Thai Chicken Pizza.

It seems like any dinner-type recipe I post is of the pasta/pizza variety.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but since I've found my go-to recipe for tomato sauce and pesto, I'm looking beyond classic Italian flavours to incorporate into my pasta/pizza. Variety being the spice of Life and all.

Think Taco-style Mac-and-Cheese, Thai Chicken Pizza, Nutella Pizza and their tasty kind.

Making pizza dough seems like a daunting, Herculean task as a newbie but I humbly ask you to try it. Homemade pizza crust CANNOT be beat, not even by the likes of French Loaf. With some yeast and flour, you'll create something that belongs in the hallowed wood-fired ovens of gourmet pizzerias.

You can get Dry Yeast at any semi-decent supermarket. When you do, check the previous chatty post I've done on the perfect pizza crust. One recipe makes four LARGE thin crust pizzas, so I make pizzas out of half the dough and freeze the other bit for a rainy (really, any) day.

 Thai food was an obsession of sort with me four to five years back. This petered out due to frequent unavailability of kaffir lime/lemon grass/curry pastes... and the prohibitive prices of Benjarong/Lotus/HipAsia. I still love my Satays with peanut sauce, phad thai and this amazing Tom Yum soup that Masterchef Machi makes.

However, my parents took us to Bangkok at an age when we were too young to appreciate local food/culture (wasn't precocious like Today's ten-year-olds). At Pattaya, I was allowed precious little. No Parasailing for Rabia! I could draw on the sands, roasting away in thick jeans (no butterfly applique on my jeans! Mum shopped at the same Ruff'N'Tuff counter for the brother and I... girls' wear largely consisted of butt-ugly frothy frocks back in the nineties).

As for the food, I could slurp down oysters, wasn't-that-fun?! There was also the added pressure of not looking at the other beach-revellers strip down to their bikinis and sip on their Heinekins (my mum warned us that our eyes would rot like oozing spoilt grapes if we looked at Alcohol or scantily dressed women. I believed her for the longest time).

So I survived the trip on Kinder Eggs (nothing like the piece of plastic crap that's sold for 30 bucks at India), prawn crackers and coconut cake.

The coconut cake and the floating markets of Bangkok are what I still vividly remember. Both were insane and incredible. A dense-moist-yet-spongy cake sold by a lovely Thai lady on the Bangkok version of a "platform" (Challenge to self: replicate cake or better yet, go back and try it again before I hit *gasp* thirty).

The floating markets were loud, bustling, chaotic and beautiful rolled into one.

Which brings me to the Dish of the Day (That meant something else before the blog was born!)

Thai Chicken Pizza. A copycat version of California Pizza Kitchen's Thai pizza with a little help from Ms Rachel Ray. A mish-mash of flavours and textures, all loud-bustling-chaotic and most importantly, beautiful.

(Note: You can use any Asian Sweet Chilli sauce, including Maggi's Hot'N'Sweet sauce, but if you can't track some down, make your own. Have added the recipe for a not terribly authentic, but a easy and tasty Sweet Chili sauce!)

Thai Chicken Pizza:
(Makes two large pizzas)

1 batch pizza dough
or 6-8 small premade pizza bases

For the chicken:

For the marinade:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 rounded tablespoonful peanut butter

2 teaspoons red chilli sauce

2 teaspoons grill seasoning (which has salt)

300 grams boneless chicken, cut into 2" cubes 

For the sweet chilli sauce

1/4 cup tomato ketchup

2 tbsps honey or brown sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

2 tbsp red chilli sauce

2 tbsp water

1 or 2 dried bird's-eye chilli, whole

Toppings

1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 orange or yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

a bunch of coriander/cilantro leaves, chopped

a few Thai basil leaves, chopped

3/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped.

1 cup bean sprouts

1/2 cup of scallions/green onion, chopped (can use sliced red onion)

2/3 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

dried chilli flakes

Method:

Preheat the oven to 250 C or 500 F for not less than 30 minutes. Make sure you preheat the baking tray in which you plan to bake the pizza, as well.

For the chicken:

If you have only crunchy peanut butter, you might have to pick out the big bits and throw them on along with the roasted peanuts at the end.

Marinate the chicken in the all of the ingredients mentioned for about 15 minutes. Grill the chicken until done, and slice it after it's been rested. You can also cook in a saucepan with all of the juices on medium heat. Do not overcook. Break up the chicken as it cooks.

