Cooking 101 - Butter Chix and Summer Salad

Don, Fourth Month and Kak H decided to drop by last month to try our hand at some recipes. It was our first ever cooking lesson together. I owe Don this post for the longest time. The results were satisfying. They came to cook lunch and eat em'. Menu for the day was:

• Flat Arabic Bread
• Butter Chicken
• Summer Salad

We did not manage to take pictures of the Butter Chicken and Summer Salad. We were soooo hungry while waiting for the chicken to cook. We were gulping down Coke and the peanuts that Kak H bought just to tame down our stomach juices. And when the chicken was ready, pictures were definitely the last thing on our mind!!

Don, here's the recipe that I owe you!!

Butter Chicken
** Recipe from Sis but with a bit of tweaking

Part A
1 small chicken
1 tbs lemon Juice
1 tbs chilli powder
Salt

Part B
1 cup yoghurt
Salt
1/2 tbs Garam Masala
2 tbs melted butter
1 tbs chilli powder
2 tbs grinded ginger
2 tbs lemon juice

2 tbs olive oil

The Sauce
1 tbs butter and a bit of oil

1 tbs Garam Masala
1 tbs grinded ginger

1 tbs chopped garlic
1 tbs chilli powder

1 cup heavy cream
2 cups pureed tomatoes

1 cup water

1 tbs Yellow Bell Pepper, cut into squares

1 tbs honey

Salt to taste

Ok here goes...

1. Take all of Part A and mix and marinate the chix for about 1 hour (as per instructions from Sis)

2. Then take all of Part B and mix well and pour it over the marinated chix and put aside for 3 - 4 hours. Preferably overnight.... and then you bake the chix till Golden Brown.... **

3. Take the first para of The Sauce. First put in the oil and butter in the pot, wait for the oil to heat and butter melted... pour in the rest if the ingredients and stir until fragrant.

4. Pour in the heavy cream and let it sit for while.

5. Pour in the rest of The Sauce ingredients and let it simmer to a boil.

6. Pour, YES pour in your baked chicken. All the juices during the baking and all.... into The Sauce. Simmer for while more and......ermm.. eat?

** at this point you will be soo tempted to just eat the baked chix. Cos it looked so good.

Confession from the kitchen... we could not wait to bake the one portion of the chix cos Don was running late for his driving class, so we fried one batch (abt 5 - 6 pieces)... it was just as marvellous. But of cource your frying oil turns murky cos of the yoghurt. But the chix was tender and moist. And since we know how the chis is gonna taste.... we could not wait to have the bakes one ready... we were wathing the oven door like as if it was a TV.

there was about 4 of us in the kitchen that day, with Don chopping and 4th Month stirring and Kak H flipping the Flat Bread. It was chaos but things get done faster. If I was alone, I probably take half a day just cooking all these. But it turned to be quite simple cos if you can gauge your timing well, while waiting for some things to happen, you can do other things.....

The four of us.... we prepare our meals in the following carefully thought of steps:

1. Marinate chix with Part A. Put chix in fridge.
2. Make dough for Arabic Flat Bread ** Do not peek at the dough while it rise ;-)
3. Put Dough aside to rise

4. Take chix out of fridge and Marinate with Part B

5. Watch TV, smoke, drink, etc...

6. Take chix out of fridge and put it into a oven safe dish... bake.
7. Start kneading the bread dough and rolling and frying the bread

8. After frying abt 3/4 of the bread, start heating the pot for The Sauce

9. Start making The Sauce

10. While The Sauce simmer, start you Summer Salad

11. At the end.... ta dahh!! You get 4.. OK 3 (cos Don left after eating the fried chix) very happy and sleepy individuals on the Blue Sofa... trying hard not to snooze. Ermmm 1 did snooze. I'm not gonna name names.

Summer Salad
2 Japanese Cucumber*
2 firm tomatoes*

Abt 50g of Feta Cheese cut into cubes

Black Olives soaked in Olive Oil

Black Pepper and salt to taste

* cut them into the same size as the Feta Cheese.

I called it Summer Salad cos it is soo refreshing and best served COLD. I first ate it at this cafe in Arab Street. It used to be a small cafe owned by this chap from Egypt but now the grew into two units with lower and upper level dining.

Anyways, for the recipe I used the Emborg feta cheese. They have the ones that comes in a jar Feta in oil w/olives & herbs... or there's another brand. I cannot remember, it comes in a plastic container and in smaller portions.