Juicy Lucy Cutlet Pao

Move over vada pav. If you are non vegetarian, cutlet pav is way to go. If you ever walked the streets of Goa, cutlet pav was never far away. When it's too late for lunch and too early for dinner, cutlet pav is your best bet to satiate that hunger. Crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside meat cutlets, slathered with spicy chutney on toasted pao...can it get any better?! I've humbly tried to endeavour.

I really wanted to add my own zing with this Goan staple. Ever heard of a juicy lucy? If you've never been to Dunkin Dounuts or Minneapolis (where it was 'invented'), it's a burger with cheese inside. As simple as that sounds, the suprising pop of melting cheese when you take a bite into the burger is just pure heaven.



So what happens when you mix a Goan street food with Minneapolis' contribution to the world? Look at the beauty below to find out.



Makes 4 servings

For the cutlet:
250gms minced beef (you can use chicken but I can't promise you the same result)
1tsp garlic paste
1tbsp vinegar or lime juice
1 egg
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
Salt & pepper according to taste

8 slices of cheese*
Oil for frying

For the green chutney:
1/4 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 onion
1/2 tomato
1/2 inch ginger
3 cloves of garlic
2-3 green chillis
Salt

4 Ladi pav buns + 4 slices of cheese

*Cheddar or mozzerella is the best cheese to use for this recipe. I had quite a bit of left over blue cheese which I've used instead. If you do end up using blue cheese ensure you use less than a teaspoon serving per patty. Blue cheese has a very strong flavour and it's not everyone's cup of tea. Plus your core won't be molten as evident in the pictures.



In a bowl, mix all the cutlet ingredients together with your hands. Ensure all ingredients are well incorporated. Roll this mixture into small balls and flatten with the palm of your hands to form cutlets. If the mixture is too wet and not holding its shape, add some more breadcrumbs. Ensure the size of these cutlets is just enough to fill your pav. Make 8 thin cutlets for 4 cutlet paos

Cut each slice of cheese into 4 equal slices and stack the pieces. Sandwich one stack of cheese between 2 cutlets. Press down on the edges to tightly seal the cheese within the cutlet. Cook the cutlets on a medium heat in a heavy bottomed skillet. Cook till cutlets are well browned on both sides (approx 5mins). It is common for the meat to puff up due to steam from the melting cheese. Incase you notice this, prick the top of each cutlet to allow steam to escape.

For the chutney:
In a blender, add all ingredients with 2-3 tbsp of water.Blend till a smooth puree. You can bottle excess chutney and refriderate for upto 10days or freeze for upto 1 month. You can use this chutney in any concieveable dish, right from sanwiches to dips to kebab mariandes to even curry.

To serve, toast ladi paos and slather with greenchutney. Add the cutlet and top with another slice of cheese. Top with a fried egg and some more green chutney.

Waffles

I don't need to tell you how good waffles are. They are the perfect vehicle for cream, honey, syrup, berries or chocolate. Or you can go the savoury way with gravy, chicken or cheese. Either way, waffles are amazing.

Waffle batter is pretty similar to that of pancakes but there is one prominent distinction - butter. Not that pancakes dont call for butter, but waffles always call for a fair amount of butter. Butter is what gives waffles its crisp light texture and ensure that it releases easily for the waffle iron. The more butter in the batter (sounds like a tongue twister no?), the richer, crispier the waffle. For lactose intolerant peeps, you can substitute 3tbsp vegetable oil for evey 4tbsp butter.



Makes approx. 8 waffles

2cups flour
1tsb baking powder
1tbsp castor sugar*
1/2tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup melted butter**

*Since I was going to top my waffles with whipped cream and strawberry compote, I went a little low on the sugar in the waffle batter. 1tbsp sugar is also perfect for making savoury waffles. If you will be eating the waffles as is, add in another tbsp of sugar

** Use 4tbsp of butter for a 'low calorie' waffle, 8 tbsp (or 1 stick) for a classic fluffy waffle or 200gms for the crunchiest waffles ever

In a large bowl mix all your dry ingredients i.e: flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. In another bowl, mix in the wet ingredients i.e: eggs, butter and milk. Ensure that your melted butter is not hot while mixing it with eggs. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk to combine.

