GingerBabyMama: Chicken Tetrazzini Freezer Recipe

GingerBabyMama: Chicken Tetrazzini Freezer Recipe: Today I embarked on another freezer cooking adventure.  This is the second month that I am trying to do a "Once a Month" cook t...

Goat Masala

Things you need:

-Mutton (goat) 1 or 2 pounds
-Oil (amount according to your preference)
- 2 or 3 Fried onions (store bought, or fried seperately in a frying pan and then laid out on a paper towel, or fried in the same pot in which you are going to cook the mutton but removed and drained on paper towel serperately before cooking mutton in it).
-Garam masala (whole, if you have any or you can use the powder)
- Ginger and garlic paste (about 2 or 3 tsps, i typically put more garlic than ginger)
- Coriander powder (one or two tsp)
- cumin powder (half tsp)
- turmeric (1/4 tsp)
- red chili powder (to taste)
- salt (to taste)
- tomatoes (2 or a tablespoon or so of canned tomato)
- yogurt (one or two tablespoons)

Wash and drain the mutton and then leave it aside in a colander.

Heat some oil in a pan and once it gets hot put the whole garam masala in it (around 2 or 3 cloves/ two cardamoms, an inch of cinnamon stick, a few peppercorns and a little bit of zeera (if u like it, don't put too much because u r also going to be adding cumin powder later on)).

Add the meat, ginger garlic paste and all of the dry spices & salt.

Fry the meat for 10 or 15 minutes on high heat so that any water that may be present dries up, and the meat begins to brown a little (it's not red and fully raw).

After the meat has been fried for a few minutes and it completely dry, add in the tomatoes and cook until they begin to dissolve.
Now you may add the yogurt.

Stir your meat a few times so that the yogurt is completely mixed in, then add water and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling add in the fried onions (and garam masala powder, if u did not have the whole kind) and cover your pot (or pressure cooker).

Now all you have to is wait for the meat to cook.

Once the meat is tender, dry up the gravy/curry to a consistency that u desire and then put the stove on low for 5 mins until you see the oil separate from the gravy.

You are done! :)

Enjoy.

Chocolate Peanut Buttery Goodness

If you love chocolate and you love peanut butter, this just may be the perfect cupcake combination for you.

I accidentally stumbled on this recipe while viewing this food blog a few months ago

I stared at the recipe for weeks. I've never baked anything with this many steps, so I was definitely intimidated! I thought I had the chocolate cake recipe pretty down pat, but the steps involving dropping the beanut butter fillings on a dollop of cake batter, then filling the top half of the cupake with more cake batter I found quite daunting. And then the frosting, that was even more duanting, I have NEVER had a terribly successful (and by that I mean yummy) frosting come from scratch. So I bookmarked the recipe and decided to put it off...

... until a pregnant friend of mine invited a few of us over to her place for dinner. This was the excuse I was looking for, not just a party, but for a pregnant friend. Now I could indulge.... err, I mean, help my fellow sister in Islam fullfill a pregnancy craving. :p

They turned out delicious. In fact, I've made them 2 more times since. This is officially my favourite cupcake, hands down. I'm not a huge cream cheese fan but I liked the frosting. Mainly because it too was peanut butter flavoured.

* I made 2 batches the first time. If you look in the comments section of the blog post, you'll see that many posters mentinoed their peanut butter balls exploded inside the cupcake. Mine did too the first time. I made the second batch but froze the peanut butter balls for 15 minutes and they held up well and were perfectly in place after baking. Taste wise - they were equally delicious both times, I just wanted to get it right for OCD reasons and aesthetic reasons. ;)

* If you want your cupcakes to look pretty and professional, you can buy a starter kit at Walmart complete with a few cupcake decorating tips and piping bags. This is the one I own. I used the smaller of the two star tips.

* I refrigerated the frosting for about an hour so that it would pipe well and not get messy.

* I don't have any pictures of the inside, because... well... by the time I pulled out my camera to snap some pics, I had already eaten too many. No way was I going to bite into another so I could take a picture!

Enjoy! If you have any questions, or if I'm forgetting to mention something, ask away! =)

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

A recipe that my grammie made for us. We all continue to make because it is sooooo yummy and you get some zucchini. So you can say, "but I am eating my vegetables!" and have your cake too :-)

1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter or margarine softened
1/2 cup of oil
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 cup of buttermilk (or 1/2 cup of milk and a splash of vinegar)
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of cocoa
1 3/4- 2 cups of shredded zucchini
1 bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs, oil, vanilla and buttermilk (or sour milk). Stir together flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and cocoa. Add dry ingredients slowly to the wet. Stir in shredded zucchini. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan. Sprinkle the whole cake with the chocolate chips. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Indoor BBQ Chicken

This is a post for my friend, Jen :-)

4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken (more or less depending on your family)
2 teaspoons of oil (canola is what I use)
2 cups of favorite BBQ sauce (we make our own, but it is hubby's secret recipe)

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown the chicken on both sides (about 4 minutes on each side). Remove the chicken from the skillet. Add the BBQ sauce, scrape up any browned bits, and bring to a bubble.

Turn the heat to low, return the chicken to the skillet and coat with the sauce. Cover and cook until the chicken is done cooking (depending on the thickness of chicken) 10-30 minutes.