For the sauce:



Use deep dark sugar or honey for a more caramel-ly taste.



Combine all over the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.

De-seed the chilli if you don't like very spicy food. Stir, as the sauce thickens, for about 7 minutes. Taste to see if it needs more chilli sauce or sugar, as per your liking. Add more water if you're using very pungent vinegar.

For the pizza:

Roll out the thawed pizza dough on a well-floured surface. Transfer it to a baking sheet/aluminium foil sheet that has been greased with oiled and sprinkled on with cornmeal or semolina/rawa/sooji. This prevents the pizza from sticking.

Kindly excuse my ugly-ass baking sheet. I tell myself that it's the mark of a true baker to have a burnt, overused sheet.

Keep all your toppings in one place so you won't forget to add one or the other.

On top of the rolled out dough, spread some of that sweet chilli sauce. Strew on the onions, peppers, bean sprouts and mozzarella cheese. I tend to not add the chicken, as it dries out and becomes stringy/rubbery in the oven.

Brush the edges with some Olive oil, some extra sauce on top and pop it in.

Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges are golden and the cheese has melted/is bubbly.

Take it out. Strew on cooked, shredded chicken, crushed dried chilli flakes, coriander, basil and peanuts. Add a few random drizzles of the sweet chilli sauce and you're done!

Absolutely delicious, was the unanimous verdict. Each bite was a revelation: you get the cheese, then the hit of the chilli flakes, the nuttiness of the roasted peanuts, the herbiness of the cilantro, the crunch of the onion. Even the pickiest of eaters wolfed it down with no complaint.

My brother did not notice that I had thrown regular sprouts instead of their traditional, infinitely tastier, crunchier white bean sprout counterparts. That, in my book, is a flaunt-worthy success.

The Doner Kebab/Chicken Shawarma Experiment Turned Lovechild.

How did I survive before Chicken Shawarma finally made it to Chennai?

Incidentally, how did I survive before Sub of The Day existed? Or Subway? I know they've pulled the offer; and it's thoroughly depressing.

Everything comes late to Madras, thanks to honcho-types firmly believing in the penny-pinching cliche of Tamilians. Cliche is not uncalled for, since Mum nearly goes into Kussmaul's breathing when she finds out how much fancy things like Callebaut gelato or a pint of Haagen-Dazs costs; and I always tell her only half of what it actually did.

What I meant by things coming late: KFC, Mocha, Costa, Starbucks and the like. Extremely annoying, except maybe when I have to pour/squeeze/pull/push/shimmy/wriggle into skinny jeans.

Along the way, I've learned to make most of the things these places have to offer. Breaded Chicken (way better than KFC's), Momofuku's Crack Pie (I've no clue about the original, but it'll be interesting to find out) and Magnolia Bakery's Cupcakes (Ditto).
Chicken Shawarma, I learnt to make quite recently. I'm sure you think there is no reason for you to attempt these, when there's a stall within 200 metres of your home.

I'd like to insist (very politely) that you try. You can control the spice mix, the moistness of the chicken, the crispness of the potato wedges, the fluffiness of the pita and instead of a gloopy mayonnaise, you can make your own garlic-scented tahini and yogurt sauce. Instead of a garden variety chicken-and-mayo roll (which at Rs. 50, is still ah-mazing). And it's supremely easy and takes up only one bowl (each).

This is one of the dishes that redeemed my savoury-cooking skills at home. I had to search high and low for the recipes of each of the components, and I am in love with all of them. The chicken part is from a Dubai-based site, so that comes with a Bonafide attestation. I added some garlicky fries, some tahini and shawarma pickles, because I'm a big believer of foodgasms.

I'm also going to try something new. I'll put up all the pictures and basic recipe details first, and a detailed and uninterrupted recipe below. Let me know if you like it!

Start off with the best spices you can find.

Pound the elaichi/cardamom pods, grind the cinnamon sticks, make your garam masala, whatever it takes.

Taste the marinade before the meat goes in and adjust, if necessary!

Marinate the chicken for at least an hour. Cover with cling film or some random lid and pop it into the refrigerator, if you live in a hot place like Madras!

Cook the chicken in all of the marinade over low heat, breaking it up as you go.

For the fries:

Refer to this post. And try parboiling, instead of microwaving... it makes a world of difference.

For the tahini-yogurt sauce:

Make a not pretty (but deelishus) batch of tahini.

