I never knew that making pilau rice is so easy. Probably the only thing hard about it is assembling the myriad spices you need. Pilau rice, if you must know, is the spiced fragrant rice accompanying Indian dishes. There so many variations of it much depending on how colourful or how much spices you want in it.
I love how easy it is to cook this resulting in fluffy and soft fragrant rice. Highly recommended!
Pilau Rice
250 g [1-1/3 cups] basmati rice 2 2/3 cups water 1 Tbsp ghee or cooking oil 1 small onion - finely chopped 1/2 tsp fennel seeds 1 cinnamon stick - halved lengthwise 2 cardamon seeds - squashed open 3 cloves 2 tsp ground turmeric 2 bay leaves
Wash and drain the rice several times with cold water then soak for 30 minutes.
In a saucepan with a tight fitting lid, heat the oil and saute the onion in medium heat until soft (about 5 minutes).
Add the rest of the spices until fragrant.
Drain the water from the soaked rice and add the rice to the saucepan and stir to coat with the sauteed spices and oil.
Add the water, stir, cover saucepan and bring to boil. Lower heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
Turn off heat and keep covered and leave to steam for 15 minutes.
Fluff up the rice with fork and serve while hot.
*Note: You can use rice cooker cup to measure the rice and water (1 rice cooker cup = 2/3 cup). The ratio is 1 cup rice to 2 cups water.
Okay I'm not too familiar with this Parmesan Chicken over on this side of the pond. I would assume this is name is popular over in the US. Over here it is called other things like chicken schnitzel or escalope. They may or may not have parmesan cheese but sure does make it very tasty. Some other variations of these involves brining the meat and also putting some tomato sauce and mozarella on top before grilling it for a few minutes. So those would be my next experiments in the mean time I leave you this recipe which I got from the lovely Ina Garten over at the Food Network.
Parmesan Chicken (Chicken Escalope / Schnitzel)
2 chicken breasts 65 g [1/2 cup] plain flour 1/2 tsp fine sea salt 1/4 tsp ground black pepper 1 large egg 1 1/4 cups breadcrumbs 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese olive oil unsalted butter
Butterfly each of the chicken breast into two thin pieces. Pound each piece so that it will be about 1/4-inch thick.
Combine the flour, sea salt, and black pepper. Set aside.
Beat the egg with a teaspoon of water.
Combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Dredge the pieces in flour then dip in the egg and then finally coat it with the breadcrumb mixture.
Heat 1 Tbsp of the butter and 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a pan. Fry the battered chicken pieces in the pan on medium-low heat of about 2 minutes each side.
Here's another version of the classic chocolate chip cookie with emphasis on being thick and chewy. This recipe is adapted from The Best New Recipe of Cook's Illustrated. There is an optional step on chilling the dough to make it spread less when baking. I prefer to chill it after balling it since it is easier to do so rather than the other way around.
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
300 g [2 1/2 cups] plain flour 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp fine salt 185 g [3/4 cups] unsalted butter - melted 200 g [1 cup packed] light or dark brown sugar 70 g [1/3 cup] granulated sugar 1 egg + 1 egg yolk 2 tsp vanilla extract 200 g [about 1 1/2 cups] chocolate chips
Pre-heat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Grease or line baking sheets with baking paper.
Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a small bowl until well mixed.
Mix, either by hand or electric mixer, the butter and sugars until well combined.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well blended.
Add the dry ingredients until combined.
Add the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon and stir until combined.
Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch (about 50 g) balls.
[Optional] Chill the dough balls for about 2 hours or until firm.
Arrange dough balls on the baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
Bake for about 11 minutes or until the outer edges start to brown and the centres are still soft and puffy.
Cool the cookies right in the baking sheets for about 5-10 minutes.
Remove from the baking sheets with a wide spatula and cool completely on a rack.
Tried jazzing up the brownies with fruit and nuts. So I got this recipe from the BBC Good Food magazine of years gone. I don't even know what month and year it came out. All I had is the torn out page with the recipe. It turned out quite nice being a quite different variation of the usual brownies. Although I noticed that it isn't as popular as the ubiquitous intensely chocolatey brownies. Nevertheless, quite a good change from the usual especially if you have some dried fruits and nuts to use up in your pantry.
Cranberry Pistachio Brownies
200 g [1/2 cup + 1/3 cup] butter 300 g dark chocolate (at least 50% cocoa content) 300 g [1-1/2 cups] light muscovado sugar 4 Tbsp milk or cranberry juice 4 medium eggs 200 g [1-1/2 cups] plain flour 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 80 g dried cranberries 100 g [1 cup] pistachio - chopped icing sugar for dusting (optional)
Heat oven to 180. Grease a 9-inch/23 cm square baking tin.
In a saucepan, heat the butter, sugar, chocolate, and milk (or cranberry juice) gently while stirring constantly until the chocolate is melted and everything is well combined. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Whisk in the eggs one at a time.
Add the flour, cinnamon, and dried cranberries. Mix well.
Pour in half the batter to the prepared baking tin. Sprinkle the pistachio over and then pour the rest of the batter.
Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out with no wet batter.
If you need a simple sauce to cool down spicy food (especially curries) have this easy to assemble and make this yoghurt-based condiment.
Raita
1/2 cup plain yoghurt 1/2 cup grated cucumber - seeded first 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander or mint salt to taste 2 Tbsp chopped green onion (optional) 1/4 tsp ground cumin (optional) 1/4 tsp ground coriander (optional)
Using a tea towel or muslin cloth, squeeze out water from the grated cucumber.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and add salt to taste. Serve with curry.
