Apple capsicum chicken

We started liking brown rice after having it prepared by our friend Uma. After that I too bought a pack of brown rice and trying some new recipes. Brown rice cooked with rice is served as a  side in this recipe.  This chicken recipe is my very own creation. This is a less spicy version of chicken. The green apple makes the dish more tangy and delicious. Feel free to make this with any apple and vary the spice level as per taste.

Apple capsicum chicken with quinoa brown rice and broccoli 

Sautéed apple capsicum 

Baked chicken with apples and capsicum

enjoy !

To marinate:
Chicken (white meat) - 1 lb
salt - to taste (1 tsp)
pepper powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
curry masala powder - 1/2 tsp
lemon juice - 1/2 fruit
olive oil - 1 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste (ginger -  2 inch + peeled garlic - 6 )

Cut the chicken white meat into small pieces.
Marinate with everything above for 1 - 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 F for 10 minutes.
Coat a baking tray with olive oil and spread the marinated pieces.
Bake for 15 minutes., check if its cooked (by slicing). Reduce heat to 350 and bake again for 5 minutes to get a golden red color.
Switch off, keep the baked chicken in an airtight container or just fold the aluminum foil to keep the moisture of the chicken (otherwise it gets dry).

Garnish:
Red capsicum - 1
green capsicum - 1
green apple - 1
olive oil - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste
lemon juce - 1/2 fruit
cilantro (chopped) - handful

Chop the apple and capsicums to small cubes.
Heat oil in a wok.
Gently sautée everything together along with salt and lemon juice for 2 minutes.
Mix this with the baked chicken, cilantro.
Bake again for 5 minutes at 350.

Apple capsicum chicken is ready!

Serve along with any sides like rice , vegetables .

More books .....

On the other day, I was discussing about books with one of my friends. We were talking how books are  replaced by others these days. Anything can be read in internet, but the feel of a paper book is different. Though it is bulky, it has limited browsing effects, it needs more physical space, I love collecting books. When talking about cook books, some think that blogs are replacing cook books. But I will never say so. Recipe blogs can never replace a well trusted generation old cook book. Books give us a nostalgic feel, they take us to our happy places. So I encourage buying books as much as reading a blog.

These are the dollar store gems I got recently. I am yet to finish reading them.  But the topics seemed interesting to me. They are sitting just next to me, while I am trying to find better ways to create good foods, better than my previous.

Happy Easter ! Happy Tamil New year ! Happy Vishu !

Crispy chickpeas in airfryer

One of my recent innovations is airfried channa. One day, I was about to make some sundal (chickpea salad) out of the soaked channa and suddenly got an idea and tried a bowl of this. Though its crispy , it wouldn't be hard like the store bought uppu kadalai.

Ingredients:
Chickpeas (channa / kondai kadalai) - 1 cup
olive oil / or any cooking oil - 1 tbsp
rice flour - 1 tbsp (optional)
pink Himalayan salt / salt - to taste (1 tsp)
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
curry masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Rinse and soak the white channa for 6-8 hours or overnight.
Drain the water.
Mix all other items given (salt, turmeric powder, rice flour, chili powder, oil, curry powder) using a spoon.
Preheat the airfryer to 400 F for 5 minutes (I do this while mixing the ingredients). Set the timer to  15 minutes.
My airfryer can handle 1 cup (presoaked quantity) of channa. So do it in batches, if needed.
Start the frying process. Airfry it for 5 minutes in maximum heat. Then reduce it to 375 and toss it and repeat for another 5 minutes. Take out , toss and repeat till it gets crispy.
Always keep watching after 10 minutes as it gets brown and hard if not tossed in between.

Take out. Spread over a broad plate and let cool. Then store it in airtight container.
Airfried channa is ready to snack on!

Snow day lunch

Snow days are expected eagerly by school kids and office goers, and we all know the reason...yes ! That's like another state holiday and people I know welcome it , track it.... get prepared for it ..... do a lot of snack shopping for it ,  get a lot of selfies in snow and totally enjoy it .....if there is power, water and heat and TV snow days become fun for all :)  Snow shoveling is another story and I don't wanna talk about it :)

Yesterday was a snow day for us . So I did some grocery shopping on the previous day just like all those who buy bread and milk just before snow :) 

 I made kingfish curry and fry along with rice and spinach while he was working. He saw me clicking pictures of that and to add fun, he posted that picture in his whatsapp and his friends too started sharing their platters and we enjoyed every moment of it :) Some had already finished lunch and couldn't get their pics here.  His friend Rahul had corn and peas salad, Cletus had crispy dosa, Sunish had traditional fish curry .... all look totally yummy ! Kudos all ! 

Here are a few platters for us all to enjoy !

Crispy Dosai and Sambar from Cletus ...looks yummy !

Fish curry from Sunish ...wow. I wonder how they brought this beautiful terracota pot here . looks delicious!

Here is our fish curry wih fish fry and spinach :)

 I guess next time we should plan ahead and get pics from all of our friends like a roundup :)
Have a beautiful day you all !

Saturday Lunch

This is the meal I prepared today for our lunch, while hubby is working in laptop.  Love the way it turned out colorful and very glad to see him exclaiming on seeing this.

Menu : White rice, paruppu kulambu, beans poriyal, jackfruit seed fry, beetroot raitha, appalam along with lemon pickle.

Amma's Kitchen

Ammas Kitchen is a restaurant in Iselin, NJ. We  came to know of this through one of his friends in office. So we decided to have dinner there on a weekend and we were surprised to see JJ's photos there. Almost all the items in the menu seems reasonably priced (one dollar idli, vadai ...wow) and looked yummy.
This is a typical SouthIndian / Tamil cuisine place. Amma's kitchen is situated inside the 'The Mall' in oak tree road. It seems like they have branches in 2 more locations in NJ.
I tried egg kothu parotta  and hubby got freshly made veechu parotta. Both were delicious and were of the same price (say $7), but still I feel that egg kothu parotta is worth the price as veechu parotta was very thin like a wafer and won't be enough for an adult  (so he had to buy two of them :) ).
I am sure it is worth a visit and will definitely satisfy the foodies of SouthIndia.
Here are some pics to enjoy !

Amma's Kitchen in NJ

My favorite egg kothu parotta

Hubby's choice ....freshly made veechu parotta.

Once in a while....

On a Netflix marathon Saturday, a pizza lunch from Dominos....Our favorite pineapple jalapeno pizza with chicken wings :) .

I found this mango habanero sauce as more appetizing than any other sauce we usually buy.