. Remove it from the baking tray.

In the same baking tray with the marinade & drippings add the vegetables and bake it for 10 minutes till the vegetable are nicely coated with the marinade & browned.

Serve the baked chicken with vegies & some warm soup and garlic bread.

Caramel Walnut Upside-Down Banana Cake

Best way to consume the over ripe bananas, bake a banana cake. The cake by itself is soft & yummy but I always want something different so I gave it a little topping with caramel walnut. The caramelized walnuts taste delicious and so does the caramel which is a little hard and chewy. Do give a try, you will love it. I couldn't wait to click pictures as the cake looked absolutely Yummilicious. Now can't wait till I pop in a piece.


Ingredients :
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
100 gms unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
3 large ripe bananas (mashed)
3 tablespoons Milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Topping:
75 gms unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp Honey
1 cup walnut pieces

Grease a 5x5x3 inch square cake pan. Bring butter, sugar, and honey to boil in medium saucepan, stirring constantly until butter melts. Boil it for 1 minute. Stir in nuts. Pour the topping in the greased cake pan. Cool it completely.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Sift dry ingredients in a bowl. Using the beater, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until its creamy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then mashed bananas, milk and vanilla. Now add the dry ingredients. Pour the batter in the greased pan with the topping.

Bake cake for 1 hour or until the skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Now Cool it for 10 minutes. Turn the cake upside down on a serving tray or plate. Cool it for 10 minutes for the topping to set. If you like the caramel hard & chewy you can serve it plain. If you like it gooey & chewy then just warm up the slice for few seconds in the microwave and serve it.

Flavours of Morocco -Couscous with Vegetables

1 couscous box
2 Onions
3 Carrots
1 Potato
2 Turnips
1 piece of pumpkin / butternut squash
½ Cup of chopped Parsley
½ Cup of chopped Coriander
2 Tbsp of minced Garlic
1 can of chickpeas
½ Tsp Cumin
½ Tsp red chilli powder
¼ Tsp turmeric
1 ½ Tsp Salt (to taste)
½ Tsp Pepper (to taste)
3 Tbsp of Oil
2 Tbsp of tomato paste
3 Vegetable stock cubes
6 Cups of Water



1- Peel and slice all the vegetables in large pieces.
2- On medium heat, add the oil and put the onions in the cooking pan, stir the onions for a couple of minutes then add the garlic, parsley and coriander.
3- Add to the onions half the amount of paprika, cumin, turmeric, salt.
4- Add the vegetable cubes, add water and close the lid of the pan.
5- When the wateris boiling, add the potato pieces.

Note: Cook the harder vegetables first then when they are half cooked add the softer vegetables

5- After 10 minutes, add the carrots.
6- After 15 minutes, add the turnips.
7- After 10 minutes, add the butternut squash.
8- Add the rest of the spices and the tomato paste.
9- After 10 minutes, add chickpeas.

Steps to make the Couscous:

3 cups of Couscous
3 cups of water (same cup as you measured the couscous)
1/4 tsp of salt.

Boil the water, add salt. Put off the flame. Now add the couscous to the boiling water & close the lid. leave it closed for 5-6 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of butter & fluff up the couscous with a fork.

Serve the couscous on a plate then top it up with some veggies and sauce & enjoy.

Christmas Sweets for Sale

Rainbow Pound Cake

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
400 gms butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
9 eggs



Preparation Method

Cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy.

Lightly beat the eggs one by one. Now add the vanilla essence.

Slowly add little by little the flour & salt to the above mixture and mix till nicely incorporated and there are no lumps.

Now divide the batter into 4 parts. add your choice of colours.

Grease a 5x9 2 loaf pans . Add the batter to the greased pans layer by layer with each colours.

Bake it in a preheated oven (180 Deg. C)for 1 hour or the wooden skewer inserted in the center of each pans comes out clean.

Remove from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Crunchy Chicken

Ingredients

500 gms Chicken Breast (sliced into thick long peices)
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups cornflakes
100 gms grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 bunch coriander leaves (finely chopped)
Oil to brush the baking tray

Preparation Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Take the sliced chicken pieces in a bowl. Add salt, black pepper powder, red chilli powder & turmeric powder. Mix and leave it aside.


In another bowl take 1 egg, beat it and keep it aside.



In another bowl take all purpose flour and keep it aside.



Take another bowl, add crushed cornflakes , cheddar cheese, coriander leaves and the breadcrumbs. mix it well and keep it aside.



Arrange all the bowls in a row. Take the marinated peices of chicken roll them in the flour now roll them in the beaten egg and then in the cornflakes mixture.

Roll all the chicken pieces.



Grease a baking tray with little oil, arrange the chicken pieces on it.

Bake the chicken for 15 minutes. Now turn the chicken and bake for another 20 minutes till nice and golden.

Enjoy the Crisp Golden Crunchy chicken.