Mint Chessy White Dip...

This is a delicious dip, that I made the other day to go with 'Golden Prawns with Herbs'. This dip is a multi purpose dip, it tastes good with any kind of fish, chips, tacos or can be even used as a spread for sandwiches. Well my kids and I love to have this with plain chappati or a slice of toasted bread.
I hung about 400 gms of curd in a thin muslin cloth for about 30 - 35 minutes to create yogurt cheese, to this I added equal quantities of flavoured cheese spread (I love Garlic, so I used a garlic flavoured spread) Finely chop Mint, coriander both should be about a handful, 1 very thinly sliced green chilly. Add all these to the mixture of Yogurt Cheese and Cheese spread, mix well, Chill over 20 minutes and serve.
Its a fabulous dip and tastes good with almost anything (well that what I and my kids feel).

Golden Prawns with Herbs

It’s just so amazing that cooking is such a stress buster for me, that I can never be bored of making lovely meals for my family. Even after a hard day’s work at the office and clicking over a thousand keys on my laptop I still have the energy to put together a meal for my kids and family. My regular fish supplier came home the other day a good set of prawns that I purchased on the simple condition that she will make sure that the prawns are shelled and de-veined. I also made sure that some of the prawns had their tails on, well the prawns look absolutely well groomed with the tail after they are cooked.
I have decided that I am going to make some delicious Golden Prawns with Herbs. Herbs have become my favorite ingredients recently. The aroma, the flavor and the blend of multiple herbs makes the dish so delicious that I cannot wait for the family to get together on the dining table.
After having defrosted the prawns and washing them, I started to marinate them. To marinate the Prawns I have used 5 different herbs Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Mint & Coriander (all these are fresh and finely chopped). Add some sea salt, juice of ½ a lemon and a dash of Olive Oil (I am so addicted to Olive oil – Thanks to my favorite chef – Nigella). Mix the ingredients and the prawns, so that the prawns are well covered with the lovely green mix of herbs.
Let the Prawns marinate for about 25 – 30 minutes (well you can even leave for lesser time if you are in a hurry, prawns acquire the flavor quickly and are quick to cook). Olive oil will ensure that the flavors are well passed onto the prawns (gorgeous pink pieces of flesh with the tails for a crown).
After you have marinated the Prawns, add some soya sauce & an egg into the prawns and ensure that you coat the entire lot with egg, now just add a couple of Table spoons of corn flour to the prawns and ensure that it is well spread.
Heat some more Olive Oil in a wok or pan as we need to shallow fry the prawns. Once the oil is heated add the prawns and let them cook for about 2- 3 minutes on each side, till the prawns curl and the tail is about to touch the head. At this stage the lovely pink prawns turns to gorgeous Golden with a touch of green. The herbs just look gorgeous on the prawns, they create very interesting patterns and most likely you will have a bunch of greens in the centre of each prawn. After each batch is done make sure you remove the greens from the pan as if they remain in the pan they get over cooked and start to taste bitter, so it is better to remove the bitter from the fry pan and discard.
Once the Prawns are done you will have quite a bit of marinate remaining in the bowl just shallow fry them along with the liquid present to create a nice green sauce, be careful not to overcook, as you can eat these greens raw. I cook it to just ensure that the egg gets cooked.
Serve these delicious prawns with schezwan sauce, Yogurt cheese dip or a butter garlic dip. My next post will carry the recipes for these dips.
These Herbs all have some wonderful medicinal properties other than just adding flavor to the prawns. Coriander,

It just feels so good when family enjoys a meal together, nothing can replace the pleasures of seeing a happy family together.

Ingredients: 20 - 25 medium sized Prawns, 1 Table spoon each - Fresh & finely chopped - Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, 2 - 3 Table spoons - fresh & finely chopped - Mint & Coriander, juice of 1/2 a Lemon, 1 tea spoon Olive Oil, 1 egg, 2 Table spoons corn flour, 2 tea spoons soya sauce, Salt to taste, Olive Oil for frying.

Waiting at the airport

Its just so long before my flight is announced cant wait to get onto the
flight and sleep.

Its been long...

