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Tasty recipes: Chicken Sookha and Cheesy Rice

November 06, 2009 13:12 IST

We invited readers to share some of their favourite recipes with us. As part of a continuing series, we publish two of these lip-smacking recipes we've received so far:

Here is how to prepare Chicken Sookha by Nitin Bhatt:

Cuisine: North Indian

Type: Non-vegetarian

Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

  • 3 lbs chicken cut into 1-2 inch pieces
  • 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds (jeera)
  • 2 tsps red chillie powder
  • 1 finely chopped green chillie
  • 2 dry red chillies
  • 1 tsp salt or according to taste
  • 1/4 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
  • 2 tsps ginger-garlic paste
  • 2 inch cube of fresh ginger peeled and cut into very small pieces
  • 1 tsp dhaniya powder
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 5 tbsps vegetable oil
  • 2 onions, one diced and the other sliced lengthwise
  • 1 inch-long stick of cinnamon
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • Cashew nut pieces
  • Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
  • 1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation:

  • Clean the chicken pieces, wash thoroughly and drain the water.
  • Marinate the chicken pieces with the mix (red chillie powder, little salt, haldi, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste) for 1 hour.
  • Put marinated chicken in steamer (rice cooker steamer or other) and steam for 1/2 an hour. Chicken should be well cooked, leaving most of its oil in the steamer's water. Throw the water away (most of the fat is now gone!).
  • Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, onions (small & large pieces) and green chillies. Fry onions till brown .
  • Add rest of the ginger and garlic paste, dhaniya powder, bay leaves, cashews, salt, chillie powder, chopped green chillies, dry red chillies, ginger pieces and fry for a few more minutes.
  • Add the marinated steamed chicken and fry for sometime. Do not add any water.
  • Stir it, cover the pan and let it cook for 15 minutes.
  • Remove the cover of the pan and garnish it with coriander leaves and lemon juice.

Health quotient: Most of the chicken fat is thrown away, making this an almost fat-free dish -- serve as appetizers or main course.

And here's Suchitra V's recipe for Cheesy Rice:

Cuisine: Indo-Italian

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups basmati rice
  • Vegetable broth
  • 1/2 an onion
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 tbsps mascarpone cheese
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 tsps crushed garlic
  • 2 tsps butter
  • 2 tsps olive oil
  • 1/4 cup green peas
  • Salt and pepper

Preparation:

  • In a pan add butter and olive oil, bay leaf, crushed garlic and finely chopped onion.
  • When the onion is slightly brown, add basmati rice and stir it for a few seconds; then add vegetable broth, salt, pepper, green peas and keep stirring every few minutes.
  • Depending on the texture of the rice, keep adding veggie broth to make sure it is cooked.
  • Then add grated parmesan cheese and mascarpone cheese and mix well.
  • This rice is deliciousand has a very different flavour. It goes best with cucumber raita.

Health quotient: This recipe is very easy to make and very, very tasty. It's a good mix of Indian and Italian flavours.