Cutlets... My Comfort Food ;)

It’s been SO long since I’ve posted on any of my blogs… No particular reason why. Ummmm, maybe there is, but then again… :D I guess I needed some time off.
Anyway, no big deal… I guess here’s a good place to begin as any.

:D

I wanted to take some goodies to class for Peeps. It’s been awhile since I had last made something for her. And while I lay on my bed (littered with project note, thumbnails, and other unmentionables… which is a whole different story altogether) making faces just for the heck of it, it hit me… Cutlets! That’s what I’ll make!

I’d been looking for the perfect excuse to indulge in my favorite snack, and it couldn’t get any better than this :D

They make me very homesick though, because cutlets remind me of those long winter evenings spent lazing with my cousins in the guest room (which was by default our domain). Cold cold evenings spent curled up in the bed reading Debbie, Mandy, Bunty and Judy … and the oober delicious cutlets. Piping hot, they’d be delivered to our ‘kingdom’ by a lowly minions (usually one of our aunts :D)

Sigh! I wanna go home!!!
Err… not exactly!
Hell no!
Muhahahahahahahaaa!


Anyway, You Will Need:

For the chicken
Chicken/meat – 0.5 lb
Ginger (chopped) – 1 inch piece
Garlic – 4 pods
Salt – just a little to taste

(If you want a vegetarian option, skip this step and use 200 grams carrots, 200 grams beans and 100 grams peas instead)

For the filling
Onion (diced) – 0.5 lb
Green chilly (minced) – 100 grams
Mint leaves (minced) – 1 cup
Coriander leaves (minced) – 2 cups
Spring onion minced – ½ cup
Celery (diced) – 1 cup
Potato – 2 medium sized ones
Bread – 2 slices
Oil 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

For the crust:
Egg – 1 large
All purpose flour – 2 tsp
Bread crumbs – as needed
Oil to fry

Method Of Preparation:

- Pressure cook the chicken, ginger, garlic and salt (without water) till done.
- Strain and cool. Finely shred the chicken (I used my shredder) and keep aside.
- Boil the potatoes, peel, mash and keep aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil and fry the onions green chilly, mint leaves, coriander leaves, spring onion, celery and salt until the onions turn translucent.
- Add the chicken (meat/veggies) to this and fry for 5 minutes.
- Next, add the potatoes and bread slices and combine well for 5 minutes.
- Allow it to cool for a while.
- Meanwhile make beat the egg and all purpose flour until there are no lumps.
- Take the breadcrumbs in a separate flat plate. You can keep adding more crumbs as and when you finish.
- Next make small patties of the chicken (meat/veggie) mixture
- Dip each patty in the egg mix and roll in the breadcrumbs (gently) to give it an even coating.
- Deep fry on medium flame for 3-4 minutes on each side and transfer onto a paper towel.

Serve with Tomato sauce or Coriander chutney...
Enjoy… :D

Triple Chocolate Caramel Cookie Bars

Etta and Preethi are coming over tomorrow and I’m SUPER excited!!! Yay! Two days isn’t enough :( But, what the hell! I can’t wait to see them again. Sigh!

Preethi is MY kinda person - an unapologetic foodie and fellow chocolate freak. So I made this for her because I know she’s one person who’ll fully appreciate and fully do justice to your cooking no matter what.

Anyway, this is one of the simplest cookies ever. Don’t be scared by the seemingly long process. It’s not so difficult (as long as you remember to stir the caramel continuously till it’s done) and your taste buds will implode with joy with the very first bite :D

Lol!

So, You Will Need

For The Base:

250g all purpose four

½ cup castor sugar

3/4^th cup unsalted butter, softened

For The Caramel Filling:

7 tbsp unsalted butter

½ cup light brown sugar (muscovado)

2 * 14oz cans condensed milk

For The Chocolate Topping:

90g semisweet/bitter cooking chocolate

90 g milk chocolate

50g white cooking chocolate

Method Of Preparation

For The Cookie Base:

- Preheat the oven to 350 F

- Line and grease a 13*9 inch baking dish

- Combine the flour and castor sugar in a bowl and work in the butter with your hand, until it looks like fine breadcrumbs

- Put the dough into the tray and press it out with your hand to cover the base

- Smoothen the surface with a spoon and prick holes al over with a fork

- Bake for about 20 minutes and set aside to cool

For The Caramel Filling:

- Combine all the ingredients in a pan and heat on a medium-low flame, stirring all the while until the sugar has dissolved

- Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer on a low flame for 10 minute

- Stir constantly and make sure it does not burn

- Remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the cookie base

- Leave it aside until cold

For The Chocolate Topping:

- Melt each chocolate separately in the microwave for 40 seconds (or in a double boiler)

- Spoon lines of plain chocolate alternating with milk chocolate and cover the surface of the caramel filling completely

- Add dollops of white chocolate and use a skewer to form a marbled effect

- Leave it to cool and cut bars once the chocolate has set (if it’s still gooey, refrigerate it till it sets and then cut bars)

*Excuse me for the ridiculous picture :D I was trying to do too many things with one hand*

Mathew Mishmash-ed!