Add lemon juice, salt and yogurt, playing by tongue and eye.

Use thick, preferably hung or Greek yogurt, for this sauce. You can make a regular yogurt sauce.

For the pita:

Make wholewheat pitas or buy the fluffiest, grainiest piece of pita bread in your city.

For the shawarma pickles:

Recipe coming soon! I don't give everything away on the first date. You can skip this step and add a couple of more drops of Tabasco, to spice it up.

Assembling these babies:

Get all of you stuff on one table and gather the people around it.

Slick the tahina-sauce on the pita.

Add chunks of cooked chicken.

Add the lettuce, pomegranate seeds, onions, tomatoes, shawama pickles and fries.

Splash on some tabasco, wrap it up and CHARGE!

Doner kebab/Chicken Shawarma Lovechild:

(marinade recipe from Sips and Spoonfuls)Ingredients:

For the chicken shawarma marinade:

500 gms boneless chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup thick yogurt

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp cardamom pod powder

1 tsp cinnamon powder

Salt to taste

½ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp garam masala

3 tsps ginger-garlic paste

For the tahini-yogurt sauce:

1/2 cup white sesame seeds
3 tbsps Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Greek/hung/full-fat yogurt
2 plump cloves of garlic
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:

1 batch of Garlicky baked fries
8 wholewheat pita bread (1 batch of this recipe)
1 cup iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1 cup tomato, chopped
Pomegranate seeds.
Shawarma pickles.
Chopped coriander and mint leaves-plenty.
Tabasco, as needed.

Method:

For the chicken:

Marinate the chicken pieces in the marinade ingredients for at least an hour.

In a non-stick pan (no need to grease), over medium-low heat, cook the chicken for about 10 minutes. The marinade should have dried and the chicken should be moist and tender. Break up the chicken as it cooks.

Keep aside.

For the tahina sauce:

Roast the sesame seeds over low heat until it turns a pale shade of brown and pops. Take it off the pan in which it is heated, or it will continue to cook in the residual heat and burn.

Once cooled, grind the seeds to paste in a mixie/food processor. Add in the garlic, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and blitz until a nice paste is formed.

Add in the yogurt, and adjust the salt as per taste.

To assemble:

Heat the pita over a non-greased tawa for around 10 seconds on both sides, on medium heat.

Spread the tahina sauce on it.

Add the chicken, fries, pickles, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pomegranate, herbs, tabasco as per each diner's choice.

Serve immediately.

Store each of the components separately, closed in the refrigerator.

I didn't bother with that, because there was enough left over for one tiny roll.

A midnight-snack-portion roll. As my own personal toast to the amazing Nigella Lawson. Cheers!

By The Bay!

Madras during the Monsoon.

I apologise, in advance, if I take a detour from the grub-talk and wax eloquently on the sporadic-yet-bloody-gorgeous showers (replete with thunder and lightening, I kid you not), the cliched mugs of hot cocoa in front of the window (chai-and-pakoda, corn on the cob, pick your poison) and state-declared holidays.

Not to mention what happens to the beach. Besant Nagar, in this context, in all obviousness. It's desolate (compared to your regular Sunday-rush of families with screechy children, lovers perched under roomy umbrellas and a paraphernalia of vendors selling everything from plastic watches, bootha kannadi to molaga bajjis.)

And the food there. You want momos? Got it.

Sweet corn with a myriad of seasoning? Got it.

Gelato and Ice Gola? Check and Check.

Expensive coffee, beach-side burgers, Dindugal Thalapakkatu Biryani? Yes, yes and yes.

It never was complete, though. La Boulangerie's chocolate cake and FunkJazz's doughnuts should logically hit the spot for me. Still. There was a niggling hole in the picture.

I wanted something more. Something warm. Toasty. Spicy. Hearty. The rain awakens taste buds you didn't know existed.

The answer to that Sphinx-y question can only be ONE thing. A shawarma!

The shawarmas I've had in India are a disappointment and a half. Thin white quboos: Blahdom. Oily mayonnaise making the whole thing soggy: Instant turn-off. Chicken filling: Usually yum, but overwhelmed by the fatty mayo and the sad little shreds of cabbage.

That is not a shawarma, people. If you want a real shawarma as God intended to be, in all its goodness, go to By The Bay. A Lebanese restaurant right next to Mash and FunkJazz on Besant Nagar Beach Road. They make a mean shawarma, pretty damn close to the actual thing and quite frankly, the best I've had in Madras.

