Egg Puffs

Ingredients: (for 9 puffs)

1. Puff pastry sheet-1, I used pepperidge farm pastry sheet, which has 2 sheets in one packet.
2. Egg-5
3. Onion-2, medium, sliced
4. Ginger-1 tsp, finely chopped
5. Garlic-1 tsp, finely chopped
6. Chilly powder-1/2 tsp
7. Coriander powder-1 tsp
8. Meat masala- 1 tsp
9. Coconut milk-4 tsp
10. Cilantro-1/3 cup, chopped
11. Curry leaves few, chopped
12. Egg white- 1, beaten
13. Salt to taste
14. Oil

Method:

1. Thaw one of the puff pastry sheets as instructed in the package.
2. Boil eggs, remove shell and cut them into halves.
   
3. Mean while heat oil in a pan and add chopped curry leaves, ginger and garlic. Saute for 2 min and add sliced onion. Saute until the onions turn light brown. Add chilly powder, coriander powder, meat masala and salt. Saute for 5 more min and add coconut milk and fry until the gravy becomes thick. Finally add chopped cilantro and mix well. Divide the gravy into nine portions
   
4. Cut the thawed pastry sheet it into 9 rectangles. You can stretch them little bit to make it bigger.
   
5. Spread one portion of the gravy into one piece. Place one egg piece on one half of the rectangle and fold the other half of the rectangle over the egg. Seal the edges by pressing or wetting the edges with water. (You can fold the rectangle into any styles you want). Repeat the process for the remaining eggs too.
6. Arrange them in a baking tray, brush beaten egg white over the puffs, preheat the oven to 400 F and bake for 15-20 min until the puffs are became light golden brown.

Chicken Tikka

Ingredients:
Chicken-1.5 lb, boneless skinless
Red chilly powder- 1 tsp
Meat masala- 1 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Pepper powder- 1 tsp
Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Ginger -1 inch piece
Garlic-4 cloves
Green chilly-1
Cilantro-4 sprigs
Kasoori methi-2 tsp
Yogurt- 3/4 cup
Bell pepper(green)-1, medium
Bell pepper(red)-1, medium
Onion-1, medium
Lemon juice- 2-3 tsp
Salt
Cooking spray
Skewers-5

Method:

1. Soak the skewers in water.
2. Wash and clean chicken, cut into 1 inch pieces, wipe off excess water
3. Crush nicely ginger, garlic, green chilly, cilantro, kasoori methi and mix with chilly powder, coriander powder, masala powder, cumin powder, salt and yogurt.
4. Marinate the chicken pieces in the above mixture for 2 hours in refrigerator.
5. Cut the bell peppers, onion into 1 inch squares and sprinkle pepper powder, salt and 1 tsp of lemon juice
6. String the chicken pieces,bell peppers, onion on the skewers and keep in a baking tray lined with foil.
   
7. Spray or brush oil on chicken. Bake 400 F in an oven for 15 min each side.
   
8. Switch the oven to broil mode and cook for 5 more minutes each side.
9. Chicken tikka is ready. Squeeze lemon juice and garnish with tomato, onion etc. It goes well with rice or chappathi
   

Tips:

• No need to remove the juices that oozes out from chicken. Let the chicken cook in that so that it will be more soft.

Semiya Banana Payasam

Ingredients:

1. Roasted vermicelli (Semiya)-100g
2. Milk-4 cups
3. Sugar-1 cup
4. Ripe banana-1, finely chopped
5. Cashew nuts- 15-20
6. Raisins- 15- 20
   
7. Cardamom-2, crushed
8. Butter-1/8 stick (1 tbsp melted butter)

Method:

1. Melt butter in a pan and fry cashews and raisins. Keep them aside
2. Cook vermicelli in milk and sugar until it becomes soft.
3. When it is cooked add chopped bananas, fried cashews and raisins, crushed cardamom and simmer for 5-10 min till the preparation begins to thicken. You can serve it either hot or cold

Note: Roast vermicelli in 1 tbsp of butter if it is not roasted.

Melon Medley

Ingredients: (serves-2)
Melon(cantaloupe), diced- 2 cups
Orange juice- 1 cup
Lemon juice- 1/8 cup
Ice cubes- 6
Sugar-2-3 tsp

Method:
Blend diced cantaloupe and ice cubes. Pour in orange, lemon juices and sugar. Blend until slushy. Serve in chilled glass.

