Baida Roti (sort of an egg roll with keema filling)

This recipe is a variant of chicken frankie. The original dish takes mutton/lamb keema, but since I did not have access to either meat, I used chicken keema instead.

For the chicken filling:
I used the recipe from Chicken Frankie to prepare the chicken filling.

For the roti:
Use wheat flour & water to make the dough. Keep aside for atleast 30 mins.

To assemble the Baida roti:
1. Whisk together some eggs with salt and pepper. 1 egg :: 1 Baida roti is good enough number of eggs.
2. Prepare the rotis before hand. Make the rotis bigger than your average chapati so that you have enough room to fold the roti into packets.
3. Place a roti on the tava/frying pan. Put required amount of keema filling in the middle. Now pour a couple of spoonfuls of whisked egg into the roti, along the inner edges. Fold the roti to create a squarish shape.
4. While holding the folded side together, pour or paint some egg onto that side and flip it over to the tava/frying pan side. Drizzle a few drops of oil onto the sides of the tava.
5. Similarly pour or paint some egg onto the other side of the roti packet and flip that over to the tava/frying pan side.
6. When both sides are crisp and covered with eggs, cut through the middle and serve hot with sauce or chutney of your choice.

Chicken Frankie

For the chicken filling:
1. Heat oil in a saute pan and fry ginger, garlic & onions till onions turn golden
2. Add tomatoes and the following spices i.e. haldi(turmeric), chilli, jeera(cumin) , dhania(coriander) and garam masala. Cook till masala gets done i.e. tomatoes loses its moisture and oil starts separating along the sides of the pan.
3. Add chicken keema and salt and let it cook in its own juices. Add water if you absolutely need to. We want a moist filling for the frankie but not a runny one
4. Once the chicken is cooked add amchoor (dry mango powder), fresh coriander leaves, mint leaves and give it a stir. Taste check and set aside.

For the outer Roll you need:
1. Traditionally frankie is made with maida (all purpose flour). But you can use whole wheat if you are health conscious. I use 2 parts of whole wheat flour:: 1 part all purpose flour. Mix flour into a soft dough. Cover and keep aside for atleast 15 mins.
2. Roll out the rotis (tortillas) one at a time and half roast them on a tava. Half cook all your rotis first.
3. Whisk some eggs with salt and pepper. Use slightly lesser eggs than the number of rotis. e.g. for 4 rotis, I use 3 eggs. You can go 1 roti::1 egg, but it becomes too eggy :-)

For the salad stuffing:
thinly sliced onions + thinly cut lettuce + lemon juice + little chilli powder + salt. Add salt right before assembling the frankie.

Now to assemble the frankie:
1. Heat the tawa and apply some oil on it . Pour some whisked egg onto the tava and immediately lightly press a roti onto the cooking egg. The egg will get cooked while getting stuck onto one side of the roti.
2. Remove the egg-coated-roti from the tawa. Place some salad and chicken onto the center of the roti forming a line. Sprinkle some chat masala, kala namak (black salt) and fresh squeezed lemon on the assembled roti. Roll it up into a frankie.

Note:     
1. Don't overcook chicken as it will become dry and chewy.
2. I use store bought tomato puree instead of tomatoes....gives better color and texture to the keema.
3. Add salt to the salad stuffing at the very end or else the onions will start oozing water.
4. I assemble my frankie on top of an aluminium foil, so that it rolls up easily and is easy to eat by peeling the foil away. You can even use Parchment/wax paper.

Egg Biryani

This is my favorite quick recipe. It doesn't take much effort or time, and ends up tasting pretty good. For about 1 1/2 cups of rice, use atleast 6 eggs, from here on the more the eggs the merrier :-)


Hard boil 4 of the eggs and soak 1 1/2 cups of rice in 3 cups of water.

Heat some oil in a pan and add whole garam masala (i.e. some jeera, 1 black elaichi/cardamom, a stick of cinnamon, couple of bay leaves, few whole black peppercorns, couple of whole star anise).

Now add half an onion (julienned), whole slit green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and saute them till onions turn brownish. Add haldi, chilli powder, biryani masala and tomatoes.

Once the masalas are fully cooked i.e. you can see the oil leaving the sides of the pan, crack open 2 eggs into the pan and stir it vigorously so that it cooks in a scrambled fashion. Quickly add your pre-soaked rice along with its water, the 4 hardboiled egg halves and salt to taste.