You'll have to wait 15 minutes for it to be done. Completely worth it. The proportions are such that you'll have to hold with two hands. Sold.

Notice the panini/sandwich maching thingy? That's to toast the whole thing.

Fat, warm quboos envelopes grilled chicken with the tastiest spice rub, potato wedges, red cabbage, flecks of parsley and a thoum (garlic cream) so delicious, I want to use it as Body Butter for the rest of my life.

The whole shawarma is toasted after being assembled, the grill marks showing up on the bread. It is an experience. My only grouse was the potato wedges weren't crisp enough, but they melded into a mashed-potato-y cream in the shawarma, so it wasn't that big of a deal. You'll also need to stuff in the pickled radishes and cucumber if you like your shawarmas salty.

Just make the perfect bite, look into the rain and indulge.

The chicken and beef Shawarma both cost around 100 bucks each.

The Chicken Laham pita-wich (sandwich, in a pita bread) consists of three sheek-type charcoal grilled kebabs on a decent-sized pita. The pita is strewed with crunchy, flavourful onions, parsley and more thoum, pickles and french fries. At 120 bucks, it's a steal.

The other thing we ordered was a stew-type thing. Charcoal grilled shammi-shaped chicken with a vinegary stew filled with hearty carrots, potatoes, broccoli, onions, peppers and middle eastern-spices.

Along with Qabsa (arabic biryani), fries, a bread-basket filled with warm pita, hummus, thoum, pickles. All this for Rs. 240. Hard to believe? And most of the components were well-executed and a delight to sample. The Arabic biryani alone was little too oily for me... it wasn't all yellow and fluffy and steamy the way I usually have Qabsa.

Two of us could not finish the whole thing, but it was one heck of a delicious try.

The one other thing you must sample are the Za'atyers. Reminiscent of a pizza, it consists of sauces and chicken and cheese (subbing Haloumi and Muhammara-ish sauce, of course) and it smelt amazing, coming fresh out of a real wood-fired oven; something I'm definitely going back for.

By The Bay is one of the newer additions to Madras's culinary scene that I'm in love with. I hope it stays this way..

Their tag line reads "Not Authentically Arabic", but at these prices? لذيذ جدا

One more thing that'll take me back is the desserts I didn't have room to sample! They have Mohalabbia on the menu and it has my name written all over it. Literally and figuratively.

Greek Chicken(or not) Pizza/Tossing up a weekday wonder.

I promised you a to-die-for pizza recipe on Monday. And Monday, like my fitness levels, has been long gone. Monday doesn't mean Monday. What it stands for is any insipid, tiring, manic-in-a-bad-way weekday. Which today definitely counts as, for me. A day that needs melted cheese to soothe away the crappy-ness of the morning. Here's where my weekend experiment with pizza dough comes in handy.

Or you could stop in at French Loaf after work and pick up half a dozen of their wholegrain pizza bases. Will make life that much easier for you. And from all the whining (in a non-Akon way) I hear from friends, we could all stand for life to get a little less difficult.

The first pizza I wanted to make was this Barbeque-chicken-ranch-cheddar cheese pizza. One of those things that confuse and blow your mind at the same time. Is it a burger? Is it a pizza? No, it's Super-freaking-deliciousness on a plate.

Alas. Time wasn't on my side, so I got to marinating and grilling some chicken (used my Chicken Gyros recipe) and put some pizza sauce to bubble away merrily on the stove. The toppings weren't that demanding to prep for, except for the unpitted olives, half of which ended up in my mouth, any way.

And you can skip the chicken altogether, making it a completely vegetarian pizza, but the whole lemon-oregano-olive oil Gyros wasn't something I was going to pass up on. Maybe you could try the same with mushrooms? Let me know!

Greek Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

1 recipe of the pizza dough (or 6 medium sized bases)
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
6 cloves of garlic, minced
250 g grilled chicken (Chicken Gyros).
1/2 cup sliced pitted olives
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 recipe pizza sauce (or open up a bottle of the same)
2 onions, cut into slices
2 tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 bunch spinach, washed and drained.
2 tsps Extra Virgin olive oil.

Method:

Roll the pizza dough out onto greased foil or parchment paper (NOT BUTTER PAPER).
Alternatively, you can use a readymade base.

Brush the circumference with a teeny bit of Extra Virgin Olive oil. Strew minced garlic, pushing it into the dough.