I have been just so busy with travelling and doing odd jobs that theres just been no time to update all you my blog readers. I am sorry friends.
I have been cooking over the weekends and will be sharing some interesting recipes.
Hokey Pokey Icecream, Open sandwiches, Tailed Prawns in Herbs, Yogurt Dips, Schezwan Sauce, Butter Garlic Sauce...
I am sure this has increased your appetite...
Just a few hours and you shall be able to read all about them...
Till then happy reading & cooking

Ginger Garlic Chicken in Sweet Chilli Sauce with Kaffir Lime

Weekends are truly great stress busters for me as I spend my Saturdays and Sundays doing what I love the most yes preparing a meal. A very non-conformist and do my cooking in the most unplanned manner, happened to visit Hypercity a super market at Malad (Mumbai, India) on Friday evening. This place is not only great in terms of what they stock but brilliant in terms of the store layout, you just keep walking all around and find everything at an arms length.
My first stop here was at the meat section where I saw these delicious packs of Boneless Chicken kept neatly wrapped with a cling film in a polystyrene foam tray's, they looked just some juicy and tempting that I just could not resist buying two packs of about 500g each.
As mentioned earlier you just keep moving and you sail through the store, I landed by at the sections that offers you a variety of sauces, dips, ready to cook mixes and happen lay my hands on the Thai Sweet Chilli with Kaffir Lime Dipping Sauce, not only did it look interesting but had a very luscious red colour that got my creative juices flowing and off that disappeared to my shopping basket.

Now on the lazy Sunday morning I decide that I am going to cook this wonderful chicken preparation. I put together the ingredients first

Chicken (boneless - 1 kg)

2 pieces of 1 inch of Ginger (finely chopped)

12 - 14 cloves of garlic (fresh) (half the quantity crushed & other half finely chopped)

1/2 a lemon juice

Salt to taste

1/2 tea spoon of sugar

grounded Kashmiri chillies (even the chilli flakes from the pizza parlours would do)

Olive oil

1 medium egg

2 Table spoons corn flour

1 small onion finely chopped

4 -6 green chillies split into two lengthwise.

Thai Sweet Chilli with Kaffir Lime Dipping Sauce (1 bottle - 150 ml)

2 -3 table spoons soya sauce

2 -3 table spoon chilli sauce (preferred is red, but greens also fine)

Now that we have the ingredients in place its important to marinate the chicken, well this helps in infusing the flavour of the ingredients into the meat.

Wash and clean the chicken and add to it a dash of olive oil, finely chopped ginger and the mashed garlic, mix thoroughly, add the juice of a 1/2 lemon and salt to taste and the sugar. Mix and put into the refrigerator for 20 mins.

Get the chicken out add the soya sauce, chilli sauce, mix, add 1 whole egg, mix to ensure that the entire chicken has got coated with the egg, add the cornflour and stir till the corn flour is well spread on all the pieces.

Wait for 5 mins, heat a wok, add olive oil and stir fry all the chicken pieces along with the marinate (if any) together till they are cooked. The chicken should get a nice golden brown colour with a grainy texture, remove the pieces of chicken and the sauce cooked in a platter. Now add a little more olive oil to the same wok, put the finely chopped ginger & garlic, cook for a minute, add the onion and the split chillies and cook till the onions go pink and transparent, put the Thai Sweet Chilli with Kaffir Lime Dipping Sauce and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken and cooked sauce, mix ensure that the chicken is coated with the sauce. Cook for about a couple of minutes and serve with steamed rice or noodles. Well my family enjoyed this some good hot chapatis.

Serve individual portions with onion rings, green chillies & spring onions if you like.

Do try the recipe and tell me did you like the preparation.

I, me, myself...

Hello, this is definitely the most unusual title for the blog with the title 'Food my Passion', well that's what I feel. When one talks about food he or she is referring to his or her personal palette and very seldom two people share the same palette though they may like similar kinds of food.
I am a food enthusiast who loves to experiment with his food. I love trying new cuisines and also try experimenting with my food, I create fusion food (if I may use the term) I mix ingredients that I feel will add flavour to what I wanna eat and then go about creating the meal.
For me food is an integral part of my life, well as they say 'you eat to live', 'I live to eat'. There is so much that one can explore when it comes to food, the variety the unique flavours of the various parts of the world and so many combinations to try from, I think I can never get enough of this form of art.
Well is food preparation a art or science, I think its a science-art, science of mixing the ingredients in the right proportion to enhance the flavour and taste and an art because unless you present (serve) food in a very appealing manner, it may not be very appetising.
So, now that we are clear that food is a science-art this blog is going to be dedicated to not only just writing about new fusion, quick delicious recipes but also talk about food presentation.
This blog is not going to talk about any particular cuisine or a particular course during the meal, it is going to be an amalgamation of variety of foods, presentations and reviews of some of the great food joints in Bandra (to begin with...)
So, keep reading and believe you me that we need to 'live to eat'...
Gastronomically yours,
Creative foodist.