Two Birds in a Shot!! Date Bars with Cornflakes!

I did! I just caught two birds in a shot. : ) The birds are

1) AFAM Dates hosted by lovely Chandrika of Akshayapatra. AFAM(A Fruit A Month) event was started by Maheshwari of Beyond the Usual.

2) WBB#17-Corn Flakes hosted by cute Nags of For The Cook In Me. WBB(Weekend Breakfast Blogging) is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail.

And the bullet I used was….

Date Bars! Date bars are usually baked with flour based, crunchy/crumbly outer layers with a yummy and gooey date filling in the middle. I sneaked in some crumbled corn flakes in the dough to make the bullet strong enough to catch two birds.

To make the date filling:

Heat up 1 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add 1 cup of chopped dates and simmer. The dates will become soft within a couple of minutes. Be careful as it easily stick to the pan. Start mashing with a wooden spoon until it becomes a paste. Turn off the stove, transfer the date paste to a clean bowl, and let it cool.

For the outer layers, you will need:

Butter – ¼ cup at room temperature

Flour – ¾ cup

Corn Flakes – ½ cup, crumbled

Brown Sugar – 1/8 cup

Salt – a pinch

Cinnamon – ¼ tsp, optional

Baking Powder – ½ tsp

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Combine flour and all other ingredients except corn flakes together. Add corn flakes and knead well. I added a couple of teaspoons of milk to get the right consistency. It was similar to a pie crust dough, and I was able to roll it with a rolling pin. Roll the dough into two rectangles. Place one on the bottom of a greased rectangular baking pan. Spread the date filling evenly on top, and cover with the second layer of rolled out dough.

If you don’t want to add milk, you might not get the dough into a rolling consistency. In that case, press half of the dough onto a greased rectangular baking pan. Spread the date filling evenly. Now spread the rest of the flour mix evenly on top.

Using a sharp knife, make cuts into desired shapes.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Let it cool down for about 30 minutes or so before separating the pieces.

You may add more sugar in the dough. I thought the date filling would be sweet enough. But the outer layers weren’t that sweet, but perfect for the breakfast with a cup of tea.

Chicken Pickle

Boneless chicken – 1lb

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Salt – to taste

Cut chicken into small pieces. Marinate in Chilli-turmeric-salt mixture overnight (or at least a couple of hours) in the refrigerator.

In a cooking vessel, cook the chicken along with the marinade until all the water is evaporated. You may omit this part and deep fry directly.

Heat cooking oil(enough to deep fry the chicken), and deep fry the chicken until slightly crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Heat 4 tbsp gingelly oil and add:

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp(You may add roasted fenugreek powder at the end instead of adding it now)

Garlic – 3 tbsp, ground or minced

Ginger – 4 tbsp, ground or minced

Green chillies – 8, slit

Curry leaves – a few sprigs

Stir and cook until the raw smell of garlic and ginger disappears. If you are using ground garlic-ginger, frying up to this point is important otherwise the pickle will taste like raw garlic. Then add:

Chilli powder – 3 tsp

Asafoetida – ¼ tsp

Juice of one or two lemons as per your taste

Bring it to a boil and add the fried chicken pieces. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Add salt if needed. Turn off the stove and let it cool down. Add 2 tbsp(more or less to taste) of vinegar.

Once the pickle is cold, transfer to a glass container. After a day, transfer it to the refrigerator. I am not sure about its prolonged shelf life. We finish it off within a week. :)

Dedicating to my friend who never gave me her mom's yummy chicken pickle recipe even after several requests. This is what I could come up with after many attempts. The taste is almost close, but their secret version had a lot more thick gravy and I have no idea how they made it. :(

Before I forget...(Noodle Nest)

...here is my noodle nest for CLICK-Noodles!

Should I mention the copyright for the bird in the picture is Burger King Kid's meal? :D

Chilli Chicken

This is not the kind of chilli chicken you eat at the restaurants. This is the simplest of all my chicken curry recipes, yet loved by all. No fancy ingredients like ajinomoto, soya sauce, corn flour etc. as in the real chilli chicken recipe.

Marinate about 1 lbs. of chicken pieces (with or without bones) with enough salt and ½ tsp of cumin powder. Keep aside for at least 30 minutes.

While the chicken is resting, heat up oil in a big sauté pan, and add the following ingredients in order.

Onion – 1 large, sliced(You may use red onions or shallots)

Garlic – 6 cloves, crushed

Green chillies – 3, slit(more or less to taste.)

Ginger – 1 tbsp, finely minced

Add garlic, ginger, and green chillies once the onions turn translucent. Then sauté some more time until the raw smell of garlic, ginger etc. disappears.

Now add 1 tsp chilli powder, ¼ tsp turmeric powder, and ½ tsp garam masala powder. Cook for a couple of minutes without burning.

Add one large or two small tomatoes (chopped) and a few curry leaves. Cook until the tomatoes are soft.

Add the chicken pieces and cook on high heat until the chicken turns white, and most of the water from the chikcen is evaporated.

Add more salt if needed. Cover and cook on a low flame. Stir occasionally and cook until the chicken is done, about 25-30 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

If you want more red color, you may add a tsp of tomato paste. I use piriyan chilli powder which gives enough red color so I don’t add tomato paste.

Serve with rice or chapathi.