Chicken Tart.

Do you drool when you see all those delectable pies and tarts that are displayed in a pastry shop?  Then, drool no more!

 Roll up your sleeves and get rid of the mental block you have about making pastry at home. It is NOT difficult! Besides, once you get the hang of making pastry it is a gratifying cooking moment, believe me! You will never want to eat store bought pastry again. You will also be in control of the ingredients that go into your tart.

I am giving you step by step instructions with pictures.  Do try it out and get back to me.

 This tart has been made with left over pieces of chicken blended into a rich coconut sauce and baked in a short crust pastry case.

For added flavour use desiccated coconut powder in your pastry base! Give it a go, its yuuuummmmm!

Chicken Tart

Size of dish or quiche tin         9” diameter, well greased

Short crust pastry

Flour                                        180 Gms

Salt                                           ¾ tsp

Desiccated coconut powder     1 ½ Tbs

Chilled butter                           90 Gms

Chilled water                           2-3 Tbs approx

Sift together the flour, salt and coconut powder into a wide shallow bowl.

Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. In order to achieve a light pastry you need to handle the dough with care.

Mixture resembling breadcrumbs

 To incorporate the butter into the flour, scoop up as much of the pastry mixture as you can with your fingertips. Lift your hands up above the bowl and flick your thumbs across the tips of your fingers allowing the mixture to fall back into the bowl, thus forming crumbs. Continue doing this until the butter has been absorbed, taking care not to overwork the mixture.

Add water a little at a time, stirring with a palette knife until the mixture begins to stick together. Collect into a ball and work it gently for a few seconds to get a firm, smooth dough. The pastry can be used straight away but is better, if allowed to rest covered, for at least 15 mins or overnight in the fridge.

When required, sprinkle a little flour on a board or table, and roll out the dough evenly, turning occasionally, and taking care to always roll in one direction, from centre outwards.

I roll my pastry in between two sheets of transparent plastic. This way I can minimise the use of flour during rolling.

Roll out to a thickness of about 1/8” without pulling or stretching, to a diameter of about 10”. To line the dish or tin, lift the dough by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Place the rolling pin with the dough on it over your dish or tin and unroll the dough onto it carefully. 

Gently press the dough into the shape of the dish or tin with your fingers easing it up the sides and into the fluted edges, if any. Patch up any holes or cracks using pieces of leftover dough. Take off any surplus dough by running a rolling pin over the top. Leave the lined dish or tin in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

The filling.

Oil                                           2 Tbs

Onions (minced)                      ½  cup

Garlic (minced)                        1 Tbs

Green chillies (opt)                  2-3 minced

Cooked chicken (flaked)          1 ½ cupful

Celery salt                               a sprinkling

Paprika to taste

Coconut sauce                         2 cupfuls

Grated cheese                          ½ cup

Method

Heat the oil gently in a heavy bottomed pan and sauté the onions, garlic and green chillies until limp and fragrant.

Add the cooked chicken celery salt and the paprika keeping in mind that the cheese and coconut sauce contains salt as well!

Stir until well incorporated into the mixture and dry. Remove from heat and set aside while you prepare the coconut sauce.

Coconut sauce

Butter                             1 Tbs

Oil                                  ½ Tbs

Flour                              ⅓ cup

Coconut milk                 1 ½ cups

Chicken broth made up of 1 chicken cube and ⅓ cup of water

Salt to taste

Heat the butter and oil gently in a heavy bottomed pan. Using a whisk for best results add the flour all at once and whisk vigorously for a couple of minutes taking care that the mixture doesn’t burn. Take the pan off the heat and pour in the coconut milk and the chicken broth gradually, whisking all the time in order to prevent lumps from forming.

Put the pan back on the heat and continue whisking until the mixture thickens to a sauce like consistency. Take the pan off the heat.

Add the reserved chicken filling and the cheese into the sauce. Let it cool a bit before filling the pastry case.

 Preheat your oven to 375°F / 190°C. Bake your pastry case ‘blind’ for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and fill it up with the prepared filling, levelling it out evenly. Bake for about 30 mins until brown and firm on top.

Serve warm with buttered vegetables and a salad.

* Baking blind: This means to bake your pastry case without any filling in it. What you need to do is to prick holes in the pastry case with a fork in order to prevent it from rising during baking.