Cornish Hen Roast

Here is the recipe for a really spicy Cornish hen roast!
Ingredients:

• Cornish hen-1
• Onion-2 medium, sliced
• Tomato-1, chopped
• Dry red chilly(vattal mulaku, lal mirchi)-8-10, crushed or 2-3 tsp of chilly flakes
• Coriander powder-2 tsp
• Ginger -2 tsp, chopped
• Garlic- 2tsp, chopped
• Fennel powder-1/2 tsp
• Chicken masala- 1 tsp
• Black pepper-1 tsp
• Coconut milk-1/2 cup
• Curry leaves
• Mustard seeds
• Cardamom-3-5
• Cloves-5
• Cinnamon sticks-2
  

For marination:

• Vinegar-2 tsp
• Black pepper powder-1/2 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste-1 tsp
• Salt
  

Method:

1. Clean chicken(I removed skin) and cut into medium size pieces.
2. Marinate with vinegar, pepper powder, ginger garlic paste and salt for at least 30 min.
3. Shallow fry marinated chicken and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves followed by garlic, ginger and sliced onions. Saute until the onions become slightly brown.
   
5. Add dry red chillies, coriander powder, chicken masala, pepper powder, fennel powder, salt and fry for 2-3 min. Add chopped tomato and saute until it become a fine paste. Crush cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and add into chicken.
   
6. Dilute the coconut milk in 1/2 cup of water and add in to chicken. Saute until the gravy becomes thick. Serve hot with rice or chappathi

Shrimp fry

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp -15-20 (medium size, deveined and cleaned)
2. Chilly powder-1 tsp
3. Coriander powder-1/2 tsp
4. Black pepper powder- 1/2 tsp
5. Chicken masala- 1/2 tsp
6. Garam masala- 1/4 tsp
7. Lemon juice-1 tsp
   
8. All purpose flour-1 tsp
9. Corn flour- 1 tsp
10. Onion-1 (small, thin slices)
11. Vinegar-1 tsp
12. Green chilly- 3
13. Curry leaves
14. Cilantro for garnishing
15. Salt to taste
16. Oil for frying
    

Method:

1. Make a paste of ingredients 2-9 in water, add salt and apply on shrimp and keep for 10 min.
   
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry shrimp 10 min each side
3. Rub together thin slices of onion, green chillies curry leaves vinegar and a pinch of salt. Add this over the cooked shrimp and cook for 2 more min. Slowly stir the preparation. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve hot with rice.

Okra potato curry

Ingredients:

1. Potato- 2, medium, diced
2. Okra-2 cup, diced
3. Green chilly-4
4. Onion- 1, cubed
5. Garlic - 1 tsp, chopped
6. Tomato- 1, diced
7. Chilly powder- 1 tsp
8. Coriander powder- 2 tsp
9. Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
10. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
11. Coconut milk-1/2 cup, thick
12. Curry leaves
13. Salt
14. Oil
    

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard, add curry leaves and saute chopped garlic, green chillies, onion, and okra for 5 min. Keep it aside.
2. Add some more oil and fry diced potatoes for 5 min. Combine the above fried okra and mix well
3. Add all the spices( ingredients 7-10), salt and saute for 5 more min. Add tomatoes.
   
4. Dilute half of the coconut milk with 2 cups of water, add to the preparation and cook covered for 10 min until the gravy become slightly thick. Now add the remaining coconut milk diluted with 1/2 cup of water and turn off the heat. Serve warm with rice.

Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:

1. Chicken legs- 2
2. Chilly powder-1 tsp
3. Black pepper powder-1/2 tsp
4. Chicken masala-1 tsp
5. Coriander powder-1 tsp
6. Ginger garlic paste- 1-2 tsp
7. Green chilly- 2
8. Cilantro- 5 sprigs
9. Mint leaves- 3 sprigs
10. Yogurt- 3 tsp
11. Lemon juice-2 tsp
12. Kasoori methi (Fenugreek leaves)- 1 tsp
13. Corn flour-1 tsp
14. Olive oil- 3 tsp

Method:

1. Clean the chicken and wipe off any water. Make few gashes on the chicken
   
2. Blend together cilantro, mint, green chillies, kasoori methi with yogurt and lemon juice
3. Add the ingredients 2-6 and oil to the above mixture. Adjust the consistency of the batter with corn flour.
4. Marinate the chicken legs with this paste for overnight in refrigerator.
5. Place the chicken in a baking tray wrapped with foil and bake at 400 °F in an oven for 20 min each side.(spray some oil if is is necessary)
6. Switch the oven to broil mode and and cook for 5 min to make it crispy and brown. Garnish with lemon and onion etc . Serve hot with rice.

Tips: You can add red food color to give more color to the preparation.