Nano's

Hiker, Traveler, Home Chef and a Full Time Consultant. Documenting my take on life as I see it!

[srinayana]

With mom coming to visit, I decided to try her special recipe - poshto chicken; but with a twist. Usually I am super lazy with the cutting and chopping and preparing the spices but today I decided to go the extra mile. Ingredients: Chicken breast - cut in cubes and marinated in yoghurt , salt and turmeric Onions - 2 Potatoes - 1 ..gives the East Indian feel ;) Garamond masala - as shown in picture ground into a fine paste Poshto - 3 tablespoons and ground into a paste after adding 5-6 almonds to it Preparation: Heat the oil and add bay leaves. Add the chopped onions and fry till golden brown. Add a teaspoon of sugar to lightly caramelize the onion. Then add the marinated chicken and the potatoes. Cover and stir occasionally in medium flame till the chicken is well cooked. Add the spices and stir again for 2-3 mins. Last but not the least, add the poshto. Fry for 4-5 mins in med to high flame till the gravy takes a brownish color. Add a cup of water and simmer for 10-15 mins. As a last step garnish with some chopped almond and voila! I never measure the quantities when I cook so forgive the lack of specifics. I wish I could share how good this smells. Mom's on the way from the airport and can't wait for her to taste and tell how she likes it :)

[srinayana]

At the end of the day all you crave for is some good old ghar ka khana! Chicken with lots of masala and (over cooked 😒) veggie pulao. (at Downtown Miami)

[srinayana]

And the Thursday continues to be awesome! Cooked some whole wheat pasta with veggies, pickled olives and chicken in marinara sauce! 😋 #healthyeating #cooked #afterages (at Monarc at Met3)

[srinayana]

When the #chickenbiriyani turns out just perfect! 💁 . . . #microwave #recipe #chicken #biriyani #dinner #indian #food #homechef #cheflife #cooking #love #foodie #foodblogger #eat

[srinayana]

My all time favorite chicken biriyani!!!

Marination time - 2-3 hours Preparation time 30 minutes

For the marinade, use a cup of yogurt and mix salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, garam masala, and some ginger garlic paste. Drain water from the washed chicken pieces and mix 2 tbsps of oil to it. Then add the chicken pieces to the yogurt mixture and keep aside. 

You can leave it outside if you plan to marinate for a couple of hours, but don’t forget to refrigerate if you decide to leave it overnight.

[srinayana]

Pretty much me on a plate..or bowl rather! Pasta is such a simple dish and you can experiment so much. In this I deep fried the thinly sliced mushrooms and some finely chopped garlic to give a burnt flavor and then the cream sauce with oregano and coriander to balance it out. P.S. was too hungry to take a better pic ☺ . . . #pasta with #mushroom and #cheese #comfortfood #homecooked #cantgowrong #alltimefavorite #blurred #foodpic

[srinayana]

First attempt at chicken tikka! When it was done and I asked my husband to tast, he said 'We dont need to eat out if you make such brilliant kebabs at home'.. I wasnt so sure whether to be happy or sad about that but that's a story for another time. This is something I never dared to cook on a microwave oven with the fear of drying it out too much. I know self praise is not good but this was one of the most succulent kebabs I had in a really long time. I guess the secret lies in the marination. Coming to the marinade, I mixed some ginger garlic paste, chilli powder,jeera powder, salt and turmeric with yoghurt. Then I applied a spoon of oil to the washed chikcen pieces and mixed it with the marinate. I left it in the refrigerator and forgot about it for the next 24 hours! The rest of it was pretty straightforward. I evenly spread out the marinated chicken pieces on the metal rack ( the one that comes with the microwave oven) and put it on grill for 10 mins. after that turned them around and let them grill for another 10 mins. By now the chicken was pretty well cooked. To give it some color and a burned look, I heated one spoon of oil on high flame and fried the kebabs for about 30 seconds on a non stick pan. This isn't the best method but the next best alternative to a real grill. While the chicken was cooking, I prepared this coriander chutney on the side. For the chutney, I added some sugar, salt, jeera powder, amchur powder and tamarind and put them all into the mixer grinder! The salad is a basic onion tomato and chilly dreesed in olive oil. And the yummy super healthy (just 2 spoons of oil) kebabs were ready in 20 mins!

