Bombay Palace London - The World's Best Chicken Tikka

I've eaten chicken tikka all over the world (yes, including famous establishments in Mumbai and Delhi too).  Of all of the different kinds I have tried, Bombay Palace in LONDON (not in New York or any other branch) is the clear winner.  Marinated and cooked to absolute perfection, these delicious morsels of chicken take the cake.  Even when I have gotten take out from Bombay Palace, the chicken is still incredibly tender even after it's been carted around by me for 20 minutes en route to where I am staying.

Enjoy this chicken with some red onions and lemon, and some naan.  It's not cheap, but it's definitely worth the splurge.

Bombay Palace is located in central London on Connaught Street.

Brunswick Stew - A Hearty, One-Pot Chicken Stew

From 2009-2011 I lived in Virginia. During my two years in one of the oldest states, I was introduced to a one pot meal that I had never heard of previously; brunswick stew. Upon eating and enjoying brunswick stew once or twice with a few of my native Virginia friends, I consulted my mother to ask if she had ever heard of this dish. Surprisingly she said, "Sure, that's something they ate in old colonial Williamsburg. I've got the Williamsburg cook book which I am pretty sure includes a recipe for brunswick stew."

It wasn't until I graduated and moved away from Virginia that I found myself craving brunswick stew. So I decided to do some googling and found a few recipes that sounded familiar to what I had eaten. Searching around the house, I found variations of most of the ingredients required, and after a quick trip to the grocery store I was ready to begin the process of making my first brunswick stew. I was a little skeptical of how it would turn out, after all, the ingredients seemed too simple to create the same tasty flavor which I had experienced during my first few encounters with brunswick stew in Virginia. To my delight and surprise, the stew came out so well that I wouldn't even tweek the recipe for the next time I make it!

Brunswick Stew
Makes approximately 6 main servings

Ingredients
1 split chicken breast, skin on
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2 cups of frozen baby lima beans
2 cups of frozen corn
3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
Salt and pepper to taste
Water or chicken stock
1-2 cups frozen chopped okra (optional)

Directions
1. Place chicken in a pot and just cover with water (or stock)
2. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer; cook chicken on a low heat for 2-3 hours until tender and falling off bone
3.  Remove chicken and set aside to cool
4.  Add onion and chopped tomatoes to broth, bring to a boil and start reducing broth if necessary
5.  When onions are soft, add potatoes
6.  When potatoes are tender, add tomato sauce, baby lima beans, corn, and pepper, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer
7.  Remove chicken skin and bones, shred chicken breast, and add back to stew (you can adjust the amount of chicken you add back to the pan; try to balance the amount of chicken with the amount of vegetables)
8.  The stew should be pretty thick, but if it's not, it can be simmered for a little while longer until it reduces

02 Sushi in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California

I'm by no means an authority on Japanese food, but if you are passing through the Los Angeles area and are in the mood for some tasty sushi at an incredibly reasonable price, try out 02 in Pasadena. They have all the usual fare, but what makes 02 really unique is their appetizers. I honestly don't think I'd call them appetizers as each item is a delicious plate of food that goes way beyond appetizer status (aside from the usual edamame, miso soup and seaweed salad of course), so, if you go to 02, order lots of these yummy and creative dishes! The gently seared albacore with crispy onions, wilted spinach and sauteed mushrooms is my personal favorite. Other recommendations are the sea bass and eggplant, the yellowtail with jalepeno in a citrus soy sauce, and the tempura shrimp in sweet chili sauce.

The sushi chefs are very friendly, and I've never had a piece of "fishy" fish. Everything always tastes fresh and as if it's been made with care.

02's address is: 245 East Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA, 91101

10 Minute Spicy Indian Peas

This is a simple, quick and tasty accompaniment to any meal. Adjust this recipe to be less spicy - just reduce the amount of red chili flakes.

