TANDOORI CHICKEN AND BASIL LAYERED RICE & A FEW EXCUSES FOR NOT BLOGGING!!

So guys...finally I am BACK!!!! Its indeed been a very loooong time since we met.....well, I have  so many excuses to share for all those months that have gone by....hehehe....well, I also have a recipe to share J Not that haven’t been cooking but various other reasons why I haven’t been appearing here.

To start with I am working on a new page for travelogue,  so watch out for that....which will be my first excuse to why I abandoned my darling cardamom hills and ventured out to many other wonderlands with my new Canon rebel T3i J (yup! You heard it right...I too got my SLR finally!!). Destinations were....well, starters were Alappuzha & Kumarakom -Kerala, Delhi & Agra...all this in India. Next for the main course we tried Langkawi in Malaysia and finally for dessert we had Istanbul & Bursa in Turkey!!! So that’s what I was last upto. Before this I was on a long vacation with my in-laws, just chilling out J and before that I was on a long vacation with my parents....And so I just took a long lavish break which we all should sometimes from routine...Right folks?? I thought I was getting a bit possessed by blog and blogging....this gave me the break and also the time to learn my way through Mr. REBEL(Please be aware that from here on I will address my darling Canon rebel T3i as Mr.Rebel)

Alright guys, like I said the travelogue page will come up soon with pictures and more on “MJ, the sailor’s adventures” J But here I share with you few of my favourite shots from various destinations.

1.       The Mausoleum of love-Taj Mahal - Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

2.       Sunset from our room’s balcony- Berjaya Resort, Langkawi, Malaysia

3.       An endless city- Istanbul, Turkey

4.       Spice bazaar/ Egyptian bazaar - Istanbul, Turkey

5.       Riding the cable car uphill - Bursa, Turkey

Alright, now that you have travelled the world with me....lets come back to our cozy little cardamom hills and talk fooooood......I’ll tell you more about the food and places on another day because we have a long recipe ahead J and you don’t wana miss that, do you??

Tandoori chicken and basil rice......well actually, this was supposed to be an attempt to create a tricolor rice dish and I was successful to some extent. I had my first layer of white which was flavoured with butter and paneer (cottage cheese) cubes, second was my bright orange tandoori chicken and third was the green basil flavoured rice. But if you see in the pictures, I took these shots at night and under artificial light, so the colours are not as visible as they should have been. Another factor is the plating....if I had done individual bowls of rice with layers and put them in the oven, I could have done a better job with the plating. Further notes on possible goof ups, please consult the tips n tricks sections J

How did the tandoori chicken and basil layered rice evolve......

Reason: I wanted to find a new one dish meal with rice and chicken.

Idea: I happen to remember the flavours of this chicken tikka rice I ate once at some restaurant.

Creativity: Tricolored rice was always something I wanted to try but I did not want to end up layering 3 colours after making them separately just to make it look pretty. So I decided to pot them up and put it on dum for 20mins so the layers would blend and feel each other but retain their colours.

Result: Nice spicy rice with a different flavour and lightly coloured pretty layers.

That’s the story.  Few things I wana share before getting into the recipe.....I have used paneer for the white layer, you can use halloumi cheese instead if you don’t like or can’t find paneer. In the green layer, I added some chopped cilantro...you could put some boiled greens peas also....no harm in additions.

Alright guys, so here we go.....

Ingredients: (serves- 3 to 4)

For Tandoori Chicken marinade:

Chicken - 1 whole (1.5kg) cleansed, de-skin and cut into large pieces

Fresh ginger garlic paste- 3 tbsp

Kashmiri chilli powder/ cayenne pepper- 1 tbsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp

Hung curd/ Greek yogurt- 2 tbsp

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

For Gravy:

Ghee/ butter - 3 tbsp

Onion - 5 medium grind into thick puree

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Tomato - 2 large chopped finely

Kashmiri chilli powder/ cayenne pepper- 2 to 3 tbsp (adjust to taste but not less than 2)

Coriander power - ½ tbsp

Turmeric powder- ¼ tbsp

Cinnamon stick - 2 pieces

Clove- 5

Black cardamom - 1

Garam masala - 1 teaspoon

Yogurt - 1 ½ cups beaten to smooth texture

Salt to taste

For rice

Basmati rice- 3 cups soaked in water for 1 hour.

Water - 6 cups

Paneer (cottage cheese) - ½ cup cut into small cubes

Milk- 2 tbsp

Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp

Fresh Basil leaves-1 bunch

Cilantro -half bunch chopped finely

Salt to taste

Method:

1.       Marinate chicken with tandoori marinade and refrigerate overnight.

2.       Cook rice 6 cups of water with salt to taste till fully done and water is almost evaporated. Open the lid and keep aside to cool.

3.       Grill the tandoori chicken for 10 mins on either side till a slight crust is formed.

4.       Heat ghee in a non-stick vessel.

5.       Add whole spices and sauté for a min.

6.       Add ginger garlic paste and cook till raw smell disappears.

7.       Add onion paste and a pinch of salt. Keep lid on and let it cook for 5mins on a low flame.

8.       Meanwhile, heat a saucepan on a low flame and sauté the chilli, coriander and turmeric powder till the raw smell of chilli disappears. Be very careful not to burn the masala. Do it on a very low heat. Takes about 3 to 4 mins.

9.       Sauté the onion till it is slightly golden. Be very careful not to burn the onion since this would make the gravy bitter.

10.   Add tomato and mix. Cook till the tomato is mushy.

11.   Add the masala powders from step 8.Cook for 5-6 mins. If there is not moisture in the gravy, add few spoons of water.

12.   Add the tandoori chicken pieces and coat with gravy. Add garam masala.

13.   Last, add the yogurt and mix well till uniform colour.

14.   Once rice is cooled, divide into 3 equal parts.

15.   Boil paneer cubes for 10mins with salt. Drain and add to one part of rice.

16.   Blanch basil in boiling water for 25 seconds and show under running cold water. Don’t let the colour change.

17.   Grind basil, 2 tablespoon vegetable oil and 2 tablespoon water.

18.   Add this and cilantro to 2^nd part of rice and mix till even light green colour is obtained.

19.   In an oven proof deep vessel with a tight lid, layer the rice. White with paneer at the bottom. ½ of the plain rice next, the tandoori chicken and some of the gravy after that. Again plain rice and last on top layer the basil flavoured rice. Sprinkle the milk on top.

20.   Lid tightly and bake in a preheated oven at 210-220⁰C for 15mins.

21.   And serve hot with left over gravy.

Tips n Tricks:

·    When you divide the rice before flavouring, take the top most layer for paneer, keep the second layer plain and the bottom layer for basil.

·    Pleeeease don’t burn the onion paste while making your gravy!!
·         What if you don’t have an oven or grill to make tandoori chicken??? No worries, heat a pan, smear a layer of butter and pan-sear the chicken pieces till almost cooked. Then heat it with the gravy before adding the yogurt.

·    If you have guests and want to show off your tricolour, you have 2 choices, layer and bake in a transparent bowl. Or you could stir fry each potion separately and layer them in your serving dish. When you do this, dont stir fry the plain rice with the gravy. Just heat the gravy gently and mix in the rice.

·    Pickles and raitas are great accompaniments J

Cheers!!!

MJ

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