Karahi Chicken !!!

Here is the mouth watering Chicken for people who love Indian food.
karahi Chicken is special item in Menus of Punjabi Dhabas in Northern India.
Here is my recipe .
Ingredients -
1kg chicken cut into regular pieces .
4-5 pureed tamotoes .
3-4 onions sliced .
1/2 cup ginger +garlic paste .

Khara masala(4-5 cloves,1 cinnamon sticks ,1 moti elaichi ,2-3 bayleaf ,4-5 whole black pepper seeds ,1/2tsp coriander seeds ...grind cloves,cinnamon stick,black pepper ,coriander seeds.
Use the oil that you prefer....I prefer Mustard oil .
Let the mustard oil simmer till it looses the strong flavour .Add bayleaf ,Moti elaichi to it and grinded masala then add sliced onion and ginger-garlic paste to it.Take out half of the browned onions along with Bayleaf and Moti elaichi ....keep it aside.Rest of the mixture puree it along with tomatoes .And put it the pan to simmer again .Saute it till it starts loosing oil then add chicken pieces ....again saute ...saute it till chicken starts cooking ...Now Add 1/2 tsp Chilli powder ,Salt according to taste and 1/2 tsp turmeric .
Once you see Chicken partially cooked loosing oil add water to it as much as you want the gravy to be .Cover it or if you want to speed up the process put it in pressure cooker and give 2 -3 whistles .
Take out the steam now let it cook till you see nice color gravy add the onions with bayleaf to it they will help to enhance the aroma of the dish .Also add chopped Cilantro and mint leaves to it .
You have nice flavored karahi chicken ready .

Mediterranean Food in Dallas Fortworth.

To all the people in Dallas Fort worth region .Try Fadi's and Alibaba.
They have excellent Buffets and ala carte menu .
http://www.fadiscuisine.com/to-go-menu.htm.
http://www.alibabacafe.com/about.htm.
Enjoy & add favourite Mediterranean places of your cities.

Menu Collection as hobby -and visit to Farmers Market

People find it strange but ...Lot of my recipes are invented from my collection of To go Menus.
keep collecting ...keep reading ..keep inventing its creative .Food is Art .Its all about being creative.

Food is all about mix and match ...you can be so creative with the food ...it offers not only the colors to mix and match but also taste .I have mixed my Indian entre'es with world entrees to make mouth watering food.Actually except for names I find so much similarity of Indian food
with mexican food the diffrence comes when we say vegetarian and non vegetarian .
Beans ,pita ,tortilla ,taco & chalupa have almost the same ....as our rajma (beans ),roti(wheat &white flour) ,bhatura(fried fermented white bread ).
Similarly ,I tried all afghani breads during my visit to Sanfrancisco .I tried afghani food in farmers market that probably a weekly affair in galleria park mall near Galleria Park hotel .The chutneys (sauces) they were offering with their breads were very similar to our chutneys .Their breads are fermented but very similar to our naans and tandoori breads .
I freaked on food that was offered as sample in that farmers market .Its wa sexcellent place to try different food and bakery products ....from russian and polish bakeries .

Quick,casual ,carry-out $5-$10 meals .

I also love the quick,fast,cheap and pick-up kind of restaurants which also provide great sitting kind casual environment .In my list tops .
the the chains like
http://www.unamas.com.
www.bajafresh.com.
http://www.chipotle.com
http://www.tacobell.com

Cilantro chutney with yoghurt base.

This chutney I recently tried and it came out very good .Especially the texture of chutney was very calming .
Recipe -A bunch of cilantro , 2-3 green chillies ,1/4 cup yoghurt and salt according to taste .
Grind the above ingredients into a smooth paste .
And a chutney is ready to eat with grilled chicken ,falafals,all grilled and tandoori dishes .
Modifications - I added little fresh coconut to this Chutney(Dip) grinded it with all ingredients and also 1/2 tsp roasted(grinded)cumin seeds powder to it ..It was excellent .

Diners, Bakeries and Coffee shop .

I want to keep my eyes open so I don't miss anything that world offers .

