Writing 101: Thing’s I’ve Learned

Today, let’s write a list. Write your own list on one of these topics:

1.Things I Like

2. Things I’ve Learned.

3. Things I Wish

I have chosen the topic:

Things I’ve Learned:

1. Do not give Advice to a friend.
2. Always agree with a friend, even if you know she is Wrong.
3. Be patient with seasons, Winter is always followed by Spring, unless you live in St. John’s.
4. Always keep your bottle filled with water, if you need to Discipline your kitty.
5. Stay away from spicy food if you are allergic to “Cayenne.”
6. If you want your Doctor’s secretary to ‘Smile’, give her gifts at Christmas time.
7. Always ‘Smile’ when your guests arrive.
8. Never say ‘No’ when your guests volunteer to do the dishes.
9. When inviting friends to your birthday party at a restaurant, be ready to pay the ‘Bill.’
10. Stay away from ,Religion,’ or ‘Politics,’ when you have company.
11. The above is a list of things I’ve learned.
12. I hope to get feedback from the participants, thank you for reading it. 🙂

 

Friday food feature: Chicken Mughal Style and Mixed vegetable

Today’s feature is Chicken Mughal Style and mixed vegetables

When Mughals came to the Indian sub-continent they brought with them fine architecture, music and food.My recipe for chicken is named “Shahi Chicken Qorma”.

The following is the recipe for chicken.

Ingredients:1. Chicken-one medium size

2. red chillies or cayenne- 1 teaspoon

3. ground coriander-2 nteaspoons

4. Salt- to taste

5. Mixed spices or garam masala- 1 teaspoon

6. Yogurt- 2 tablespoons

7.Ghee ( clarified butter) – 6 tablespoons

8.bay leaf-two leaves

9.fresh garlic- two cloves, grind it into a paste

10. Ground fresh ginger-1 tablespoon

11.Onions-three medium size( slice thinly)

Method :

In a medium pot, heat ghee or clarified butter, add two medium onions thinly sliced, fry until the onions are lightly brown. Add garam masala, fry for thirty seconds.Add the chicken pieces, fry them for five minutes.Next add the remaining spices, garlic, ginger, coriander,bay leaf, cayenne, and salt.Add a cup of water, when it dries up add the yogurt, stir and mix it well. continue to cook until the chicken is not raw. Here in North America the chicken gets soft very quickly, so the time depends on where the chicken is bought from. In Bangladesh where I am from a chicken almost takes an hour to soften. This is not the case with the chicken here in North America. Here it takes less time, it is up to the cook to make adjustments. Feel free to add or subtract the spices according to your taste buds. 🙂

Mixed vegetable and Shahi Chicken Qorma

Mixed vegetable recipe: ingredients:

 1.Frozen mixed vegetable- 1 bag

2. curry powder- 2  teaspoons

3. cayenne- 1 teaspoon

4. salt- to taste

5. vegetable oil – 3 tablespoon

6. onion – 1 small diced.

Method: In a medium saucepan , heat the oil in medium heat, add diced onions fry until they are transparent. Add the spices and the salt ,  mix and fry for a minute. Add the bag of vegetables, mix thoroughly with the spices and onion mixture, when the vegetables are coated well turn the heat down to low medium cover and let it cook for five to ten minutes. Pour the vegetables in a serving dish. It’s ready to eat.

…………………………………… 🙂

365 Writing Prompt: Seconds

Describe the most satisfying meal you’ve ever eaten, in glorious detail.

Sometimes a meal can be satisfactory without the word “Gourmet” attached to it.

Here is my reason for the above claim. I was always very simple minded when it came to food. There were times my mother would cook all kinds of delicious food, everyone in the family would be dancing up and down for this meal except me. I’d complain,”Mom, please can I have some lentils and mashed potatoes with my rice?”

I wish you could see the expression on my mom’s face, she’d say: Rani I cannot believe you want lentil and mash potatoes when I have cooked so many delicious foods?”

My mom called me Rani instead of Ranu if I said something outrageous.

Here is the glorious detail of my most satisfying meal.

For lentil the ingredients are:

1. one cup orange lentils(for soup)

2. half teaspoon- cayenne pepper

3. quarter teaspoon– turmeric powder

4. salt — half teaspoon

5. one small onion(diced)

6. two tablespoon— vegetable oil

7. water –two cups

Method:

Wash the lentils thoroughly until the water is crystal clear. Drain the water, pour the lentils in a saucepan. Put the pan on the stove, turn the heat to high, add salt, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. Bring it to a boil, if there are white scum floating, gently take it off with a spoon and discard it.Lower the heat to simmer, let it simmer until the grains mix with the water. Take the stove off the burner and  place a frying pan, use medium heat to heat the pan, pour the oil and when the oil is hot put the diced onion in the pan, fry until the onion is lightly brown, next step put the fried onions in the lentil soup, put the sauce pan to reheat the soup, taste for salt if it is suitable for you turn off the stove.

