Food Talk!

Lemon chicken :)

2010-04-03T22:04:00.009+05:30

My mother's best friend gifted her a gigantic lemon from a trip to somewhere. So this lemon smelled nice, looked nice and was used by me (rather usefully if I may add) to make deliciously yummy lemon chicken. When I had first eaten lemon chicken in Kolkata I was actually under the impression it's made from lebu( lime). Well not quite, because lemon and lime are entirely different. So my afternoon experimentation went on well despite a sore throat and bad cold. My version of the lemon chicken is very quick to make and easy and can literally be prepared in minutes.Of course it's not very similar to versions you might find online but it tasted just swell!

1.Marinate the chicken for some time in ginger garlic paste and lime juice. Stir egg yolk and cornflower in a separate bowl.Then add this coating to the pieces of chicken and fry it well in oil.If you want to avoid deep frying then just boil the chicken a little before the frying bit.Wait till it turns golden brown.

2.Keep in mind that it always helps to have boneless chicken and preferably not huge ones. So you can dice them up into neat little cubes or strips.

3.Keep the fried pieces of chicken aside to drain any excess oil. P.S- At this juncture you might want to just have the fried chicken by itself because it is so delicious.But keep in mind that the lemon gravy will taste as good!

4.For the lemon sauce you will need lemon, I am stating the obvious here I guess. Beat out the pulp, not literally of course. Then add cornflower, sugar, salt, ajinomoto, into the pulp of the lemon and make it into a thick gravy. Stir it well inside your frying pan and for the gravy no additional oil is required.I used sugar free instead of sugar and it tasted just fine. If your lemon is too sour then a good amount of sugar is recommended.

5.Pour out the gravy on the fried chicken and garnish it the way you want it.Trust me, it tastes yum and is really easy to make.

6.You might add other fancy things to the lemon gravy but I'm not sure what, so find that out for yourself.

I personally felt that the lemon chicken would have gone better with fried rice but we are a family of chowmein lovers.This is simple stir fried Chinese noodles with lots of veggies and very easy to make.

P.S:The entire lunch combination was quite good.As a cook just starting out,I think I'll give myself brownie points on today's lunch.

For the love of eggs!

2010-03-24T13:11:00.004+05:30

Scrambled eggs are quick and easy to make.Also, quite delightful to hog.

Milk, eggs and a small dollop of cheese can make melt-in-your-mouth yummy scrambled eggs.However, like Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride I am not quite sure how exactly I like my eggs. I cannot make the perfect poached egg, God knows why.For me, it is a Herculean task sadly.Any tips?Omelets are the easiest, simplest and greediest approach to eggs.Boiled eggs can be friendly, specially if you are embarking on painful and smelly calorie control diet(read:soup diets).How do you like your eggs?Well, not yours. Get the point please?For now, yay to scrambled eggs.Deep contented sigh.

Also I am reminded of this yummy blog post by Tuna.

Why have I eaten an obscene amount of jam?

2010-03-23T20:08:00.004+05:30

Because well I am like Joey, I can eat huge amounts of jam and crave for a whole lot more.There is something so comforting and delightful about spreading out red dollops of jam on a crisp toasted bread.Specially the ones with pulp.Ah heaven, the stuff that dreams are made of...This jar of jam in the picture is even more yum because it is made up of practically zero calories, which means that even though it's sugar free it definitely has that pulpy sweet taste that usual jars of jam do. But the best part has to be the little bits and pieces of cherry that are added into the jar and one spoonful of it will be enough to make you go weak in the knee.

It is strange that not many people actually share my enthusiasm for jam.In fact people hardly take the effort of making jams at home. Whatever happened to good old fashioned jam making at home?My grandfather apparently specialized in the art but now that it's a whole lot easier to simply buy a jar from some grocery store, no one even wants to go into the trouble anymore.Deep sigh.Does anyone else share my love for jam?

I have been cooking a lot for the last two weeks.Sadly every time I cooked I was either too tired or not in the mood to take out my camera.So I cooked doi maach, and kosha murgi and Mexican rice and not to forget aloo posto.But laziness always gets the better of me.Tsk.

Also do you have a preference for the way you eat your jam?I particularly like mine to be on brown well toasted bread.Sometimes perhaps a little amount for decoration on a vanilla slice.Or just greedily out of the jar and into the mouth!

start up

2010-01-24T19:20:00.003+05:30

So I've been admiring a lot of food blogs, drooling over amazing food pictures and following food bloggers for ages.I am, of course, still not sure whether starting this blog was a very good idea because: a)I don't have time for regular updates,b)my cooking skills are limited and c)my last food blog didn't work out too well.Pfft.

But on the plus side: a)I have an amazing camera and my food pictures are not too bad,b)food is love, love is food,c)I'd eventually like to try my hand at food decoration for photography.

Pasta also known as soul food or comfort food( for me).Cheese toppings, a creamy mozzarella gravy, corn and veggies...yes, I have finally learnt to make reasonably good pasta.

When it comes to cooking, the only dish I excel at is kosha murgi or chicken curry.Some tandoori roti or plain rice with chicken done well is the stuff dreams are made of.

Ma's kooler tok is reminiscent of Saraswati Pujo and winter. Sticky, sweet, a tad bit spicey, there can be no other perfect end to a delightful Bengali lunch.

P.S:The header is awful, was put together in a hurry.Something better shall be used sooner, when time permits.Also please tell me what might work better, recipes?Food stories?More pictures?Just pictures and no talk?

(All pictures posted in this blog are taken by me with my Nikon D3000.Not to be downloaded/used without my permission.)