10 Minute Indian Spicy Peas
Makes 4 Side Servings

Ingredients
1lb bag frozen petit pois
1 large yellow onion chopped
1 tbsp canola/vegetable oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 tsp salt (more to taste if required)

Directions
1. Heat canola oil in a non-stick pan
2. Add mustard seeds and wait until they start to pop; when they start to pop, add onions, and salt

3. Cook onions, stirring occasionally until onions are slightly brown
4. Add chili flakes and cook for an additional minute or two (do not let onions burn)

5. Add peas, and stir until completely warmed through

Indian Style Sauteed Shrimp - A Typical CKP Recipe

I was visiting my Aunt and Uncle this weekend, and my Aunt showed me this very quick, and extremely tasty shrimp dish. It's a typical dish from the caste which my family is a part of, CKP, aka Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu.

Indian Style Sauteed Shrimp
Serves three to four people as a main dish

Ingredients
2lb bag of shrimp, peeled, deveined and tail off
3 large onions, finely chopped
2-3 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 large handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
4 teaspoons of canola oil
3 teaspoons crush garlic
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon tamarind
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick
salt to taste

Directions
1. Combine shrimp, garlic, turmeric, cayenne pepper, tamarind and one teaspoon of salt and allow the shrimp to marinade for 15-30 minutes
2. In a large, shallow bottomed non-stick pan, heat the canola oil. Once hot, add cloves and cinnamon stick, and wait for about a minute, until they become fragrant.
3. Next, add the onions, and saute for about 5-7 minutes, or until the onions become transluscent. Stir frequently to stop the onions from browning or burning.
4. At this point, add the shrimp, and stir until they all lose their grey color.
5. Add tomatoes, stir, and allow to simmer for approximately 5 minutes, or until the shrimp start to shrink, and the oil starts to visibly separate from the sauce.
5. Add cilantro, taste and add salt if necessary, and cook for a further minute.
6. Serve hot, and enjoy over rice or with a chapathi.

Kanda Pohe (Poha) - A Vegetarian Indian Snack Made of Flattened Rice

Pohe (in Marathi), or Poha (in Hindi) means flattened rice. It's prepared in many different ways. I am going to show you a simple preparation from the Indian state of Maharashtra, which is where my family comes from.

Though it's a really simple dish to make, growing up I always thought of pohe as a special treat. It brings back a lot of good memories to say the least because it was often eaten when the family got together.

A carbohydrate heavy dish, there aren't many people who won't like this one!

Kanda Pohe
Makes 4 snack sized servings, or serves 2 as a meal

Ingredients
300 grams of poha
2 medium sized potatoes, cut into cubes
1 small onion, choppped
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or 1 green bird's eye chilli, finely chopped)
1-2 teaspoon salt
1 heaping tablespoon of sugar
1 large handful of cilantro, washed, leaves removed from stalks and chopped
Optional - freshly grated coconut

Method



1. Chop the onion and potato.
2. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan.



3. Add the mustard seeds, and wait until they start talking (until they start popping).





4. Add the onion and fresh green chili if that's what is being used.
5. Cook on a medium heat for three to four minutes, until onion starts to soften.



6. Add potatoes and cover pan to help soften potatoes more quickly, stir occasionally.





7. In a strainer, add poha, and run water over until well soaked; allow to drain.









8. Place poha in a bowl. Add turmeric, chili (unless you used fresh green chili), sugar and salt.





9. Mix well, add lemon juice, and set aside.



10. Chop cilantro. Set aside. If you have fresh coconut, this would also be the time to grate it.



11. When potatoes are softened, remove lid and allow potatoes to brown until golden.







12. Add poha mixture to pan, and stir gently on a low heat until mixture becomes more yellow and slightly drier. This will take a few minutes.



13. Stir in cilantro, and remove pan from heat. Garnish with grated coconut.



14. Enjoy hot and fresh. The poha flakes become hard after some time if they become cold.

An Easy Student Meal - Quick Stir-Fried Noodles

I recently wrote this recipe as a paper for class at my MBA program.