Heat the waffle iron until your indicator shows its ready. Ladle on the waffle batter, enough to cover around 2/3rd of the grid surface. Close the lid. My waffle maker takes 7-10mins to make a batch of waffles. Cooking time will depend on individual waffle makers. A waffle is ready when steam stops emerging from the cracks of the iron. If you lift the top and the waffle shows resistance, it means that the waffle is still not done.



Waffles can be kept warm in an oven on low heat. This will also help retain its crispiness until you are ready to serve. Leftovers can be refrigerated for 2-3days or frozen for several months.

I served mine in two batches: one with strawberry compote and whipped cream, and the other with some irish cream and whipped cream. Yummy in my tummy!



Tip: you can separate the eggs and beat the whites separately and incorporate for a lighter, fluffier waffle

Eggs Benedict

How do you like your eggs?

If you have ever seen 'Runaway Bride' (and I'm sure you have, Richard Gere and Julia Roberts are almost impossible to resist), you must be familiar with Eggs Benedict. Not only is it Maggie Carpenter's (Julia Roberts) favourite way to eat eggs, it's also probably the most indulgent way to eat an egg. Picture this, crispy ham on a buttery toasted muffin...silky, poached egg slathered with a thick and luscious hollandaise sauce...drooling yet? Eggs Benedict is a breakfast classic and a perfect way to begin an indulgent day. For its pure decadence, I include this in my Christmas cooklist

Eggs Benedict has so many components, so much technique, that it can make it's way to a Masterchef Pressure Test. And because its full of so many moving parts, I'd almost never endeavour to make at home. I would file this dish right under Pavlova and Macaron in the list of things I'd rather leave to professional chefs. Which is why this dish is put together by Shrey.



Serves 1:

For the Hollandaise:

2 egg yolks
1tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
1/2cup butter
Salt and pepper to taste

For the Eggs Benedict:

2 rashes of bacon or ham
1 English muffin cut in half. I used a bagel instead. You can really use any type of bread
2 tsp white vinegar
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
Hollandaise sauce
Parsley to garnish (optional)

Make the hollandaise sauce first:

Melt the butter in the microwave. In a bowl, beat together the rest of the ingredients. Next combine the melted butter with the eggs slowly and a little at a time (you'll probably need a little help at this stage). If you add the whole batch of melted butter, the eggs will curdle and you'll end up with a chunky sauce. Instead, slowly drizzle the melted butter in a thin stream, whisking the eggs the entire time. This technique is emulsification. You are looking for a smooth creamy sauce probably as thick as mayonnaise.



Cut the bagel in half and toast. Crisp up some bacon or ham in an oven or in a hot pan.

To poach eggs:

Half fill a non stick skillet with water. Add the vinegar and bring to a simmer. Break the eggs into two separate ramekins or bowls, taking care to not break the yolks. Gently tilt the bowl and let the egg slide out into the water. Repeat with the other egg as well. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer

Cook for 2-3mins or until the egg white has set and the yolk remains soft. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Note: The vinegar is used to help coagulate the egg and helps it set faster. If you are tasting vinegar in the egg, then you've added too much



To assemble:

Lay the bacon slice on top of the bottom half of the bagel. I skipped using the meat completely as this dish is already pretty heavy. Gently place the poached eggs on top of the bacon. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the hollandaise sauce over the eggs. Sprinkle some chopped parsley on top and enjoy!



Tip: Instead of hand whisking the hollandaise, put it in the blender.

To the eggs benedict hesitant: you can do it! The key is to prep everything before you start. Do your bacon in the oven, eggs on the stove, bread in the toaster and hollandaise in the blender. It's like conducting an orchestra, so many parts which come together so deliciously, its like music to your ears.

P.S: I like my eggs scrambled but I'm warming up to eggs benedict

Barbecue Pulled Chicken Sliders

Heaven comes in 360 degrees of bread, chicken & saucy goodness.