Summer is here!

THIS POST WAS MEANT FOR THE MONTH OF MAY! 

From my kitchen window.

Down the road.

Summer in Chennai!

I have been away for so long. It feels like I had given up on my blog! I had family visiting and we had a wonderful time. 

Now if you are wondering who would be crazy enough to visit Chennai in May, well, you can put the blame on MANGOES!

My son and family who normally visit in winter miss out on Indian mangoes each time. So this time around they decided to take the plunge in MAY! We just had to work our way around this to stay comfortable. We remained indoors most of the time. I stocked up on all the different varieties of mangoes available. All other seasonal fruit like chikus, guavas, jamuns, melons of varying shapes and sizes, leechees and noongoos (from the palmira palm) formed part of the repertoire. All I can say is that we had a ball!!

The most enjoyable part was introducing these new fruits to my little two and a half year old grandson, Neal. For him it was Mangoes All The Way! 

Neal sharing a moment with his 100 year old great grand mother.

I wrote this post in May with all good intentions of publishing it but of course I fell prey to the Mango Monsters!!

We are bang in the middle of summer here in India and the heat is unbearable. Chennai goes through this extremely warm (read scorcher) phase of about a month when nothing seems to be effective in alleviating ones discomfort.

AC s have to work full time provided the power supply is regular! The transformers are so overloaded that they often trip, adding to ones misery.

One has to drink gallons and gallons of liquid to keep cool.

Watermelons make their appearance at around this time of the year, albeit for a short time only. One just has to make the most of it.
We had to stay hydrated all day and what better way than consuming jugfuls of chilled watermelon juice with a hint of mint!

Watermelon cooler

This year I didn't need to sweeten the juice at all. I made sure I bought really heavy fruit to ensure a good amount of juice. I then cut it up into chunks and put it into my blender with a juicer attachment. The seeds get separated and there you are. All I did was throw in some finely chopped fresh mint. let it sit for a bit in the fridge to let the flavours develop. A squeeze of lime if you wish. I prefer mine without. 
About the most amazing thirst quencher ever!! 
The best part is that watermelon has negative calories. One expends more energy in trying to digest it therefore using up calories!! Truly a slimmers dream come true.

Differently flavoured!

This is one of the tastiest of khar preparations and I am sure all true blue Asomias will back me up on that! Ideally, one would use the indigenous khar, a decoction prepared from the ashes of the Athiya banana tree, to impart its distinctive flavour to this dish. However, it may be substituted with baking soda with equally good results.

In a typical Assamese meal Khar is served as the first course, always with plain boiled white rice.

 For first timers it might be a bit of an acquired taste in a pleasant sort of a way! It is light without any strong flavoured spices, easy on the palate and good for digestion too.

You can actually taste the vegetable you are cooking. So folks, be adventurous and go for it! Fish eaters can add fried fish during the last stages of cooking.

Omitaar khar   ( Raw papaya khar)

Raw papaya                            1 medium, peeled and cubed 4 – 5 cupfuls

Mustard oil                             2 tsps

Fenugreek seeds                      ¾ tsp

Moong dhal (yellow lentil)       ¼ cup

Green chillies                          2 – 3 or to taste

Khar                                     2 Tbls if available

OR

Baking soda                            ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Hot water                                 ½ cup

Ginger paste                            1 Tbls

Garlic paste (opt)                    1 ½ tsp

Coriander leaves                      ⅓ cup

Method

Heat the mustard oil to smoking point in a wok. Let it cool a bit before throwing in the fenugreek seeds. They will splutter for a bit before starting to turn black.

Add the chopped papaya, Moong dhal, green chillies, khar or baking soda and a little bit of salt. Stir to blend the ingredients well. Turn the heat down and cover the wok.

The vegetable will start releasing its juices before it turns into a pulpy mass due to the action of the khar. If you find it turning a bit dry before it is completely cooked you can add some hot water at this stage.

Fish eaters may add fried fish now. (In Assam, we eat fresh water fish which is cleaned; cut into bite sized pieces and smeared with turmeric and salt before being fried in mustard oil).

Cook until the vegetable is done. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and the coriander leaves, and check seasoning.

Remove from heat and serve with rice with a few drops of mustard oil for extra flavour.