As I have learned over the past few months, time is of the essence as a First Year Student. We spend most of our time in class, preparing cases, attending briefings, getting ready for interviews, meeting with professors, participating in various clubs, and attending the occasional social event. For many of us, we struggle to find the few minutes where we can relax, turn on the TV, call friends and family, exercise, run errands and very importantly, eat.

While I realize that some first years do not cook, do not like to cook, and do not want to learn how to cook, I think there are a fair number of students who would enjoy learning a few easy meals to make. Though eating out is probably in many cases the fastest, it is often not as tasty, satisfying or healthy as making a meal at home, and besides, eating all meals out can get very repetitive, and the cost of eating out is usually more expensive too. There are only so many places to grab a quick bite on a school night.

As I was inventing this recipe, I was really trying to take the student lifestyle into account. Given our time constraints, I know we cannot be running to the grocery store very frequently, or be spending time searching around for an extensive and difficult to find set of ingredients. So, the list of ingredients needed to be short and simple. I also tried to take into account that the meal needed to be reasonably well -rounded in terms of the different food groups to give the student energy and nutrition. I tried to think about the shelf life and costs of the ingredients so that the student could have the ingredients around for a while should cooking plans not work out due to other unforeseen activities, and even then would not have to worry about the costs too much should there be spoilage. Finally, I made this a meal for one, knowing that many students live on their own. I hope you will find the following recipe user friendly and helpful.



Quick and Easy Stir-Fried Noodles – A Meal For One

Ingredients



1 packet of your favorite ramen type noodles (I used Sapporo Ichiban Chowmein Japanese Style Noodles)
4 ounces of chicken breast, or other type of meat (I usually keep a few frozen chicken breasts in the freezer at all times, and use one at a time at my convenience)
5 leaves of green or savoy cabbage
1 carrot
1 heaping teaspoon of cornflour or potato starch
2 tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic (fresh or jarred is fine)

Method – Approximately 15 minutes of preparation time, and 10 minutes of cooking time



1. Remove one chicken breast from the freezer. Slice immediately. It is easier to slice meat from frozen.



2. Chop the garlic finely.



3. Combine the chicken, cornstarch, garlic and one tablespoon of the soy sauce. Stir together well and allow to sit and marinate while preparing other ingredients. Cornstarch helps to seal in the moisture of the chicken.





4. Peel the carrot. This can either be done with a vegetable peeler, or by using a sharp knife to scrape away the outside layer of skin on the carrot. Using a grater, grate the entire carrot. Set aside in bowl.



5. Chiffonade the cabbage leaves. To do this, take one or two cabbage leaves, and roll them up. Then from one end, start running the knife through the leaves, cutting very close together. The end result will be very thinly sliced strips, and this is known as a chiffonade. Repeat until all the cabbage is in a chiffonade.

6. Now that the ingredients are prepped, it’s time to start cooking. Place half of the canola oil into a wok, or other large pan, and allow it to heat up until very hot.







7. Put the chicken into the wok, stir frequently until all of the pink is gone and the chicken has turned a whitish color, and remove to a bowl. This should take approximately two minutes.

8. In the same wok, put in the remaining canola oil. Heat thoroughly.



9. Add the cabbage and the carrot to the pan, as well as the remaining soy sauce. Make sure to add the vegetables before the soy sauce, or the soy sauce will splatter in the hot oil.

10. Stir occasionally until the vegetables become slightly tender. This should take approximately two to three minutes. If the vegetables start to stick or are getting browned, add a little bit of water to the pan.



11. As you are cooking the vegetables, simultaneously cook the ramen noodles in a separate pan, according to directions. If there is liquid left, drain the noodles so that they are completely dry, and then add the seasoning packet that came with the noodles.







12. Once the vegetables and noodles are cooked, add the noodles and chicken to the wok with the vegetables, and gently stir until well-combined.



13. Serve in a shallow bowl immediately!