I had quite a bit of home-made barbecue sauce left from my pork ribs recipe and I was still in my American diner food phase. For the record, there are tons of things you can do with BBQ sauce. It goes with everything! While grocery shopping this week I was basically looking out for something to recycle my sauce in. I found bagels and really fresh pita bread, but eventually settled on mini burger buns. Which gave me the idea to made some pulled chicken sliders. I had most of the stuff at home, so this is really is star leftover dish and even though there were many elements, it really took no time to put together. Didn't think pulled chicken was possible in less than 20mins? Read on below, and you'll become a believer of this delicious sweet and savoury sandwich.



Serves 4
4 mini burger buns
400gms chicken
2 cups BBQ sauce
4 slices cheese
4 eggs
4 cloves of garlic, grated
4 tbsp butter
2 onions finely sliced
Salt & pepper to taste

Boil the chicken in water with some salt added. Once cooked and cooled, shred the chicken. Save the water as this is now chicken stock and makes an excellent base for gravies. I usually freeze it in an ice cube tray and use it to flavour practically anything.

In a sauce pan, add the shredded chicken with the BBQ sauce. Cook for 5-10mins till chicken is thoroughly coated. if the sauce is too thick, use some of the leftover chicken stock to loosen it up.

Now comes the best part, assembling the slider. I toasted the buns with some garlic butter. Just melt butter in a pan and add the grated garlic. Cut the buns in half and place on the melted butter and get it nice and toasty. Once fairly brown, remove from pan. In the same pan, fry the eggs sunny side up. I love a half fry eggs, but for those fussy about the runny yolk, skip the egg all together.



To plate up, place some finely sliced onions on the base bun. Now add good spoonful of the shredded chicken. Place a slice of cheese on top of the chicken and then top off with the fried egg. You can eat the slider open faced as is, or place the top bun and dig in! The slider is extremely juicy and will have a lot of goodness oozing out, so make sure you have plenty of tissues at hand.



I served my sliders with some traditional fries and a potato salad. I admit I got a little carried away with the potatoes, but my brother wanted fries, and I wanted a potato salad.

For the potato salad, just mix up all these ingredients:
1cup baby potatoes, boiled and peeled
1/2 cup yoghurt
1/4 cup tahini sauce
 Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Salt, pepper & chilli flakes to taste
1tsp sumac (optional)



Trust me, don't skip on the salad. Its a perfect balance to the tangy slider. And you can also serve it cold straight out of the fridge. How cool is that? (pun intended)

The Mother Of All Sandwiches

Melted marshmallows FTW! Please, please try it...it will change your life! You can use it as a sweet dip or as frosting or smeared over crackers...my imagination is going crazy. I'm not going to rant about how awesome this sandwich is (just take my word for it) and let the pictures do the talking.



Serves 1 (because why would you want to share something so awesome)

2 slices of bread
1 egg
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter
2 large marshmallows
4 strips of fried bacon (you can never have too much bacon)
1 tbsp nutella (try my homemade version)



In a bowl, crack open an egg and whisk. Add the sugar and milk and beat till combined. Melt butter in a flat bottomed pan. Dunk both slices of bread in the egg mixture and 'toast' in the buttered pan. Meanwhile, cook bacon in another pan till crisp.



Flip the bread once one side is golden brown. Once the other side is almost done, cut the marshmallows in half and place gently on top of one slice of bread. We place the marshmallows right at the end of cooking as it takes no time to melt. You want the marshmallows to be gooey while still retaining some of its shape (see pic below). Melting it through and through will result in major goop.



Once the bread is done, remove from pan and let it cool for a minute. Now its time to bring the sandwich together. Add the crisp bacon on top of the gooey marshmallows. Spread Nutella on the other slice of bread and place on top of the bacon to bring the sandwich together. Take a minute to marvel at your fine work, and then have a heavenly bite!

I dunno if its possible to make this sandwich more awesome, but you can try substituting the nutella for peanut butter and the bacon for banana.