The next item is mashed potatoes:

Ingredients:

1. potatoes: two medium sized

2. Onion : one diced

3. dry red pepper: two

4. oil: one tablespoon

5. salt– half teaspoon

Method:

Boil the potatoes until they are soft. Heat the saucepan on the burner, pour the tablespoon of oil, when the oil is reasonably hot put the two dry peppers, with the spoon stir it until the peppers are a bit charred, take them out and place them in a bowl. Now put the diced onion and let it get slightly brown, do not let it burn, take them out of the pan and put them in another bowl.

Peel the boiled potatoes mash them with your hand or use a potato masher make sure there are no lumps. Next use your fingers to squash the dried peppers into a powder, care should be used to wash your finger thoroughly with soap after taking care of the peppers. Put the onions , powdered peppers, salt and mashed potatoes in a  slightly larger bowl to combine them together.

Serve it with plain boiled rice, it is delicious. I consider this tastier than any gourmet food I have eaten.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/365-writing-prompt-seconds/

 

DP Daily Prompt: Ingredients

The one ingredient I cannot do without in my kitchen is cayenne. I think it makes the food taste better. You can use a small amount or large. It’s all about how much is comfortable to consume without getting a stomach ache.

When I make sheesh kebab I use a little more than usual,such as from half teaspoon to one and a half.  It might be too much for some people. I think the dish is not tasty if I only put half a teaspoon.

This reminds me of an incidence with my next door neighbor. We invited them for supper,our menu was sheesh kebab,chicken,salad and pilaf.

We decided we’d make sheesh kebab we like i.e., hot and spicy. We didn’t want our neighbors to go hungry,we also cooked chicken as a substitute, we baked fried chicken,especially for their daughter but also for them if they were unable to handle our spicy sheesh kebab.

We were totally blown away when they ate the spicy dish and ignored the plain fried chicken. from that day on they barbecued the kebab quite frequently. We were pleased!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/daily-prompt-ingredients/

NaBloPoMo Nov.3rd curried beef recipe written and Posted by Ranu https://sabethville.wordpress.com

Today for NaBloPoMo,I am posting a recipe.I had good success with it.All my friends and family love it.Try it you may like it too!

Bhoona Gosht(Fried beef)

Ingredients:

1. Boneless blade roast—2 pounds

2. Onion—2 medium chopped

3. Fresh garlic—2 cloves, minced

4.Ginger— half inch piece minced

5. Salt—to taste

6. Curry powder—one tablespoon

7. Cayenne powder— one teaspoon

8. Oil for frying— quarter cup, olive oil or canola oil

Method:

Use an oven proof cook pot with lid ( le creuset or something similar).

Heat the pot at medium heat on top of the stove. Pour oil and add the chopped onions. Fry until the onion is transparent.Add all the spices,ginger,garlic,salt, curry powder and ground cayenne. Fry the ingredients for a minute. Add the beef,stir it till all the spices are coated,leave it for five minutes.

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Before placing the beef in the oven, cover it with the lid. Bake for an hour. Turn off the oven and leave the beef for an additional hour.

Serve it with rice and an yogurt salad.

Recipe for yogurt salad;

Ingredients:

1. English cucumber—one whole

2. plain yogurt—- 2 cups

3.green onion— half a bunch minced

4. salt —- 2 teaspoons

5. tomato– 1 small (chopped)

6. sugar— 1 teaspoon

7. lemon— half

8. green chilly-  – a small one minced(optional)

Method :

1.shred the cucumber,put the contents in a fine mesh colander,add the salt and leave it for a few minutes . The salt will squeeze out the water in the cucumber.If necessary squeeze the remaining water with your hand.

2. Add minced tomato,onion and green minced chilly if you want it slightly spicy. Mix it with a spoon.

3.Add the two cups of plain yogurt,mix it well with the above ingredients.

4. add the sugar,taste it,it should not be too sweet.

5.squeeze the half lemon and mix it with the yogurt.

The lemon juice gives a very pleasant taste.

DP Daily Prompt: You,the Sandwich Post by Ranu

Garam Masala-spice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If the restaurant were to name something after me,what can it be? I am thinking,it has to be something the customers would like to eat.I got it ,it will be Ranu’s bhoona gosht. It is a meat dish. The following is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 pounds of blade roast—sliced into one inch pieces

5 small onions–chopped

4 cloves of garlic– chopped

one inch piece of ginger–chopped and blend into paste

1 table spoon– curry powder

half tsp. cayenne powder

1 tsp. coriander powder

half tsp. cumin powder

quarter tsp. cinnamon powder

1 tsp. garam masala  powder

half tsp. paprika powder

3 tblsp.  olive oil or canola oil

salt to taste

Method:

1.Wash the meat thoroughly,remove excess fat.

2. heat the oil in a sauce pan.

3. put the onion,ginger and garlic,fry it until the onion is transparent.

4. put all the spices and fry it for a minute,do not let it burn.

5. It should be cooked in medium heat.

6. put the meat and stir it . Cook it for five minutes.

7. Transfer the meat into an oven proof pot.

8. preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

9. place the meat in the oven,leave it to cook for an hour.You should check it every twenty minutes, do not let it burn.The finished meat dish will be dry.This is why it’s called ‘Bhoona Gosht’.

You can serve it with rice or chapati( something like tortilla)

If you follow it according to the instructions given it will be a very tasty dish. Your friends,provided they like spicy food will ask for the recipe. Keep it a secret,what do you think?