Mending my decision

Previously, I had decided to learn continental cooking, but as I was going through some recipes, and cooking procedures, I decided to switch from continental cooking, to making anything at all. From baking, to cooking, to barbecuing... sweet and savory dishes. 

I changed my decision because as I was surfing through recipes, I found a lot of cool and delicious recipes that I wanted to try, and include in my blogs. For instance, I realized that Chicken Pathai, is mostly a brown-dish, but since it is served in many western countries, therefore, it was posted under Continental dishes. 

Also, I came upon many sweets that are from different cultures, that looked mouthwatering, and so, I wanted to cook them as well. 

   

Chicken Pathai

During the March Break, I tried a new dish, Chicken Pathai which is a fusion between Persian (Iranian) and Gurarat cuisines. It is considered as a greek dish, as well as a British Indian restaurant favourite.

It was not much of a challenge to cook this dish, because my mom had previously has cooked several dishes quite similar to this, and she was able to assist me during the cooking procedure.

Some basic difficulties that I faced were cutting onions, which was quite difficult (because of the tears), the splashes because of the hot oil, and the heat of the stove. Waiting for the ingredients to cook was another challenge I faced. I could not take my attention away from the pan, or else the content might burn.

Before starting to cook, I had made my own list of procedure so that I could follow and be more efficient while creating the dish. For instance, in the original procedure, the chef had pre-cut all the vegetables and the chicken, but I mixed the cutting with the cooking part. While I was waiting for the chicken and onion to cook, I cut the tomatoes, and they were ready to be put in the pan when needed. Also, I added the quantity of each spice in my procedure list, so that I do not have to refer back to the ingredient list each time to know how much of each ingredient I need.

While cooking, I tweaked some ingredients in their amount because I had more than 1 lb of chicken, plus I adjusted the dish to my families' taste, so there were certain changes in my procedure. 

The Ingredients were: 

• 45ml (3 tbsp) vegetable oil
• 500ml (2 cups) chopped onions
• 10ml (2 tsp) garlic, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1.25ml (¼ tsp) salt
• 1.25ml (¼ tsp) turmeric powder
• 450g (1lb) chicken breasts, cubed
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 5ml (1 tsp) cumin powder
• 5ml (1 tsp) ground cayenne
• 250ml (1 cup) chopped tomatoes
• 15ml (1 tbsp) tomato puree
• 2.5ml (½ tsp) white vinegar
• 10ml (2 tsp) brown sugar or jaggary
• 1 fresh lime, juiced
• 125ml (½ cup) water

My Procedure: 

1. Chop Onions into tiny pieces
2. Heat Oil and add onions to it. Let the onions turn golden/light brown
3. Add Chicken into it. Wait till the chicken also turns slightly brown as well. 

1. Add 2 tsp. crushed garlic, 3 bay leaf, 2 tsp. of salt, 1 tsp. of turmeric powder. Mix and fry. 
2. Add 2 green chilies (finely chopped), 1 tsp. cumin powder, 1 tsp. ground cayenne. 
3. While the other ingredients are cooking, chop (3-4 tomatoes) tomatoes into small, tiny pieces.
4. Add tomatoes, 1/2 tsp. vinegar, juice of 1 fresh lime, 2 tsp. sugar, 1/2 cup water (optional, for more gravy), and 1/2 cup 35% whip cream (instead of sugar, used to give the dish a better color). 

Final Product:

Chicken Pathai tasted amazing, and I got to make it again for a party at our place, and everyone loved it. It is an awesome dish, and I am sure to master it in the future. 

First Step

My First trial in the kitchen.

My journey has began. My first dish was rice.

Even though it seems like a very simple and basic dish, it will be used in a lot of other complicated recipes. I wanted to be good at cooking rice, and practice it well so that while cooking other, more complicated recipes, I would not have to look back on the rice recipe, and would be able to make off the top of my head.

Here is the finishing results:

I followed my mom's recipe and made this dish, and it tasted amazing at the end.

Recipe:

For 4-5 servings
Cooking Time: 20-30 min.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rice
• 4 spoon of salt
• 31/2 cups of water
• 1 spoon cumin seeds
• 3-4 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 cup sliced onion

Instructions

1. Rinse the rice with water 2 to 3 times, and then leave them in water for about 15-20 minutes.
2. Put oil and sliced onions in a pan, and wait till the onions turn brown
3. Add in salt, and cumin seeds.

Salt, cumin seeds, onion, and oil all mixed together

1. Slowly and carefully add in 4 cups of water. Be careful!!!!! There might be some hot drops of oil that might splash out. 
2. Wait for the water to start boiling, and then take the water out of the rice, and pour the rice into the pan. 
3. Cover the pan, with its lid, and keep the stove on high heat.
4. When the rice surface to the top, then turn the heat to very low, and cover the pan tightly with a secure lid. 
   
5. Open the lid after 8-9 minutes, and mix a spoon into the rice. Check, and see if the rice has been cooked. If not, then close the lid again, and wait for another 5 minutes. 
6. Turn the stove off, and remove the lid. 
7. Your Rice are Ready !!!!!

This is how the rice should look like