Four Cheese Stuffed chicken with fig sauce

You can turn any day into a special day...All you need is a little imagination!

Here's what I came up with on one of those 'every day' days and it made that day a 'special' day....

Ideas to make it special?
well...got some tulips, served some nice wine and printed the Menu on a paper and kept 'reserved' sign on the table...Silly...isn't it?


Ingredients:

1. Chicken breasts ( possibly sliced)
2. Monterey Jack cheese
3. Cream Cheese
4. Pepper Jack Cheese
5. Feta Cheese
   
6. Curry powder
7. Fennel powder
8. Capers
9. Salt
10. Pepper
11. Paprika
12. Sun Dried tomatoes
13. Basil
14. Oregano
15. Thinly sliced white onions
    
16. Garlic cloves- 4-5
17. Figs - 15 to 16 ( More the better)
18. Baby Spinach
    
19. Fresh lime Juice

Procedure:



Step A : Preparing the Chicken.

1. Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts. Cover the firm working surface ( wooden cutting board etc) with plastic wrap. Put the sliced chicken breasts on it and add another layer of plastic wrap on the chicken breasts locking them in 2 layers.
2. With a hard bottomed pan pound the chicken breasts to make them thinner. Please be careful as you don't want to ruin the soft tissues of the muscle.

Step B: The Core ( Aka the filling)

1. Mix together 1/3 cup of each type of cheese. There is not a hard and fast rule about the measurements here. If you don't have one kind of cheese you can replace it with what you like. The only important cheese is the cream cheese as it is used to bind the stuffing together.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you are using the pepper jack cheese go a little light on the pepper.
3. Add a pinch of paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder, 1 teaspoon of fennel powder, finely chopped sun dried tomatoes, basil leaves(5-6), 12-15 capers, lime juice ( 1/2 teaspoon) and 1 teaspoon oregano to the cheese mixture.
4. There is no perfect measurements for these ingredients. You can choose them as you like.
5. Mix well and keep aside for 5 minutes.

Step C: The Onion and Fig Sauce bed

1. Add olive oil to the pan to coat bottom just enough. ( I added 2 teaspoons)
2. Once the oil is hot add onions, garlic cloves and chopped fig.
3. Saute this mixture just till the oil coats the onions. Add a little salt and pepper to this and keep cooking on the lowest possible heat.

Step D : The centerpiece

1. Remove the wrap from the chicken breasts and pat dry again. Season the breasts with little salt and pepper.
2. Spread the cheese mixture on each chicken breast.Add baby spinach leaves on the cheese mixture.
3. Take the short end of the breast in your hand and start rolling the chicken to the other end.
4. The most important part is not to stuff the chicken too much.
   
5. Take a cooking thread and tie the chicken roll as tight as you can without getting the stuffing out.
   
6. Season the rolls with salt and pepper from out side.

Step E: Getting things together.

1. In the pan carefully place the chicken rolls on the bed of onions, garlic and figs. You need to make sure that the chicken does not directly touch the bottom of the pan.
2. Preheat over at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. It's ideal if you can use the pan which is oven safe as well. That's where the 'star of my kitchen' - my Le Creuset Dutch Oven comes into the spotlight :-).
4. If you don't have a pan which you can use on the stove and in the oven - don't worry. You can still pull it through.
5. Take a baking pan and cover the bottom of it with the slightly cooked onions, garlic and figs. Place the chicken rolls on that bed and cook it in the oven for 30 minutes.
6. If you have any leftover stuffing then you can use it with tomatoes. Cut the tomato in half,remove the seeds, stuff it with the cheese mixture and bake it with the chicken in the same pan. The water from the tomatoes helps to keep the chicken moist.
   
7. Each oven is calibrated differently and only you know how it works. The key to check if the chicken is done is to do a toothpick test.

Step F: The show time.

1. Once the chicken is cooked take the rolls out and let it cool. Once it is cooled remove the threads.
2. In a blender blend together the cooked onions, garlic and figs into a paste.
3. In the same pan add the blended mixture and the chicken rolls and simmer on a low heat.
4. Serve the chicken and the sauce with saffron pilaf ( as I did) or with bread or with just simple boiled rice.

I hope you enjoy it just like we did! :)

Tambda Rassa and Sukha Chicken.

On a rainy night of the winter 'Tambda Rassa' gives you a reason to stay home and still be happy. This curry consists of 2 parts - Suka Chicken aka dry chicken ( without gravy) and Rassa aka very thin gravy..almost like flavored broth.

Without any more prelude here's the recipe. I have modified the original recipe to make it a little healthy but all due credit to Amruta and Ashish.

