If like me you entertain very often then I am sure you are constantly trying out new dishes. To quote Karen Anand " Food opens difficult doors and helps make friendships we cherish". Incidentally her book titled Leans Cuisine Curries has an interesting assortment of recipes. Most of these are leaner versions of the original heavy, spicy, rich recipes. Lean cuisine I have discovered while being low on oil(many of her recipes don't use a drop of oil) are rich in flavors. Like her carrot and raisin salad which uses orange juice, lime juice, freshly ground cumin, crushed garlic and honey as the dressing. This one is a perfect accompaniment to spicy curries.
What most of us and our guests are also looking for are interesting, inspired Indian dishes which are flavorsome, delicious and 'allow us to breathe at the end of the meal'. So I attempt at least one new dish in the staple Pulao, Chole menu. Roasting, Steaming, Slow cooking, Poaching helps make the curries lean. Cooking with alcohol is yet another way to make your dishes "lean", always remember that the alcohol evaporates during cooking leaving nothing but a few calories worth of sugar and tons of flavor.
Wine Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken: Half a kilo
Onion: 2. quartered( you could also use shallots, about 10/12)
Mushrooms: 200 grams, quartered
Bay leaf: 1/2
Wine: 1/2 cup(I have a personal preference for white though red works equally well. Try and get a bottle of cooking wine)
Water:1/2 cup
Rosemary: 1 tbsp
Maida/cornflour: 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Olive oil: 1tsp
Method
Heat oil in a non stick kadai and add the bay leaves. Next add the chicken and cook on high till the colour changes( this should take about 4/5 minutes).
Add all the ingredients( add the wine too) except the maida/cornflour. Cover and cook till chicken gets done. Another 10/15 minutes( you may choose to add the mushrooms midway through the cooking)
Next add the maida/cornflour dissolved in water to thicken the gravy and coat the chicken.
Serve hot with herbed rice and stir fry veggies.
A really light dish and the wine gives it a distinctive flavor.
This is a really quick dish and does not require hours of chopping/cutting vegetables or bhunoing the masala.
You happy, guest happy. I am "lovin" it.
Your guests are lucky. i call the same people. Make the same dish. Kosha mangsho
ReplyDeleteYours is on popular demand. But try this one, tastes good with continental stuff and very light too.
ReplyDeleteis this the one u made when we had come for lunch?
ReplyDelete@Raindrop: Yes, this is the one. In fact photograph of the very same one. Hope your better half liked it. You can also add capsicums( add it just before you finish)
ReplyDeleteyes my better half was going gaga over the food and insisted i take the recipe. even the fish. i am bad with collecting recipes...coz i collect n then forget. best is to give u a call the day before i actually wanna make it...it will remain with me for sure :)
ReplyDelete