There’s this little lady I visit online almost every other day, just to torture myself.

Not because she’s a great cook (she is!!) but because she goes one notch up above the rest and displays works of art rather than mere dishes. Droolworthy, eyepopping creations which make me want to run to the refrigerator and stuff myself up.

That’s the lady Mishmash.

Anyway, couple of weeks ago I came across this recipe of hers which I knew I HAD to try. I was waiting for a weekend when again, I chanced upon this other blogger’s post on his Mom’s biryani – Mathew - of the tongue-in-cheek, and sometimes tongue-outside-cheek wit and priceless humor.

His post reminded me of Kerala. Now, what I like BEST about Kerala is the FOOD! Actually what I like about ANY place is the food… but lets not get into that now. :(

*cough cough*

So, where was I? Oh yeah, Food.

:|

So.. I made this for the ‘Hungry Mouths’ a week or so ago and have been waiting to post this. But you know how busy a jobless person can be. :D

Anyway, ‘featured’ ;) here is Mishmash’s Mutton Fry on a bed of carrots (my idea of healthy salad… who am I kidding!) and a tomato cup of thick creamy yogurt embedded(?) in Mathew’s Savolaa.. Giri.. Giri.. Biryani.

Shn? Mathew? Very many thankoos for the deliciocity ketto! ;)

And that’s echoed by my phriends who masquerade as my guinea pigs.

Double Chocolate Fudge Macadamia Marble Cake

I should really have called this the 'Macadamia's Lost Her Marbles' cake. How else would you describe a cake born out of nervous energy and a craving for chocolates, nuts and everything decadent? Sigh!

It was past midnight I think, when I decided to bake. Anything to escape from 'actual work' ;)
And since I didn't have the patience to follow any particular recipe, I just threw in this and that on-the-fly. You can see my complete lack of focus in the frosting and decoration :D Mybad!

But it turned out ok, so I decided to let it materialize here.

And Chech? When you read this, look at the date and REMEMBER what you FORGOT.
Hmmpfhh!



Anyway, You Will Need:
Eggs – 5
Butter – 250 gms
Maida – 250 gms
Sugar – 250 gms
Cocoa/coffee – 4 tsp (mix the powder with half of 1/4th cup of milk)
Milk 1/4th cup
Baking Powder – 2 tsp
Vanilla essence – 2 tsp


Preparation Method:

1. Let the butter soften at room temperature

2. Powder the sugar

3. Separate the egg whites from the yolks

4. Cream together the butter and sugar

5. Add the egg yolks to the above mixture

6. Beat well

7. Sift the flour along with the baking powder onto a clean dry dish (sift 3 or 4 times to get rid of the air pockets)

8. Add this to the butter mixture

9. Add the vanilla essence

10. Beat the egg white till stiff and add

11. Separate the mixture into two halves

12. To one half add the cocoa (or coffee) and mix well

13. You now have two colored mixtures - one light and creamy and the other a dark chocolaty.

14. Add some chopped cashew nuts to the creamy mixture and chopped macadamia nuts/almonds to the chocolate mixture



Layering The Cake pan:

Scoop the mixtures alternatively into the prepared cake pan, making inch-wide stripes with the cream and dark dough so that you have a cream strip followed by a dark strip



Repeat till you cover the entire pan

When you’ve lined the pan, take a fork and lightly run it in a zig-zag motion over the mixture, once horizontally and once vertically.



Meanwhile, preheat the over to 180 degree Centigrade

Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges start leaving the sides of the pan


Frosting:
For the frosting, I followed THIS recipe, only I added some dark cooking chocolate for the middle layer of frosting.


Assembling The Cake:
- Ummm, you can go ahead and indulge in some creative license ;)

- For this one, Make two separate cakes in 9" pans

- Spread the frosting with dark chocolate evenly on it


- Sprinkle some nuts and dry sweetened coconut flakes

- Place Cake 2 on it and press down lightly but firmly


- Spread the normal frosting evenly, including sides



- Decorate with strawberries, sweetened coconut flakes, and whatever you can think of at the time ;)

(For the chocolate coated strawberries, simply melt some milk chocolate and coat the strawberries with it)



P.S. I'm going to dedicate this to my 'parasite' friend who's sold his soul to the devil ;)