Is is dessert? Is it a snack? Is it worth dying for? Hell yes!

Spiced Rum Banana Bread

I had bananas that were mushy and way past their prime. Now most people would throw out these bananas, but not me. Infact I wait for them to over ripe. I know its weird, but in my opinion over ripened bananas have more potential than its just-ripe ancestor. Not only is it sweeter, making it perfect for desserts, its also melt in your mouth soft. One of the many things I do with leftover bananas, is make banana bread. Did I mention you can make this in one bowl?

Adapted from www.smittenkitchen.com

Makes 1 loaf to fit a tin of approx.16"

4 ripe bananas (I used those big Kerala plantains. If you are using regular bananas I'd suggest using 6)
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (over ripened bananas are generally sweeter hence I cut down on the sugar, you can up the level of sweetness)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp dark rum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 175°C. In a large bowl cut and mash the bananas. Its ok if the bananas are not equally mashed and its lumpy. Mix in all ingredients except the flour and baking soda. Mix to combine. Now add in the baking soda and mix in. Add the flour last, and mix. Pour the mixture into a buttered loaf tin. Bake for approx. 1hour or until a tester comes out clean. Cool, and then slice to serve.



I think the best thing I love about this bread is the cracked top crust.



Tip: If you prefer a more savoury bread, add a pinch of salt. But note that I've used salted butter so be careful how much salt you add




You can eat as is. I had some leftover buttercream frosting from my red velvet recipe which I happily slathered here.

Crackling French Toast

Don't you just love waking up to the smell of French Toast? The smell of cinnamonny, warm, buttery bread...so comforting! I've taken the traditional recipe and twisted it to this crunchy, crackling version. I wanted to name this post 'French Toast Crème Brule', since I had the same technique in mind. Unfortunately, since I don't own a blow torch (and I'm guessing neither do you), I'm going for a 'crackle' at the top instead of a 'burnt' caramel on top. You see the golden bits in the picture below?

Makes enough for 1

2 slices of bread
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp milk
1 egg
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Salted butter to fry

Optional:
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp Grand Marnier

For the garnish:
3-4 strawberries
Chocolate sauce or ganache

Cut the crusts off the bread. I like mine with crusts et all so I skipped this step.

Tip: If you are making this for valentine's day or just want to splurge, I recommend you use Brioche instead of regular sliced bread. Trust me, it makes all the difference.

In a bowl whisk in all ingredients minus the bread, brown sugar and the butter.

Heat some butter in a flat bottomed pan. Dip the bread in the mixture. Turn the bread to ensure it soaks up the liquid evenly. Now 'fry' this in the buttered pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar on the top side of the toast. Once the bottom is golden brown flip over. The sugared top will face the heated pan now. The heat will melt the sugar and create caramelized bits on the toast surface. Remove from pan once both sides are golden brown.

As a alternate to this, if you have some time, I would recommend making caramel in a separate pan and spooning some over the top of the toast.

To serve, slice up strawberries and arrange to make a french toast sandwich. Drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Now how can you resist that?!

Instead of frying you can also pour the mix over the bread slices and bake them as a 'healthy' alternative.

Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Valentine's Day is nice. But wouldn't you rather have this hottie for dinner? (pun intended). Cheesy lines aside...I had a lot of my French Onion Soup leftover. So I used the onions from the soup for this recipe. I'll find another way to use the rich soup broth, thank you for asking. I should ideally name this French Onion Soup sandwich, but who cares about technicalities?



This sandwich is sex on toast (again pun intended).

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread
1 tbsp caramelized onions
2 slices cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Toast the bread with some butter (optional). I used regular sliced bread, but I'd really recommend using a baguette for this sandwich. The crusty bread is perfect for the soft filling. Add the cheese slices to the open faced bread and microwave for 10secs. The aim is to soften the cheese so that its just about to melt. I used regular sliced cheese, but if you are in a mood to indulge Gruyère or Brie is what I would recommend.

Now spoon in the onions and bring the sandwich together. Et Viola!