[srinayana]

What's cooking?

[srinayana]

Dinner time! Chilly chicken cooked with lots of bell peppers, green chillies, spring onion, button mushrooms and served with salad and rice. . . . #dinner #food #foodgram #chinese #foodblogger #lovecooking #instafood #healthy #greens #salad

[srinayana]

If I had to define comfort food with a pic this would be it! Pasta in tomato and wine sauce with bell peppers, cheese and chicken served with a glass of chilled white wine. . . . . . . #pasta #food #foodpic #foodgram #homecooked #nytfood #nofilter #frommykitchen #chicken #wine #easyrecipe

[srinayana]

Perfect end to a #perfect day with this #homecooked #chicken #curry. Cooked with tomatoes, onions and potatoes and garnished with a good helping of coriander and black #pepper. Ps ignore the bad picture quality, was too hungry to take a proper pic ☺

[srinayana]

One of those days when you just crave for some plain old daal chawal and baingan bhaja fried in tons of oil!

[srinayana]

The best part about #sprouts #salad is that it is so difficult to go wrong with... plus there are so many ways to make it that you'll never get bored! This is a desi version with a dash of lemon and chat masala 🍲 #cleaneating #healthy #food

[srinayana]

If I am spending the #Friday evening at home, then might as well cook a nice #dinner :) #prawns #biriyani and #raita #indianfood

[srinayana]

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Spaghetti with tuna in a tomato sauce! (Serves 2) So last night I went for X- Men Apocalypse and today as I woke up there was a back to back X- men marathon on TV. It felt like a not too bad idea to just stay home and be lazy and dirty :) By the time I was done with the second movie I realized I was starving and looked up in the kitchen for something to eat. Turned out I was out of groceries except for a few tomatoes and a can of tuna. And pasta of course. This is something I never run out of. Considering I had just 15 mins before the next movie would start, I put some pasta to boil and heated the pan on the other stove. Then I chopped up two really red tomatoes. Once the pan was hot, I added about 2 tbsps of olive oil and then the chopped tomatoes. Cooked this in high flame for about 5 mins. The pasta was about cooked by this time. So I put the tomatoes on low flame and covered it up. Then drained the pasta with a mesh, run some cold water through it and kept it aside. By now the tomatoes were quite soft. I wanted to give it a slightly sweet taste so I sqeezed a little ketchup into the mix. Then I added the tuna, some oregano, salt and grated cheese and let it cook on medium flame for a few minutes more. Once the sauce looked about ready (I prefer the pasta a little dry and hence make a thick sauce), I added the strained pasta to the pan. Mixed it thouroughly and sprinkled some home ground black pepper on top. 15 min pasta is ready and next movie just started!!! Happy cooking 🍝 #food #pasta #homecooked #redsauce

[srinayana]

Brown bread and egg sandwich with lots of greens!!!

The best way to start your day is a healthy breakfast they say. So here is a super quick breakfast sandwich that is yummy and filling at the same time.

I don’t really want to post a recipe here coz you can do it a million ways. Just check your kitchen for veggies that you can eat raw. Boil two eggs (remove the yolk if you are the calorie conscious kind), slice it and put it between the bread. Add the veggies and sauce of your choice. I have added lettuce tomatoes and cucumber and topped it with mustard sauce. 

Grill for a couple of mins or not :)

[srinayana]

Has it ever happened to you that you got back from work and you are hungry as hell but too tired to cook an elaborate meal?

Well then you are in luck as this recipe is just meant for one of those days. I had a piece of chicken breast in the fridge which I defrosted and chopped into smaller pieces. Then I fried some onions and bell peppers in oil and once the onions started to brown, added the chicken to it. This is cooked mostly in a high flame thus giving it the dark brown color. Add salt as per taste and cook till the chicken is well done. Add some barbeque sauce just before turning off the heat. Eat it with toasted bread on the side or just serve it as a starter :)