Ingredients.
1. Chicken - Breast + thighs.
2. 4-5 cloves.
3. One medium stick of Cinnamon.
4. 12-15 Peppercorn.
5. 1 cup Coriander seeds.
6.1 cup Sesame seeds.
7. 2 dry red chillies
8. 1 green chilly.
9. 2 cups of chopped fresh Coriander leaves.
10. 1 cup of dry coconut.
11. 1 cup of freshly grated coconut.
12. 3 big Onions.
13. 10 Garlic cloves.
14. 2 inch Ginger piece.
15. 2 Teaspoons of oil
16. 1 cup of yogurt.
17. 2 Teaspoons of Turmeric powder.
18. 4-5 Aniseed.
19. 3 Cardamom pods.
20 2-3 teaspoons of poppy seeds.

How to make.
1. Cut chicken in big chunks and clean it. In a pressure cooker cook chicken with turmeric powder and ginger.
2. Do not discard the broth. That would be used for Rassa.
3. Cut the bottom portion of the onion and give it some rough chops. Roast it in the oven at 375 degrees for 10 mins. All ovens are different so just keep an eye on the onion. We want it to be a little brownish on the outside and little mushy.
4. Roast together - Peppercorn, dry coconut, cloves, sesame seeds,coriander seeds, poppy seeds,aniseed,cardamom and keep aside to cool.
5. Roast freshly grated coconut just enough to remove the moisture.
6. When cooled grind together #3,#4 and #5 above with garlic and coriander. Do not add any water.
7. Chop one onion very finely. Heat oil in the pan and add onion with little bit of red chilly powder.
8. Once the onions are translucent, add half the mixture from #6 above and fry for 2 minutes.
9. To the onions, add the drained chicken pieces and fry for another 5-6 minutes. Remember, the chicken is already cooked so this step is just to spice it up. You would find that the breast pieces start falling apart. That's when you want to stop and add a little salt and pepper to taste.
10. Add the remaining mixture from #6 to the broth and start boiling. Adjust salt.
11. Once it start boiling, add the yogurt and boil again. This step is to make it little less spicy. If you are the one who likes to sweat eating hot stuff ; just skip this step :).
12. You have your suka chicken and Rassa ready. Enjoy is with plain roti and/or steam rice! YUM!!!

Chicken Biryani - No-nonsense meal

I have a friend who believes that Biryani can only be Mutton Biryani. He believes that Chicken Biryani or Vegetarian Biryani are just by-products. Anyways as I don't eat Mutton, when I say Biryani it is always Chicken Biryani.

Recipe Courtesy : Kunal


Ingredients:
1. 6 Drumsticks ( You can make it with Chicken breasts or Thighs but it tastes best with drumsticks).
2 Medium Sized Onions thinly sliced.
2 Medium Sized Tomatoes diced.
1 Cup of finely chopped coriander.
1/2 Cup of finely chopped mint.
1 tablespoon of MDH Bombay Biryani Masala ( Or any other masala if you like)
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger.
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic.
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder.
2 teaspoon of salt.
1/2 cup Yogurt.
2 cups of Basmati Rice.
1 teaspoon Shaha-Jeera.
1 Cinnamon stick.
2 Masala Cardamoms.
4 Green Cardamoms.
Oil for Biryani
1 teaspoon of Ghee ( Clarified butter) for rice.
1/2 cup of Cashew nuts

How to make-
Note : This recipe requires you to cook it on medium flame all the time

1.Clean chicken and marinate in the mixture of Yogurt, turmeric powder, ginger,garlic, 1/2 tablespoon of MDH masala and salt (to taste) for 30-45 minutes.
2. Soak basmati rice in water for 10-15 mins.
3. Heat to the pan, add shaha-jeera, Cinnamon and Cardamoms to that. Add soaked rice and roast for a while.
4. Add 3 cups of water to the rice and cook it just enough ( Cook 70%. Rest 30% would be cooked along with chicken)
5. Add oil in the heavy bottom pan. Add sliced onions and fry till light brown. Take care not to burn it. Burnt onion is not a nice thing to smell in your kitchen :-)
6. Remove from oil and keep it on a kitchen towel to soak the extra oil.
7. Fry Cashews in the same oil, just enough to make them golden in color.
Set aside on the kitchen towels along with onions.
8. In the same oil add the marinated chicken. Do not add all the marinate at this point. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
9. Add the chopped tomatoes. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes.
10. Add the chopped coriander. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes.
11. Add the chopped mint. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes.
12. At this point you would have some gravy in the pan.
13. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of MDH masala to the chicken. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
14. Remove some gravy ( 1/2 cup approximately) from the chicken and keep aside.
15. Layer the 70% cooked rice on the chicken.
16. Spread the gravy ( kept aside in step 14) over the rice.
17. Spread the fried onions and Cashews on the rice.
18. If you like your biryani spicy you can add chopped chilies at this point and layer them on the rice.
19. Cover tight and cook on lowest flame/heat for 15 minutes.
20. Serve it with Raita or just plain yogurt. Enjoy the succulent taste!!!