I love diners because they are affordable and user friendly .They entertain you anytime open almost whole day .In America this concept is widely popular .
Breakfast ,Lunch,Dinner all within budget .
Here are my favourites -
http://www.dennys.com/
http://www.bakerssquarerestaurants.com/
http://www.ihop.com/
http://www.mariecallenders.com
www.panerabread.com
http://www.cornerbakerycafe.com

Cilantro Chutney (Heera chutney)

One of our old family chef told me this recipe ...its not only needs 4 simple ingredients but its also quick and tasty.
Recipe -Bunch of Cilantro ,2 or 3 green chillies (depending upon how hot one wants ),little salt as per taste ,and lemon juice .
Grind first 3 ingredients and once grinded add little lemon squeeze to it .
And your chutney is ready t be served .You can add very little water but usually if its not being grinded properly you can add lemon squeeze to it .

People do add tomato and onions but try it with above mentioned way .

Food Shows and Chefs to follow.

Chefs and shows to follow :-
The chefs that really brought me closer to World food are -
1.Bobby flay who owns restaurant in different cities in America .(Mesa grill is one of them )
2.Paula Dean
3.Racheal Ray
4.Barefoot Contessa.
5.Mario batali .

They have been an inspiration to many food lovers.Food network gives quite a lot of info about them and their recipes .
They all kind of own their own restaurants in various cities in US .And the site where you can learn about them and their recipes is
http://www.foodnetwork.com/.
They in true sense made making of food pretty simple .

Good places to eat in CHICAGO

Good places to hang out in chicago .
The best according to me are
http://www.unos.com/ one of the best deep dish pizzas of the world.
Try their deep dish pizzas they are heavenly .For veggie lovers spinnacoli is the best .
2.Baisi thai in Oak brook ,Il .Nice thai food for all palettes. http://www.baisithaichicago.com/
3.Flat Top grill near Oprah winfrey's studio .http://www.flattopgrill.com/
4Giordanos was my all time favourite too.http://www.giordanos.com/
5.Zorbas ...for all Middle Eastern and Greek food .I tried their spinach Pie and it was good .It was a good place ..But I don't see its website .One sight refers that its closed .Still one can check on the following address :301 S Halsted StChicago, IL 60661.
6.Zephyr Ice Cream Restaurant - CLOSED.Pls check where they have moved because they have
jugs of Ice-cream sundays ...and their french fried ice-cream was awesome .
1767 W Wilson Ave(between Hermitage Ave & Ravenswood Ave)Chicago, IL 60640
7.Baker's Sqaure -it had branches all over Chicago and thier pies were mouth watering .
Apple cream ala mode .
Banana creme pie .
Carrot cake .
http://www.bakerssquarerestaurants.com/.

If I have not mentioned the some good pizza places then California Pizza Kitchen is also a wonderful place to try different pizzas ....they offer lot of variations in Pizzas .For their various locations worldwide you can visit their link below.

http://www.cpk.com.

And their original owners had come up with the book also which had the recipes of their wonderful pizzas.Its worth reading .Book name is

The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook by Larry Flax & Rick Rosenfield .Book can be bought at

Amazon.com.

http://www.cpk.com/

Quick and Easy Pasta sauce

Don't have pasta sauce at home.Try this easy recipe .
Microwave 6-7 red plum or regular tomatoes for 8-10 minutes.
Peel the skin and grind them .
In a pan take little butter/olive oil .
Add 1/2 cup chopped onions and minced/lengthwise sliced garlic(about 4-5)
Saute them but make sure it does not turn golden brown just lightly saute it and add tomato pureeto it .
Add pasta seasoning ,salt according to taste and little oregano .let it simmer for a while .
Addb little tomato ketchup and Home made pasta sauce is ready to mix in pasta.
one can also add cream/malai in this .

Tri-color pasta

Pasta bow shaped farfalla pasta (Butterfly shaped )
2 cups pasta cooked al-dente (perfectly cooked not mushy ,not hard ).
1 cup peas
1 cup cut caroots
1/2 cup bell pepper
1 cup onions thickly sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic lengthwise sliced
1 1/2 tblsp soya sauce
1/2 tblsp vinegar
Cook pease and carrots in 1 tbls olive oil ..once half cooked add garlic and onions saute for while
till it turns light golden brown add cooked pasta .
Add Soya sauce ,vinegar .

And mix well .

Simple Tomato Chutney

My Simple Tomato Chutney in 2 minutes
4 tomatoes ,2 cloves of garlic and 1 dry red chilli .Grind it with salt and pepper .

Chutney is ready serve it with tandoori fish ,tikka or chicken .