Spicy and sticky chicken wings

INGREDIENTS:

10-12 chicken wings 

2 tablespoons runny honey 

2 tablespoons tomato ketchup 

1 to 2 tablespoons of vinegar

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

 1/2 tablespoons of hot sauce adjust according to your taste

salt and pepper to taste

Little Cilantro leaves chopped for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

• Mix together all the ingredients except the chicken and cilantro, testing as you go. You may want to make it spicier or sweeter.
• Coat the chicken thoroughly and marinate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375F.
• Bake the chicken wings in a foil lined tray for about 30 minutes or until golden and sticky.
• Last few minutes put it on low broil to get the charred flavor.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro before serving.

Makes 2-3 servings.

Black Beans And Orzo Salad

                          Pasta always comes handy for any simple n easy dish. Believe it or not there are more than 149 kinds of pasta available. Some of them are uniquely regional and not widely known. I Like using different shaped pasta in my food. Dish looks very appetising just by changing the shape of the pasta. For this recipe I used whole wheat ORZO pasta. It is shaped like a large grain of rice. you can serve it as part of soup, salad, pilaf.

                Looking for something light for the potluck party? Don't have time to cook? This salad is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. you can totally make this dish ahead of time.

INGREDIENTS:
Black beans - 1 can
Orzo pasta uncooked - 1 cup
Frozen corn thawed to room temp - 2/3 cup
red onion diced - 1 cup
jalapeno deseeded n diced -  2-3 (depends on your heat tolerence)
Orange bell pepper diced - 1 & 1/2 cup
coriander leaves chopped - 3 tbsp
Lime juice 3 tbsp
Dressing:
Olive oil - 1 Tbsp
Salt And pepper to taste
Chili flakes -1 tsp
Five spice Seasoning - 1/2 tsp
oregano 1/2 tsp

METHOD:
Cook Pasta According to the package directions. Then Drain. Keep it aside.
Take all ingredients except the dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Now in a small pan, take all the ingredients for the dressing and put it on low heat.

Heat up this mix just enough so that the spices will not burn.
The reason why like to heat up is, I think a warm dressing gets absorbed nicely into pasta.
hence makes it more flavourful.
Then add the warm dressing to the salad and mix it well.
Serv it as a Main dish or side.


Makes 4-5 servings.

Biryani cutlets

          Sometime when I make chicken or shrimp biryani, next day all I'll be left with is just biryani rice with no chicken or shrimp in it. So I came up with this dish using left over biryani rice. And it tastes amazing.

INGREDIENTS:

Left over biryani rice - 2 cups
Potatoes boiled and mashed - 1 large
Green chilli chopped - 2
Coriander leaves chopped - 2 tbsp
Hot sauce - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to shallow fry

METHOD:
In a mixing bowl, take all the ingredients and blend well with your hand.
Shape the mixture into small cutlets and shallow fry both the sides till golden brown.
Serve with chutney or ketchup. (Note : there are so many spices already in biryani rice so you hardly need any more.)

Makes 6-7 cutlets.

Hara Bhara Tikki

                       Here is what is going on. We are starting to wrap up our stay in Texas as we are soon moving to New Jersey. So with this last couple of weeks left, we are catching up with our friends as much as possible. Our two year stay has been wonderful. Made some awesome friends and memories that we are going to cherish. Though I'm really excited to explore yet another new place but in the same time I'm going to miss my friends here. But I want to stay positive towards life. LIFE will definitely will have something great for me.

           Let's get to what's cooking today. Though it's been a while since I have  posted anything with potato. As we are trying to stick to a low carb meal for last one year or so. but whenever I invite friends over, I definitely don't torture them with all my low carb, low sodium, low oil meals.
   
     So Recently, when we had a family for dinner; I made this really easy quick Aloo tikki with loads of greens. Potato is such an amazing veggie. It pretty much goes with everythig. These Tikkis I shallow fried them but you can bake them as well.

Ingredients:
Potatoes boiled - 3-4 medium sized
Mint leaves chopped - 1/4 cup
Methi leaves chopped -1/4cup
Spinach leaves chopped -1/4cup
Coriander leaves chopped - 2 tbsp
Kasuri methi - 1 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Green chilli paste - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Semolina or suji - 1/2 cup
Corn flour paste - 1 tbsp. (Mix 2  tbsp. corn flour to 1/2 cup water)
Salt to taste
Oil to shallow fry

Method:

• Take mint, methi, spinach in a food processor n give it couple of pulses.
• Then mix together all the ingredients except corn flour paste.
• Divide this mixture into 8-10 equal parts and shape them into tikkis.
• Now heat oil, dip the tikkis in the corn flour paste and shallow fry both the sides till greenish brown color.
• Serve hot with chutney.

Makes 8-10 tikkis.

RICE SAGO BALLS

This is another great recipe for your left over rice. Try it. You'll love it.

INGREDIENTS:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Sago - 1/2 cup
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup ( you can use fresh or dried)
Asafoetida a pinch
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Green chilli powder - 1 tsp
Onion chopped - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves finely chopped - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
METHOD:

• Soak sago in  enough water not too much (May be little more than 1/2 cup )for 3-4 hours.
• In a mixing bowl add all the ingredients one after another. And mix well.
• Make small balls of the mixture. Heat oil and deep fry all the balls till golden brown on medium heat.
• Serve hot with your favorite chutney.

Makes 15- 17 balls.

WRAPPED SHRIMP

This starter with Asian twist is a great way to introduce international flavor to your table.

INGREDIENTS:
Jumbo shrimp peeled deveined, tail on - 8
Red curry paste - 1-2 tsp
Fish sauce - 1 tbsp
Wonton wrappers - 8
Egg noodles, soaked in boiled water
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
METHOD:

• Mix red curry paste, fish sauce and salt in a small bowl.
• Add shrimps and mix well to coat, cover and leave it to marinate for 5-10 mins.
• Place one wonton wrapper on work surface like a diamond, fold the top corner so that the point is in the centre.
• Now place a shrimp on the wrapper, fold the bottom corner over the end of the shrimp. Fold the remaining sides of the wrapper over to make a tight roll.
• Tie a noodle around the roll. Repeat this step with the other wrappers.
• Deep fry the shrimps till golden brown. Serve hot.

Makes 8 shrimps.