Let the rice cook through and serve with your favorite raita. (I just used yogurt + diced onions + green chillies + salt + water).

Tips: 
1. Use fresh pudina/mint leaves if available, it gives a wonderful aroma
2. Use chicken bouillon if you have some at home and accordingly use less or no salt. It adds to the flavor of the biryani.
3. I used a pressure cooker to cook this so it took me very little time. You can cook this in your rice cooker or on your stove, anything works :-) 
4. I use Everest Biryani masala, probably because Mom uses the same. Prefer its flavor over MDH and Shaan

Pepper Chicken and Lemon Rice

My mom made this for us while she was visiting this holiday season. It was very tasty and extremely easy to cook. I have listed my Mom's chicken recipe and my friend, Roopa Shankar's, lemon rice recipe. Bon Apetit!!!

Pepper Chicken

Heat oil. Add mustard, jeera & whole garam masala (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves & bay leaves).

Add chopped onions, ginger/garlic paste. Fry till it turns brownish.

Add 3-4 slit green chilles, lots of curry leaves, haldi, tomatoes. Cook till oil separates from the masala.

Add chicken ( preferably small cut thigh pieces) Mix, cover & cook till done (it took me about 7-10 mins on medium heat).

Add about 2 tsp or more ( till you get taste & flavour) of pepper pd, garnish with coriander leaves & serve hot.

Tips: Add the pepper powder right before you serve the dish for the best aroma and flavor. Use fresh ground pepper if possible. 

Lemon Rice

Precook 1 cup of rice ( not too hard or sticky)

Heat Oil. Add mustard and jeera.
Then add 1 fist full of raw peanuts and saute for about 1/2 min.
Then add 1 tbsp of urud dal and 1 tbsp of chana dal (the dahlia used for chutney, not the chana dal used for dal). Just when they start to turn brown (less than 15 seconds) add the following:

split green chilies
curry leaves.
2 pinch turmeric powder
1/2 cut lemon juice (I mean the huge US style lemons)
salt
1 - 2 pinch sugar

Mix the above well, add rice and toss together. Right before you serve add remaining 1/2 lemon's juice and fresh cut coriander.

Tips: 
1. Cook on medium or low heat, or else ingredients can get burnt very easily.
2. Keep all the ingredients ready before you start. There shouldn't be any delay in adding the ingredients or the previous ingredients in the pan will get burnt. 
3. Always add the peanuts before the urad dal & chana dal because the peanuts will take slightly more time to roast.
4. Add the remaining lemon juice to the rice, right before you serve, or else the flavor of the lemons get absorbed by the rice. 
5. You can make Onion Lemon Rice or Garlic Lemon Rice by adding onions or garlic to the tadka before adding the rice.

Healthy eat

Mashed Potatoes

Boil and mash potatoes. Whip with half & half till desired consistency. Add salt, garlic powder, parsley & grated Parmesan. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top sprinkled with parsley. Eat with favorite gravy.

Steamed mixed vegetables

Steam cauliflower, carrots, green peas, green beans & corn for 15-20 mins in a steamer. Toss with butter, salt & pepper.

Grilled Portabello Mushrooms & Asparagus

Toss Mushrooms with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and chili flakes. Grill on grill pan.

Toss asparagus with olive oil, salt and Italian herbs. Grill on grill pan. 

Oven Roasted Potato Wedges

Toss potato wedges with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper & chili flakes. Place on a oiled tray or foil and bake in oven at 450 F for 15-20 mins or till crispy brown on all sides. Toss the potatoes around in regular intervals while it is roasting.

Tandoori Chicken

Marinate chicken thighs (breast fillets are more fibrous) in tandoori masala, ginger-garlic paste, yogurt & salt for a couple of hours. Place on a greased tray or foil, and coat the top of the chicken with some oil too. Place in oven on the the topmost rack at 450 F for 20 mins. If the outside of the chicken is not roasted enough, broil for the next 3-5 mins. Do not overcook chicken of it will become dry.

Oven Roasted Tilapia

Marinate fish fillet with ginger-garlic paste, yogurt, fish fry masala, chili powder, haldi & salt. Place on oiled tray or foil, coat the outside of fish with some more oil and bake in oven at 450 F for 20 mins or less. Serve with chat masala, kala namak & lemon.

Note: Make slits on the chicken thighs and fish before marinating so that the masalas get incorporated into the meat better.