Spread the tomato sauce on the pizza base.

These are the toppings that I used.

Make sure the spinach has been washed and scrubbed!

Top with tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, olives and spinach. Add a drop of olive oil over the onions, so they caramelize as they bake.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius. After the edges become brown and the cheese bubbly (it took me 12 minutes), take the pizza out.

Top with the shredded chicken. I prefer to do this after the baking is over, so the chicken won't dry out or go rubbery due to overcooking.

Sprinkle with oregano, and enjoy/attack!

Recipe source: barely adapted from Food Network

And while this is Mmm-Mmm-Mmm, I can't wait to try the Ranch-Barbeque thing.

Make this, don't think about it. You know you want to. Don't blame me if you can't eat at the Hut again, though.

Chicken Waldorf Sandwiches/What Promises are made of.

I promised I'd make things with meat in them. I promised I'd make easy-peasy grad student recipes. And I'm the kind of girl who keeps her promises. Believe it.

Conveniently though, this recipe caught my eye during one of my long, long food-surfing sessions. You know, the sites I visit daily to slobber over sensual, glamorous food, the likes of which I can never conjure up. This one, though, was the type you could pull off even if all your recipe book has toast, coffee and Maggi in it. Prep time aside, it takes five minutes to assemble.
So it works out for all of us. You can thank me later.

And did I mention this has no fancy herb or cut of meat in it? You could go down the frozen meats route and dig out a pack of boneless chicken breasts. Or if you're paranoid about the halal factor and/or freshness, call your friendly neighbourhood butcher (they're gentle giants).

Chicken Waldorf Salad: instantly, I think of the smoked chicken sandwich at Barista. While it is good (if a wee bit pricey), I've no idea when it was made or how much grease has gone into it, in the form of mayonnaise and butter.

Make them at home. Serve it to your mum's posh friends. Gloat whilst they diss their daughters and praise you. And if you're making this for men, name it something else. Chicken salad has quite the reputation for being bridal shower/"kitty" party food.

I made it at night, stored it in a bowl wrapped with cling film, and served it at breakfast. Yes. We have meat for breakfast. Get over it. In my defense, it was a Sunday. Pah.

Mostly-Healthy Chicken Waldorf Salad Sandwiches.

Ingredients:

400g of boneless chicken, cubed.
3 celery ribs (optional)
3/4 cup pineapple, peeled and chopped.
1/2 cup apple, peeled and chopped.
1 medium onion, finely diced.
2 tablespoons Mayonnaise (Light is good)
1/2 cup unflavoured yogurt.
2 tablespoons lemon juice.
Mint/Parsley, a small handful-chiffoned (chopped fine).
Salt and Pepper, to taste.

Method:

For the chicken:

Place your chicken pieces in a medium-sized vessel. Fill it with enough water so it's a couple of inches above the level of the chicken. Add plenty of salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook until it's completely reduced.

Another way to cook the chicken would be to rub the chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper. Simply bake/grill them until tender.

Once the chicken is cool, shred the pieces into your-ideal-sized pieces. For example:-

In another bowl, combine the chopped pineapple and apple.

I used a ripe, sweet pineapple. In contrast, a green apple would be fantastic; or you can pick up Washington or Fuji apples at Kovai Pazhamudir Chozhai. Regular old apples would be fine, too. Just make sure they are tart and crisp. If they're very sweet and doughy, skip the apples altogether.

Chop the celery into tiny dice.

Celery adds another whole dimension to the dish, not to mention an interesting texture. Again, they're available in most greengrocers... if your subziwalla/kaigari kaar doesn't have them, supplement with extra mint for a herb-y touch and more onions for a crunch.

In a bowl, mix together the chopped onion, chicken, apple-pineapple, celery, mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Taste it. If the consistency or the seasoning isn't enough, make adjustments. You could add more mayo, less fruit, plenty of pepper, whatever.

Toast the walnuts. Chop them coarsley. Add into the chicken mix.

Serve on toasted baguette slices or stuffed between two pieces of wholewheat bread. I skipped the grilling as I wanted a cold sandwich that would befit Summer. Or wrap spoonfuls inside crisp, cold lettuce leaves for a refreshing appetizer/amuse bouche.

This post could be tagged healthy, technically. It depends on how you make it. Either way, you could close your eyes when you see the two tablespoons of mayo part. Out of sight, out of mind. Work with me!